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Category: 4 Midland (Page 3 of 5)

4 Midland’s Christmas Day Message

December 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

They managed to scrub all Christian thought and words completely out of the story, but last night’s “Eye on America” feature on the CBS Evening News highlighting our “4 Midland” partnership was still a positive message of unity in our divided world. And I thank God for it.

You know, our Lord told us that if we’ll love one another and come together in him, the world will take notice. Well, there’s nothing more worldly than the national news media, and they have noticed.

They used the word “tolerance” instead of “unity,” and they didn’t use any of what all four of us asserted as the motivation for our worship and service partnership: the fellowship we all share by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We’re not coming together out of a desire for tolerance, we’re uniting because our Lord told us to, because that’s his desire, his will, because that’s what he prayed on that last night, that all his followers would be as united as he is with the Father, so the world will know. That’s all we talked about with the CBS crew, but they didn’t use any of it.

The problem is that you have a very difficult time using the world’s methods to express the Gospel. The world is never going to preach Jesus or the ways of our God. It’s up to us, it’s up to followers of Christ. As we told the reporter, Jason Allen, on camera many times, if God’s people won’t unite in Christ Jesus, who will? As God’s children and disciples of Jesus, we are called, ordained by God, to express this unity in Christ to our world as a divine alternative to the way societies typically operate. I’m disappointed that Jesus was not the center of the story, as it is certainly the center of the friendship between us four pastors and the fellowship we share between our four congregations. Disappointed. Not surprised.

But, we can certainly celebrate small steps, little victories. Overall, it’s a very positive thing. It’s a start. And I’m grateful to Jason and his whole entourage for coming to Midland and spending parts of two days with us in order to tell our story. I pray that this helps affirm the things we are doing at GCR and, by God’s grace, the kind of church we want to become. And I pray the story can serve as an encouragement to our city and, who knows, maybe even widespread parts of the country. It’s a start.

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Here’s a photo of the three of us at the GCR Christmas Eve service Tuesday. We heard the bells! And then we went to Texas Roadhouse before going home to watch Albert Finney’s A Christmas Carol.

I’m writing to you from Carley and Collin’s kitchen in Flower Mound, the hub of our continued Christmas festivities. Carrie-Anne, Whitney, and I spent all day yesterday in Arlington with C-A’s side of the family and today we’re driving to Liberty City for quality time with my side. Since Carley and Collin moved back to DFW, their house has become a hotel for us: Kennedy Estates. I’m not sure it’s a blessing to them like it is to us.

Peace,

Allan

Eye on 4 Midland

December 19, 2024 / / 4 Comments

Our exciting worship and service partnership between the “4 Midland” churches–First Baptist, First Methodist, First Presbyterian, and GCR Church of Christ–will be featured in the “Eye on America” segment on the CBS Evening News this next Wednesday, Christmas Day. CBS television reporter Jason Allen and a camera and sound crew of three spent Tuesday evening and most of yesterday here in Midland, shooting at all four of our churches, gathering video from our recent “4 Midland” preacher swap, and interviewing us four ministers for the story. Evidently, Christians putting aside their differences to unite in worship and service together is national news.

Jason picked up the Midland Reporter-Telegram’s story about our preacher swap and the combined “4 Midland” Thanksgiving service from his post in Dallas and contacted all four of us to talk about the CBS feature. He then put together a pitch to the Evening News producers in New York and they gave him the green light late last week.

The whole experience gave us four preachers an excuse to hang out together, which we love to do, and remember how this partnership began a little over two years ago. We got to tell the story all over again, about how our God is working in and through our friendships to bring Christians together in Midland and witness to the larger community that there is a better way to think and act with others than what our culture models. In a society as divided as ours, four pastors of four different churches from four different denominations focusing on what and who unites us instead of dividing over areas where we see things differently is a powerful testimony.

The CBS film crew followed us to Gerardo’s Casita for our monthly lunch and prayer time together. Having our normal conversation while surrounded by cameras, lights, and microphones was a little more difficult than we imagined and led to a couple of awkward moments. But we managed to talk about our churches and our ministries, our families and holiday plans, and, of course, a little football. I was reminded again of how blessed by God I am to be friends with these three men, to be Gospel partners together, and to minister to the same city at the same time with each other. By God’s grace, we have developed a very easy and mutual admiration and respect for one another. There’s a trust among us that defies the culture. Some of that, I pray, comes across in the CBS story on Christmas.

And then we headed over to First Baptist where Jason sat the four of us down for a more formal conversation.

Yes, there are some significant differences between us in how we believe and practice and teach and preach what God is doing through Christ. People outside Texas, especially non-Christians outside our state, may not understand how deeply held some of those distinctives are. They may think of Midland as a place where everyone’s a Christian and we all believe the same things and it’s not a big deal to switch preachers on a Sunday morning. We know it is. But for a national audience to understand the significance of what we’re doing, Jason told us, they need to grasp some of the differences between our faith traditions. So, we did spend a little time talking about that: women’s roles, beliefs about baptism, communion practices, church leadership structures and titles, Christian assurance, and the providence of God. And we forcefully confessed that our Lord Jesus Christ is bigger than all of it. God’s grace alone covers us, so we’re all in the same boat. Being saved by God’s grace gives us our unity. Our Christian unity is not something we have to create or manufacture; we already have it. It’s just a matter of whether we’ll receive it, whether we’ll accept it and live into it. And we’ve all four decided we’re going to, for the sake of our city. Steve Brooks, my brother from First Methodist, leaned right into the camera and said, “We’re never going to stop.”

I don’t know how much of everything we said will wind up in the “Eye on America” piece. It’s a little scary to watch the reporter and his crew drive away with over an hour of footage for what’s only going to be a two or three minute story. But I’m convinced our God is in this. He’s doing this. He’s using our story to testify to his salvation plan for the whole world. And I pray, that by our efforts and his grace, someday a group of Christians and churches putting aside their denominational differences for the sake of the world won’t be national news.

Peace,

Allan

Thanksgiving Links

November 27, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Here’s a link to the Midland Reporter-Telegram story on the “4 Midland” Thanksgiving service at First Baptist Sunday night. The story contains several really good pictures, including this one of the four pastors in the immediate afterglow of the closing prayer. Wow. How about four churches of different denominations putting aside their minor differences to unite around our Lord Jesus Christ to show the whole city what our King is really doing in us and through us for the sake of the world! This shouldn’t be newsworthy, but it is.

After a thirteen year hiatus, our Thanksgivings in Texas are returning to normal with the resumption of the annual Longhorns-Aggies football game. Incredibly, the winner of Saturday’s game at College Station will not only enjoy the firstfruits of bragging rights in the renewed rivalry that never really went away.  The Horns and Farmers are playing for a spot in the SEC Championship Game!  This link will take you to the Texas Monthly page dedicated to the 117-year history of the UT-Texas A&M rivalry. Great stories. Great pictures. Great writing. You can get lost for hours over there. I think my favorite piece is about the shenanigans between the two schools over the decades, including a myth-busting paragraph on how A&M’s 13-0 win in 1915 did not factor into the naming of Bevo.

And this:

35 Years, 4 Churches, and Missed Extra Points

November 25, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Thirty-five years ago today, Carrie-Anne and I drove in my blue Ford Ranger pickup to Amarillo, from my efficiency apartment in Pampa where I was working my first job out of college at KGRO-KOMX radio, and flew to Las Vegas and eloped. We got married at 11:45pm, Saturday November 25, in the basement of the Clark County courthouse, by a sheriff’s deputy who was playing a game of checkers with a co-worker when we arrived. We weren’t the only ones getting married at the courthouse that night, but we were the only ones who weren’t drunk. The “ceremony” lasted less than two minutes. It was more about deputy Myers confirming our identities and making sure we signed on the correct lines. We stayed at the Fitzgerald on the Vegas strip, ordered Domino’s Pizza delivered to our room, and got up at 6:00 the next morning to fly back to Pampa because I had to be at work Monday for my adult contemporary hit morning show.

Even today, I have no idea what we were thinking. Carrie-Anne and I have made a lot of impulsive decisions together over the years, but that was by far the biggest–it probably set the tone for our behavior together as a married couple. And, it is, I should note, by far the best.

Sometimes my head and my emotions still think the mid-30s is the age of my dad, not my marriage. It’s hard to grasp the idea that I’m old enough to have done anything for 35-years, much less be married. But most of the time, it feels like Carrie-Anne and I have always been together. Always. You know what I’m talking about, like I can’t even begin to imagine my life without her. Actually, it’s not really my life, it’s more like our life. Our life together. I don’t really think in terms of “me” or “my” anymore; it’s “us” and “ours.” Always.

Being married to Carrie-Anne for 35-years is an indescribable blessing from our God and an undeserved honor from Carrie-Anne.

Thirty-five years ago today was the first time I ever flew on an airplane. We had a short layover in Denver on the way to Vegas and bought matching Broncos sweatshirts in an airport gift shop. We got married at the courthouse because it was just a ten dollar fee and the Elvis chapels were all between $75-150. Everything about that weekend was an impulse. Or insanity. Or instinct.

Best decision I ever made and the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.

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At the end of last night’s 4 Midland Thanksgiving service, Darin Wood, the pastor at First Baptist who hosted us so graciously and generously, asked everyone to stand and hold hands across the aisles while he led us in a closing prayer. We were at the end of 65-minutes of worship together across our denominational lines. The combined choir was made up of worship team members from all four of our churches: First Baptist, First Presbyterian, First Methodist, and GCR. We sang a few familiar hymns like “Fairest Lord Jesus” and “Majesty” and a couple of songs I’d never heard before. Each of the four preachers got about nine minutes to remind the almost one thousand Christians in attendance how special this is, how blessed by God we are, and how important a witness it is to our city. We poked fun at ourselves and laughed, we clapped and cheered at the experience of our unity in Christ and the desire for even more expressions of it going forward, and we sang at the tops of our voices. And then, at the end, Darin asked us to hold hands together across the aisles.

I don’t have a picture of it. Not yet. I’m working on it. Surely somebody took it. The only photograph I have in my possession right now is this one Ryan took from the front row. It’s of us four pastors, holding hands in front of our churches. Or, more accurately, in front of God’s Church.

The real scene was in those pews. The physical act of embracing our unity in Christ, the literal movement across aisles and toward one another in Jesus, the visual experience and expression of God’s will for us in Jesus, was overwhelming to me. I confess, my eyes were not closed during that prayer. I can’t be sure my jaw was not on the floor in amazement and awe at what our God is doing in and through our four churches in Midland.

The day began with a preacher swap. I opened my sermon at First Baptist by just looking at the congregation for about 20-seconds, silently, and then saying, “You think this is weird? We’ve got a Methodist in our pulpit today over at the Church of Christ!” Meanwhile, Steve Brooks was telling the folks at GCR a story about his decision to become a pastor, and how he never dreamed it would ever lead to him preaching at a Church of Christ! There was also a little texting stunt that blew up my phone–our church at GCR seems to be easily influenced by outside sources. And, yes, I did stumble off the first step of the stage at First Baptist while I was preaching. I was mortified. Embarrassed and shocked. I tried to make a joke about it, but it was lame. One guy told me after church he was glad I caught myself because their insurance isn’t very good. I was told last night they edited my misstep out of the video version that will appear on their website. Grace.

There’s a lot to talk about and think about as it relates to our 4 Midland events yesterday. I’ll make just two observations right now.

One, we four pastors never once talked about what we were going to talk about in each other’s pulpits. Seriously. We have lunch and pray together every month, we’ve been planning this special Sunday together for almost a year, we’ve been emailing and texting about this for a long time, but none of us felt compelled to talk about what we were going to talk about. Nobody questioned anybody with a, “Hey, you’re not going to say this, are you?” Nobody cautioned anyone with a “Make sure you don’t say that.” It never happened. The friendship we share among us has led to a growing trust that makes those kinds of conversations completely unnecessary. We see our relationships as a partnership in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which has led to a mutual trust and respect for one another and for our four congregations, so that it never occurred to any of us to preview one another’s sermons. Can you imagine a kind of love and trust for each other, a kind of unified understanding and sense of purpose, that would lead preachers to invite other preachers from different denominations to speak to their congregation on a Sunday morning like that? Without insuring they won’t bring up a controversial issue or say the wrong buzzwords?

That’s the power of relationship and grace.

My hope is that by modeling that kind of trust and respect and love and honor between us pastors, our churches will learn to exhibit those same behaviors with other Christians and other churches and, by God’s grace, eventually some kind of Gospel movement might happen in our city.

Secondly, I must acknowledge that while we were worshiping together with the 4 Midland churches last night, not one person was focused on the issues that historically have divided us. Nobody was thinking about the nuanced differences in our baptism theology or our communion practices. Nobody was distracted by our different church leadership structures, our different views on ordination, or what we call the preacher and the auditorium / sanctuary / worship center. None of that mattered last night. We were in a room with a cross, a table, and water. We were with baptized disciples of Christ who claim Jesus as Lord. What else is there, really? Nothing else mattered last night. Which tells me, none of those other things really matter much at all.

People keep telling me that last night was a little glimpse of heaven. Yeah, none of those things we argue about are going to matter there, either.

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It took the worst special teams game in NFL history for the Cowboys to beat Washington yesterday and end their five game losing streak–two kickoff returns for touchdowns, two missed PATs, three missed field goals, and a blocked punt. The two teams combined for 41-points in a wildly entertaining fourth quarter. They gave us a year’s worth of crazy highlights in a single half of football. They gave us some energy, finally, in a rivalry that was once the best in football but has been dead now for about 20 years. They gave us a heart-stopping finish. But they didn’t give anybody any illusions that the Cowboys were somehow about to right a sinking ship.

Peace,

Allan

That All of Them May Be One

November 24, 2024 / / 0 Comments

“…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.” ~John 17:21-22

Jesus shows us the intimacy and the character of the relationship that exists between the Father and the Son. We clearly see the unity–the community–that marks their very nature. That oneness is then given to us. Jesus says, “I’m giving them the glory that they may be one like us. I’m giving them the power of your name that they be one just like us. I’m living inside them by the Holy Spirit that they may be one just like us.”

We’ve been given a oneness with God and with everybody God has saved. As his children, this unity is our new nature. This is who we are: One with Christ and one with his followers everywhere. What that means is that there is very little, if anything, outside of denying Jesus as Lord in word or deed, that can separate us. If that’s the case–it is!– then our diversity and differences aren’t just tolerated, they’re embraced and appreciated. Even celebrated.

To borrow our Lord’s words, the time has come!

The time has come for us to live into that Christian unity in visible ways that speak to our lost and dying world. The time has come for our “4 Midland” partnership with First Baptist, First Methodist, First Presbyterian, and GCR Church of Christ. The time has come to make every effort with each other in these other churches. The time has come to love one another, to serve one another, and build one another up. The time has come to bear one another’s burdens, to submit to one another, and encourage one another. The time has come for us to defend and protect one another, to speak well of one another, to give the benefit of the doubt to one another, to worship God and serve alongside one another that the world may believe.

Jesus says if two or three of you will agree on anything, I’ll show up just to see that. And I believe he will. I believe he is.

This 4 Midland thing we’re doing with the other churches is only going to get bigger and more important. It’s not just three worship nights and a service project every year. It’s very much about Christian evangelism. It’s about expressing Christian unity in ways that will convict the world of the power and love of God.

All four of our churches are coming together this evening at First Baptist for our first 4 Midland Thanksgiving service. We’re combining our choirs and worship teams and we’re going to praise God and pray and sing and experience and express our togetherness in Christ.

As part of this great day, all four churches are swapping preachers this morning. I’m preaching both services at First Baptist today and Steve Brooks, my brother from First Methodist is preaching at GCR. Darin Wood is preaching at First Presbyterian and Steve Schorr is preaching at First Methodist.

It’s going to be weird. I’ve spent my whole preaching life just making sure on Sundays we get out on time to beat the Baptists. Today, I’m going to be with the Baptists!

Next year, either late spring or first thing in the summer, we’re all going to serve this city together. We don’t know what yet, or how. But all four of our churches are going to come together to work side by side to serve the people of our city in the name and manner of Jesus. We want to cooperate more, we want to share more, we want to express our Christian unity more, to let Midland know that this is for real. To show Midland that, through Christ Jesus our King, the world is changing. People are being transformed. Hearts are melting. Barriers are being destroyed. Walls are coming down. The devil is defeated. And the Kingdom of God is here!

Jesus prays, Father, may they be one. May they all–all the followers, all the believers, all the disciples–until you send me back to finally and ultimately establish your eternal Kingdom on earth, may they all be brought to complete unity so the world will sit up and take notice. So the world will say, oh, my word, he IS the Son of God. He IS the promised Prince of Peace. And he really does transcend all our differences. And then the world will give you, Father, all the glory and praise right now today and forever and ever. Amen.

Peace,

Allan

Nuts and Bolts

November 21, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Alright, let’s get down to it. Christian unity. Accepting all Christians, all baptized followers of Jesus, for the sake of the world. Being one with all disciples of all denominations. Worshiping and serving together with all Christians and churches.

Well, what about the Christian who disagrees with me on divorce and remarriage? Or weekly communion? Or church leadership structures or church names?

Yes, let’s go there.

In Romans 14-15, the divisive issues of the day are eating meat versus vegetables and the observance of holy days. The apostle Paul certainly has his opinions on what’s right and what’s wrong. He has his convictions on these divisive topics. But in Christ Jesus, he says, those things don’t matter.

“Accept the one whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters… Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand… We all belong to the Lord.” ~Romans 14:1-8

Do you believe you are perfect? Do you think you’ve got everything figured out perfectly? Do you believe everything in the Bible exactly right, do you worship God perfectly, do you live God’s will righteously and without fault, do you practice your faith perfectly? Do you have all of God’s will perfectly interpreted and figured out? No?

Then how are you saved? What covers you in your honest shortcomings?

The grace of God. His matchless grace.

Do you believe the Churches of Christ have every single thing perfectly interpreted and figured out? Are the Churches of Christ doing everything exactly right? No?

Well, what covers us in our innocent misunderstandings? How can we be saved? God’s grace. His wonderful grace.

You think there’s any chance at all the Methodists might be doing something right according to to the will of God that we’re not? You think the Presbyterians might possibly have something figured out that we don’t? What if First Baptist’s understanding of something is fuller and richer and more in line with God’s will than ours is?

What covers us in our sincere misunderstandings? What saves us when we don’t have everything perfectly right?

God’s grace. His limitless grace.

Okay, let’s flip it around. Let’s assume that we have it right on the Lord’s Supper and the Methodists have it wrong. Let’s pretend that we’re right about baptism and the plurality of elders, and the Presbyterians and Baptists are wrong. Does God’s grace not cover them completely? Are they any less saved?

Yeah, but they’re wrong! We’re right!

So, you get God’s grace where we’re messing it up, but they don’t? We get God’s grace to cover us, but nobody else does? Why?

Because we’re trying harder. We’re more honest with the Bible. We’re more sincere.

That might be the most arrogant thing a disciple of Jesus could ever say.

The grace of God applies to both conduct and doctrine. We are all saved by grace through faith in Jesus. We’re all in the same fellowship, the same boat. So, why do we have such divisions among us Christians? Because we confuse doctrinal issues we feel strongly about with “faith.” Because we refuse to consider our own positions or opinions as disputable. Because our distorted theology of grace sometimes depends on the hot church topic of the moment or which preacher is writing what book or what church is doing something differently. We define ourselves by our differences from others instead of by the relationship we all have with God in Christ.

1 Corinthians 3 says you’re still worldly. You’re acting like mere people. You’re being worldly.

Yeah, that’s right. That is how the world acts, maybe more so now than ever. If I disagree with one politician or one celebrity on any one point, I’ll vilify that whole person. I’ll write him off. Everything that person says now is wrong. Everything he does, everything about him is wrong. So, I don’t see anything redeemable about his party or his movie or his team. A politician could say the sky is blue, 2+2=4, and Blue Bell ice cream tastes great and some of us would disagree with him because he’s not in our party.

We can do the same thing in Christ’s Church. If I disagree on one point with any Christian or congregation or denomination, I vilify that Christian or congregation or denomination. Everything about that Christian or their church is wrong. So, I can’t fellowship or worship with them.

And the unbelieving world looks at that and says, “No, thanks.”

A religion as visibly divided as ours can hardly reflect the truth. It reflects the fallen world, not the glory of our God. Our Christian unity will have an eternal impact on the world. But the world has to see it. It can’t just reside in our hearts and minds. Christian unity must be lived out loud and seen in public. It has to be visible. And when it is, the world will believe.

Peace,

Allan

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