Playing it Safe…

May 28, 2010 in Faith with 7 Comments

Earlier this week I heard a missionary tell of his work in Africa. I loved listening to him and I think he does amazing work. He repeatedly brought up, though, how Americans were being targeted, kidnapped and held hostage in nearby areas, but American churches were paying large sums of money to buy their release. I remember thinking, “Hmmm. Isn’t that just fueling the fire, enabling groups to do more of the same?” But that’s another subject, maybe, for another time.

It got me to thinking, though, about the inherent dangers involved in mission work. Missionaries know that there is serious danger in that kind of work. To a large extent, that is exactly why I appreciate them. But the know the dangers are more than hypothetical, they are real, and yet still they go. But what should happen when the unthinkable actually happens?

If we will think about it, danger lurks around every corner, hides in virtually every crevass, and can happen anywhere. Danger can found on the Mexico border, in the African village, as well as on the suburban street corner. There is no escaping it. You can try, but it will be to no avail!

I don’t believe Jesus launched his mission into world so that we might play it safe. What we refer to as The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) wasn’t a proposition to simply take the gospel to places where we’d be sheltered from harm. There was no caveat which stated: “Go into all the world..except for the high risk places.” After all, there really is no 100% safe place. Evil is everywhere and harm is indiscriminate about where it will emerge. If we only played it safe, we’d go nowhere. But for some reason, I don’t think, in our heart of hearts, we believe that’s the right thing to do.

Think about it…Daniel lived for God in the middle of a Babylonian firestorm of danger. He was in a foreign land, and yet he was open about his faith and devotion to God, even if it meant a front row seat a lion’s den or a fiery furnace. I know he was taken into captivity by force, but that didn’t change how he acted while there. It was in those situations that Daniel’s faith was exhibited, regardless of what would befall him. How comfortable would we feel telling Daniel our stories about how we didn’t go to the risky places because it was dangerous? Not me.

And then there’s Stephen in Acts 7. That guy was nuts to preach that kind of message, to that group of people, in that kind of place. Didn’t he know it might get him killed? Didn’t he know that he might better serve the cause of Christ by going on his way and finding a people to preach to who wouldn’t start chucking rocks at him? After all, he might die of such treatment. Err…he did die. But Stephen was outright foolish to do what he did, wasn’t he? But again, doesn’t it sound odd to suggest such? It does to me. After all, we extol martyrs. He loved the Lord and was willing to die for him.  We are supposed to be “faithful” even if it might cost us our lives (Rev. 2:10). But what does it say about us if we only go where it is advantageous to us?

Something New…

May 26, 2010 in Ministry with 12 Comments

I read a book a while back that noted how the Psalmist seemed fond of new songs. His express desire was to sing “a new song”  to the Lord (Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1). I must admit, I feel the same way about a lot of things in life.

The longing for something new isn’t abnormal. It’s actually natural, and at times needed. The covenant offered at Sinai was in need of being replaced by something “new” (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:7-13). But something new is generally risky. The “old wine” might be what we are used to, and often, we will only take on something new if we can put it in old wineskins (Luke 5:36-39). After all, we are entrenched in the belief that “the old is better” (v. 39). But the inborn sense of desire for something new must be dealt with. You can only avoid it for so long before it becomes deconstructive.

For a while now, I’ve considered breaking free from local church pulpit work to do something new. I don’t want to quit ministering, but I do want to minister in a way that I sense betters serves people. Yes, that’s exactly what I meant!  “What can better serve people than to preach ‘the good news’ to them?” you might be thinking.  Look,  preaching and teaching doesn’t just take place in church auditoriums. It happens in a number of different environments, in numeous venues. But before one thinks that a Sunday morning assembly is “the” best place to minister, I would suggest such one takes a Sunday, stands behind a pulpit for 30 minutes, and speaks . What you might see might change your mind! Sleeping. Doodling. Texting. Reading the Bible but not following along with the minister. People looking around and watching what others are doing. All of this happens every Sunday all over the country.

So, for the time being, I am transitioning into something new. I will no longer be involved in full-time preaching work. Instead, my wife  and I have chosen to minister together in the lives of children at a nearby children’s home in Portales, NM.

I want something new. I need something new. The New Mexico Christian Children’s Home has stepped in to offer Tisha and I an opportunity to do something new.

It will be tough. We both know that. That is, in part, why we want to do it. We are concerned for the future of the church, and we long for Jesus and his church to be integral to the lives of today’s youth.

I ask that you will pray for us as we begin to transition, as well as keep us in your prayers as jump into this work with both feet!

Leadership in the Home

May 25, 2010 in family with 8 Comments

I used to work under the impression that my God-given role gave as a husband and father was tantamount to iron-fist, dictatorial leadership. Obviously, and unfortunately, it manifested itself in the most unhealthy ways. I should have known better. I actually think I did, but I did very little to change it. After all, it was what I thought was expected and I didn’t want people to think I was soft.

Real leadership, though, takes others, especially one’s family, into consideration. Leadership isn’t synonymous with Dictatorship. God wants men to be leaders in the home, not dictators of the home.

This leads to the subject of spirituality. Sadly, it often seems that women are the more spiritual of the two in a lot of family units. My wife for years yearned for me to lead my family in our spiritual walk. It is amazing how easy it is to get wrapped up in others to the neglect of one’s own family. I was willing to try to lead my church in devotions, but not my family. But no more.

Moreover, I have friends who’ve sat in my office crying and wishing the same from their husbands. Ironically, we often don’t lead, not because we don’t necessarily know how, but rather because we are ashamed that we don’t as we should. It’s a trap, one from which we find it difficult to break free.

Below is a song by Sanctus Real that speaks to this very issue. It is an amazing song, with one of the most powerful messages that could be offered to husbands and fathers. It is an acoustic rendition and the singer/writer takes a few moments to elaborate on how the song came into being. If you are like me, or if you are a spouse who wishes for your husband to assume his place in your life, it will resonate with you. So take a deep breath and soak it in.

Simply Amazing…

May 25, 2010 in Youth with 0 Comments

Yesterday, I wrote about the amazing potential in today’s youth. Lo and behold, this morning I read this that validates my thoughts. Simply amazing! Go there and see for yourself!

Doing the Unthinkable

May 24, 2010 in Youth with 4 Comments

He did it. Jordan Romero did it. He climbed Mt. Everest! What’s so significant about Jordan Romero climbing a mountain that many others have already conquered? Jordan Romero is only 13. No, it’s not a typo on my part. He is 13 years old, the youngest person ever to climb to the highest point on the earth.

It was not without controversy, though. Romero’s desire to tackle Everest his first year into his teens launched no small stir in the climbing community. In fact, as this Outside Magazine article reveals, the controversy wasn’t necessarily confined to the climbing community.

People die every year in May as they make ascents into the thin air that hovers at Himalayan peaks like Everest. There was great concern about the outcry that might ensue should something have happened to Romero as he tried. That is completely understandable. Mountain climbing is dangerous any way you look at it. Climbers, whether they are climbing Mount Hood or Mount Everest, are taking a risk. But when there’s 1/3 the oxygen than there is at sea level at the peak, and people’s lives are in jeopardy even though they climb with supplemental oxygen, the dangers are magnified.

But Romero did it. He’s now climbed two (Kilimanjaro & Everest) of the seven summits on his bid of tackling them all. Any way you look at it, it’s impressive beyond belief.

This leads me to the point of this post. I think it might be time that we quit taking for granted this generation that so many look at with skepticism. There are those like Romero who are doing the unthinkable, and that is a good thing.

The tendency is to want to write off the younger generations because TV, video games, and soft parents are creating a worthless generation. But this isn’t necessarily so. Stories like that of Jordan Romero, as well as countless other stories of today’s youth that haven’t made national headlines, are sending ripples into the waters that are our gross over-generalizations of others. I suppose Paul point still rings true: “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12, ESV).

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