The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Just a super quick check-in from South Padre Island.

There’s a thin line between courage and stupidity. And we’re definitely treading that line taking our family summer vacation the week before school starts. But here we are. A little too much sun, a few too many cheesy beach-themed souvenir shops, kareoke at the Shrimp Haus, Schlitterbahn, boogie boarding in the ocean, a bee sting, Tex Mex at the Big Donkey, one tubing mishap, and an air mattress.

We’re having a great week. Hope you are, too.

School starts Monday.

Peace,

Allan

Four weeks ago we spent seven days with our great friends Jim & Mandy Gardner and Jimmy & Elizabeth Mitchell at the Northside Church of Christ in Benton, Arkansas (home of Cliff Lee). They always bring in a guest speaker for the adults during their Vacation Bible School. And I was honored to preach the Word from John 14-16 with a reflective and hungry group of disciples.

Side note: I was walking into our church building here at Legacy the Sunday I returned when Kent and Norma Robinson drove up and welcomed me back home. Kent asked me how it went and I told him it was great, but I was exhausted. I said, “They had me speaking twelve times in five days and I didn’t think I had that much to say.” At which Norma leaned over in the truck and responded, “I find that hard to believe!”

Of course, I had a wonderful time reconnecting with Jim and Jimmy. We were all three on staff together at the church in Marble Falls while I was getting my degree at Austin Grad. Jim always impresses me with his knowledge of God’s Word and the straightforward way he delivers it. He’s very confident and very bold in the way he preaches. And he’s so very kind and gentle with and to the people in his congregation. Always has been. After spending about 30-minutes in his study with an especially cranky brother in Marble Falls one morning, Jim finally stood up and said, “We can do this all day long and accomplish nothing for the Kingdom. I’m going to make some hospital visits. You’re welcome to come with me.”

And the man did.

Jim sees the big picture.

And then there’s Jimmy. I was reminded all over again about why I love Jimmy. He’s a nut. He’s crazy. He has no shame. He’s hilarious. He’s not afraid of anything. He’ll sing any song and do any voice and play any part. He spent all week in VBS playing a ship’s first mate with the voice and mannerisms of a cross between Conan O’Brien and Harry Caray. He’s sensitive. And loving. And every single thing he does — everything! — is motivated by his love for the kids. He loves them. He’s in their faces all the time. He’s at their schools. He’s in their homes. All he cares about is those young people. And they love him right back.

Jimmy sees the big picture.

Ernest Miller is a 33-year-old Harding graduate from New Jersey. He and his wife LaDonna and their two girls just moved to Benton six weeks ago. He’s the brand new preacher at the Johnson Street Church of Christ in Benton, the black church on the other side of the tracks. I had lunch with Ernest that week at a Chinese restaurant owned by a guy named Jerry Jones — not that Jerry Jones! And then I had the honor of Ernest showing me around the Johnson Street church building and surrounding neighborhood. I had the pleasure of meeting and shaking hands with 83-year-old W. K. Hannah, one of the founding members of that church from almost 60 years ago. He was working the food pantry last Tuesday, just like he does every Tuesday. Greeting people with a warm, “How you doin’?” Moving sacks of groceries into the trunks of cars. Praying with visitors. Telling them goodbye with a heartfelt “God bless you.” Ernest moved gracefully around the parking lot and the building, calling people by name, hugging little old ladies and jousting with the kids like he’s been there forever. He encouraged everybody. He smiled at everybody.

Ernest sees the big picture.

And they’ve all three committed to working on the biggest of pictures: reconciling their two churches, bringing together their two congregations, reuniting the brothers and sisters at the Lord’s table. They want to make the white church and the black church one. One Church. One family. One building. One set of elders. One mission. One purpose. One Body.

Northside actually planted that Johnson Street church — literally on the other side of the tracks — back in the mid 1950s. Jim’s grandfathers, both of them, were elders at the time. Jim showed me a copy of the church budget from 1962 that lists “colored congregation” as their second largest mission item. It’s not that the Northside church had evil intentions or bad motives 55 years ago. I believe that their motives were pure. They were just wholly misguided. And Jim is working with Jimmy and Ernest and Fernando, their hispanic minister, to make sure that the Kingdom of God in Benton looks like and acts like the Kingdom of God in Holy Scripture.

These two congregations are already working hard to rise above the ungodly distinctions of the artificial boundaries our culture and, sadly, our churches have built between us. They already worship together at monthly gatherings. They eat together at special occasions. They supported each other’s VBS. The ministers from both churches have lunch together once a week.

Christ Jesus came to break down all the barriers, to destroy all the lines, to obliterate our differences. The dream in Benton is that God’s Church there will be an impossible-to-miss example, a living illustration, that in Christ there are no language or ethnic or cultural divisions. We are, together, one body. And all the members belong to each other.

It’s going to take a lot of sacrifice for both churches. It’s going to take patience and understanding and gentleness and kindness. It’s going to require a Christ-like attitude of selfless giving. And it’s going to take time. But it’s a worthy endeavor. It’s what’s demanded of all of us who claim to be followers of our Savior who went out of his way and left everything and gave everything to impartially call everyone to the Father.

I’m excited that tonight Whitney and I are going to join Jim and Jimmy and the Northside youth group at the Rangers game in Arlington. I’m excited that Jimmy is going to lead our worship at Legacy this Sunday, just like the good ol’ days in Marble Falls. And I’m so inspired by what Jim and Jimmy and Ernest and the Church is doing in Benton, Arkansas.

God bless our brothers and sisters there. May they point all of us to greater unity in Christ.

Peace,

Allan

Crazy energy. Non-stop noise. Constant. Loud. Interactive. Responsive. Hilarious. Meaningful. Life-changing. Momentous.

Jason and Jennifer and I triple-teamed 25 of our 6th and 7th graders (18 boys, 7 girls) over the past three days in our annual Faith Builders Day Camp here at Legacy. It’s an idea I got from Jim Gardner when we worked together in Marble Falls. It’s designed to engage our youngsters in the fundamentals of our faith in God through Christ Jesus.

The first day’s theme was “Sin: The Problem.” On Tuesday we studied “Jesus: The Solution.” And we wrapped it up yesterday with “Faith: The Response.”

The young people studied hard for almost three hours each morning. And then after lunch we enjoyed off-site activities like bowling, laser tag, swimming, and the movies. But then it was back home in the evenings for 30-minutes of homework with mom and dad.

The conversations were happening. What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Why did Jesus have to die? When were the dinosaurs created? What happens if I sin again after I’m baptized? Why does God let bad things happen? Bibles were being read. Light bulbs were going off. God is reaching out to his children. And the faith is being passed on from generation to generation.

Thank you so much to our church office staff and other parents and volunteers who helped write and apply the name tags and Bible stickers, chaperon our children to the afternoon events, stuff the folders, and stick on the Band-Aids. It couldn’t have happened without you.

And congratulations to Emma Gambill who was baptized into Christ last night here at Legacy. Emma, you now participate in the resurrection of Jesus. Death has nothing on you now. And neither does sin.

Peace,

Allan

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?”

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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

I felt like I was in the final scene of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The conference room at the back of our worship center was packed — jam-packed — with more people than it was ever intended to hold. As I pressed and pushed and excuse-me’d my way to the center of the room, untold dozens of men and women kept pushing money into my hands. Twenties and tens. Lots of twenties and tens. Several dozen checks. A couple of hundred dollar bills. People gave me phone numbers and email addresses. And lots of money. Smiling people. Loud people. Happy people. Giving cheerfully. Offering themselves sacrificially. Some of these people I know very well. Others, I’m not sure I’ve ever met. I can still see their wide open faces. But there’s no way I can remember them all. I didn’t know what to say. Almost 36-hours later, I’m still not sure what to say. I just stood there. Speechless. Yes, without speech. I kept waiting for someone to break out in “Auld Lang Syne.” (Is that how you spell it? Probably not.) Surely another Clarence somewhere was getting his wings!

It was too much. Almost chaotic. People were cramming themselves around the room. Others were pressed against the glass, unable to squeeze in. A line three and four across stretched out into the halls from both doors. I fully expected the ceiling tiles to be ripped apart and more people to be lowered down on mats and ropes. We had to move everybody back out into the worship center.

A Legacy family is in crisis. Major crisis. And we gave it to God by giving it to his Church. We spilled it all before the whole Body of Christ. No holds barred. Raw honesty. Brutal truth. All the pain. All the sin. All the darkness. Here it is, we said. Now, let’s help this family.

And we did. And we are. And I still can’t believe it.

Why am I so surprised? God is faithful. He’s always promised to take care of us if we’ll just depend on him. And he’s never broken one of those promises. Never. So why am I so shocked that he moved our church to such great depths of Christian love yesterday? Why was I so blown away?

Because it’s so rare?

Maybe.

Why is it so rare?

Because we don’t always depend on God the way he wants us to?

Maybe.

I really believe the key is to totally and completely and wholly rely on God instead of ourselves. And we never do that. Except when we get in a “hopeless situation.” Except when we find ourselves in the middle of a cyclone of horrible news and dreadful circumstances. Except when we hold meeting after meeting after meeting and discover we’ve got nothing. Nothing. No answers. No wisdom. No suggestions. No solutions. Nothing.

And we wind up with no choice but to give it all to God. In all humility and brokenness and helplessness, we give it to God.

And then he does that thing he always does. He rescues. He saves. He delivers. Just like always. And I imagine our heavenly Father looks at our surprise and says, “Now you know that I am the Lord.”

Praise God. He alone is God. There is no other. Praise God.

Allan

We live in interesting times.

One hundred years ago the German philosophers and theologians were telling us that things were getting better. Science and technology were making us better people. All our problems would soon be solved. World peace would soon be the result of all our science and technology and education. City and state police departments would soon be obsolete. There would be no need for armies of any kind.

Then came two bloody World Wars. And self-indulgent Baby Boomers. And whiny Generation-Xers. And national security crisis. And economic crisis. And health care crisis.

The BP oil spill is nearly 100 days old.

And now we’re hearing and reading that people are losing their faith in science and technology. Science and technology can’t solve the world’s problems. Science and technology don’t have all the answers. This world is too big and too broken to be fixed by science and technology and government and education and armies and wealth.

We live in interesting times.

Today seems like the perfect time to remind ourselves and the world where our faith lies. Not in science or technology, education or wealth, armies or governments, vaccines or oil. Now’s the time to preach it and teach it; now’s the time to sing it and shout it; now’s the time to live it! Now’s the time to tell the world — your street, my community, our world — that our hope is built on nothing less than the faithful love of Almighty God, eternal salvation from his Son, and the earth-altering power of his Holy Spirit!

Peace,

Allan

Have you ever taken that middle part of 1 Corinthians 13 in which Paul describes love in both positive and negative terms and substituted your own name for “love?” You know, “Allan is patient, Allan is kind, Allan does not envy, he does not boast…” Sure you have.

But if I’m called as a child of God to reflect the glory of our God — and I am! — that means I must reflect his steadfast love, too. His abounding love. His overflowing chesed. Faithful love. Loyal love. Love without limits. Not some abstract love or love concept. Not a friendly feeling. A genuine love proven by its actions.

And that’s not just me. That’s you, too.

“To God be glory in the Church…” ~Ephesians 3:21

So, I’ve made some modifications to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 in a church context. In a “one another” context. It’s one thing to say, “Allan is patient.” It’s another thing entirely to put that in a specific setting or circumstance.

Allan is patient with his brothers and sisters at Legacy.

Allan is kind to the people who don’t like him or approve of him.

Allan does not envy others’ spiritual gifts.

Allan does not boast in the gifts he has.

Allan is not proud of anything he accomplishes, recognizing that all things come from God and we’re all doing this thing together.

Allan is not rude to anyone at Legacy. No matter what.

Allan seeks the good of others; he looks out for others’ interests instead of his own.

It’s impossible for anyone at Legacy to make Allan angry.

When Allan is wronged by someone at church, he forgets about it immediately.

Allan gives other people the benefit of the doubt.

Allan always protects people at Legacy.

Allan always trusts people at Legacy.

Allan always remains positive.

Allan will never ever give up and quit. Never. Not on the people. Not on the church. Not on the community. Never.

As a man of God, I am called to look like God. To act like God. To increasingly grow to think like our God. To be God-like, holy, sanctified, in the way I live my life and interact with you. I’m called, I’m ordained by God, to reflect his eternal glory, to reflect his steadfast love as it’s revealed to us in his Word and by his actions with his people in history.

And I usually think I’m doing pretty well. In fact, I generally think I’m very good. When I compare myself to other people I run into or even other Christians, I know I’m a very mature disciple.

But when I actually read Scripture, like 1 Corinthians 13, and compare myself against the standard that God has set, I see very clearly how wrong I am. And how far I need to go.

How about you?

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” ~1 John 4:11

Peace,

Allan

I’m convinced that Jesus looked at the people around him and thought, “Anything is possible.” I believe he regularly surveyed his circumstances and said, “Anything is possible.”

The Samaritan woman in John 4 drops her water jar and runs into town to tell everyone about Jesus. He had welcomed her. Jesus had accepted her. Even in her horrible sins, even with all her baggage, he had treated her with respect and dignity and hospitality. And this hopeless woman now had hope. This dead woman now had life. She’s redeemed. She’s reconciled. She’s saved. And it’s stunning to me that by the end of the story, the entire village of Sychar is taking their religious direction from the town sleaze! Anything’s possible! The way Jesus treated this one lonely woman rocked the whole city!

With Jesus, anything is possible.

The blind see, the lame walk, the prisoners are released, the dead are raised. The fisherman who betrays Jesus three times the night he’s arrested becomes a foundation stone for the eternal Church of God. The angry apostle who begs to call down fire to incinerate a whole village that rejects Christ winds up giving God’s people the most beautiful words about love ever written. The Church’s biggest enemy, the killer of Christians, becomes by the grace of God the Church’s greatest writer and preacher and church planter.

Anything is possible.

Zacchaeus is pulled out of a tree. Lazarus walks out of a tomb. Demons are sent back to hell. The hungry are fed. Money is found in a fish’s mouth. Doubting Thomas believes. Storms are stilled. The temple is cleared. Gentile jailers are baptized. And camels pass through the eye of a tiny needle.

We will never grow, we will never be transformed, we will never be moved, we will never live up to our God-ordained potential until we adopt the mind of Christ and begin to see and believe that anything is possible! It really is!

But, Allan, my church will never change.

Wrong answer! With Christ Jesus, anything is possible!

But, Allan, this world will never change.

Oh, no! With Jesus, anything is possible!

Allan, I don’t think I can ever change.

Are you kidding? Have you read the gospel story of salvation from God in Christ? Have you heard the good news? The almighty Creator of heaven and earth loves you! He welcomes you! He’s taken care of your sins! And it’s all very, very, very possible!

Peace,

Allan

It figures, huh? The year the Rangers go to the World Series they’re not going to have home field advantage.

New Ranger Cliff Lee. One inning of work in last night’s All-Star Game. Three up, three down. Six total pitches. One strikeout. I’m just sayin’…

The second half begins tomorrow night in Boston. Now we really start paying attention. Kipi, are you with me?

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A quality I find most attractive in people is the willingness — even the joy — to laugh at oneself. George Steinbrenner was, by all accounts, an impossibly difficult man to work with and/or for. A narcissistic ego-maniac, for sure. Impulsive. Explosive. Irrational. Driven. Evil. There are plenty of words out there to describe him. But it’s hard to hate a man who seems to take such pleasure in laughing at himself and in watching others poke fun at him.

Steinbrenner’s old Miller Lite commercial with Billy Martin is hilarious. He reportedly took great delight in Larry David’s numerous parodies on Seinfeld (asking Costanza if it’s pronounced “Feb-U-ary” or “Feb-RU-ary” and calling Babe Ruth a “fat old man with little girl legs”; did you know he wasn’t really a Sultan?”). But the funniest thing to me is Steinbrenner himself playing a convenience store owner on Saturday Night Live. His character spent the entire skit trying to persuade his store manager that firing people all the time is a horrible way to run a business. “How can your employees perform at their best when you’re constantly looking over their shoulders?” It’s a great skit. A classic. And I can’t find it anywhere. I’ve looked everywhere today. Help! Somebody please find that old SNL skit and pass along the link.

You know, we should all learn to laugh at ourselves. We should all relax and be able to poke fun at our own idiosyncrasies and shortcomings. God’s Church would be a better place, more people would be encouraged, and more good for the Kingdom would be done if we’d stop taking ourselves so seriously all the time.

Please find that SNL clip!!!

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Dan Gilbert reminds me of George Steinbrenner. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner released an open letter to all Cavs fans on the team’s website Thursday evening in the aftermath of LeBron James’ defection to Miami. I certainly don’t condone the attitude or the name-calling in this letter. But you absolutely have to read it! If you’ve already read it, read it again (The Cavs pulled the letter off their team website sometime last night. Click here dangilbertletter.doc to read it today). It’s fascinating. It’s incredible. Team owners don’t say things like this. Not in public. Not even Jerry Wayne. Nobody does this. I’ve read it four times and I still don’t believe it.

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One of our shepherds here at Legacy, Russ Garrison, sent me this photo of his son, Kent. The band is Forever the Sickest Kids (yeah, I have no idea). Kent’s on keyboards and vocals. They’re signed to Universal Motown Records, they’ve got a #34 single with “Whoa-Oh,” they’ve been on Conan O’Brien, played halftime at the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day game last year, and done a couple of world tours. This picture was taken at the Meadowlands during a show last month. Check out the Empty Tomb sticker in the foreground there. Cool.

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David Byrnes recently sent me an email with a whole bunch of “look-alikes.” A couple of them were striking, such as this coupling of Yassar Arafat and Ringo Starr.

A few of them were really funny, like Dalai Lama and Happy Llama.

But the reason David forwarded the email to me is because he knows my love of all things Van Halen and Simpsons. And this pairing of Eddie Van Halen and the crazy cat lady from The Simpsons was too much for him to resist.

It’s a very, very unfortunate picture of Edward. Taken at a really bad time in his life. Shame on you, David. Double shame.

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Finally, this, forwarded to me from an unnamed Legacy shepherd:

Peace,

Allan

“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

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