World Changers Biloxi, MS: Day 2: How passionate are you about the Holiness of God?

Sunday was the typical chaotic World Changers Sunday. Kids wake up to find out their crews then meet the people they will be working with all week, then head off their “host” church for services. After lunch they pray walk around their neighborhood and try to meet some of the locals and let them know what they will be doing all week in the area.

Jordan Davis (FBC Fairfield, TX) and some local kids help paint on a house at World Changers Biloxi, MS

Looking back over Sunday night’s service (which I like to digest everything before writing), there was definitely a strong sense of the Spirit moving and working. Saturday was good and Monday as well, but Sunday just seemed that the students were really in-tune with the Spirit’s work in their lives.

The question for Sunday’s service was “How passionate are you for the holiness of God?”

This question has been following me around the past few weeks. When I started studying for this series of sermons, I couldn’t help but evaluate my own life… I mean, you have to. You can’t just deal with God’s holiness and walk away. You can’t study texts that scream as to his “otherly-ness” and not be changed and challenged and prodded.

So with each message this week, I have had some struggles. It’s not that I can just stand up and preach and not even “hear” what I’m saying. Every message and every time I approach God’s Word and I have to let God deal with me first. But this thought of God’s holiness has just been even more difficult.

My preaching this week has been a little different than at other times. There’s been little to no illustrations. There has only been one story I’ve told (last night) and very little humor. God’s been working on me so much this week to just let HIS WORD stand alone. I don’t have to add to it. I simply need to attempt to shed light on it and allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate the hearts of the listeners.

Yes, I know… this should be every time we open God’s Word. But it is a incredibly tricky balancing act, especially with students. You want to connect on “their level” without compromising the integrity of the Word. You want to be Christ-exalting AND not boring. You want to be “relevant” without being “ridiculous”. You want to help them breathe, smell, taste, see, sense, touch what God’s saying, but without manipulation or making things up.

Balancing act.

So Sunday night we dealt with Isaiah seeing the holiness of God in Isaiah 6. Isaiah saw God CLEARLY sitting on his throne (authority… in control), lofty/exalted (supreme), train of his robe filled the temple (all-encompassing).

I was reminded that the Isaiah didn’t just get a small gimpse of God’s holiness… he got more than he could handle. God’s holiness is intimately tied to His power, His supremacy and authority. God cannot be “holy, holy, holy” without having all things fall under his supremacy.

Once we see the Holiness of God clearly, we must have the same passion for His Holiness as He does. Jesus put this on display throughout Scripture, but specifically in Mark 11.

What an interesting passion, but so full of truth. Christ curses the fig tree as an illustration for the disciples to see.

There’s so many interpretations of this weird passage, but I can’t help but to think that (at least in Mark’s case) it is directly tied to the cleansing of the Temple.

Jesus’ words hit like a truck. After turning over tables we find Him quoting from Jeremiah 7 and Isaiah 56.

Jesus never minced words. Jesus knew exactly what He was saying.

Both passages he quotes from deal with “foreigners” and the “outcasts” being able to worship God.

Yes there was corruption among those exchanging money (a process that had to happen in order to pay the Temple tax). Yes there were people jacking up the prices on doves that suppressed the poor in their attempt to worship.

But above all of that, I truly believe after reading this text again, that Jesus is more upset at the LOCATION of these practices. These marketpeople had set up shop in the Courtyard of the Gentiles. This is the only place where those of the “not chosen” race were able to worship God. The practices of the “chosen” were hindering the worship of the very ones they to whom they were designed to be showing the Holiness of God.

This is why Jesus curse the fig tree. Not because “it wasn’t the season for figs”. The tree got cursed because he had outward appearance (green leaves) but did not have the “pre-fig” almond-like substance that normally grew about 6-8 weeks before the season for figs. It had an appearance of beign fruitful, but it lied.

The children of Israel were doing the same thing in the Temple.

Go back and read the passages that Jesus quotes. Jeremiah doesn’t play around having stood in the Temple gate 600 years earlier and declaring the people must repent of their ways! They kept coming to worship at the Temple without ever changing their evil practices. They thought God would never allow them to suffer because they were His chosen people. Roughly 40 years after the prophecy of Jeremiah… Jerusalem fell.

Christ meant the same thing. The Jews had no concern for the worship of the Gentiles and Christ was issuing a whole new way to reach the Father. No need for ceremonial sacrifices. He would be the ONLY sacrifice. He would be the Savior for ALL nations… not just Israel.

The Isaiah passage is even more intense. Isaiah talks about God’s provision for the outcast an foreigner who comes to Him. How He will set up a memorial for those who worship Him.

This is why just was upset. The holiness of the Father was being disregarded by the actions of the market-sellers.

The Gentiles were unable to see the holiness of God in the lives of God’s chosen people.

Consider Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17:

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 16 “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.”

If we are the Temple… then what are we doing to put the Holiness of God on display within our lives?

Can this be said about God’s “chosen people” today? That our practices de-value the holiness of God?

Maybe we are fig trees with green leaves, but no “TAQSH” (the pre-fig)? Perhaps we are trying to carry on as fruitful, but there’s no fruit coming? Maybe our routine and tradition is blocking the nonbeliever from seeing the Holiness of God?

Maybe there’s not PERSONAL holiness in our lives to even reflect the Holiness of God.

So the question still is: How passionate are you about the Holiness of God?

If we are passionate to put the holiness of God on display in our lives, then we must strive to allow God to continue to mold us into the image of Christ on a daily basis.

Personal holiness is the greatest showcase for the Holiness of God!

World Changers Biloxi, MS: Day 1

No rest for the weary. After finishing up ABC Children’s Missions Camp Friday, I drove home for the night to turn

Opening Celebration singing "Brother, Friend!"

around and start another camp. It was wonderful to be at home, even though we went to a dinner for the outgoing 4th year medical residents. So, technically, we weren’t really “at home” for very long. Regardless, Tamara and I got all dressed up and were able to enjoy a nice (free) dinner and hang out with some of her fellow residents and think about the greatly-anticipated night in two years when she will finally be done with residency. My wife is simply amazing… I’m already so proud of her for finishing two years of residency, passing her major exams and being officially licensed to practice medicine. I definitely married up!

Sleeping in my own bed was definitely a welcomed treat since I’m back on an air mattress. I never knew I could miss a bed so much as I do now.

I left Saturday morning around 10 AM and drove the 5 and half hours or so to Biloxi, MS where one of the 60+ projects is taking place. We are staying at small church called WoolMarket Baptist and there’s about 215 participants here. Several of the groups had crazy mad trouble with their vans on their way to the project, including my dear friends from FBC Fairfield, TX who were at my Jackon, Michigan project last year.

Saturday and Sunday have run relatively smoothly. Besides a few church vans breaking down (which is normal), the A/C having difficulty at times in a few of the rooms (normal) and a few spacing issues there’s not been too many major issues (**cross my fingers**).

Our theme this year is HOLINESS: Set apart for God’s glory. We are digging into Isaiah’s vision of the Lord in Isaiah chapter six. I have gone a little different route (normal) than what our guide has suggested to us.

Saturday night we walked through 1 Peter chapter 2 looking at how as belivers we are a “chosen race”, a “royal priesthood”, a “holy nation”, and God’s “treasured possesion”. We dug through these Old Testament passages that Peter quotes and answered the questions: What does it mean to be holy?

As I have prepared for these first two lessons, God has been re-working some issues in my own life reminding of the calling that I have to be “set apart” for his glory.

We looked at three major questions as our talking points:

1.) How can we even be holy? 2.) How do we live a holy life? 3.)Why should we be holy?

I challenged the students (and adults) to realize that Holiness is not something that we do naturally, but a super-natural work God does in our lives. The passage Peter quotes in Deuteronomy 7:6-8 and Exodus 19:1-6 is a reminder that God has chosen for us to live these holy lives. We do not deserve it. But out of his love and covenant relationship with us He allows to grow more like Christ.

Piper says, “Practical holiness is a gift from God, not merely a human accomplishment.”

Although it’s work that God does in us through His Spirit, we participate in this work. Peter goes on to say very broadly but clearly that the believers sould “abstain from fleshly lusts” (vs. 11) and have “excellent behavior” (vs. 12). Later he says that the believers should live as free (wo)men but not use that as an excuse to keep on sinning.

Paul wrote that we have not been called to lives of impurity but to “be holy” (1 Thesalonians 4:1-8).

While it’s God’s work that makes us holy, we participate by living a life that

Most importantly, though, is the reason WHY we are to be holy. God’s command in Leviticus 11:44-45 is to “Consecrate” ourselves and “be holy, for I am Holy”. If that’s not enough reason to be Holy (simple obedience to Almigthy God), Peter shares that the reason God has chosen us, called us out, set us apart is  “so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous Light”!

What an amazing statement. The reason God has chosen us to be able to even be holy is so that in our lives He is glorified. It blows my mind that God has “lavished” his love on us so that we are able to fulfill our intended purpose which is to bring Him glory!

I challenged the students to consider what their lives are proclaiming.

Whose excellencies are being shouted loudly from the actions of their own lives?

Are people being drawn from the darkness into the marvelous light because they see the holiness of God in our own lives?

In verse 12, Peter reminds the beleivers again WHY they are to live holy lives and WHY God has chosen them for this task…. so that the Gentiles (unbelievers today) will be able to see the good deeds of the believers and GLORIFY GOD!

Holiness is not just a possibility for the believer, it is a necessity.

What is your life screaming out to all the world?

Up next: “How passionate are you about the holiness of God?”

ABC Missions Camp: 150 children… 104 degree heat= FUN!

This week I’m in Eunice, Louisiana at Acadian Baptist Center for the annual Children’s Missions Camp. This year is my fifth year at ABC working with some of my good friends Danielle and Josh Johnson who organize the camp.

Morning celebration: Dancing to "Shine"

For those of you unsure of where Eunice is… well, you aren’t alone. But Eunice is about 30 minutes from Lafayette, and the actual ABC camp is located further out of town. You literally HAVE to be going to ABC to pass by it.

This year we have alot of the same churches as in years past with a handful of new ones. In the last three years the camp has steadily grown to over 250-300 children. Although numbers are down this year, the energy of the kids is phenonemal.

The schedule for the week involves opening celebration, bible study, a missions study in the mornings and then recreation/free time in the afternoon. The students get to learn about various missionaries across the world during a portion of their Bible study time. During their missions study, the camp brings in lay people (many locals) who have recently gone on some form of a mission trip. The students get to see pictures and hear about what God is doing in other places across the world. I’ve served in the role as “missions speaker” in the past. Fortunately, this year, the kids have been able to interact with a variety of men and women who have traveled all across the world sharing Christ.

Our theme this year is “Inside-Out” and I’ve been challenging the students to embrace the change that Christ can make in them. On Monday night I spoke from Matthew 7 as Jesus was reminding everyone to be careful about “wolves in sheep’s clothing”. We talked about how good trees produce good fruit and vice versa. I challenged them to see if their lives are producing “good fruits” or not since this is how Jesus says we will know if we are following Him.

On Tuesday I shared the story of Saul from Acts 9 and the dramatic “inside-out” change that Christ did in his life. We looked at pictures of butterflies and transformers (for the guys, of course) and talked about how they may not look like much, but they are TRANSFORMED into something incredible. I encouraged the kids to see how God does the same thing in our life. People may not think we are much of anything. Even some of these students (ages 6-17) may feel inadequate. But my goal was for them to see that God can transform their lives into something special as well!

Boys vs. Girls Challenge: How many fruit loops can you get stuck on the shaving cream beard?

Last night we looked at HOW God changes us. We studied through Romans 12 and Colossians 3. I used about 10 kids as props for the sermon. I gave some of the children a sheet of paper with words like: lust, malice, rage, anger, hatred, evil desires, greed. I gave several others some sheets with the words: love, humility, compassion, gentleness, forgiveness, and love.

I had one student hold up a sign that said: “Holy Spirit, Word of God = PEACE”. This student represented a new believer. Someone who has surrendered their life to Chris is indwelt with the Spirit and should be filled with the Word of God.

Colossians 3 tells us to “set our minds on things above”; “we are hidden with Christ in God”; we are “to put off the old self” and “put on the new”. This was our preface into looking out HOW God changes us.

Colossians 3:15-16   Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.  16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

Following this text, I shared how the word “RULE” means to be an umpire. So when we come to know Christ, His Word, and are filled with the Spirit, then we have a PEACE that can discern what needs to be IN and OUT of our lives.

I had all of the kids with the “bad” signs (lust, greed, etc) to surround the kid holding up the Holy spirits/Word of God/Peace sign. I showed them that our role in God’s transforming process is to listen to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God which will direct us to GET RID of all these “bad” characteristics/actions. One by one I had the “Holy Spirit” kid push the other kids away and back to their seats.

Then, looking at Colossians 3:12, I explained that the Bible teaches us to “put on” or wear like a coat EVERYDAY these other characteristics. So I instructed all of the “good” characteristics to surround the new believer. We discussed how THIS is what it looks like when God is changing us from the Inside-Out… because our inside is now focused on Christ and His Word…. the outside actions follow.

It was a fun illustration that really drove the point home (at least for me!). I ended by sharing the fruits of the Spirit and how our role is to put ourselves in a position to “look more like Jesus”. You start acting like the people you spend the most time with… so we should try to get to know Christ more each day.

Tonight I’ll give a basic Gospel presentation on why we need to be changed by God and how WE can’t do it.

It’s been a fun, tiring week. I’m leading worship too… which always drains my voice, since I can’t seem to sing softly at all. Not to mention the 100 degree temperature hasn’t helped at all.

I leave tomorrow morning and will come back to Shreveport for the night… then leave Saturday morning for Biloxi, MS and a World Changers project. Looking forward to the week there, although I will get less sleep than I am now 🙂

Definitely can’t wait for two weeks from now when I don’t have any camp and can take a short break.

I can’t believe this is camp #4 already coming to a close, with 5 more to go and the medical mission trip/children’s seminar in Nicaragua. Life is busy, but life is good.

Keep Tamara in your prayers as she starts her first week as a 3rd year resident next week. Keep praying that my voice holds up and for traveling mercies the whole summer.

Gotta run… I’ve been challenged to a basketball re-match by some of the 7th graders… gotta love children’s camp!

PowerPlant Sioux Falls, SD: What I’ve Learned

This past week was my second experience with PowerPlant, an initiative of the North American Mission Board to connect youth groups with new church plants throughout the country. The goal is for the student ministries to help serve the church plants as they reach out to their community and also teach the students the importance of planting churches.

Me standing in front of the Falls

The more I am around the “PowerPlant” effort the more I am persuaded as to its importance in the biblical training of the next generation. The statistics (which are all over the place) suggest that planting or RE-planting a church is the most effective way to reach people. Our project coordinator, Nate Ray, is a young church planter who has helped launch a college student church on the campus of the University of Minnesota called Jacob’s Well. Nate cited the stats that in new churches (ages 1-3 years) for every 100 believers the new church is able to reach 10 new believers as opposed to 100 people in a church 15 years or older reaching only 1 person. The conclusion: A more group-specific, church plant may be the more effective way of reaching people for Christ.

This doesn’t mean that we neglect others (an older generation, certian races, etc). It simply means that the most effective means of MAKING DISCIPLES is  NOT to lead people to Christ THEN group them up; but, rather see where they are already grouped up and then lead them to a life-centered in Christ.

The week was amazing. I can’t say enough about the four churches and the 53 participants (students and adults). I love small projects because you get to hear more personal stories and really get to know the students who are there. The groups were unique (one group was all girls with one guy and another group had all junior high students) but each one maintained such positive and Christ-like attitudes throughout the week, despite changes in plans because of weather.

All groups attended a ministry called “Set Free” on Saturday night (before I got there), which was created as a church for the “oppressed, depressed, addicted and convicted”. The pastor (Al) is a former convict who is now actively serving Christ and reaching others who came from similar situations. The church is self-proclaimed “Not your mama’s church”, since they primarily look to reach out to those who are leaving the prison systems, overcoming addictions, and have been overlooked by the more traditional churches. This is the body of Christ in action.

When Paul was writing about being all things to all people… I truly believe he wasn’t intending for us to feel as though WE are the ONLY ones who can reach EVERYONE in the most effective ways. He was reminding us of the need to reach out to all people. However, even in the cases of the disciples we read about certain ones sent to specific groups and ministering to those specific people. This doesn’t mean we neglect people we don’t feel we have a common ground with. It just seems obvious to me that no matter how much I am passionate about Nicaragua and its residents, I may not be the person who can most effectively reach them! A native would be the best option. Does this mean I stop working in other countries or with different people groups? Absolutely not. On the contrary, Tamara and I will be going down to Nicaragua in August to run medical mission clinics. While there I will also be teaching a seminar for some of the Sunday School teachers as to how to teach more creatively for their children’s ministries.

I am be going off on a tangent, but this is what God has taught me this past week.

The students at PowerPlant did lots of surveying of the communities, block parties, sports camps… all in an effort of meeting new people and helping connect them to the local church plant. The work was done with such excitement that you couldn’t help but love being around these groups. Even when there weren’t hoards of children attending their “camps” or backyard Bible clubs, these students continued to show the love of Christ to whomever was around.

This is the church in action.

I can’t wait to hear how these churches have put  their experience into action in their local communities in Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Texas.

How can we be more effective in making disciples in our own location? Maybe your congregation needs to consider “planting” a new church to reach a certain group of individuals. Maybe it begins now. Maybe it begins with you and me.

Almost home

Sitting on the plane in Atlanta. Only 1 hour and 20 minutes from my beautiful wife!

The last three days of PowerPlant were amazing. I will share a few stories tomorrow once I can digest the while week and have a few hours of rest.

Big shout out to the PowerPlant staff- Nate, Tommy, Kyle, Jancy and Caroline- who did an incredible job and to our national staffer- Allison- who gave us all the chance to serve.

Time to turn off all electronics… Ha! Gotta run.

Almost home. Woohoo!

A response to a lack of passion for the lost…

This week at Sioux Falls, SD PowerPlant project has been another great  reminder of the urgency we need to have in guiding others to a life-centered in Christ. These students have been going out each day and just meeting people in the community, showing them love, inviting them to block parties, etc.

In our evangelism training this morning both Nate (the church planter) and I challenged the students to stop inviting people to join them AT church and start BEING the church out in the world. I asked the students to consider doing some of their “church” activities in another location (off-campus) and simply inviting friends to join them. This could be playstation, sports, dinner… anything… and it doesn’t have to include some “message” at the end of the night.

Sometimes I think we believe that every time believers get together we have to have a Bible study break out. The truth is: when believers are in genuine community together, living out the love of Christ, then Christ will come up in conversation without some contrived Bible study. More importantly, unbelievers won’t be “freaked out” by the Bible-toting Christians in some bait-and-switch scheme. You know how it goes. We mask our purpose with “Come to our church to play games…” and then drop a Bible study on them and catch them totally off guard. I’ve done this plenty of times.

We have to present the Truth. We must introduce them to the life-changing power of the Word. But we also must earn that right to present the Truth to them. What genuine impact do we really have by only preaching and never showing practical love. The reverse is true. There must be balance. For those who say, “Just love them to Jesus”… true… to a point. And to those who say, “Just preach hard… and they will repent”… true… to a point.

Do they have to be mutually exclusive?

Can’t they work together? Don’t they have to work together? Is this not the complete picture of how Christ interacted with others?

In response to the idea that only some are “called” to missions, William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army had these powerful words to say:

Not called!” did you say? “Not heard the call,” I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him  whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.

Your thoughts?

Atheist: A better understanding of the urgency of evangelism?

Please watch Penn from the “Penn and Teller” Show discuss his encounter with a believer who presented him with a Bible after one of his shows.

The line to listen for is this: “How much do you have to hate someone to NOT proselytize them?”

penn on bible from cedarcreek.tv production on Vimeo.

Think about it. He’s dead on.

That’s literally what we are saying to people to whom we do not share the Gospel. There’s a big difference between “cramming it down their throats” and loving people enough to share with them the greatest news of all!

Why is that a proclaimed atheist has a better understanding the majority of believers as to the urgency of the mission of Christ to make disciples?

Word for the day, week, life: Flexitive (Positive Flexibility)

Our coordinator and all-around cool guy, Nate Ray introduced me to this phrase yesterday:

PowerPlant Sioux Falls, SD

We have already had some crazy schedule changes this week, had a group get lost prayer-walking, and now it’s been raining today which canceled some ministry sites. Sometimes I just want to say, “What’s next?”. The attitude of our groups has been amazing though. They have embraced being FLEXITIVE:  This idea of being flexible and positive has been at the forefront of everything we have said and done. This has been and will continue to be our prayer for this week.

God is definitely at work and I refuse to allow myself to be distracted by these temporary changes.

Lost my luggage… what will my attitude be?

Schedule conflicts… how will I respond?

Disappointment…what’s my reaction?

Nate Ray and Kyle Worsham get ready for Concert of Prayer Monday night

The way Power Plant works is that students work together as a youth group alongside church plant ministries in order to reach the community for Christ. Some students are doing backyard bible clubs, balloon ministry, sports clinics… you name it, it’s being done. The goal is to meet new people try to connect them to Christ and then connect them to one of the local church plants.

My role is as Evangelism Speaker. I have the amazing privilege of training the students and their leaders with some basic tools and Scriptural encouragement for guiding others to life in Christ.  Using Scripture, we focus on the mission Christ has given us as believers and what this looks like this week in Sioux Falls and in their hometown. We want the students to catch a vision for reaching out to their community at home and help equip them to make this come to life.

My first two sessions of Evangelism Training (one last night and one this morning) have gone really well. The students (although tired) have really been alert and have interacted with our discussions.

Our curriculum was written by the guys at Wayfarer Ministries and it’s top notch quality. Our theme is “Organic” and we’re relating evangelism to the basic “elements” of Greek thinking back in the day. Each session focuses on one these basic elements: Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind.

For the theme of AIR (last night) we walked through Acts chapter one. Christ told the disicples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit and how they would receive power to be His witnesses. We spent time identifying our own Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and ends of the earth… not just geographically, but emotionally and spiritually. There can be people in our town that we would never find ourselves spending time with or a group of people that we do not get along with… this can be our Samaria… in our back yard!

More interestingly though was the response of the disciples as Christ ascended to Heaven. The Scripture says that they were staring intently into the sky when the men in white told them stop looking… I reminded the students that this is how we approach serving others and evangelism too many times. We hear the call of God (go to Jerusalem and wait) and we wind up trying to figure everything out. When in reality, it’s time to act on what Christ has commanded. It was a divine moment. We have to be able to see these moments when Heaven and Earth collide… where the Spirit is at work and God has placed us in the position to influence someone for Christ… we can’t stand staring at the sky… we must move, act, walk, share, obey.

Today we disected Acts chapter 2 as we focused on the coming of the Holy Spirit and the element of fire.

My desire today was to help students realize that the Holy Spirit is the fuel that allows the fire of the Gospel to spread. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells within each of us. We don’t have to worry about doing “evangelism right”… our job is to be obedient. To tell the Good News. The Holy Spirit will take care of the rest. We must sense where God is at work (through listening in prayer, seeing the stories of others, remembering what He has done in the past) and then join Him.

God has revealed Himself by fire in so many ways: He spoke to Moses in the burning bush, led the children of Israel by a pillar of fire, consumed the offering by fire on Mt. Carmel for Elijah and the Spirit came as tongues of fire at Pentecost.

In his book The Unstoppable Force, Erwin McManus compares our view of God with fire:

“Sometimes we forget that God is fire. We confuse Him with fireplaces and fireworks. We tend to think of him as a fireplace when we make God too much our friend, as if he were a peer. We sometimes conlude that God is our copilot helping us along the way while we remain the pilot. This is the kind of fire that warms you and keep you comfortable, while at the same reamaining a safe distance away. The fireplace is contained and controlled. But a God-like fire is  much different. Sometimes we see God too much as fireworkds: the ecstatic experience of shallow celebration or worship that takes us high but leaves us low. it is the firewoks of praising God on Sunday and forsaking him on Monday. The fireplace and the fireworks each create an illusion of the fire.”

I don’t want to treat God like a fireplace or fireworks.

I don’t want to be a fireplace.

I don’t just want for  “my little light to shine”.

I want my passion and love for Christ to be a raging wildfire.

I want the love of Christ bubbling up inside of me so much that it overflows to those around me.  Untamed. Uncontrolled. Contagious. Consuming. Attracting.

God is the all-consuming fire… does He desire any less for His children? Should our love be any different?

It’s our turn to let the fire burn!

The Loneliest Feeling in the World

I have discovered the absolute loneliest feeling in the world:

No cell phone service. No one at the airport to pick you up. No luggage. And only 3 people in the whole airport including you and the security guard.

This was my scenario at 11:30 PM last night as I sat outside the Sioux Falls, SD airport.

I was exhausted when I got off the plane (since the 6 Russian around me would not stop talking nor would they use their “inside voices” at all) only to wait for my luggage that never showed. Once I tracked down the only person I saw for the first 5 minutes, I went to the ticket counter and the man could not even find my luggage in the system as being “lost”, “displaced”, “dead”. Then he asked me where I was staying so they could deliver it once they found it. I had to tell him, “I have no idea”. I didn’t. All I have known was that I was doing PowerPlant, staying at a church somewhere in Sioux Falls, SD… that’s it. He looked at me with a blank look. All of this is happening as I’m trying to get cell phone service. Apparently AT&T needs to check into expanding their “network”. This is twice in two weeks where I have no service.

But anyway… after I made the luggage claim, I tracked down a young guy waiting on his grandmother’s flight to come in and borrowed his cell phone. I called my Project Coordinator (Nate… really great guy) and he told me that my friend Allison (Our national staff person) was on her way to pick me up.

I only waited about 5 minutes.

But I can honestly say that those were some of the loneliest minutes I have ever felt in my life.

It is different being in a different country where you don’t speak the language and feel isolated. It’s also different when you choose to isolate yourself. However, when it’s neither one of those situations, you just feel helpless and lonely.

As of five minutes ago, my luggage status is still “pending” and there’s no one answering the phone (of course!).

This morning I feel like I got hit by a truck. A really big truck at a high rate of speed. I probably did not get to sleep until after 2 AM and was awakened by several people outside the staff room talking about BACON. Not even in the funny Jim Gaffigan way… that would have been half-way acceptable… but this was just random loud talking.

I say all of this to say: God must be wanting to do a tremendous work IN and THROUGH me this week for all of these things to be coming against me. No, I don’t think Satan lost my luggage (however, one of the flight attendants strucka  strong resemblance … another story). No, I don’t think the world is against me.

My prayer last night was simply that God would protect me from bitterness and allow me to focus on the task at hand.  Please pray for the same.

I do believe, however, that the enemy is trying to distract me, make me throw a pity party, get bitter, angry or anything else that would not bring God glory.

He will not have a foothold…. not this week.

I expect great things.

Finally home… gone again… home again?

Right now I should be on a flight to Sioux Falls, SD for a PowerPlant project, but unfortunately my first flight was

Me and the Band, Burgundy Road

canceled. Luckily, after much discussion (and the counter people telling me the next flight is tomorrow) I was able to get on a later flight (3:45 PM) that gets me into Sioux Falls at 11:15 PM rather than 8:15 PM. But it gets me there tonight. (whew!)

It’s been great to be home for a day and half. Yesterday I slept in late, ran lots of errands, then worked in the yard–which was in desperate need of attention.

As much as I love traveling and doing what I do, it’s definitely different being married and having to leave my wife… the only negative part of being gone.

The final night of Mission Atlanta went great as expected. The Spirit was strong in our service and it was the best possible way to finish out the week.

I challenged the students to make “Mission Atlanta” a way of life and not just a week long experience. We studied the “Attitude of Servitude” as seen with Christ in the feeding of the 5,000 (Mark 6) and the four friends of the paralytic man (Mark 2). My goal was to push the students to understand that in order to LIVE LOVE on a daily basis it has got to become an intentional lifestyle change.

Some of the characteristics we must embrace are:

1. We must see people the way Jesus does.
(Jesus felt compassion… he gave His time, energy, and effort, even though they were headed for “vacation”.)

2. We must offer real solutions to real needs.
(The people were in need of food and the disciples wanted Jesus to send them away to get food. Jesus gave them the opportunity to play a role in the great miracle… and commanded them- “You give them something eat!”)

3. God can do more with a little fully surrendered than all the resources in the world left to our own strength.
(The disciples only found a few fish sticks and some dinner rolls… but Christ can use anything for his glory! He BLESSED, BROKE and DISTRIBUTED the food. May this be the cry of the Christian: Since we are BLESSED, our pray should be for God to take all of who we are and have and BREAK it and DISTRIBUTE it to those in need around us).

4. We cannot OUT-give God.
(There were 12 baskets leftover. All the people ate and were satisfied. It wasn’t a half-way miracle. I suspect that the 12 baskets went home with each disciple. The point could easily be made that if this is true–only speculation–then those who were willing to be obedient to the command of Christ were able to not only eat and be satisfied, but were able to be a blessing to others. Maybe they took the food home and thus able to support those closest to them. What an amazing thought… you cannot out-give God).

In Mark 2, the story of the four friends who brought the paralytic man to Jesus is inspiring and challenges us with this question: WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DO TO BRING YOUR FRIENDS TO JESUS?

1. The men felt compassion and took a risk.
(Who knows how many times they had taken care of the needs of this man? Who knows how difficult it was to carry this man to the house where Jesus was? It was dangerous and risky!)

2. The friends didn’t let obstacles stop them.
(Even though the house was full, they got creative. Consider the difficulty of climbing onto the top of the house, pulling off parts of the roof and lowering the man down in front of Jesus… IN THE MIDDLE OF DINNER!)

3. Christ honored their faith.
(Because of the willingness of the friends, the paralytic man was not only healed physically, but also spiritually!)

4. When we are obedient, God works miracles and the world is amazed (The people were baffled at what had happened. May it be said of us that when we LIVE LOVE sacrificially and God does great things, that those around us will glorify God and say, “We’ve never seen this done before!”

That’s what I pray for my life. That’s what I hope for this country. That the world will see the love of Christ through me that they will glorify God and see that nothing like this has never been done before!

Thanks to Dan Bellamy and FBC Atlanta for allowing me to serve with you all this week! Can’t wait to do it again!

It’s been great to be home… even it’s only been 36 hours! Six more days and I’ll be back to celebrate Tamara’s birthday!

But now it’s time to catch my “new” flight. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.