His statement was "I hoped it would inspire a sudden urge to recycle."
???
Monday, November 22, 2010
My eccentric son
His statement was "I hoped it would inspire a sudden urge to recycle."
???
Monday, November 15, 2010
"Take a College Student Home For Lunch Day" October 14, 2010
This Sunday at church we declared a new holiday: "Take a College Student Home For Lunch Day."
All in all, it was a huge success. We were worried that there would be students who did not get asked... but not one was left behind.
The challenge now is to get more families involved, as well as to get to the point that we do not have to schedule these days because they are happening naturally.
Some people have questioned our style of college ministry because we do very few large-scale events, and we do not have a "college group" that meets regularly. We're unconventional, but that's okay. When we started pastoring in 2007, we received a prophetic word that we were assigned to reach Berea College, and that because of that, our church and ministry would look unlike anything ever seen before anywhere in the country. We couldn't and shouldn't model it after anything else we'd ever seen. So we feel pretty good that we're on the right track. We continue to do two things, and do them in this order:
1. Listen to the Lord.
2. Listen to college students.
When we talk to the students, they continually ask for:
1. One-on-one mentoring and discipleship.
2. Time with families in homes.
3. Time to get off campus and be with more mature Christians.
4. Time for young men to learn from older men.
5. Time for young women to learn from older women.
6. Good home-cooked food and the opportunity to have a chair set for them at the family table!
They don't always want to gather in large groups of peers - they see that every day at college.
They don't want more lecturing and impersonal teaching - they are willing to be taught but that teaching should come in the context of relationship (that sounds a lot like how Jesus did it!). We strive not to separate college students into their own group for ministry - we want them involved in the life of the church. We want them mixed up in all life groups, incorporated into Sunday morning ministry, and serving in every ministry area. For college-aged young people, it's time to graduate from youth group style ministry into the hands-on ministry of the whole church.
The challenge is to involve the whole congregation in discipling students. That's why we're encouraging families and mentors to take one or two students home after church on Sundays to spend time with them. We believe the Holy Spirit is going to build the church this way. He's going to do the matching up, and He does it much better than we can. I believe there was some Holy Spirit match-making going on this Sunday!
My only regret is that I only saw about 6 families take home students. One family ended up with 20 people at their house. What hospitality! But, again, the goal is not to have a big lunch with a lot of students. If we wanted to do that, we would have pushed the chairs in the sanctuary aside and had a big meal after church. The students don't want that. They miss home-cooking, Moms and Dads, younger brothers and sisters, couches and living rooms, and kitchen tables that don't look like cafeterias. That opens up the door for talking that gets beyond small talk, into issues of life and faith.
6 families who want to open up their homes is a great start, but I'm believing for more. River of Life family - will you get involved in a student's life in this way? You could have an eternal impact!
All in all, it was a huge success. We were worried that there would be students who did not get asked... but not one was left behind.
The challenge now is to get more families involved, as well as to get to the point that we do not have to schedule these days because they are happening naturally.
Some people have questioned our style of college ministry because we do very few large-scale events, and we do not have a "college group" that meets regularly. We're unconventional, but that's okay. When we started pastoring in 2007, we received a prophetic word that we were assigned to reach Berea College, and that because of that, our church and ministry would look unlike anything ever seen before anywhere in the country. We couldn't and shouldn't model it after anything else we'd ever seen. So we feel pretty good that we're on the right track. We continue to do two things, and do them in this order:
1. Listen to the Lord.
2. Listen to college students.
When we talk to the students, they continually ask for:
1. One-on-one mentoring and discipleship.
2. Time with families in homes.
3. Time to get off campus and be with more mature Christians.
4. Time for young men to learn from older men.
5. Time for young women to learn from older women.
6. Good home-cooked food and the opportunity to have a chair set for them at the family table!
They don't always want to gather in large groups of peers - they see that every day at college.
They don't want more lecturing and impersonal teaching - they are willing to be taught but that teaching should come in the context of relationship (that sounds a lot like how Jesus did it!). We strive not to separate college students into their own group for ministry - we want them involved in the life of the church. We want them mixed up in all life groups, incorporated into Sunday morning ministry, and serving in every ministry area. For college-aged young people, it's time to graduate from youth group style ministry into the hands-on ministry of the whole church.
The challenge is to involve the whole congregation in discipling students. That's why we're encouraging families and mentors to take one or two students home after church on Sundays to spend time with them. We believe the Holy Spirit is going to build the church this way. He's going to do the matching up, and He does it much better than we can. I believe there was some Holy Spirit match-making going on this Sunday!
My only regret is that I only saw about 6 families take home students. One family ended up with 20 people at their house. What hospitality! But, again, the goal is not to have a big lunch with a lot of students. If we wanted to do that, we would have pushed the chairs in the sanctuary aside and had a big meal after church. The students don't want that. They miss home-cooking, Moms and Dads, younger brothers and sisters, couches and living rooms, and kitchen tables that don't look like cafeterias. That opens up the door for talking that gets beyond small talk, into issues of life and faith.
6 families who want to open up their homes is a great start, but I'm believing for more. River of Life family - will you get involved in a student's life in this way? You could have an eternal impact!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Does the Gospel just change us, or does it change our culture?
"The gospel of Jesus points us and indeed urges us to be at the leading edge of the whole culture, articulating in story and music and art and philosophy and education and poetry and politics and theology... a worldview that will mount the historically rooted Christian challenge to both modernity and post modernity, leading the way into the post-postmodern world with joy and humor and gentleness and good judgment and true wisdom. I believe we face the question: if not now, when? And if we are grasped by this vision, we may also hear the question: if not us, then who? And if the gospel of Jesus is not the key to this task, then what is?" - N.T. Wright, as quoted in The Gospel in Life by Timothy Keller
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Aimee Semple McPherson quote
"It is only when Jesus is glorified in our own eyes that we are able to make Him glorious to others." - Aimee Semple McPherson.
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. Phil. 3:8
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. Phil. 3:8
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Del Tackett's excellent blog about vocational ministry
Follow the link below to read Del's blog about vocational ministry. I love this!
http://deltackett.com/2010/10/01/the-transformation-of-mark-koch-hollywood-producer/
http://deltackett.com/2010/10/01/the-transformation-of-mark-koch-hollywood-producer/
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Teens and Fake Christianity - good article from CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/27/almost.christian/index.html#fbid=U_0-ZhXyTsm&wom=true
Monday, July 19, 2010
Wisdom from John Piper
I've been reading Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper - a book I've been wanting to read for a long time. One of the great modern classics. It's basically about missions, but it's way much more than that, and it should be read by every Christian whether they're interested in missions or not. And pretty much if you're a Christian, and you're not interested in missions, you should wonder why.
The third edition of this book includes a new introduction written by Piper which addresses new changes in the world and also his challenge to prosperity preachers. The best part for me was when he addresses the difference between "come-see religion" and "go-tell religion." The OT was full of people who amassed wealth, yes. Abraham, Solomon, etc. But it was because the surrounding nations were to come and see the glory of God (i.e. Queen of Sheba). Now, the stage has changed. I love this:
"The pattern in the Old Testament is a come-see religion. There is a geographic center of the people of God. There is a physical temple, an earthly king, a political regime, an ethnic identity, an army to fight God's earthly battles, and a band of priests to make animal sacrifices for sins.
With the coming of Christ all of this changed. There is no geographic center for Christianity; Jesus has replaced the temple, the priests, and the sacrifices; there is no Christian political regime because Christ's kingdom is not of this world; and we do not fight earthly battles with chariots and horses or bombs and bullets, but spiritual ones with the word and the Spirit...
All of this supports the great change in mission. The New Testament does not present a come-see religion, but a go-tell religion (Matthew 28:18-20).... the implications of this are huge for the way we live and the way we think about money and lifestyle... this leads to a wartime lifestyle. That means we don't amass wealth to show how rich our God can make us. We work hard and seek a wartime austerity for the cause of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. We maximize giving to the war effort, not comforts at home. We raise our children with a view to helping them embrace the suffering that it will cost to finish the mission.
So if a prosperity preacher asks me about all the promises of wealth for faithful people in the Old Testament, my response is: Read your New Testament carefully and see if you see the same emphasis." - John Piper
The third edition of this book includes a new introduction written by Piper which addresses new changes in the world and also his challenge to prosperity preachers. The best part for me was when he addresses the difference between "come-see religion" and "go-tell religion." The OT was full of people who amassed wealth, yes. Abraham, Solomon, etc. But it was because the surrounding nations were to come and see the glory of God (i.e. Queen of Sheba). Now, the stage has changed. I love this:
"The pattern in the Old Testament is a come-see religion. There is a geographic center of the people of God. There is a physical temple, an earthly king, a political regime, an ethnic identity, an army to fight God's earthly battles, and a band of priests to make animal sacrifices for sins.
With the coming of Christ all of this changed. There is no geographic center for Christianity; Jesus has replaced the temple, the priests, and the sacrifices; there is no Christian political regime because Christ's kingdom is not of this world; and we do not fight earthly battles with chariots and horses or bombs and bullets, but spiritual ones with the word and the Spirit...
All of this supports the great change in mission. The New Testament does not present a come-see religion, but a go-tell religion (Matthew 28:18-20).... the implications of this are huge for the way we live and the way we think about money and lifestyle... this leads to a wartime lifestyle. That means we don't amass wealth to show how rich our God can make us. We work hard and seek a wartime austerity for the cause of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. We maximize giving to the war effort, not comforts at home. We raise our children with a view to helping them embrace the suffering that it will cost to finish the mission.
So if a prosperity preacher asks me about all the promises of wealth for faithful people in the Old Testament, my response is: Read your New Testament carefully and see if you see the same emphasis." - John Piper
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