The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Unity (Page 1 of 8)

Where “All” Becomes “One”

July 31, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” ~Galatians 3:26-28

I believe we are blessed to live in the country we live in, but the systems and structures and mottos and politics of this world will never unite anybody. The only place where the “all” becomes “one” is in Christ alone. In Christ is the only place where all people become one people. Our Lord Jesus is creating one global eternal community, not a bunch of them. So, in Christ, all the barriers are gone. There’s no more separation, no more distinctions or differences–everybody’s totally equal in Christ. The walls are down, the doors are open, the bridges are built! Now that Christ Jesus has come, all people have become one people!

To treat anyone differently, to deny anyone equal standing or equal freedom in God’s Church based on their nationality or their social standing or their gender is to, as Paul writes, proclaim “a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-7). That kind of discrimination or distinction contradicts not just how we’re saved, but also why we’re saved. When we discriminate or make those distinctions in the Church, our actions contradict our message.

For illustration and application purposes, Paul gives us three pairings. All in the same context. All in the same breath.

In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek. This is about ethnicity. He’s talking about nationality and culture, this is about color and race and language, anything ethnically that the world divides over. No one has to become a Jew to be a Christian. When we give equal honor and equal freedom and equal standing to Christians of all colors and from all nations and who speak all languages, then we’re proclaiming the Word of the Lord.

The worshipers in Revelation are singing to Christ Jesus in heaven. Listen to their song:
“You were slain, and with your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation!” ~Revelation 5:9

The saints of God come from all over and they’re singing the same song. If we treat Christians differently or show them less honor or give them less freedom because they’re a different color or come from a different country or speak a different language, we are proclaiming something different than God’s Word.

In Christ, there is neither slave nor free. This is about social standing and economic status. How a person is educated, what kind of job she has, or how much money he makes has nothing to do with how a person is accepted as righteous by God or how that person serves and worships in God’s Church. It’s totally irrelevant. If anybody’s getting preferential treatment at church, it should be the poor and the marginalized and the people on the outside. Listen to our Lord:

“Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed… Bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame… Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in so that my house will be full!” ~Luke 14:13, 21, 23

Our Lord’s brother says it straight up in James 2, that if you show favoritism for a rich man over a poor man, you are sinning against God who has chosen the poor to be rich in faith and to inherit his Kingdom. If you only talk to Christians who have jobs, if you only eat with Christians who live in your zip code, if you only show honor to Christians who can pay you back, you’re proclaiming a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all.

In Christ, there is neither male nor female. This is about gender and all the different dynamics that surround gender. This is about bestowing or not bestowing status or freedom in the Church based on a Christian’s sex.

It’s interesting to me that in a lot of our churches, in our Bible classes and small groups and in almost all our church settings, our Christian sisters are encouraged to express their full freedom in Christ and asked to exercise their spiritual gifts. But it’s different in the Worship Center. Generally speaking, women lead prayers and read Scripture and exhort the church at 9:30 all over the campus, but they’re not allowed to do those exact same things in front of the exact same people and the same God in the Worship Center at 10:30.

It seems like we should interpret and apply this third pairing just like we do the other two.

In 1 Corinthians 11, where the apostle Paul instructs women on how to pray and how to teach in the Sunday assembly, it’s in the context of we are all one together in Christ and how we need each other and each other’s spiritual gifts.

“In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.” ~1 Corinthians 11:11-12

In Christ, men and women are the same. No gender is better than the other, no gender is more honored or more gifted or more free to exercise those gifts than the other. Males and females are equal in Christ. Again, it seems to me we should interpret and practice this third couplet like we do the other two. We wouldn’t tell some Christians they can’t lead a prayer in the assembly because they’re Black. We wouldn’t tell some Christians they can’t lead the communion time because they don’t have a job. So why do we tell some Christians they can’t do those things because they are women? Paul sees these categories as the same.

Now, there are two verses in the Bible that are used to restrict Christian women in exercising their spiritual gifts, two lines addressing two particular concerns in two very specific settings. But we have this central passage in Galatians 3 and many others that call for and demonstrate this equal standing between men and women in Christ. It seems that if we restrict our Christian sisters where the Bible doesn’t, we’re proclaiming a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all.

Peace,

Allan

A Juneteenth Prayer

June 19, 2025 / / 0 Comments

On this Juneteenth holiday, I invite you to join me in prayer to our God for three things:

~ lament to our Lord the atrocities of slavery and acknowledge to him this country’s sins of racism and segregation

~ thank God for the progress we’ve made  and that we are not where we once were, as individuals and in this country

~ personally resolve before God to continue fighting racism and segregation in all its forms in our communities, our families, and our churches

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Juneteenth used to be an exclusively Texas thing. For Texas Monthly’s wonderful profile of Opal Lee, the Fort Worth grandmother who almost single-handedly turned our Lone Star tradition into an official national holiday, click here.

You might also check out the work Jerry Taylor and others are doing at the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action on the campus of Abilene Christian University. Their website is here.

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Finally, this Juneteenth prayer I have borrowed from the Archdiocese of Baltimore:

We pray, O Lord, for change. 
Jesus, you revealed God through your wise words and loving deeds, 
and we encounter you still today in the faces of those whom society has pushed to the margins. 
Guide us, through the love you revealed, 
to establish the justice you proclaimed, 
that all peoples might dwell in harmony and peace, 
united by that one love that binds us to each other and to you. 
And most of all, Lord, change our routine worship and work
into genuine encounter with you and our better selves
so that our lives will be changed for the good of all. 
May it be so in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

Peace,

Allan

Either / Or

June 11, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Kara Alaimo, a communications professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, has written an article that was published this week in the American Psychological Journal about kids and screen time. Based on a “meta-analysis” of 117 different studies on children younger than eleven-years-old, Alaimo shows that the more time kids spend looking at a screen, the more likely their feelings and actions don’t meet expectations for their stage of development. The more time a child spends with screens, the more likely that child is to experience and express above normal anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, and aggression. You can find the article by clicking here. 

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“I died to the law so that I might live for God.”  ~Galatians 3:19

By refusing to eat with uncircumcised Christians, the apostle Peter was saying that God’s salvation and the unity of God’s people was based on both grace and faith and circumcision and law. By refusing to worship and fellowship with Christians in other denominations, we’re saying that God’s salvation and the unity of God’s people is based on both grace and faith and interpretation and method.

It has to be one or the other; it can’t be both. This is an either/or; not a both/and.

As a way to be saved, as a way to gain righteousness, Paul writes that he gave up the law in order to live for God (Galatians 3:19). And we can’t go back. The law has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus. The law is history. We’re dead to the law so we can be alive to our God. Being saved by obeying the law and being saved by faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are mutually exclusive things. It can’t be both. If Peter and Barnabas in Antioch or the Jewish Christians in Galatia are saying that circumcision or any part of the law plays a role in the good news of the Gospel, then they’re making a mockery of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Paul knows it’s an either / or, he knows it can’t be both. If he chooses law, he must reject grace. So, he makes his choice crystal clear:

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.” ~Galatians 2:21

We can’t go back. Paul writes that if he goes back to trying to get right with God by means of the law, then he proves he’s a sinner (Galatians 2:18). In other words, if the law is what saves you, then look out! You’ve already broken it!

Do you see why it can’t be both? If the law is the method, then all Christians are sinners. But if the perfect faithfulness of Jesus is the means, then all Christians are righteous. And any behavior or attitude that separates groups of Christians or draws lines of acceptance or fellowship between different kinds of Christians, distorts that good news.

We are not saved by our own merits or works, we’re not saved by being in the right group; we are saved by the faith of Jesus. That was true when Peter was differentiating between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians back then, and it’s just as true today when we’re differentiating between Church of Christ Christians and Presbyterian Christians and Baptist Christians and Methodist Christians. We are all saved by the exact same thing in the exact same way, but putting our faith in God through Christ.

That means we all belong at the same table. That means we accept all Christians with a different history, different traditions, a different story to tell. And, no, it’s not easy. I’m not saying it is. It’s actually very difficult for us. It’s almost offensive. Because God’s matchless grace totally disregards our human merit, his mercy and love completely breaks down even our socially acceptable barriers and brings together very different kinds of people. That sort of unity is tough to swallow.

Jonah got ticked off at God’s grace because God showed favor to Jonah’s national enemies. The older brother refused to come to the feast because the Father had invited the runaway son. The Pharisee thanks God that he’s not like the tax collector.

But this is God’s way: he unites as he saves and he saves as he unites.

Peace,

Allan

It Can’t Be Both

June 10, 2025 / / 0 Comments

We went to Houston last weekend for Carrie-Anne’s annual follow-up at M.D. Anderson and she got another perfect report. She’s great. No signs of cancer anywhere. Perfect picture of health. The doctors and oncologists refer to Carrie-Anne’s breast cancer as “history,” something in her past. Just walking the halls of M.D. Anderson, you’re reminded that not everyone gets that outcome. And we are eternally grateful. Two more years, two more of these annual appointments, and they don’t ever want to see us again. As wonderful as they are at that place and as beautifully as we’ve been treated, we’re good with that.

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“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong… he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.” ~Galatians 3:11-12

Peter is refusing to share meals with Christians who have not been circumcised. He’s drawing back and separating himself from the Gentile Christians because some of the other Jewish Christians have started to talk.

Evidently, the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Antioch were all eating together. They were all experiencing and expressing their Christian unity together at these communion meals, these fellowship feasts. They weren’t worried about the Law of Moses because they’re all one in Christ. They ate together all the time. And when Peter came to Antioch, he joined in. He’s good. He’s participating in these church meals, these symbols of Christian unity. But then these Jewish Christians from Jerusalem show up and Peter excuses himself from the table. Either the presence of these men or their message–something–shook Peter up. The text says he was afraid. And he stopped eating with the Gentile Christians. His actions were so public and so influential that even Barnabas and some others also stopped attending the meals.

What Peter is saying by his actions is that Gentile Christians are only second-class Christians. Peter and these Jews are claiming to be better Christians. They are more saved, more correct, closer to God’s will, because of their Jewish culture.

If they want to eat with Peter and the other Jewish Christians, if they want the full benefits of God’s salvation, then they have to belong to a certain group: MY group. You have to conform to OUR rules. You have to adopt OUR customs. You have to embrace OUR traditions. Peter is saying, in essence, that salvation and the unity of God’s people is based on both grace and faith and circumcision and the law.

It’s got to be one or the other; it can’t be both.

This is not just a minor disagreement over a technical theological point; this is the very heart of the Gospel. It’s not a little squabble over a biblical interpretation; this is about our identity in Christ. Peter is “not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel” (Galatians 3:14).

When I was young–3rd, 4th, 5th grade, probably–I remember having conversations with Terry Brence, a friend of mine who lived around the corner. We played together nearly every day and I remember talking to him several times about “church.” I told him on many occasions he was not going to heaven because he didn’t go to church. I also remember telling Sherry Taylor, the girl who lived across the street, that she was not going to heaven because she was not going to the right church. She didn’t go to my church.

This is the way I was raised. I could invite my friends to VBS at our church, but I couldn’t attend VBS at their churches when they invited me. It’s not the right kind of church. They don’t do things the way we do things. My parents would invite my dad’s friends from work to attend our Gospel meetings, but we wouldn’t go to their churches when they invited us to their revivals. We were withdrawing and separating. And it wasn’t just our practice; it was our vision and mission!

We were so focused on our Church of Christ distinctives. We were obsessed with what makes Churches of Christ different from everybody else. We took pride in it.

We call it a “Gospel meeting,” not a “revival.” Because “revival” is not a biblical word. Although, it is.

It’s “preacher,” not “pastor.” Because “pastors” are really “elders.” But we don’t call our elders “pastors,” either, because that’s what the denominations say.

And we are NOT a denomination! Denomination is not a biblical word! We are different from everybody else!

We baptize by immersion, we do it the right way. And, yeah, we know some denominations baptize the right way, but they do it for the wrong reasons. 

We call it an “offering,” not a “tithe.” It’s an “invitation song,” not an “altar call.”

I heard Ian Fair say one time that if we were so bent on being different from everybody else, why don’t we just put bars on all the church doors and go in and out through the windows.

Well, no, that would be silly. Just make sure you call it an “auditorium,” not a “sanctuary.” 

Our focus on our distinctives, our obsession with what separates us from the rest of the Christian world, has resulted in several generations of us referring to the Churches of Christ as “The Church.”

She was raised in The Church. Are they members of The Church?

We say “The Church” and we’re only talking about us!

We’ll admit that folks in other churches are Christians, we’ll acknowledge that they’re saved. But some of us are reluctant to call them brothers and sisters in Christ. We hesitate to fellowship with them.

That kind of thinking and talking and acting  is the very definition of drawing lines, drawing back and separating. We’re claiming to be better Christians, more saved, more correct, closer to God’s will, because of our Church of Christ culture.

If you want me to call you a brother or sister in Christ, then you have to belong to MY group. You have to conform to OUR rules, you have to adopt OUR customs, you have to embrace OUR traditions. What we’re saying is that salvation and the unity of God’s people is based both on grace and faith and interpretations and methods.

It’s got to be one or the other; it can’t be both.

Peace,

Allan

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

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