Driving with Abandon

Luke 18:15 One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But when the disciples saw this, they scolded the parents for bothering him.
16 Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.

I am trying to extend the days of my little girl staying my little girl. My boys have grown so fast, and somehow I believe that I have the power to stop the growth process for my girl. Just to keep her enthralled with me, the man in her life, the wonderful daddy that she looks up to. Though it's in vain, I am still cherishing all the little wonderful moments that make her special to me.

One of these moments I'll never forget happened in my green Honda Civic. Trying to be a good neighbor, I slow way down to the speed limit when I enter my Cul De Sac. It's habit now, and I can wave to the folks I pray for as I drive in. One of these times coming home with my princess as the co-pilot, she asked if she could drive. With big eyes, full of anticipation and wonder, she had me. "Sure, but I will have to help", I replied.

I scooted my seat all the way back and placed her in front of me. I remember smiling a bit, noticing how proportionately huge the steering wheel was in comparison to her small frame. She was so full of joy, the sheer joy of handling a big car, with the safety of her (amazing) father right behind her. I asked her later why that was so fun for her and she said, "because you do it, daddy".

Part of the joy for fathers is to see their children love to do what they do. They should have a healthy sense of wonder and ambition to be like their parents. I believe God wants us to have this simple sense of wonderment and joy at the prospect of being able to "take the wheel" and become busy "doing my Father's business". Jesus healed people, loved the sinner, included the outsider, and sacrificially gave to people in need. Our joy is to do the same.

In fact, we can't come into his kingdom without this kind of joyful, run-up-to-Jesus kind of love. All He has is ours, and belongs to us. Although the joy is ours to do what we see Him do, the Father gets great joy out of seeing his children doing the things that belong to us.

Jesus, keep me childlike in my faith, joy and love!

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When Doubt & Honesty Build Faith

Our culture wants it all.

I know that when the new iPhone 3Gs came out, suddenly my regular old pitiful 3G seemed slow and out of date. Which is funny, because my kids would die to have my phone. But I want more, or should I say, I want it all. I tend to be this way in other ways as well.
For instance, when I am going to a movie theater. Now before I throw my selfishness out in plain view, let me contrast that with my friend Phil's approach to movies. Phil, a godly man, when he hears that I want "to watch a movie", will offer me the option of one of his downloaded movies from his computer, and excitedly tell me that its free! Whereas, when I think of going to watch a movie, I am thinking of Cinetopia (an all digital, leather recliner seat, waiter-take-my-order theater, with a butter bar), I am thinking opening night, and I am thinking of the full bucket of perfectly seasoned and buttered tub of corn; all while paying full price to make the most of the experience. I want it all.
Now I realize that this is a basic selfish response. However, when their are options out there, or when you have already had an experience one way or another with a part of life, you can tend to want to match or one-up that experience the next time. And some of this is good. We should want more in our relationship with God for example, and never live on the times of the past.

Not only do we seem to want to have all the latest things, but we as a culture also want more out of our leaders. I find myself politically torn between complete disinterest and unashamed bias at different times. When I am disengaged, it is because another public servant has fallen morally (and to add salt to the wound, more of these have been exposed from the party I grew up "believing in", then from the "other side"). And when I am passionately interested is when I feel that someone rings true, in their speeches, conduct, record and character. I can track with those people, especially when they seem to go against the grain, and when they tend to blur the traditional party lines. That is when I am engaged, interested; when the established systems are challenged and chided in the public arena. Those people seem to be who I think can actually bring a change. I want that from a leader. To quote an old Switchfoot lyric, "We want more than this world's got to offer, We want more than this world's got to offer, We want more than the wars of our fathers..."

So something struck me about a passage out of Mark 15 today along these lines.

³³ At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. ³⁴ Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”^f]">[f]

³⁵ Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. ³⁶ One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

³⁷ Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸ And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

³⁹ When the Roman officer who stood facing him^h]"> saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

The part regarding the Roman officer gets me. Here, his battalion is assigned to take Jesus from the court, all the way to the cross. They beat him, mock him, crucify him. But this one guy, a Roman officer who was posted right in front of Jesus, sees a person dying who blurred the lines of the existing political parties. This Roman officer probably wanted all life could give him, like I do. He probably enjoyed many of the finer things in life, and was looking for a bit more than what he had experienced. And then he hears Jesus' last words, which seem like despair and failure and desperation all wrapped in one. "My God, why have you abandoned Me?".

Something about Jesus' life; something about how He did and didn't respond to his accusers; something about the visceral, emotional, and honest cry from Jesus captured this worldly-wise Romans attention. This guy actually believes in Christ, at the moment when the disciples had all fled away in hiding. Jesus' honesty and his fearlessness of the moment captured his heart.

Maybe we can learn from this.

People are expecting more from their leaders today. There is competition for our time today. podcasting, and internet access have made it easy for truth-seekers to find leadership. Because of all those options, some local church sermons are boring in comparison. Leaders with character flaws are less attractive. Our options have raised the bar for all church leaders today. People are comparing us, our character, our teaching, our life to those around the world. And they are following those who ring true, not just the ones who promise good times and cost-free faith. Jesus led with hope and with honesty. For us to lead well today, we must let Jesus' character permeate all we do and all we say. And the Romans will be saved.

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Jesus Observations Pt 2: Believing is the Only Thing

Jesus.

Some people won't believe no matter what. I might be prone to believe, however. As a kid I was pretty gullible, especially when uncle Jerry was doing magic tricks. I loved those, and wanted to believe so bad that he could pound that quarter through my grandpa's table. But even when he did the trick a third and fourth time, I would begin to doubt that he had super-powers. I don't know why. I want to believe.

What if all we had to do to please God was one thing? What would that be? Writing the rules of the universe, I would require someone to save a life--that would do it for me; if I were God. Or maybe if we took care of two people worse off than us in the world. That would seem to do a lot of good, actually. But what would God want for us to do for Him, and to get to Him?

In John 6, we get a clear answer.

They replied, "We want to perform God's works, too. What should we do?"
Jesus told them, "This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent."

Whoa, way to simple. Okay, we can do that. Or can we?

Believing in Jesus seems so hard for the folks in John 6. First off, Jesus secretly escapes from a crowd of thousands and no one can find him, even if they yelled "Ollie, Ollie! Ox in free!" Then Jesus shows up on the water mysteriously at night. I would have pooed. They get him in the boat and then they are instantly across the lake. The next day, the folks notice that Jesus is gone, and they want their free 100+ points Chalupas again. But they note that he is on the other side of the lake, but miss the miracle in that. This is after the BIG miracle the day before, where Jesus, in some kind of magical sea-monkey-like expansion trick, makes one lunch feed a whole town. Everyone knew about that one. That's exactly why they were chasing him across the lake. And also why they wanted to make him king immediately.

So here's what I caught from this: Jesus does some miracles out of compassion for the people, and to teach his disciples. But in that, some people still didn't believe. Do we really just want to believe if we get our personal wish list met? Maybe.

Jesus goes on to get ticked off at the folks in this chapter. You can read it in the text, he gets mad at the disciples too, and some of them leave. But his point here is that we need to believe in who Jesus was saying he was. I believe it was in Brennan Manning's book, The Furious Longing of God, where I got this concept: that faith produces miracles, but miracles don't always produce faith. True. Jesus wants us to believe in Him as God. To do that, would require some changes in our lives.

Obedience is the expression of faith. So teaches Bill Johnson, of Bethel, in Redding, California. To really believe Jesus, is to obey what he teaches. That's where it gets difficult, honestly. I have chosen in my life to believe in Jesus, & to believe Jesus (both are crucial, but that would make this entry too long to develop). In that, I accept that his words are life, and that his words are spirit and produce life in me. My belief also means that I accept that Jesus is the only one who ever saw God the Father, and that he claimed exclusively to be the Savior for the world. That is so narrow, so limiting in today's mindset. But that is what Jesus said. I'm either following a crazy Jewish person, or I am following God.

Jesus by the way, can pound Himself through doors (and tables too, I bet) when He wants to.

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Jesus Observations Pt 1. Unafraid of Criticism

I am on a passionate pursuit of the person of Jesus right now. Really, I'm fascinated by him. In re-reading the Gospel accounts, I find him to be such a rich character, such a majestic man, and he has more complexity than the "americanized" paintings we have seen of him. His words are life, literally, and they are obviously from the Father, and Jesus didn't change his mission or his words based on peoples' biases. He responded so differently than I would have or you may have. And the miracles: how he touches and changes people really shows us the love that God has in his heart for us, through Jesus. I love this man.

Observations about Jesus, Part 1:

John Chapter 5.

Here Jesus heals a guy, about my age, who has sat near healing his whole life. Jesus makes him well and then the world turns against him. First, the Pharisees can't believe that he would say to the cripple "pick up your bed and walk", on the Sabbath. But to add gas to their fire, they find out that Jesus actually HEALED the guy on the Sabbath. This was bad. They now plot to kill Jesus.

What strikes me about this episode, and all of chapter 5 of John, is that Jesus never backs down from who He is or what his mission is. Later in the Gospels, people want him to plainly admit who he is, and Jesus veils it to them, not answering directly to his critics. But here, in Chapter 5, very early on in his ministry, Jesus come out with it. He makes radical claims, does radical things, and says clearly who He is, why He came, and where He came from.

It is so clear in fact, that soon everyone wants to leave him, except his closest disciples. But Jesus detects that they may want to leave as well, when they complained, "Master, these are hard things you are saying. Who could stand to hear this?".

All this because Jesus heals a guy.

I just watched a recommended youtube video called Disneyland Revival. In it, this un-named couple goes to Disneyland with a camcorder, and documents some real live healings that happen to teenagers there that day. And then, more kids get healed! They keep bringing their friends around for prayer, too. (Which seems pretty normal to me.) Some of them pray to follow Jesus with their lives, others get touched with the power of the Holy Spirit in a manifest way. God's presence is so strong that one girl keeps saying, "holy s^*t" over and over again, not knowing how to describe what she is feeling.

The couple praying for the teens are full of joy, and laughing and pointing everyone to Jesus. "Jesus is healing you!", they declare. They talked to them about how great God is and how much He loves them, and that's why He is healing them. Wow. Does God really love sinners that much? Would He heal them right there, in Disneyland, while they are swearing? I think that is exactly what He would do.

And I think, that He would go on to say out loud, in the Magic Kingdom, un-ashamedly declare that the Kingdom of God is near, no matter what anyone said.

What anyone else said? Oh yeah, I almost forgot. People said stuff about this couple praying for teens at Disneyland. Youtube's comments were along these lines:

* These are fringe religious wackos

* Why would they invade teens' space, when they came to enjoy Disneyland?

* Where are the parents of these kids?

* The couple is not of God, they are from a cult, using mind manipulation techniques

* Why didn't people get out of wheelchairs then? Why don't limbs grow out?

These comments make me mad.

But they said that junk to Jesus. But He didn't shrink back. He says things like:

* If you believe in me and who I am, you will live forever

* (to the critics, who were the church leaders of the day) You are already judged, and not from God

* God is my Father. (think about that. If someone said that today, we would have them committed.)

* I have been given power to judge the whole world (ouch)

* If you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will die. (this statement is weird.)

Jesus drew the line in the sand, and did what his Father told him to do. And where I would have backed down and tried to explain it all in a culturally relevant manner, Jesus says things that make it even harder to follow him if you already had issue with him. And so it is for the "mystery healers" at Disneyland. And may it be so for me. May I be bold enough to obey God, love people like Jesus did, perform miracles in His name, and declare exactly who I am in God.

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To Structure or not to Structure, that is the question

Church is a passion for me. I hope that's for the right reasons; I mean the way I read scripture it seems as though it's super important to Christ, to God. So I hope that my passions are for what He is passionate about in the church. For instance, I don't think God cares what color the carpet is, or if we even have carpet. But I know that He is passionate about two elements in the church, and these are not just the recipients of His passion but the essence of the church as well. Those two things being: our relating to Him, and our relating to others. I am, and want to stay, passionate about those parts of church.

Some wonderful lady sat by me at a wedding the other day, whom I have known previously, as she and her family had attended our church for a number of years. They had done some ministry in their life, and now are a part of another church. Although, I don't think they refer to it as a church, per se'. For them it's a gathering, a fellowship, a converging of like-minded believers who have shed the "weight" of the traditional church, and are living out their faith together in a more "organic" fashion.

Her comment to me on this particular sunny and breezy Sunday afternoon, at the wedding, was that she was "Quite refreshed." They had a writer (of some top selling christian books) come to visit them and he shared with them. He told them that what it is all really about is the true connections that you have with people that you really gel with. You know, the people you really feel a bond with. That's church. That's how Christ wants it. Anything else is built on a structure, and inherently, you are forced to invited people unnaturally to the structured organized thing, and it's not based on relationship as a foundation. "I just really like that kind of language," she mused, sincerely "when speaking about these kinds of things".

"Uh-huh," I said, not sure how to take it all right there in the middle of ties, dresses and hairspray. But I have reflected on this, and am ready to share my feelings now.

1. First, I like the aspect of the church being built on relationships. This part is positive. And honestly, you do have to see eye to eye on some level if you are going to "have" church together.

2. Next, I tried to be objective and think about what the Bible actually teaches about church. You know, I'm sure it would be somewhat if not a whole lot different today if we were to just start over and model it from the ground up. This is the beauty of young eyes and young visionaries who plant churches and do ministry with faith in God, and little else. But her statements don't echo much of what I recall the Bible teaching about the church. I like the Bible's language when speaking about these kinds of things.

3. Structure is really what the Bible speaks of, when it speaks of church. It's all the other stuff we get wrong, like the details, the dogmas and the delineations. But Jesus was pretty structured from what I see. He sends them out in pairs (no exceptions). They didn't pick their partner and best friend for this--Jesus picked the pairs for them, even when it was to put a Zealot with a Tax Collector. He gave structure when He told them that He'd show up even in the smallest meetings, as long as a few would gather in his name. He gave structured guidelines on disciplining one their own who had sinned and not been repentive. And He names Peter as the head of the thing for when He's gone.

And surely I don't have to go into the epistles to show that they are primarily about the structure. "when you gather..." / "if one of you restores a sinner..." / "An elder should have these qualifications..." / "therefore, if you have disputes, appoint judges..." / "don't forsake the assembling of yourselves...". Etcetera.

4. Some people are attracted to this new-ish version of church that seems to be free from the restraints and organizational restrictions and clutter that I seem to belong to. And it is good to try new things, mix it up a bit: like speaking first, then worship-Whoah! That would be crazy. Or just have a night to pray without a sermon. Okay, fine, I actually like thinking outside the box, but not the "box" that God sets up. Some of the structure keeps the nice looking summer hut from caving in during the rainy season. So innovate yes, eradicate, no.

5. It is always interesting to me that people who jump out of the "traditional" church end up having some of the same structures anyways. They meet at a location, usually they have a start time, and they usually do it on the same night of the week each week. Sounds organizational. They have some sort of worship, perhaps more artsy, but often involving music. Weird, I do that. And then someone shares. I like preaching, they like sharing, but really isn't this teaching the Bible and doesn't that make you kind of institutional? Even if you sit on a couch when you share?

6. Last comment is that I am okay with what they do if God is in it, but my fear is that if it's all comfortable and relational, how do they propose to obey the great commission? I'm sure they have a way, and I am ignorant, in that I haven't been to the Barn to see a service yet, but sometimes I feel an urgency to share Christ with the world. If they do, do they bring that person to their "gathering"? Who sends others out for missions, church planting, and ministry? Who approves ministry? If someone is in charge of making those decisions, does that border on control?

A well structured House of God will fail rarely. A loosely structured House may last only up to 18 months (direct quote from Frank Viola, who states that his vision of organic house gatherings don't last beyond this time frame). I want to see the Kingdom come. I want to have long term relationships. I want to minister with like-minded people, but also be forced to stick it out with some stinkers. I like the "multi-faceted wisdom of God" that is displayed when the differences amongst us is put aside as we gather around Christ as His church.

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:18-22 (ESV)

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My Problem with Pentecost

This is a long one, but worth the read.

Acts 2 has made my life what it is. I remember being fourteen years old and walking into a youth group of seventy-five or so teens with their hands all in the air, singing with their eyes tightly closed, as though they were having visions. Whoa! What is this?! I thought. The presence of God was strong in that room, and since I grew up born again, I recognized that this dynamic was right; it was God. Pastor Wendell, Pastor Bob, Pastor Rick, and Pastor Wayman were all up front, leading our charge into the presence of God. This was so different from the sing-a-long and chitchat youth ministries I had been to previously. I was changed for life.

Pentecost

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit that forever launched, changed, and empowered those men and women of God in the upper prayer room during the festival season in Jerusalem has continued to change, empower, and launch people to this day. I remember hearing a passionate Pentecostal preacher speak on this, and one statement made me think twice about this great day in church history. He said that when God moves in a dynamic way like he did in Acts 2, no one has to explain it. God can and will do the explaining. He went on to infer that if some folks didn't get the move of God, their hearts may be hard to the things of God, so any explanation would be futile. He quoted Acts 2:8 to show that the event itself was sufficient explanation: "And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?" Why was it sufficient? Because they all heard it in their own language.

But I went on to read verse 12: "And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'What does this mean?" Some blamed the bottle for the craziness. But Peter, being filled with the Spirit, did what I perceive to be a very cultural and spiritual act: he explained it. Peter went back to the Scriptures and told what has happened. He also used this extraordinary event as a means to preach about the Messiah-ship of Christ. At this point the crowd begged to know what they ought to do, and revival began.

I do not have a problem with bringing Pentecost to our churches toady. But I do take issue with a mindset that says that we can stay in church and experience the presence, renewal, or the moving of the Spirit without offering this to the community we live in with some relevant explanation. Any Holy Spirit activity has to point people to Jesus. I have found that our greatest church altar calls are timed when we all can sense the manifest presence of God, and then the Gospel is preached in the middle of that. When God is on the move, we stop to explain what He is doing, and people get saved. Those are great times.

Recently, a church that I have some loose relational ties with, changed fellowships to reflect their change of position on this issue. Embracing wild manifestations, they desire to be in "the Throne room" and be with their Father (and act like children). They have made statements that indicate that they are truly unconcerned with whether their church grows or whether visitors feel embraced, or if the unbeliever that walks in can understand anything that is going on in this new, wildly charismatic gathering. And sure enough, two things have happened: first, their numbers have gone down, and evangelism is all but done. Second, charismatic “experience seekers” are the only people drawn to the church. They come to “swim in glory,” if you will. So what about the community of unbelievers that don't understand what is going on it there? What about presenting a clear story and testimony of the grace and love of Jesus and what He has done for us? Wasn't the outpouring really for the onlookers in Acts, anyway? It was in their language, and it was explained in their context, with their starting points of understanding. In Acts, the church grew, and others were drawn into experience Jesus via the Holy Spirit.

My mom (many of you know this amazing woman of God) received her own new Mac computer from my dad, both as a gift and as a means for my father to not have his files inexplicably erased anymore. I am a Mac guy, so I rejoiced with her. That is, until she began to consult me as her personal Genius Bar representative. One event is lodged in my memory from this era. One night I got a call from my mother (who lives nearly an hour away). She just wanted to add a picture to an email that she hoped to send, but she just couldn't quite figure it out on her own. For starters, she couldn't find the picture she wanted on her computer. "Mom, you need to open a new finder window." After a few “what's that?” moments, I had to try to describe what the hard drive icon looked like, and where it was on her desktop. I found out soon that she was looking on her literal desktop, the one the computer is sitting on, for this mysterious icon that I swore to her was there in the upper right hand corner. Frustration occurred for both parties. We have since had healing.

Can you see in this story a picture of our generation and our churches? We can see so clearly what the lost need to do, but what is so natural, ingrained, and easy for us is not clear to them. We may have to go over to their homes, look at their computer screen, use their language, and show it to them at their starting point of understanding. When we do that, we can convert the whole world to Mac's. (Wait, what am I writing about today? Sorry.)

Starting Points

We are challenged today with reaching a generation of non-believers—but not just first generation non-believers. As a college pastor, I deal with college-age kids who haven't ever been in church. Ever. And their parents never went to church. Ever. They don't own a Bible, a tie, and they don't put a roast in the oven for the after-service meal. What are their starting points?

I have heard is said that "The first word of the kingdom is Repent." That is true. Jesus told followers to repent, and Peter told the crowd that day to repent, and then be baptized. This may be the first word for us, but it may not be for our neighbors today. I often start my personal witnessing with a word of knowledge carefully stated in language they can understand. I start with the existence of a God that knows them, loves them, and wants a relationship with them. Oh, I get to the repentance part, but if they don't believe that there is a God—or that Christ was real—how are they going to want to repent? Perhaps Hebrews 11:6 is a closer starting point for today: "Anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that He exists and that He cares enough to respond to those who seek Him." Faith starts at these two points: believing He exists and believing He cares. Surely we all know that from this corner on the life-map, His kindness will lead us to repentance.

For my own story, I had a working knowledge of God, so that atmosphere in the youth meeting I attended at fourteen had an essence of familiarity to it. I recognized God there. My friend Greg who came with me that night did not perceive what I was sensing, and the ride home was filled with questions from his racing thoughts. I want to introduce my "Gregs" to Jesus, so they can appreciate His Spirit.

Passover

Currently my home, or slice of paradise as I like to call it, sits at the end of a cul-de-sac. We live in one of thirty-eight homes in our development. When we moved into our house eight years ago, it was brand new. There was excitement among all the new neighbors for our new houses. But some of the nice houses were not nice homes. Seven houses went up for sale in under sixteen months due to divorces or separations in the homes. We decided to take action. As a result, five families have come to visit our church from our own invitations over the years and something like fifteen of the teenagers in our neighborhood have come to youth group or camp with us because of our boys' invites. We really care about these folks and have a vested interest in seeing them come to a place of faith in Christ.

Let me describe some of these middle-America neighbors of mine. One mother is an alcoholic but tries to hide it. Our next-door neighbors are living together, with four kids. One of my daughter’s eight-year-old friends stays the night often and really likes it when I come in and say prayers with her and Abbi. At her last sleepover, she told me about how when she stays the night with her auntie, she does some spells, rubs her hands with crystals, and tells her what her aura is looking like. She told me this was right after my world-changing good night prayer! Another man, a father of three, was accused last year of being a child molester, which he denies. That's my neighborhood. You wouldn't know the messed up lives were there when driving through, but they are. I cry over them when I think about them. I have prayed for and loved these people for a long time now. I can only imagine how much the Lord loves and misses them.

To them, Pentecost is so far away, so distant; it isn't their starting point. They need to understand Passover before they understand Pentecost. As a pastor in our local church, my passion is to explain it to them. I want them to go through presbytery, to have the blessing of the manifest presence during worship. I want them to feel safe with the covering of multiplicity of elders, and to see a functioning local church. I want them to see the power of theology rooted in covenant, and I want them to pray in a heavenly language that changes, releases, and empowers them. But honestly, what I have as a vision for a starting point is that they come to know Jesus.

Focus

I recognize that our fellowship is first for pastors and leaders, so those topics are not just important, but critical for the longevity of ministry. I am deeply rooted in as a local church guy. And I believe everyone should and can be baptized in the Spirit. This is who I am. I take those foundation stones of our movement as a presupposition now. I do not want in any way to abandon my roots. However, I do want to take all of that benefit and strategize what we preach, how we market, what we pray for, and why we gather. I don't want to sit in my office during the week and enjoy church on the weekend, full of Holy Spirit activity, and leave out the Missio Dei. I want all those values to launch me into the lives of people who are lost, separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to all of these wonderful promises. I believe that Peter preached Jesus at Pentecost. We must use Pentecost to preach Jesus. Get ready for a bold saying: I can say that at this point I don't really care if my neighbor ever speaks in tongues. I just want to see him in Heaven. Now, please know that I want him to experience glossolalia, some day. But my efforts and my strategies for our church are going to be geared toward reaching an increasingly godless culture, not on how we can have more manifestations.

Here are a few practical ideas we have put to practice in our church.

1. We have had our small groups work together to adopt whole apartment complexes in need of ministry. We take church to them, instead of just inviting them to come to us for outreach services.

2. We have routine services that are geared to the preaching of the Gospel. We let our people know in advance that this is coming up so that we can pray and they can plan on inviting friends.

3. As the Spirit leads, we have spontaneous altar calls during services.

4. Pastor Bob's preaching is geared toward strengthening the believer for the purpose of the Gospel. People want to be equipped to know what to say and what the Bible says.

5. We read about churches that are successful in evangelism. We listen to podcasts of pastors that are having good fruit in this arena. Many are in MFI, and some are not, but we glean what will work within our values and try to add their innovations to our mix.

6. We pray for people by name. Before a special outreach Sunday, we will gather the names of real people that are going to be invited to church and pray for these who are heirs of salvation.

(This article was originally written for MFI leaders' quarterly)

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Jon & Kate, Minus Two

Our weekends are crazy. Crazier than yours, I'm sure. In fact I'll challenge you to a busyness-duel anytime. Here was my 48 hours: This weekend our oldest child had a baseball tournament, and a basketball camp. Our middle child had two All-Star scrimmages. I had men's prayer breakfast, three weekend church services, laundry help, yard work, a date with my youngest (to Krispy Kreme). Our family stops one night to watch Marly and Me as a family. Somewhere in the mix, our personal friends called in a panic and asked if their 16 year old son could stay at our house for the weekend, since they were out of town, and the pre-arranged billet canceled on Friday. And all of this happened on Father's day weekend, which for us began at around 3pm. Meanwhile, I have two guy friends texting me about the demise of their marriages, and looking for some support. In addition, Sunday was our 18 year wedding anniversary, which we postponed celebrating till Monday, our day off together, since Sunday was church, Father's day, and sports. I slept somewhere in there, too.

Now it's Monday evening and Lisa and I just watched Jon & Kate's big announcement. In case you are unaware, try opening up your Facebook once in awhile, or watch the entertainment portion of the evening news anywhere, and you'll hear about it. The basic story of this reality show is around this couple, Jon and Kate, who at one time were happily married with twins. Then they got pregnant again, with sextuplets! That's six, for those of you from Cougar. So for the last few years, cameras have been in their lives, following their story and watching the chaos and joy unfold. They have become the darlings of family proponents and Christians alike, as they have held to their Christian roots and made church appearances.

But tonight, as we were celebrating 18 years, these two announce that they filed for divorce after 10 years.

I'm sad for them, but mostly for the kids. Jon, who will be referred to as the Idiot from here onward, said some dumb things on the show. The Idiot said he was doing this to be true, and to do what's best for him and the kids. Hey Idiot, your kids will for the rest of their lives say and feel that the truest thing and best thing for them would have been if you would have worked it out and stayed married to mom. He felt overwhelmed.

I get the overwhelmed thing, but I never have had a thought that I should walk away. I don't get my way all the time, but that's what love is: giving and doing what is best for the other person. I would love to see a reality show scene where the one on one interview goes something like this: "Yeah, well, I guess I just have to do what's best for her. I guess I had my teen years to find myself, so I don't have to go looking for it now. I took a vow, so I'll just have to be true to that."

I heard two great lines in the midst of this last crazy weekend that really will stay with me on into the future. The first was from Pastor Bob during his message to Fathers. "Sometimes as men, it just doesn't matter what you feel. You have a duty to do." Amen. The second nugget of relationship gold came in the hour-and-a-half of calm when we were watching Marly and Me, when they were discussing the reason for the longevity of their relationship. "Mend it. Don't end it." Amen, again.

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