Category: Evangelism (Page 20 of 21)

$209K and Counting…

March 31, 2008 / Allan / 4 Comments

“God calls things that are not as though they were.” ~Romans 4:17

A red-letter day yesterday for the family of believers here at Legacy and in our history as a congregation of God’s people. The goal for Missions Sunday was to collect $150,000 to fund our local and foreign missions budget for 2008. And our Lord blessed us with over $209,000 in cash and pledges. And the number is still going up.

What a thrill it was to watch our little children parade with their Bible classes down to the front to announce and then to dump the money they’ve collected over the month of March for our missionaries. How amazing it was to be joined by our brothers and sisters at the Centerpoint church in Bagiuo City, Philippines via video and audio hookup and to see them and talk to them and wave to them and sing “We Love You With the Love of the Lord” to them, half a world away. And then to experience our Father opening our hearts and our spirits to sacrificially give like we never have before was beyond description.

Our God always out-imagines us. He always out-dreams us. We can’t think too big or plan too big for him. He always gives us much more than we can ever ask or imagine. How wonderful to consider the lives that will be saved, the souls that will be won, the people who will be reconciled to our God as a result of yesterday’s blessings.

And our Lord continued to pour out his blessings on us as he held back the rain and kept us high and dry at last night’s fellowship / assembly in our new, not-quite-finished-yet worship center. Nearly 700 of us ate dinner together in the new building and then worshiped our God in song and prayer. We read Scripture together. We confessed Jesus as the Christ and as Lord together. We imagined together all the baptisms that are going to take place in this building, all the weddings, all the singings, all the sermons, all the laughing, all the crying, all the seminars, all the love that’s going to be shared in this building. And then we asked our God to, again, blow us away.

I saw the Legacy church transformed yesterday. I saw all our same people, all our same brothers and sisters. But I saw us differently. There was a different spirit about us yesterday. The Lord was in our midst yesterday and he was working and blessing and inspiring and planning for things I can’t even begin to see yet. But he sees them. They already exist in his sight. Our God calls things that are not as though they were. And we’re beginning to see and to think like him more and more. And it’s exciting.

After we prayed together for all of the future things that would be happening for our Lord and for the Kingdom in this new place of worship, we wrote on the foundation. We wrote our favorites passages of Scripture. We wrote our prayers. We wrote our dreams for our church family. And we wrote the names of our children.

What an incredible day. What an incredible God!

It’s 10:30 pm Monday, my computer’s been down most of the day, and I’m still riding yesterday’s high. I just got out of a Small Groups Church Co-Leader training session with a bunch of couples who are leading new groups beginning this Sunday—new groups that are all multiplications of original groups who’ve grown beyond their capacities. And they’ve all experienced the love and the ministry and the sharing and the fellowship and the connection and the evangelism that takes place in a small group. And they’re all inspired to take what they have and spread it out into our congregation and into our communities.

And we give God the glory. He alone is worthy of praise for all the wonderful things that are happening here. He alone. In Romans 4, when Paul writes about our God who “gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were,” he says Abraham’s faith was strengthened and he “gave glory to God” because he was seeing the impossible-to-deny truth that our God has “power to do what he had promised.” Amen.

May our Father use us in his Kingdom. And may we submit our lives and our church family and our wills to him. May we be blessed with his Spirit and his vision. And may his will be done in the Legacy church as it is in heaven.

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And may UCLA beat Memphis Saturday night.

The only way I beat Whitney outright in my NCAA tournament bracket is if the Bruins beat those impossibly-loaded Tigers from Memphis State AND Kansas beats Carolina. I can salvage a tie if the Tarheels win and Tiger High loses. I can salvage a tie if Kansas and Memphis win and Kansas then takes the title. But if Memphis wins the championship or if Memphis and UNC both win their semi-final games, I’m toast. And then, I’m probably done. You can’t lose to your daughter in a college basketball tournament pool. I need Kevin Love to score about 40.

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Michael Young drove one deep to put Texas up 1-0 in the Rangers half of the first inning in Seattle. And Millwood looked good into the 6th. But the Rangers lose their opener (SHOCKING!!) 5-2 to the M’s. Now, Kipi, they’re tied for last place in the American League.

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Tomorrow (Tuesday) is my day in Waco with Jim Martin and some of the other central Texas preachers down there. So I probably won’t write again until Wednesday morning. I’ll reflect a little bit on this year’s Tulsa Workshop then.

Peace,

Allan

The Net

March 21, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

One more week here at Legacy to pray and plan and prepare for Missions Sunday, March 30. Wednesday is our Day of Prayer and Fasting. Our prayer service begins at 6:00 Wednesday evening. And then our adult classes are meeting in the auditorium at 7:00 for a missions-themed time of worship. Thursday morning we’ll break the fast together with a come and go break-fast here at the building from 6:00 to 8:00. And then Sunday is Missions Sunday.

John Wesley once said, “The Church has nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore, spend and be spent in this work.”

And I’ve been trying for the past six weeks to preach that message to our family at Legacy. I want us to see ourselves—each of us—as Christian missionaries. Ambassadors for Christ. Ministers of reconciliation. God’s fellow workers. We’re not all preachers or teachers or Bible study leaders. But we’re all co-workers with God.

Yesterday Terry Rush, in his blog Morning Rush, nailed the idea. He paints a beautiful picture of our involvement with God in his saving work that began before time and continues through eternity. Everything we do and say today connects with all the things that have been done and said before us and connects, too, with all the things that will be done and said after us to win souls to heaven. I urge you to read his article here.

Hope the Easter Bunny’s good to you.

Peace,

Allan

Attractional v. Missional

March 18, 2008 / Allan / 2 Comments

I know. I know. I try my very best to stay far away from Church Buzzwords. You know, words that we use that automatically end the conversation. Words that, once used out loud, label the user so that everybody else in the discussion stops listening to the actual conversation because they’ve already drawn their conclusions.

But try to hear me out.

In a column on mission-minded churches by Kent Marcum in the latest Christian Chronicle, he writes,

“Many congregations suffering from problems could probably attribute their internal struggles to an internal focus.”

It’s easy, perhaps, for some to see that in our churches. But I’ve also recently begun to witness this phenomenon in our Small Groups here at Legacy. (Now, please recongize that the following couple of statements are broad, general observations.)

It seems to me the groups that were built around friendships and strong existing relationships are struggling. These are the groups that started out so strong and so big and with so much promise. But these are the groups now that are fighting and arguing and getting feelings hurt and not growing and not inviting visitors and not really achieving what the groups are meant to achieve. People in these groups report that they almost dread Sunday nights. They’re walking on eggshells. Attendance is sporadic and the tension is real.

On the other hand, it seems that our groups that began with a few families who didn’t really know each other are doing so much better. These are the groups that started with doubt and uncertainty and lots of questions. I wasn’t sure about a couple of them. But now these are the very groups that are growing and inviting visitors and reaching out to the community and serving other people. Every week they report new people coming in, new projects they’re taking on, and new ways they’re getting to know each other. They love their Sunday night meetings together and they can’t wait to multiply and share what they have and what they’re doing with others. They seem to be achieving what the Small Groups are built to achieve.

Again, I don’t mean to paint our entire Legacy Small Groups Church with a broad stroke. But there is something important in the mindset of the groups in the same way there’s something significant about the mindset of an entire congregation. When the focus is on “us,” we struggle. When the focus is on “others,” we excel.

Whether in our Small Groups or in our congregations, it’s the difference between being attractional versus being missional.

A church with an attractional viewpoint says if we build it, they will come. If we do church better, they will come. If we sing newer songs (or older songs) they will come. If we take an appealing position on the hot church topic of the day they will come (or, they won’t leave). If we start more exciting programs, they will come. Bigger screens, cushier chairs, and a coffee bar! They will come!

A church with a missional mindset is different. It infiltrates its community. A missional viewpoint says it’s not what we do but, rather, what we do for you in the manner of God. Our Father through Christ shows grace, our God through Christ forgives, our God through Christ heals and loves and comforts. Jesus teaches and restores and shows compassion and brings justice. God, through his Son and by the power of the Holy Spirit, is today, right now, reconciling all of creation back to himself. And a missional church models that Good News. We go out from our places and, like our Savior, we show mercy and grace and compassion and forgiveness to a lost and dying world.

This is what I’ve learned from Luke 15 over the past week and what I’m trying to communicate to my brothers and sisters at Legacy.

Forget the nine coins in the jar on the counter. As long as there’s even one single lost coin buried in the dirt in the corner of a dark house, I’m not going to stop until it’s found. Forget the 99 sheep safe in the nurturing and loving environment of the flock. As long as there’s even one solitary sheep wandering out there alone in the wilderness, I will not quit until it’s found. Every single sheep. Every single coin. Every single person. Everyone is significant. Everybody matters.

Luke 15 says clearly to forget the church building and the contribution and the worship traditions and the programs and the committees. Forget the ones already in. Don’t worry about them. Worry about the ones who aren’t in. Worry about the outsiders. Worry about the lost. And do something about it.

In Luke 15 the religious people are muttering. “Those kind of people don’t give. Those lost people don’t speak English. Their kids are not well-behaved. Have you seen what they wear? They’ll just mess things up. They’re on welfare. He just got out of prison. She has AIDS. He cusses. She smokes. We have to protect our kids. We have to be careful. Maybe those kind of people should just go somewhere else.”

Stop looking in. Start looking out. Forget the nine meeting in your house on Sunday night. Forget the 99 meeting in your church buildings on Sunday mornings. Go seek and save the lost.

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I must share this with you. Alvin Jennings sent me this video. Watch it once and you’ll watch it half a dozen times. If this little two-year-old girl can sing this beautiful classic hymn, why can’t we? What a precious angel.

And after you watch it, ask yourself this question: the way I’m smiling right now, does God smile like this when I sing to him?

Peace,

Allan

Suppose One Of You…

March 14, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

It’s shocking to find Jesus in Luke 15 having to defend to the religious leaders of God’s people his actions of welcoming and eating with “sinners.” The contrast in attitudes between the Pharisees and teachers of the Law with that of Jesus is obvious. But understanding that contrast and the manifestations of it is paramount to Christ’s Church accomplishing its God-ordained mission.

Jesus attracted sinners while the Pharisees repelled them.

Lost sinners came to Jesus, not because he catered to them or compromised his message, but because he cared for them. He understood their needs and tried to help them, while the Pharisees criticized them and kept their distance.

Jesus’ implicit rebuke of that approach to sinners by the Pharisess is timeless. His every word and deed challenges that self-centered mindset. Jesus invested his time and energy in sinners. He associated freely with them. He ate with them. He became personally and intimately involved in their lives and in their struggles. And then in order to restore them to a right relationship with God, he died for them.

Jesus pursued sinners with such enthusiasm and commitment that the religious community questioned his character and his motives. And the parables in Luke 15 explain why that pursuit of sinners meant so much to him. He knew that rescue was possible. And love compelled him to go after them with everything he had.

If Jesus’ worldview and perspective is informed by this powerful theology of the lost, so should ours.

To hear the Luke 15 parables today is to be unavoidably challenged by them. It’s a direct challenge from our Savior to his Church as he says, “Suppose one of you…”

Peace,

Allan

Brought to Jesus

November 27, 2007 / Allan / 1 Comment

She made the team!

Whitney’s made the junior high basketball team at North Ridge Middle School and she couldn’t be more excited. She’s been working extremely hard over the past four weeks, practicing with the girls after school, running, stretching, all that stuff. And we’re very proud of her and this accomplishment. She’s getting all of her final practice and scrimmage and game schedules today. And I’m pretty sure her first scrimmage is going to be this Thursday afternoon.

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Hey, Jim Gardner: Congrats to your Hogs. Sorry about Nutt. Thanks for the Lampert Construction link.

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The Gospel of Matthew is packed with stories of healing. Stories of Jesus and people. Stories of healing and salvation given freely by our Savior to God’s children. And in a lot of these stories there’s a common theme.

Matthew 4:24 “…people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases…”

Matthew 9:2 “Some men brought to him a paralytic…”

Matthew 9:32 “…a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus.”

Matthew 12:22 “Then they brought him a demon-possessed man…”

Matthew 14:35 “People brought all their sick to him…”

Matthew 19:13 “Then little children were brought to Jesus…”

These people Jesus healed, these people Jesus saved, these people who felt the compassionate touch of the Father through the Son were brought to Jesus. They were brought to him.

It’s not “build it and they will come.” Praise the Lord, sometimes that works. But that’s not the deal. We go get them and bring them to the Christ. As his followers, as his subjects, that’s our mission. It’s our charge as his disciples. We don’t sit around and wait on people to come to us. We got get them and bring them to Jesus. And shame on us and may God have mercy on us if we don’t.

We cannot call ourselves disciples of Jesus and have a low view of evangelism. It’s impossible. It’s like calling yourself an American and having a low view of freedom. It’s like calling yourself a carpenter and believing tools are unnecessary. It’s like calling yourself a Cowboys fan and thinking Tom Landry was overrated. You can’t be a Texan and not say “y’all.” And you can’t be a Christian and not evangelize. It doesn’t work.

Let’s be intentional about bringing people to Christ, about bringing people into the community of Christ where they can contact that love of Jesus in the people of Jesus. Let’s bring them to a place where they can experience love and acceptance and healing and forgiveness and salvation. Let’s be fishers of men, not merely keepers of the aquarium.

Peace,

Allan

Go Ye Means Stay!

November 16, 2007 / Allan / 2 Comments

I don’t normally read all my favorite blogs every single day. Usually, once a week, I sit down for an hour or so and go through all of them and catch up. Jim Gardner’s blog is packed with insights and usually forces me to look something up in the Bible or in a book on my shelf or somewhere else on line. His blog takes me a while. With Jimmy Mitchell it only takes about three minutes since he only writes about once a month. (I miss you, Jimmy!) Our Youth Minister here at Legacy, Jason Brown, is only in his first month of full-time blogging. But he’s tackling some deep issues and asking some fairly heady questions. His takes me a while, too.

His Wednesday post on missions and mission trips meshed perfectly with my post from yesterday regarding the Rosemont effort in southwest Fort Worth. We had both gone to that kickoff and informational meeting together. So it’s no surprise that our thoughts were focused on the same things.

Our thoughts center on the concept of seeing our own neighborhoods, our own zip codes, as huge mission fields for the Kingdom. The idea of seeing the people all around us as the lost souls that they are, no more and no less important than the lost souls in Africa and South America. Jason’s specific questions deal with the practice of youth mission trips. Why spend all the time and money traveling outside the state or even the country when there’s just as much, if not more, work to be done right across the street?

Here’s what I commented on his blog late last night:

“I was visiting with some brothers and sisters Wednesday about the wonderful work the Rosemont Church of Christ is doing in southwest Fort Worth. They’ve donated their entire campus, all their buildings, and the land it sits on to Continent of Great Cities to plant a huge Spanish-speaking congregation in the middle of what is a huge Hispanic population base in DFW. The discussion turned to our own outreach effort at which point one of our spiritual leaders said, “We don’t have any poor people anywhere near our building. And nobody like that will ever drive to our church.”

That grieves me.

Attitudes and talk like that are nothing less than a writing off of precious people made in the image of our Father. The truth is there are plenty of low-income and/or Spanish-speaking people a stone throw’s away from our building. But we don’t think they’ll fit in. So we don’t even try. And we actively seek to discourage anyone else from trying.

What makes us think that God plants us here, blesses us here, provides for us here, and saves us here — right here in the middle of hundreds of thousands of lost souls — in order to take the Gospel somewhere else?

What makes us think it’s commendable to spend a week or two overseas preaching the Word while we ignore or, worse, write off all our neighbors right here in our own city? What gives us the gall?

I know your post already asks all these same questions. They are real. They are urgent. And they do demand answers.

I think you’re clearly on to something when you speak about our comfort zones. Evangelism is messy. We’d rather create a mess somewhere else and leave, I think, than make one in our own kitchen and have to live with it.”

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It’s sad, very sad, that Major League Baseball’s All-Time Home Run Champion is Barry Bonds.* He’s a lying cheat. But besides that, the holder of the sport’s most sacred record will spend time in federal prison and will never be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Here’s how awful it is: I think it’s the only thing in the world that could ever cause me to root for Alex Rodriguez to keep hitting homers. That shows you how awful the Bonds* thing is. Go Pay-Rod!

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Cowboys-Redskins. The Beautiful Harvey Martin tossing a funeral wreath into the visitors lockerroom at Texas Stadium following a Dallas win over Washington. Diron Talbert calling Roger Staubach a dirty name across the line of scrimmage. George Allen accusing the Cowboys of spying on the Redskins practices with a helicopter. Staubach leaping into the arms of Ron Springs after that game-winning pass to Tony Hill clinched the division in Staubach’s last-ever regular season game. Doomsday versus The Hogs.

Jimmy Johnson’s first Cowboys team getting their only win of the season on the road at RFK—without Aikman. Clint Longley’s mad Thanksgiving Day bomb that sealed his “victory of the uncluttered mind.” Larry Cole’s TD returns. The Texas Stadium crowd singing Happy Birthday to Joe Theisman the night he threw five picks in a blowout loss on the date of his birth. Billy Kilmer. Art Monk. Drew Pearson. Chris Hanberger. Joe Gibbs. Too Tall. Everson Walls. The 1982 NFC Championship Game. Michael Downs and Dennis Thurman breaking up the Smurfs celebration in the Cowboys end zone.

Sunday afternoon will be special. All Cowboys-Redskins games are.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Evangelism (Page 20 of 21)

$209K and Counting…

The Net

Attractional v. Missional

Suppose One Of You…

Brought to Jesus

Go Ye Means Stay!

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