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Caps for Tags

(This post contains an exclusive offer for Legacy members only! Read on!)

God’s Church here at Legacy has really taken to this empty tomb promotion for our Resurrection Renewal coming up Easter week. We’re beginning to see the empty tomb decals showing up now all over the community. About three thousand of the stickers have flown out the doors here. And several folks have emailed me pictures of their “tags.”

Bank Drive-Thru  Bike Trail  Elevator  

Canine  Mailbox  Pole at undisclosed location

Redbox   Sonic Menu  Wal-Mart

This past Sunday we made available to our church family 5,000 little laminate cards, 3-1/2″ x 2″, with the empty tomb logo boldly emblazoned on each side. We’re asking our members to just leave these cards everywhere they go. I realize there are some of us who are not as apt to put stickers around town as others. These people among us have a far greater respect for the property of others. Putting stickers on things goes against the very fabric of their upbringing. I respect that. Placing these little cards around town is much, much easier.

Resurrection Renewal CardsFriday night we took the family to the movies and I dropped about 20 of these cards all over the place. I put half a dozen or so on the pinball machines and token dispensers in the arcade. I placed five or six in the middle of the tables at the snack bar. I put one on the counter where I purchased our popcorn and another near the register where I paid for Carley’s Sourpatch candy. On the way out, I placed another three or four cards in other various places: in a picture frame, on top of the booster seats display, and on a water fountain. Later that night I left three cards at Arby’s: one at the counter, one near the napkins and Horsey Sauce, and one on the window sill next to our table.

I left three at What-a-burger yesterday afternoon: in the gift card slot on the counter, near the drinks dispenser, and on the window next to my seat.

Last night, Carrie-Anne asked me to run to Wal-Mart on my way home to pick up something she needed for dinner. I wound up buying three things. I left these empty tomb cards on the shelves where I picked up each of those three items, I left one on a Coke display in the middle of an aisle, another on top of the jewelry counter as I walked by, and another at the register where I paid. On the way out the door, I left another card on a desk at the optical center.

This morning, while picking up the donuts for our weekly men’s Bible study, I left one on each of the three tables inside the donut shop, one at the register, and I pinned another one to the bulletin board with everybody’s business cards.

I keep them with me and just drop them wherever I go. And we’re hoping that everybody at Legacy is doing the same thing. The idea is to so saturate our community with these images that it creates a curiosity — an intrigue. We want people to think to themselves, “Something’s happening. What’s happening?” Then we believe that when these people see the image on our T-shirts or our cell phones or on our cars, they’ll ask us what it means, and we’ll have an opportunity to share with them the power of the Resurrection and invite them to Legacy for our four-day event Easter week.

Resurrection Renewal CapsNow, here’s the offer: I’ll give empty tomb caps to the three people who email me the best pictures of their best “tags.” This offer is for the stickers only (Hey, anybody can drop the cards). Just take a picture of your “tag” and email it to me at astanglin@legacychurchofchrist.org and I’ll judge the best three. It’s completely subjective, I know. And I’m the one making the call. The deadline for entry is noon Tuesday March 16, one week from today. All the pictures will go up on the big screens during our assembly time Sunday morning March 21. And we’ll announce the winners then, too. Resurrection Renewal - April 4-7, 2010

Peace,

Allan

Preaching to our Enemies

JonahThe story of Jonah helps us understand how God thinks. It helps us see God’s great love for all of his creation and his will for all men and women of the world to be saved. The apostle Peter finally figured it out after a couple of rooftop visions in Joppa.

“Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” ~Acts 10:15

“God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.” ~Acts 10:28

“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” ~Acts 10:34-35

We have enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan. And our God loves them and he wants them to be saved. But sometimes our language and our prayers and our actions and our emails don’t reflect it. How quickly we forget that while we were God’s enemies, Christ died for us.

We have enemies right here in our own communities. Enemies of our property values, enemies of our employment figures and tax rates, enemies of our comfort zones and our decency and order. And our God’s unmistakable call is to take to them the good news of salvation.

See, the deal with Jonah is that he believes in the sovereignty of God in his clear call. Jonah understands it. He just doesn’t want to obey it.

We believe that Jesus meant it when he said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. But we don’t always practice it.

God is still calling his people to preach, to witness, to testify, on his behalf to other people. We see it with Jonah. We really see it in Jesus. Our Savior crosses all the social and political and cultural and racial and economic boundaries to save violent outcasts, those possessed by demons, warring zealots, traitorous tax collectors, Roman centurions, and thieves on crosses. He broke through the barriers of time and space to save you. And me.

And our God unmistably calls us to reach out to others the same way.

Peace,

Allan

Better Safe Than Sorry

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” ~Romans 12:1-2

Not the right kind of “safe”We want more than anything to be in God’s holy will. We want to be holy. We want to please our Father. We want to get everything right. We want so badly to be correct. And so when we discuss divorce and remarriage or worship practices or church structures or any of the other “hot button” issues or topics, a lot of us will say “better safe than sorry.” When making decisions about behavior or practice, we’ll oftentimes employ this “better safe than sorry” mantra to guide our interpretation of Scripture and our instruction to others.

And that’s OK, if we truly understand what it means to be “safe” when we’re talking about our God and his will for his people.

Usually, “better safe than sorry” means everybody freeze! Nobody do anything! Everybody step back! And then we draw lines and develop boundaries and devise rules and make judgments. This kind of thinking dictates that we be extra-triple-careful not to offend God’s holy will and risk being damned to hell. That kind of philosophy is probably good if you’re a sky-diver or you make your living dismantling bombs. When wiring a house or feeding a lion or crossing a busy street, “better safe than sorry” makes perfect sense.

But “better safe than sorry” is no way to live in relationship with God and God’s people. Unless we’re all very clear with what exactly it means to act “safely” according to God’s economy.

More mercy & love, not rules and lines and boundaries and regulationsActing “safely,” according to our heavenly Father, means giving more grace and mercy, not more rules and regulations. It means more acceptance and less judgment. It means forgiveness and compassion, not lines and boundaries. If you want to be “better safe than sorry” with God, you’ll exercise more patience and understanding with your Christian brothers and sisters and do away with all prejudice and pride. Being “safe” with God means showing more love to the people you meet in the world and less attitude.

It means being like Christ.

Making up more rules and holding others accountable to those rules is something else entirely.

Peace,

Allan

Resurrection Renewal

Resurrection Renewal - April 4-7, 2010 - Legacy Church of Christ 

This is not a lock-jawed Pacman chasing a ghost without a face. And it’s not what happens when you open up your Big Mac container and the meat has slid clean off the bun. This is a symbol of the Resurrection. This is the empty tomb of Jesus. This represents the power of the Resurrection. This symbol stands for the hope we have in the Resurrection. And we’re going to use this image to bring people to our Christ.

Our hope is to outfit the entire Legacy congregation — one thousand men, women, and children — in empty tomb T-shirts. Yesterday we took orders for 659 shirts. In less than an hour. We also saw over two-thousand empty tomb decals fly out the doors. Most of them went on our cars and trucks and the backs of our cell phones.

Sign Ups    Crowded Concourse    Texting Teens

The goal is to completely saturate our community with this symbol. We want people to see this Resurrection image everywhere. And then, after a few days, when people see the symbol on our shirts and our cars and our phones, they’ll initiate the conversation.

“Hey, what is that on your shirt? I’ve seen that around town.”

“I’ve seen that logo on a bunch of cars lately. And you’ve got it on your phone. What is that?”

Whitney    Van    Carley

And then we begin our Resurrection Conversations. We tell them that the tomb is empty. We tell them that our King is alive today and reigning at the right hand of our Father in heaven. And we tell them that because Jesus lives, death has nothing on us. And neither does sin. And then we invite them to Legacy on Easter Sunday for the start of our four-day Resurrection Renewal. Five sessions of Resurrection singing and reading and praying and preaching. Resurrection Power. Resurrection Hope. Resurrection Proof. Resurrection Mystery. Resurrection Community. Very evangelistic. Very visitor-friendly. And if we do it right, if every one of us gets involved in getting this symbol out there in our town, the people will start the discussions for us.

That’s the plan we unvieled yesterday. And I completely underestimated the response.

Putting decals on cars    TShirt Orders    At the main display

It was chaotic. It was crazy. It was hectic. It was loud. And it was wonderful and inspiring. Everyone bought in. All three exits out of our parking lots were staffed with teens putting empty tomb stickers on the backs of cars as they were leaving. Two dozen volunteers took T-shirt orders and applied decals to the phones. Before I even made it to lunch yesterday I had two text messages from two different people telling me about Resurrection Conversations they’d already had at restaurants. All day today I’ve been receiving similar messages. Chandler and Philip and Conner. All three of my own daughters. The phones have been ringing at the church offices all day today with people wanting more shirts and more stickers. The symbol is showing up on our members’ Facebook pages. Our people are tagging their email signature lines with the image. Resurrection Conversations are happening all over NorthEast Tarrant County.

Precinct Line and North Tarrant PKwy    Empty Tomb Stickers Everywhere!    Even Kent!!

And our God gets all the glory.

The Resurrection of our Savior is a big deal. And we’re giving it big deal treatment this Spring at Legacy. Like the very first believers two-thousand years ago, we’re using it to convince our community that Christ is Lord. This thing has the potential to change the mindset of our congregation. I pray we’re going to start focusing much more now on what’s happening outside our walls then on the inside. And, by God’s grace and the power of his Spirit, this thing could quite possibly turn our town upside down for the Kingdom.

Chevron at Davis & Starnes  Hwy 26 in Grapevine  QT at Davis and Mid-Cities

I’ll keep posting pictures here as more of these things roll in. Resurrection Renewal - April 4-7, 2010 - Legacy Church of Christ

Peace,

Allan

Four Horsemen Ride Again!

“In a good friendship each member often feels humility towards the rest. He sees that they are splendid and counts himself lucky to be among them.” ~C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves

(Regular readers of this blog know about the Four Horsemen. If you’re brand new, if you need a refresher, or if you just want to read something really cool about how God has used and is using four men with one another and for the Kingdom click here.)

Four HorsemenMy three greatest friends and I go camping together every year on the last weekend in February. It seems to be the one weekend that all four of us can consistently get away. Late February is far enough after the holidays and the start of the year and far enough before the madness of the spring to be just perfect. The odd date is also good for guaranteeing that we’re going to be the only ones at the campgrounds. Some years it’s sunny and in the 60s. Some years we nearly freeze to death. Yesterday Dan sent us all a picture of the National Weather Center’s weekend forecast for East Texas. Looks like it’s going to be perfect!

 Tyler Weather

This weekend we will pray together. And laugh. And argue. And eat. Somebody will almost get hurt really badly. We’ll talk about our families, our churches, our struggles, our triumphs. At some point the raccoons will get brave enough to go for an open bag of chips on the table. We’ll ask for advice and listen patiently to advice that’s unsolicited. Dan will encourage. Kevin will challenge. Jason will connect it all back to our God. And I’ll be thinking to myself the entire time, “Why can’t I be more like these guys?”

Our annual Four Horsemen Advance is regularly one of the best weekends of my life. We are all four so different. And I think we each genuinely appreciate the uniqueness in one another. We see very clearly the goodness in each other. And we recognize easily that it comes from beyond us. I have no doubt that our God brought us together for his divine purposes. And I thank him for that.

Jason and Dan and Kevin are splendid, indeed. And I am lucky to be among them.

Have a great weekend,

Allan

Hearers of the Word

PreacherI realize every time I get up in the pulpit on Sunday mornings I’m preaching between 900-1,000 different sermons. Everybody within earshot hears something a little differently. The people in our churches arrive in the assembly and bring to our sermon different experiences, different worldviews, different backgrounds. They come from different family dynamics, different geographical locations, and different economic circumstances. These different contexts shape the sermon; what they hear; how they respond.

I’m also aware that what’s happening in the room also impacts the way I preach. I feel that I’m much more bold when I’m preaching in Arkansas or California to people I’ve never met. It’s not that I don’t want to be bold at Legacy. It’s just that it’s much more difficult to say hard things to people I’ve grown to love. I love these people and I think I speak differently to them. Obviously, it’s much, much easier to preach following an uplifting service of praise in which the entire assembly has together raised the roof in joyful song than following a half-hearted robotic effort to trudge through songs nobody likes or nobody knows. The songs are intended to edify the congregation, to uplift the people of God. And they do. They uplift the preacher, too.

The great theologian Reinhold Niebuhr knew that his Sunday morning sermons were better than his Sunday evening sermons. He realized that cicumstances do affect the quality of the message. And a lot of that, according to Niebuhr in Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic, has to do with how many people are in the room.

“A full church gives me a sense of fighting with a victorious host in the battles of the Lord. A half empty church immediately symbolizes the fact that Christianity is very much a minority movement in a pagan world and that it can be victorious only by snatching victory out of defeat.”

Yes, the preacher is impacted by the mood of the crowd, the lighting in the room, the events of the past week, and by the anticipated, yet strangely unexpected, moving of the Spirit. All those things, and many more, affect the sermon.

My faith is in the divine promise that God’s Word never returns to him empty. He puts his truth directly into the hearts of our hearers. Despite our shortcomings and inadequacies, despite our human tendencies to be swayed by temporal distractions, our Father uses preaching to reveal himself to the world.

That’s still pretty cool.

Peace,

Allan

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