The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Ministry (Page 1 of 34)

Micah 6: You and Me

November 7, 2025 / / 3 Comments

“He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” ~Micah 6:8

The three things in Micah 6 are not new. This isn’t a revelation to God’s people in the 7th century BC and it’s not new information for you and me this week. This has always been at the heart of God’s covenant with his people: Treat everybody the way I’ve treated you.

 

So, how has God treated you?

Allow me to remind you.

When it comes to your shortcomings and failures, when it comes to your rebellion and transgressions against God and neighbor, when it comes to your sin, our Lord Jesus looked at the Father and said, “Put that on my account.”

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to the Father through the death of Jesus. God has brought you life-changing justice and he has shown you amazing mercy. Not because you are so good or because you are somehow chosen or special–this is the way he is with everybody! And his number one priority is that you and I would act the same way, that bringing justice and showing mercy would be your top priority and my top priority.

Because then people would see him in us. People would experience God in us if our priorities and God’s priorities were the same.

Jesus showed people God. He invited people to follow him, to walk with him along the way. He ate with people he wasn’t supposed to eat with. He hugged people he wasn’t supposed to touch. He forgave people who were unforgivable. And they saw God.

You know how to do that. You know how to forgive someone who’s done you wrong. You know how to just sit with someone and be present. You know how to pray for somebody who wants to see you hurt. You know, because you’ve done that with your daughter. You’ve done all that with your son. You move heaven and earth to practice justice and mercy and love for your children and it doesn’t matter where they are or what they’ve done. It’s beautiful.

Jesus says, “That’s where I am.” The hungry and thirsty, the foreigner, the naked and sick, the people in prison; people who’ve done wrong, people who’ve messed up, people who can’t take care of themselves.

I can’t solve all the issues being created by the government shutdown. I can’t fix crime or cancer. I can’t solve unemployment or racism or poverty or addiction. I can’t fix that. You can’t figure any of that. We don’t have the solutions.

But I can have breakfast with a guy whose wife is dying. I can treat a lonely person like she really belongs. I can forgive someone who will never tell me they’re sorry. I can pray with someone who hasn’t been to church in years. I can stand with somebody when it might be easier to take the other side.

Isn’t that what you want to do with your life? What else would you want to do? Don’t you want to be that guy? Don’t you want to be that woman?

On that day of glory, when you get to heaven, the Father will look you right in the eye and smile and say, “Well done.” For what? Well done? Why would the Father say “Well done?”

Well done for going to the right church and worshiping correctly a couple of times a month?

No.

Well done for acting justly, for loving mercy, and for walking humbly with me.

Peace,
Allan

Micah 6: Three Things

November 4, 2025 / / 0 Comments

The St. Louis / Arizona Cardinals have played a total of 14 road games on Monday Night Football. The franchise is 4-10 all time in those games. All four wins have come against the Cowboys. The Cardinals always beat the Cowboys on Monday night. Even in Jerry Maguire, the Cardinals beat the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are the first team in NFL history to average more than 30 points per game in the first nine games of a season and still get outscored. I don’t think a Jets tackle and a 29-year-old Bengals linebacker are going to help this historically bad defense.

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“He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” ~Micah 6:8

 

I wrote about the context of this well-known passage in yesterday’s post. God has formally announced that Israel has broken the covenant by not taking care of their neighbors. By ignoring the poor. By exploiting the outsiders. By getting rich off the misfortunes of others. And Israel reacts by asking questions about their worship. Maybe we’re not sacrificing the right animals in the right ways. Maybe we need to worship more. Or better. And the Lord answers by reminding his people that none of that has ever mattered to him. What matters are these three things:

Act Justly – If you’re a covenant partner with God, you have to take care of everybody in the community. That’s justice. Helping the poor, protecting the immigrants, taking in the orphans, feeding the widows, speaking up for all the people whose voices don’t get heard, taking care of all the people in society who can’t take care of themselves–just like God takes care of me when I am completely unable to take care of myself.

Love Mercy – The definition of mercy is not getting what you really deserve or not giving to someone what they truly deserve. And we do love mercy. When it’s shown to us. But God tells us to love mercy for everybody. Don’t just act in a merciful way from time to time, love mercy consistently. Love mercy as a strategy, as a way of living, as a way of being and doing. Love mercy not only when it’s shown to you, but as you show it to others. Love mercy as your second-nature response, as your Holy Spirit instinct. Love it as a quality of God’s character he is forming in you.

Walk Humbly with Your God – Don’t carelessly or presumptiously do things your own way. Pay attention to God’s will. Put your will in a secondary position to his. Know your place next to God and walk with him–not against him, not in front of him–walk with God’s vision, walk with God’s character, walk with God’s priorities. God has brought you life-changing justice and has shown you amazing mercy because that’s how he treats everybody. Now, you walk with him and join him in doing those same things with everybody where you live.

Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.

Peace,
Allan

Personal Relational Ministry

October 29, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Our vision statement at GCR Church is “Being Changed by God to Love Like Jesus.” It’s about both transformation and mission. It’s viewing everything through the lens of what God is doing both in us and through us. The vision emphasizes, without apology, the transformation of our people for the sake of loving others like our Lord. It’s our people doing ministry in personal and relational settings–being powerfully present with one another in our congregation and with others in our community.

We get that from our King. Thankfully, for us, it’s been part of our GCR DNA for several decades now.

 

 

 

 

 

Eugene Goudeau, in 1981, is one guy from GCR who said I must go to Brazil to help plant churches. That’s how SerCris Training School in Campo Grande got started.

John DeFore, 30 years ago, is one guy from GCR doing World Bible School correspondence courses with people in Kenya. He says I need to go meet these people, I need to do some personal follow-up with these new Christians. That’s how Kenya Widows and Orphans got started–KWO.

Jarrod Brown, 20 years ago, goes to Honduras with not much more than his Bible and a Toyota pickup. He said I want to live with these people, I want to do life with these people in their community. That’s how Mission Lazarus got started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we partner with our missionaries in foreign lands, it changes us. It transforms us. It informs and shapes the way we do missions here in Midland. Personal. Relational.

We don’t drop dinner off at Family Promise and leave. We sit down and we share a meal with the people at Family Promise.

We don’t do Harvest Party in our parking lot anymore. We take Harvest Party to the people at Family Promise and Midland FairHavens and Safe Place. I love the way we do Harvest Party now. All the pictures in this post are from the Harvest Party we threw for Family Promise this past Sunday evening.

 

 

 

 

 

We go inside Emerson Elementary and read books to the kids during lunch. We stand at their door on Mondays and fist bump all those little kids as they begin their week.

We don’t just pass out Thanksgiving food boxes in a drive-thru in our church parking lot anymore. We take time to visit with those we’re feeding. We pray with people. We hold their kids. We share desserts. We try to connect.

That’s our vision at GCR Church.

Personal. Relational.

Peace,
Allan

Blessing a Minister

September 9, 2025 / / 0 Comments

The boys turned two months old yesterday and they are still awesome. In fact, I think they might be a little awesomer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once a month, our ministry team here at GCR spends a whole morning together at my house. We eat breakfast, spend some important time in Word and Prayer, check in with each other, and then take an hour and a half or so planning whatever needs to be planned and deciding whatever needs to be decided. Yesterday, after some honest reflection together on that enormous canyon in Nowen’s prayer (see yesterday’s post), we went around the circle and blessed one another with these words from 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17.

If you are wondering how to encourage one of your ministers or elders at your church, I would suggest sending him or her a note with these words, inserting her or his name in the blank. Remind him that, no matter what he’s enduring at the moment, he is loved by God. Remind her that, no matter what she feels, she is chosen by God. Tell him he is called by God. Tell her she shares in the glory of Christ. Bless them with the holy words of Scripture.

I thank God for you, ____________, loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through your belief in the truth.

He called you to this, this ministry, this church, through the Gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, ____________, stand firm and hold to the teachings.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved you and by his grace gave you eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your heart and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Amen.

I can assure you by my own experience, these are powerful words that mean the world coming from someone you really love.

Peace,
Allan

The Enormous Abyss

September 8, 2025 / / 0 Comments

The Rangers took two of three from the Astros over the weekend, the first of which Whitney and Carley and I experienced in person at Globe Life Field Friday night. It was a 12-inning triumph in which the kids, particularly Cody Freeman and Dustin Harris, again played pivotal parts. The atmosphere was electric, as it always is when these two Lone Star rivals get together. The World Series trophy was on display–I guess we want to remind all the Astros fans that we won it last–and it was our first time to see the brand new Adrian Beltre statue outside the centerfield gates. So we patted Beltre’s head, took the pic with the trophy, and then sent the selfie to all our Rangers friends after Harris’ 12th inning single drove home the winning run.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shockingly, the Rangers are still in this thing, just a half-game back of a wild card spot. Just as amazingly, if Texas can win just one of the three remaining games against the Astros, they will take the annual Silver Boot Trophy for the first time in nine years. And Myles Hill will have to buy me lunch at Whataburger.

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A prayer from A Cry for Mercy by Henri Nouwen. Especially if you are a minister or a congregational leader. My hope is that this might give voice to your heart in ways you never would have expected. And that you will be given encouragement and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

I am impressed by my own spiritual insights. I probably know more about prayer and contemplation than most Christians do. I have read many books about the Christian life, and have even written a few myself. Still, as impressed as I am, I am more impressed by the enormous abyss between my insights and my life.

It seems as if I am standing on one side of a huge canyon and see how I should grow toward you, live in your presence and serve you, but cannot reach the other side of the canyon where you are. I can speak and write, preach and argue about the beauty and goodness of the life I see on the other side, but how, O Lord, can I get there? Sometimes I even have the painful feeling that the clearer the vision, the more aware I am of the depth of the canyon.

Am I doomed to live on the wrong side of the abyss? Am I destined to excite others to reach the promised land while remaining unable to enter there myself? Sometimes I feel imprisoned by my own insights and “spiritual competence.”

You alone, Lord, can reach out to me and save me. You alone.

I can only keep trying to be faithful, even though I feel faithless most of the time. What else can I do but keep praying to you, even when I feel dark; to keep writing about you, even when I feel numb; to keep speaking in your name, even when I feel alone.

Come, Lord Jesus, come. Have mercy on me, a sinner.

Amen.

Fulfilling the Law

August 18, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Here’s the last thing, I think, I’ll write about salvation and the law for a while. It’s a huge topic with lots of talking points, lots of opportunity to get into the weeds, and plenty of far-reaching ramifications. But I like to follow the lead of our Lord and boil it down to everything hanging on love. All the law and the prophets, everything God ever taught or ever thought, all of God’s plans for his people and his creation–it all hangs on love.

“Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another, for the one who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” ~Romans 13:8-10

Here’s a bottom line deal for you. If you do not love everybody, then you have to deny all the most basic things all Christians believe. If I harshly criticize anybody, if I refuse to forgive anybody, if I discriminate in any way, if I ignore or neglect anybody, if I make any move to harm anyone for any reason, then I have to reject almost all the basic points of Christian belief.

We believe that all men and women are created by God in the image of God. All men and women. Period.

We believe our God loves all people. All people. Period.

We believe Jesus died on the cross because God wants all people to be forgiven and saved, including you and your neighbor, equally.

We believe in treating others the same way we want to be treated.

We believe our God calls us to show his divine love to all people everywhere–no exceptions.

Serving others in love keeps all the commands. Serving others in love makes all the beliefs real–not just something we know in our heads, but something we live with our lives, that changes us and fulfills the eternal will of our God.

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We were delighted to welcome Josh Ross to GCR Church this past weekend to train our adult Bible class teachers on “The Spirit Poured Out,” a twelve-week curriculum he wrote for us on the person, presence, and power of God’s Holy Spirit. Of course, it’s excellent. And I am beside myself with hope and anticipation for the conversations we’re going to have and God’s will we’re going to wrestle and the formation that’s going to happen in and through our congregation during the next three months.

I believe our church recognized in Josh what Carrie-Anne and I have known for years: his uncompromising commitment to our Lord and the ways of Christ and his unwavering love for God’s people. It’s infectious.

Carrie-Anne and I have known Josh and his family for more than 25 years. Josh’s dad, Rick, was the preacher at the Mesquite CofC when Carrie-Anne and I began worshiping and serving there in October 1999. Rick was the first preacher I really listened to, the first guy in a pulpit who connected the dots for me and, more than that, the first preacher whose life I noticed clearly reflected a commitment to Christlikeness. Josh’s mom, Beverly, became a mentor and friend for Carrie-Anne in ways that still profoundly resonate in Carrie-Anne’s walk with Jesus and in our marriage and family. Josh’s big sister Jenny and her husband David became very good friends of ours–I was driving to Houston with David to see the Astros and Giants on the morning of 9/11. Josh and his younger brother Jonathan were these two dynamic young men who had a fire for the Lord and a passion for discipleship and obvious gifts for speaking and leading in God’s Kingdom.  This was the setting–the time and place and people–God used to call me into congregational ministry.

The first time we went to the Tulsa Workshop, it was with Rick and Beverly and Jenny and David. And it was mind-blowing. Earth-shaking. Paradigm shattering. I started organizing  men’s retreats at Mesquite. I led a 24 Hours of Prayer at Mesquite. I taught that Room 201 Bible class. We sat behind Jason and Tiersa, next to Chris and Liz, in front of Brian and Terri. I led worship at Mesquite. We started that Second Saturday Servants. I rappelled out of a second-story air conditioning vent into the worship center for a VBS bit. The Four Horsemen made those vows to each other and our families and started those Wednesday night dinners and those Tuesday morning Bible studies. I started reading John Mark Hicks and C.S. Lewis. Those three years at that church were the most intensely formative times for Carrie-Anne and me in our discipleship to Jesus. That Mesquite church was a dysfunctional mess, but our gracious God used that church and those people at that time to transform me into a proclaimer of his Good News.

It’s not Josh’s fault, but in my mind and my heart he is forever connected to that time and place and people that still mean so much to me. So, I just absolutely love the guy. We had a blast hanging out together this weekend, and I know our church at GCR is going to be blessed for the next three months and beyond as we dive into his material on the Holy Spirit. As Josh told us several times, we don’t need a perfect understanding of the Holy Spirit, but we do need a working understanding.

I thank God for the gifts he’s given his servant Josh and for Josh’s eagerness to share those gifts with GCR this weekend. I thank God for the whole Ross family and the eternal impact they’ve had on me and my family. And I thank God for that Church of Christ in Mesquite.

Peace,

Allan

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