The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

AllanStanglin.com

Category: Ministry (Page 24 of 35)

Unconditional

August 5, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Who’s this Chucker?I’m afraid I’ve become a “chucker.” I keep blaming my horrible performances during our Thursday basketball games on jet lag. But we returned from Ukraine seven weeks ago. Am I a “chucker?”

~~~~~~~~~~

I’m still not sure how to put into words what Legacy — my church family — is doing this week in the name of Christ. Ministering to a mother in jail and taking care of her three children is a beautiful thing. The ones in our church who are opening up their homes and their hearts are showing maybe the greatest acts of loving kindness these kids have ever experienced. By helping this family the way we are, we are actually BEING church, not just DOING church. We’re proclaiming to one another and to the world that Legacy really is the Family Place. We really are brothers and sisters. It’s not just a slogan on our letterhead or mere words on the sides of our vans. It means something.

We have given this situation to our God and to his Church. We’ve admitted to our Father that we don’t have any answers or wisdom or experience in cases like this. But we do know we are called to love one another like brothers and sisters, we’re called to sacrifice and serve one another like our risen Lord. And we’re committed to doing that and trusting God to take care of us.

When people place membership at Legacy, we tell them right there in the Sunday assembly, in front of God and everybody, that we’re going to love them and take care of them. We promise to defend them and protect them. We never say, “…as long as it doesn’t open us up to liability.” We never put conditions on our Christian love like, “…as long as it doesn’t involve any risk.” We don’t tell people they’re welcome to be members at Legacy as long as they can take care of themselves.

Yes, we might get burned. We might get burned badly. Praise God! That makes us more like Christ! And we are to rejoice when we suffer for his holy Name.

Or, we might not get burned at all. God may think our faith in him to provide and protect while we step outside our boxes to do the right thing is really neat. And eternally worthwhile.

I’m so glad I belong to this church family at Legacy. And I know three kids today who are saying the exact same thing.

Peace,

Allan

Lukewarm Disciples Part Two

July 13, 2010 / / 4 Comments

“Lukewarm people say they love Jesus, and he is, indeed, a part of their lives. But only a part. They give him a section of their time, their money, their thoughts, but he isn’t allowed to control their lives.” ~Francis Chan, Crazy Love, p.72

None of self, all of thee!As I consider my own discipleship to Christ, my own calling to deny myself and take up my cross and follow my Lord, I don’t want to be mediocre about any of it. I don’t want to hold anything back. I want to give him and “it” — my discipleship — my all.

And if I’m not careful, it’s easy for me to feel like I’m doing that simply because I’m a preacher.

Hey, look at everything I gave up. Look at all of my sacrifice. Look at the tremendous risks I took. I left my radio career. I sold the house and moved to Austin to get theological training, trusting God to provide. And now I’m preaching the Gospel. I’m teaching Bible classes. I’m ministering to people. I’m promoting church programs. I’ve given it all to God.

The honest truth is that I’m not sure I’ve really given up anything. It’s not really risky or hard, it’s not really a sacrifice to preach at Legacy. It’s a huge upper-middle class church in a suburb just minutes away from our families and stomping grounds in a wonderful part of Texas in the wealthiest country in world history. I get paid tons of money, I have a massive house with a pool, two nice cars, health insurance, a savings account, and an air-conditioned office with a big desk and a swivel chair.

I look at Manuel and Yvina Calderon and the work God is doing through them at Siempre Familia in the Rosemont area of Fort Worth and I see sacrifice. I see front-line Christian ministry. I see people being impacted, lives being eternally changed, by the Gospel. I look at David and Olivia Nelson in Kharkov, Ukraine and I see real risk and hard-core faith for Christ. I see them leaving everything behind to take Jesus to people who’ve never heard.

When I look at myself, I’m sometimes afraid that my discipleship doesn’t add up.

I’m not comparing myself to these missionaries. I don’t think that’s right. And I don’t feel guilty about the house and the cars. I use those to God’s glory and to bless other people in Christ’s name. I just don’t want to become complacent. I don’t want to settle. Yes, that’s what I’m trying to say: I don’t want to settle.

Because it’s easy to settle.

It’s easy for us preachers, I think, to slip into a very un-Christ-like mentality and pattern. Eugene Peterson describes it in Working the Angles (I think, I don’t have time to look it up) as church chaplains, holding the hands of the saved. Just kind of babysitting the faithful. Making life comfortable for the saints. Working to help the Christians feel better about themselves and their church. Religious shopkeeping.

That’s a pretty comfortable life for a preacher, too.

I don’t want that. I want all of my life — every moment, every action, every reaction, every interaction — to be lived not from a sense of self but from a sense of God. I want to hold myself to the high standard of my calling as a disciple of my risen Lord. I don’t want to compromise. When I’m writing a sermon, when people come to me for advice, when I’m teaching a class, when I’m counseling a friend, I want to give it my all from a deep sense of the God who lives in us and whose Spirit is working to transform us from the inside out. If my primary orientation is of my God, then I must be committed enough that when people ask me to do or say something that will not lead them into a more mature participation in Christ I refuse. I don’t compromise.

But it’s so easy to settle.

Not everybody I talk to wants to jump all the way in. Not everybody in our church is willing to go all the way. Chan says I have to “sprint up the down escalator, putting up with perturbed looks from everyone else who is gradually moving downward.” Peterson says it’s hard because the people who would rather we just settle into a nice, comfortable Christianity and Christian ministry are all “nice, intelligent, treat us with respect, and pay our salaries.”

I . Don’t . Want . To . Settle .

But it’s so easy to settle.

Allan

Few More Pics

June 11, 2010 / / 1 Comment

“A Common Love” in our Russian songbooks.Wanted to upload a few more quick pictures before we head out for the day. Awesome small group worship and study last night at Mike & Lucy’s. Singing — OK, mainly listening — to “A Common Love” sung in Russian in a 4th floor apartment in Kharkov with Christian brothers and sisters is incredible. I thank God for the experiences he’s allowing Carrie-Anne and me to have here.

More later. These are just pics.

Small Group Thursday nightLiv visiting with Vlad after small group. He’s helping her with Russian grammar. She’s helping him with the Gospel. Praise God. Vlad’s such a great guy. So sweet in spirit. So open-hearted. Always smiling. Praise God.Mike & Rob & David discussing the day’s events and making plans for the rest of the week and w/end.

Great group at the park: Robert & Vlad and Denyce and David and usC-A & Denyce & Lucy riding the MetroC-A at the market checking out the cherries

We pray God is blessing you back home with his great mercy and grace.

Mir,

Allan

Community in Kharkov

June 10, 2010 / / 0 Comments

By the way, it’s HAR-kov. The EM-phasis is on the first SYL-lable.

Good news first. No, it’s great news! The specialists checked out Olivia’s eyes yesterday and determined that 1) yes, she’s blind as a bat (we already knew that) and 2) her retinas are strong enough to allow her to have their baby naturally. What a burden is lifted for this young missionary couple and their family and friends. Praise to God for providing for her and for answering our prayers in this wonderful way.

The Kharkov soccer team, FC Metalist, just opened this new stadium last year. It’s about six blocks from the Nelsons’ apartment. The state is in the middle of renovating this part of town for the Eurocup which is being held in Ukraine in 2012. Metalist Stadium is one of the four locations for the games.These kinds of banners can be seen on a couple dozen different big buildings around the stadiumThe Kharkov soccer (futbol) team is called the Metalist to honor the iron-workers heritage in this part of Ukraine. Kinda like the steelers in Pittsburgh and the meatpackers in Green Bay

Our mighty God is really doing something here in Kharkov. He’s building a community here, a sacred community, a group of people set apart for his redeeming purposes in this region of Ukraine. You can’t believe all the friends and contacts God is giving the Nelsons here. And it’s such a thrill to be right in the middle of it this week. We all gathered at a huge city park last night to celebrate Lucy’s birthday. And we spent a couple of hours talking to and listening to these super-friendly and eager and open people.

 I flew all the way to Ukraine to throw an American football with a kid from China named Kevin. He had never thrown one before. I taught him how to grip the laces and throw, not shotput, a downfield pass. Kevin’s here from China getting a Masters degree in some kind of youth coaching studies. He was so thrilled to be able to throw a spiral “like on TV.” He kept calling me coach. Olivia met him a couple of months ago in a coffee shop. And he’s been with this group ever since. He goes back to China in August. Pray for our new friend, Kevin.Mike & Lucy’s youngest, Max, enjoying ice-cream in the parkOlivia & Lucy

There were probably 30 of us total, maybe a little more. Half of us Christians, the other half not. Not yet, I keep reminding David. And it’s so inspiring to hear all the stories about how God has put them all together. They come from all over, at least four or five different countries, at least four or five different languages being spoken. Different backgrounds. Different religious experiences. Different worldviews. Smiling. Laughing. Serving. Helping. Poking fun at David’s translations. Asking me about Texas and the Dallas Cowboys. Assisting with all the babies. Talking about preaching and ministry and God’s Church. Landlords and construction workers and ballroom dancers and students and doctors and retail salesmen. It’s really incredible how they’ve all come together in David and Olivia’s circle.

 Tons and tons of old cathedrals in Kharkov, some of them 500 and 600 years old. We’re going to check out some of them upclose on Saturday.Another cathedral. I can’t keep them all straight.

God’s doing something with these people. I’m not certain why he’s brought them all together in this way. But they pray together and they study the Bible together. And they talk about our Lord and his plans for the world. It’s easy to see the core of something special here. It’s really easy to see that this is a great group of loving and caring people. I can easily see God using this little group to turn Kharkov completely upside down for the Kingdom. We finished off the night with a McFlurry at Mickey-D’s!

I just don’t know time-frames and methods and strategies.

We can pray. We can keep lifting this group up to God. We can keep trusting God to do something big here with these friendly people. We can keep encouraging David and Liv by reminding them that they are doing their jobs as disciples of Christ, they are planting wonderful seeds, they are shining like stars in the universe, they are reflecting the glory of our King and showing people our Lord’s love and mercy and grace. And we can keep trusting our God to be faithful to his people, to be working in ways we can’t see yet and may never see this side of glory, in order to redeem and restore his creation to its perfect and ultimate intent.

Peace,

Allan

On The Front Lines

June 8, 2010 / / 1 Comment

“Never pity missionaries. Envy them. They are where the real action is; where life and death, sin and grace, heaven and hell converge.” ~R. Shannon

I heard Terry Rush  say one time that every single American Christian ought to be required to spend at least one year in a foreign mission field. If everyone spent twelve months of sacrifice and service in a place where the Church is not strong and every soul is regarded as precious and every Christian brother and sister is valued as important, there would be no more arguing or complaining or bickering in our American congregations. We wouldn’t fight about anything. We would understand acutely that the Kingdom of God is so much more important and so much bigger than our small version and definition of it, whatever our small version and definition may be. We would be shaped in such a way as to finally believe that being together in a Body of believers, a family of Christians, is the most wonderful thing in the world. And we would do everything in our power to preserve it.

In a foreign mission field, the battles are against the powers and principalities, the dark rulers of this world, not one another. The smallest physical blessings are giant miracles. That one new soul added to the Kingdom is monumental. The problems of mankind are seen as what they really are: sin and death, not whether a brother isn’t happy with the song selection or a sister has a complaint about the room temperature.

Kingdom community means something in a foreign mission field. Utter dependence on God is real in a foreign mission field. Humility and gratitude and faith and brotherly love are not just empty church words in a foreign mission field. In a foreign mission field — in the middle of all the teaching and preaching and praying and giving and crying and building and compromising and learning — men and women are shaped by God’s Holy Spirit to see everything differently.

Everything.

I’ve been praying that God will use our trip to Ukraine to give me some of that “front lines” perspective. I want him to show me a bigger picture of his Kingdom. I want God to reveal to me exactly what he wants me to see. I want to know. I want to grow.

We’ve been here with David and Olivia for about 18 hours. And just in our brief reconnecting with each other, I’ve seen it. I see all of this big-picture, front-line perspective in them. You know, the things they wrestle with, the things they deal with, the things they have to endure for the mission of Christ in this place put all of our petty problems to shame.

All of them.

Our God is working right now to redeem all of his creation. He’s working in every corner of this huge world. He’s changing people, saving people; he’s healing and forgiving,  loving and comforting; he’s giving mankind hope through his Son. And he’s robbing hell. Every day. In every part of this world. Every people, every nation, every tribe, every tongue.

I spend a lot of my time at Legacy worrying about whether so-and-so is happy.

Some of that time, I’m the so-and-so I’m worried about.

And I’m ashamed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I want to keep you updated with everything we’re doing, but I’ve already run out of time. It’s been a busy Tuesday (remember, we’re a full eight hours ahead of Texas time) and we’re just minutes away from an English-speaking Bible study here at David and Olivia’s. I’ve got to make up the bed and straighten up in this guest room before Carrie-Anne and Olivia get back from the market. I’ll update one more time before the day is over, hopefully with a few pictures.

Peace,

Allan

Who Do You Say I Am?

May 13, 2010 / / 0 Comments

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” ~Matthew 16:15

Who Do You Say I Am?Peter answers his Lord by confessing Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In similar circumstances — we could argue we live 24 hours a day in that circumstance — we would all make that Christian confession.

And Jesus would respond, “Blessed are you, Allan. Blessed are you, Joe. Blessed are you, Jane. Blessed are you (insert your own name).

And we’d just sit there, together, basking in the quiet moment, reflecting on the eternal implications of that confession.

And then what if you broke that silence by turning the question back on Jesus? What if you asked Jesus, “Who do you say I am?” You ever thought about that? What would Jesus say if you asked him who he says you are? You know he has an opinion. He knows you. He knows everything about you. What you say. What you do. The ways you think. He knows. And you ask him…

“…Who do you say I am?”

Well, what does he say?

I think Jesus would say, “Allan, you are a faithful proclaimer of the Gospel. You are a compassionate minister in the Kingdom.”

See, Jesus would always go to the positives first. That’s the way he operates. Our tendencies are to see the negatives first. Even in our self-evaluations, we look at the negatives and blow them out of proportion. But Jesus would initially attend to the good things about us. It’s called grace.

And then, I’m afraid my Lord would say, “Allan, you have a real lack of trust in me. Your faith isn’t nearly as strong as it should be by now. And you have a real problem with looking at things from a worldly perspective. Even things in my Church. You make judgments and decisions based on worldly principles.”

He would say other things about areas in my life I’m needing to change. But he would probably keep coming back to my lack of faith.

If you were to ask Jesus, “Who do you say I am?” what would he say?

Seriously.

He has an opinion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

last day to contribute!The cops are coming to get me at noon today. No Thursday hoops. I’ll be in jail in Bedford trying to raise the rest of the $1,480 bail money needed for MDA. As of this writing, we’ve raised $950. Thank you, thank you, thank you! If you’d like to contribute to the cause, please click here. Again, thank you.

Peace,

Allan

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑