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.
That's good. I like the title. If it had been called "Chopping Wood In Skinny Jeans and a Football Jersey" I may not have read it.
ReplyDeleteHa! I appreciate your trickery. Sheeesh....Skinny Jeans? Well, it worked. ;)
ReplyDelete"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.".....We'll call that the "axe of truth" (painful and effective).