Category: Central Church Family (Page 24 of 54)

Celebrating our Partnership

November 22, 2015 / Allan / 1 Comment

“Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” ~Colossians 3:11

Religious barriers, cultural barriers, generational barriers, ethnic barriers — God’s Spirit eradicates all barriers between people in the body of Christ. The Kingdom of God does not clarify people by race or tribe or nationality or class. There’s no “us” and “them” in God’s Church.

By God’s grace, we do a pretty good job with this at Central. Pretty good. We know that all baptized confessors of Jesus as Lord are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are actively tearing down the walls that divide the Christian denominations in Amarillo. We believe that, in Christ, there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, or Baptist or Presbyterian or Church of Christ or Methodist, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Tonight at First Baptist, all four of our downtown churches are coming together to preach and practice Holy Spirit reconciliation in our third annual Thanksgiving Service. Our theme this year is “Celebrating our Partnership in the Gospel.” All four worship ministers are combining our respective praise teams and choirs to lead us in thanksgiving to our God. We’ll sing together, pray together, and read the Scriptures together. And all of Amarillo will be reminded again that Jesus is Lord, he’s fixing everything that’s broken, and we’ve got to get in on it!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, around which this event is planned, I am so grateful for the godly leaders of our four churches who recognize the powerful testimony to Christ our partnership offers. I’m thankful for the enthusiastic response of the men and women of our churches who so quickly have entered into the partnership with Gospel vision and energy. I’m thankful for the deep friendships that have been developed between Howard, Howie, Burt, and me. And I praise God for the limitless potential our partnership holds for further reconciliation among the fractured members of our Lord’s Body.

May the walls continue to come down. May the name of our Savior continue to be lifted tonight and forever more by our commitments to him and to one another. And may he continue to work in us and through us, together, to his eternal glory and praise.

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.” ~Colossians 3:15

Peace,

Allan

Younger Every Day

October 30, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Inwardly, we are being renewed day by day.” ~2 Corinthians 4:16

If the apostle Paul is right — I’m betting my life on it — then you and I are actually getting younger every day. By the grace of God and the power of his Spirit, we are more refreshed, more energetic, more joyful today than we were yesterday.

We’re all in the youth group!

With that in mind, our whole Central church family got together Wednesday night for our annual Fall Festival. Everybody’s always invited. It’s an intergenerational, church-wide deal. And we do our best to get everybody — young and old — to the party.

If hot dogs and cotton candy are not your thing, maybe karaoke is. If singing a pop song over a cheesy soundtrack doesn’t interest you, maybe judging jack o’ lanterns and Halloween costumes is. If you don’t have a judgmental spirit, maybe you’d rather help with a booth or pass out candy. If none of that floats your boat, then we go ahead and play the ultimate trump card:

The family is getting together to show the kids a good time. You’re part of the family.

It’s always good to just show up and cut loose for a bit. You can encourage the children by telling them how great they look and how talented they are. You can laugh at the adults who show up in a costume and indulge yourself with a long-time favorite Halloween candy. Mainly, though, you can spend a few minutes with a kid. Let him know you’re glad he’s at our church. Tell her how special she is and that she’s important at our church. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll head having been renewed by God’s Spirit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We got Carley’s Canyon High School Golf Team pictures in. While she is yet to actually play in an official tournament — this weekend’s matches, like last weekend’s matches, have been canceled due to rain — she does take a pretty good picture.

And, our favorite German, Dirk Nowitzki, got into the Halloween spirit this week by channeling his inner Lurch. Gotta love Dirk.

Peace,

Allan

$477,094!

October 27, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

Vickie has counted and re-counted, checked and re-checked all the numbers from Sunday’s missions offering here at Central (we could tell because of all the smoke coming out of her calculators downstairs). The official Missions Sunday total stands at $477,094, far surpassing the rather ambitious goal of $300,000.

Wow.

What to make of that? I promised yesterday I would stop analyzing it and just praise God for this lavish outpouring of his power and grace. But, I can’t help myself.

One, I believe God is telling us we’re not thinking big enough. We’re not planning on a large enough scale. We’re not dreaming or imagining as widely and extravagantly as our God desires. We think we’re doing a lot, but our Father keeps providing resources for doing even more. We can’t out-think, out-plan, or out-give our God; I think he’s making that clear.

Two, I believe our church family is telling us they have a heart for God’s mission. Like our Lord, our congregation is all about evangelism and ministry, seeking and saving the lost and serving instead of being served. This is a very mature congregation filled with folks who are being transformed by God’s Spirit into the image of Christ. That’s obvious.

Third, I’m reminded of the privilege it is to be the preacher here. This is a very mission minded, very generous, over-the-top giving church. They give. They give graciously and radically out of their genuine love and concern for all of God’s people all over the world. And I’m so honored to belong to them.

Peace,

Allan

$450K and Counting

October 26, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

The goal for Missions Sunday here at Central yesterday was an ambitious $300,000 to fund our ongoing foreign missions efforts. But, just like last year, our merciful Father blew that goal right out of the water. God opened up our hearts and our wallets yesterday to the tune of more than $450,000! And the money is still trickling in today!

Three years. Three Missions Sundays. Three extravagant shows of abundant generosity. Three remarkable displays of God’s amazing power and grace. And I’m still…

“Surprised” is not the correct word. I’m not surprised. I always assume God is going to “meet all our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” and accomplish much “more than all we can ask or imagine.” I know that. Our God does stuff like this all the time. It doesn’t surprise me. At this point, the surprise would be only in falling short of the goal.

I guess I’m mainly just in wonder. I’m in awe. When most churches in most cities and settings all over this country are slashing their missions budgets and cutting their missionaries, why does God bless this church all the way out here in the middle of the Texas panhandle with so much? When traditional missionary training and sending organizations are wringing their hands over reduced contributions and most congregations are struggling to find new ways to raise missions money, why is God compelling our people at Central to give so much? When our Sunday attendance at Central has actually gone down over the past three years, why does our missions giving keep going up? And up?

I can’t figure it out. None of us can. And that’s the way it ought to be. Tim McMenamy spoke to us yesterday around the table about the mystery of God and how God works through Christ to do magnificent things we can’t wrap our brains around. This is one of those things. It doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t add up.

Vickie is checking and re-checking all the numbers right now; I’m going to have an official total before the end of the day. And in the meantime, I’m going to try to spend less time analyzing and more time just thanking our Father.

Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

Peace,

Allan

Concerning Cats in Heaven

September 29, 2015 / Allan / 1 Comment

I believe the line a little over halfway through our sermon Sunday went something like this:

“Our God is making everything right. He’s making everything perfect. Yes, there will be Oreos in heaven; but they won’t have any calories. Yes, there will be lawns to mow in heaven; but there won’t be any grass burrs or dandelions. Yes, there will be puppy dogs in heaven; but they won’t chew on the couch or wet the carpet.

No, there won’t be any cats in heaven. Are you kidding me? Cats are reserved for the fiery lake of burning sulfur; that’s where cats are going.”

So…

Not everybody thought that was funny. When I said it, it certainly sounded like everybody thought it was funny. But more than a couple of good, faithful Christians here at Central took issue with my comment about cats. A few mentioned it to me after the assembly. A few of you sent me emails yesterday questioning my theology and my character. And one very sweet and kind dear sister told me yesterday she had planned to make a banana pudding for my birthday but, after Sunday’s comment about cats, has decided against it.

Look, my Lord has promised me that proclaiming the truth won’t always be easy. There will come a time, he says, when even those who refuse to cook for me will think they’re doing the will of God. That’s OK. I’m at peace with that.

For those of you who want to argue for a feline-friendly afterlife, consider first what we know about salvation.

Heaven is not for the unrepentant. It’s not for the arrogant or the stubbornly-disobedient. Heaven is reserved for those who turn their lives toward God and submit to his authority. You ever seen a repentant cat?!? You walk in on any dog doing something he’s not supposed to be doing, and he immediately gets that look of shame. He’s been caught, he’s clearly in the wrong, and he knows it. He’s sorrowful — a godly sorrow, I would argue. Like Adam and Eve in the garden who were ashamed from the moment they sinned, so a dog puts his tail between his legs and will barely look at you when he knows he’s done something against your will. Cats? Yeah, right! You walk in on a cat doing something wrong, he barely even looks up. He keeps right on sinning, too, with no regard for the threads on your couch or your feelings.

Heaven is for living in perfect community. It’s not for loners, for those who want to do their own thing by themselves. Dogs are made for relationship. They run to you as soon as you enter their field of vision. They follow you around everywhere you go. They’re loyal to a fault. They’re content just to be in your presence. Cats? They couldn’t care less about you or anybody you know. Oh, sure, they’ll come running when they hear the can opener working to unleash some foul-smelling feline food. They’ll rub up against you and purr when they need something. But that’s it. They’d much rather be alone. And if you call a cat, he’ll just roll his eyes.

I’m only just scratching the surface here. We could go on about the evil hisses and demonic guttural sounds that come from the inner core of a cat’s very being. The pointy ears. The scary eyes. Their proclivity toward darkness and appetite for activities of the night.

It seems very logical: there won’t be any cats in heaven.

Peace,

Allan

Church Burritos

September 22, 2015 / Allan / 2 Comments

One of the highlights of Summit week is meeting our Central kids who are attending ACU and buying them lunch. Today, Greg and Kevin and I were privileged to spend the lunch hour at Sharkey’s with Taylor M., Matt, Ellie, and Taylor C. We talked about homesickness and rushing clubs, favorite teachers and dating, the interesting things we’ve heard at Summit and where everybody’s going to church. Admittedly, the highlight was probably listening to Matt talk about his 12midnight – 8am shift at 7-11 — hilarious. But anytime four very busy college students will spend a lunch hour hanging out with three of us ministers is a great honor for us. Maintaining a connection between our congregation and our kids is important. It matters. It’s a priority for us. Our college students need to know that we miss them, that we still think about them, that they are still a vital part of our church family. I think it blesses them. I hope it does.

More than that, though, I can’t stress enough what a great honor it is for us. These kids are in the middle of a critical transition moment in their lives. They’re figuring things out, learning new things, experiencing new things, thinking about new things, growing, maturing, trying to get a grip on a trajectory for the rest of their lives. And for one hour today, we got to talk with them about it. They honored us by sharing with us a sliver of this priceless time.

Thanks, guys. We love y’all.

Allan

Category: Central Church Family (Page 24 of 54)

Celebrating our Partnership

Younger Every Day

$477,094!

$450K and Counting

Concerning Cats in Heaven

Church Burritos

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