Page 455 of 493

Potluck Success!

May 13, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

I’ve been accused over the past couple of weeks of having no faith. It was said repeatedly that I was “concerned” that we wouldn’t be able to pull off a big potluck dinner here at Legacy. Technically, it never was concern or lack of faith. I was merely offering reminders and challenges to a group of people who hadn’t done anything like we were asking in at least seven or eight years.

Wow!

We do know how to do a potluck at Legacy!

We overwhelmed each other and our guests from Detroit at last night’s dinner. Tables and tables of food, casseroles and desserts, salads and breads, cakes and pies, crockpots and pie pans. What a feast! The green bean casserole requirements were met as were the banana pudding clauses. More than enough food. And every bit of it was wonderful. What a blessing to be able to sacrifice and to share with others what God has used to bless us. The fellowship and the visiting and the atmosphere was absolutely perfect. It just felt like one huge family. It is one huge family!

And then the concert by the Rochester College A Cappella Chorus just blew us away. They wowed us with several powerful and complex 16th and 17th century hymns arranged by the likes of Johannes Brahms and Antonio Estevez. They inspired us with familiar traditional American choral classics such as “Ride On, King Jesus!” And they got us snapping our fingers and tapping our toes to a few African-American spirituals like “Same Train” and “Ezekul Saw De Wheel.” It’s such a blessing to see how God has gifted these students with such beautiful voices and amazing talents. And so inspirational to see and hear them use those gifts to the glory of our Father.

(Separated at birth: Rochester Chorus Director Joe Bentley and our very own John West)

We were honored to host a couple of the students, Jessica and Dawn, for two nights at Stanglin Manor. We got home after the concert at about 9:30 last night and sat down to watch the Stars-Red Wings Game Three. We DVRd it. So, flipping through the commercials and intermissions, we still finished it by around 11:30. Of course, Dawn came downstairs to the living room wearing her Red Wings shirt. So Whitney, naturally, ran back up to her room and emerged in a couple of minutes wearing her Stars shirt and Stars pajama pants. We enjoyed a lot of good natured back-and-forth ribbing and taunting for the first 30-minutes. But once Dallas gave up that breakaway goal 37-seconds after tying the game at 1-1, it was over. The Red Wings are clearly the better team. Jessica and Dawn were gracious winners. I’m not so sure about Calvin and some of the other guys in the chorus who were taunting me with Red Wings chants before and during dinner and with broom-sweeping motions from the back of the auditorium while I was trying to close us out with a prayer.

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Here are a few pictures from Brian and Jasmine’s wedding last weekend in Marble Falls. Two super-sweet kids. Two great and godly families. And tons of catching up with a bunch of wonderful friends. Does a wedding count if a youth minister performs the ceremony? As always, click on the pic to get the full size.

Hooking up with the three Burdett girls, Morgan and Madison and Meredith, was the highlight of the trip for our gals.

And praise God for the Calderon family! What a tremendous blessing they are to all of us at Legacy! Manuel and Yvina are working with our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters here. They are both generous and sacrificial servants for our Lord and his Kingdom. And they and their two precious daughters are in our Stanglin-Bonner small group. And we were all blessed when Manuel baptized their oldest child, Sofia, into Christ in front of the entire body of believers here Sunday morning. Congratulations, Sofia! We love y’all!

Peace,

Allan

Ethel Merman as Peninnah

May 12, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

I have Red Wings fans sleeping in my house.

The Rochester College A Cappella Chorus, from just outside Detroit, is performing here at Legacy this evening as part of their spring tour through the south and southwest. And we’re housing a couple of these students for two nights at Stanglin Manor. Jessica and Dawn. Two sweet, talented, ambitious young ladies who display good manners and make great grades. Their parents, I’m sure are very proud of them. But it occured to me as we pulled out of the church parking lot at just after 9:00 last night that they may be Red Wings fans. So I casually asked them if they, indeed, were.

They hesitated. They looked at each other. It was like they were waiting for the other to speak.

And that was enough.

I came to a screeching halt right there in the center lane of Mid-Cities Boulevard. Carrie-Anne was embarrassed. Our three girls were delighted. I needed to know. We weren’t going to drive another inch until we had resolved this most important of matters.

Yes, they are Red Wings fans. But they are gracious and, almost, apologetic. They’re both from right there in that greater Detroit / Indiana region. (Is Indiana in the Detroit region?) And they don’t put on their shoes until after they put on their “sacks.” So I figure they can’t help it. I don’t fault Steelers fans who grew up in Pennsylvania or hold grudges against Redskins fans from Virginia. They can’t help it.

But it was good to get it out in the open. We’ve acknowledged our differences. And we’re all OK with it. The Stars and Wings drop the puck in tonight’s critical Game Three at 7:00. The Rochester concert won’t be over until about 9:00. Thanks to DVR—next to air-conditioning, the second greatest invention in the history of the world—the puck drops at our place at around 9:30.

Go Stars.

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Yes, if they made a movie about the first chapter of 1 Samuel, Ethel Merman would play Peninnah.

As I prepared last week for yesterday’s sermon on the story of Hannah, I couldn’t help but think about Ethel Merman’s character in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. She was incessant in her derision of her son-in-law, played by Milton Berle. Always screaming at him. Always complaining. Always telling him how lousy he was.

Peninnah treated Hannah the same way. Year after year, the Scriptures say. On and on it went. She provoked Hannah, the Bible says, until Hannah wept and even stopped eating.

Ethel Merman would make a great Peninnah. I’d cast Donna Reed as Hannah. And probably Jimmy Stewart as Elkanah. His heart was in the right place. But I see him as a bumbling kind of clumsy husband. In response to Hannah’s depression over being barren, Elkanah basically says, “Cheer up, babe! You’ve got ME! What else could you possibly want?”

Have you ever said something like that to your wife?

Don’t.

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Almost a dozen of you have emailed me today regarding my references in yesterday’s sermon to Ethel Merman and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Thank you for your genuine, yet obviously twisted, appreciation.

A couple of you have also asked about the Mother’s Day article on the front of yesterday’s bulletin. You can get a copy of it by clicking here.

Peace,

Allan

I Rejoice In Your Salvation

May 9, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

In 1 Samuel 1-2 we find the story of Hannah, ridiculed and disgraced, distressed and embarrassed by her barenness. But in answer to her prayers born of deep sorrow and steadfast faith, the Lord blessed Hannah with a son. And, in return, acknowledging that her child was a gracious gift from God, Hannah sacrificially gave him back.

As she sings a song of prayer and praise and thanksgiving to God, one clear theme emerges: the sovereignty of the Lord as evidenced by the reversal of fortunes.

“The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who are hungry hunger no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.
The Lord brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.”
~1 Samuel 2:4-7

This reversal of fortunes theme is also used by Jesus to describe the coming of the Kingdom of God.

“The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” ~Matthew 11:5

And isn’t this exactly what God through Christ has done for us? He has turned our lives completely around. He has totally reversed our fortunes.

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgression—it is by grace you have been saved.” ~Ephesians 2:1-5.

As a result, we sing today with the mother of Samuel, “My heart rejoices in the Lord…I rejoice in your salvation.” ~1 Samuel 2:1

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The family and I are headed down to Marble Falls this afternoon for a wedding tonight at the city’s beautiful Lakeside Pavilion. Jasmine and Brian, two great kids who were in our youth group down there when I was going to school in Austin, high school sweethearts (maybe Junior High, too, I’m not sure), and wonderful disciples of Christ are tying the knot and then heading to Lubbock where he’s stationed in the military and she’s enrolled at Lubbock Christian University.

Jasmine was two-years-old when Carrie-Anne and I first moved to Marble Falls in ’91. When we left for Memphis in ’98 she was nine. When we returned to Marble Falls in ’05 for Austin Grad, she had turned into a beautiful, smart, talented, funny, high school sophomore. She babysat for us. We went to WinterFest together. We cheered her on as she marched and played in the Mustang High School Band. Our girls love her.

We met Brian for the first time in that summer of ’05. And they were already well along in their courtship. Brian’s the most sensitive and caring and kind-hearted and generous young man you’d ever want to know. Very funny. Sarcastic with a dry wit. Self-deprecating at every turn. And he would say he doesn’t know what that means. Hard-working. The first to sign up for a service project and the last to leave. And I’ll forever remember Brian for being king of the duct tape. He put duct tape on and around everything. He used camo duct tape to decorate the door to the storage room in the church youth house. I’ll be shocked if part of his tuxedo tonight isn’t held together in some way by duct tape.

I’ll also be surprised if he’s not wearing the shirt you see in this picture. This was taken in downtown Dallas when I had set Brian up by pointing him out to a street vendor selling roses. I think Brian wore that shirt every other day during the entire two years we were together.

Brian and Jasmine both come from wonderful Christian families. Strong mothers and fathers who submit everything to our Lord. Loving and supportive siblings. Brian and Jasmine are also both dedicated to serving our God and his Kingdom all the days of their lives. And we wish for them nothing but God’s richest blessings as they embark on the rest of their lives together.

Jimmy Mitchell, our youth minister in Marble Falls when we were there, is performing the ceremony tonight. And it’ll be great to see him and his wife, Elizabeth, and their sweet baby girl again. It’s been almost a year. We’re actually all looking forward to the trip. We can’t wait to see all of our great friends and catch up with everybody down there.

Go Stars.

Allan

Remember Me

May 8, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

Following this past Sunday’s wonderful communion time with our Legacy church family, I’m gaining the courage and confidence needed to jump right into a five or six weeks sermon series on the multi-faceted aspects of our Lord’s Supper. I’m convinced that Christians in the Churches of Christ—this may be true of all Christians in God’s Kingdom, it’s just that the only first-hand experience I really have is in the C of C—know when to take the Lord’s Supper, we’re just not sure why.

The Lord’s Supper, as presented in the New Testament and as celebrated by God’s Church through the centuries, has always been a deeply meaningful ritual representing layers and layers of imagery and ideas. The Lord’s Supper, shared by God’s people on the Lord’s Day in memory of our Savior, stands for the unity of the Church. It recalls the ministry and the teachings of the earthly meals of Jesus, both pre-resurrection and post-resurrection. It looks forward with breathless anticipation to the wedding feast of the Lamb when all of God’s people will be gathered from the four corners of time and space to sit at the heavenly table in eternity. It celebrates the power of the resurrection and the hope we have in that Holy Spirit power that brought Jesus out of the tomb. Communion re-enacts the timeless salvation history of our Father who delivers his people from bondage over and over again. It represents the diversity of the Lord’s body and the universal call to all of creation to be saved: “All things are ready, come to the Feast!” And, yes, it recalls the suffering and death of Jesus in the garden and on the cross and the tremendous sacrifice he made of his life on my behalf.

And for the life of me I can’t figure out why, with all of the joy and the celebration and the sharing and the communion that’s forever been a part of meal-time with God’s people, our Lord’s Supper times on Sundays are somber, sad, introspective funerals. Barely a Sunday morning communion time comes that I don’t want to stand up on my chair right in the middle of it and remind everybody, “Hey! He’s not on the cross anymore! He’s not in the tomb! He’s not dead! He’s alive!”

The suffering and death of Jesus was never a part of the Church’s Lord’s Supper until the middle of the 4th century. The priests and Church officials at that time began to focus solely on Jesus’ death and began to use grave and solemn language in their prayers and communion liturgies in an effort to control the thousands of pagans who found themselves in church on Sundays due to Constantine’s edict making Christianity mandatory. Church leaders used the Lord’s Supper to straighten out these non-Christian Christians. To scare them straight.

Why did the restoration movement restore everything, reform everything, except the Lord’s Supper?

I’m ready to enjoy and celebrate and declare to each other and to the world all the many images and ideas and truths that are found in our communion time together on Sundays.

And I pray you are, too.

For more info on the Church’s distortion of the Lord’s Supper, see a paper I wrote a couple of years ago by clicking on my resources page here. Go to “From Celebratory Feast to Solemn Service,” about halfway down the resource page.

My great friend, Jim Gardner, also recently posted a few blog thoughts on the differences between remembering at communion a suffering and dying Jesus versus remembering the living and reigning Christ. You can check it out here.

Please be in thoughtful prayer regarding this all-important weekly ritual that’s intended by God to remind us of our relationship with him and our countless blessings from him through our Savior.

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And I’ll leave you with this poem, also posted by Jim Gardner a couple of days ago:

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Not the lights or its decor.

But it was all the folks in heaven
who made me sputter and gasp —
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics, the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on Cloud-Nine,
Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal?
I would love to hear your take.
How’d all these sinners get up here?
God must’ve made a mistake!”

“And, why is everyone so quiet?
So somber? Give me a clue.”
“Hush, child,” said He, “they’re all in shock.
No one thought they’d be seeing you.”

–Unknown

Peace,

Allan

Changing Lives In Waco

May 7, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

Wow. Yesterday’s two-hour lunch and tour with Dr. Jimmy Dorrell in Waco was eye-opening and jaw-dropping unbelievable. Almost 30 years ago, Jimmy, a theology professor at the Truitt Seminary at Baylor, and his wife decided to move into the roughest part of Waco and live their lives in order to make a difference. And sitting at his feet yesterday afternoon—I was actually sitting across the table from him at the World Cup Cafe with a World Famous World Cup cheeseburger loaded with jalepenos and pico de gallo—was an unforgettable treat arranged by Jim Martin at the Crestview Church of Christ in Waco.

Jimmy’s vision and hard work and dedication to being the Body of Christ in Waco has now turned into Mission Waco, a non-profit organization with 40 employees that oversees more than two-million-dollars a year in relief and assistance for that city’s poor and marginalized. They facilitate job training and placement, provide medical and clinical services, and distribute food and clothing. They run GED programs and alcohol and drug abuse recovery centers. They operate parks and youth centers and affordable housing. They are intimately and intricately involved in people’s lives, living in honest and loving and serving relationships with that city’s poorest and most at-risk souls. The poverty rate in most cities in America is between eleven and twelve percent. It’s 27-percent in Waco. And Jimmy’s committed his life to helping that quarter of his city’s population.

And it’s amazing.

Jimmy drove us around all the worst parts of East Waco where Mission Waco is making a huge difference in the lives of those people. But we spent most of our time at the corner of 15th and Concord, at one time not too long ago the absolute worst part of town. The three or four blocks near that corner were home to porn theaters, bars, drug houses, and prostitution rings. The buildings that didn’t pander to those kinds of activities had been condemned by the city. And Jimmy decided they needed to reclaim that area for Christ.

When he asked city officials to sell to him every condemned building, they gave all of them to him instead. And today the porn theater is now the completely remodeled and refurbished Jubilee Theatre, home to youth dances and recitals and family movies and worship assemblies and civic events. The bars have been transformed into drug and alcohol free youth centers offering meals and recreation and education to Waco’s young people. The vacant lots have been turned into Jubilee Park. And another bar has become the World Cup Cafe, offering great food, a Fair Trade Shop, and jobs for the economically-desperate.

You can read Jimmy Dorrell’s blog, Cross Cultural Experiences, by clicking here. You can find his books and articles on his website by clicking here.

I’m just amazed at how our Father has turned Jimmy’s dreams into life-changing realities for so many of God’s children in Waco. And I’m more convinced now than ever the Kingdom is absolutely the exact same things Jesus says it is. When our Lord preached Kingdom and described Kingdom and pointed to Kingdom it was always in that the blind were made to see, the lame were made to walk, the sick were healed, the hungry were fed, the prisoners were freed. Those things were evidence of the Kingdom. And, thanks to Jimmy Dorrell and his Mission Waco and the Church Under the Bridge, the Kingdom is flourishing in Waco.

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I’m grateful to Jim Martin for asking me to be a part of this Waco Alliance of ours. Nine preachers and an elder. Our monthly meetings are such great joys to me. We talk about our families and our churches. We discuss highs and lows. We share our experiences and offer each other advice. We talk and we listen. And I find that when I’m telling my stories it does me a world of good to articulate and process what’s going on in my mind and in my life. And when I’m listening to another brother tell his story, I benefit so much in reflecting on my own common or unique experiences that compare or contrast with his.

The sharing of our stories helps both the tellers and the hearers. God knows that. Jesus knew that. That’s why oral tradition is so powerful. That’s why the Scriptures are written the way they are. That’s why our Father brings us together in congregations, in families of believers: to share and confess and encourage and pass on the faith in our stories.

God is changing lives in Waco through the works of Jimmy Dorrell. And he’s shaping lives in Waco, mine specifically, through the good works of Jimmy Martin.

Peace,

Allan

Let Your Light Shine

May 6, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

Had a blast at last night’s banquet in honor of our 20 Legacy seniors whose lives are all about to be changed dramatically in the coming weeks. The tradition here is that the elders and ministers and their wives serve the seniors and their parents. Chris Courtney charged them with holding fast to the faith. In a cool candle ceremony, Jim McDoniel charged them to let their lights “shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” A slide show that featured each of the graduating seniors. And then a trip up to the almost-finished youth center to sing The Lord Bless You and Keep You.” What a fantastic night. May our God bless our seniors with peace and protection. And may his will be done in their lives as it is in Heaven.

I’m off to Waco for my monthly meeting with the other central Texas area ministers down there. Today we’re meeting at the Crestview church building for our study and prayer time and then moving on for lunch at the World Cup Cafe. After that, we’re meeting with Dr. Jimmy Dorrell, the director of Mission Waco and pastor of the Church Under the Bridge (featured in Christianity Today a couple of years ago). Jimmy decided a little over 20 years ago to move into the roughest part of Waco and attempt to be salt and light there. He’s taking us on a tour today and talking with us about ministry to the poor. And I’m really looking forward to it.

Then, auditions tonight for VBS. It’s quite the production.

Have a great day. Let your light shine.

Peace,

Allan

The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Page 455 of 493

Potluck Success!

Ethel Merman as Peninnah

I Rejoice In Your Salvation

Remember Me

Changing Lives In Waco

Let Your Light Shine

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