ministry

God Sets the Lonely in Families

Frank

It was our second date. My wife-to-be and I were browsing books at Borders and making small talk. She was talking about her family and her childhood. She said something about her birth certificate and I told her mine was the same.

She was stunned, unable to process what I just implied. In all her time praying to God for a husband who is like this, from there, does that… one prayer always stood out, that he would understand her like no one else could. And my nonchalant comment sealed the deal in her heart. (Me, I was slower on the uptake. It took me a couple more months to recognize what God was doing.)

You see, I could understand her like no one else could because like her, I am adopted.

I admit I have selfishly held this post back. November is National Adoption Month. I’ve been wanting to post something. I have friends who have adopted. We’ve made efforts to get tied in to the local Foster system. And there are a hundred other better reasons to post this than my own selfishness. Because writing this is hard. It exposes emotions, and I don’t like to feel. But today, Thanksgiving, I realize I am thankful for nothing greater because I see God’s divine providence at work in my life and my wife’s through our adoptions.

“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:26-27, emphasis added)

So as I thank God today for my family and the course my life has taken I cannot ignore the role my adoption played. So I thank God that I was adopted. And I thank God for my friends who have adopted or taken in foster children from the inner city to China and everywhere in between. I thank God on behalf of all those who now have homes who otherwise would not.

But the work is not done. Davd Platt shares in Radical Together how he approached the county Department of Human Resources to find out how many families it would take to meet all the adoptive and fostering needs in the county. He was told 150 families. When he invited his congregation to a later meeting if they were interested in serving in this way (after preaching from James 1:27) 160 showed.

I heard on the radio the other day that there are more Christian Churches (broadly defined) than there are foster children in North America so if every church only took in a single child, that need could be completely eliminated. I have trouble believing that when I see the needs in my own community. In California there are 63,000 in foster care and 12,000 children waiting for adoptive families.

And so I thank God for those who are presently moved to meet this need. One of my blogger buddies, Jason Stasyszen is going through the process to adopt from Japan. You can follow that progress on their Facebook page. Here’s a video they put together. (grab a tissue)

Thank you God for blessing me with a family who loved me and raised me. Thank you for the same for my wife. Thank you for bringing the two of us together. Thank you for those who have hearts for the fatherless. Move our hearts to not be ignorant of their needs. Thank you for the many blessings you have given us so that we can share them with those in need. Amen.

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:5-6)

Saint and Sinner

Frank

I haven’t kept track of the Liturgical Calendar for years, so I appreciate Shane Claiborne for reminding me that yesterday was the feast day for Saint Francis of Assisi. Of course all the animal blessings should have clued me in, but I don’t have a pet, and I’m not really into that sort of thing.

Though my Catholic background is well behind in my rear view mirror, I have kept a soft spot in my heart for St. Francis. Maybe it’s the name; he is after all, my patron saint. Maybe it is his background; I, too, was raised by a clothing merchant. Maybe it’s the animals; I’ve always been an animal lover. No, I never stripped down and walked out on my dad naked to prove a point. And as far as I know, I’ve never had stigmata (you’d think that’s something I would notice). I haven’t been imprisoned for my faith, nor have I made a thousand-mile pilgrimage by foot in order to try and convert someone.

So there are some differences between that saint and this sinner. But his life is one I want to imitate. As “missional” and “radical” are themes that have stirred my heart, I need to look no further than the life of Francis to see someone who was willing to eschew his social status in order to walk among the poor. He gave up everything to serve his Christ, whom he loved dearly. He literally lived out Paul’s instruction to “offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” (Romans 12:1)

The prayer attributed to him (though no earlier record exists before 1912) is one I still recite today. It is a simple reminder of what it means to be Christ-like – a reminder of where my heart needs to be today.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me show love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
and where there is sadness, joy.
Lord, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen

Not Just Lip Service

Frank

So I’ve been ranting and raving the last couple of weeks about how we define “church” and what a strong church looks like and should be doing. I’m not going to add anything today other than highlight a couple stories that got my attention this week.

First comes a story of a church giving back, literally. Last Sunday Liquid Church in New Jersey gave out $30,000 from their own coffers during their regular weekly contribution. Given current events and the economic climate, I struggle to ask for money at my own church. Yes, we need to pay the bills too (I’m the outgoing Board President so I watch this more closely than most others) but would it really be the end of the world if we couldn’t pay for our luxurious (by some standards) building and had to meet, like the church in the article, in hotel conference rooms in order to instead give out from our reserves to meet the impoverished needs in our congregation and community? I’ve written about this before and how it reminds me of the ministry of Kingdom Assignment. I wrote in 2009 that I’d love for my own congregation to do something similar. Two years later I see little chance of that.

The second story is about the ongoing debate in the missional movement. I’ve argued in my own circle of influence that if Jesus isn’t the center of community outreach then it is just community service. The argument goes that being “missional” is the latest trend, and many churches are jumping on the bandwagon in the name of social justice and leaving the Gospel behind. Here are some great blog posts the dig into this debate.

So that’s them. What about you? What are you, or your church doing to share the Gospel uniquely? I am personally wrestling with this myself, so inspire me with your stories!

A “New” Gospel

Frank

There was a recent article in Oprah Magazine (no, I”m not a subscriber) about Hilton Kelley, a restaurateur in Port Arthur, Texas, and environmental activist. The blog Get Religion, called my attention to this story and both of us got hung up on the same point.

Of course there’s a religious angle, Kelley partners with a neighboring church. So the article calls Kelley’s efforts to warn about the environmental dangers of the local pollution and the oil industry in general a “new gospel”. Get Religion takes issue with this statement as there’s no other context given, especially noting that there’s no other comments, pro or con, from other local churches on this issue. In addition, is it really fair to compare environmental activism to the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? To me, calling it a “new gospel” is just the journalist’s way of adding a religious spin to the article for the sake of the religious spin and shouldn’t be taken more seriously.

Or should it? One of the push-backs to Christianity is the notion that we know it all, that it’s our way or the highway (to hell), that we’re right and everyone else is wrong. The counter usually goes something like this, suppose you saw that a highway led to an unfinished bridge yet all the signs are up assuming it is finished and cars start driving by at 65 mph. Would it be arrogant to try and get the drivers’ attention to tell them that the signs are wrong and that they are headed to their death? Is it prideful to try and save someone’s life when you have evidence of disaster ahead?

In that context, maybe environmental activism is a new gospel, so to speak. No, it’s not “Good News” to share that the air you’re breathing is going to kill you. But neither is it good news to tell someone that their sinful lifestyle will lead to an eternity in Hell. The Good News is that it doesn’t have to be this way.

This is where the Social Gospel walks a very fine line between political activism and genuinely spreading the Gospel. There are different types of activism under the Social Gospel umbrella- from Kelley, above, to the communal lifestyle of Shane Claiborne. Both can be looked at from a religious and politically conservative perspective with the simple reply, !@%# hippies. But it doesn’t have to be so polarizing.

Activism can take many forms and many extremes. I’ve written before about the mission field right outside of our doors. Activism, the “social gospel”, being “missional” can start right in front of you.

A couple events stick with me on this issue. Almost exactly one year ago, 14 year-old Dominique Peatry was shot and killed outside of a house party on Labor Day weekend. Normally, such a tragic event would be followed by rallies, maybe even a march on City Hall, usually led by local religious leaders. No such rally ever took place. The part that continues to grieve my soul is that the Wednesday prior we had a Midweek service at a park right around the corner from where she was killed and where she lived (two different places, same part of town) with the explicit purpose of spreading the Gospel in that part of the community that night. Instead, I heard most of my brothers and sisters complain about meeting on the “wrong side of town” and how they didn’t feel safe letting their children play in the park because of the demographics present. The part that keeps me up at night is wondering if young Dominique was at the park that night and whether she either heard the Gospel, or was ignored because of our own prejudice.

The other event was a year before that during fire-season when a whole community was uprooted by fires surrounding their homes. They were relocated all around the area and one center was set up at a local high school two miles from our church building. They had to leave everything behind. It was late at night. They were tired and hungry in need of clothes, blankets, and food. What a great opportunity to serve! Instead we weren’t prepared and were unable to rally any kind of support to a community in need just a couple of miles away.

You see, this new gospel doesn’t have to be some liberal cause. It doesn’t even have to be political. In fact, it isn’t new at all. It is a very old Gospel. The only good news that really matters in the end.

Blurbs

Frank

Not enough time this morning for a full-blown post regrettably. But here are some other posts worth steering your attention towards.

Don’t forget about this week’s Blog Carnival, being hosted by my friend Peter Pollock. This week’s topic is “fences“. When I think fences, I think neighbors. And there’s no worse neighbor than the one who hides behind his fence and doesn’t interact with the rest of his neighborhood. That’s me. If you participate in the carnival and I haven’t commented on your post, that doesn’t mean I haven’t read it. I do most of my blog reading offline since I’m firewalled off from much in the blogosphere. I want to be a better neighbor, though. Just trying to figure out how in the schedule I have.

While I wrestle balancing career and ministry, needs of the day and passions for the future, a I related to a couple other bloggers recently. Johnathan Keck asks if we are destined to specific careers while Jay Cookingham considers a slight change of course to his writing passion.

This blog started off with more of a mix of politics in with our discussion of civil religion but I’ve drifted away from that lately. But both Carl Jones and Get Religion have write ups on the late Senator, Mark Hatfield, and how he bucked the trend of most Conservative Christians which made him hard to label.

Finally a post I should print out and frame because it hits on so much that I struggle over, Don Edelen has a terrific post on the visibly increasing divisions within American Christianity (TM). If you click on no other link above, I encourage you to click on this one.

All for now. Hopefully I can get more time to hash out some more thoughts later.

Public Christianity QOTD

Frank

“My view of ministry in the church has been simply to preach the Gospel, serve the Kingdom of God, lift up Jesus and see the world come to him. But in the process of building our church and striving to be a light in the community, I realized one day that we had been conducting ministry primarily inside our four walls. Sure, we ventured out from time to time for service projects such as food drives for the homeless, clothing collections for the needy, blankets for the elderly, and backpacks for school children – which are all worthy causes. But while I continued to pastor and minister in a typical fashion, I had come to see that the world was changing around us. The tide was turning. I started to feel more and more every day as though I was being deluged by a cultural tsunami…as though we, the church, were losing the battle of the church influencing the world for Christ vs. the world influencing the church.” Dudley Rutherford, Unleashed.

This Time, It’s Personal

Frank

I’ve read countless books, been leading small group Bible studies for several years, blogged enough posts and what do I have to show for it? No, this isn’t a mope. It’s a slap in my face; a cold splash of water. Chapter 9, the penultimate chapter of Crazy Love, “Who Really Lives That Way?” challenges me to put the book on the shelf, log off the computer, and take that small group God has blessed me to lead, and do something.

Of course, this isn’t anything new. I’ve written about this before (for example these three posts off the top of my head). But this is the first time I’ve actually had a group mobilized ready for action and enough external encouragement to overcome my own insecurities in serving.

Yet this won’t be easy. There are cultural, religious, and basic life-events that have to be overcome. It will take time and planning. It will take money and investment. It will take more than a flash-in-the-pan idea from me. But here is what my wife and I, with help from the Holy Spirit, have come up with (I’ll let you know tomorrow how this discussion goes tonight; it should be fun!):
  • My wife and I desire to step up in leadership in our church in this area, i.e. be point-persons for outreach ministry.
  • Open up a “community house” for after-school programs, life-skills training, and to be a safe-zone in a rough neighborhood.
  • Travel abroad for a short-term missions trip. Our plan A was a cushy long-weekend to Central America. When we didn’t hear back, we considered that opportunity closed. Plan B looks like a week in Haiti. Wow, talk about a leap of faith!

We’re hoping that by us stepping out in faith, we can encourage others who have similar calls on their hearts to follow. We also know that we have caught lightning in a bottle with our Crazy Love group right now and have people to support these efforts.

But like I said, there are still obstacles. Things that need to be overcome:

  • Religiosity: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27) Does that mean that all other religion is full of fault? About a year ago, I was sharing some of these thoughts with a brother and his response was, “I know the Bible says that true religion is looking after orphans and widows and whatever, but…”
  • Numbers: This point was raised in yesterday’s sermon and I don’t disagree with it. To maintain consistency in service, we need the numbers to support it. But I’m also of the mindset of “build it, and they will come.” I think we have the numbers right now, but too many people don’t know what to do with the God-given passions on their hearts.
  • Calendar: It is easy to just add another event on the church calendar. In fact, this is what stood in our way when we first started Crazy Love. So it is important to us that this doesn’t become just another event, just another church activity. This is a ministry. It is optional.
  • Mission: The latest Christian buzzword is “mission minded” when talking about service and outreach. But when you think of missions, you usually think of people in some country far away preaching the Gospel. What we’re doing is not going to take away from “making disciples of all nations.” In fact, I think it will enhance it, giving us a new forum and a new audience.
  • Politics: I hesitate putting this one up here, but it is a reality. You mention community outreach and someone is bound to think “social justice”. Yeah, I guess you could call it that, but that term has become too politically charged. I’m not doing this for any political reason. I strongly believe this is what the Bible calls us to do.

To quote Toby Mac, “why not here… why not now.” We’re going to talk about this tonight. Hopefully we’ll come up with some other ideas and opportunities. Please pray for us. We’re stepping far out on a limb.

Flashback Friday: Five Talent Player

Frank

***Originally posted February 17, 2010. Reposted in response to Glen Coffee’s decision to forgo an NFL career to pursue ministry, a decision similar to Grant Desme’s below.***

Growing up religious, I always found it curious a “plus” baseball player is called a “five-tool” player given the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25. It was the one with five talents that was given five more for putting his talents to use, pleasing his master. Of course we get the common usage for our talents from this parable even though a “talent” is a unit of currency.

Grant Desme is a five-tool, plus prospect for the Oakland A’s. Or at least, he was before he decided to give up the game to enter the priesthood. In his defense he said, “But I had to get down to the bottom of things, to what was good in my life, what I wanted to do with my life. Baseball is a good thing, but that felt selfish of me when I felt that God was calling me more. … I love the game, but I’m going to aspire to higher things.”

He didn’t catch much criticism even if his decision wasn’t understood by all. One who not only understands, but also relates is former Olympic speed skater Kirstin Holum. After competing in 1998, she hung up her skates and joined a convent. While you may picture a nun’s habit, you may not be able to picture a former Olympian in the inner city reaching out to gang-bangers.

While I admire the hands-on calling of a Religious Order, I don’t think you need to put on vestments to participate in ministry. Like the parable cited above, God gives us talents to be put to use for His glory. I think turning your back on a natural talent like athleticism is akin to burying your talents. (Recognizing that not all skills are talents, and we are all given as many or as few as our faith allows)

On the opposite end of the spectrum is last year’s National League Rookie of the Year, Chris Coghlan. “Everybody has different callings. Everybody has different blessings and different talents. For me, I believe my calling is to continue playing baseball. It’s a platform to reach out to other people.” Sounds very Tim Tebow. (Sorry, couldn’t resist) But he’s right. God gives us not only the talents, but the opportunities. One of my best friends always says, “there’s no such thing as luck in the Kingdom of God.” The traditional adage is that “luck is when preparation and opportunity meet.” The two are perfectly compatible. We should approach our jobs, our relationships, our families with the faith that each are platforms through which we should live and share our faith. The opportunity that meets our preparation.

Even Paul, who was far from being considered athletic, approached his ministry in this way.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

This scripture is often applied to spiritual discipline and can be abused to justify a list of to-dos. But a better way of looking at it is from the perspective of the Christian athlete. Train (invest your talents) so that you may win (gain five more). We may not all be plus, but we can all be five-talent players.

Are you investing your talents?

Frank

Yesterday I taught my last 3rd/4th grade Kid’s Kingdom (Sunday School) class. At least for a little while. Based on the curriculum, I’ve been teaching this class for four years and I know I was teaching for a while before we changed up our schedule. So I figure I’ve been at this for roughly five years with intermittent “rotations” before that. I’m ready for a break, though I am sad to give this up for a while.

This is just a season, like many others before, where either I don’t feel my needs being met or I don’t feel my spiritual gifts are being put to their best use. This time, it’s both. Between this class and my travel schedule due to work, I’ve been sorely missing out on fellowship and worship. I also don’t feel like my lessons are being received by the latest crop of kids like they have in the past.

Of course I’m not hanging it up for good, and I’m not going to go hide in a corner on Sundays and not be involved. One of my strongest convictions is based on Ephesians 4:1-16,

“But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it… It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:7,11-13, emphasis added)

I strongly believe that the Body of Christ can only grow as “each part does its work” (v 16). I have the talent to bring lessons from the Bible to life in practical, applicable ways. I exercise this talent through this class, in my small group, and on this blog. I don’t say this to boast; I’m just one part of the body and this is what my part does. But as I step away from my kids’ class, I need to continue to apply this talent, or at least become more invested in the other ways I’m presently involved. I’m leaning toward the latter as I want to venture into some new territory with my small group and focus more on my writing. I felt as though I was being spread too thin, so my prayer is this move will make me more effective in these other areas.

But this decision, and my looking ahead, brings these questions to mind:

What are the talents God has given you?

How are you applying those talents to build the Body of Christ?

For reference, I think it is worth checking out the lesson Your Divine Design from Living on the Edge. That lesson has really helped me to focus my talents where I believe God has led me.

Weekend Reading, 14 August

Frank

Sometimes the look back on the week is a highlight of the many articles and blogs I read that hit me just right. Other times, there are themes that run between different posts, and it’s the theme that merits mention. This week (and stretching into last) is the latter.

First common topic, pastoring:

Meanwhile, living our faith in the public square is worth greater discussion.

Many thanks to my Twitter community, without whom I wouldn’t have found many of these posts. Hope you enjoy and that they challenge your faith and your status quo.