Category: Legacy Construction (Page 5 of 6)

Is A Popular God….? Part Two. No Asterisk.

August 8, 2007 / Allan / 14 Comments

Today’s blog post contains a heavy amount of sports and sports analogies. But it is not tainted! It’s not! It’s not tainted!

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Continuing the thoughts from yesterday on “seeker-friendly” worship services, let me insert a comment from Cynthia that maybe some of you missed.

Thanks for saying so well what troubles my heart so often. We speak of making the church more attractive to seekers, but why do we assume that they are seeking more of what they already have in the world? If the life Christians live in Christ is different than the life lived in the world, shouldn’t the homage and adoration of our worship experience differ from the adulation given to cultural celebrities.

More and more, I am convinced that private worship (the assembly of the church) should not be attractional. Rather, it is in our public worship (Christ living in us as we move about in the world) where we should seek to attract the unbeliever.

I took the girls to the Rangers game last night and enjoyed a fairly well played, exciting at times, sporting event. Whitney and I spent a great deal of time talking strategy — hitting behind runners, playing at double-play depth, and running out grounders — using baseball-specific terminology such as RBIs, bullpen, full-count, hitter’s eye, foul ball, off-speed, check swing, ERA, and dugout. That communication during the game enhanced our enjoyment of the game, our appreciation of the game, and our relationship with each other in connection with the game.

Now imagine that, instead of Whitney, I was sitting next to someone who had never in his life seen a baseball game — a guy from another country, who’d never been to a baseball stadium or held a bat or seen a game on TV. There’s no way in the world that guy can attain the same level of understanding and appreciation for the game after watching it for those three hours that you and I have after watching it for 40 years. How long would it take him? Even if I tried to explain every single nuance of every single play and every single word in the baseball language, how long would it take?

Then why do we think we can convert a person who knows nothing about Jesus during a one-hour worship service? Why do we try? Won’t that person have to come to our services over and over again, for weeks and months, before he gets a sense of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it?

Maybe this is a better analogy. Suppose you’re the football coach of a playoff team in the championship game. Everything’s on the line. You’re in the lockerroom just ten minutes before kickoff, going over last minute details and instructions that will be critical to your team’s success. These are things that your team needs to hear and remember and immediately apply if they’re to win the battle.

“Charlie, remember that if the tackle moves into that three-gap he’s stunting inside. Make sure you release into the flat as a safety valve”

“Dan, don’t forget they’re going to cover-two deep but they’ll disguise it every time with a 4-3 blitz look just before the snap.”

“Kevin, we’ve been working on the deep fly to the Z back all week, but we’re changing our protection. Sid’s going to stay in the box and pick up the corner.”

“Watch the weak-side double. Remember to read the tight end’s stance. Don’t get suckered in on the draw…..”

And in the middle of all that — you giving your troops these critical instructions that mean success or failure in the fight — the team owner walks into the middle of your lockerroom and says, “Coach, I’ve brought in these seven guys from Kenya who’ve never seen a football game before. They only know soccer. They’re going to watch the game with me in my box. Can you explain to them everything you’re saying to your team right now? Help them understand what you’re saying.”

Right there in the middle of your pre-game speech, right there in the middle of your lockerroom. How do you do that?

Why do we try?

Origen said that if someone wanders into our church building off the streets while we’re praying, he should sense a “double church,” one that is seen, which may not always be attractive, and another that is unseen. Visitors should expect a little vertigo when they worship with us, a little disorientation. Allan McNicol says Christian worship done well communicates to outsiders that it’s not on a mundane dimension, it involves another world. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14:25 that the unbeliever who comes into our midst will be so moved by the other-worldly nature of our worship that “he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!'”

The greatest gift our worship can confer to a believer and to an outsider is a glimpse, however fleeting, of another city, another scene, another dimension.

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Back to last night’s ballgame and Barry Bonds* and Michael Irvin right after this……

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Legacy Worship Center Construction Update

The massive piles of dirt have now been dubbed the “Legacy Mountains.” I’m looking forward to watching several impromptu games of King of the Hill tonight after Bible classes. In fact, I’d be disappointed in the young people of today if I didn’t see any of that this evening.

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I always love going to the Rangers games. Valerie and Carley only care about the intrusive music between innings and pitches and the cotton candy while Whitney hangs on every pitch and every play just like her dad. There wasn’t a pitching change made or a defensive replacement brought in or a pinch runner added that she didn’t look up his bio and stats in the program. What a great gal!

Last night we got to watch a rising fan favorite in Marlon Byrd hit a go-ahead three-run homer, some clutch pitching from C. J. Wilson, and some nice defensive plays from Mike Young. It got a little uncomfortable when the A’s started pounding Frankie Francisco and mounted a bit of a comeback. But Texas held on and got the “W” and we all went home happy. I couldn’t help thinking though, from the first pitch to the final out, it sure would be nice if this meant something, if it really mattered at all. The victory keeps the Rangers 17-1/2 games out of first place.

I don’t know what to say about Barry Bonds* that hasn’t already been said, over and over and over again, for the past five or six years. It’s nauseating. What a great contrast between him and Hank Aaron on both personal and professional levels. I suppose if we didn’t have the bad guys, we wouldn’t truly appreciate the good ones. The same kind of contrast was on brilliant display in Canton Saturday evening. Michael Irvin sharing the same stage and accolades as Bruce Matthews and Roger Wehrli and Charlie Sanders brought back memories of the old Sesame Street bit: one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong.

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Just 22 more days until football season and Bobby Layne is the second greatest player to ever wear the #22. The top honor, of course (come on!), goes to the all-time leading rusher in NFL history, Emmitt Smith. 13 records at Florida. Three Super Bowl victories with the Cowboys. He led the NFL in rushing four times. He was the league MVP in 1993, the Super Bowl XXVII MVP in ’92. He went to eight Pro Bowls. He set the NFL record for rushing TDs with 155. And his 17,418 career rushing yards are the most ever.

As great as he was, he’s routinely left out of most of the debates about best running back ever. And I have no clue as to why. He barely makes the top ten of most national lists. I don’t see how he’s not an automatic top three in every single all-time running backs list that’s compiled by anybody, anywhere. The only argument should be whether he’s the all-time greatest or number two or three. That’s it. First downs. Touchdowns. Durability. Leadership. Determination. Strength. Speed. He had it all.

Don’t say Barry Sanders could have had the record if he didn’t quit. He did quit. And he didn’t get the record. To me, there’s no comparison.

My word, that’s more than enough to chew on for one day.

Peace,

Allan

Is A Popular God Really God At All?

August 7, 2007 / Allan / 8 Comments

What if the decisions we make regarding our worship practices and our worship services were made mainly with the visitors in mind? What if we shaped our services so that “seekers” would feel welcome and unoffended? What if we planned the order of worship, the presentation of the Lord’s Supper, which songs we sing and which ones we dump, and carefully watched the clock with mainly the visitors in mind?

We would assume that our visitors — seekers, unchurched, whatever — would like things to be upbeat and simple. Silent prayer and expressions of confession and / or lament would be out the window. We would only sing up tempo songs that have been written in the last 20 years, preferably ones our culture hears on their radios. To appeal to our visitors, we would spend much less time on sin and judgment and holy living and much more time on personal growth and self-realization.

In an article by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. in Perspectives in 1993, the author speaks of the movement in our churches to bring in celebrity speakers such as Tommy Lasorda to speak during worship about how “the great Dodger in the sky” has helped him win games and lose weight.

“And on it goes, in various combinations of novelty, some of them mild and some very aggressive indeed. At the most advanced level of popular worship, imagine a High Five for Jesus replacing the Apostles’ Creed, and imagine praise time beginning when somebody shouts, “Gimme a G! Gimme an O!…”

That was written in May, 1993. And today, just 14 years later, our kids are led during worship to shout “Gimme a J! You got yo’ J, you got yo’ J, you got yo’ J! Gimme an E! You got yo’ E…..” to spell out the name of our Lord and Savior who suffered and died for my rebellion and sins.

And I cringe.

Here’s the question: what if some of this stuff does not reflect the Christian faith or worship very well? What’s the point of doing it? Why bother with it?

Again, from Plantinga: “What if by offering popularized religion as an appetizer for unbelievers we should accidentally spoil their appetite for the real thing? Suppose your ten-year-old does not like your heart-healthy dinner menu, so you arrange a seeker meal for him in which you offer some non-threatening Pringles. You do this in order to set up his taste buds for baked potatoes. I wonder how often that would work.

Suppose a seeker came away from a service of the kind I’ve been describing and said to herself, Now I understand what the Christian faith is all about: it’s not about lament, or repentance, or humbling oneself before God. It’s got nothing to do with a lot of boring doctrines. It’s not about the hard, disciplined work of mortifying our old nature and learning to make God’s purposes our own. It’s not about the inevitable failures in this project, and the terrible grace of Jesus Christ that comes so that we may begin again. Not at all! I had it all wrong! The Christian faith is mainly about celebration and fun and personal growth and five ways to boost my self-esteem!

How do you prevent that conclusion? Or, to put the question very generally: How likely is it that a popular God is really God? How likely is it that a user-friendly God will rebuke sin? Or save people with transcendent and unexpected force? Or have to suffer to do it? Or call us to suffering and discipline as well as to joy and freedom?”

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Legacy Worship Center Construction Update

Dirt has moved and is being moved with teriffic force and accuracy!

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There are 23 days left until football season officially begins with the first real college football games. Real games that matter. Not preseason scrimmages.

And the greatest football player to ever wear #23 is Lance Alworth. Nicknamed “Bambi” because of his effortless glide and elegant grace in the open field and his elusive escapability in a crowd, Alworth wore the #23 as an All-America wideout / halfback / punter for the Arkansas Razorbacks. (Shout out to Gardner!) He spent nine years of his pro career as a seven-time All-AFL star for the San Diego Chargers, leading that league in receving three times and, at one point, catching passes in 96 straight games.

Alworth finished his football with the Dallas Cowboys, scoring the very first touchdown in Super Bowl VI. Born in Houston, he was the very first AFL player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He did wear his Razorback #23 for his first two seasons in San Diego, as you can see from this 1963 football card. And, I’m not sure why he switched. The AFL, to my knowledge, never had the strict number rules the NFL has now. His #19 throwback powder-blue Chargers jersey, the one he wore for seven seasons, is a top three seller every year. But Lance Alworth is the greatest player to ever wear #23.

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Taking the girls to the Rangers game tonight. Hopefully they won’t be down 6-0 before we get to our seats.

Peace,

Allan

Practice Playing Second Fiddle

August 6, 2007 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Romans 12:3

There are certain passages of Scripture that I think should be read regularly in our public Christian assemblies because of the forming effect they have on us. Passages that speak to the loving and gracious nature of our God, his will for his people, and our mission as disciples of Christ serve to shape our mindset and our way of living with each other and in our world. The Word of God should mold us into the image of Jesus. And reading it together, especially passages that speak to these specific things, would go a long way in redirecting our focus from the little matters to the more important aspects of our lives of faith.

One such passage is the very familiar “living sacrifice” section of Romans 12. I’ve read Romans 12 out loud six times already today, once at our regular Monday morning staff meeting. It’s always had tremendous power to properly shape my perspective. In times of discouragment, or in times when I’m thinking too highly of myself, Romans 12 has always spoken to me, turning me towards the big-picture view of life in Christ and my place in it.

Let me share with you Eugene Peterson’s translation of Romans 12:4-21 from The Message:

“We are like the various parts of the human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

If you preach, just preach God’s message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it.’

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, give him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.”

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Legacy Worship Center Construction Update:

Dirt is moving!

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We had a fantastic time on our mini-family-vacation to Marble Falls. It was so great to worship with our dear friends at the Marble Falls Church Wednesday evening and to share, in some small insignificant way, the heartache of dealing with the flood of late June. We heard so many stories and saw so many amazing pictures. And the evidence of those horrible days is still all around: flood debris still clinging to power lines some 20-feet above the roads, washed out roads and bridges, creek beds that are permanantly now four times wider and deeper than they were before the rains. We wish nothing but all of God’s richest blessings for the good people of that great town, especially the Jamars as they rebuild their house, the Youngs and the Montgomerys as they continue to clean up, the Burdetts and the Longs as they recover from huge business losses, and the other dozen or so families of Christians down there.

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On the way to Marble Falls on Wednesday we made our bi-annual trip to the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco.

We did a little antique shopping in Salado

We stayed with our great friends Mike & Lee Ann Clark and saw nothing of Jennifer or Ashley, not enough of Logan, and too much of the cats!

We spent all day Thursday at Schlitterbahn and nearly froze our Schlitterbuns!

Friday we took in the Texas History Museum in Austin.

And then Saturday it was movie audition day for Valerie. We waited for almost two hours before they finally called her in. And she was only in there for about 60-seconds! All they did was take a couple of pictures and ask her one or two very general questions about her family and her summer on camera. There were at least 20-25 boys being auditioned from school districts all over central Texas. But Valerie was the only girl in the building. We were told later that they were looking at 300 or so boys, but only four girls. We have no idea what kind of movie this is, what the parts or the roles are, or what they have in mind for Valerie. They only told us it would be six months to a year before we’d be contacted. It’s not quite “don’t call us, we’ll call you,” but almost.

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There are only 24 days left until the REAL football season begins—none of this preseason mess. And today’s number 24 is Johnny “Lam” Jones from Lampasas High School. Johnny Lam wore #26 at the University of Texas where, as a Longhorn, he was a two-time All-America running back and flanker who scored eight touchdowns of 45 yards or longer. He wore #80 as the very first ever professional football player to sign a million dollar contract when the Jets traded two number one picks to the 49ers in order to select him second overall in 1980. But he wore #24 as a Lampasas Badger—the “Lam” stands for his hometown of Lampasas—where he wowed all of Central Texas on the football field and on the track. He won state championships, Southwest Conference championships, national championships, and an Olympic gold medal. And when he played for the Jets, from 1980-86, he was the fastest player in the NFL. I don’t have a picture of Lam Jones in his #24 Lampasas jersey. If you can find one, please pass it along.

#25 is Raiders great Fred Biletnikoff. He was an All-America reciever at Florida State before being taken second overall by Oakland in 1965. He was durable and tough. He had deceptive speed and amazing hands. He was the NFL receptions leader in 1971, made all conference four times, and went to four Pro Bowls. While he was a Raider, Oakland played in nine conference title games and two Super Bowls. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XI. And the Fred Biletnikoff Award goes to the best receiver in college football every year.

Herb Adderley is my all-time greatest #26. Drafted as a running back by Vince Lombardi and the Packers out of Michigan State, Adderley made the switch to cornerback late in his rookie season and had a Hall of Fame career with Green Bay and the Cowboys: 48 picks, 1,046 return yards, five NFL championships, four Super Bowls, and five Pro Bowls.

The greatest to ever wear #27 is Oilers and Redskins safety Ken Houston. Out of Prarie View A&M, Houston was a ninth-round pick of the Oilers in 1967 and then traded to Washington six years later for five players. He had speed, quickness, and size, punishing runners and receivers with huge blows on every tackle. He finished his career with 49 interceptions and nine TDs, made ten Pro Bowls, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.

Finally, the greatest football player to ever wear #28 is Abilene Christian and Philadelphia Eagle star Wilbert Montgomery. He didn’t want to go to Jackson State where he’d have to play behind his cousin, Walter Payton. So he wound up in Abilene where he scored a 56 yard touchdown on his first ever carry and a 39 yard touchdown on his first ever catch. He took the ACU Wildcats to the NAIA National Championship in 1973, scoring 37 touchdowns that freshman year, and finished his college career with a national record 70 TDs.

As #31 with the Philadelphia Eagles he ran over the Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game for 194 yards. Montgomery went 42 yards for a score on the second play of that game, setting the tone for what was a long, frigid afternoon in Philly for the Danny-White led Cowboys. Following his eight years with the Eagles, he finished up with two seasons in Detroit. Montgomery’s in the College Football Hall of Fame (check out his ‘do!) and the forty-second leading rusher in NFL history. The great Darryl Green deserves honorable mention, but Wilbert Montgomery’s the best football player to ever wear #28. Thanks to Kipi and Paul and Gary for helping me hunt down the pictures.

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I’ll close today with the words of a dear friend of mine, Charlie Johansson:

“Never doubt yourself because you are called and gifted by God. He will use the good times to encourage you and the bad times to humble you. Both are needed.”

Peace,

Allan

No Fear, No Doubt

July 31, 2007 / Allan / 3 Comments

I submitted a photo of myself to the Simpsons website that Simpson-izes images.

This is me.

It looks exactly like me. Except for the gray hair.

Thanks, Jennifer Green, for the link.

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We don’t have to look around and conduct surveys or read books or bring in experts to tell us what our mission in Christian ministry is. We’re assured in Ephesians 2 that God prepares in advance those works for us to do. We can’t open our eyes or drive two blocks or turn around without running into a person or a family or a situation that is desperately crying out for the love of God in Jesus. People all around us are dying for reconciliation. They need forgiveness. They need peace. Their lives are empty without the things only God can give them. And because the mission is all around us, because it surrounds us in its enormity, we’re usually intimidated. It’s too big. The mission is obvious but we don’t know where to start. We’re only one person or one church in a sea of lost people and hopeless circumstances. But if we’ll just step out in faith with the God who gives us the ministry, we can be certain his mission will be accomplished. He works through us and in us. He uses us for his will and his Kingdom. He takes us in our unique settings with our unique talents and quirks and abilities and puts us in places and situations in which those gifts can be utilized for Christian ministry.

It’s only by his grace, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3, that we build on the foundations laid before us. It’s not me, Paul continues in that same letter. It’s not us. We are what we are and we do what we do only by the grace of God. And because it’s a God-given mission that we perform with God-given gifts, nothing else should really matter. We should have no misgivings about risking our reputations to reach out with God’s love to strangers. There should be no hesitation in helping others. We’re not afraid to get out of our houses and church buildings to join the Father’s work in progress.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in Spiritual Care: “I expect naught from myself, everything from the work of Christ. My service has its objectivity in that expectation and by it I am freed from all anxiety about my insufficiency and failure.”

No fear, no doubt.

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

Putting our faith in God — not in our programs and planning or in our abilities — is the key to Christian ministry.

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$Teixeira$ Add Mark Teixeira to the LONG list of Texas Rangers who leave Arlington to win championships in another city for another team. There is nobody on that Rangers team who’s wanted to build a winner right here and do great things as a team right here than Teixeira. Nobody.

I don’t blame him. I don’t blame Scott Boras. I blame Tom Hicks. He’s lost another great one. And this one is a team leader who leads with character and work ethic and selflessness. And he wanted to be a Ranger. He wanted to stay. If he could only see some hope of some light at the end of the tunnel some day.

I’ve never rooted for the Braves. But I’m rooting hard for a great guy who’s now playing first base in Atlanta.

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For the past week Whitney has been chewing gum every day and eating popcorn every night because this morning she finally got her braces. They’re purple. For over a year she’s been talking about getting blue and red braces for the Rangers. But she’s so disgusted with the Teixeira trade that she went with purple. To match her room.

She and the rest of the Legacy Youth group just left the building for a full day at Six Flags. The kids here are so kind and friendly to Whitney. They’ve been so accepting of her and welcomed her right into the mix. And Carrie-Anne and I are so grateful for that. It’s an answer to fervent prayer.

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There are 30 more days until football season and today’s #30 is an undrafted quarterback out of South Carolina who played mainly a backup role as a running back with the Dallas Cowboys and then made his mark in the NFL as a Super Bowl coach.

Danny Reeves played for Dallas from 1965-72, actually leading the team in rushing with 757 yards in 1966, the team’s first ever winning season. But he served much more effectively as an assistant coach under Tom Landry for eleven seasons, at one time the front-runner to replace him whenever he decided to step down.

But Reeves couldn’t wait that long. He got the opportunity to coach the Broncos in 1981 and took them to four AFC title games and three Super Bowls, winning NFL Coach of the Year honors three times. He also took the Falcons to a Super Bowl after a four year stint with the Giants. In all, Dan Reeves appeared as a player or a coach in 50 playoff games and nine Super Bowls. He won NFL Coach of the Year five times and he’s the 6th all-time winningest coach in NFL history with 201 victories. And he was Chan Gailey’s little league baseball coach in Americus, Georgia.

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We’re packing up the family and heading down to Marble Falls tomorrow morning for a quick little four day getaway before school starts. We’re going to the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco Wednesday (we try to make Waco and Dublin on alternating years), worshiping with our Marble Falls family Wednesday night, going to Schlitterbahn Thursday, and doing something in Austin on Friday.

The impetus for the trip, though, is Valerie’s movie audition Saturday morning.

We recieved a letter from Primrose Productions Casting about six weeks ago telling us that they, in cooperation with the Marble Falls School District and the Texas Film Commission through Governor Perry’s office, had been scouting out new potential child actors at Colt Elementary School. They spent a couple of weeks secretly observing kids in the classroom, at lunch, and on the playground. And they selected Valerie to audition for a role in a major motion picture they’re going to be filming next year in the Austin area. The audition is at 10:30 Saturday morning. We have no idea what kind of role or what kind of movie they’re talking about. But we’ll be there.

Valerie has a tendency to be incredibly outgoing and funny in front of family and friends and then shut down completely in front of strangers. They’re going to put her on camera and just talk to her Saturday and I have no clue how it’s going to go.

I’ll try to keep up with the blog and the countdown while we’re away. I’ll try.

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Legacy Worship Center Construction Update:

Does this look like progress? A dumpster AND a port-a-potty! What else could they possibly need before they start actually digging?

Peace,

Allan

Ears Thou Hast Dug

July 25, 2007 / Allan / 4 Comments

Thank you so much to John West and Lance Parrish! I’m finally back on my own computer (a new one. Drats!) in my own office! I’ve been unable to do with pictures what I’ve wanted to for the past week. But today’s the day. We’re back up and running with lots of catching up to do.

Remember a couple of weeks ago in a blog about Scripture I wrote about the practice of reading the Bible out loud. For a couple of years now I’ve been doing all of my Bible reading — my sermon and class prep, my morning devotional readings, all of it — out loud. And it’s completely changed the way I “hear” God and God’s people speaking to me. I hear the passion. I hear the conviction. I hear the joy. I hear the promises in a way I never did reading silently to myself.

Psalm 40:6 refers to “ears thou hast dug for me” in speaking to God about what he desires. The RSV translates it “thou hast given me an open ear;” it’s “my ears you have pierced” in the NIV; and the KJV version says “mine ears thou hast opened.” But the Hebrew phrase is literally “ears thou (God) hast dug for me.” Look it up. You probably have it in a footnote. David sees God swinging a pickaxe, digging ears in our granite blockheads so that we can hear, really hear, what he speaks to us. The primary organ for receiving God’s revelation is not the eye that sees but the ear that hears. Again, look it up.

Reading Scripture out loud intentionally focuses on the living Word — listening and responding to the voices of that great cloud of witnesses telling their stories, singing their songs, preaching their sermons, praying their prayers, asking their questions, and following their Lord.

I asked you to try it for two weeks. Read your Bible out loud. And then get back with me. Share with us how it’s changed your listening to God. Several of you said you would. Today’s the day. How’s it going? Give us some feedback on this. Just click the “comment” box at the top of the page and start writing.

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Today’s the last day for VBS at Legacy and we’re expecting our biggest crowd of the week. What a fantastic past three nights! Over 500 kids, teens, adults, teachers, and helpers each night. And what a blessing it’s been to me and my family. Last night was especially wonderful. The special effects of the fire and the rain with the projection and the screen behind and in front of the huge mountain set was fabulous. In fact, one of the great climaxes of the show last night was when God finally made it rain. The flashing lightning. The roaring thunder. And all the ladies and teens moving up and down the aisles throughout the auditorium, hiding behind giant rainclouds, and squirting water from concealed water guns up into the air. The misting effect on the crowd while watching Elijah get drenched on the stage was really a special touch.

But I got touched harder than everyone else.

When I first got “hit” I turned to Carrie-Anne and said, “Oh, that’s cool. It’s raining.” But then I quickly noticed I was getting repeatedly drilled in the left side of the head. Four or five times, right in the ear. I turned that way and saw two ladies with water guns, hiding behind their cloud, crouched down in a gunslinger pose, and just absolutely nailing me. And laughing. It was so dark I couldn’t see anything. And I couldn’t look directly at them because I was getting shot in the eyes. While the rest of the audience was getting misted once, I got two whole waterguns completely emptied in my head. I think I’ve got swimmer’s ear. I’m probably going to need an antibiotic. Regina and Teresa. You’ll get yours.

I found it interesting that we had to use Brock Paulk, the youth minister at the Heritage Church, to be our voice of God during the show. It’s interesting that with all the people at Legacy, Kipi apparantly looked around and said, “There’s no God here.” Is it bad that we had to outsource God? Brock’s a nice guy and all, but his God voice sounded like a weird mix between Santa Claus and Big Tex.

It was also interesting that as the angel in the Mount Horeb scene with Elijah, Shanna’s halo broke.

No further comment on that.

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There are 36 days left until football season. And 36 in the countdown is another of the best college football players ever. Steve Owens was a two-time All-America running back with the great Oklahoma Sooners teams of the late ’60s. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1969 and finished his college career as the #2 all-time rusher and the #1 TD scorer (56) in college football history. He made All Big-8 three times. He was the Big-8 Player of the Year twice. And at one point he ran for over a hundred yards in 17 straight games.

Owens went on to play for the Detroit Lions, becoming the first back in that team’s storied history to rush for a thousand yards. His NFL career was cut short by a knee injury after just five seasons, his lone Pro Bowl year coming in 1971.

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Finally — and this may be the best news of the day — the construction trailer has arrived and is parked and set up on the west side of the Legacy Church grounds. We’re finally underway with the building of our 1,500 seat worship center that’s been in the works for over five years. Suzanne has told us repeatedly for weeks and months now that when the trailer arrived she’d do a happy dance out on the church lawn.

And she did.

Peace,

Allan

The Wrong Question

July 13, 2007 / Allan / 2 Comments

If preachers today are seen as filling the role of a prophet — speaking a Word from the Lord, on behalf of the Lord, to the Lord’s people — then the preacher’s message has to be counter-cultural. Every Old Testament prophet spoke against the culture of the day and called God’s people to reject the culture and embrace the Lord. The teachings of Jesus and the apostles, all of Paul’s teachings, go completely against culture. And the message is just as relevant today as it was in the first century AD or the third century BC. But can I preach that way every Sunday and still keep the job?

In the prophet Micah’s day, in Judah, God’s people were very well off. They were wealthy. Rich. And their houses and food and bank accounts and their lifestyles dominated what they thought about, talked about, and what they did. Buying more land, building bigger houses, taking longer vacations, putting more money in the bank is what drove God’s people. The next-door-neighbor didn’t matter. The needy family across the street didn’t matter. And the Lord called them on it.

When he confronts them in the opening verses of Micah 6, the people respond in v.8 with a typical, I think, 21st century response: “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?”

God’s upset. And their first conclusion was, “How can we improve our worship?” More sacrifices? More oil? Does he want my first born? Should we consider Wednesday nights?

“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?”

Let me suggest to you that’s the wrong question. The right question is, how do I live in a relationship with God? How do I love people out of my love for God? God tells them very plainly that if their daily lives don’t reflect justice and mercy and humility and love and service to their fellow man, he doesn’t even want their worship!

I’m afraid we put much more emphasis on the 75-minutes we spend at church on Sunday mornings than we do on the other 6-4/5 days of the week. In fact, I know we do. We devise elaborate worship theologies and, not only bind them on each other, but on other churches. We view others categorically, we judge other people and other churches based on what they do and how they do their 75-minutes.

You can close your eyes during every prayer, you can keep your hands in your lap during every song, you can look up every scripture during the sermon, and you can read Matthew 27 quietly to yourself during communion. None of it matters if you lied to your boss on Friday and plan on lying to him again on Monday. You can clap and raise your hands to contemporary songs led by a praise team, get down literally on your knees during the prayers, and read responsive psalms, it’s not doing you or God any good if you’re cheating your customers or ignoring the poor.

OK. That’s enough. You get the point. This is what I’m preaching during our 75-minutes Sunday — the critical and unmistakable connection between our daily ethics and our worship of our God. It’s been on my mind all week. And now hopefully you’ll chew on it for a couple of days before Sunday.

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I spoke with Bill Podsednik yesterday and he told me that ground will officially be broken by actual construction crews (not by elders & preachers or four-year-olds with plastic spades) either Monday or Tuesday this next week! Before we meet for Bible classes Wednesday evening there will be tractors and dirt movers and dump trucks and orange cones and mud and slop and all kinds of mess all over the west side of our building! Praise God! May we continue to seek his guidance. And may he use our efforts to grow the Kingdom in our part of his world.

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Dell Herod has asked me to remind you that the Fort Worth City Band will play an “Old-Time Band Concert” here at Legacy at 7:00 next Friday night, July 27, to benefit the Legacy Medical Missionary Fund. Dell has the tickets and all the information.

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There are 48 more days until football season (only nine more days until VBS, Kipi!) and the best ever #48 is Daryl Johnston. “The Moose” was the Dallas Cowboys #2 pick in 1989 as an All-America fullback out of Syracuse. And he changed the way the position was played in the NFL. Before Johnston played in Dallas, the NFL had never named a fullback to the Pro Bowl. It was kind of a throwaway position, so they just named two starting tailbacks. But Johnston’s value as Emmitt Smith’s lead blocker and Troy Aikman’s pass protector and even a receiver out of the backfield caused the league to change its policy. Johnston was the first ever fullback named to the Pro Bowl in 1993. And he represented the NFC in Hawaii the following year, too.

Johnston helped lead the Cowboys to four NFC title games in the ’90s, and those three Super Bowl titles. He scored 22 TDs in his eleven year career, caught 294 passes, and played in 149 consecutive games. Brandon “Babe” Laufenberg takes credit all the time for giving Johnston his “Moose” nickname. And I’ve never heard anybody deny it. Right now, Johnston is one of the more enjoyable color analysts on NFL TV broadcasts with Dick Stockton on Fox.

And we’ll get tomorrow’s #47 out of the way since I generally don’t blog on Saturdays. Bald Mel Blount, longtime cornerback for the Steelers, (I wanted to choose Dexter Clinkscale, but I just couldn’t justify it) also changed the way his position was played. Blount, out of Southern University in 1970, was the first big, strong, physical corner to really man up and rough up wideouts. He might be the very best bump-and-run cover corner ever. He did have to routinely guard Lynn Swann and John Stallworth in practice. He was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1975 (amazing as a CB), won four Super Bowls, and went to five Pro Bowls. Despite his physical play, Blount was extremely durable, playing in 200 of a possible 201 games during his career.

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Happy Friday the 13th.

Go do something crazy today.

Allan

Category: Legacy Construction (Page 5 of 6)

Is A Popular God….? Part Two. No Asterisk.

Is A Popular God Really God At All?

Practice Playing Second Fiddle

No Fear, No Doubt

Ears Thou Hast Dug

The Wrong Question

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