TILL HE COMES Blog

God gets the glory, as He should in any situation, whether good or bad.

We’re still right smack in the middle of this crisis, and so far, we’re learning much from it and through it. I want to spend the next couple posts explaining some of what we’ve learned.

First, as some of you have reminded us, God truly is good. I have never doubted that.

I am reminded of a story I read about when Max Lucado almost lost his daughter to drowning. They found her floating face down in a swimming pool, and after pulling her out, and administering CPR, she choked, coughed, and was revived. In that moment, Max whispered this prayer: “Thank you, God. You are so good.”

Afterwards, he got to thinking about it and wondered, “Would God still be good if my daughter had died?” Theologically, he knew the answer was “Yes.” But personally, he was not sure how he would have responded in such a situation. I am not sure how I would respond either if one of my daughters died.

But I have seen how my faith has performed in a much smaller crisis, and I am not proud of it. Nevertheless, through this crisis (which is nowhere near as desperate a crisis as some people face every day), Wendy and I have become more convinced than ever of the goodness of God. It is He that is seeing us through. He has made Himself real to us in ways that cannot be experienced apart from crisis. It is He that is teaching us things about life, ministry, and caring for others that probably could not have been learned any other way. So, to God be the glory.

I will share some of these we are learning in the next couple posts. Of course, unless you’ve been through a crisis (whether a large one or a small one like ours), these posts probably won’t be helpful. Nevertheless, you are welcome to come along for the ride. 

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Yes, there are problems with the Guatemala adoption process, so it is a good thing that the government is fixing and updating the adoption laws.

But, there are 370,000 orphans in Guatemala. An estimated 30,000 die every year. Of those who do not, many go into crime or prostitution. Hopefully, the new adoption laws will fix the corruption, but also make it easier for legal adoptions to continue.

See a previous post about this if you want to learn more about what Wendy and I are doing.

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My wife and I are currenly undergoing the biggest crisis of our lives. I cannot go into details right now, but this crisis is definitely not the biggest crisis that can happen to a family. We are all healthy, no one has died, we still have a home, etc. However, with what we are going through right now, we find it very easy at times to be angry at God and other Christians.

And as we ask ourselves, “Why is this happening to us?” one reason Wendy and I keep coming back to is that God wants us to understand how a life crisis can lead a person to deny and reject Jesus Christ. We haven’t gone through one-tenth of what some people go through, but I think we now have a glimpse of what it is like.

When bad things happen to a person, it seems like God doesn’t care. Then, to make it worse, Christians come along and many of them stab you in the back. In such times, people are prone to think, “God must not exist after all. Or if He does, and this is how He shows His love, and this is how His people treat one another, I want nothing to do with Christianity.” One thing is for sure, as the country song says, “It’s times like these you find out who your friends are.” And in times like these, it certainly doesn’t seem that God and Christians are very good friends. (And for you Christians who think that is a heretical statement, go ahead and prove it true by making a critical comment below or on your own blog.)

So I see why people leave the church. I see why people turn to alcohol and drugs. I see why people become atheists.  As another country song says, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

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I wish I’d had the courage when I was pastor to walk across the street. Oh sure, I walked across it every day back and forth to the church parsonage. But a bit further down the road was an atheist who had never set foot in our church, and probably never would. I wish I had gone over there and asked him out for lunch. It’s one of the great regrets of my years as a pastor. I thought about it every week, but I never had the courage.

Today I started reading Jim & Casper Go To Church. Jim is a Christian who makes a regular habit of befriending atheists. Casper is an atheist. Together, they attend churches and then write about what they heard and experienced. If you want to know what unbelievers think about you and your church, you should go ask them. But if you want to read about it instead (since it’s so much safer and easy), you can be like me and just read Jim and Casper’s book, and others like it (e.g., They Like Jesus, But Not the Church by Dan Kimball).

Jim has a ministry called Off the Map devoted to helping “Christians learn to communicate better with non-Christians, or as some of my more outspoken ‘lost’ friends prefer to put it, Off the Map helps Christians learn how to not be jerks” (p. xxii). It’s true. We can be real jerks. I’m sure it makes Jesus proud.

Anyway, I’m not even to the first chapter yet, but here are a few quotes from Jim with comments by me:

Humanity is divided into two groups: (1) people who follow Jesus, and (2) everybody else. It doesn’t matter to me whether you call yourself a Christian, a Buddhist, a humanist, an agnostic, or an atheist. If you aren’t following Jesus, you’re in group two (p. xxiv).

I could be wrong, but I don’t think he means that there can be Buddhists, agnostics, and atheists who follow Jesus. Sure, some may claim to follow the teachings of Jesus, but they would have to reject some of them. Just like many of us Christians do as well. And that’s his point. Just because you call yourself a Christian doesn’t mean you are following Jesus. I wholeheartedly agree with that. He goes on to say that “some professed Christians are not actually following Jesus but are instead following religion” (p. xxv). So true. I’m one such person in many ways.

He goes on to say that authors of a generation ago (and even many today):

…Provided Christians a way to defend the faith-the expectation being that if we provide a biblical response to the arguments of atheists of doubters and essentially prove them wrong, they will be forced to admit the error of their ways and join us. (Short of that, we will at least experience the pleasure of intellectually humiliating them.) (p. xxxii).

I’ve been in “witnessing” encounters like this. The only results that I could discern were increased blood pressure, as evidenced by red faces and bulging neck veins. Jim says, “Ordinary Christians like me know that when you start defending the faith, you also start losing your friends” (p. xxxiii).

The solution, Jim says, is to actually make friends with non-Christians, and live out the teachings of Jesus among them:

Jesus didn’t just teach principles; he taught practices. He gave people something to do. He didn’t just teach them about forgiveness; he told them to forgive their debtors. He didn’t just talk about love as a concept; he told people to love their enemies. He didn’t just tell people to think about changing their behaviors; he told them to repent. Sure it’s challenging, but it doesn’t take a weekend seminary to understand what he means (p. xxxiii).

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this book.

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After a recommendation from Vince Antonucci, I purchased a copy of The Gutter. I was so impressed by this book, I got online to find out more about the author, Craig Gross. I found that he is one of the co-founders of XXX Church, a ministry reaching out to those caught up in the sex industry. Whether you are a person addicted to pornography, a woman caught in prostitution, or anything in between, they want to help. Also, if you want to help keep yourself accountable when surfing the Internet, I recommend their free X3 Watch software.

Although I recommend buying a copy of this book, I just discovered that you can download a free copy of the book in PDF from Craig’s website. Get it and read it! He has a new book out called Starving Jesus which looks good also.

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I really am not in a habit of posting news stories, but this is two days in a row for me. Sorry. But I couldn’t resist this one. Why? Becuase I pastored in the Kootenai area. I was on the Montana side. I loved it up there. Wonderful people of all sorts. I even knew a few like the man below. Anyway, I wish he had someone to come along side him and warn him away from some of the more radical streams of “End Times” lunacy he apparently had been exposed to. It would have been good if someone had come along side him and told him that he doesn’t have to cut off his hand to escape hell and receive eternal life, but only believe in Jesus.

HAYDEN, Idaho —  A man who believed he bore the “mark of the beast” used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said.

The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies arrived Saturday in this northern Idaho town. He was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center.

“It had been somewhat cooked by the time the deputy arrived,” sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. “He put a tourniquet on his arm before, so he didn’t bleed to death. That kind of mental illness is just sad.”

It was not immediately clear whether the man has a history of mental illness. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Johnson would not say whether an attempt was made to reattach the hand, citing patient confidentiality.

The Book of Revelation in the New Testament contains a passage in which an angel is quoted as saying: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury.”

The book of Matthew also contains the passage: “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for you whole body to do into hell.”

Wolfinger said he didn’t know which hand was amputated.

This article was pulled from FoxNews.com

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Did you see the recent article in USA Today about the unchurched? Maybe it was only online, but check it out here. The basic findings are that the average person who doesn’t go to church wants to learn more about Jesus and is even open to talking about Him with Christian friends, but doesn’t think the church is doing a very good job representing Jesus (either in our words or actions). Here are a few quotes:

Most of the unchurched (86%) say they believe they can have a “good relationship with God without belonging to a church.” And 79% say “Christianity today is more about organized religion than loving God and loving people.”

“These outsiders are making a clear comment that churches are not getting through on the two greatest commandments,” to love God and love your neighbor, says Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research. “When they look at churches … they don’t see people living out the faith.”

But despite respondents’ critical views of organized religion, Stetzer is optimistic. He cites the finding that 78% would “be willing to listen” to someone tell “what he or she believed about Christianity.”

They already know believers — 89% of the unchurched have at least one close friend who is Christian, Stetzer noted.

And 71% agreed that “believing in Jesus makes a positive difference in a person’s life.”

“What surprised me is the openness of the hard-core unchurched to the message of God and Christianity — just not as expressed in church,” Stetzer says.

So who do you know that you can start a conversation with about Jesus?

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A critic paid me quite a compliment today when he accused me of befriending and conversing with atheists and people who use the “F-word.” If only he knew the truth…

…but I’ve got nothing to hide, so I’ll share it: My wife invited a lesbian couple over to dinner a while back. They haven’t accepted yet, but we are hoping they will. Wendy says that if I ever meet some prostitutes or strippers, I can invite them over too. I have not met any yet (and I’m not going to the places they tend to hang out), but maybe one day I will. I gave a $50 Burger King card to a drunk on the street a month ago. If I had the time, I would have gone and eaten with him. I keep looking for him at his corner but haven’t seen him yet. Before coming to seminary, we let an alleged murderer stay in our house for six weeks while he was on house-arrest. All of his friends and family members abandoned him when it looked like he was guilty, so we took him in. It was one of the best six weeks of my life.

So not only am I trying to make friends with Atheists, Agnostics, and people who use rough language, I am also trying to befriend homosexuals, prostitutes, strippers, drunks, and murderers.

And to tell you the truth, I’ve never felt closer to Jesus. I believe that if Jesus were walking the earth today, he would befriend and converse with these people too. Of course, the Pharisees and religious hypocrites would get upset at him today, just as they did 2000 years ago: “Gasp! Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners! Doesn’t he know what they’ve done?” (Read Matt 9:11; 11:19; Mark 2:15-16).

Yes, he does know. That’s why he eats with them. That’s why I eat with them too…. Not because I’m “holy like Jesus,” but because I’m one of those “sinners.” I hope that if Jesus were walking around today, he would come up to me and say, “Hey! I’m having a BBQ over at my place for sinners. Want to come?”

If he were to ask you that question, what would you say?

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Ben posted a comment on one of my posts, and I went and read his blog (as I do with everyone who comments on my blog..so if you want to be read…make a comment!), and found an article he wrote called “I’m Tired” about his experiences in church. Here is some of what he wrote:

I’m tired….

I’m tired of people being entertained and not being discipled (not suggesting these HAVE to be mutually exclusive)

I’m tired of the poor not being fed. (I couldn’t tell another person asking for some money to feed their children that we cant give them anything (because its policy) when we have 6 plasma screens hanging on our stage - I know the story of the costly perfume etc but I don’t think this means thats it ok to have expensive toys and NOT look after the poor).

I’m tired of hearing/talking about how to “DO” church and want to start hearing/talking about how we “BE” the church.

I’m tired or having to wonder if these very senior Christian leaders are even saved.

I’m tired of evangelism and missions ‘not really being the thing that we do’.

I’m tired of controlling leadership.

I’m tired of legalism.

I’m tired of Christian Celebrity.

I’m tired of 90% of the congregation not being ‘engaged’

I’m tired being of being sung at in ‘worship’

I’m tired of paper work and just want to get my hands dirty!

I’m tired of being judged.

I’m tired of christianity only being accessible to the intelligent.

I’m tired of preaching where its all about me.

I’m tired of preaching that suggests that Jesus died so that I can have a Ferrari. (I mean what’s wrong with a porsche?

I’m tired of christianity being ‘Sunday-10am-centric’.

I’m tired of people thinking that I’m backsliding if I skip a service.

I’m tired of the mindset that I have to dress up to honour God when I go to meet him at the church at 10am on Sunday. Do they not realise that God was with me all week, when I woke up, when I had breakfast and even when I farted?!

I’m tired of being tired.

You can read the rest of Ben’s post here.  Ben, I’m Tired too! Great post. Keep ‘em coming.

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My wife and I finished watching all twelve hours of the Lonesome Dove series last night (just in time for the the Prequel Comanche Moon to premier on CBS next week!) and as we sat there, watching the credits roll, my wife looked at me and asked, “How much is vision worth?” I knew exactly what she was asking because I was thinking the same thing.

In the Lonesome Dove movies, there is a big emphasis on the vision of Capt. Woodrow Call, and how he turns his vision into reality. In Part 1, he starts a cattle ranch in Montana. In Part 2, he brings a herd of wild mustangs to Montana. But in the process, he loses almost all of his friends. At the end, when he finally tells Newt that he is his father, Newt basically says “Too late, Dad. I’m leaving.” As my wife and I sat there, I thought about my vision for church planting, and wondered, “What is it worth?”

I have read and heard some visionaries talk about how you can know what you are meant to do by asking yourself the question, “If money were no object, and failure was impossible, what would you do?” The problem with this is, how do you define failure? In my opinion, Capt. Call successfully accomplished his vision, but failed miserably. He said at the beginning of part 2, while commiserating about the death of his best friend Capt. McCrae, that “A man ought to leave something more behind than a sorry piece of dirt and a sign.” Well, Capt. Call left a lot more behind, and as it turned out, a lot less.

Here is where I am at right now: No vision is worth losing my family. I would rather be digging holes in the desert and have my family intact than plant a thousand churches and lose my wife and girls. Some would say I have made an idol of my wife and girls, and if I really want God to use me, I have to put them up there on the altar just like Abram did with Isaac. I have seen many pastors do this very thing, and almost without fail, they end up divorced and with a bunch of kids who hate them, hate church, and hate Christ. I do not call this success, and based on what I read in the New Testament, I don’t think God does either.

I feel that my wife and kids are my first church. If I cannot “plant” and “pastor” them, I have no business trying to plant or pastor churches elsewhere. So I don’t know if I will ever be going into formal “church planting” but one thing I do know…this year, I am going to continue planting a church in my own home. And that is a Christ-honoring, God-glorifying vision!  If I can leave behind a godly heritage in my family, I am a success. And if God allows me to leave behind more than that, all the more glory for Him!

The trick, of course, is how to bring this vision to reality in my family. Any of you husband and father experts have practical suggestions on pastoring your own family?

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