Unity

Last night we had a a combined service with the Bethany Cumberland Presbyterian Church. This is the second time we have gotten together with them. The plan is to alternate church buildings every fifth Sunday evening. It was a great time of worshipping together. Their worship team led worship with me and then Pastor Kevin preached. Kevin contiues to improve as a preacher. It is fun to watch him grow in this way.

Kevin has become one of my best friends since he moved to Bethany. He gave up running a body shop with his dad to go into ministry full time. He will be ordained by the CP church in October. It is exciting to see the growth in his ministry life and in their church. Even though it is curious to me that he joined the CP denomination after being in leadership at Glad Tidings Assembly in Decatur. It has been really cool to be able to get to know his family.

I know that God is pleased when His children worship Him together!

Sports Media

Is anyone else sick of the Michael Vick coverage? I imagine it will be wall to wall until his trial or until some other athlete does or says something stupid. Frankly I am not interested in the ongoing drama. Nothing has changed since the indictment was handed down. But much like their counterparts who cover politics or any other news the reporters will keep digging hoping that someone will say something damaging so that they will have their scoop. It's the same approach they take to Terrel Owens, Pacman Jones, and any other story. Enough already. I don't watch Sports Center as much as I used to because ESPN has become in many cases the sports equivalent of CNN.

I want to know the scores. I want to see the highlights. I want some experts to bloviate about strategy. I will watch the NFL draft for goodness sake! But enough with the 24 hours news cycle coverage. We know Vick went to court. Now let's get back to our real lives until the trial. Then report the verdict and move on. Is that too much to hope for? Probably.

Heritage

When I think about why I am an ordained Assemblies of God pastor it goes beyond doctrine. I believe and agree with all 16 fundamental truths, otherwise I wouldn't be a part of this fellowship. To me it is about heritage and relationship. My great grandparents were members of an AG church. My grandfather was a pastor for more than 50 years. My uncle and my father are both pastors with long ministries. So there is a great heritage. But it is more than just family roots.

There are relationships. I have friends in China, South Africa, the Sudan, Nepal and other parts of the world. I also have friends in Shelbyville and Mattoon and Decatur. I know they will pray for me as I pray for them. Beyond that we are a fellowship that gave in excess of $200 million to world missions last year. I love that one of the purposes of forming the fellowship was to organize in order to help missionaries. The goal has been to bring the gospel to the world. But those pioneers didn't just send people they went into cities and into rural communities with the full gospel message. They preached and prayed and saw miracles. Lives were changed. My great grandmother who was an alcoholic was transformed by the gospel. She started bringing her grandchildren to church, one of which was my dad. He was saved and filled with the Spirit transforming his life. An evangelist named Sam Mayo came to Pana, Illinois and my grandparents were saved. Some thirty years later I was sitting at District Council and saw a gentleman sitting in front of me. On his name tag it said Sam Mayo. I introduced myself and relayed how thirty years earlier, before I was born, he had a part in changing my life. Those connections are a part of why I am an Assemblies of God pastor.

I also read the stories of the early pioneers in the fellowship. They believed that if the scripture said it was possible then it was. I know of mighty revivals that took place. But my generation hasn't seen a great move of the Spirit that changed the church and renewed it. As we pray about who will replace brother Trask I am reminded of the word of the prophet Habakkuk
LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

Lord, lead us. Help us to rely upon you. Put into place a leader who will be a prophetic voice calling us to repentance. A leader who will be full of the Spirit. A man of God who believe that if it says it is possible in the Bible than it is possible!

Sunday

I took this Sunday off from preaching. My dad preached for me instead and I still led worship. I think I have preached 27 out of 30 Sunday mornings thus far this year. It is a heavier load than most pastors recommend but I enjoy it and when I get tired I take a week off and have someone else preach. There seems to have been a demon in the sound system. It was awful. It would be nice to be able to get better equipment but we make do with what we have. We are striving for excellence in everything we do but with some things it takes time and money. It will get better.

It was nice to have my grandma in church with my aunt and uncle from North Dakota. We will squeeze some time in with them this week. It is always nice to have them visit. We haven't been up there for three years I think.

I am looking forward to digging back into James this week unless God leads me elsewhere. All in all it was a tough Sunday but God is good and we are starting to see fruit. Looking forward to baptisms in a few weeks.

Holiness and the future

I was talking to my uncle last night. He has been an AG pastor for more than thirty years. We were talking about the future of the fellowship. He feels that it important that our new leader be a man of prayer, a person who can relate to the culture but who models Pentecostal leadership in our culture. I agree. We are Pentecostal. We need to keep that distinctive. And while exgeting our culture we need stay connected to our roots as a holiness movement.

There is a lot of talk about having a local pastor assume leadership while still pastoring. That, I think would be a huge burden to carry for someone. I am not saying it cannot be done but I wouldn't want to carry that load.

Another question I have is whether or not it is proper to campaign for the position?
Keep praying for wisdom and guidance. I pray that there will be a clear leading of the Spirit in the meetings.

General Council

The news that our current superintendent of the Assemblies of God Tom Trask is going to resign has made the upcoming general council potentially a watershed event in our fellowship. I wasn't going to go even though it is very close this year in Indianapolis but now I will at least drive over for the business sessions. It will be interesting to see how the voting is approached. I hope that there will be a significant turnout by young credential holders. This is an opportunity to shape the direction that the fellowship will go in the next 10 years and more. I feel like there are a lot of challenges ahead. I also will be praying for whoever is selected because the weight of the leadership burden will be very great and without the guidance of the Holy Spirit it may well be an impossible job.

I think some of the challenges include:
1. A continued need to plant churches. The decade of harvest was not an unqualified success. We need to find more planters and put some financial resources behind them. I know that a great emphasis has been made on this need but we need to continue to make a growing number of church plants a reality.
2. We need to have a greater presence on college and university campuses. It is not enough to just tell the parents in our fellowship to send there children to one of our schools. We must be in this mission field.
3. We need to continue to see a growth in our cultural diversity. This must include the freedom for different expressions of what it means to do church. We need to continue to see Hispanic growth as well as other minorities. It would be wonderful to see young minority pastors in growing numbers.
4. We need more pastors. We need to continue to pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers. But we must also connect with young people and sell them on their need for community and relationship. Our fellowship is based upon this and it is vital to future growth.

I'll post more thoughts as they come in the next three weeks. Mean while some guys have started a blog to further the conversation leading up to General Council.

Enviromentalism is a religion

"Pagan emptiness and fears about nature have led to hysteric and extreme claims about global warming. In the past, pagans sacrificed animals and even humans in vain attempts to placate capricious and cruel gods. Today they demand a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions."
George, Cardinal Pell, in The Australian 10 May 2006

The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, told an audience in the US on Friday:
"Environmentalism should belong in the social sciences," much like the idea of communism or other "-isms" such as feminism, Klaus said, adding that "environmentalism is a religion" that seeks to reorganize the world order as well as social behavior and value systems worldwide.

We accept bold faced lies

Reading this story it becomes clear why many people just believe all the hysteria over global warming. Lies and outright exagerations are taken at face value. Experts do not agree on all the claims being made about climate change. That is why it is critical to examine the claims and make sure there is data to back them up.

Butt Prints in the Sand

Butt Prints in the Sand(writer unknown)
One night, I had a wondrous dream;
One set of footprints there was seen.
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.
But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?"
"Those prints are large and round and neat,
But, Lord, they are too big for feet."
"My child," He said in somber tones."
For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait.
You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith you would not know.
So I got tired and fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt,
Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave some butt prints in the sand."

I saw this on Jason Boucher's blog.

Global Warming

One thing that bothers me a lot is the current trend of Christians jumping on the Global Warming band wagon. While climate change is happening it is something that appears to always have happened. The idea that humans are the main cause is based not in a Christian worldview. Instead it has been informed by many differing worldviews. These worldviews that are expressed in current environmental thought are informed by socialist and even communist political theory, evolutionary theory, humanism, and pagan or Wicca thought. Obviously these world views are patently opposed to Biblical worldviews. We need to think twice about hitching ourselves to this bandwagon.

Another problem I have with the scientific consensus that is called Global warming is that consensus is not the same thing as a fact. Either something is true or it is not. We don't have extensive temperature records that date back thousands of years. There is no way to predict with 100% certainty what will happen to the earth's temperature in the next 100 years. Remember back in the 1970's the fear was that we were entering an ice age. Why should I get worked up about carbon emissions and the like when I can't do anything to stop climate change and I haven't done anything to precipitate it?

Another problem that I have with those Christians who want to jump on the bandwagon is the lack of concern for the poor that environmentalists have. They claim to care for the poor but in reality there programs and actions would lock people into cycles of poverty for generation with no hope of escape. America is not the cause of poverty in the world. America does hold many keys to helping nations build economies that will lift people from poverty. But ideas like the Kyoto treaty lay the blame for climate change almost solely on America as well as laying the responsibility change exclusively on us while exempting China and India.

I could go on and on but for now I will leave you with this link to a paper by the interfaith stewardship group. I don't know much about them but I agree with what they say in this paper. It is worth considering. A church should not get involved with this Global warming crusade because it is not based in fact and it is opposed to a Biblical world view.

The right question

I have been meditating on this passage in Luke for the last week or so... Luke 10:25-37. It is the story of the good Samaritan. Notice the questions of the expert...On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"And who is my neighbor?"

He asked these questions in order to get the answer he wanted. He wanted to justify himself we are told.

I am blown away about how Jesus answers questions with questions so many times. The reason I think is that we ask the wrong questions. One key to getting wisdom is to ask the right questions. Jesus asks the right question he says, "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

There are a lot of things that GOd has been saying to me in this passage. One of these is that I often ask God the wrong questions in prayer. Sometimes because I lack wisdom but often because I have wrong motives. And sometimes because I already think I know the answer and I just want God to confirm it. I have found that alot of times it seems that God anwers my questions with questions. I pray that God will sanctify my questions so that I will learn to ask the right questions.

Unique

Just watched the season premiere of American Idol. When an auditioner describes themselves as unique, it is never good. I'm just saying...

A Voice Louder than Rock and Roll

Finished reading Caleb Quaye's autobiography A Voice Louder than Rock and Roll. Eric Clapton called him the world's greatest guitar player. He broke into the music business in London along with his friend Reg. We know Reg as Elton John. The book chronicles the rise of a great blues and rock guitarist. It really dispells any myth you might have about how glamorous it would be to be a big star playing in front of 50,000 plus people. He talks pretty honestly about drug use and the party life.

Caleb is now a Foursquare minister after accepting Christ in the eighties at Jack Hayford's church. The book is well written and has a lot of insight into the workings of the music business. It is a great read for fans of Elton John of which I am not one. But it also is a great testimony to the grace of God and how He can speak into even the loudest life.

There are a lot of great stories about the Beatles and other legends of the London music scene in the late sixties and early seventies. It was such an easy read that I finished in just a few hours.

Radiators

At the same time sometimes there are legitimate reasons for doing something we have just forgotten what they are. Have you ever wondered why radiators in some New York City apartments are seemingly much larger than would seem necessary? It is because at the turn of the 20^th century heating engineers sized their heating systems for the coldest day of the year and then adding 40% so they could bring these brick and plaster buildings up to temperature by burning coal in huge boilers each morning. Why so big? Because they had to hear with the windows open of course. Every one knew that back then. Why did they heat with the windows open?

It is because at the turn of the 20^th century, many American cities teemed with immigrants who lived in tenements where the conditions weren’t much better than the steamship steerage that brought them to the New World. People slept, stacked like cord wood, in tiny rooms as cooking stoves fouled the air with noxious fumes. Gaslights in the homes of the more fortunate, traded oxygen for yellow light. Tuberculosis seemed to be worst where there were lots of people, and children died everywhere at an alarming rate, although no one knew exactly why. The idea of sleeping with the windows open and the heating system turned off started with the wealthy and caught on. Soon, everyone was doing it. So the buildings were designed for this reality.

Why do we have evening services at many churches? It is because that is when people would bring their friends to church. Today people are more likely to visit a church on a Sunday morning. Before we write off the practices of the past I think it would be wise to examine why things were done that way. Understanding the why can help us to capture the wisdom behind the practice. Once we understand the principle then we can adapt our practices in the present to the same purpose. Put another way, we may do things for the same reason but because things have changed the way we do them also have to change.

No one would suggest building an apartment building with oversized radiators and huge coal fired boilers today. It would be impractical and a waste of resources. We have better ways of improving indoor air quality without sleeping with the windows open and the heat off. In the same way we need to examine why we do things in order to maximize our effectiveness. There may be a better ways of improving the quality of our church.

Fahrenheit

At Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, you will find Carpenter Hall, a building named for Rolla C. Carpenter, who in the 19^th century was a professor of experimental engineering, and who in this century is mostly forgotten. In his 1895 book, Heating and Ventilating Buildings, Carpenter relates this story:

“Fahrenheit a German merchant, in 1721 was the first to make a mercurial thermometer. Fahrenheit took as fixed points the temperature of the human body, which he called 24 degrees, and a mixture of salt and salt ammoniac, which he supposed the greatest cold possible, as zero. On this scale the freezing point was eight degrees. These degrees were afterwards divided into quarters, and later these subdivisions themselves were termed degrees. On this modified scale the freezing point of water becomes 32 degrees, blood-heat 96 degrees (as determined later, this should be 98 degrees), and the point of boiling water at atmospheric pressure 212 degrees.”

Americans still use this unscientific instrument today, despite its awkwardness and foreign roots, a practice that perplexed the professor more than a century ago. “Except for the fact that it has been long in use, it has not a single feature to recommend it,” he concluded about the Fahrenheit system. Did you ever wonder why we say 32 degrees instead of say 30 degrees? Why is boiling 212 instead of 210 degrees? It is because Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit made it all up as he went along, and today we treat it as though it were written on a stone tablet.

How many things do we do in church just because they have been long in use even if they do not have a single feature to recommend them? We often treat something as if it were one of the Ten Commandments just because we have always done it that way. I think another reason why in America we still use Fahrenheit is because we do not want to go to the trouble of unlearning degrees Fahrenheit and relearning Celsius. The same goes for inches and feet as opposed to the metric system.

I know that I am as lazy as the next guy when it comes to unlearning old assumptions and ways of doing things and then relearning a better way. But if our calling is to advance the Kingdom of God can we be so cavalier about changing our ways to be more effective. This year I am going to continue to reexamine how we “do church” in order to become more effective.

LT

LaDaininian Tomlinson was named TSN's sportsman of the year. He has set a lot of records for the San Diego Chargers this year and has led them to the playoffs. He may well be the greatest running back to every play. He is respected as much for the little things such as his blocking and receiving as for his running ability. Many scouts who watched Walter Payton say that LT has all of Payton's qualities but he is faster. What impressed me in the article is LT's dedication and hard work. He is always asking himself how he can get better and whether or not he is doing everything he can to be the best that he can be.

He also stays away from clubs because "I could do the party thing but why? It's not worth what could happen. One say we're going to have kids, and I want to set an example for them. I want them to be able to tell folks, "I want to be just like my dad." Contrast that with the Viking's wideout Traviis Taylor's arrest Sunday night at a nightclub. Or the Denver Bronco's player who was shot and killed after leaving a club. Remember all the trouble Randy Moss has gotten in? Randy Moss had more physical tools than Jerry Rice. He could have been the greatest WR ever to play. Instead he has settled for merely a very good player who takes plays off and doesn't always give his best effort.

As a pastor I want to learn from LT. What can I do to get better? Am I doing everything I can to maximize my potential for the kingdom? Or do I rely on natural talent and just get by? What about in your profession? Are you continually trying to make the most use out of the talent God has given you? Are you the best mother or father you can be? Do you use the gifts God has given you to further the kingdom?

Amazing

Last night I watched what was probably one of the greatest bowl games in history. Boise St. beat mighty Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. You had to see some of the plays to believe them. I was rooting for Boise because nobody gave them a chance and because they play on the coolest field in college football. Their artificail turf is blue! It looks cool on TV and on the XBox in NCAA Football. Fun stuff!

Small Town Churches

So much of what is written about church growth is written or produced by pastors of churches in suburban or urban churches. A church that is in a metropolitan area has different factors to contend with than a church in a small town. I pastor in Bethany which is a village of less than 1300 souls. But every one of those souls is important to God. After five years here I don’t feel like I really understand all the factors that allow for or prevent growth in a small town church. Yet there are churches in small communities that are thriving and growing. One of my resolutions for 2007 and beyond is to learn from these churches and pastors. As much as I enjoy city life it seems to me that God has called us to small town ministry at least for the foreseeable future.

If I am to learn from thriving small town churches than I must identify them. I am ordained by the Assemblies of God. Many of the early churches in our fellowship began in small towns and villages. I and our church are part of the Illinois District. As of December 31^st 2005 the Illinois District of the A/G had 296 churches. Of these according to my research approximately 76 are in towns with a population of less than 5000. That is slightly more than 25%. Of these I do not at this time have attendance for 12 which is 15%. 12 or %15 have an average of 20 or less on Sunday morning. 18 or 24% have attendance of 21-40. 12 or 15% have an attendance of 41-60. Seven or 9% have an attendance of between 61and 80. Another 9% have an attendance of between 81and 100. There are six reporting an average attendance of between 101 and 150 accounting for 8%. And two churches report more than 150 on Sunday morning with averages of 188 and 329 on Sunday morning this is 3%.

I am working on a questionerre to send out beginning with the church that report more than 80 on an average Sunday morning. As much as our cities are growing there are still people living in small towns and rural areas. Jesus came to seek them too. So I want to be more effective in reaching them.

Christmas

We had a great weekend. Sunday at church we had guests which is nice because so many of our folks travel to be with family. We are one of the churches where attendance is down and not up usually on Christmas and often at Easter. Christmas Eve is when we open our gifts. It's just a family tradition. Everyone enjoyed their presents.

Christmas Day is for eating and the kids play with their new presents. I made from scratch macaroni and cheese. Well not from scratch because I didn't make the noodles. It turned out pretty good but I need to improve it a little next time. It was a good day especially because my grandma seemed to have a pretty good day with out any major symptoms. Thanksgiving was hard on her but she looked really good yesterday. Hope to share some pictures.

Web addictions

Do any of these addictions have you bound?

EGO-SURFING: When you frequently check your name and reputation on the Internet.

- BLOG STREAKING: "Revealing secrets or personal information online which for everybody's sake would be best kept private."

- CRACKBERRY: "The curse of the modern executive: not being able to stop checking your BlackBerry, even at your grandmother's funeral." (A BlackBerry is a popular handheld device that can be used for phoning, emailing and web-browsing).

- GOOGLE-STALKING: Defined as "snooping online on old friends, colleagues or first dates."

- CYBERCHONDRIA: "A headache and a particular rash at the same time? Extensive online research tells you it must be cancer."

- PHOTOLURKING: Flicking through a photo album of someone you've never met.

- WIKIPEDIHOLISM: Excess devotion to contributing to the online collaborative encyclopaedia,

Wikipedia

Wikipedia. Wikipedia even has a page where you can test whether you're an addict.

- CHEESEPODDING: Downloading of a song "so cheesy that you could cover it in plastic wrap and sell it at the deli counter." Cheesepodders are especially vulnerable to soft-rock favourites from the 1970s.

If so you really need to seek help. Especially if you are a cheespodder.