Missional Renaissance

I attended a conference on 1/22/09 at the Kentucky Baptist Convention building in Louisville, KY. The speaker was Reggie McNeal and the focus was his new book "Missional Renaissance". He was an enthusiastic guy who was a little scatter-brained at times, but a joy to listen to and hear his heart for the "missional" church. A "missional" church is a church who focus its attentions on reaching out to the community to demonstrate God's love to people. He proposes spending more time, efforts, and money on "blessing" the community around the church rather than "blessing" the current church. He used several examples to explain this process. He proposed that churches go into the community to serve rather than inviting people to service at church. He also stated that the church is just the airport to the greater destination - Heaven! I think churches spend too much time worrying about getting people in the door of the church where they need to spend time getting people in the door of heaven. He also talked about blessing people in the community by offering prayer up to people as much as possible (waiters, cashiers, etc.). I was challenged by his seminar and I look forward to using some of the things he talked about in my ministry.

Finish the Fight

I just returned from a Strength to Stand Conference operated by the Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association. The theme was "Finish the Fight" and the entire eperience was amazing! My students loved the entire experience. We were able to hear great speakers: Jose Zayas, Dave Edwards, Scott Dawson, and David Nasser. We also heard some great worship leaders in Matt Papa and Shane & Shane along with a concert by Jeremy Camp. "Finish the Fight" is a Biblical model found in 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith." We are called to endure until the end and finish the fight. We are given the strength to do so through Christ Jesus and we must keep our faith in Him with our eyes on the prize. The prize of the crown of righteousness is a reward which will be given to me on the day of my judgment. My goal is to stand before God and Him to say "well done my good and faithful servant." I will not be perfect in my endeavor but I must try each and every day to accomplish something for the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Where Does Truth Come From?

In today's society people challenge truth on a daily basis. Our world is filled with individuals who want truth but do not want it to include God in it. Truth cannot exist without God. People throughout history have tried to explain truth without involving God and have failed at it everytime. Truth begins with God being the supreme being of existence and continues through His Word and through His Son. Everything we try to justify by truth has to involve God's supreme authority and His deity. He created all things and continues to operate the world on a first-hand basis. His continual presence in our world is the final answer to all issues regarding truth. John 14:6 says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Living Life with a Purpose

Each day we wake up and do the things we always do for the sole reason of... ?
Is it just because we did it yesterday or because we can't think of anything else to do. We live out our daily life with no purpose or reason for the way we do it. God tells us throughout the Bible to live life with a purpose... a purpose of glorifying Him and receiving the gift of eternal life from Him. We cannot live a life that goes nowhere because we are scared. We must step out of our comfort zone and trust that God will lead us to a life that glorifies Him. We must have the purpose of God's glory driving us in each thing we do. We must wake up and say, "What can I do to glorify God today?" That is how God wants us to live and He commands us to do so.

A Lukewarm Christian

In "Crazy Love" Francis Chan discusses a lukewarm Christian in chapter 4. A lukewarm Christian fits as a title to many of us who claim to be Christians. A lukewarm Christian can be summed up by saying they do and act the way they do because they are supposed to. There is evidence of Christ in their lives by their actions and speech but they only do these things out of fear of hell. The horrible part is they don't do them out of love for God. Love for God and a true relationship with Him should be what drives our actions, thoughts, and speech. Love for God should make us want to do things to help others and show His love. We are all caught up in doing things because of fear of hell not because of love for God. God does not need us like we need Him, but He wants us! How awesome that the God of all things cherishes a relathionship with us. If we are lukewarm Christians then we will be "spat out" as it says in Revelation 3:15-18. We will not have a place in heaven because we have not truly known Him. We must treat God as our best friend. Which must include but not limited to: talking to Him, constantly thinking about Him, wanting to introduce others to Him, etc. We need to bring the glory to God in ourwitnessing and serving. We do not need to be saying: look what I did today or look what I gave up for God. God deserves the glory and all of our heart, soul, mind, and body.

Crazy Love

I began reading Francis Chan's book "Crazy Love" yesterday. This books first 3 chapters have been amazing and I am so excited to continue it. Chan begins by discussing the obvious aspects of Christianity and the attributes of God. Chan has a way of describing these things that seems so straight-forward but yet is so descriptive and in-depth. He does a great job of "telling it like it is." He also discusses how the attributes of God are so complex and how we, as humans, cannot even describe them accurately enough because His nature is so far beyond our comprehension. Can't wait to update on the rest of the book later on.