I don't know if you have every chopped wood before, but there are a few different ways to get it done. If church planting were like chopping wood, books would be written about different axes, angles of attack, body position, you get the idea. There would be gurus on all things wood choppery. Conferences would convene everywhere telling young wood choppers how to get it done the smartest most efficient way. The coolest way even. In the end, you still have to swing the axe and hit some wood.
If you found one of these guys in the forest chopping wood, they might look pretty smart and up-to-date on all theories, but...they still have to swing, and swing often.
I have said to myself and Jesus lately that I am done grabbing for books and opinions on how to reach the lost and un-churched. I love them all and even have some en route in the mail and am not against the opinions and theories. I have learned so much over the years. Jesus has led me however to see the best way to chop wood is to be desperate. Desperate like a man trying to send a signal for rescue or bring warmth to a cold family. Conferences or not, that guy is putting a tree on the ground. Desperation and mission drive him beyond theoretics. Put the desperate guy next to book guy in a lumberjack contest, and desperate guy wins in my opinion.
My prayers keep coming back to asking Jesus to devastate me for my city. I know what this will do as I grow more and more broken for those around me. I won't be comfortable much anymore. I won't rest as much around the lost. I won't pause from wood chopping. Even if I'm not chopping wood the most efficient way, I will get trees felled. I have read so many books that if I'm not careful it will fool me into thinking I have something to bring to this city. These days I'm telling anyone who will listen that Jesus is King and the cross really happened. Young, old, interested, and not. The best thing I can do in this season is not let my reach for fresh ideas out pace my reach for a sharp desperate axe.
PS...Skinny Jeans have nothing to do with this post. Sorry.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Ode to the 8-track
Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
Job 11:7
And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."
Revelation 10:4
When I was a kid, I always liked to stay at my grandparents' old farm house in West Texas during the summer. I have so many good memories of those days. My grandpa, or "Pa Paw", as I called him, was a cotton farmer, and he always made me feel like I was helping him out on the farm. In hindsight, I didn't help him out one bit, unless you count that one time that I handed him a wrench to work on his tractor. Of course, it was the wrong wrench, and he had to go get the correct one himself, but I tried.
Anyway, I have one memory of being on the farm and hanging out with my older cousin, Les. We were sitting in the car in front of the house, listening to music from the car stereo (i-pods weren't invented yet). The car had an 8-track player in it, and this was the first time that I remember seeing an 8-track player in my life. If you don't know what an 8-track is, then just Google it - I'm sure that you know what Google is.
We were listening to a new album that he bought, and I really enjoyed one of the songs. I said, "Hey Les, can we hear that song again?". Then he had to explain to me that we couldn't repeat the song. The only way to hear that particular song again was to skip back to a couple of songs before that song, and listen to them first - Then and only then could we hear the song again (cassettes weren't commonplace either). That was a problem. The other problem with 8-tracks (and just as annoying) was the fact that four songs on the album had about 5 seconds of silence in the middle of them. That always bothered me. I couldn't understand why a songwriter would go through the trouble of writing a song, getting it recorded, getting signed to a label and all of the heartache that goes along with that, only to have 98% of their song listened to on the final product. How could anyone have an album with only part of a song on it? Why would anyone agree to do that? It is a mystery, never to be explained by the sages.
I think we are all like 8-track tapes. We are a defective product. This idea could be expounded upon, but I am thinking particularly about our understanding of God and His ways - our knowledge.
Thank God - He has revealed to us everything that we need to know. However, He has not revealed to us everything that we want to know. That bothers us. We want to know. Isn't knowing important? We even justify knowing - with Holy Scripture; "My people perish for lack of knowledge". I submit to you that we are not supposed to know everything, and God will make sure to keep it that way. Isn't it interesting that the first conversation that satan had with mankind was about knowledge? He was smart enough to know that there is just something not right with creation not knowing as much as the Creator does, and we played into his hands like a Stradivarius.
One time I saw my Pa Paw reading the bible, as he did for hours every Sunday. My Ma Maw (his wife) told me that he had read it all the way through four times. I was very impressed. I couldn't even get through Genesis chapter one without stopping to look for pictures. I knew in my heart that if anyone understood God and the bible, he surely did. So one Sunday, I approached him as he read his bible, and said, "Pa Paw, you must know a whole lot about the bible, huh?". He turned to me, and very humbly said, "Chase, the more I read it, the more I realize how little I know".
This was a defining moment in my life. Ever since that moment, I have been in awe of God and His ways. They are a mystery, beyond finding out. Who can plumb the depths of God? Who can really climb His mountain?
I love the mystery of God - how He shrouds himself in the dark cloud and speaks with thunder, and then a still, small voice. He appears to a lonely man in a burning bush. He comes to you and I in a way that we could never explain to anyone in an earthly language, but we do feel His comfort in our despair.
The early church grew because they were in awe of a mysterious God (Acts 2:43). May our hearts be filled with the awe of God.
Job 11:7
And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."
Revelation 10:4
When I was a kid, I always liked to stay at my grandparents' old farm house in West Texas during the summer. I have so many good memories of those days. My grandpa, or "Pa Paw", as I called him, was a cotton farmer, and he always made me feel like I was helping him out on the farm. In hindsight, I didn't help him out one bit, unless you count that one time that I handed him a wrench to work on his tractor. Of course, it was the wrong wrench, and he had to go get the correct one himself, but I tried.
Anyway, I have one memory of being on the farm and hanging out with my older cousin, Les. We were sitting in the car in front of the house, listening to music from the car stereo (i-pods weren't invented yet). The car had an 8-track player in it, and this was the first time that I remember seeing an 8-track player in my life. If you don't know what an 8-track is, then just Google it - I'm sure that you know what Google is.
We were listening to a new album that he bought, and I really enjoyed one of the songs. I said, "Hey Les, can we hear that song again?". Then he had to explain to me that we couldn't repeat the song. The only way to hear that particular song again was to skip back to a couple of songs before that song, and listen to them first - Then and only then could we hear the song again (cassettes weren't commonplace either). That was a problem. The other problem with 8-tracks (and just as annoying) was the fact that four songs on the album had about 5 seconds of silence in the middle of them. That always bothered me. I couldn't understand why a songwriter would go through the trouble of writing a song, getting it recorded, getting signed to a label and all of the heartache that goes along with that, only to have 98% of their song listened to on the final product. How could anyone have an album with only part of a song on it? Why would anyone agree to do that? It is a mystery, never to be explained by the sages.
I think we are all like 8-track tapes. We are a defective product. This idea could be expounded upon, but I am thinking particularly about our understanding of God and His ways - our knowledge.
Thank God - He has revealed to us everything that we need to know. However, He has not revealed to us everything that we want to know. That bothers us. We want to know. Isn't knowing important? We even justify knowing - with Holy Scripture; "My people perish for lack of knowledge". I submit to you that we are not supposed to know everything, and God will make sure to keep it that way. Isn't it interesting that the first conversation that satan had with mankind was about knowledge? He was smart enough to know that there is just something not right with creation not knowing as much as the Creator does, and we played into his hands like a Stradivarius.
One time I saw my Pa Paw reading the bible, as he did for hours every Sunday. My Ma Maw (his wife) told me that he had read it all the way through four times. I was very impressed. I couldn't even get through Genesis chapter one without stopping to look for pictures. I knew in my heart that if anyone understood God and the bible, he surely did. So one Sunday, I approached him as he read his bible, and said, "Pa Paw, you must know a whole lot about the bible, huh?". He turned to me, and very humbly said, "Chase, the more I read it, the more I realize how little I know".
This was a defining moment in my life. Ever since that moment, I have been in awe of God and His ways. They are a mystery, beyond finding out. Who can plumb the depths of God? Who can really climb His mountain?
I love the mystery of God - how He shrouds himself in the dark cloud and speaks with thunder, and then a still, small voice. He appears to a lonely man in a burning bush. He comes to you and I in a way that we could never explain to anyone in an earthly language, but we do feel His comfort in our despair.
The early church grew because they were in awe of a mysterious God (Acts 2:43). May our hearts be filled with the awe of God.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Hoarders of the Soul
Human beings are hoarders. Even if we're not hoarding junk in our houses like the reality TV show, Hoarders, we are likely to be pack rats of the soul. That soul junk is what fuels many of the habits and philosophies we live by. Just ask someone why they do a particular thing in a particular way. The answer at first may be, "I don't know." Then, after your prying a little you will probably hear something like, "That's the way I've always done it." If you continue to probe, you are likely to find that the reason for always doing that thing in that way or thinking that thought or having that philosophy is chained to some past event either positive or negative. This is more than simply a memory, because it is still very presently and functionally involved in this person's daily life. It is influencing decisions, effecting emotions, and shaping future plans. This is unhealthy.
It is unhealthy, because most of this soul storage is junk now. Some of it was junk then. And, though many of us are very willing to clean out our garages, we are less willing to do some deep cleaning in our souls. Thoreau has said, "It is so hard to forget what is so useless to remember." The truth is that we don't have the ability to do it ourselves. Just like the TV show, someone has to come in and do it for us. That person is Jesus. Jesus said, "All who are weary and burdened, come to me. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."
Monday, November 22, 2010
Recovering Age Racist
There is a running trail close to my house which is pretty nasty, in an altitude sort of way. I only go to it if I am short on time and need to stay close to home. If you go one way on the trail it is downhill and lazy, but the other way feels like it is straight up. Most everyone goes the easy way. I've never gone that way cause I'm a bit proud and a snob when it comes to stuff like that. Their were a ton of people running on this particular day, mostly with dogs and baby strollers and stuff. I caught myself saying "hi" to people who were younger than 40ish, but not anyone else. It was subconscious, but I saw how consistent I was at doing it.
I've never considered myself a racist. In fact, when it comes to skin color I'm not. That is why I'm not sure "racist" is the best term to use. Part of me just knew you would read this post if I put such a provocative word in the title. Jesus showed me yesterday how partial I am however, and I think I might have acted like a racist, except instead of skin color being what drives my partiality, it is age.
I'm such a pragmatic guy that to me youth represents future potential, energy, flexibility, blank slates, hip, current, refreshing, and other such descriptors. The older generation represents pretty much the opposite, and so I am so messed up I caught myself only saying "hi" to people I saw as a potential investment (gospel, discipleship, church, etc...). Even where we live, we are the youngest couple by almost two decades out of 80 homes. I hated this when we moved in. I wanted the young messes up families, who grill outside, hunt, watch football, etc... God showed me how much this stinks to him.
In James 2, God speaks to us concerning our partiality. He uses terms like "gold ring" and phrases like "sit at my feet". We don't really talk like that anymore, but good Bible exegesis can lead us to exactly what he is talking about. I have always understood it to not be partial, distinguishing favor based on wealth or skin color, but the truth is I have ignored it concerning age. I have been an age racist...I think. Instead of wealth being my rudder of favor, it has been years of age. I haven't wanted to pour into people who won't return investment well. Shame on me.
When Christ died on the cross, there was no partiality. He didn't consider the return on investment we were going to give, which is a relief. He didn't look forward into history (whatever that is supposed to mean) and decide who he was going to save based on what we could offer him. He gave his perfect life for our tragic ones - and not just to the young. The cross was impartial regarding those who would call Jesus Lord. If we are to be Christlike, we are to be impartial with God's image on us, as his Son was.
The truth is that we didn't come here to plant a church, we came to tell a city about Jesus and his legacy. Jesus will build his own church around that. If that is true, I am a missionary everywhere, not just among the young and seemingly promising crowds. I might have a grace there - but am in the reconciliation business everywhere. Legacy Church, in order to be a church on mission, understands that we are on mission everywhere. This means in our homes, work, and yes...running the hard way up a trail.
I've never considered myself a racist. In fact, when it comes to skin color I'm not. That is why I'm not sure "racist" is the best term to use. Part of me just knew you would read this post if I put such a provocative word in the title. Jesus showed me yesterday how partial I am however, and I think I might have acted like a racist, except instead of skin color being what drives my partiality, it is age.
I'm such a pragmatic guy that to me youth represents future potential, energy, flexibility, blank slates, hip, current, refreshing, and other such descriptors. The older generation represents pretty much the opposite, and so I am so messed up I caught myself only saying "hi" to people I saw as a potential investment (gospel, discipleship, church, etc...). Even where we live, we are the youngest couple by almost two decades out of 80 homes. I hated this when we moved in. I wanted the young messes up families, who grill outside, hunt, watch football, etc... God showed me how much this stinks to him.
In James 2, God speaks to us concerning our partiality. He uses terms like "gold ring" and phrases like "sit at my feet". We don't really talk like that anymore, but good Bible exegesis can lead us to exactly what he is talking about. I have always understood it to not be partial, distinguishing favor based on wealth or skin color, but the truth is I have ignored it concerning age. I have been an age racist...I think. Instead of wealth being my rudder of favor, it has been years of age. I haven't wanted to pour into people who won't return investment well. Shame on me.
When Christ died on the cross, there was no partiality. He didn't consider the return on investment we were going to give, which is a relief. He didn't look forward into history (whatever that is supposed to mean) and decide who he was going to save based on what we could offer him. He gave his perfect life for our tragic ones - and not just to the young. The cross was impartial regarding those who would call Jesus Lord. If we are to be Christlike, we are to be impartial with God's image on us, as his Son was.
The truth is that we didn't come here to plant a church, we came to tell a city about Jesus and his legacy. Jesus will build his own church around that. If that is true, I am a missionary everywhere, not just among the young and seemingly promising crowds. I might have a grace there - but am in the reconciliation business everywhere. Legacy Church, in order to be a church on mission, understands that we are on mission everywhere. This means in our homes, work, and yes...running the hard way up a trail.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Europeans in Bad Sweaters
I was watching an old movie the other night (I say old like it was black and white or something, but it was the original Die Hard) and noticed how stupid the bad guys looked. They didn't look very bad. I thought that there is no way they would pass as bad guys in today's movies. They all had a lot of hair and it was flowing. They all spoke in cool accents, but had these horrible sweaters on. They were the sweaters with the vinyl (no, it's not leather) patches in some design on the front. I thought, "man that dude looks like a retail clerk somewhere, but not a European assassin." It's funny how dated things can get. That was seriously cool back then, and I know I sat there when I saw it for the first time and thought, "man, where can I get one of those sweaters?" Whether it's music, hair, or bad guys, whatever is cool or great today will be dated tomorrow. God has been showing me recently how dated my techniques and strategies are.
I have learned over time different ways to reach communities and impact people, and now that we are here planting a new work and need good direction, I know I'm not supposed to reach for those old ways. I know my weakness is to embrace the vessels (methods) God poured his grace through in the past, rather than embrace the One who pours grace. Being so pragmatic, I look at strategies and formulas and ideas that have worked in the past and I figure if I plug "A" into "B" and spend "C"...then we get a church. I can feel God on some days guiding me away from books and strategies that have been very good and leading me to him with no strings attached. I know mankind will do anything to not be vulnerable and out of the driver's seat, and so relying on God for a fresh direction is tough. The truth is that sometimes yesterday's ideas are like the bad sweaters on the bad guys. They don't translate the same. They confuse and don't connect. God isn't looking for us to be dependent on yesterday's answers as much as he is looking for us to search him new every day. I think a hungry and searching Knoxville can't be guided to the cross well if I simply use what I have learned well in the past. God is asking us to be faithful and current. Maybe not current of trend or culture as much as current with communion with him. How current is your communion with him? Are you relying on what God showed you years ago because you haven't spent time embracing him today? Are you relying on what God has touched in the past more than what he might show you differently today? Are you plugging formulas and analyzing angles that "promise" results more than asking God what his will is for the moment? If you say yes to any of these questions...you might, like me sometimes, be that dated villain with a bad sweater on.
I have learned over time different ways to reach communities and impact people, and now that we are here planting a new work and need good direction, I know I'm not supposed to reach for those old ways. I know my weakness is to embrace the vessels (methods) God poured his grace through in the past, rather than embrace the One who pours grace. Being so pragmatic, I look at strategies and formulas and ideas that have worked in the past and I figure if I plug "A" into "B" and spend "C"...then we get a church. I can feel God on some days guiding me away from books and strategies that have been very good and leading me to him with no strings attached. I know mankind will do anything to not be vulnerable and out of the driver's seat, and so relying on God for a fresh direction is tough. The truth is that sometimes yesterday's ideas are like the bad sweaters on the bad guys. They don't translate the same. They confuse and don't connect. God isn't looking for us to be dependent on yesterday's answers as much as he is looking for us to search him new every day. I think a hungry and searching Knoxville can't be guided to the cross well if I simply use what I have learned well in the past. God is asking us to be faithful and current. Maybe not current of trend or culture as much as current with communion with him. How current is your communion with him? Are you relying on what God showed you years ago because you haven't spent time embracing him today? Are you relying on what God has touched in the past more than what he might show you differently today? Are you plugging formulas and analyzing angles that "promise" results more than asking God what his will is for the moment? If you say yes to any of these questions...you might, like me sometimes, be that dated villain with a bad sweater on.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Mingled Joy and Stupid Hats
I met with a room full of doctors and surgeons this morning and explained a concept to them through a funny hat I had to wear in high school. I got a job at my dad's restaurant when I was in high school and was ecstatic to have an easy job so I could make some easy money. All my friends were just waiting for me to start so that they could try and scam some free food off of me. My first day, they sent me to the bathroom to change into my new uniform, which wasn't too bad except for the hat. This stupid looking hat was a big puffy chef looking hat violently colored by a black and white hounds-tooth pattern. I put it on with total disgust and shame. I looked at myself in the mirror and asked myself out loud..."How bad do you really want this job." I was pretty vain for sure - but this hat was really stupid looking. My excitement was now tempered with obligation. I actually faked a comment card and told whatever manager that I (as a customer) thought the hats were ridiculous and had to go.
I am meeting too many people who serve Jesus as if they had a stupid hat on. They don't enjoy it - they are just there to make a paycheck. Their salvation is one in which Jesus is a boss waiting every morning by a time clock. If they do a good job, their boss loves them. If their game is a little off - well, they get demerits and maybe a reflection of disapproval through their paycheck or something. It is a salvation by one's own hand, one that is impossible to enjoy. Our joy is mingled with a weird obligation.
James says to "consider it pure joy" in our walk with Christ, but some have more of an alloy. James says that even in trial we are to enjoy our position and grace. I agree. I want to see a city serve God with faithfulness because of joy and confidence in Jesus, not an obligation due their mean boss. It changes everything, especially from the vantage point of a critical and skeptical world.
I have been asking people, "How much do you enjoy Jesus...not the church, or the Bible....but Jesus?" I usually get fours or fives. People usually avoid those things they don't enjoy. Kind of like I did with that stupid hat. I can't even speak of that hat without saying "stupid".
We aren't fascinated with what we don't enjoy. We aren't devastated by the sacrifice of something we don't care about. We don't relax around people or things we don't enjoy. You get the picture I hope. Ask yourself, "How much do I enjoy Jesus?" Maybe it is time to quit "working" your tail off for a boss you avoid, and begin enjoying the King who defeated death with you in mind. What is the "hat" for you? What is alloyed or mixed with your joy of Jesus that brings an obligation?
I am meeting too many people who serve Jesus as if they had a stupid hat on. They don't enjoy it - they are just there to make a paycheck. Their salvation is one in which Jesus is a boss waiting every morning by a time clock. If they do a good job, their boss loves them. If their game is a little off - well, they get demerits and maybe a reflection of disapproval through their paycheck or something. It is a salvation by one's own hand, one that is impossible to enjoy. Our joy is mingled with a weird obligation.
James says to "consider it pure joy" in our walk with Christ, but some have more of an alloy. James says that even in trial we are to enjoy our position and grace. I agree. I want to see a city serve God with faithfulness because of joy and confidence in Jesus, not an obligation due their mean boss. It changes everything, especially from the vantage point of a critical and skeptical world.
I have been asking people, "How much do you enjoy Jesus...not the church, or the Bible....but Jesus?" I usually get fours or fives. People usually avoid those things they don't enjoy. Kind of like I did with that stupid hat. I can't even speak of that hat without saying "stupid".
We aren't fascinated with what we don't enjoy. We aren't devastated by the sacrifice of something we don't care about. We don't relax around people or things we don't enjoy. You get the picture I hope. Ask yourself, "How much do I enjoy Jesus?" Maybe it is time to quit "working" your tail off for a boss you avoid, and begin enjoying the King who defeated death with you in mind. What is the "hat" for you? What is alloyed or mixed with your joy of Jesus that brings an obligation?
Monday, October 18, 2010
My flesh
Something I have been meditating on, over the past few weeks
I was thinking about what it is that I am fearing, have I dealt with this and what is the answer?
Will I be the man that has the ability to lay down my selfish life and do what GOD wants me to do. Its scary when you know you could just remain where your at in life- what kind of man could do such a thing? I think these past 10 years I have been living like that. Instead of calling out to Christ, I just stayed in the "boat" (Mathew 14:22-33).
As I have been typing this up GOD gave me this scripture.
I was thinking about what it is that I am fearing, have I dealt with this and what is the answer?
Will I be the man that has the ability to lay down my selfish life and do what GOD wants me to do. Its scary when you know you could just remain where your at in life- what kind of man could do such a thing? I think these past 10 years I have been living like that. Instead of calling out to Christ, I just stayed in the "boat" (Mathew 14:22-33).
As I have been typing this up GOD gave me this scripture.
Psalm 23:2-3
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
A surrendered man saved by grace-
The burden is on Jesus, he is the Shepherd-
Lots of thoughts right now-
I need to chew on this a bit more.
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