The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Central Church Family (Page 51 of 54)

Just Go

November 4, 2011 / / 0 Comments

There are approximately 6,785,000,000 people living together on this planet. The most liberal estimates claim that one-third of these people are Christian, including all those who identify themselves as Christians religiously, socially, or politically. That leaves 4.5-billion people who, if the Gospel is true, at this very moment are separated from God in their sins and, assuming nothing changes, will spend an eternity in hell.

4.5-billion people. And most of them live outside the United States.

That’s why we’re told to go. And that’s why we obey that command. Go tell the Good News of salvation from God in Christ. Go share the Gospel. Go teach people what God has done in Jesus. Go show people what it looks like to receive the gift of a righteous relationship with the holy Creator of heaven and earth. Go.

And we do. We’re very, very good at going.

The Legacy Church just finished hosting the Global Missions Conference. Dozens and dozens of missionaries from all over the planet shared their stories, showed their slides, and gave glory to God for the great work he has started and is bringing to completion in their ministries. Church leaders from all over this country gathered to be encouraged and challenged to keep going and keep sending until our Christ returns.

I was so encouraged to open up my Christian Chronicle this morning and see this huge picture of the Legacy worship center during the Global Missions Conference. They could have picked a more attractive person than Mark Hooper to feature in their picture — any other person, actually! But I was so pleased. So grateful.

When we were in discussions about hosting the GMC at Legacy we prayed and planned, strategized and hoped, that the conference would benefit Legacy in giving us a big picture view of what God is doing in his world. We prayed that it would broaden our understanding of God’s eternal Kingdom, that it would cause us to see Christ’s Church as so much bigger than just what’s happening in Tarrant County or the United States. It would mature us. It would stretch us. And it would motivate us to just go.

Just go take a Let’s Start Talking trip to China. Just go help a church plant in Kharkov, Ukraine for a couple of weeks. Just go lead a Bible discussion in Australia. Just go knock doors in Africa.

Just go invite your neighbor to church. Just go volunteer at a shelter for abused women or neglected children. Just go ask your co-worker if they have a relationship with God in Christ. Just go spreading the Good News wherever you can. Just go.

Legacy has a heart for missions. And I love that. My heart for missions was strengthened at Legacy. Foreign missions is one of the very best things God does through Legacy. And our experiences together there taught me a lot about God’s purposes in the world. All indications are that the Global Missions Conference last week was a tremendous success. Of course. We knew it would be. Congratulations to the Legacy shepherds and ministers and staff and tireless volunteers who pulled it off. I keep hearing how much our Lord did to bless each of you last week. I praise God. And I’m so glad.

Central, too, has a great heart for missions. As the founding church of Continent of Great Cities, there’s a heritage here of placing great value and importance on what God is doing everywhere else. And supporting those efforts with prayer and money and trips and hard work. And I love that.

May we be reminded that we are all missionaries. When our God decided to bring his salvation to you and me, he did not send gold or silver. He didn’t write a check or click in the numbers to a debit card. He sent himself. He came to this earth and took on our skin, our sufferings, our sin. He made himself vulnerable to death. And he endured it for us, for our eternal glory.

You, too, must go and do likewise. You don’t have to cross the ocean. God may be calling you to cross the street. He may need you to cross the break room at work or the sidelines at your kid’s soccer game this weekend.

Yes, please write your check to that foreign missionary. They need it. But then, go. Just go. Go somewhere and tell somebody that they can be saved by a loving God who created them and who wants nothing more than to spend eternity with them in his holy presence.

Peace,

Allan

Pray for Judy

October 31, 2011 / / 0 Comments

“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.” ~James 5:13-15

I’ve sometimes heard about churches and elders who take these words of the New Testament literally. And seriously. I’ve always admired that in a group of church leaders. It’s certainly outside our normal box. It’s stepping away from our cultural comfort zone.  And I’ve been curious. I’ve wondered. What does that look like? How much oil does one use? And where do you buy the oil?

The anointing with oil is certainly a cultural and contextual thing in Scripture. It probably had something to do with perceived medicinal beliefs. It could have even just been superstitious. But I’ve always thought that the wisdom of actually anointing a sick person with oil today is in the human touch it requires. In the closeness it demands. The intimacy and relationship that’s necessary. In other ways — and I hope I’m not stretching this too far — I can see how this anointing with oil can function in a sacramental way. The touch and the oil can certainly represent in a physical way what our God is doing in a way that can’t be seen or smelled. It can point to that healing. It can signify the compassion and care that God feels and the provision and protection he promises.

For a long time I’ve thought it would be good to belong to a church and serve with a group of shepherds who practiced this praying and anointing with oil. And now I do.

Yesterday we prayed with and for Judy Newton.

Judy has been diagnosed with cancerous tumors in her brain. It just happened three weeks ago. The doctors are giving her little hope. Nothing but bad news. She’s endured one surgery and is bracing now for weeks of grueling treatments. She and her husband Lanny are beloved members of this Body of Believers at Central. Their faith is inspiring. Their commitment to God and to one another is powerful. Their belief that he is doing something great with them and through them is real.

But they’re hurting. They’re devastated. They’ve had the rug ripped out from under them and they’re not sure what’s coming next.

Judy and Lanny are in Houston tonight — they flew out early this afternoon — in line for a full week’s worth of tests and evaluations and treatments at M. D. Anderson. And yesterday they asked the elders to pray for Judy and to anoint her with oil.

So we went to her house and prayed. Several of us, a bunch of us, I’m not really sure how many of us, showed up at Lanny and Judy’s house to lift her up to our Father in prayer. Ministers and shepherds and all our spouses.

Tim explained to Judy that we don’t really understand fully the significance behind the oil. But, at the same time, we take it seriously. And literally. He told Judy that there is something to the physical touch that goes along with the prayer. There’s something about faithful obedience. There’s something about symbolizing what God is doing, how he is active, in our prayers. And then he took the oil and gently applied a couple of drops to Judy’s forehead.

And we prayed.

All of us. On our knees. Hands on Judy and Lanny. Arms around one another. With tears and tight throats. Eloquently and, at times, haltingly. At once feeling wholly inadequate for the task and perfectly at peace that God’s Spirit is doing all the work. All of us. Begging God to heal her. Confessing to God that we don’t understand. Wrestling with God. Praising God. On our knees before the Creator of heaven and earth, praying for his daughter Judy.

E. M. Bounds once said that prayer does not prepare us for greater works; it IS the greater work. I believe that. And so does the church family at Central. We believe in the power of prayer. We believe our God hears the faithful cries of his children. And we continue to lift up to him our sweet sister Judy.

I would ask you to please pray for Judy, too. Pray for healing. Pray for comfort and peace. Pray that our God would remove from Judy’s body all the horrible things that would cause her pain and do her harm. Pray that God’s name would be glorified in Lanny and Judy through this dark trial. And pray that our Lord’s holy will be done in her life just as it is in heaven.

Their precious daughter, Aleisha, is updating Judy’s battle every day on a blog. You can get to it by clicking here.

Peace,

Allan

White October

October 27, 2011 / / 1 Comment

I had heard the forecast as I was leaving Amarillo for Arlington Monday morning: slight chance for snow flurries late Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Of course, I blew it off. Snow in October? Yeah, it’ll get cold. It might rain a bit. But it’s surely not going to snow. By yesterday afternoon, the weather forecasters were pretty sure we could get an inch or more. It started raining once everybody got home from church. And when we woke up this morning, there it was!

Thirty-one degrees. Strong north winds. And over an inch and a half of snow and still falling. Little tiny slushy snow flakes, blowing around in the breeze.

It’s still October! Where in the world have we moved to?!?

Royse Anne texted Carrie-Anne at about 7:30 this morning: “Welcome to Amarillo!” My first text came from Dan Miller: “Pump your brakes, don’t slam them.” Then Bentley texted me: “Forgot to tell you about the early snows. Get used to it.”

I actually love it. It’s beautiful. It’s exciting. It’s unexpected. It puts everybody in a good mood. And it reminds me all over again that our God is really in control. This is his planet. It’s his creation. It’s his weather. He’s in charge. And I should learn to expect his surprises. Whether it’s an October snow, or a move to a new church in a new part of the state, or a new insight from his Holy Word, our God is active and working to keep me aware of his presence in my life and in his world.

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We held our Fall Festival last night here at Central and it was a blast! Lots of booths. Lots of candy. Lots of costumes. Hot dogs, games, and prizes. But, mostly, inter-generational family fun.

What a blessing to see our older people helping our littlest kids. What a joy to watch our white hairs play with our toddlers. What a beautiful portrait of passing on the faith. Acting like family. Looking out for one another. Commenting on all the Ninja Turtles and Disney princesses, congratulating the Buzz Lightyears and ladybugs, laughing with the teenagers.

All of the research about young people leaving the Church or remaining with the Church points to one consistent factor. All of the studies say there is one thing that will determine whether a kid stays in Church. It’s not youth group. It’s not worship style. And it has nothing to do with technology. It’s relationships with adults outside their immediate family. Those young people who have adult friends in their churches— people who care about them, people who spend time with them, people who ask them how they’re doing, people who go out of their way to be with them — are much more likely to stay in God’s Church once they leave for college and then remain in the Church through their adult lives.

That’s why events like last night are so important. That’s why we need to be much more intentional about mixing our generations in our churches. Segregating ourselves according to age in our Bible classes and our worship assemblies isn’t doing us any good. Regularly getting people of all ages around the table together is critical to passing on the faith.

Of course, we know this. It only makes perfect common sense. But it takes sacrifice and service. It demands putting the needs of others ahead of our own. It means being like Jesus. And we’re still not very good at that. We have to think about it. We have to be intentional about it.

I keep thinking events like Fall Festival will help. All of the good things we experience during those two hours we’re all mixed up together will eventually bleed over into the ways we re-think Bible classes and worship assemblies and youth ministry and senior adult ministry, right? At some point we’ll all WANT to be involved in the lives of people who are older or younger than us because we’ve experienced the tremendous benefit, right?

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Nothing can stop Game Six tonight. It’s going to happen. And the Rangers are going to win it. I keep thinking that this extra day off is going to benefit Texas. I keep thinking that it’s bad for the Cardinals players to have to spend an extra day in their town listening to all the second-guessing, being exposed to all the negative energy, being hammered one day by all the questions. They gave the Rangers their best shot in Game Five. Carpenter was on the hill and they had runners in scoring position in at least seven innings. And they still got beat. I think that gives Colby Lewis and the Rangers tons of confidence. And I think having to live with that for three full days is going to weigh adversely on the Cards.

If you want some good stuff to read between now and first pitch at 7:05, here’s a really good article by ESPN’s Jayson Stark on just what the Rangers are trying to accomplish with their first ever World Series win. A Texas victory could start a major cultural shift in the regional sports landscape.

This is a good column by ESPN’s Gene Wojo about Jon Daniels and Ron Washington. The angle is that the movie Moneyball is about the wrong GM. It should be about Daniels.

Here’s a link to the Texas Rangers official website. And, finally, you can’t really watch a Rangers playoff game without first reading the Newburg report. Especially this one.

Go Rangers!

Allan

Homothumadon

October 10, 2011 / / 3 Comments

Our church at Central experienced homothumadon here together yesterday morning. Homothumadon is my second favorite Greek word from the New Testament, right behind koinonia. Homothumadon appears throughout the book of Acts to describe a fiery unity. It means passionate togetherness; emotional and active unity; intense and fevered oneness.

We had that here yesterday when we prayed to God together for our dear sister Judy Newton.

I had only anticipated a few of the people sitting around Lanny and Judy would actually gather around her and place their arms around her and hold her hands while we lifted up a congregational prayer on her behalf. She was diagnosed Friday afternoon with a couple of brain lesions in an out-of-the-blue, ambush, rip-the-rug-out-from-under-you, punch to the stomach, what-in-the-world-do-we-do-now kind of way. I was ready to lead that congregational prayer for her yesterday morning, but before I could start, people began getting up and walking over to Lanny and Judy and crowding around her in a spontaneous show of compassion and solidarity.

They came from all over our worship center. Those immediately behind and next to Judy wrapped their arms around her. But then a few people stood up to join them. And then a few more people. They came from a couple of rows over and from clear across the sanctuary. From the front and back and the middle. Young and old. People who’ve known Lanny and Judy for thirty years and people who’ve never met them. Men and women were crawling over people in their own pews to reach Judy. It’s a “preacher’s count,” I acknowledge, but I’m guessing almost a hundred of Judy’s brothers and sisters made their way to be with her during that prayer.

And I was so inspired. Yes, I thought, this is not doing church; this is being church.

As I watched the people stream toward Judy and surround her with love, I also became somewhat intimidated by my pressing task. As I waited and waited and waited while these people kept coming and coming and coming, I began to feel wholly inadequate for wording a prayer that would properly honor these folks, most of whom I still barely know, and these relationships, all of which I haven’t a clue. How could my prayer do it justice? I felt compelled to call on somebody else to lead it. How can my prayer match what I’m seeing?

When I finally started praying, it happened. Homothumadon. Unity in thought. Unity in mind. Unity in purpose. Unity in prayer. I wasn’t the one praying. We were all praying. We were all saying the “amen.” We were all together speaking with groans only the Holy Spirit can communicate to the Father. It was audible. It was genuine. It was together. We were in a fox hole together, as one, lifting this dear sister to the only God who can do anything about her circumstance. We were communicating to the gracious One who is sovereign over pain and disease. We were lifting Judy to the author of life and the destroyer of death. In faith. In desperation. In trust. As one.

We were all blessed by the prayer. Not the words of the prayer which, again, had everything to do with God’s Divine Spirit and nothing to do with me. We were blessed by the unity of the church. I know Lanny and Judy were encouraged and blessed. I know I was inspired. If you were here with us yesterday morning, I know you were moved, too. We all grew together yesterday morning. We matured spiritually as we considered Judy’s needs greater than our own. We grew together as family. And we became more childlike, more Christ like, as we depended solely on God.

E. M. Bounds said prayer does not prepare us for greater works; it is the greater work.

Judy is set for surgery on her brain at 8:00 tomorrow morning, Tuesday October 11.

Pray.

Allan

A Banner Beginning

September 19, 2011 / / 5 Comments

What an amazing day of worship and praise and communion and fellowship with the Body of Christ that meets here at Central! What great energy and enthusiasm among the more than 800 disciples of Jesus in the building! The singing to our Lord was inspired. The words and prayers from our shepherds were challenging and convicting. The example of our Savior to live our lives as huge billboards proclaiming the glory of our God is motivating and encouraging. I certainly felt like God was present in every handshake, every hug, every pat on the back. More than 500 of us Sweatin’ to the Oldies together in the chapel last night and then trying to cool off with Levi’s green chili ice cream is something I thoroughly enjoyed and will never forget. What a marvelous day and great beginning to our ministry together.

What a blessing to pray together with my shepherds and ministers in the chapel early yesterday morning. What a joy to be joined by Paul and John. What an honor to have Paul and Andrea, John and Suzanne, and Darryn and Cindy and Camryn and Ryan here with us Saturday night and Sunday. What a blessing to see Gerald and Joice Ball in the crowd! To have ten people here with us from Legacy means the world to me. What great friends. What true devotion. What awkwardness when Darryn writes on his nametag “Legacy Search Committee.” And wears it all day.

The work here at Central is great, the call from our God in this place is clear, and the challenge is real. Yet, I am filled with a tremendous deal of confidence and courage, realizing that this is bigger than me, bigger than us, bigger than just the Central Church of Christ. God has huge plans for us. He is working in mighty ways to impact our panhandle communities for his Kingdom.

I want to thank every single person who has encouraged me with a text, an email, or a voice message over the past 48 hours. I received 25 texts of prayers and well wishes in a 90-minute window early yesterday morning. And it hasn’t slowed down much since. Thank you. Every one of you have played and are playing a role in shaping me and encouraging me and pushing me to be God’s servant and a servant of his Kingdom.

God bless us. And may his holy will be done here at Central and throughout this world just as it is in heaven.

Peace,

Allan

The Hope of Glory

September 18, 2011 / / 0 Comments

I have become the Church’s servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness — the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Peace,

Allan

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