TILL HE COMES Blog

I read about this on Vince Antonucci’s site, which he gleaned from the MMI Weblog.

When young pastor Matt Brown announced he was supporting a ministry for women in the sex industry led by an x-stripper, he was expecting applause. Instead, he got cold stares and an e-mail inbox filled with angry letters. At issue was Heather Veitch, an x-stripper turned evangelist. She looked too much like a stripper and was leading Christian women into the dark world of strip clubs for so-called “outreach.” Capturing it all, was documentary filmmaker Bill Day for his new film “The Pussycat Preacher.”

“Most Christians know that Jesus spent time with prostitutes and tax collectors because that is where the word was needed. But believing the ideal is one thing and living the reality is another,” says Day.

“If we all took a vote on being Biblical versus being respectable , we would all vote for Biblical,” says theology expert Professor Sarah Sumner PhD from Azusa Pacific University in the film. “But the reality is many churches are more concerned with respectability.”

Pastor Greg Laurie from mega-church Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside was one of pastors who didn’t believe Heather’s method of winning souls was worth the risk. He warned Brown to stay away from Veitch.

“When a Pastor you look up to tells you something like that it’s scary,” Brown confesses. “I’m a pastor and I am supposed to love people. But I didn’t love strippers. What Heather did was she birthed that in me and my congregation.”

Instead of backing away from Heather, Pastor Brown put up $50,000 of church money to support the ministry. But in no time at all, a rumor got started that the $50,000 was being used by Brown to buy lap dances for himself. Brown suddenly found himself on the verge of losing his church facility housed on the campus of Southern California Baptist University.

For her part, Heather Veitch claims she is winning souls and that is what matters. For evidence, she has the documentary which shows a number of strippers making their first venture into church. “Now comes the hard part,” Heather smiles.

Day says the film is not rated but very ‘’PG’’ It has no nudity or offensive language. It will be available on DVD, pay to download , or ‘’watch free’’ with advertising at the film website http://www.pussycatpreacher.com/ starting Feb 15.

What do you think about this kind of ministry? What do you think about Greg Laurie’s response? Is this kind of ministry too risky?

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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 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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Below is a support letter I sent out to people on our mailing list.  

Dear Friends and Family,

We are writing to let you know of our latest joy—we are expecting our fourth little girl! No, Wendy is not pregnant. We are adopting from Guatemala. Due to the current process of adopting from Guatemala, we are hoping to bring Arianna home in mid to late 2008. Since we will get her when she is between six to nine months old, she will probably be born this spring, which means her biological mother has only recently discovered that she is pregnant.

You may be wondering why we are adopting from Guatemala at this time with all the upheaval going on in their government and since we already have three girls. The simple answer is that we are following God’s leading in our lives. Wendy and I have always wanted to adopt, and about three years ago, we started looking around for options. Through a series of circumstances (“tiny miracles”), it became clear that we should adopt from Guatemala. Factors such as the duration of the required trips, our annual income, the desperate needs of the children there, and our love for Guatemalan culture were factors in our decision.

The children of Guatemala are living in desperate despair and a nightmare of devastating poverty. Many are simply surviving off of other people’s trash, while some turn to crime. Girls especially are vulnerable to the sex trade and abusive situations. As in many countries in the world, girls are considered by family members to be less worthy of life and respect than are boys.

To make matters worse, Guatemala’s economic and health care system leaves mothers with no option but to give up their babies. Many children are abandoned in the garbage dumps or jungles while others are simply left on the streets to die.

God has put it on our hearts to make a difference in the life of one of these Guatemalan children, and we are thrilled about this call. Our conviction is that adoption is one way we can live out our call as Christians to “look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). Jesus said that he who “receives a little child in my name receives me” (Matthew 18:5). This doesn’t mean all are called to adopt a child into their homes. There are so many ways to respond to these callings of God. But at this time, we feel God is calling us to respond in this tangible way. We all know that children are a gift from God (Psalm 127:3), and we cannot wait to receive our fourth gift from the Lord.

We began the process about four months ago by looking for an adoption agency. All God’s Children International stood out above the rest because they have an orphanage in Guatemala that is not your typical orphanage. They care for each child as it were their own (see www.hannahshopeguatemala.org)

Once we had an agency, we began the paperwork and have now completed our dossier and home study. As hard as this process has been, we still feel the hardest thing has been to realize that we can only bring home one child…for now. But great joy was found in the fact that $5000 of the cost goes to help all the children in the orphanage.

Because of the long paperwork process, and the way things can quickly go haywire, we ask you to pray with us and for us during these next few months. With your prayers, we can all be involved in bringing Arianna home. This is one way you can make a difference in a child’s life that might otherwise have been left in the jungle to die.

To help you pray for us, we have enclosed a prayer card to put on your fridge, in your Bible, or tape to your bathroom mirror so that you can remember us and join with us in this journey God has blessed us with. Once you’ve finished this letter and found the prayer card, we ask that you read and pray through the prayer card right away. We believe your prayers will be heard and honored by a loving God who is the strong defender of the fatherless and will take up their case (Proverbs 23:11).

As you have probably guessed, the process is not free. It will cost us somewhere in the vicinity of $35,000 to adopt from Guatemala. Yes, we cringed too. But then God allowed us to see it from His perspective. First, He owns everything, and makes what He owns available to us for our use when we do what He asks. Second, how can we put a price on the life of a child? Third, it is when we are weakest that God steps in to show His strength so that He might be glorified (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

When we began the process, we did not know where the money would come from, for we definitely didn’t have it! What we were doing seemed foolish, especially on a Seminary budget. But in that first month after we stepped out in faith, God gave us peace about using all of the money we were saving to help pay for a move after Jeremy’s graduation. Then Jeremy got an unexpected bonus at work and we were also able to obtain an interest free loan. All of this added up to the $16,000 we needed to keep the adoption process going. Where God guides, He provides. He is so good! We now need $7,000 in the next two weeks to continue in the process.

God has also allowed us to be accepted into a tax-deductible program called Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries which will allow our friends and family to join with us in this grand adventure of saving a life. See the instructions at the end of this letter to learn how you can help.

We ask you to prayerfully consider being part of bringing our sweet Arianna home. If God leads you to give in this direction, you can make a tax-deductible donation to Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries. This money will be used toward Adoption expenses, and you will receive a tax receipt for your gift. The Kingdom Kids staff is available to you Mon-Fri, 9:30-4:00 (Pacific) at (509) 465-3520 to answer questions if you have them. You may also e-mail them at ministry@kingdomkidsadoption.org. Their website is www.kingdomkidsadoption.org

If you do feel led to help in this way, we wish to deeply thank you, and let you know that your reward is in heaven and your memory is in our hearts. Whether you can help financially, prayerfully, or both, we ask that you do so expectantly and expediently.

Please call or e-mail us with any questions you may have regarding our situation. We’d love to share more with you about this adventure we find ourselves in.

Perhaps upon reading this, you want to learn more about adopting a child yourself. Praise God! Let us know, because we have some DVD’s from our adoption Agency, All God’s Children International, we would love to send to you. This DVD shows the dire plight of children worldwide and introduces some of the various ways we can help these orphans. This video will challenge and change you forever.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or imagine…” (Ephesians 3:20).

Eagerly Awaiting Arianna,

Jeremy and Wendy Myers
(972) 659-9302
jmyers@tillhecomes.org

TO GIVE:
If you decide to assist us in our fundraising and wish to make a credit card donation, call Kingdom Kids at 877-465-3520. Let them know that this is for the fundraising efforts of Jeremy and Wendy Myers.

To make a donation by check, please DO NOT include our names anywhere on the check. IRS regulations do not allow for a tax-deductible donation to have any name other than the tax-exempt organization written on the check. PLEASE ENCLOSE a note with your check indicating your desire that your donation be used toward the adoption expenses of Jeremy and Wendy Myers.

Send checks with notes to:

Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministry
1417 North Lincoln Street
Spokane, WA 99201

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There are only three ways you can spend money. You can spend money on mission, on life, and on yourself. Churches only have two. The trick is determining which is which.

Spending money on mission is spending money that accomplishes our God-given mission on earth. Ultimately, our mission is to make disciples (Matt 28:19-20) which includes everything from serving unbelievers so they are drawn to Christ and saving Christians so they become more like Christ. It involves both developing relationships with unbelievers, and maintaining relationships with believers.

In your life, this may take the form of having families over for dinner, helping out financially with your neighbor’s medical bills, adopting children, buying and reading books that help you understand Scripture or culture, supporting evangelistic ministries, or sending money to support well drillers in Africa. Churches can do these things as well. But a church might also spend money on programs, buildings, or Audio-Visual equiment if it will help them accomplish their mission better.

The second way to spend money is on life. One of the reasons God has given us life is simply to enjoy life. This is our “secondary” mission. The book of Ecclesiastes shows this. Life is a blessing from God and is to be enjoyed and lived to the full. If this means going on vacations with your family, and buying a coffee at Starbucks, and going to see 3:10 to Yuma, then enjoy! I am not sure that churches can spend their money this way, since when a church spends money on “life” they are spending it on “church life” which is actually discipleship. If a church buys and runs a coffee shop, the purpose might be that they can develop relationships with the community, and have a place for small groups. This is mission. So a church doesn’t really have this category.

The third category we can spend money on is self. This is the tricky one, becuase if we are not careful, we can think that we are spending money on mission or life, when in reality, we are spending it selfishly on ourselves. Some people’s houses, for example, are not really for “mission” (despite the good intentions to have people over), and are way too big and expensive for life (Does someone really need 5000 sq. ft. and marble counters to have a safe and enjoyable home for your kids?). It’s the same with cars. Is a Hummer really what is needed to help cart the neighbor kids to soccer practice, or would a caravan do fine? I’m not judging anybody who has these things…maybe they really do need them for their mission to reach out to the “upper crust” but if so, my question is “How’s that mission going?”

It’s the same for churches. Do we really need a $30 million building that sits empty most of the week? If the culture you are in won’t listen to you unless you have the giant building, then maybe it is money well spent. But on the other hand, maybe big buildings and expensive programs and high-power technology are the result of other motives. I’m not saying that buildings and high tech sound systmes are sinful. It may be just as sinful to not have such things, if our mission demands it. Buildings or a lack of buildings must help us accomplish our mission.

Of course, we must watch out for self-deception. Benny Hinn spends $112,000 per month on a personal jet, owns a $10 million, 7,000 sqft. home, and when traveling, gets hotel rooms for $10,800 per night. Why? Hinn said something to the effect that ministry is stressful, and such things help him accomplish his mission more effectively. Even Hinn is convinced that he needs to spend money on these things so he can accomplish what God has called him to do.

Every person and every church needs to take a long, hard look at how they spend money, and ask themselves: Is this for mission, for life, or for self? Anything that is for self could be used better elsewhere.

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I got the following from the Secret Diary of Rick Warren, which is a blog by a fake Rick Warren. The following is funny because it’s true.

Imagine what your office would be like if everyone had a job like a Pastor:

1. When your work day was over their would be a cassette tape or CD available of everything you just finished for sale in the lobby

2. If your co-workers got sick they would expect you to stop by and pray with them, then act surprised you did come by and proceed to tell you that they look terrible and their hair hasn’t been washed.

3. Your wife would feel pressure from others that she should be doing things related to your job and be happy about it.

4. Your weekend would consist of something like a Tuesday and then a Thursday. Forget ’bout Holidays.

5. Instead of an expense account - every time you need to buy something more than $200 - you would be required to ask a group of people for permission, then justify why you need it.

6. You must remember what stories you told people - so you don’t use the same story over again.

7. Outside of the office your co-workers get flustered when you see them drinking alcohol or doing something they think you might not approve of.

8. Most of your meetings would happen at night in the basement.

9. You would have to stand up and gently remind your co-workers that it was part of their calling to give money to the organization - so it can continue to grow and fulfill its mission.

10. Most of your co-workers think you really only work an hour a week.

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