Category: Fellowship (Page 16 of 17)

His Glorious Riches

March 30, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 4:19

I suppose in every single church family in America — maybe the world, but definitely America — there are naysayers. There are people who say it can’t be done. There are others who say it shouldn’t be done. They rarely smile or compliment. They see a negative behind every action. They detect a problem behind every word. They perceive a wrong motive or a false agenda behind every move that’s made.

And I sometimes take that personally. I sometimes try too hard and spend too much time and energy trying to soothe the feelings of this one-percent who are never happy and don’t act like they want to be happy. Sometimes those negative things bog me down. Sometimes they weigh on me. They burden me. Too much, I’m afraid, most of the time.

I suppose, unfortunately, that will always be the case.

And then yesterdays happen.

Yesterday. Wow.

You know, you pray and pray that prayer that Terry Rush teaches: “God, please just do that thing you do.” And God answers in amazing ways that prove he’s already doing that thing he does, he’s been doing it every day since the beginning of time, and he’s going to keep doing it until time ceases to tick.

$251,318 generously given to fund our local and foreign missions budget for 2009, far surpassing our set goal of $200,000. Unprecedented at this place. Two years in a row, now, we’ve blown our goal out of the water.

1,067 men, women, and children came together to praise God and encourage one another. Largest crowd since August. So much energy. So much excitement.

Robert and Angela Brooks gave their lives to our Lord by being baptized into his death, burial, and resurrection. Two hearts convicted by the love of God. Two lives changed — re-created — right before our eyes. An answer to so many prayers.

Six more families placed their membership with Legacy: 15 total newcomers to bless our church family, to impact our dynamic, to serve and sacrifice with us, together, as we work in the Kingdom.

A cross-cultural communion service at our Master’s table. Christ as our gracious host. Two peoples. Two cultures. Two languages. United in salvation through the blood of Jesus.

Nearly 600 shared dinner together Sunday night, worshiped together, and encouraged our LTC participants together. Loud. Chaotic. Tons of smiles. Lots of laughter. Tables and tables of food. Fellowship. Sharing. Koinonia.

Another $383.50 given for the Academy at Carrie F. Thomas, reaching our stated goal of $6,000 to purchase much-needed document cameras for this under-funded elementary school in our community.

All of this within a nine-hour time frame yesterday at Legacy. Undeniable proof that our God is alive and working with his people. Indisputable testimony to our God’s faithfulness to his children. Crystal clear evidence that his Holy Spirit is transforming his Church.

As blessings pile on top of blessings we are increasingly convinced that our Father is keeping his covenant promises to Legacy and to all of his creation. It’s increasingly obvious that our God is blessing Legacy and planning to bless all of North East Tarrant County and every corner of this globe through this body of believers.

The ministers and staff and every last one of our shepherds and everybody who stopped by the church building today are still riding the wave of energy and enthusiasm and blessing generated by our God’s clear actions with his people here yesterday.

And we intend to ride it for quite some time.

I certainly do.

I intend to smile at the naysayers and love them and hug them and do my Christ-like best to develop relationships with them. But I will not be deterred. We won’t be slowed down. I can point to yesterday and I can point to a dozen things that happen in the life of this congregation every single day. Every day! Stuff like yesterday is happening all around this place. In our Small Groups. In our Morning Prayers. In our Bible studies. In our lunches together. In our conversations in the parking lot. In hospital rooms and high school gyms. In your kitchen and in my office.

God is doing that thing he does at Legacy!

“To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” ~Philippians 4:20

Peace,

Allan

Flexing Our Autonomy

February 11, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Wouldn’t it be great to be truly non-denominational? What if our Church of Christ stream of the Christian faith took our stance on autonomous congregations seriously? What if this philosophy—no, most of us would probably label it a theology—of autonomy were upheld in practice the same way we preach it in theory?

What if our flashing sign out on Mid-Cities Boulevard one morning began proclaiming “Legacy Church of Christ: A Non-Denominational Community Church”?

It’s everything we claim to be. It’s everything they tell me we aspire to be. But I’d never get away with putting it on the sign.

It’s a dream of mine that the congregation of believers at Legacy, and all families of disciples, would be guided by Christ and his Word, not ever by outside forces. Not by other congregations. Not by other denominations. Not by other faiths. Certainly not by the world and its standards and beliefs and practices. We’d have to jump totally off the A-B Line way of thinking to ever make that happen. And we can’t do that overnight. It’s going to take some time. It’s going to take an intentional shift in our thinking and our practices.

(Please refer back to my posts from last May Jumping Off The Line and Jumping Off The Line: Part Two. See, I’m pretty passionate about this.)

Some of our number glory in the recent decision by 21st Century Christian to remove from a Church of Christ directory 21 congregations who’ve added an instrumental worship assembly on Sunday morning. And they completely miss the irony when I say, “Well, somebody’s got to draw those lines if we’re going to be a real denomination!” Our brothers Stone and Campbell must be spinning.

On the issue of congregational autonomy, please take the time to read my brothers Terry Rush here and Patrick Mead here. Both of these posts were written in the past week.

Is autonomy important or not?

Yes. I think it’s important. I think it’s critical. I think it’s biblical. I think it’s theological. I think we’ve got a long, long way to go.

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I appreciate my friend Jim Gardner’s comments related to my plea that we don’t skip our Christian worship assemblies to watch the Super Bowl. I think we ignore the impact we’re having on our children and our neighbors when we make these kinds of choices. They’re not dumb. They see very well the message we believe and the message we’re sending. Whether it’s staying home to watch a TV show or taking our kids to their Sunday morning soccer game, what we’re saying is this: church is important, of course it’s important; it’s just not as important as this TV program or your ball game.

Peace,

Allan

Green Bean Casserole & Banana Pudding

February 4, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

I’ll just throw it out there. Here it is. The burning issue of the day. I want this blog to be way ahead of the curve. I want us to tackle this hot topic here before The Christian Chronicle gets hold of it.

“The Growth and Decline of the Church Potluck”

I love a good church potluck dinner. Theologically speaking, I defy you to show me a better way for a church family to live out its divine call to meet, fellowship, encourage, and share. Is there anything better than sharing a common meal in potluck fashion?

What a beautiful church-as-body model. Everyone gifted with different gifts. Everyone bringing their best gifts to the common table. All those different gifts coming together in one extravagant embarrassment of a massive meal. Potlucks celebrate our different gifts. Potlucks recognize our diversity.

What a wonderful church-as-fellowship model. Sitting by and sharing a meal with brothers and sisters with whom you don’t normally spend much time. “Who made this cherry pie?” “Did you get some of this spaghetti thing?” “I have no idea what this is.” It’s amazing to me that younger people blame the older people for what’s wrong with the church and the older people blame the younger. But once we sit down to share a meal together, once we start to visit and talk about our kids and grandkids and vegetable gardens and vacation plans, we realize we’re all on pretty much the same page about almost everything. Potlucks foster unity.

What a wonderful church-as-sacrifice-and-service model. “No, keep your seat, let me go get you some napkins.” “What do you want to drink?” “Have you seen my kids?” “We need help folding up these tables and stacking up all the chairs.” “Let me carry that out to your car.” Potlucks foster Christ-like attitudes of looking to the interests of others.

I love everything—EVERYTHING—about church potluck dinners. We held one here at Legacy two Sunday nights ago. Over 400 people showed up. Tables and tables of food. We could have easily fed 800. There were entire tables of desserts that didn’t even get touched. We ate loudly. Laughing. Hollering across rows. We sang devotional songs together. Again, loudly. Enthusiastically. Something very basic, something very first-century-church about worshipping God together around the tables. We shared communion together. Again, something very, very first-century about eating the bread and drinking the wine in the context of a common meal; remembering our Lord as we consider his body, his church, our brothers and sisters sitting right next to us and across from us.

What’s not to like about the church potluck?

But church potlucks, I’m afraid, are out of style. Of the 400+ at our potluck last week, there was one group of people conspicuously absent: people my age and younger.

We have 80 in our Young Families class. (Don’t make jokes about my being in the young families class. As I recall, my parents kept going to the Young Marrieds class at PGrove even when I was in high school.) And I only counted five from that class who were younger than me at the potluck. There were plenty of singles there and lots of young marrieds without children. But it seems that couples in their 30s with young kids almost completely stayed away.

So, what’s the deal? More than anything, I’m just curious. Is the church potluck, even with all its (according to me, I guess) benefits of positive reinforcement of the Christian values we hold dear, about to disappear? Is it past its prime? Why? I’d like for everyone reading this post to submit some kind of potluck comment. What you like or don’t like about church potlucks. Why you go or don’t go to church potlucks. The good, the bad, and the stuff in that blue dish over there.

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For an excellent story on the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly 50 years ago, check out this link. Texas Monthly’s Michael Hall goes back to Clear Lake, Iowa—the site of that last concert and the place from where the plane both took off and crashed—and delivers a comprehensive look at all the events surrounding what he dubs “the first modern tragedy in America.” He interviews people who were at the last show and the man who leased the plane to Holly. It’s a long read. But it’s excellent.

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And, belated congratulations to Bob Hayes. I had him on my show from the end zone at Cowboys camp in Austin back in the mid-90s and called him “Bullet Bob” on the air. He corrected me, “It’s Blimp Bob now!” No, no. Hayes will always be the bullet, the world’s fastest human, the man who forced NFL defenses to come up with zone coverages, the original Cowboys #22. Roger Staubach or Don Meredith should introduce his representative in Canton this summer, not sister/half-sister/friend Lucille Hester. That’s eleven Cowboys now in the Hall of Fame. Hopefully Cliff Harris will be next.

Peace,

Allan

Making The Exchange

January 12, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“What we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us; we will not hide them from the children; we will tell the next generation.” ~Psalm 78:3-4.

The apostle Paul calls life in Christ a race. He tells us to run the race in order to win. And we have to understand that this race we’re running is a relay. None of us is running this race alone. We’re all in it together. Someone passed the baton to you. And you are charged with passing the baton to others. Today we are standing on the shoulders of those who’ve gone before. At the same time, we’re paving the way for those who are coming after.

Nobody runs the race alone.

Notice these boys who are receiving the baton. Looking back. Eyes on the runners who are racing toward them. Stretching back with their hands open to receive the baton. Measuring their steps so they match up with their teammates.

Look at this girl who’s passing the baton. She’s running her fastest right here at the exchange. She’s given it all she has. Her part of the race is almost over. But she’s running faster and working harder now than she was at the beginning. Look at how she’s stretching and straining and lunging forward to pass this baton to the one who will run after her. Look how they’re both concentrating on this critical task.

Now look at the point of exchange. This is my favorite moment of a good relay. Notice how, for a time, these two are actually running together. Step by step. Side by side. In perfect rhythm. One finishing her assignment, one just getting started. Running. Cooperating. Sprinting. Enduring. Together at the point of exchange. Side by side.

We appealed to the older members of our Legacy church family last night to embrace their God-ordained mission of passing on the faith to the younger generations. And I want to repeat and reinforce that plea here today, specifically to those 50-years-old and older in our Legacy family, and generally to any of our older brothers and sisters who might be reading this today.

We believe the most effective way for us to pass on the Christian faith is through our deeply-rooted relationships with one another. And we believe those powerful relationships are best formed in our Sunday night Small Groups. These meaningful relationships are forged on living room couches and around kitchen tables. These bonds are strengthened in our homes and in our shared meals. And we need you older members of this body of believers to jump in with us.

We need you. We need your wisdom. We need your experience. We need your example of someone who’s seen it all, endured it all, and kept the faith. Our children need to see it in you. They need older people to look up to. We need your love.

You’re running the race. You’ve been running it a long time. But you’re not done. Now’s the time to pass the baton. It’s time to understand that we’re not running this race alone. As the younger lean back and strain with open hands to receive your love and concern and stories and faith, we need you to run faster and stretch out with everything you have to pass it on to us. You’re not finished. We need you.

Where else are you going to be able to have the impact on those younger than you? Not in our church assemblies where we sit in rows of pews and look through the backs of each other’s heads to a single person up on a stage and then go to lunch with people our own age. Certainly not in Bible class where, again, we naturally (and usually intentionally) segregate by age. It doesn’t happen there. It happens in our homes.

Please join us. Please work with us in forming intergenerational Small Groups where you can be energized by our kids and our energy and our relative youth, where you can be served by us and loved and appreciated by us as we get to know you in ways we never will otherwise.

And as we make the exchange, as you stretch out and we lean back, as we lock eyes and match our steps, as the faith is being passed in these Christ-centered relationships, we’ll soon discover that we’re actually running together. Side by side. Step by step. In perfect rhythm.

Amen.

Grace Always Comes First

January 5, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Have you noticed in Scripture that grace always comes before law? It’s a pattern that we find from Genesis through Revelation and on into the maps. It’s always grace first, law second.

Our Lord never gives instructions or commandments to his people before he saves his people. God always rescues first, lays out the conditions second. God saves, his people obey. God speaks, his people respond. God reaches out in mercy and compassion, his people rejoice and give him praise. That’s the way it works. God acts in loving kindness to his people, his people react with loving kindness toward one another.

God creates man, gives him a loving partner, puts him in charge of everything in the beautiful garden, provides for his every need, and then gives the instructions regarding the trees. God rescues Noah, he saves Noah and his whole family through the un-creation of the flood, and then he establishes his covenant with its commands. God delivers Israel from Egyptian bondage, he walks them through the middle of the Red Sea on dry ground, he destroys all their enemies, and then he gives the law to Moses on the mountain.

Grace first, law second.

Jesus heals the leper and says now go offer the gift. Jesus cleanses the demon possessed man and says now go tell your family how much the Lord has done for you, how he’s had mercy on you. Jesus rescues an adulterous woman from her executioners, he saves her, and then he says now go and leave your life of sin.

It’s a formula. It’s a pattern. It’s a rule for the way things are. It’s the divine order.

The Christmas trees don’t go up in WalMart until after Halloween. The kids don’t spill red Kool-Aid in the living room until after you’ve had new carpet installed. Jerry Wayne doesn’t sign a free agent player until after that player has commited at least one felony. And our gracious heavenly Father doesn’t give any commands until after he saves us.

It’s just the opposite with Santa Claus. We try to be good so Santa will give us great gifts. With God in Christ, we try to be good because we’ve been given such a great gift!

Shouldn’t that be our model for our interactions with one another?

Show uncompromising grace first, ask questions later. Exhibit steadfast loyalty first, expect friendship later. Act with unquestionable love and consideration first, work on the relationship later. Forgive and rescue and hug and encourage and pardon and protect and die for others first. And let our righteous God take care of the rest. Later.

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Yes, I saw the doctored picture Darryn Pope showed in class yesterday. The one time I miss Bible class to take care of some pastoral duties, I hear about this picture. He’s emailed it to me. I think he’s actually proud of it in a sick way. He claims it has something to do with some point about Paul’s first letter to Timothy. I wonder. I share this unfortunate picture with you here. To the PowerPointMinister: let’s don’t ever let Pope in that booth in the worship center. Ever.

Hook ’em,

Allan

The Way We Speak

January 2, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

One of the many joys of my Christmas morning was unwrapping a copy of Eugene Peterson’s latest theological work, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in his Stories and Prayers. Peterson had finished his trilogy on spiritual conversations with his most excellent The Jesus Way. But apparently he needed to write one more. And God’s Church is all the better for it.

I’m halfway through this theological treatment of the parables and prayers of Jesus. Peterson examines, in the way only he can, the ways our Lord used language and conversation to reach out to others with the love and grace of God. When he spoke, people were drawn to Jesus. His words engaged the people around him. His conversations involved them. He spoke truth and grace. He encouraged and instructed. He spoke love.

I want to share with you a short passage from the introduction of Tell It Slant that challenges us in this new year to “be careful little mouth what you say.” Our tongues are powerful tools, able to heal and destroy, to comfort and enrage, to protect and attack, with a bare minimum of effort or syllables. James knew this well. So does Peterson:

“There is a lot more to speaking than getting the right words and pronouncing them correctly. Who we are and the way we speak make all the difference. We can sure think of enough creative ways to use words badly: we can blaspheme and curse, we can lie and deceive, we can bully and abuse, we can gossip and debunk. Or not. Every time we open our mouths, whether in conversation with one another or in prayer to our Lord, Christian truth and community are on the line. And so, high on the agenda of the Christian community in every generation is that we diligently develop a voice that speaks in consonance with the God who speaks, that we speak in such a way that truth is told and community is formed.”

May our words in 2009 reflect the love and the mercy of the God who saves us. May our conversations always teach and encourage. And may our language glorify God and exalt Christ Jesus.

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We rang in the New Year as a church family with an evening of games and food and worship. I don’t have a lot of pictures because I was way too busy dominating Sequence (OK, Carrie-Anne dominated, I rode her coattails to impressive victory), collecting Uno word cards, getting Bear’ed and Bull’ed by Lance, and barely surviving Around the World with Sarah. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate the gift of a new year from our God than reading together from Hebrews and Galatians and 1 John, singing songs of praise, praying together to dedicate this new year to our Lord, and then circling up to sing It Is Well as the clock struck 12:00.

Wow. God-ordained, Jesus-inspired, Spirit-powered, community-forming.

And then the sparklers.

Typical New Year’s Day at Stanglin Manor: sleep in; donuts; college football; traditional Texas New Year’s Day lunch with ham, cabbage, and black-eyed peas; college football; college football; rented movie; college football. Perfect.

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My great friend Jason Reeves, the preacher at the Grayston Church in Diana, Texas and one of the Four Horsemen, has finally waved the white flag and joined the blogging community. I’m placing a link to his site, Reeves’ Rhetoric, on my blogrole on the right hand side of this page. You can also get there by clicking here.

You’ll be encouraged by Jason’s blog. God speaks through him. God will speak to you through him. He’ll challenge you. He’ll make you think. He’ll force you to re-evaluate your walk with Christ as you examine his. I know. Because most everybody I know falls way short when placed next to Jason. Especially me.

Jason, some days the blog will be an unforgiving task master. Some days it’ll take too much time. Some days it’ll seem that it’s not having as big an impact as you’d like. But those days are few and far between. You’ll discover that the blog is a wonderful way to connect to people you might not otherwise. You’ll see that it’s a great tool for reinforcing your sermons and classes. It forms Christian community. It teaches and encourages. It allows you to better articulate your thoughts and dreams while you’re wrestling with God and his Word and his world. It’s an effective way for other people to be inspired by your faith and your hope.

I pray that our Father will use your words and your thoughts to speak to the people in his Kingdom. I pray that your blog will reach people who need increased faith and stronger hope. I pray that God will be glorified in the time and effort you put into it.

And the very first time that lady from Denver with the pregnant teenager and abusive husband or that man in Arizona who’s left God’s Church calls you on the phone, from out of the blue, to tell you that your words about Habakkuk or your thoughts on 1 Thessalonians are the only thing that’s kept them going, you’ll fall on your knees in gracious humility and praise God for using you in ways far beyond what you could ever ask or imagine.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Fellowship (Page 16 of 17)

His Glorious Riches

Flexing Our Autonomy

Green Bean Casserole & Banana Pudding

Making The Exchange

Grace Always Comes First

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