Category: Ministry (Page 31 of 35)

When You Were Called

May 30, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.” ~1 Corinthians 1:26

Paul reminds the church in Corinth that when God chose them to be his servants in the saving work of reconciling creation back to heaven they were not wise, not influential, and not of noble birth.

They were nobodies.

It’s like choosing the slowest, smallest, weakest, most uncoordinated kid first for your playground kick-ball team. It doesn’t make any sense.

But, praise God, he chooses the foolish. He chooses the weak. He chooses the lowly and despised.

And that drives home on a daily—no, hourly!—basis that it’s never about me. It’s never about us. We are weak and foolish and insignificant.

It’s always about our God who chooses the weak and foolish and insignificant (me, us) and fulfills his Word and his mission in us.

Peace,

Allan

Preacher AND Pastor

May 16, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

I want to be both.

Preaching is not pastoring. And pastoring is not preaching. Two different things. But a pastor can be a preacher. And a preacher can be (should be, must be, has to be) a pastor.

I want to be both.

John Frye comments on being both in a post earlier this week on The Jesus Creed:

“In my early years a lingering value still suggested that pastors shouldn’t get too close to people because the pastor might not be able to maintain his “objectivity.” All of this created a low church liturgy where the Sunday sermon was what mattered most. Preaching was the big thing in the service. Getting to know the Book was more important than getting to know God. Mistakenly in the minds of most, the one equaled the other. I became a theological technician, not a pastor. Put me in a white lab coat and I would have been mistaken for a social scientist. Then in the midst of modern American evangelical pastoring, I met Jesus the Pastor. He is the good pastor, the great pastor, the chief pastor (see John 10, Hebrews 13, and 1 Peter 5). Jesus undeniably cared deeply for people and got close to them. He even led a small group. The Apostle Paul said that he became like a nursing mother and caring father to his people (1 Thessalonians 2). This sounds like very close relationships to me. Jesus cared about little things, too, like a widow’s two mites, a fallen sparrow, a cup of water, a coin, five loaves and two fish. Jesus’ ministry didn’t turn on his synagogue exegetical sermons. He mixed it up with people outside the “church walls” at Matthew’s house, a Samaritan well, a roof top, a wedding, a garden, the lake shore, a Pharisee’s house, long dusty roads, and a graveyard.

Preaching is not pastoring. Preaching is part of the liturgy for the community of believers. Pastoring is about the individually named people who have individual stories, with their individual dreams and wounds, their particular gains and losses, their anxieties and hopes, their longings for and fears of God. Pastors live within God’s grand Story of salvation and help others see how their individual stories can get caught up into God’s Story. I like the image Eugene H. Peterson uses for pastors: pastors are detectives searching out the slightest evidence of God’s grace in peoples’ lives. I’ve learned that pastors are artists of the soul, not religious scientists.”

Caring about the little things. Ministry in the interruptions. Intercession and encouragement. Proclamation and submission. Teaching and reaching. Studying and hugging. Preacher AND Pastor.

I want to be both.

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Check out Mark’s comment there on the right side of this page, and up a bit, for three links to three video clips from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. If you’re a fan of the movie, you’ll enjoy all three. If you just want to see Ethel Merman yelling and screaming and insulting everybody, the first link is best. She especially gives it to Jonathon Winters. If you want to view the original two-minute promotional trailer, that’s the second link. If you just want to see Ethel Merman slip and fall on the banana peel, that’s 1:31 into the third clip. Thanks, Mark.

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I auditioned last night for Kipi and our VBS production of “Bound for Holy Ground.” I read for the parts of Moses and an Egyptian taskmaster and a Hebrew slave. Since I won’t shave my head (I’m not willing to risk it-it may not come back), I know I won’t be playing Pharaoh. Other than that, we’re just all going to find out Sunday morning where Kipi’s placing us. I don’t think I’m compassionate or sympathetic enough to play Moses. Plus, I’m not sure he gets any funny lines.

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Peace,

Allan

Carry Each Other's Burdens

May 15, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” ~Galatians 6:2

It’s clear that the fourth Servant Song in the book of Isaiah (52:13-53:12) points forward to Christ Jesus. The passage carries the theme of the other three songs (42:1-9, 49:1-7, & 50:4-11) that the servant of God is chosen by God, equipped by God, and assigned by God to fulfill God’s mission of bringing salvation to the world. The servant belongs to God. He’s ordained by God to bring justice and salvation to God’s people. And all four songs express guarantees from God that God’s chosen way of the servant will not fail. It will succeed. God will make sure of it.

As children of God and as followers of the Christ, we are also the servant described in the four songs. We are also chosen by God, called and equipped and empowered and ordained by God to be his vehicle of bringing justice and salvation to a sin-broken world. And it’s easy to draw the comparisons and parallels in the first three songs. The identification of the servant is ambiguous. Generic. It’s simple to say and believe that we’re able to live into the servant of those first three passages.

But what about the fourth?

Most of us know a lot of the fourth song by memory. The words and the rhythms of the verses almost soothe us with their familiarity.

Despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. He was pierced for our transgressions. Crushed for our iniquities. He bore the sin of many.

So the servant bore our sufferings. It’s for our transgressions, for our iniquities, that he suffered. The servant suffered in our place. The servant serves God in serving the sinner by taking the sinner’s place, by doing for the sinner what the sinner can’t do for himself.

That’s Jesus, not me.

Yes. And No.

Yes, that’s Jesus. But as a child of God and a follower of his Son, it’s you, too. And it’s me.

Yes, the suffering and death of Jesus is definitive and complete. But there’s more. And the more has to do with our participation in that suffering and death. The cross at Calvary where all the Isaiah 53 imagery really comes into focus is unrepeatable. But cross-bearing is not.

The servant in Isaiah—and Jesus as the ideal servant—willingly gives up his rights, willfully gives up his life so that others might have life. As his followers, as his imitators, we’re called to walk down the same road. Isn’t that what we do when we offer our bodies as living sacrifices? Isn’t this what Paul meant in Galatians 6:2?

It’s much easier to tell people where to get relief from their burdens. It’s easier to point people to help, to write a check, to make a call, to drive somebody somewhere and drop them off. That way, we don’t become involved with them. There’s no pain. No risk. No chance of suffering.

But that’s not the way of the Isaiah servant. That’s not the way of our Lord. Jesus didn’t tell us where to take our burdens. He took them.

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” ~1 Peter 2:21

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Check out this 30-second video. It’s a quick little news story about a softball game last month between Western Oregon University and Central Washington State. I think it has meaning to this idea of bearing each other’s burdens. Even if it doesn’t relate perfectly, it’s a really cool story. Just click here to get the video. It’s on Jeff Christian’s blog from the Glenwood Church in Tyler.

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The Rangers have won six series in a row. The last time that happened was in ’99. A playoff year. A Johnnie Oates year. Could it be…?

I think the Stars have a better chance of beating Detroit in four straight.

Peace,

Allan

Pastor or Cheerleader?

May 14, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

A couple of lines in a quick little interview with Eugene Peterson in World Magazine this month, brought to me last week by David Watson (thank you, brother), really have me thinking. Peterson’s not serving as the pastor of that big Presbyterian church in Baltimore anymore. He’s retired, sort of, living with his wife in a cabin on a mountain lake in Montana.

These two paragraphs right in the middle of the article intrigue me, especially as they relate to the current church culture in most metropolitan areas of the Bible belt, specifically in Dallas-Fort Worth, particularly here at Legacy.

“At his suburban church in Maryland, Peterson pastored people who ‘were rootless,’ lacking ‘generational continuity where they lived.’ So he spent a lot of time ‘thinking about, praying about how to make this a place where people feel relationally connected.’ Instead of offering non-stop activities, Peterson’s church had a ‘quiet order of worship’ that sought to draw people into the gospel story. When newcomers asked what activities his church offered, he’d speak of worship on Sunday, and ‘if you’d let me be your pastor I’d help you learn not to want so much activity.’

Peterson sympathizes with pastors who complain about the demands people make: ‘In this American culture they feel very competitive. Pastors feel that people want action.’ He challenges them: ‘Do you want to be their pastor or their cheerleader? It’s a desecration of the pastoral vocation to commodify it, to turn the church into a consumer place.'”

You already know, I cringe when I hear my own brothers and sisters judge our church family or judge other churches based on what new exciting program is offered, what new exciting technology is being used, and / or what new exciting worship element is being experienced. It’s even worse, much worse, when ministers and elders use that criteria to inform their pastoring and decision-making. In some cases, the spirituality of a body of believers is judged based on these programs, technologies, and worship practices.

More, more, more. Turn it up. Louder. Faster. Brighter. Bigger. Flashier. Fancier. What am I going to get out of this? Are my kids going to love it? Why should I come to your church? Why should I stay at your church? More. More. More.

We’ve just started again our quarterly “Legacy 101” class on Sunday mornings, a three-week course designed to introduce new members and visitors to our church family. This past Sunday I spent the entire 30-minutes talking about ministries at Legacy—not programs and classes to minister to them, but opportunities for them to serve and minister to others.

We held another training session last night for new Small Groups Co-Leaders and it gave us another chance to tell our leader-couples, “It’s not about you.” For our leaders, Small Groups is never about what they’re going to get out of it, what benefits they’re going to receive. It’s always about the ways they can serve and minister to the other half of our congregation who are not involved, not connected, not feeling like family here. We multiply to include more people. We multiply to serve and minister to more people.

And, for the most part, we all understand that. The new members of our church in that Legacy 101 session Sunday spoke much more about using their gifts and abilities to serve others than about what we can do for them. The new leaders of the multiplied groups talked much more last night about reaching out to their brothers and sisters in this church and to the lost of the community than they did about personal comfort levels and their own needs.

Peterson doesn’t cry out against activity. He cries out against activity for activity’s sake. Busyness. Entertainment. Diversion. He laments the kinds of things I hear increasingly more, not just from our church members but, from ministers and elders: we have to add this so more people will come, we have to add that so people won’t leave, we have to start doing this or begin offering that to keep everybody happy.

We have tons of activities at this place, something here almost every day and night. And I’d like to see us doing even more, but only when those activities are designed to equip and empower our people to serve and minister to others; when the focus is outward, not inward; when the emphasis is on you, not me.

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Jim Edgmon sent this to me. Enjoy.

Peace,

Allan

Changing Lives In Waco

May 7, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

Wow. Yesterday’s two-hour lunch and tour with Dr. Jimmy Dorrell in Waco was eye-opening and jaw-dropping unbelievable. Almost 30 years ago, Jimmy, a theology professor at the Truitt Seminary at Baylor, and his wife decided to move into the roughest part of Waco and live their lives in order to make a difference. And sitting at his feet yesterday afternoon—I was actually sitting across the table from him at the World Cup Cafe with a World Famous World Cup cheeseburger loaded with jalepenos and pico de gallo—was an unforgettable treat arranged by Jim Martin at the Crestview Church of Christ in Waco.

Jimmy’s vision and hard work and dedication to being the Body of Christ in Waco has now turned into Mission Waco, a non-profit organization with 40 employees that oversees more than two-million-dollars a year in relief and assistance for that city’s poor and marginalized. They facilitate job training and placement, provide medical and clinical services, and distribute food and clothing. They run GED programs and alcohol and drug abuse recovery centers. They operate parks and youth centers and affordable housing. They are intimately and intricately involved in people’s lives, living in honest and loving and serving relationships with that city’s poorest and most at-risk souls. The poverty rate in most cities in America is between eleven and twelve percent. It’s 27-percent in Waco. And Jimmy’s committed his life to helping that quarter of his city’s population.

And it’s amazing.

Jimmy drove us around all the worst parts of East Waco where Mission Waco is making a huge difference in the lives of those people. But we spent most of our time at the corner of 15th and Concord, at one time not too long ago the absolute worst part of town. The three or four blocks near that corner were home to porn theaters, bars, drug houses, and prostitution rings. The buildings that didn’t pander to those kinds of activities had been condemned by the city. And Jimmy decided they needed to reclaim that area for Christ.

When he asked city officials to sell to him every condemned building, they gave all of them to him instead. And today the porn theater is now the completely remodeled and refurbished Jubilee Theatre, home to youth dances and recitals and family movies and worship assemblies and civic events. The bars have been transformed into drug and alcohol free youth centers offering meals and recreation and education to Waco’s young people. The vacant lots have been turned into Jubilee Park. And another bar has become the World Cup Cafe, offering great food, a Fair Trade Shop, and jobs for the economically-desperate.

You can read Jimmy Dorrell’s blog, Cross Cultural Experiences, by clicking here. You can find his books and articles on his website by clicking here.

I’m just amazed at how our Father has turned Jimmy’s dreams into life-changing realities for so many of God’s children in Waco. And I’m more convinced now than ever the Kingdom is absolutely the exact same things Jesus says it is. When our Lord preached Kingdom and described Kingdom and pointed to Kingdom it was always in that the blind were made to see, the lame were made to walk, the sick were healed, the hungry were fed, the prisoners were freed. Those things were evidence of the Kingdom. And, thanks to Jimmy Dorrell and his Mission Waco and the Church Under the Bridge, the Kingdom is flourishing in Waco.

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I’m grateful to Jim Martin for asking me to be a part of this Waco Alliance of ours. Nine preachers and an elder. Our monthly meetings are such great joys to me. We talk about our families and our churches. We discuss highs and lows. We share our experiences and offer each other advice. We talk and we listen. And I find that when I’m telling my stories it does me a world of good to articulate and process what’s going on in my mind and in my life. And when I’m listening to another brother tell his story, I benefit so much in reflecting on my own common or unique experiences that compare or contrast with his.

The sharing of our stories helps both the tellers and the hearers. God knows that. Jesus knew that. That’s why oral tradition is so powerful. That’s why the Scriptures are written the way they are. That’s why our Father brings us together in congregations, in families of believers: to share and confess and encourage and pass on the faith in our stories.

God is changing lives in Waco through the works of Jimmy Dorrell. And he’s shaping lives in Waco, mine specifically, through the good works of Jimmy Martin.

Peace,

Allan

Train Yourself To Be Godly

April 9, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

Absolutely nothing is more critical to a Christian leader than the growth and maturing of his heart and mind. Paul’s words to the young preacher in 1 Timothy 4:7, “train yourself to be godly,” describe an intentional lifestyle. Our hearts have to be regularly nurtered and fed. Our minds need to be cultivated as we think through what it means to be a faithful leader in God’s Kingdom. Paul uses the words “godly” and “godliness” only eight times in all of Scripture. And all eight instances are found in Timothy and Titus, encouraging the preachers to live good and holy lives, grounded in the source of their holiness, Almighty God.

As proclaimers of the Word, we are to live as models in the Kingdom. Our very lives should reflect what it means to be transformed into the image of Christ Jesus. Others must see God in us. If salvation from God through Christ hasn’t changed me, if it hasn’t impacted the way I live my life, then how could it possibly appeal to anyone else? How would I ever expect the believers in our church here to allow the Spirit to transform them if the one proclaiming this transformation to them week after week is himself the same?

I must live a godly life.

And that takes strong self-discipline. It demands a constant concentration, a consistent focus on thinking and talking and acting like God. It requires on-going evaluation and continual correction. It means realizing I am a very self-centered person, and deciding to die to self all over again, several times a day. It’s understanding my weakness with certain temptations and consciously avoiding those situations, several times a day. It takes a devotion to study and prayer and meditation. It takes a dedication to service and sacrifice. And it’s realizing that all those times I fall short, God’s Spirit is living inside me to lift me up, to encourage me, and to empower me to live a godly life.

In that way, my failures and my shortcomings actually serve to move me closer to God, not destroy me. And my life serves as an example to others, not as a barricade between people and the Gospel.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Ministry (Page 31 of 35)

When You Were Called

Preacher AND Pastor

Carry Each Other's Burdens

Pastor or Cheerleader?

Changing Lives In Waco

Train Yourself To Be Godly

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