Category: Four Horsemen (Page 3 of 6)

Until I Come Back

April 3, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.” ~Luke 19:13

So the King gives his servants money and says, “Use these resources until I come back.” Put this money to good use. Make something out of it. The servants were to carry on the King’s business while he was gone. Continue doing what he himself would be doing if he were there. Working on his behalf. Taking initiative. Using the knowledge and experience they had acquired in their years of being associated with him as his servants to promote his interests. Here are the resources. Now take care of my business while I’m gone.

First thing the King does when he comes back is to call his servants in and ask them how it went. The first two had obviously been hard at work. They’d turned a pretty good profit using the King’s gifts. And they were praised and rewarded. (Luke 19:15-19)

The third guy’s brought into accounting and he says, “I didn’t do anything. I sat on it. I was afraid of you. I know you have high standards. I know you hate sloppiness. So I didn’t do anything.”

And then seven verses of harsh judgment from the King. “You wicked servant!”

Jesus’ last parable before he enters Jerusalem to face his death is a sobering one: non-participation is not a casual matter. However timid or meek it is, non-participation is disobedience. It’s sin.

This story is hard. It’s unrelenting. Doing nothing is not an option in the Kingdom of God. In the Kingdom of God there are no non-participants. Jesus spends more words and time and space on the judgment delivered to this play-it-safe, do-nothing, overly-cautious, non-participating, non-servant than he does the other nine. Even the ones who signed the petition and sent the delegation saying they didn’t want this King, they only get one verse.

Here’s the deal. And it’s clear: a timid refusal to obey makes us liable to the same judgment as defiant and rebellious disobedience. It’s the same thing.

The story is a call to faithfulness to the King and his business. We’re all accountable to Jesus. Those who claim to follow him are responsible for a ministry of sacrifice and service in seeking and saving the lost. Those who reject him are responsible for not recognizing who he is and not accepting his invitation. This 3rd servant represents the dangers we face as members of the Lord’s Church. He’s associated with the King. He’s a member of the community. He lives with the King, he wears the King’s name, he eats at the King’s table, but he doesn’t trust the King. He’s never walked through that door of faith that responds to grace. So he winds up on the outside with nothing.

Obediently following Jesus, being proactive and taking risks and spending ourselves and our God-given resources in this already-inaugurated Kingdom of God is serious business. The gifts we have from God are not to be guarded or protected or kept safe. They are to be used extravagantly for the King’s business until he comes back.

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In the first year of Legacy Small Groups Church we’ve experienced our mighty God at work building faith, encouraging Christian ministry and service, and fostering deeper friendships and relationships in our church family. And I believe our Father wants us to do even more. I believe he’s using Small Groups to transform our entire church family into the image of Christ Jesus.

The Apostle Paul exhorted the Christians in Philippi to practice the same attitude “as that of Christ Jesus” by looking not only to our own interests, “but also to the interests of others.” A union with Christ and fellowship with his Holy Spirit is proved when disciples “consider others better than yourselves.”

I’m convinced that the next big steps in our spiritual growth at the Family of God at Legacy will best be taken by everyone of us — young and old, singles and families, new members and long-time members — meeting weekly in our Small Groups to apply the Word, connect as a family, and evangelize our community.

Our groups start meeting again this Sunday night. For twelve months we’ll be opening up our homes and our lives to each other in the name of our King. Over 750 of us sharing meals and prayers and Christian love and service in 40 homes all over Northeast Tarrant County. Being church, not doing church. Increased unity and and ministry and worship and healing and fellowship and forgiveness. It’s going to that next level as a member of the Kingdom. And taking others with you.

This Sunday night. Jump in.

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At 7:00 tomorrow morning, the Four Horsemen will be holed up together in some little sideroom at the EastRidge Church of Christ in Rockwall to pray for an hour. My great friends, Dan Miller and Kevin Henrichson, half of the Horsemen, have organized a 24 Hours of Prayer that started at 8:00 this morning. Men at EastRidge are right now in fervent prayer, lifting up nearly a thousand different thanksgivings and requests that have been submitted by that church family.

Jason Reeves and I, the other half, will be the tag-team speakers at the prayer breakfast that wraps up the event tomorrow morning. I’m honored to be a part of it. Our mighty God is at work anytime men are gathered to pray for extended periods of time. And I love being right in the big middle of it. You pray with a group of three or four men for an hour and it’s like you’ve been in a fox hole with them. You’re bonded to them for eternity. You see their hearts and their spirits as they open up to their Lord. You feel their joys and their pains as they lay bare their souls before God. You learn more about a brother by praying with him than you could ever learn at a two-hour lunch or even a fishing or hunting weekend.

Praying together is huge. Jason and Dan and Kevin and I figured that out a long time ago. The men at EastRidge are learning it right now. And I’m really looking forward to sharing some of that time with them tomorrow morning.

Peace,

Allan

Go and Do

March 9, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

The lawyer in Luke 10 wants to justify himself. His question, “Who is my neighbor?” seeks to create a distinction. He’s suggesting that some people are neighbors and some are not. He implies that God’s people are only called to love God’s people. And we get to decide who those people are! This expert in the Scriptures is saying that, whether due to geography, heritage, ancestry, skin-color, or socio-economic factors, some people are non-neighbors.

That’s what Jesus is reacting to when he tells his story.

A priest walks by and sees the victim by the side of the road and does nothing. A Levite sees this half-dead man and does nothing. Two religious leaders who’ve known and taught the Great Command — Love God and Love Neighbor — for as long as they can remember. They saw and they passed by on the other side.

And then Jesus gives us the emotional twist that both astonishes and convicts.

A Samaritan walks by and sees. Then he went to him. The two verbs here are so important. He saw and he went. And then he verbed this man completely back to health. He gave this victim, this helpless soul, this desperate and dying man created in the magnificent image of God, everything he needed. Look at all the verbs.

He went to him. He bandaged him. He poured on oil and wine. He put the man on his own donkey. He took him to an inn. He took care of him. He took out his money. He gave his money to the innkeeper. He promised to return and reimburse.

And Jesus says, “Now, define ‘neighbor’ for me. Who’s the ‘neighbor’?”

Then our Savior looks this expert right in the eyes and gives him two verbs: Go and Do.

Jesus’ words, Go and Do, totally end the conversation. No more questions. No more answers. No more religious loopholes and religious line-drawing and religious double-talk. No more interpretations of Scripture. No more using God or the Word of God as a way to avoid or dismiss the real hurting men and women we see in our lives.

When we understand the story, we understand that something big is going on and I’m told I can get in on it. Actually I’m told, “Go! Get in on it!”

It’s not “Who is my neighbor” as if some people are and some people aren’t. That’s the wrong question. The question is, “Will I be a neighbor?” Everybody sees all the pain around us. Everybody sees all the hurting people. Everybody sees all the lost. God’s people, though, see and do. We see and render aid. We see and provide help. We see and then we sacrifice and serve in joining our God to make things right.

Go and Do. In Northeast Tarrant County and Nairobi. In our subdivisions and in downtown Fort Worth.

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Another Four Horsemen Campout/Advance in the books. Twenty-four hours at Tyler State Park. 55-degrees warmer than last year. Four hours of sleep. Seven bags of chips. No major injuries. This one, though, to be forever remembered for three things.

1) The Food. All of it provided and cooked by Kevin. Four-inch-thick ribeyes and football-sized baked potatoes. And salad! Salad? Yeah, I know. Followed up by perfectly-prepared eggs, toast, sausage, and bacon Saturday morning and ham and turkey sandwiches Saturday afternoon. No offense to Jason and his water-in-a-jug pancakes from years past. But the food this year was, by far, the best ever.

2) The Raccoon. He stole Kevin’s bag of marshmellows from right underneath his chair while we were all sitting by the fire. He came within a couple of feet, twice, of nabbing my bag of jalapeno potato chips right next to my chair. While we were all sitting there. Jason had a clean shot at him with a football from about four feet, but short-hopped it bad. Choked under pressure. Somewhere, in the deep recesses of Tyler State Park, a raccoon is throwing up 48-jumbo marshmellows. I hope.

3) The Near-Death Experiences. Falling trees. Flying ax handles. Slides down dangerous cliffs (OK, just the hill from the parking lot to the lake). Jumping rocks. It was an adventure.

The best part, though, is always the mutual encouragement, the prayers, the study, and the counsel that’s shared. Every year. We know each other so well that the prayers are always dead-on. I mean, right-between-the-eyes, yes, thanks I needed that, kind of prayers. We pray for each other’s ministries, each other’s churches, each other’s families, and each other’s personal walk with Christ. We ask God to give us all the strength and power to do his will, the courage and boldness to do it his way, and the character and integrity to do it with pure hearts and clean motives, above reproach.

I’m blessed to have three such great friends, such great men of God who love me and take care of me. They know exactly when I legitimately need genuine encouragement and they know exactly when I just need to suck it up and get over it. God continually touches me and speaks to me and blesses me through these great men. They challenge me and push me. They model for me what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus. I can’t imagine trying to do it without them.

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And Terrell Owens is in Buffalo, where in December it’ll be 19-degrees with a 35 mph north wind. The Bills will be 5-9 at that point, they’ll be playing the Ravens, and he’ll be split out wide where he can get a good view of another running play. The 13th play out of their past 15 that have stayed on the ground. Sweet.

As Dan Miller would say, “Life is good.”

Peace,

Allan

Hi-Ho, Silver! Away!

March 6, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Is it “Hi-Ho, Silver!” or “Hi-Yo, Silver!”?

It doesn’t matter. I’m probably not the one on the white horse. And I’m certainly not the Lone Ranger. But the famed Four Horsemen are riding off to Tyler State Park this morning for our annual Advance. And, as fast as the masked man rode down the trail at the end of every episode, that’s how I’m going to feel when I take off here in a couple of hours.

It’s just been a long, hard past four or five weeks. Gearing up for Missions Month and planning a new Small Groups cycle at the same time is too much. Extra meetings, extra website articles, extra brochures and handouts, extra meetings, extra speakers to schedule, extra meetings. And on top of all that: extra meetings! And these people still want to hear a decent sermon Sunday!

Nobody wants to hear about it, I know. But God in his providence is giving me this great weekend of encouragement and refreshing and revival just when I need it most.

I’ve written at length here about Jason and Kevin and Dan. I don’t have any closer friends. And I don’t know any men who are more dedicated to our Father and his Kingdom than these brothers. My time with them — during our monthly lunches, our quarterly family get-togethers, and, especially, our annual weekend camping trips — is always uplifting and encouraging. We pray together. We talk about our families and our kids. We study Scripture. We talk about God’s Church. We help each other with advice and insights. Jason and I talk about preaching. Dan talks about ministering to the margins and planting churches. Kevin keeps all of us grounded and connected by talking about the big-picture of the Kingdom. And we all four come away stronger and better and closer to God and each other.

I’m a little concerned about our vehicle. Jason’s meeting us in Tyler. But the other three of us are leaving from Dan’s house in Forney in Kevin’s brand new Lexus SUV. I know, give me a break. First, Kevin doesn’t need to be driving a Lexus. Second, nobody needs to drive a Lexus to a campout. I don’t know what we’re going to do. It just seems wrong on so many fronts.

I’m not worried about the weather. We froze in Cleburne two years ago and froze last year in Tyler. Not this time. Perfect.

I pray our Father blesses your weekend like I know he’s going to bless mine. We’ll check back in Monday.

Peace,

Allan

The Way We Speak

January 2, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

One of the many joys of my Christmas morning was unwrapping a copy of Eugene Peterson’s latest theological work, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in his Stories and Prayers. Peterson had finished his trilogy on spiritual conversations with his most excellent The Jesus Way. But apparently he needed to write one more. And God’s Church is all the better for it.

I’m halfway through this theological treatment of the parables and prayers of Jesus. Peterson examines, in the way only he can, the ways our Lord used language and conversation to reach out to others with the love and grace of God. When he spoke, people were drawn to Jesus. His words engaged the people around him. His conversations involved them. He spoke truth and grace. He encouraged and instructed. He spoke love.

I want to share with you a short passage from the introduction of Tell It Slant that challenges us in this new year to “be careful little mouth what you say.” Our tongues are powerful tools, able to heal and destroy, to comfort and enrage, to protect and attack, with a bare minimum of effort or syllables. James knew this well. So does Peterson:

“There is a lot more to speaking than getting the right words and pronouncing them correctly. Who we are and the way we speak make all the difference. We can sure think of enough creative ways to use words badly: we can blaspheme and curse, we can lie and deceive, we can bully and abuse, we can gossip and debunk. Or not. Every time we open our mouths, whether in conversation with one another or in prayer to our Lord, Christian truth and community are on the line. And so, high on the agenda of the Christian community in every generation is that we diligently develop a voice that speaks in consonance with the God who speaks, that we speak in such a way that truth is told and community is formed.”

May our words in 2009 reflect the love and the mercy of the God who saves us. May our conversations always teach and encourage. And may our language glorify God and exalt Christ Jesus.

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We rang in the New Year as a church family with an evening of games and food and worship. I don’t have a lot of pictures because I was way too busy dominating Sequence (OK, Carrie-Anne dominated, I rode her coattails to impressive victory), collecting Uno word cards, getting Bear’ed and Bull’ed by Lance, and barely surviving Around the World with Sarah. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate the gift of a new year from our God than reading together from Hebrews and Galatians and 1 John, singing songs of praise, praying together to dedicate this new year to our Lord, and then circling up to sing It Is Well as the clock struck 12:00.

Wow. God-ordained, Jesus-inspired, Spirit-powered, community-forming.

And then the sparklers.

Typical New Year’s Day at Stanglin Manor: sleep in; donuts; college football; traditional Texas New Year’s Day lunch with ham, cabbage, and black-eyed peas; college football; college football; rented movie; college football. Perfect.

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My great friend Jason Reeves, the preacher at the Grayston Church in Diana, Texas and one of the Four Horsemen, has finally waved the white flag and joined the blogging community. I’m placing a link to his site, Reeves’ Rhetoric, on my blogrole on the right hand side of this page. You can also get there by clicking here.

You’ll be encouraged by Jason’s blog. God speaks through him. God will speak to you through him. He’ll challenge you. He’ll make you think. He’ll force you to re-evaluate your walk with Christ as you examine his. I know. Because most everybody I know falls way short when placed next to Jason. Especially me.

Jason, some days the blog will be an unforgiving task master. Some days it’ll take too much time. Some days it’ll seem that it’s not having as big an impact as you’d like. But those days are few and far between. You’ll discover that the blog is a wonderful way to connect to people you might not otherwise. You’ll see that it’s a great tool for reinforcing your sermons and classes. It forms Christian community. It teaches and encourages. It allows you to better articulate your thoughts and dreams while you’re wrestling with God and his Word and his world. It’s an effective way for other people to be inspired by your faith and your hope.

I pray that our Father will use your words and your thoughts to speak to the people in his Kingdom. I pray that your blog will reach people who need increased faith and stronger hope. I pray that God will be glorified in the time and effort you put into it.

And the very first time that lady from Denver with the pregnant teenager and abusive husband or that man in Arizona who’s left God’s Church calls you on the phone, from out of the blue, to tell you that your words about Habakkuk or your thoughts on 1 Thessalonians are the only thing that’s kept them going, you’ll fall on your knees in gracious humility and praise God for using you in ways far beyond what you could ever ask or imagine.

Peace,

Allan

Faith In Community

November 18, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

All Four Horsemen, all four wives, and our 11 kids all in the same house at the same time Saturday for the first time in at least five years. Kevin’s GPS got them there a little late. (Didn’t realize you could get to North Richland Hills from Rowlett without getting on a highway.) But it was a wonderful day of just catching up with one another, sharing our plans and our dreams, lots of laughing, and lots of mutual encouragement and support. We cooked together, we ate together, we talked about our kids, and we cried a little.

But the absolute best part was the last 30-minutes of the evening we spent together in prayer. All the adults and all the kids, holding hands and putting our arms around each other, lifting one another up to our Lord. Pledging before our God to love each other and support each other. Giving him praise and thanksgiving for blessing our lives with these powerful relationships. Realizing we would not be where we are today if not for his grace and these friends.

And then the conversations we had with our three girls later that night and again on Sunday. They all know what good friends we are with these three other families. They know how much we love each other. But we’ve elevated that conversation now. Now we’re talking about why we love these families, why we take care of each other, why we cry when we pray together, how we depend on each other, how we’re getting to heaven together and cannot get there by ourselves. What a memorable lesson for our kids, to see their parents so involved in the lives of other people because of what God has done for us through Christ. How important for them to see, up close, that their parents rely on other Christians for strength and support. How impactful to see that our God works through his people to sustain his people. We don’t do this alone.

We live in an increasingly individualistic society that fights against God’s plan for his people to live their faith in community. God places us—calls us—to live together in a faith community, his Church, so we can help each other and support each other and grow and get better together. To get to heaven together. But we’re so busy plugging speakers and phones in our ears and gluing our eyes to the millions of screens at work and at home and even now in our cars that we don’t even see the people around us.

There can be three people sitting right next to each other on an airplane, all three sharing armrests, but watching three different entertainment programs on three different screens. They can sit like that together for three hours and never even look each other in the eye. We’re arranged in cubicles in our workplaces. This is my space. We fence off our yards. Speaking of MySpace, we have more meaningful conversations—if you can call those conversations—over a screen with people we’ve never met than with our own family. We watch screens while we’re in line at Wal-Mart and then check ourselves out with a debit card while being greeted and thanked and wished a nice day by a computerized voice from a tiny speaker. Even now in our cars we’ve got our children watching movies instead of interacting with each other. I can’t get anybody to make eye contact with me during an invitation following a sermon because they’re all glued to the song on the screen. Even if we’re singing “Jesus Loves Me” they don’t take their eyes off the screens.

I had lunch yesterday with one of our wonderful Legacy teenagers. And we talked about relationships and community. He brought it up, not me. He’s worried about it. He notices that we come in, go through the paces, grunt our “hello” and “how’s it going?” and then disappear until the following Sunday. We’re so individualistic.

Robert N. Bellah, a pretty well-known American sociologist describes our values today as “utilitarian individualism.” He says:

We are mostly driven by the need for personal success and vivid personal feelings. Marriage becomes an instrument for personal development, work becomes a vehicle for personal advancement, and the church a means for personal fulfillment. We simply live as if nobody else were here.

We need each other. Whether we admit it or not, whether we’ve ever thought about it or not, whether we ever realize it or not, we need each other. We’ll never get to heaven alone. We’ll never grow in our faith or be transformed into the image of Christ alone. We’ll never confess our sins, we’ll never make sacrifices, we’ll never serve or practice patience alone. We live our faith with each other in community.

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November 18, 2008

The college football season keeps getting weirder. The Big 12 has five teams in the top 12 while the SEC only has three. And now the SEC is filing civil charges against Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Strange.

This week’s “KK&C Top 20″ shows very little change from last week’s poll. Again, only 12 of our 20 pollsters checked in. And they split their #1 votes: four for Texas Tech, four for Alabama, and four for Florida. The Red Raiders are number one overall for the second straight week, finishing a mere nine votes ahead of the Tide. The only shifting in the top seven is Florida leap-frogging Texas from #4 to #3. Apparently the Gators’ 56-6 win over South Carolina was more impressive than the Horns’ 35-7 win at Kansas.

Charlie J makes his return as a pollster after a three-week absence to mourn over his Aggies. Fellow Aggie Jerry K hates casting his top vote for “Texas-I-Hate-Myself-Tech.” Die-hard Texas fan Mark H is openly rooting for the Sooners this week. And Steve F says the national championship game will decide once and for all the debate over superiority between the SEC and the Big 12. Steve also gives us this helpful nugget in explaining the intricacies of the BCS system: “If Tech gets by OU, and OU gets beat by Oklahoma State, and Missouri beats Texas (unless the Longhorns get beat by the Aggies—again) in the Big 12 Championship Game, and Alabama loses to either Auburn or Florida, and USC wins out, the Trojans will play for the National Championship.”

Thanks, Steve. Now I don’t want to watch any of it.

UNC and Florida State fell out of the poll. Cincy and Oregon State are both back in. You can see the entire poll, all the panelists’ comments, and complete pollster profiles by clicking here or by clicking on the green “KK&C Top 20” tab at the top of this page. Enjoy.

Joyful Perspective

November 14, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

Ask me how I’m doing and I may talk to you about my family, my job, or my own health. I may talk to you about my schedule, what I’ve done or what I’m planning to do. Ask the apostle Paul how he’s doing and he talks to you about Christ.

He only speaks about himself and his own affairs as they relate to his Lord and to the advance of God’s Kingdom.

In his letter to the Christians in Philippi, Paul is in prison but that “has really served to advance the Gospel.” Rival preachers are attacking him but “What does that matter? Christ is preached!” He doesn’t know whether he’s going to live or die, but he sees great benefit in both. To Paul, dying means going to be with his Lord. Living means serving his Lord to advance his cause.

The breathtakingly comprehensive nature of Paul’s devotion to Christ and his good news of salvation is the most theologically significant part of the first part of his letter to the Philippians. At the time he wrote, every major feature of his life—his physical comfort, the opinions others have about him, his position with respect to the secular world, the question of whether he lives or dies—are molded by his commitment to the spread of the good news. His perspective is shaped by his loyalty and devotion to his King.

What would our lives look like? What would our speech sound like? What would happen if we cultivated this joyful perspective? If the decisions we made and the ways we looked at life as it relates to our families, jobs, recreation, where we live, and the things we buy were considered from this radical Christ-centered perspective, what would we be as a people? What would we become?

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Back in the spring of 2001, Jason and Dan and Kevin and I gathered around my dining room table in Mesquite and vowed to serve our Lord and his Kingdom with everything we had. Together. We would do it together. We would pray for and with each other. We would encourage each other. We would challenge each other and we would hold each other accountable. We promised that day we would take care of each others’ families. We would support one anothers’ wives and kids. We would do this together.

For some reason we started calling ourselves the Four Horsemen. Kinda weird, but it stuck.

Seven years ago we had very little in common besides our intense desire to be loyal to our Savior. Today, there’s nothing that could ever separate us. We are the very best of friends. We all talk to each other weekly. We have a long lunch together in Dallas once a month. We spend the ACU Lectureships together every year. We have an annual campout every February. We support one another. We encourage one another. We pray together. We plan together. We counsel one another. We depend fully on one another. We selflessly serve one another.

But we dropped the ball with our wives and kids. Totally.

We’ve never incorporated our families into this most amazing Christian circle. Yes, we’re all friends. We all went to church together in Mesquite. But my life has changed significantly because of these three men. And they all three say the same thing. But our wives and children haven’t been in on it.

Since 2001, Carrie-Anne and Tiersa have become preachers’ wives. Tiersa’s way out in East Texas where “going to town” means a trip to Gilmer. Carrie-Anne’s gone back to school. Shelly’s raising two boys and twin girls and finding herself in charge of more and more at Dallas Christian. Debbie’s battling breast cancer and caring for aging parents. Each of our four families—each of our marriages—has gone through quite a bit of stress over the past six or seven years. We men have have found strength and encouragement in each other. But we’ve never included our wives.

Big mistake. I like to think it was short-sighted, not selfish.

That all changes tomorrow. We’re all spending the day together tomorrow at Stanglin Manor. Jason & Tiersa and their four kids, Kevin & Shelly and their four kids, Dan & Debbie and their three teenagers, and us. All 22 of us. Lots of visiting. Lots of sharing. Lots of open discussion. Lots of food. Maybe some college football. And lots and lots of prayer. A ton of prayer. We’ll renew our vows to each other to support and encourage one another. All of us. Together. We’ll promise to strengthen each other, to challenge each other, to comfort each other, and hold each other accountable. And we’ll get together like this, all of us, at least four times a year. This will become a quarterly deal for us.

By God’s grace we’ve been given another chance to make this right. And I’m really looking forward with great anticipation to what our Father is going to do with us and for us and through us to his glory.

Have a great weekend,

Allan

Category: Four Horsemen (Page 3 of 6)

Until I Come Back

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