Category: Ministry (Page 31 of 35)

Typing Above The Growls

“While the human body can survive only a short time without air or water, it can go for many days without food before starvation begins.” ~Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

We generally think of fasting as an individual spiritual discipline. The first words Jesus said about fasting question the motives of those who fast as part of an individual routine. “When you fast…” he says in Matthew 6. But there is great benefit and great biblical example of corporate fasting as a group of God’s people who want to focus their corporate energies toward a common matter of importance. Just as the congregations in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch prayed and fasted during the appointment of their elders (Acts 14:22-23) and before the commissioning of their missionaries (Acts 13:2-3), the Legacy church today is fasting and praying together as we begin our process of selecting new elders. We’re using our normal eating time to pray. We’re allowing our hunger pangs to remind us that we are submitting our wills to God and not to our growling appetites. And we’re making ourselves open to God’s direction during this time as we seek his guidance for Legacy.

There’s something neat about feeling my stomach growl and knowing I have hundreds of other brothers and sisters here who are going through the same thing today for the same reasons. It’s encouraging and inspiring to know we’re all doing this together. I got a text message from a buddy late last night:

“Fasting prep—big dinner, three chocolate chip cookies, Snickers, and two bowls of cereal. I hope I make it. If you don’t see me Wednesday, check the morgue or Pizza Garden.”

Isn’t it great to be going through the same thing and thinking the same things together with the whole church? No donuts or breakfast burritos at the Bible study this morning. We spent all of our 75-minutes together today talking about and praying about the elder selection process, asking for God’s guidance and wisdom. The corporate fast can be a wonderful and powerful experience when the people are prepared and are of one mind.

To the folks here at Legacy, let’s use this time to also consider your part in this body. Your voice, your vision, your discernment in this very important matter is no less important than anyone else’s. Your participation is critical. Please take your responsibility to the body seriously. And you men who will be asked to serve as elders: you, too. Take your role, your calling, your responsibilities to this branch of God’s Kingdom seriously. We need you.

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A powerful time with my brothers down in Waco yesterday. Nine preachers and an elder. We’ve been getting together monthly since March for mutual edification and study and prayer. Yesterday was the first time we were all together in the same room since David Hunter’s wife, Denise, died. David is the preacher at the church in Robinson, just south of Waco. Not a dry eye in the house as David re-told and re-lived that awful week. And as we gathered around him for an intense period of prayer and blessing, I was so overwhelmed with gratitude to our Father for giving us friends and family to minister to us when we deal with life’s injuries and injustices. And so thankful that his Son has overcome all those things in his life and death and resurrection and that we can all participate fully in that awesome victory.

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Legacy is the organizing church, the hub—I’m not sure what you call us—for the Lifeline Chaplaincy program that’s being established now in Tarrant County. We had over 125 people here for a kickoff breakfast and meeting Saturday morning representing 12 different congregations. Praise God in advance for all the wonderful things he’s going to do with us and through us as we join together to visit and minister to the sick.

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I’ll write more about the Cowboys next week. My policy on the Cowboys is that if I can’t say anything bad, I shouldn’t say anything at all.

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Speaking of football, The Kingdom, The Kids, and The Cowboys Top 20 College Football Poll is out. I posted it late last night on the “KK&C Top 20” page. And I’m adding it below in this post.

USC retains its stranglehold on #1. Florida jumps up three spots to #2. Georgia drops to #3. OU stays at #4. And Missouri’s in at #5. Texas and Texas Tech retain their positions at #8 and #13. Of course, some of our panelists are unable to keep their biases from impacting the integrity of this thing. Paul puts OU (zero u) at #20 in his poll while Jerry puts Texas (tu) at #19. And Richard won’t rank USC #1. He puts Southern Cal and Georgia as two #2s at the top of his list.

East Carolina debuts today at #16 while South Florida shows up for the first time at #19. Jim G’s not the only one casting votes for Fresno State this week. Ohio State fell hard from #3 to #7. More of our pollsters are talking smack, mostly against the Buckeyes and the Longhorns, although a nice theological debate is brewing over the Arizona State mascot. Larry attached the audio from the Mississippi State fight song to his poll. And I’m not publishing anymore comments about Oregon’s uniforms unless they’re really funny or really original.

KK&C Top 20 Logo 

September 9, 2008

1. USC (9-1st place votes; 306 total) “Will take Jim Tressel’s overrated crew behind the Coliseum woodshed” JimG; “They’re going to destroy Ohio State!” MR; “Trojans are licking their chops!” PD;  ”Go USC, but only for this week” JennG; “Sorry MD, too many horses. USC 27, Ohio St. 17″ SF; “They will kill Ohio St” JK; “Needs a better kicker” BW; “The NFL is proving USC is a bunch of frauds” LT;

2. Florida (1; 275) “Listen, you can hear it: Te-bow! Te-bow! Te-bow!” LT; “Defense wins championships-gratuitous cliche’” CJ; “The Florida-USC National Championship Game will be sweet” KW; “Looking good, especially on defense” AG; “Speed kills. Vols may be in trouble in two weeks” SF;  ”Has Urban Meyer joined Rick Neuheisel’s office pool?” JimG;

3. Georgia (3; 273) “A shaky 2-0, but still there” JR; “Overrated! Overrated!” CJ; “Number Two in the SEC” BW; “Refuse to put USC at the top when there’s a deserving SEC team” LT;

4. Oklahoma (1; 272) “I voted them number one, totally homer, I know. Cincy’s not exactly a dog” JR; “I like watching them play, but I’m tired of that Boomer song” KW; “Dominant team in Big 12″ AG; “Defense and special teams a bit ragged” PD; “This might be their year” LT; “The Sooner Schooner looks un-de-rail-able right now” JimG;

5. Missouri (250) “Really liking them this year” JennG; “Will get more respect from me if they win in Austin” CJ; “Chase Daniel is one heck of a football player” LT; ”Squatty quarterbacks are cool” KW; “104 points in two games!” AG; “I was tempted to move them way up” PD; “OU and Texas better keep an eye on the Tiger” LT (yuck, give me a break); “Most potent offense in college football?” JimG;

6. LSU (1; 247) “Still packed with athletes” AG; “Still defending champs” BW; “Gustav showed pity on Baton Rouge and I’ll do the same for one more week” LT;  

7. Ohio St. (237) “For now” JK; “Mark it down, USC will roll!” JS; “Overrated before Well’s injury…they stink” RA; “Tressel’s failed to live up to ‘big game’ status…this trend will continue Saturday” CJ; “THE Ohio State University is THE most overrated team of this decade. Yes, decade.” JimG; “Will this be six in a row?” PD; “Who’s the beanie counter?” BW;

8. Auburn (198) “Doing it the old fashioned way with defense, special teams, and field position” JimG; “SEC rules! LT; “Enough of the SEC already!” JK;

9. Texas (195) “Way too high” RA; “Weakest schedule of any team in the Top Ten” LT; “Yawn. Arkansas is down. Should be another lopsided win” CJ; “Can they beat OU?” JennG; “Who’s this week’s patsy?” JimG; “That Opie sure can play!” KW; “Will lose to OU” AG; “Texas 34, Arkansas 20″ SF; “Colt back in form” PD; “Needs to start games earlier than 9:15pm” BW;

10. Wisconsin (184) “This may be too low” PD; “Fattened up on Marshall before their trip west to Fresno St” JimG; “Gaining on Ohio St” BW;

11. Kansas (137) “Riding the ‘No one gives us respect’ wave” CJ; “I don’t know about anybody else, but is it weird watching them on TV? Kinda boring” KW; “Will not match the basketball team” BW;

12. Arizona St. (124) “Erickson gives me hope for things to come in College Station” CJ; “I know I shouldn’t, but the devil on the helmet is a mascot I’ve liked since I was a kid” KW; “Why would anyone allow their child to play for a team with a mascot of devils?” JimG;

13. Texas Tech (122) “Defense was better. I have to keep believing” JS; “I’m not buying this team as a legitimate contender in the Big 12″ RA; “They must prove they can win a physical game on the road before I give them props” JimG; “Almost took them out of my Top 20 but they are so dangerous” PD;

14. Alabama (112) “Love him or hate him, Saban’s a good coach” CJ; “Alabama people are fun” KW;

15. Oregon (86) “Genuine” PD;

16. East Carolina (80) “Rockin’ the purple house!” JennG; “Can’t be a fluke if you do it twice, right?” CJ; “Looking like a BCS bowl” KW; “Skip to my Lou!” PD (new front-runner for Skip Bayless line of the year); “Who is this??” BW; “Say hello to this year’s BCS buster” JK; “A skip off the old block” JimG (hold the phone, we have a challenger);

17. Penn St. (73) “Hope Paterno and Bowden are even at the end of the year and settle it in a bowl” CJ; “Number One on most boring uniform poll” KW;

18. BYU (42) “A ‘W’ is a ‘W’ but do you really feel good about how that went down?” CJ; “A poor call by officials keeps them in the Top 20″ SF; “Agree with celebration penalty” BW;

19. South Florida (31) “Did they really stop him?” JS; “Because I couldn’t let BYU and their sham remain in my poll” JimG;

20. West Virginia (18) “…and dropping” JK; “Probably should be further down but East Carolina could be better than anyone thinks” JS; “National title hopes destroyed! Thanks ECU!” CJ; “Will get offense going” BW;

 Also receiving votes: Clemson (17); Wake Forest (14); Fresno St. (10) ”Welcome Wisconsin in the most anticipated home game in school history” JimG;  California (9) “Boy, those tree huggers sure are fast” KW; Utah (8); TCU (7); Tennessee (6) “Will beat either Florida, Georgia, or Auburn to go 7-4 and earn the 20th ranking” AG; Oklahoma State (6) “The surprise team in the Big 12″ CJ; ”699 yards of offense!” JR; Illinois (3); Nebraska (1) “Bo knows” DM; Mississippi St. (1)

 As always, click on the green “KK&C Top 20” tab at the upper right hand corner of this page to see the poll and meet the pollsters.

Peace,

Allan

God's Worldwide Reach

MichaelYoungWins08AllStarGameOnce again a Texas Ranger drives in the winning run in the All-Star Game. Michael Young’s game-winning RBI on a one-out sac fly in the bottom of the 15th at 12:37 this morning won it for the American League. And I’m paying for it this morning. Great game. Excellent pitching early and tons of drama late as both benches and bullpens emptied and both teams put runners in scoring position time after time but couldn’t bring any of them around. Last night’s mid-summer classic set all-time All Star Game records for longest game (290 minutes; 4 hours, 50 minutes), most runners left on base (28), most players in the box score (63), most pitchers used (23), and most strikeouts (34). I just wish once, just once, the Texas Rangers would figure as prominently on the national stage in October as they seem to in the middle of July. (Kinsler was safe at second in the bottom of the 11th. Bad call.)

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About three weeks ago I received a call here at the church building from a woman who lives in another city in another state, over 660 miles away from North Richland Hills and Legacy. This stranger introduced herself to me over the phone and proceeded to tell me all the details of several tragic things that had happened in her life over the past few months including, but not limited to, a teenage daughter who became pregnant out of wedlock, an unauthorized abortion, and an unwanted divorce. This woman was in tears—she was trembling, I could hear it—as she told me of the dark valley she was walking through. And the whole time I’m listening to her I’m trying to understand why she had called me. Why was she telling me these things? Who is she? What’s the connection?

And then she says, “Allan, your three sermons on Habakkuk are the only things that have gotten me through the past couple of months.”

My jaw hit the desk and chills ran up my arms and my back as she told me how she was just searching church websites, looking for some encouragment and comfort, when she came across Legacy’s site and the audio of our Sunday morning sermons. Accidentally. She can’t even remember what she googled to get there. But she appreciated the sermons. They provided her strength and comfort. They gave her hope. And she just wanted to call me and thank me and ask me to pray for her.

Wow.

Of all the amazing things that have happened to me over the past three years, I believe that was the absolute most unbelievable. I preach my guts out to a thousand people here at Legacy and those three sermons meant more and did more for a lady I’ve never met who lives three states away than they did for the people I’m actually preaching to.

Some weeks it’s kind of a hassle to get those sermons up on the website. I wonder sometimes if anybody’s really using that resource, if it’s worth the trouble. Suzanne and Bonny have to track everything down and load it and check it and all kinds of stuff. And this lady hits me between the eyes with a sledgehammer to remind me that, yes, our God is using those sermons!

Sometimes I wonder about this blog. Some days it’s kind of a hassle to get something written here. It’s time-consuming. It’s stressful, sometimes, in that I want what’s written here to be meaningful and important and helpful. And I wonder sometimes if anybody’s really using it, if it’s really worth the trouble.

And then I read all the comments on my post regarding Jade Lewis’ death last month. That simple request to pray for Hank and Janet has turned into an internet meeting place where all of Hank and Janet’s friends scattered from Texas to Florida are posting prayers and sympathies and well wishes for that precious family. The Lewises have been so encouraged by the response. Everyone who’s read Hank’s comment have been encouraged. And as I read and re-read all those comments, I’m blown away by the fact that our God is using this blog!

I’m appealing to our God today to use this blog to his glory again. And I’m asking you—personal friends and family of mine and Carrie-Anne’s, Christ’s Church here at Legacy, our brothers and sisters in Marble Falls and Mesquite, all you sweet people in Florida, Jim Gardner and Jimmy Mitchell’s church families in Arkansas and California—please pray for Debbie and Dan Miller.

As I mentioned yesterday, Dan is one of my nearest and dearest friends. He’s one of the main reasons I’m preaching God’s Word today. He means more to me than I can put into words. And I’ve tried over the past couple of days.

They just found out Thursday that Debbie has cancer. She underwent some emergency surgery at Medical City in Dallas Saturday. She’s still there, undergoing all kinds of tests, probably for the rest of this week. They still don’t know everything they’re going to know in the next couple of days. I spent a couple of hours with them both yesterday. Debbie is strong, of course. She’s prepared for the fight. She’s ready. She’s determined. Her faith and her trust is in our God. For the first time since I’ve known him, Dan seems shaken. Completely understandable. His faith is strong. But he’s asking tons of questions. And he seems rattled. And tired. And I love them so much.

Pray for them today. In the powerful name of Jesus, please ask our Father today to heal Debbie and to comfort her and Dan and their three precious children.

And, Lord, please use this blog to work an amazing thing in their lives. And may you, Father, receive all the power and all the glory and all the honor and all the praise.

And all God’s people reading this today say “Amen!”

Peace,

Allan

When You Were Called

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

WhenYouWereCalledPaul 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

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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MMMMWorldCheck 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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Fillerup

Peace,

Allan

Carry Each Other's Burdens

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

CarryingCrossIt’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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RangersPlayoffLogoThe 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?

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.

4-28atthebank.bmp

Peace,

Allan

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