Category: Evangelism (Page 18 of 20)

A New Sign

March 17, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Is it unethical — is it wrong — to organize a college basketball pool among the ministers and staff? Wouldn’t that be a lot of fun? Would anybody in the church freak out?

We’re all filling out our brackets as a family tonight at Stanglin Manor. Not for money. Nobody plays for cash. It’s all about pride. This is the fifth or sixth year now the whole family has followed the tournament with picks on the line. And I’ve won every single year. Except last year. Whitney won the contest last year. And she’s been talking smack now ever since Sunday. Revenge is mine, I will repay.

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

Do you think the Church still views its God-given mission as presenting and proclaiming an alternative lifestyle? Something better. Something higher. Something radically different. Something you can’t find anywhere else on this planet. Something you can only find inside a community of faith. Something that only belongs to children of God and followers of the Christ. Something real. Ultimately real. Eternal. Otherworldly. Belonging to another reality. The real reality.

Shouldn’t we be proclaiming and living something that can’t be purchased at Wal-Mart or consumed at Chuck-E-Cheese or experienced at a Multiplex Movie Theater? And, if so, doesn’t that mean our means — our methods of this proclamation and living — should also be otherworldly and radically different? Christ-like, not earth-like. The Jesus Way, not the American Way.

From Resident Aliens, by Hauerwas and Willimon:

The most interesting, creative, political solutions we Christians have to offer our troubled society are not new laws, advice to Congress, or increased funding for social programs — although we may find ourselves supporting such national efforts. The most creative social strategy we have to offer is the Church. Here we show the world a manner of life the world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.

The Christian faith recognizes that we are violent, fearful, frightened creatures who cannot reason or will our way out of our mortality. So the gospel begins, not with the assertion that we are violent, fearful, frightened creatures, but with the pledge that, if we offer ourselves to a truthful story and the community formed by listening to and enacting that story in the Church, we will be transformed into people more significant than we could ever have been on our own.

As Barth says, “The Church exists to set up in the world a new sign which is radically dissimilar to the world’s own manner and which contradicts it in a way which is full of promise.”

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

I’ve added a new link to the blogrole on the right hand side of this page. It’s Made In The Streets, the great work of Charles and Darlene Coulston in Nairobi, Kenya. They’ve been working with abandoned and orphaned and run-away children there for 15 years, reaching out to them with the love and mercy of God in Christ, showing them and living with them this citizen-of-heaven reality that is so radically different from the other, seen and temporary, “reality” all around them. You’ll be blessed by visiting their site.

Peace,

Allan

All That Jesus Began To Do

February 27, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

This Sunday marks the beginning of Missions Month here at Legacy. Our entire local and foreign missions budget for 2009 will be funded by one single church offering on March 29. Between now and then we’re going to focus on what God is doing with us and through us to save the world. Guest speakers this month include Mark Hooper from Missions Resource Network and our own church missions ministry, Charles Coulston from Made In The Streets in Nairobi, Darin Campbell from Let’s Start Talking, and Salvador Cariaga and John Bailey from the Philippines and Body and Soul Ministries. Michael Thames from Fortress Youth Development Center in Fort Worth will join us. So will Corey Mullins from Australia and David Nelson from Ukraine, via the miracle of the internet skype.

We’ll share together our plans and vision for the year. More missionary teams. More church planting. More teaching. More training. More preaching. And we’re asking our whole church family to get personally involved. We’re asking everyone to seriously discuss Missions giving with their spouses and kids. We’re asking everyone to adopt a missions mindset. We’re asking everyone to pray and reflect on our role in the gospel story.

Because the story’s not over.

We’re still writing sacred history. As disciples of the Christ, we are the next pages in the continuing account of God’s good news of salvation to the world. Every time a person is treated or cured in the name of Jesus, another page is added to the gospel. Every time a church is planted in the name of our Christ, another line is written. Every time a hungry person is fed, another paragraph is etched.

Every time a preacher is sent, a homeless person is given shelter, a sermon is preached, a woman is baptized, a jobless man is encouraged, someone is confronted for the first time with God’s love and mercy in Jesus, another page is added to the continuing gospel story. Every time.

What are we going to do? What are you going to do?

The Way Of The Kingdom

January 15, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Jerry Plemons and I met for about an hour Tuesday with the principal and a couple of counselors at Thomas elementary school less than three miles south of our church building. They had contacted us first, asking if there were anything we could do to help them and the children in their school. Sixty-five percent of these children are on free and reduced lunch, economically-disadvantaged kids with only one parent, barely one pair of shoes, and no sense of community beyond their 8:00 to 3:00 school day behind the bricks. The school is lacking adequate funds for playground equipment, day planners, uniforms and underwear and socks. They need scholarships for field trips and science camps.

Can we help them? You bet!

And we are. Legacy is committed to giving every penny of our Sunday night contribution for the next 12 weeks—hopefully over $6000—to Thomas Elementary. We’re going to organize a rotation of volunteers to greet kids at the door in the mornings and read with the children in the afternoons. We’re going to adopt this school in much the same way we’ve adopted Walker Creek Elementary across the street. It’s a no-brainer.

I’m reminded of N. T. Wright’s comments about how to live in the Kingdom of God. In his book The Way of the Lord: Christian Pilgrimage Today, Wright says the royal decree of our King, the Christ, is “an invitation to a Kingdom-spirituality, invoking the power of the King to liberate those held in Satan’s bondage.” So, living in the Kingdom looks like this: a life of complete submission to the King, a life marked with loyalty and love and total commitment to his cause. It means taking up his cause and planting the flag of his Kingdom in territory currently occupied by enemy forces. Territory like Thomas Elementary.

“You commit yourself to the work of healing and liberation, both actual and symbolic. You commit yourself to freeing slaves, to loosening the bonds of debt, to bringing good news to the poor. And you commit yourself to doing these things, not as a grand social action which you will implement by your own energy and ingenuity, but in the power, and with the weapons, of the Kingdom of God: by prayer and fasting, by truth and righteousness, by the gospel of peace, by faith, by salvation, by the Word of God.”

Christmas Leftovers

December 26, 2008 / Allan / 8 Comments

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Butch Johnson and the California Quake…

The “Lex Orandi Lex Credendi” post from last week was prompted by a conversation I’d had with one of our elders here at Legacy. He had read an article from another blog by another minister within our Church of Christ stream questioning our worship practices and how they do or do not match up with what we profess to believe. Our conversation centered on this man’s observation that PowerPoint probably does more harm than good in our worship assemblies. He names PowerPoint as something that, while introduced and used with noble intentions, “might form us in unhealthy or even ugly ways.”

I’ve had the chance to read the article now, and I recommend it to you. The young man’s name is Brad East. His blog is called “Resident Theology.” Here’s the link to that particularly provocative post.

It’s long been my contention that using PowerPoint in our worship assemblies actually works to destroy what our assemblies are intended by God and our Scriptures and our church leaders to do. The constantly changing slides projected on to the huge screens demand our undivided attention. We’ve stopped looking at each other. Instead, we stare at the slides.

If a congregation of a thousand were singing “Jesus Loves Me” and the words were up on the screen, we’d all — every one of us — be staring at the screen. Not because we don’t know the words to “Jesus Loves Me.” Of course we do! But because when a screen is on, we look at it. That’s what we do. We’re conditioned by our culture to look at screens. In our homes, at work, in line at Wal-Mart, driving down the road in our cars, we stare at screens. If there’s a TV up in the corner in a restaurant, you and I won’t be looking at each other. We’ll be looking at the screen. Even if we can’t hear the sound. Even if it’s an infomercial. It’s what we do.

As a preacher, I’ve noticed that I can’t make eye contact with anybody during an invitation song. Forget it. Smile at someone? Wink at somebody? Encourage someone? Acknowledge a tough time somebody may be experiencing? Impossible! No chance! Everybody’s looking at the screen!

One of the reasons (among many, I know) that nobody comes forward anymore for confession or prayer is that we’re all too busy looking at the screens. As long as the screens are on, we’re tuned out to anything that’s really happening around us. Or within us. The screens come on and our minds and bodies go into neutral. Just like they do on the couch in front of a ballgame, in a theater in front of a movie, or in line for a ride at Six Flags. Do we honestly expect anything different just because the projected words and images happen to be sacred?

But to question the use of technology and PowerPoint in our worship assemblies is taboo. To suggest a day or a month when we don’t use the screens would be heresy. Unfortunately, our churches are spending so much money on the leading technology, the constant cry is to use it more. So, with seemingly no thought to the obvious messages it sends or the ways it shapes us as a church family, we use it more.

When’s the last time you held the song book for your wife? We don’t do that anymore. When’s the last time you handed your book to a late-arriving brother or sister in front of you? There’s no need. When’s the last time you helped a young child, maybe your young child, find the number in the book? There’s a chance you’ve never done that.

I’m not saying that going back to song books is the answer. I’m not advocating that we rip all the screens out of the walls and pawn off all the projectors. I’m not saying there are not some advantages to using PowerPoint in our assemblies (I can think of one). What I beg of our preachers and worship leaders and elders is that we consider carefully why we do what we do and that we think through the long term effects of those things.

The most encouraging part of Brad’s post is that, by the looks of his picture, he’s probably not even 30-years-old. He’s young. Wow, very young! But he recognizes that something’s wrong, something’s inconsistent and disconnected between our gospel and our technology. At least he’s thinking. Not reacting. Not mindlessly following. He’s thinking.

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

We sent Corey and Emily Mullins off with a prayer breakfast here Monday morning. The Mullins are spending the holidays with family in East Texas and Tennessee, and then heading out to Australia as part of the first Church of Christ missionary team to go down under in 25 years. Their commitment is to preach the gospel in Australia for at least five years. They’ve only been with us here at Legacy for about six months. But we’ve all come to love them as our own. And Monday’s “goodbye” was pretty neat.

We all told them how much we love them. We charged them with being strong and faithful. We reminded them that they are joining what our Father is already doing there in Wollengong, redeeming his creation, his people, back to him. And we recognized that we are joining them, too. We circled close around them, put our hands on them and our arms around them and each other and lifted them up to our Lord. We prayed for courage and faith and protection. And we committed them and their work to him. Our hearts and our prayers go with Corey and Emily as they head to Australia.

You can keep up with the Mullins by reading their blog here. I’ll also keep the link active on the right hand side of this page.

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

Got this picture from Mark Richardson this week.

Thanks, brother. I’ll see you down front Sunday!

Peace,

Allan

Legacy To The World

October 15, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

Between 60-70 of us turned out for a quick breakfast here at Legacy this morning and a send off of our missionaries to Ukraine, David & Olivia Nelson. David’s from New Zealand. Liv’s from Lubbock. They met in the AIM program at LCU. They’ve been married for a little over two years. And they’re committing to a six-year stint as Christian missionaries with a team in Kharkov, Ukraine. They’ve only been with us here at Legacy for about three months. But we’ve all come to love them as our own. And this morning’s send off was pretty neat.

We all told them how much we love them. We charged them with being strong and faithful. We reminded them that they were joining in what God is already doing there in Ukraine, redeeming his creation, his people, back to him. And we recognized that we are joining them, too. We circled close around them, put our hands on them and our arms around them and each other and lifted them up to our Father. We prayed for courage and faith and protection. And we commited them and their work to him. Our hearts and our prayers go with David and Olivia as they head to Europe.

You can keep up with the Nelsons via their blog by clicking here. I’ll also keep it posted on my blog roll on the right hand side of this front page.

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

This Sunday is Friends Day at Legacy. And we’re hoping to break our attendance record of 1,349 we set back on August 17. Last Sunday we made available to the congregation ten thousand bags of microwave popcorn. Several volunteers had spent a few days putting Friends Day invitation stickers on the popcorn that say “Pop in for a visit.” The popcorn bags have our church address, phone number, website, and assembly times on them. And we’re trying to flood all our Northeast Tarrant County neighborhoods with these bags of popcorn. We’re calling it Operation Popcorn. Valerie and I figured out yesterday it takes two Wal-Mart bags full of the popcorn and about 30-minutes to do three streets. We’re going to try to do six streets later today. We still have about four thousand bags left in the concourse here at Legacy. I hope they’re all gone by the end of our worship service tonight.

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

Valerie’s sixth grade choir gave their first public performance of the school year last night at Birdville High School. She was great, of course! Four different choirs sang at least one hymn or spiritual during their times on stage. Really cool. They all did a good job. Before the performance, the choir director pointed us to a list of rules posted on the back of the program the audience is to follow during a formal concert. She went over all the rules with us. All cell phones turned off or on vibrate. Absolutely no texting during the concert. No getting up and moving during songs. If you have to leave your seat, do it inbetween songs. No cheering or yelling or whistling or calling out names. Polite applause at the end of a number only. How is it we can all follow these rules at a middle school choir concert but not in a Sunday morning worship assembly? I need that lady to do our Call to Worship this Sunday. (The two girls with Valerie in this picture are the loud, crazy girls I took to see City of Ember Friday night. They’re great friends to our middle daughter. Good kids. And a lot of fun.)

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

David B points out that Jerry Wayne’s zero-tolerance policy regarding PacMan Jones was obviously a “zero-tolerance-unless-you’re-a-superstar-or-Terrence-Newman-is-hurt” policy. How utterly embarrassing this must be for the Cowboys owner. The commissioner of the NFL has to step in and do what Jerry Wayne would not. Wow.

And Richard A tells me the reason the Cowboys traded for Detroit receiver Roy Williams is because they saw the Lions on the schedule, realized they had no way to cover him, and made a quick deal to get him in a Dallas uni. Look for Tori Holt to become a Cowboy today or tomorrow.

Peace,

Allan

Clean Up

September 18, 2008 / Allan / 2 Comments

This is all follow-up and clean-up—an effort to tie up a few loose ends before the weekend.

I was wrong Tuesday in declaring that Aaron and Jennifer didn’t turn in their “KK&C Top 20” because they were in Hawaii. They actually took the time to put their numbers and teams together and emailed them to me from their hotel before the deadline. It’s just that our email server here at the church blocked it from getting to me because it was coming from the Hawaii hotel’s server. I didn’t see their lists until yesterday.

There’s nothing really earth-shattering that would have impacted the order of the teams in this week poll. But I do want to pass on a little trash talk. Everybody’s picking on Ohio St. And Jennifer piles on with this as she lists the Buckeyes at #12: “Do we really even have to include them this week? Yippee for USC putting them in their spot!” And Aaron boldly predicts that USC could beat the St. Louis Rams. They both put Florida at #3, declaring that the Gators will “spank Tennessee this Saturday to solidify their place.”

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

About last night…

Every now and then, maybe once every couple of months, I get a weird vibe from the congregation here at Legacy while I’m preaching. It’s like they’re all staring at me, not with scowls, but with very serious looks on thier faces and with great intensity. And I’m never sure if everybody’s upset with what I’m saying or if they’re just really, really paying attention.

It happened last night in Oasis.

I’m preaching the Colossians 3:11 and Galatians 3:28 stuff I talked about in yesterday’s blog. In Christ, we all belong to each other. Just as Jesus lived and died to obliterate the differences that separate us, we too should be committed to breaking down the barriers of culture and language and socio-economic status that exist in our churches. And now, as we gear up for Give Away Day, is the perfect time to start thinking about and talking about these things. It’s time to be perfectly clear about how we understand the Gospel message.

Because the three-thousand people who visit us on Give Away Day and the people who are being brought to Christ by Manuel and our Spanish-speaking ministry are, in some ways, our enemies. They are enemies of our comfort zones, enemies of our decency and order, enemies of our property values, enemies of our traditions. And may God have mercy on us if we communicate to them in any way that you must be a white, working, middle-class, English-speaking American citizen in order to use our buildings or our classrooms or our worship center or our restrooms.

If we put any limits at all on anybody who’s different because they’re different—any limits—we are not of God. We are not acting like Jesus. If we exclude them from the table or shun them to another room, if we don’t give them full and complete access to all the physical blessings of this church family, we are, in essence, denying them access to the full and complete salvation from God. Because the Gospel of Jesus is that ALL barriers are annihilated. ALL the walls are destroyed. There are no differences. Christ is all and is in all.

And I’m looking at our church and wondering, “Are they all mad or are they just chewing on this?”

They’re just chewing on it. They’re taking it all in. I believe they’re listening and understanding and even agreeing. But at the same time they’re saying, “But that’s hard.”

Yes, it is. Christianity is a very difficult religion. Very difficult. As Neil Postman says, “Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.”

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

I’m leaving Sunday afternoon for the ACU Lectureships with the rest of the Four Horsemen. After Jason preaches in Diana, he’ll meet Kevin at Dan’s house in Forney and they’ll all pick me up here at about 3:00. And we’ll eat Jalapeno chips and Whoppers (Jason will eat Corn Nuts. Nasty.) and we’ll laugh and we’ll make fun of each other and play on each other’s personality quirks and bad habits. Man, are we going to laugh. We always do. Along with our February camping trip, this is our other annual time to be together for a few days and minister to each other and study and pray together and grow together in Christ and in each other. What a blessing these three godly men are to me. What a tremendous source of strength for me in my difficult walk with Christ Jesus and his people. My heart overflows with gratitude to our God who saw fit to bring together a Garland cop, an architect, a jewelry salesman, and a radio anchor seven years ago to dramatically change all of our lives. To eternally alter our lives. And the rest of my prayer is that our God will use us in huge, massive ways to impact our communities and this whole planet for his Kingdom.

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

I have to leave Abilene early—Tuesday after lunch—because I’m flying out of DFW Wednesday morning for Fresno, California to spend four days with the Woodward Park Church of Christ and my great friend Jim Gardner. I’m speaking five times in those four days, four times as part of their annual Spiritual Growth Workshop and then preaching at Woodward Park Sunday morning. And I’m excited about it on many fronts.

I’ve never been to California before. Never. I’m anxious to see the beautiful central California valley, even if I probably won’t make it out to the beach. I’m excited to experience the multi-cultural church family there at Woodward Park. Over a thousand members, like here at Legacy, but only about 600 English-speaking. Wonderful. I can’t wait. I’ll be preaching to a pretty huge crowd on Saturday night, probably the biggest ever for me personally. So, I’m looking forward to that. But mainly I’m thrilled to be spending a little time with Jim. As busy as he’s going to be, it will probably only be a little time. But it will be valuable. What a heart for preaching. What a spirit for evangelism. The more he can rub off on me, the better for us here at home. I miss Mandy and his precious daughters. I haven’t seen them since they left Marble Falls two years ago. And I’ll get to see Jimmy Mitchell again. Jim’s flying him in to lead our worship at the workshop.

It’ll be hectic every minute of every day between right now and next Sunday night, the 28th. Please ask our Father to bless me with safe travel and for his Word to be proclaimed powerfully through me and all the other speakers in Abilene and Fresno next week.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Evangelism (Page 18 of 20)

A New Sign

All That Jesus Began To Do

The Way Of The Kingdom

Christmas Leftovers

Legacy To The World

Clean Up

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives

Allan's Links