Someone told me recently they did not have time for church. An honest answer-- better than lying and telling me they go to church when they don't. And also better than a slammed door or a curse.
I have been thinking about that response-- no time for church. I think I have to agree. I don't have time for church.
But I do have time and make time to worship God.
So, don't go to church. Go to that building where they worship God in singing, praying, offering, and preaching the pure word of God!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Car Free Day
I really like car free days. They should be as simple in Morehead as they were in Lexington, for the most part. You tend to have to drive more in rural areas, but there is a lot downtown, and the church is just a few minutes away by foot. Additionally, I plan to use some of the longer distances I might need to go to stay in shape. Our brutal ride to Annual Conference this year showed me a few things. First, I liked riding the long distance. I was a little afraid I might get off the bike and hate life and decide I was done riding. NO, I really liked it. Sick, I know.
Second, I need work on hills. And boy is this the place for it! Just a ride to the Morgan County line would be a real beast for me right now.
I just did some evangelism visits and made a quick grocery run on the xtracycle:
The xtracycle is an add on to an existing bike. I bought a Diamondback on sale and added the xtracycle with the wideloader platforms. I can carry about 200-250lbs of cargo, and have. Everything from turkeys for the poor to kids to a wheelbarrow. As you can tell, I love my xtracycle!
Are you familiar with Sustainable Morehead? Check out our church's website, www.moreheadmethodistchurch.org Some folks from the church started the organization to promote sustainability in transportation and the food system.
If you're new to this blog, especially because I left a card at your door, welcome! I hope you'll come back frequently and check out the church!
Second, I need work on hills. And boy is this the place for it! Just a ride to the Morgan County line would be a real beast for me right now.
I just did some evangelism visits and made a quick grocery run on the xtracycle:
The xtracycle is an add on to an existing bike. I bought a Diamondback on sale and added the xtracycle with the wideloader platforms. I can carry about 200-250lbs of cargo, and have. Everything from turkeys for the poor to kids to a wheelbarrow. As you can tell, I love my xtracycle!
Are you familiar with Sustainable Morehead? Check out our church's website, www.moreheadmethodistchurch.org Some folks from the church started the organization to promote sustainability in transportation and the food system.
If you're new to this blog, especially because I left a card at your door, welcome! I hope you'll come back frequently and check out the church!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Olney Lullaby, part 2
The second verse:
Let us praise the Lord who bought us,
Pitied us when enemies
Called us by His grace and taught us
Gave us ears and gave us eyes
In some ways, this hymn reminds me of "Amazing Grace," with a kind of journey-- first verse tells us of the purpose of the 10 Commandments, to at once hold out a standard of righteousness and show that we cannot meet that standard. So therefore, God must save us by grace, a free gift.
This second verse begins to talk of the Lord and His mercy, how He simply cannot let us go to the Hell we would create. Christ dies for us while we were powerless, while we were His enemies. Sounds strange for a lullaby, but there is something of the tenderness of a parent for a baby-- helpless, nothing to offer in their own defense, for their own sustenance. It's why we know to call God "Father." That family relationship is critical. We ought not be surprised when the Lord loves us in spite of ourselves, when He calls out to us with salvation while we are still sinners, pouring out love and grace, to lead us into a full, mature life.
This hushes all our loud striving.
Let us praise the Lord who bought us,
Pitied us when enemies
Called us by His grace and taught us
Gave us ears and gave us eyes
In some ways, this hymn reminds me of "Amazing Grace," with a kind of journey-- first verse tells us of the purpose of the 10 Commandments, to at once hold out a standard of righteousness and show that we cannot meet that standard. So therefore, God must save us by grace, a free gift.
This second verse begins to talk of the Lord and His mercy, how He simply cannot let us go to the Hell we would create. Christ dies for us while we were powerless, while we were His enemies. Sounds strange for a lullaby, but there is something of the tenderness of a parent for a baby-- helpless, nothing to offer in their own defense, for their own sustenance. It's why we know to call God "Father." That family relationship is critical. We ought not be surprised when the Lord loves us in spite of ourselves, when He calls out to us with salvation while we are still sinners, pouring out love and grace, to lead us into a full, mature life.
This hushes all our loud striving.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Church Without Jesus
I want to follow up on a tweet I sent out, something like, "the church that can do what it is doing if Jesus never existed will not survive the current American cultural landscape."
That is a twist on something George Hunter has cautioned against, churches that can do evrything they are doing whether there ever was a Jesus.
There may have been a time when a church could just have service and people came bc that's just what you did.
But no more. It's not just that for 50 years Christians did not win their children to faith; we did not win anyone else either. This creates a dangerous illusion: the church still has lots of people we know in it, so there is a false sense of security. Give it 10 more years tho. Those two generations we failed to win-- their absence will be keenly felt.
Here's the issue: church was an entertaining social function. Not to say there was no power or spiritual vitality. But here is how churches do what can be done if Jesus never existed:
You can go anywhere and hear good music.
You can go anywhere and sing songs we all know-- a baseball game is a great example.
We can go to YouTube and see and listen to interesting speeches about being a better "you."
We can give money to any number of charitable concerns.
We can gather in groups to study books.
We can join lots of groups that will have civic service projects.
There is no need to go to church to do or find or experience these things.
So why go to church for such things? Clearly next to no one is going to. The future is bleak for church in America.
Unless...
We commit-- and beware! What the church will become in the future will be committed to doing nothing except what can only be done in Jesus' name under the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
It cannot be about the style of music.
It cannot be about the preacher.
It cannot be about the people who are there.
It must be about praising God.
It must be about preaching the pure Word of God.
It must be about being a disciple of Jesus and obeying His great commission.
The church must have a desperate desire for souls. Our hearts must be broken so that we will pour our time and money and effort into seeking those who do not know Jesus, and offering forgiveness of sins and newness of life in His name.
The crucial question, issue: will we do this before we have to? Will we do it before it is such a drastic change that many will perish and return to slavery rather go where the Spirit leads?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
That is a twist on something George Hunter has cautioned against, churches that can do evrything they are doing whether there ever was a Jesus.
There may have been a time when a church could just have service and people came bc that's just what you did.
But no more. It's not just that for 50 years Christians did not win their children to faith; we did not win anyone else either. This creates a dangerous illusion: the church still has lots of people we know in it, so there is a false sense of security. Give it 10 more years tho. Those two generations we failed to win-- their absence will be keenly felt.
Here's the issue: church was an entertaining social function. Not to say there was no power or spiritual vitality. But here is how churches do what can be done if Jesus never existed:
You can go anywhere and hear good music.
You can go anywhere and sing songs we all know-- a baseball game is a great example.
We can go to YouTube and see and listen to interesting speeches about being a better "you."
We can give money to any number of charitable concerns.
We can gather in groups to study books.
We can join lots of groups that will have civic service projects.
There is no need to go to church to do or find or experience these things.
So why go to church for such things? Clearly next to no one is going to. The future is bleak for church in America.
Unless...
We commit-- and beware! What the church will become in the future will be committed to doing nothing except what can only be done in Jesus' name under the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
It cannot be about the style of music.
It cannot be about the preacher.
It cannot be about the people who are there.
It must be about praising God.
It must be about preaching the pure Word of God.
It must be about being a disciple of Jesus and obeying His great commission.
The church must have a desperate desire for souls. Our hearts must be broken so that we will pour our time and money and effort into seeking those who do not know Jesus, and offering forgiveness of sins and newness of life in His name.
The crucial question, issue: will we do this before we have to? Will we do it before it is such a drastic change that many will perish and return to slavery rather go where the Spirit leads?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, July 15, 2011
Thoughts from my friend Theo
Hi Aaron
some thoughts that I wrote to a Missiologist/Missionary Professor friend off ours who has too many immature churches with too few pastors in his region. This grew historically so skew because westerners pumped in money without developing the indigenous people in their church stewardship.
Anyway, we know about the early church growing very fast but having the benefit of evangelizing among Jewish people who were already used to tithing and to religious leadership. However, further growth in outlying areas such as Greece, Roman Empire, Germania and Scandinavia must also have grown quickly. Can we learn from what happened during the Reformation and the Great Awakening itself?
All of this brings up the question, are we really ready for a revival? We pray for it but do we have a mechanism in place to absorb and feed the multitudes of immature Christians. What if the Spirit would move the people of an entire country to repentance? We assume He would also supply the tools. Or would He wait til we show a willingness to be ready. Perhaps Christ is calling the Church to make better preparations before He will poor out His Spirit. Perhaps we corporately don't even know what to do because we have been so focused on feeding ourselves. We have forgotten the Great Commission and staying largely in beautiful church buildings with well-paid pastors. How much of a building does one really need, how much maturity of a congregation does one need to be able to replicate, are elders able to feed and safeguard the flock while only seeing a preacher/pastor once in a while? Do we need more itinerant preachers, circuit riders?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
some thoughts that I wrote to a Missiologist/Missionary Professor friend off ours who has too many immature churches with too few pastors in his region. This grew historically so skew because westerners pumped in money without developing the indigenous people in their church stewardship.
Anyway, we know about the early church growing very fast but having the benefit of evangelizing among Jewish people who were already used to tithing and to religious leadership. However, further growth in outlying areas such as Greece, Roman Empire, Germania and Scandinavia must also have grown quickly. Can we learn from what happened during the Reformation and the Great Awakening itself?
All of this brings up the question, are we really ready for a revival? We pray for it but do we have a mechanism in place to absorb and feed the multitudes of immature Christians. What if the Spirit would move the people of an entire country to repentance? We assume He would also supply the tools. Or would He wait til we show a willingness to be ready. Perhaps Christ is calling the Church to make better preparations before He will poor out His Spirit. Perhaps we corporately don't even know what to do because we have been so focused on feeding ourselves. We have forgotten the Great Commission and staying largely in beautiful church buildings with well-paid pastors. How much of a building does one really need, how much maturity of a congregation does one need to be able to replicate, are elders able to feed and safeguard the flock while only seeing a preacher/pastor once in a while? Do we need more itinerant preachers, circuit riders?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, July 14, 2011
So a member of my Staff-Parish Relations Committee comes in to a meeting and asks if I got my tape?
I looked puzzled and he said, "The clerk at the post office saw me and said, 'your pastor bought this roll of tape and forgot to take it with him..."
I had been at the post office with Kulothungan, sending a package to India, and in the confusion of customs forms and getting the weight down... Talk about customer service, tho!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I looked puzzled and he said, "The clerk at the post office saw me and said, 'your pastor bought this roll of tape and forgot to take it with him..."
I had been at the post office with Kulothungan, sending a package to India, and in the confusion of customs forms and getting the weight down... Talk about customer service, tho!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Morehead
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
And I Always Thought It Would Be A Pimp That Got Me
Back in high school, my friend Ching Cruz wrote in my yearbook: "You have a quick mouth. One day it's gonna get you hurt real bad." In the movie they make of my life, ZZ Top's "Under Pressure" will be playing during that scene.
I wear a clerical collar for a variety of reasons, but the first is because one day I went to visit one of my toughest parishioners. Tough as in mostly the life he had led, did lead. The first time i met him he was renting a bathtub in a house so he would have a place to sleep. Once we cranked up the Monday Night Service, Billy started coming. Got to know his story, like how on his birthday two years ago he passed a milestone: he had finally been out of prison for more time than he had been in...
Well, I asked if I could come see him and he gave me an address on Upper Street, north of 7th, a tough street, no doubt.
I did not remember that he had also told me that sometimes pimps and dealers take over his house, kick him out and then sell drugs and women. It's a lot easier than having your own house, apparently. Pimpin' ain't easy.
Well, I go to visit Billy and three dudes come off the porch next door and head right to me. You don't have to be a genius to know that a beat down is coming. Luckily Billy had been exiled to a back room and he stuck his head out and hollered, "Hey! Hey! It's the preacher!" So they left me alone, and even let me come in to the house. NOte: the next time I came back I was able to share the Gospel and pass out some tracts, and a playa in a big brightly colored car took some, saying he was not ready but maybe some guys he knew... how weird.
Anyway, I always figured if I was going to be beat up it was going to be by one of those dudes. Or my neighbors. Come to think of it, that list could get LOOOOONG....
So imagine my surprise when on Twitter, after posting about evangelistic techniques that I think we Americans could learn from our Indian brothers and sisters, a thread was started that began with being told I better not set foot in India!
I wear a clerical collar for a variety of reasons, but the first is because one day I went to visit one of my toughest parishioners. Tough as in mostly the life he had led, did lead. The first time i met him he was renting a bathtub in a house so he would have a place to sleep. Once we cranked up the Monday Night Service, Billy started coming. Got to know his story, like how on his birthday two years ago he passed a milestone: he had finally been out of prison for more time than he had been in...
Well, I asked if I could come see him and he gave me an address on Upper Street, north of 7th, a tough street, no doubt.
I did not remember that he had also told me that sometimes pimps and dealers take over his house, kick him out and then sell drugs and women. It's a lot easier than having your own house, apparently. Pimpin' ain't easy.
Well, I go to visit Billy and three dudes come off the porch next door and head right to me. You don't have to be a genius to know that a beat down is coming. Luckily Billy had been exiled to a back room and he stuck his head out and hollered, "Hey! Hey! It's the preacher!" So they left me alone, and even let me come in to the house. NOte: the next time I came back I was able to share the Gospel and pass out some tracts, and a playa in a big brightly colored car took some, saying he was not ready but maybe some guys he knew... how weird.
Anyway, I always figured if I was going to be beat up it was going to be by one of those dudes. Or my neighbors. Come to think of it, that list could get LOOOOONG....
So imagine my surprise when on Twitter, after posting about evangelistic techniques that I think we Americans could learn from our Indian brothers and sisters, a thread was started that began with being told I better not set foot in India!
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