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A Safe Place

April 18, 2016 / / 0 Comments

PrayerCongregation

Since last summer’s Supreme Court decision regarding gay marriage, the leadership here at Central has engaged in what we’ve called “conversations” about the issue. We’ve spent a few Saturday mornings together, elders and ministers, talking and studying and praying about our God’s will and listening for his clear direction. We started with “Scripture and Theology,” an in-depth look at what God reveals about homosexuality through his Word. We moved to “Gospel and Church,” listening to a panel of our own members whose children and siblings experience same-sex attraction. We mainly listened to our own brothers and sisters share their pains and their heartaches, share the experiences that, frankly, most of us elders and ministers don’t have. Then two weekends ago we went to “Ministry and Mission.” We brought in Sally Gary, the founder and director of CenterPeace, our sister and partner in the Gospel, to meet with our families, to talk and teach with our leadership, and to address our entire church during our Bible class hour on Sunday morning.

It was a powerful weekend for all of us.

Yesterday, Mike Robertson, one of our shepherds here at Central, talked to our church about our leadership conversations, a couple of key conclusions, and some next steps we’re already taking as it relates to ministry and mission in this volatile issue. I’ve condensed the text of his announcement here. This is for Central members who were absent from yesterday’s assembly, those who might want to be reminded of what was said, and anyone else who might benefit from our feeble efforts to walk faithfully with our God and his people.

“After the Supreme Court decision regarding gay marriage, your elders and ministers began studying what God says in his Word about the subject. As a result, it’s clear to us how God feels about sin — not just sexual immorality, homosexuality, or pornography; not just the sins we elevate and place on a high platform. Scripture lists dozens of sins Satan uses to tug at our hearts to pull us away from God. To be honest, some of the lower profile sins like greed, obscenity, course joking, and gossip hit much closer to home.

It has become painfully evident over the past few months that some of our own members at Central struggle with same-sex attraction. Also, a number of our Central families have children or other relatives who experience the same thing. We’ve listened to families describe the emotional scars they hold inside for fear of what their Christian brothers and sisters might think. One family here told us it was nearly six years before they could share their burden with their close friends at Central. One family feels their Bible class to this day is not a safe place for them to share their struggle and pain.

We should have been talking about this issue and the resulting pain ten years ago, not just beginning it now because the Supreme Court pushed us!

Once our deficiency became excruciatingly obvious, our staff led us to reach out to Sally Gary. We thank God for Christians like Sally who are willing to stand up and share their personal struggles and help others walk with God. But ministry on a deep and personal level like Sally’s can only occur where there is a safe Godly place for support and love.

I hope that you were blessed as I was by her presentation during our class time two weeks ago. I know there were a number who weren’t excited about the topic and a little fearful as to what would be said. Initially, I was there with you. But God has been working on my heart through this process. Sally’s story impacted me not because of the topic but because of the message. She grew up in a loving, Godly family and, as she said, a “good little Church of Christ girl.” But her family, both physical and spiritual, was one with which she could not share her struggles. As a father of three grown children and three additional children by marriage, a grandfather, a husband, and now an elder, I’m not sure I have been that loving, nurturing person with whom my family, physical and spiritual, can feel safe sharing their hurts, their pains, and their sins and still know they’re deeply loved. I may have been the firm, strong father rather than the safe, loving, nurturing father. Since Sally’s presentation, I have asked God to show me how to be the safe, loving father and husband and elder and servant of Jesus Christ. I refuse to be an un-safe servant of Christ. Hopefully, soon, I will know what that looks like and I pray that you strive with all your being to be a safe place through which God can work and minister. Our vision at Central is “Becoming Like Christ for the Sake of _______.” I personally feel like over the past few months, my blank has gotten bigger.

So, what’s next for Central?

~ We envision that the body of Christ at Central will be a safe place for everybody. As a leadership, we pledge to do the hard work necessary to make Central a place where we can talk openly and honestly about our struggles without wondering whether or not we’re going to be loved and accepted.

~ We may not always know what this looks like, but there are those who have walked this road and gone before. On the issue of same-sex attraction, one such individual who has walked a lonely road is Sally Gary. We will utilize her experience to guide our efforts. Her CenterPeace ministry offers numerous retreats and resources for both those who experience same-sex attraction and for their families who struggle with them. If you or your family feel like you could benefit from a CenterPeace retreat, we’d like to help you make that happen. We want to minister to our church family.

~ We do pledge to listen to where God is calling us to minister. Don’t be surprised if God taps you on the shoulder and asks you to be a safe place for ministry.

~ Please do not let your fears or your opinions or pains on this issue build this into something it’s not.

~ We all need safe avenues within the church for honest conversation. We are going to be safe elders and safe ministers. And we all envision a congregation full of safe brothers and sisters who can talk openly about anything in a context of unconditional love and support.

If you have any questions, please visit with an elder or minister. If you or your family are currently struggling with any sin — any sin! — or any issue, please know that the leadership here is a safe place for sharing and walking side by side.”

I’m grateful to belong to a ministry-minded church like Central. I praise God that he placed my family and me with a congregation of brothers and sisters who are not afraid to learn new things, who display little fear in branching out to try new ministries in new areas of need, and who tackle all new opportunities with gusto. And, man, our elders! What a great bunch of godly men who pray without ceasing and who would much rather err on the side of love and grace than write policies and rules.

May we be wide open to whatever our Lord is sending our way. May we love and minister, console and teach, in the name and manner of Jesus. And may our God’s will be done here at Central and in Amarillo just as it is in heaven.

Peace,

Allan

The Counter Cultural Way

March 8, 2016 / / 0 Comments

JesusPraysInPainThe Word of God confronts us with two ways. The Law and the Prophets, the Psalms and Proverbs, the Gospels and Letters all present us with the choice of two ways. It’s not where you’re going to live or what career you’re going to pursue or who you’re going to marry or where you’re going to eat. The choice given us in Scripture certainly encompasses and impacts all the daily choices we make while we live in those places with the people we marry and in the work we do and while we’re eating lunch. But there’s only one choice in the Bible: the way of life of the way of death; the way of blessing or the way of curses; the way of God or the way of the devil.

Jesus says, “I am the Way.” I am the Way to God and I’m also the way God comes to you. I’m a two-way Way. And so we choose Jesus. And when we choose Jesus, what is it specifically that we’ve chosen? What are we signing up for when we say “Yes” to Jesus?

Well, the Gospels tell us plainly that Jesus’ Way is counter cultural. Popularity and power mean just about everything in our society, but popularity and power mean absolutely nothing to our Lord. In the Gospels, it looks like Herod has the power. The governing officials in the Roman Empire have all the power. So the Roman soldiers. The religious leaders have a lot of power. The chief priests and teachers of the Law and the Sanhedrin wield plenty of power. And all of these people and groups seem to have their way with Jesus. Jesus is the lowly servant who’s despised and rejected, beaten and crucified. Cursed by God and man.

But remember the centurion clearly sees the truth when he sees how Jesus dies: “Surely this man was the Son of God.”

Jesus’ way is upside down. It’s counter cultural. Our default, though, is the pursue the ways of the world. As disciples of Jesus individually and as churches of God collectively, we’re not very careful with this. Without even thinking about it, we embrace and adopt the ways of the culture. We imitate the ways used by powerful people who run large companies and corporations, high profile people who lead political parties and nations. By threat and force and power; with money and might; by out-yelling and out-insulting others; by demonizing those who disagree with us; by walling ourselves off from anyone who may do us harm. And we don’t even consider that those ways are totally at odds with the way of Jesus.

We see accomplished men who’ve achieved great success by using these worldly methods and we make them elders of the church. We make these guys preachers of the Word. Whatever the culture decides is exciting and successful and influential, whatever gets things done, whatever will gather a crowd.

We usually have to take four or five different looks at guys whose main character traits are gentleness and humility before we consider them for leadership roles — if we even look at those kinds of guys at all. Shouldn’t the man who lives only to serve others be moved to the top of the list? Shouldn’t the guys who consider the needs of others more important than their own, the guys who refuse to advance their own agenda, the guys who you’ve never heard say one bad thing about anybody else, shouldn’t they be the frontrunners for leadership positions in our congregations? Shouldn’t they be the ones to set the tone in our churches?

Peace,

Allan

Church: No Whining Zone

July 8, 2014 / / 1 Comment

“Do all things without complaining or arguing.” ~Philippians 2:14

The Greek word in the original text is panta: all things, everything, total, complete, whole, every kind of, all of it, the whole enchilada. No matter how you translate it, there’s not one part of your life as a disciple of Christ that is not implicated here. Most of us, I think, are pretty good at doing most things without complaining or arguing. Most of us. But all things? Everything?

Just so you’re fully prepared for what is about to follow, here’s the whole text:

“Do all things without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” ~Philippians 2:14-16

Paul takes complaining and arguing very seriously. According to the apostle, God’s purpose for you, what God is working in you, what transforms you into blameless and pure children of God, what allows you to shine like stars as a powerful witness to the difference he makes in the lives of his children, which is God’s whole plan for you — all of that begins with “Do all things without complaining or arguing.”

When you’re complaining or arguing, your Christian witness is hindered, if not completely destroyed. You have no credibility with the world.

You claim to be a child of the sovereign Creator of heaven and earth, you claim to be a subject of the eternal Lord who has defeated sin and death and Satan and reigns right now today at the right hand of God, you claim to be a citizen of heaven, a citizen of the Kingdom that cannot be shaken, you claim to belong to a God who promises to always protect and provide, but when you complain and argue you’re telling the world you don’t believe a word of it. Your behavior contradicts your belief. You live like those things don’t really matter, like they have no impact on your life. And it wrecks your testimony. Why would anyone think that your belief and your faith work for all the massive eternal questions, why would they suppose your allegiance to Christ and his Kingdom provides all the answers to sin and suffering and death, if it won’t even work at the Whataburger drive-thru or in line at the post office?

Sometimes I think we actually reward this godless behavior in the Church.

Church positions should never be formed and church decisions should never be made based on who’s going to complain. Church policy can’t be based on complaining or arguing because complaining and arguing have no place in the lives of God’s people, much less a prominent place in an important decision-making process. When we allow the complainers to dictate the direction — or non-direction — of the congregation, we’re honoring and rewarding the outright disobedience of one of God’s direct commands. It’s like finding a dozen people in the church who are suffering personal bankruptcy or presiding over failed businesses to chair the church’s finance committee and set the annual budgets. It’s the same as allowing six or seven guys who are currently cheating on their wives to teach the young marrieds class.

Why do we honor the complainers?

In Deuteronomy 32, the grumblers and complainers were punished by God. They were declared by God to not be his children anymore because of their complaining. Yet, so many of our church leaders honor the complainers by bowing to their grumblings when it comes to charting the direction of the congregation.

I would gently suggest that we all — panta all — pledge from this moment forward to take complaining and arguing as seriously as the apostle Paul does. Vow to stop doing it. Church leaders, promise to stop rewarding it.

Peace,

Allan

 

For Church Leaders

April 28, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“Consider that there is nothing in this life, and especially in our own day, more easy and pleasant and acceptable to men than the office of bishop or priest or deacon, if its duties be discharged in a mechanical or sycophantic way; but nothing more worthless and deplorable and meet for chastisement in the sight of God. And, on the other hand, that there is nothing in this life, and especially in our own day, more difficult, toilsome, and hazardous than the office of bishop or priest or deacon; but nothing more blessed in the sight of God, if our service be in accordance with our Captain’s orders.”

~Augustine to Valerius on his ordination at Hippo

For the Sake of Amarillo

April 5, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Our spring leadership retreat — all of the Central elders and ministers and our spouses — begins tonight in a different kind of setting than what we’re used to. We’re actually holding the retreat at First United Bank where, Scott Bentley guarantees, if your money is once saved, it’s always saved. Instead of crowding in to the Upper Room or freezing in a cabin in the canyon, we’re meeting in the warm atmosphere of a tastefully decorated conference area. Thank you, Scott! And we’re each going home tonight to our own beds in our own homes. Let the person who committed her life to you listen to you snore, not me!

As an important bonus, the meals are being provided for us at the bank, so we won’t be bothered by that delicate and awkward conversation in which the majority of us steer the rest of the group away from El Camino in Tulia without hurting anybody’s feelings.

For this year’s retreat, we’ve brought in a ringer. David Wray is a long-time elder at the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene. Before teaching and serving as an administrator in the College of Biblical Studies at ACU, he served for 20 years in congregational ministry. Right now, David is serving as the interim director for ElderLink and continually consulting with church leaders to promote healthy congregations and genuine Kingdom living in our communities of faith. We are so thankful to have David with us this weekend. We’re praying that our God will speak powerfully through him and that we would have ears to hear.

We’re in the middle of a very important season in the on-going story of God’s presence with his people at Central. We’re honored by our God just to be here together at this time. We believe we are called by our God to something much bigger than just the Central Church of Christ. We believe that we are meant to aspire to much more than just our own individual hopes and dreams. We believe our Lord has an eternal purpose for us in Amarillo that will result in transformed lives and will dramatically change our city for the Kingdom of God.

David is a big part of this conversation and the planning.

The theme this weekend is “Bearing the Image of Christ for the Sake of Amarillo.” Tonight we’re going to talk about the current realities we’re facing as a culture and a church. David will help us diagnose and properly analyze the post-modern, post-denominational, post-Christendom world in which we now live. And we’ll acknowledge together tonight that, yes, things have changed and so must we.

Tomorrow, we’re going to dive in to spiritual formation. How are we as leaders being formed in the image of Christ? And how are the members at Central being shaped to look and act more like our Lord? In what settings does it happen? What are we doing to foster spiritual growth and how are we measuring it? I have some ideas; I’m anxious to hear David’s.

Then tomorrow afternoon we’ll get down to change and change dynamics in a church. How do we move forward intentionally, with purpose, and not lose traction with what we feel our God is leading us to do? We’ll spend the afternoon dreaming together, setting goals, assigning action items, and praying. Lots of praying.

David will also be teaching our adult Bible classes Sunday morning in a combined setting in Sneed Hall. We’ll be able to explore with our church family the ideas around spiritual formation, bearing the image of Jesus for the sake of others, and what that looks like. Then in Sunday’s sermon, David will challenge our church to witness to all of Amarillo. He’ll push us to be church on Monday, too, and all the other days of the week.

I’m so looking forward to what our God has planned for us this weekend. Our leadership has already been studying and reading, discussing and praying through Seeking a Lasting City. We’re about two-thirds of the way through and have been inspired to move forward with some things we’ve all wanted to do for a long time. We’re into the heart now of our study of Renewing God’s People in our adult Bible classes. And we’re finding that our whole church is excited to reclaim and practice again the very best parts of the original Stone-Campbell vision. Our God is talking to us through his servants Doug Foster and David Wray. And we’re listening.

Would you please be in prayer this weekend for the city of Amarillo and for this congregation of Christ-followers at Central. Pray that our God would bless us richly with his mercies of wisdom and divine leading. Pray that the scales would fall from our eyes and that we would see our God and the holy purposes he has for us in this town very clearly. May we pay attention to God and may we act boldly. During this concentrated season of study and prayer, of reflection and planning, let us depend on the guidance of our heavenly Father, the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus, and the equipping and confidence-bestowing power of the Holy Spirit.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A lot of you know Jake Reeves. He was born and raised in and by the Central Church of Christ. The son of our George and Gaye Reeves, Jake has been “ours” now for twenty years. Some of you reading this post have changed Jake’s diapers (not recently). Some of you taught him in Bible class. You took Jake on mission trips, you hosted him in your homes as Huddles leaders, you patted him on the back and told him you were proud of him when he led a prayer or read a Scripture during the assembly. As a church, we encouraged Jake and challenged him; together we pushed him and corrected him. We loved him. We still do. As a church, we poured ourselves into Jake. He belongs to us.

Today, Jake Reeves is in Kenya. And he’s digging wells and feeding children and comforting the sick and preaching — yeah, Jake is preaching! — in the name and manner of Jesus for the sake of others. You gave yourselves to Jake and now he’s giving himself for others. You believed in Jake as a gift to us from God and now he believes in what our God is working through him to give to others. We acted like Jake was ours and now Jake knows he really belongs to God.

Our children are our most valuable asset. Our kids here at Central are a precious gift from our God. And we’re not raising them to be giants of industry; we’re not pushing them to be superstar athletes; we’re not nurturing them to be popular or wealthy or successful. We’re raising them to understand they belong to our Father in heaven and they have a purpose in this world that’s much bigger than themselves. Much bigger even than their home congregation that loves them so much.

You can read Jake’s blog by clicking here. After you read a few posts and are thoroughly inspired, lift a prayer of thanksgiving to our God for the work he is doing now and will be doing in the future through our Central kids. Then commit to spending more time with our kids, pouring your love and encouragement into their hearts. Our children of Central are a gift from God. And with that gift comes great responsibility.

Peace,

Allan

Sticking Around

March 25, 2013 / / 1 Comment

I’ve been told that a preacher doesn’t really start ministering to his church until he’s been there for five years. He can’t really do much until he’s reached that point. The wisdom goes that for the first two years at a church the preacher can do nothing wrong; for the next two years the preacher can do nothing right; and it takes the whole fifth year for him to realize what God’s called him to that particular congregation to do.

I want to be a guy who sticks around a long time.

In  a beautiful ceremony marked by both laughter and tears, prayers and pledges, we ordained our three additional shepherds here at Central yesterday. Scott and Larry and John Todd were charged and blessed appropriately and encouraged vigorously as they accepted the calling and the responsibilities that go with it.

And John Todd Cornett painted an exquisite portrait of the benefits of sticking around. He’s been here a while.

Thirty-three years and one day earlier, as a young boy of 12, John Todd was baptized by his dad in the Central chapel. His parents’ good friends, Leon and Marilyn Wood, were there. Of course, they were always there; always had been. Leon brought his toolbox over to the Cornetts’ house all the time to fix things and make general repairs because John Todd’s dad wasn’t very handy in those ways. John Todd would follow Leon around as he worked on a cabinet or replaced a leaky faucet. When John Todd was given a little toy toolbox for his fourth birthday, he called it his “Leon.”

As a whole lot of us were, John Todd was awarded a brand new Bible by his church when he graduated high school in 1985. Of course, it had the signatures of all the Central elders on the inside cover. And he still carries that same Bible, the one with the names.

Yesterday, our church family publicly acknowledged John Todd as a shepherd at Central, gifted and called by God’s Holy Spirit to this ministry at his home congregation. He and Scott and Larry join an outstanding group of faithful and godly men that includes Leon Wood. John Todd and Leon are now serving God’s church at Central together as elders. Former elder Warlick Thomas read our Scripture from 1 Peter 5 yesterday and led our congregation in a prayer of thanksgiving for our shepherds. Former elder Shelby Stapleton presided over the Lord’s Meal. Former elder Jack Vincent was chosen to lead our benediction. Former elder Bill Johnson’s widow, Sue Johnson, was one of the first ones to hug John Todd after the assembly. Now, John Todd is one of their elders. And, yeah, John Todd would roll his eyes and stop me from even finishing that sentence if he were here in my office right now. But it’s true.

Naturally, he thanked those men and others in our church family who have had such a profound impact on his life. And it was nice. Touching. But then he addressed the high school kids. John Todd leaned over the stage toward where our young people were sitting, and spoke directly to the young boys. Most, if not all, of these boys, John Todd has mentored and taught over the years in our Muddles program. He knows these boys. All of them. He loves them. And he spoke to them. He urged them to see themselves as God sees them. He begged them to find older men in the congregation who would pour into their lives. He asked them to be open to how the Spirit would use other men in our church to shape them and transform them into the godly leaders our Father wants them to be.He showed them the holy link, his connections to the ones who had gone before him and the ones he was talking to right then who were coming up behind. He told them they had the same connections and responsibilities. It was perfectly beautiful. And we all got it.

There’s something really, really special about sticking around. There’s a symmetry there, an eternal circle that’s evident when one sticks around.

At Jerry Humble’s funeral earlier this month, two of Bill’s former students at ACU, a missionary and an elder here at Central, presided over the service in the same chapel where Bill and Jerry had worshiped on their first trip to Texas from Missouri back in 1946. So long ago Bill had poured his love and knowledge into them. Now they were pouring their love and comfort into Bill.

It happens all the time around here. It testifies to the faithfulness of our God. It’s a witness to our Lord’s loyalty, to his patience, to his enduring promises that never fail. The history of the people in this place together is a gift from our Father. It reminds us of the steadfast nature of his love. It’s an increasingly uncommon thing in our increasingly mobile and individualistic culture and society. I’m so blessed to see it and experience it fairly regularly around here.

I pray our God will work in ways that compel more and more of us to stick around.

Peace,

Allan

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