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.