Thursday, September 26, 2013

Stay Close to Jesus

Two evenings ago we went for a walk through the town.  A few minutes into the walk, Nadia looked around at the houses and said, "Cards?"
It took us a second, but Jessie realized that Nadia thought we should be handing out cards about the church! She has gone out with us before when we are doing evangelism visits, and I guess it has stuck with her!
Jesus said, "go and make disciples."  The hardest part of that is the evangelism to make the convert who can become the disciple.  And then, it gets harder... go figure!
But take heart! Jesus has shown us the Way.  He is the Way. Stick close to Him.  Learn His lessons. Live His Way.  Win souls.  And teach them to stick close to Him...

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Harsh Reality

I was looking at a website related to the Exponential Conference.  The banner hit me hard,

"6 out of 10 Americans won't enter your church, even on your best day."

The gist was, something's gotta change.

Indeed.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Take the Time, Take the Chance


Some men like the fishin'

Some men like the fowlin'

And some men like to hear the cannonballs roarin'

Me, I like preaching,

Especially everything my Lord has done for me




You find unexpected ministry opportunities if you are on the lookout for chances to share Christ. If you are ready to just strike up a Gospel conversation, you may find a great chance to minister. I was visiting someone in the hospital today and as I went upstairs, I noticed a man, a real man, sitting on a bench in the hospital.




When I came back down, he was still there, and I thought he was looking perhaps a little lost. Not like he did not know where he was or where he should be, but like things had become unmoored. So I sat down next to him. I asked how things were.




Not good, he said. He was here with his wife who was getting some “spa treatment” that is sometimes provided for women suffering with cancer, a bright moment in the darkness. I asked him how she was doing. Not good. They have been married about 20 years; it's never long enough.




I asked him if they had a church. I got the evasive answer that when they go, they go to her cousin's church... I asked if he trusted the Lord? Yes, he said with heartfelt conviction and I knew that much was true.




So I knelt down beside him and prayed that they would have the peace of Christ, that they might know that if we have faith in Christ, we live as those who go to die, and we do it triumphantly. I am not sure what else I prayed. When I got back up, there were tears.




There's no time to wait for whatever you think needs to happen before you can ask someone if they know Jesus.






Saturday, September 21, 2013

Recasting Revival

I love getting the word out about the effort to start new Methodist churches in Kentucky.  Part of doing that involves going to a venerable Methodist institution, The Charge Conference.  Charge Conference is where a church ("charge") presents their leadership for the coming year and addresses basic concerns of the church.  Most importantly, it is a time to get pumped up about the future.  In recent history, we have started having multiple churches come together in "clusters" to save the time of going to each church.  But I have found that when done well, it is a time for a whole bunch of Methodists to get together and be encouraged by the work and the potential.

Thursday night, I had the chance to speak to the Nicholas County Methodist churches, in Carlisle.  I have a personal connection there, because I preached revival in the Rose Hill church and am friends with Rick Sowder at the Headquarters church.  It was great to see some old friends and make some new ones.

Our DS Terry Reffett had regaled me with stories of some of the old pastors... who are still preaching!  One of them I sat with, preaching 60 years! Terry said there would be weeks of revival, with the preachers "preaching their hearts out."  I wonder what that would look like?

What if we had a revival and it kept going?  Terry had a revival in the early 70s that ran for 17 days.  Alfie Grubb, whom I buried this past summer, was converted at a revival that lasted 50+ days.

We often look back at revival and wonder why it doesn't happen so much now.  There is a very simple reason, and it's not just that we are "less spiritual" than before.  Much of it, I think, has to do with entertainment.  What I mean is this: 50 years ago there was no cable or satellite tv.  No internet.  A revival had a social function in addition to its spiritual component. People were more willing to come because everybody had the same blocks of time available.  That is simply not true today.

So on the one hand, we have to find ways to be "revived" in different ways than we did before.

More importantly, we may have to call it something else so we don't get sucked into doing it the same way we did before.  Terry Reffett suggested to me that maybe it's called a "spiritual renewal weekend."

But I have to say, I would love to have some real fireball come in and preach and maybe think it was just a few days but it kept going weeks.

I told everyone at the meeting that Robert Coleman, author of Master Plan of Evangelism is going to come to Morehead and teach a seminar on "The Lifestyle of the Great Commission" on November 9.  One of the old pastors remembered that Dr Coleman had preached a revival in Nicholas County, outside.  There was a bar nearby and Coleman was tearing it up in the sermon and he was so loud and his voice was echoing off the rocks and folks in the bar came out to see what the commotion was.

Lord help us, we are so bland nowadays.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Orange Crush

Remember in the last post, where I relayed that Bob Gould said these days, battling a deadly cancer and seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit, are some of the best days of his life because he and his wife, Wanda, are closer than they have ever been?

Well, I have to tell you a story that just happened, something that if you think it's sweet and nice, you've seriously missed the point.

I was visiting the folks in the hospital.  A fellow named Charlie Conn is in the past few days.  He suffers from Parkinson's Disease, as a result of being exposed to Agent Orange in Viet Nam.  We got to talking about how a war that should have been left behind is still with him in more ways than one.  We shared some wry moments about how there always seems to be one more nasty thing added to an over-full plate.  We read Psalm 34 and prayed.

I was thinking about suffering, and how some folks are hit hard, and some of them find ways to testify by their patience, endurance, prayer, and praise of God.  I shared with them what Bob had said about the difficult time of trial being such a wonderful time of growing closer to his wife, Wanda.

I do not believe I can adequately describe how Charlie and Nancy looked at each other in that moment.  It was at once a recognition of truth and the deep love that they have for each other that they would not otherwise.  They understood exactly what Bob said, understood the strange, counter-intuitive, impossible truth: in dark and desperate days; if you go down with the ship; if you fight to the death for lost causes; if you walk straight into Hell, you know the presence of the Covenant-keeping God of Israel who went to the Cross.

As we think about this, let us resolve to share the life-saving, death-destroying, peace-giving love of Christ! Let us not withhold such a gift from people!  Think how they will need it! Can we overcome our hesitancy?  Our resistance?  Almost every excuse I know of concerning evangelism is about us, our discomfort.  And yet it simply is the truth that if we do not tell people about Jesus, when what He offers is life-saving, then we are cold, heartless, and ruthless.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Tears At The Altar


There were tears at the altar today, and fervent prayer. The sermon was on bringing friends and family to Christ. This is perhaps the greatest pain in the church, the people we love who do not know Jesus. I was overcome at the end of the early service by the prayer requests that we lifted up at the altar. Hearts were breaking, and we turned to the only One who is mighty to save.

In the second service, the same thing. This was one of those sermons that I always feel a little weird about, like they are not going to “work;” they are out of my comfort zone-- I tend to be more “expository.” Topical preaching is hard for me. But again, there were so many tears, so much desire for our friends and family to know the Christ, who has done everything for us.

But I have to tell you the thing that worked me over the hardest was something said to me after the first service. Bob Gould is a man who is testifying to us. He has a difficult cancer. Early on in my ministry here, we sat down and prayed. He asked me what should he do with this last part of his life. I immediately was thinking of the old school Methodists who were known for dying well, who sought entire sanctification. So we have been studying and praying about seeking to have the love of God in our hearts-- the Holy Spirit infused love of God and neighbor.

And man, is Bob seeking and showing it. He came up to me after the service and was talking about some good news in his disease and some worrisome stuff. And he said the most amazing thing. He said these have been some of the best years of his life, knowing that his death is coming sooner than later. He said he and Wanda (his wife) are closer than they have ever been, and that their life in Christ is better than it has ever been.

I can only think this is the power of God, this is one of those things where what is meant to discourage us and challenge our faith is turned to glory. Our friends and loved ones should be in fear, turning away from faith, and yet, all they can see is the love of God working in those who diligently seek it.

I would advise people, when sharing faith, to talk about this power of sanctification. Hopefully, I will add some more posts on what we're talking about, and how it works in our lives. I have found that some people are afraid of “trying” church because they are afraid they might not receive power over the sins in their lives. When we can let them know that Jesus does not just forgive sin, He overcomes it and progressively destroys its influence in our lives, they can be encouraged to know, on firm footing, that God is not just another coping mechanism or counseling strategy.

No one who is born of God continues to sin. We want to delve into what the apostle John meant when he wrote that. Stay tuned.


Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Check out Chad Brooks' Blog

So, Chad Brooks is one of the best student pastors I worked with in Lexington.  He is now a pastor in Louisiana. First thing he did when he got back home was send me a picture of alligator eggs for sale in the deli case of a country store.

He asked me to do a guest blog post for him on evangelism.  Check it out.

You are going to like his blog, www.revchadbrooks.com





















Monday, September 9, 2013

You Can't Tell What Blessings God Will Add to Salvation

Saturday, we had a great youth kick-off at Wes and Justine Holland's farm.  As I was loading up to go home, something struck me.  In between the tiredness, the smug satisfaction that I had not been hit in paintball, and the mellow feeling of fellowship we had had around the campfire, I realized that I no longer feel lonely.  In fact, I could not remember the last time I felt lonely.  And the funny thing is, the thing I am struggling to explain, is that it has nothing to do with people.  It has to do with Jesus.  I realized that when I gave my life to Him in faith, a long loneliness ended.  How many hours, days, weeks, years even, had I spent being with people in the same place at the same time?  And yet still the feeling, the sure sense, that that is all it was, could ever be-- being in the same place at the same time.  And yet when I knew Christ, that ended, without my really perceiving that it had ended. I am not sure I really recognized it until Saturday night.

Perhaps even more amazing as I think about it, after I came to Christ, I passed through some bitter times, times that when I look back on myself, I was definitely ALONE. As in sometimes, there literally were no people around.  Forget having anyone to count on... there was NOBODY around.  And yet I had a constant sense of the presence of God.

I wonder if we could add to our desire for evangelism the knowledge that God will take care of everything.  The hidden struggles of the people we share faith with... even those things will be unraveled and smoothed out, turned to glory, even.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Water

Just filled up the baptismal for Andrew Donner, a college student who will be baptized.  Our evangelism is cranking on a lot of levels... children's ministry, youth ministry, Methodist Student Center, sanctuary services, all producing converts.  And all to the glory of God!  I can't figure it out.  If I could I'd bottle it, sell it, get proud... but that can't happen anyway.  It's the work of God through and through so that the only boasting we can do is in Christ. And I won't shut up about all the good he has done!

Last year about this time, I got frustrated with our bulletin "stats."  We count attendance and giving.  That's important, but it's hardly the whole picture.  I felt we needed to start keeping track of things that need to go up and things that need to go down.  So, worship attendance and giving need to go up.  But so does membership in the church, and most definitely professions of faith.

Things that need to go down has been a little harder to get a handle on.  Kids going to bed hungry needs to go down, and if there are as many Methodists as we say there are in Rowan County, then it should be going down.  People living in sub-standard housing needs to go down.  Jeff Lewis has been helping me think through how we can measure stuff like that.

At any rate, we set a goal of 20 new members and 10 professions of faith.  We did not set that goal as something that we must reach-- we set it simply to remind us that it is an important task.  The Holy Spirit will determine the final numbers.  Maybe higher or lower.  But we need to keep it in front of us, to remind, to challenge.  Well, we were really being blessed early in the year.  We were going to hit our goals.  So after baptizing some of our children I asked if we should push harder, and we all agreed we should.  So our goal is 30 new members and 20 professions of faith.  I think putting that out there has really helped us to be intentional, reminding us that we all have a part to play in bringing people to the church.

As of tomorrow, we will have 24 new members and 12 professions of faith. We think that's pretty good because as United Methodists we are not used to much of that at all!  If you think about the need, about all the people in Rowan County who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, we have a lot of work to do.  I wish you were crying about it.   I need someone to go to the Staff-Parish committee and say you want a new pastor because we just aren't getting it done!

You know, Brother Wesley used to tell his preachers, "you have nothing to do but save souls."  Somewhere down the line, we got into doing other things.  The main criteria for a Methodist preacher back in the day was "have they fruit?"  That is, are people converted under their preaching? We still ask that question when we ordain elders, but we apparently refuse to define what fruit is... or we don't want to be accountable to anything so measurable.

See what happens when I get pumped up because people are coming to faith in Christ?  I get rabid.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

The Gideons

A Gideons Bible played  a huge role in my conversion.  Many others have a story like that.

Our new Superintendent, Terry Reffett is one.  He grew up in a Christian home, left home and kind of drifted away until one night he found a Gideon's Bible and started reading in Psalms and the Lord spoke to his heart.

A few weeks ago, Wes Holland told me that picking up a neglected Bible brought him back to being more active in church.  Justine Holland mentioned that finding a Bible in a box of things unpacked brought her back to the Lord.

The Word of God.  Maybe we should pass it out more.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

John's Testimony

I guess this is the best first post on my new blog.  Our oldest boy, John, has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.  It has been something that has come up in conversation with him for a few weeks.  You might say, but you are a pastor; your kids are always in church; haven't they always known about God?  Well, yes, I am a pastor, and my kids are often at church.  But everyone still has to have that moment where they know for themselves that they have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.

As we have talked about it, we have emphasized knowing that Jesus died for each one of us.  About two weeks ago in evening prayer and Bble study, John said that where God was working on him was about love.  God loves us.  When we don't love ourselves.  There are people we don't love, and we think we have good reasons, but God loves them.  God loves us even though we have sinned against Him.

Last night, we started reading Matthew. Joseph piped up that in Genesis, a couple did not follow God, but in the beginning of the Gospel, Mary and Joseph did what God told them to.  After a bit more discussion, John said, "I want to join the church.". I was very proud of Joseph's "old school" interpretive skills, and very proud, too, that John knew that claiming Jesus as  Lord means that it is also time to join the church.

I asked what was going on in his mind.  He said, "I look back on all the ways He has taken care of me. Like Joe said, something switched.  It's like in the New Testament He made a way for us to start over.  And I think about how after Mommy died, things have been ok.  I didn't think they would be, but He has really taken care of me."

How do we bring our kids to Christ?  By being consistent in Bible study and prayer.  You don't have to be a Bible professor.  get a good devotional book like Billy Graham's Hope for Each Day.  Read it Together in the morning and evening. Pray with your kids.  Talk about the need for forgiveness of sins.  Tell them that Jesus is always ready to receive them.  Tell them often about your own story of conversion, tell them about how your walk with God has helped you.  Ask them regularly if they are ready to accept Jesus Christ, to put their faith in Him.