Preparing Our Hearts for What?

Some of my thinking is changing.  I guess, since none of us are perfect, we should all have a continual progression of thinking.

Maybe it’s a little thing, or a big thing.

We say this in church, but do we ever question it?  We address our time of worship and ascribe to it the purpose of ‘preparing our hearts to receive the Word’.  It struck me today.  "Wait a minute!  We worship God to worship God.  It is not a device of mental preparation." 

I’m not going to totally discount the value that worship might have for me personally.  The value is a reality, however, I’m not going to focus on it.  My motivation for worship should never be, in any way, personally beneficial.  Allow that to be a side issue.  Priority number one:  God is worshipped because God should be worshipped.

As  I continued to think about it, I found the opposite to bear more truth.  Learning the Word should prepare our hearts to worship.  That sounds way more appropriate to me.

This is what I’m thinking about right now.

Is It Enough To Just Teach The Bible?

Our fellowship has some good strengths. I took a survey. Most of the people say that we are strong in: Teaching, Worship and Fellowship. Those are really good things.

We are weak in Leadership, Discipleship and Serving/Evangelism. That’s bad.

My biggest lesson of 09 is: “Invest in your strengths”. We are going to invest in our strength of Teaching, to be more intentional about discipleship, in order to raise up more leaders, who will in turn enable us to be a serving church again. Why? I want to serve better. -I’m starting, by giving the Bible the boot.

Summing Up Vision

Most folks in the church don’t really understand what is meant by ‘vision’.  Very simply stated, vision is the act of seeing.  If you can open your eyes and see the; walls, windows and humans around you, you have vision.  If you open your eyes and see Bigfoot in a tu tu, then you don’t have vision.

The easy part of vision involves seeing what ‘is’.

The hard part of vision involves seeing what ‘is yet to be’.

The hard part of vision can be broken down into two segments.  1.-  Walt Disney Vision  2.- Nehemiah Vision

Not This Time

Gustav is not hitting at a 3 or greater East of the Mississippi.  That takes it a little bit out of our target.  Pray for the people of Texas.  We’re watching Hannah…  and the other storms that are stacked up behind her.

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With A Crack Of The Whip…

… the witch hunt is on.  That’s what Ojo Taylor said on his solo album Relative.  What was he talking about?  I’ll be honest with you.  I can’t remember.  But, if I had put those lyrics in a song, it would be a sarcastic reference to the witch hunt trials that many of today’s “discernment ministries” (I use the term “ministry” loosely) are conducting.

Velvet Elvis

I’ve spent the last 10 months or so on a fiction binge.  I’ve been devouring Fantasy, Science Fiction and Western books like a box of donuts.  I was especially addicted to the books written by Robin Hobb.  Every book developed an excitement within me to read the next one.  The most recent book that she released was still in hardcover.  I bought it, read it, and set it down, reckoning the whole experience disappointing.  The last book stunk.  I’m glad it stunk.  I’m actually excited that it stunk.  My addiction was broken.  It was not only disappointing, it was glorious.

So, what to read next?  I’m already reading stuff that is not profitable.  Might as well take it up a notch and read something that could possibly be, moderately profitable.  There’s been a lot of discussion lately around the books:  The Shack, Velvet Elvis and even Blue Like Jazz (which has been out for quite some time now).  I decided to read these.

Consider The Nugget

As teachers and students, we often think in terms of the whole”gold mine”. Teachers want to deliver a complete message: one which carries a rich vein of gold for the student to follow and mine from completely.  For the most part, this is the intent of most students.  They want to see and receive the big picture from beginning to end.

Our ambition for both teaching and learning should seek to take in the complete essence of the; moral, principle or lesson that is being delivered.  However, we shouldn’t discount the nugget.  This past week several people shared insights with me about the lessons I recently taught.  In each incident, it was a “one liner” that really hit them.  They spoke to me as if that point were the main essence of my whole message. 

In one case, I thought to myself, “I don’t remember saying that”. 

I used to wonder about things like this in the past.  I would ask myself: ”Did they get the overall essense of message?”    “Would I have been equally as effective in my teaching if that one line were the only thing I had said all morning?”

I don’t think that way any more.  Like in most things, my mind goes to fishing.  Does the fisherman concern himself with each particle of “chum” that he throws in the water?  No way!  He is only concerned with the bait that is on the hook.  One of the most glorious sounds in deep sea fishing is when the first mate cries out, “Hook Up!”.  That’s exciting.  You jam that rod into your hip, (creating a healthy bruise), reel, pull, loose line, reel, pull, land the fish, collapse exhausted and smile for an hour straight.  Did the chum catch that fish?  Yes, in a way it helped.  It drew the fish in.  It kept the fish interested.  But, the piece of bait that really caught that tuna’s attention..  was the one with the hook in it.

Sure, a lot of people will focus in, take note and harvest richly from that vein of gold that is presented.  However, most people walk away remembering that one verse… that one application.. that one illustration…  with the hook in it.  I’ve had nuggets change my life.  I’ve seen lives changed by a simple nugget. 

So now, when I teach, I don’t discount a single word.  Each line, each verse, each application is potentially rich and powerful to the lives of the learner.  When I listen, the same attitude applies.  Sure, I take in the big picture, but it’s usually the nugget that gets me.

Students..  listen to every word.

Teachers.. consider every word, as if it were the nugget that will change someone’s life.

Genuine

What does it mean to be the real deal? How do we define “genuine”? What determines a sincere expression? What is truth if it’s not absolute? In the world of right and wrong who creates the middle ground? If there is an uncompromisable wrong (black) and an uncompromisable (white) why are the voices who define “gray” so many?

The relative crowd says that all things are fluid. The same thing bears different interpretations based on the opinions and feelings of those making judgment in relation to their current environmental circumstances. “I think therefore I am!” Therefore, I think the reality you claim to be true is not true. (I’ve tried this with my credit card bill. It doesn’t work)

If there is no recognized and agreed upon standard for truth, then there can’t be a common truth.

• Not worldwide. (so let’s scale it down)
• Not Nationwide. (so let’s scale it down more)
• Not Statewide. (so, let’s keep on scaling it down)
• Not church-wide. (same standard, interpreted and regarded differently… more scaling down)
• Not denomination-wide. (some claim it, but in reality every denomination has renegade thought… on to the next level)
• How about, individual church/fellowship wide?

Junkyard Of Failed Vision

When I was 16 I went on a mission trip to Peru with Teen Missions International.  It was an experience that changed me in a big way.  Two years later, T.M.I. announced that they were starting up a Bible School on their campus in Merritt Island, Fla.  Without hesitation, I signed up and moved there in the fall.  In addition to the education, (most of which was excellent thanks to one of my personal heroes in life, former Village Missions Pastor: Howard Vanderpool), I learned a whole lot through the people who worked with and around that particular ministry.  One of the lessons I’ve learned about “vision” stems back to a secluded piece of property back in the swamps of T.M.I.’s property.

The director of that ministry is a man who oozes vision.  He has ideas coming out of his ears.  Some of them are incredible.  But, some of them just don’t quite work out.  Sometimes, the vision is tested and found to be unprofitable.  Sometimes, the vision is bold and exciting, until the insurance vultures swept in and picked it apart.  As a result of all these ideas that “didn’t make it”, physical structures where forced to be torn down and removed.  They were then carted off to the “junk pile” in a secluded section of the property.

The cynic might look on at that heap and say, “Boy, this guy sure had a lot of bad ideas.”  When I was there, I don’t know what I thought of it.  I was just an immature kid.  But here I am years later, and I often think back to that pile of junk.  That pile wasn’t a sign of failure.  No way.  That pile was a side effect of big vision.  He was the kind of man whose eyes were always scanning the horizon for: the next opportunity, the next open door, the next plan…  Along the way, some things didn’t work out.  He had the boldness to let that junkyard of failed vision grow.  He had the confidence to keep on dreaming.  He had the spiritual sensitivity to receive many ideas that did work in incredibly big ways.

I’ve been pastoring now for about 8 years.  Our church has sprouted 5 other fellowships locally.  We’ve been involved in many different kinds of ministry including; radio, crusades, concerts, servant evangelism, street ministry, overseas missions work…  and so much more.  Some of these things are fruitful.  Some of these things are a huge investment of: time, labor and resource resulting in zero visible fruit.  Are we failures because we’ve done things that have failed?  No way.   We do however, have our own junkyard of failed vision.  You won’t find any physical junk to rummage through, but you will find a history of events that were better left undone.

Mistakes?  Blunders?  Bad Choices?   …maybe.   I prefer to see them as the side effects to vision.  I’m glad that junkyard is there.  It reminds me, that I’ve always been willing to think and do something that might not always fit in the box.

Today, my eyes search the horizons.  Sometimes I say it’s a matter of willingness.  Sometimes I call it a curse.  I wish I could relax and be content to settle into the model and simply do what others are doing.  I try to…  but then, my mind wanders.  My mind sees the shortfalls and then dreams of a solution.  My mind strips away the tradition and tries to think of things as they were.. possibly.. in their purest form.  My mind is always reaching outside of the box… trying to find something that might be more “right”  or more “effective”.

I’m not interested in being different for the sake of being different.  That mentality, in itself usually drives us to be just like someone else who is trying to be different, and thus, there we are being same in our attempts to be different.  I learned this in my teens when I tried to be different by looking like a punk-rocker.  Then I realized… hey, I look like all the other punk rockers.

Even though it stresses me out, I’m still going to let my mind search and think outside of the box.  In the meantime, I’m going to strive for contentment in the things that I know won’t change.