Visiting Door-to-Door

I kept a journal for about ten years, 1998 to somewhere in 2007. Not exactly sure why I stopped. I have picked up the habit again.

I was reading through a section of it from when I served Dunaway United Methodist Church, outside of Winchester, KY. I came across something that may be of help in understanding why door-to-door visitation is so important.

I had an entry about a house I stopped at. It's strange I remember exactly where it was, and even some details about the house, even though the family never came to our church and I am not sure that I ever stopped there again.

A woman answered the door and I shared a bit about our church and was probing to see where she was spiritually, what doors might be open for a conversation about Jesus. Before I left, I asked her if there was anything I could pray for her about. She said yes, her 18-year old son was very sick with kidney problems. So we had prayer.

We often make excuses for why we don't do door-to-door evangelism. We say it is ineffective (which since most people who say this have never consistently done it, I am not sure why they say it is ineffective.) We say it is intrusive, an invasion of privacy, and Americans don't like that and they associate it with Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. I can answer from experience that very few people have ever been disturbed that I came by.

And more: there is such a great benefit. I got to pray with a woman with a deep concern for her son. I learned something about the community I lived in. When you add up all the homes I tried to visit and people I tried to talk to, I think I generally got a better perspective on what was actually happening than most other people.

If for no other reason than learning what is hurting and helping your community, learning what they pray for and praise, shouldn't door-to-door visitation be more of a priority? And was it not a great benefit to that mother? I have countless other stories of people who never came to the church but were blessed by a visit. And I also have countless stories of how many people did come to the church because of a visit to their house, being blessed by the knowledge that God cares, that His shepherds were out roaming the hills, gathering up the scattered flock! In net numbers, we grew by about 30 in worship in that little church. If you count my first year growing it down from 35 to 20, the net gain was closer to 45 or 50. And I am not sure how to count all the people who visited here and there for a season. Is it any wonder that one of the vows Wesley had his preachers take was to “visit from house to house?” We still take that vow, we are just not held accountable to it. In fact, it seems the majority of UM pastors don't think those vows actually mean anything!

After reading my journal entry, I was convicted that I need to get back out there. I realized I have not been as diligent about it this year. And here are some things to consider. Last year at Morehead, we had 20 professions of faith, bringing in 30-something new members. This year, 4 professions of faith and 12 new members. I get it, the Lord blesses how He's going to bless, so you can't just look at the numbers. But I think the numbers do mean something when you realize you were not out there as much as you needed to be. I let too many good things get in the way of doing the important thing! And how amazing is it that I have a lot of help in this work... more than I ever have had anywhere? Time to get serious about systematically using it!

We Had It, Then We Lost It

A few days ago I was at the Conference Office for a meeting. I was in Paul Brunstetter's office, looking at his and bookshelf. He had a Book of Discipline of the Northern Methodist Church from 1900. I am fascinated by the old Disciplines. They were short and the Bishops wrote compelling, convicting introductions. They stood firm for orthodoxy and historic Methodism. They wrote in the Bishops' Greeting something that I think should be very instructive and convicting to us. They were talking about the amazing amount of success the church was having, and had been having for about 20 years. They were in that phase of our history where we were opening a new church EVERY DAY. Can you imagine? Opening one new church every day. They were, in fact, close to opening two a day for a while.

They attributed their success to the very reason we have a Book of Discipline: our structure and organization (the METHOD in Methodist) was (WAS) geared to get out and evangelize, make disciples and gather them into churches. They attributed the success directly and unequivocally to “the itinerant preacher and the sub-pastorate of the class meetings.”

We had it.  Then we lost it.

The pastors weren't itinerant solely based on the Bishop moving them around. They went out looking for the people and places where Jesus was not worshiped as Lord. People would be gathered into small discipleship groups, and when there were enough of those, they became a church. In the times between the return of the preacher, the small group leaders provided pastoral care and encouragement for spiritual growth.

1900 was about 160 years after the Methodist movement started. 160 years after the Wesley brothers started, their movement had another outburst, of probably greater growth than the first revival! So a movement can still burn 160 years later! No doubt it can happen again. And it is, just not among the Methodists. We wryly say, “The Wesleyan movement is alive and well in the non-denominational church.” Other people have adopted the Method. I am part of a learning community from the Exponential Conference. It is my second go-round, learning from churches that are doing discipleship well. They are all working heavily with accountable small-group discipleship. Alan Hirsch, perhaps the foremost thinker in this movement says that all he does is “teach Methodism.”

I am hopeful that some may rediscover “the old paths,” and that individuals and churches here and there will start class meetings because they see and feel the life transformation. Perhaps it might even become so compelling that we re-adopt it again as the model for our churches!

More on small groups

So today I asked a friend of mine if he wanted to be a part of our small group accountability meetings.  He is interested in Jesus, but has not settled his mind about the church.  At any rate, when I described what we do in confessing sin and encouraging one another, he said, "so you are asking people to quit hiding behind habits and rituals?"

I have never heard it out quite so clearly, except for maybe Al Coppedge, one of my favorite seminary professors.

Are you ready to come out of hiding?  One of the things I am hopeful for is that when this is the way the church functions-- meeting together and growing in grace, and having THAT to invite people to-- our work of evangelism will be that much easier.

A Word on the Power of Small Group Accountability

Resentment is a spiritual killer.  The things we do when we are sullen because we did not get what we thought we deserved-- the praise, the money, the status; the things we do when we are angry and fearful because we feel that what we love and value is threatened; these things are truly frightening.  They are the root of so much spiritual downfall and outright sinning.

I caught a real good case of resentment a few weeks ago.  But I was able to confess it plainly to a group of men I meet with.  Not only was there square dealing with the issue at hand, but also encouragement to move past it with God's help. I can say confidently that I have never gotten over a resentment so quickly.  All the negative consequences of resentment-- self-righteousness, anger, fear, hatred, thanklessness, being quick-tempered, self-indulgence, gossip-- these all disappeared under the discipline of the Holy Spirit.

I hope you have a group like I have, a place like I have with these guys.  But I know that almost none of you do.  Would you like this kind of help?  Would you like the power of the Cross of Christ not just for forgiveness, but for power over sin's continuing influence in your life?  We are starting as many of these groups as we can.  Please talk to me and let's start one.

They are so simple.  But that simplicity demands a rigor.  It's not just any group of people getting together and hanging out and talking.  Small group ministries in churches fail because they won't stick to the plan.  And the plan is to ask 4 simple questions:

How are you doing spiritually?

Have you avoided evil?  (More pointedly, how have you sinned?)

Have you done all the good you can do?

Have you used the means of grace? (the usual ways God is present to us: prayer, worship, reading Scripture, etc)

If you go to Church Multiplication Associates at www.cmaresources.org you will see a link to their Life Transformation Groups.  They are the same questions, only more specific.

Every group like this I have ever been a part of has changed my life.  In fact, it's the place where the greatest life change has happened.  When they fail it is because they fail to ask the basic questions; they want to back off and assume we are all basically ok.  If you think you're basically ok, then good luck, you're gonna have a bad time.  But if you know you're a mess and need Jesus, let's talk.

I was visiting a guy in the hospital a few days ago.  I asked him how he was doing spiritually (a usual question I ask when I visit people in hospital or at home).  He confessed some things and in a Holy Spirit moment, I confessed to him, and we were both greatly blessed by the power of Christ.  I think this is how the normal Christian life is supposed to be.

I was walking down the street to visit one of our people.  A pastor I know and respect in this town was driving by.  He stopped and we talked about some stuff and then he said, "I think you and me and some other pastors need to get together and pray and study the Scriptures and break down the strongholds in our lives to break through in ministry."  Man, he has no idea what a divine appointment that was. If pastors can lead the way in confession and transparency and the power of victorious living...

What Discipleship Looks Like, And How It Leads to Evangelism

So today we got some hard news.  A dear long-time saint of the church has been in a rehabilitation facility for too long.  This morning, her daughter had a stroke.  We don't know much about prognosis, but we will pray nonetheless.
I went to visit the church member in the rehab facility.  I was told a fellow who is helping to lead a visitation ministry had been sitting with her.  When I arrived, I saw two other women there, comforting her.  They left, and after a little while a couple from the church came in, to be there and bring the comfort of Christian fellowship.
My eyes welled up with tears as I prayed.  I was telling someone recently that I have never been more humbled in my life than to be the pastor at Morehead United Methodist Church.  Humbled from the standpoint that it is so gloriously clear that none of what goes on here is due to me.  I just get to be the pastor of a group of people who love each other so much that they will go down the road, some to be with the mother, others in the hospital in Lexington with the daughter.
Johnny (our 14 year old son) went with me.  I told him, "You just saw the Church.  That's what we are inviting people to, a real life with real people who love each other, and organize going to the nursing home so the mother doesn't have to be alone."  They do it not because they have to, but because the Spirit of Jesus is alive in them, and they have great love for Him and His people.
Normally, it seems that evangelism is an invitation to discipleship.  But sometimes, seeing discipleship is an evangelical invitation to the Gospel life.
But please do not just depend on good works, or setting a good example.  Invite people to the saved life!  More important than not being alone in a time of difficulty in this life, more important than being rescued from trouble in this life, is to not be alone at the Judgment, and to know that God has your whole life in His hands.  He has secured your temporary life and your eternal life, if you have faith in Him!  (1 Tim 1:12)
May our church keep loving Jesus and each other!

And Another Thing

A few months ago, maybe it was as far back as Spring, Asbury Seminary and our New Church Development Team hosted a Church Planters Roundtable.  There was a guy there, Chris Backert, who gave a great presentation on the recent history of church planting, current trends, and likely future developments.  Our core team snagged some time with him, picking his brain.  His basic advice to us was first, make Kentucky the most attractive place to plant a church; let planters know that we are invested in them and their success.  Second, become the best you can be in rural church planting.  He said that not only because Kentucky is a rural state, but also because it is a new frontier.  He pointed out that everyone tries to plant in cities and large towns.  But no one is planting in the countryside.  As far as an emerging trend, it is a clear one.

Ha ha!  Here we are planting a church in Menifee County, and feeling called and being blessed with people to do more and go farther south and east.  But it is really hard to find any advice or resources... it's so new, planting in a rural context, that we are writing the book as we go.

But then... at dinner in a Mexican Restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho... I sit next to Phil Claycomb, a pastor from Texas who is in the learning group I am a part of this year.  What does he do?  He runs a church planting network that recruits, trains, and equips church planters for towns under 3,000 in population.  I asked him, "So how did you get into that?"

Because he plants churches in Texas and Oklahoma, where there are lots of small towns.  And over dinner, he was gracious enough to share what they do.

So like I said, 350,000 churches in America.  Who knows how many pastors.  12 of us in a learning group.  And two of them intersect directly with what Mike and I are up to.

The Lord couldn't speak much more clearly.

Small World

I was in Post Falls, Idaho last week at a cool church, Real Life Ministries.  They are a large church, 6,000 + on Sundays, built on discipleship groups.  I am in my second go-round of an Exponential Learning Community-- small groups who get together at high-functioning, discipleship-oriented churches to learn.  I am pretty pumped to be able to take Mike Adams with me.  We will go to two more churches over the next 6 months, in Kansas City and Tacoma.

Anyway, what was really cool: when I introduced myself to some other pastors who just arrived, one guys asks me if I know where Frenchburg, KY is.  His church has been sending mission teams there but has had a hard time getting churches in the area to partner with. Ha ha.  I said, let me introduce you to Mike Adams, the pastor of our church plant in Frenchburg!

Seriously... how do you leave Morehead for Idaho and have a guy ask about Frenchburg?

Maybe the Holy Spirit!  What a divine appointment!

Evangelism in the closing days of life

We had the funeral for Don Cherry yesterday. He was 76, led a full life, and died after a long illness. The funeral was more of a memorial service, where we were intentional about NOT ending the service with the benediction, but continuing in a time of fellowship after. That was really neat-- to see so many people come from all over, long distances, to pay respects and love on the grieving family.

During the homily, I mentioned how in the last few times I visited him, talk turned to eternal matters, and I was able to share with him that we can indeed have assurance of salvation, knowing that God saves us by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

His daughter-in-law came up to me afterwards and said how thankful they were to hear that,and to thank me for sharing the Gospel with him.

What else is there to do? What else can we say? It was so simple. It often is. When a person is dying, their thoughts are on the heavy things in life. If they do not say it, you can ask about it. Trust me, it's there, just below the surface.

And then you share simply our simple faith:

Saved by grace. It is a gift. Not earned. Not a reward for good deeds or hard work, even if done in the name of the Lord! We turn to faith in Jesus, that when He died on the Cross, He died in our place, for our sins. If we believe this, we have forgiveness of sins. And He was resurrected that we, too, might have with Him a new and eternal life. If we believe that, we will be in Heaven with Him.

Don't complicate it.

National Discipleship Forum

I am back in Morehead. When we left Orange County, it was sunny and 82. We got into Cincinnati at 10 p.m. and it was cold and raining! Jacob Wilson and I were mock-crying, “Why did we leave? Why did we have to come back? It's so warm out there! And there's In-N-Out. And Laguna Beach.”

This morning I woke up and looked out at the mountains surrounding Morehead, and in 5 days the leaves have changed. What a beautiful thing to come home to.

Mike Adams, Jacob Wilson, and I were at the 2014 Exponential West Coast Conference. But we added to that a pre-conference, the National Discipleship Forum. It was too much. Seriously. I am not sure I can unpack what happened. It will take a while to figure out what happens from here, but it was life-changing.

The National Discipleship Forum was a kind of living room conversation between some of the top “disciplers” if we can say that: Bill Hull, Jim Putman, Jeff Vanderstelt, Francis Chan, K.P. Yohannan and Robert Coleman.

It was amazing to hear these men talking about their passion for making disciples, to hear that there are people who are pressing hard after the same stuff that obsesses my ministry. It was good to hear that I have intuited a lot of it and been doing a lot of it (because it just flows naturally when you decide to follow Jesus) and also to see that there is so much to learn, so much of an adventure yet to go on. I don't have words to explain the Holy Spirit presence. We were all just stunned. Like we were sponges that had been plunged into water and then wrung out.

Maybe one day I can express what happened. For now... I talked to a few of the directors and they were blown away, too, didn't see it coming, the intense presence of the Lord, the real tension on the stage between hard-nosed disciplers resolved by a love for Jesus and His Mission. But they also say they are planning to do this in some other places across the country, maybe Louisville. Get ready. Clear your calendars so we can go together.

Maybe all I can say for now is that this thing that has been building inside me-- that if it is not evangelism leading to discipleship, I don't want to do it-- has finally come out. Now I just want to talk to people about Jesus more than I ever did. I want to submit every aspect of my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and invite others along, more than ever.

What a disappointing post! I wish I was able to say all that is churning around in my spirit. But maybe that's what Sunday sermons are for...

It was great to be there with Mike and Jacob, wish I could have had more there. I see a network of evangelists and disciplemakers flowing out into the highways and byways of Eastern KY, one of the least-churched places in America. I think that if we had 20 people sold out, fearing nothing but sin and Hell and loving no one but God, Satan's kingdom would come down.

There's this guy I met at the church in Lexington, Jake Bell. He is a phenomenal drummer. He left for LA in 2010. He is paying the rent with his rock, playing with a band that has gigs at Toby Keith's in Las Vegas. He is an in-demand studio musician. We have kept in touch and I knew I had to get out there to see him. So we met up and it was so good to see him happy and doing well. He told me one of the teachers from the boys' school in Lexington is out there, and she remembers the little dudes!

Jake is working with Tim Hutton, a producer in LA, works with well-known bands. Jake is the drummer at his recording studio. So Jake says, let's go up to see Tim at his dad's house. His dad is Danny Hutton, from Three Dog Night. My dad had to remind me of how often I used to sing “Shambala” as a kid! No way! I thought I told Mike and Jacob but they weren't ready to see gold records on the wall. Danny Hutton wasn't there... but next time, because we were invited back.

Can you imagine driving out of North Hollywood up Laurel Canyon Drive? It's like heading straight into the country from the city. So beautiful. Reminded me of my aunt and uncle's house in Topanga Canyon. Steep hill, steep driveway. Incredible hillside homes and views. All the way there, I was praying, “Please Lord, give me a chance to share the Gospel with whoever we meet tonight.”

Well, there was an R&B singer there who was coming to the studio to do some recording. While we were standing around, after getting over the initial wet-blanket of having three pastors in the house, the singer said, “I am just going to put myself out there. I don't know anyone here, first meeting. But I am having a problem with forgiveness. There's a past relationship that I just can't get any forgiveness on.”

I gulped, thanked Jesus and gave my 2 minute presentation on forgiveness. I even got to finish by telling them that the most important thing is that we get forgiveness from Jesus, and that I would pray and they should pray for Jesus to reveal Himself to them, and that they would be His followers. Awkward silence. Did I say too much too soon too uninvited? He looked at me, squinted a moment and said, “I know that. I know that. I just needed to hear it again.”

I am going back next year. Maybe sooner if we get the chance. We were invited back to the house. In fact, after eating burgers in the Roosevelt Hotel (because that's just how we roll) Jake got a text saying if we were still around, they'd be down in 30 minutes to hang with us... but it was late and we had an hour drive and early sessions...

Always ask God to open the door to share what Jesus has done.

Wherever There's Water

Friday, I had a call at the church from a chaplain at the local hospital.  There was a fellow who wanted to be baptized, and was asking for a Methodist pastor.  I called him as soon as I could.  I talked to his wife, as he is terminally ill, can barely breath and can't talk.  I said, "well maybe I should come out to you?"  She was surprised that we could do that.  I said, "if you have some water, what can stop him from being baptized?"  As we got to talking, it was apparent there was no way we could immerse him.  And it seems that that is why she was seeking out Methodists, because we will sprinkle or pour in addition to immersing.

Well, the more we got to talking, I realized they live in Menifee County.  I told her we are starting a new church in Menifee County.  She said, "I didn't think we had any Methodists down here!"  I asked her if she would like me to put her in touch with Mike Adams, our planter down there.  She was really excited to think that they will have a church right there where they live.

We don't always know how God is going to use and reward our faithfulness.  Let's just do what He asks us to do!

Handlebar Confessional

So, most of you who know me know that I can't sit still. The children's minister at The Rock, Melissa Kramer, would always look for the part of the meeting where I decided it was over because I had to be out doing something! She'd say, “oops, there it is, the meeting's over, he's had all he can take...” Ever since I can remember, I have done all my most productive work while walking... or riding a bike.

Yesterday, Jessie and I had what will be one of our few days off together for about a month. When we see what's coming up, we try to talk together as a family and say, “We will be grinding hard for a bit, but then, when it's over we will hang out.” That helps the boys...but Nadia doesn't quite understand yet.

So we had a day... what to do... well, let me go backwards. We ended the day with a good bike ride. Met a guy who has a carbon-frame Fuji time trial bike. Never seen a $7,000.00 bicycle before! He was very complimentary of my $500 Fuji... Anyway, about 5 years ago, Jessie and I started riding long bike rides (40 miles or more) to train to ride from Lexington to Covington for Annual Conference. It was going to be a fund-raiser. That part did not turn out so well...but we had a lot of fun. Ok, so we did not have much fun, etiher. It was the hottest Jun 7 on record the day we rode. And have you seen that hill out of Falmouth!?

One thing I have discovered about long bike rides. I don't run out of legs (except around 55 miles. Then my right quad cramps and I have to slurp on sugar/electrolyte gels for 10 miles or so and then somehow I am ok). I don't run out of breath-- you can coast to catch up. The critical decision is: will you stay in the seat? There are no comfortable bike seats. It gets to be about persistence. Will you stay in the seat for another mile? Another crank of the pedals?

I guess about a week ago, I was riding. For a few days I had been thinking about something unproductive, in an unproductive way. I had kind of arbitrarily decided that maybe you can hear 10,000 bad things, and when you hit 10,001, you're tapped out and need a new brain or something. I was starting to have a pity-party thinking, maybe I am at 12,000 or more bad things that have happened or people have told me about!

Like I said, a bike ride clears the head. You may think this is weird but God spoke clearly. I was thinking about the yoke in Matthew 11. Being yoked to Jesus means we are learning how to respond to the Master's commands from Him. And when the load is too heavy, He pulls most of it. And then what I heard, “Jesus is strong enough to help you carry one more burden, and one more, and one more...” I came back with a new lease on life!

So, I was really looking forward to a bike ride with Jessie and Nadia. Nadia rides in a cart that has a hitch on Jessie's bike. I did not have any revelations, just a lot of well-being. It was a great way to cap a great day. We had started earlier by going fishing with Mike Adams in the North Fork of Triplett Creek. It's such a relaxing and beautiful place, barely ten minutes away, and you feel like you have stepped away from everything.We crawled up and down the creek for about 6 hours. All we caught was four smallmouth bass. On that score it might seem like a waste of time. But I have never found fishing to be a waste of time. For one thing, two of the bass we caught were FAT. I use an ultralight rod b/c it is small and so you can fish in small pools and tight places, AND when a fish hits it feels like you have a monster! And nothing more than a decent-sized smallmouth. I caught my hard-fighter in a small pool maybe as big as our living room. Cast under a fallen tree and bam, fish on!

Let me go back... I have never found fishing to be a waste of time. I wonder if this is why Jesus called fishermen, used fishing as a metaphor for evangelism and discipleship? In Ezekiel 47, the prophet has a vision of a river flowing from the Temple into the Dead Sea. As it enters the Sea, it will make the water fresh. And there will be places for fishermen to spread their nets. A.B. Bruce, a Scottish theologian and expert on the training the disciples received from Jesus, notes that when they are called to be fishers of men, they would have understood that as a fulfillment of Ezekiel 47! That's the kind of awesome moment we are waiting for, when God calls us and we understand we have a clear and deep purpose! One that resonates with the heart of God!

Fishing in creeks, going farther and farther upstream to see where you can pull the biggest fish out of the smallest holes, beyond being the best fishing I have ever done, also speaks to me about part of our task as Christians. Sometimes we will get to be on a seashore, spreading a net and catching a multitude of fish. And sometimes, we go upstream where no one has been fishing before...

I hope y'all are still checking in with my friend JD Payne, and signing up to receive his emails. His website is www.jdpayne.org Please subscribe! Please read, pray and absorb!

In the spirit of creek-fishing, I also want to recommend to you https//unengagedunreached.wordpress.com

This wesbite is about the people groups in the world who do not have anyone preaching the Gospel to them. Talk about going farther and farther upstream to fish!

EverydayEvangelism: Apprenticeship

After the talk of surfing and plowing, some more thoughts. My friend Theo commented that perhaps we should spend a year tending sheep and working on a farm...

I think there is something hiding in that thought-- not so much that we might simply do something like what people experienced in Jesus' time, as if we might gain a deeper insight into His words (although that might happen). Rather, the insights would be about discipleship.

Of the number of smells that remind me of precious childhood memories, two of them are the smells of dry dirt and fresh beans. Some of my best times were spent hanging out with my grandfather on his farm in California. The smell of dry dirt is everywhere in Central California. Last night, I smelled it in our garden on Charlie Derrickson's farm. It took me back. As I watered, I was reminded of a thought I used to have when I was a kid. When the dry dirt is damp, it has a different smell. I always associate that with morning. Days are hot in Central California but nights are very cool, in the 50s and 60s. There is a lot of dew in the early morning. And so we would head out to the ranch, the scents of dirt and dew and Papa's coffee swirling in the air. I used to think that smell of the dew and dirt was what the world must have smelled like right after God created it. It's funny, even when I was a hard-core atheist, I would remember that.

My grandfather grew a lot of beans, and when they were being harvested and taken to the processing shed... you could smell them for miles. Jessie was weeding the beans last night and I was thinking about how good it will smell to pick them.

But I digress. What I meant to say was that spending time growing things is a great lesson in evangelism and discipleship. Sometimes we hear Jesus speak and we wish he had told the parable of the remote control or the airplane. But He spoke of seeds and sheep and vines and growing things. Perhaps because to make things grow:

You have to work hard.

You have to be diligent.

You have to pull weeds.

You have to protect the plants from bugs.

You have to be patient, and wait for the harvest. You can't lose heart because you have worked hard every day, sweated, missed out on fun, and still no beans. But it's not time yet...

And you have to have faith that the process from seed to plant to flower to fruit to harvest is what is bound to happen.

But if I put faith first, you'd quit reading and be tempted to think it is magic fairy dust, and if we just have faith we won't need hard work, diligence, fighting pests, and patience!

Get out into the field today!

The Gospel Plow

One of our church members, Norma, told me about her response to my surfer-discipleship story.  She said that she loved her Dad, and one of her strongest memories is how he would plow their fields with a one-horse plow, and she would walk behind him, making sure to walk in his footsteps.  Wow!  I am not sure you can wear out the Gospel implications in that!

It reminds me of something that our friend Theo has said, "Memorize what the backside of Jesus looks like so you can be sure you are following Him."  He goes on to say we should know what His heels look like!  I am reminded of Teddy Ray's prompting me to have a Holiness/Evangelism/Discipleship conference called "Beautiful Feet."

Yesterday, another member, JoAnn was talking to some people at the grocery store.  She told them about our church and invited them.  The two she talked with were interested, saying they had been thinking of going to church.  JoAnn asked for their numbers, if they were interested in the pastor calling them.  They gave her the numbers.  Awesome to work together in the fields of the Lord!

Critical Mass

Here is my “conversion chain” not sure what else to call it. These are the moments of witness that I remember, things that when I came to Christ I realized were the people whose words and actions added up to the moment the Holy Spirit had His way and I came to Christ. I cannot completely put them in chronological order. It's close though. I do this for two reasons:

1. There is no pastor on this list. That's a good thing, not a slap against pastors. I was hostile to Christians and church so there would be very little chance for a pastor to reach me. You lay people have to do this!
   
2. Your seemingly small things, things you probably do not remember have worked with others to bring a harvest of repentance and salvation that you won't know about this side of glory. You won't always or often be like Larry Isitt, Dane Conrad, James Sims and Drew Barnes and get to see that I came to Christ after they witnessed to me.

Ed Higginbotham, my dad's commanding officer when I was 4 or 5, invited us to a service at a Presbyterian church
C.S. Lewis. No lie, in third grade, the idea that Aslan—an innocent—died for the sins of others stuck in me, even tho someone very important and influential in my life told me that was a ludicrous idea. I could not let it go.
Kids playing basketball in my subdivision in Texas. I knew one of them from Germany (Air Force brats...) I cussed while we played. The boy said simply “we don't talk like that here.”
FCA group playing flag football on a weekend at my high school. I was on a long bike ride and stopped to play, too. Same story. I cussed. They said please don't. Older kid tried to tell me about Jesus.
Kathy Kedzierski. Open about going to church.
Tim, from Governor's School. Just told me about salvation and asked me if I wanted to accept Jesus. He was totally ready to pray for me right then and there.
Guitar player at a party. He shared with me about the blues and Jesus.
Abortion protesters on a street in San Luis Obispo, CA.
JoAnn, my cousin. She invited me to church with her a lot while I was in college in Mississippi.
Anastacia Feldman, history professor.
Audrey. Can't remember her name. Would not go out with me because I was a pretty rank pagan. That stuck with me, too.

Erwin Burt, a friend who let me hunt on his land, and took me to church with him.

Tommy Blanton, boss

Stan Hauer, English professor
James Sims, English professor

Larry Isitt, fellow college student

Two girls from 37th Avenue Baptist Church who asked me if I knew where I'd go if I died.

Dane Conrad, fellow college student
Drew Barnes, fellow college student
Buddy Pittman, co-worker
Robert Allen, co-worker
Barry Burruss, co-worker

The Gideons. Getting that Scripture in October of 1994...

There are 23 items on this list.  There are no doubt some I do not remember.  The point is, will you be intentional about telling someone about Jesus, and be ok with always being number 13?  Never knowing that the person you share with will come to faith or not?

A Surfer's Joy

I have been reminded recently of something I saw a number of years ago, something that is speaking to me again about evangelism and discipleship. I think it has to do with a theme of joy. I was fishing with a friend who has not quite decided what he thinks about Jesus. His kids came to our Vacation Bible School. His comment about the closing ceremony was revealing. He said that he was impressed that everyone was smiling, that the kids were having fun. “There was a lot of joy. I think that's what church ought to be like."

I am reminded of an image that sticks with me. I was visiting family in California. We had gone to Morro Bay. I saw a fellow, perhaps in his 60s, long salt-and-pepper hair, in a wet suit on a surfboard. He was there with his granddaughter, perhaps 7, with her own wetsuit and child-size surfboard. What sticks out at me is not just the neat silhouette they made together, but the great joy he had in teaching his granddaughter to surf.

I think that is how we must be about evangelism and discipleship. Specifically with our children; let them see and know our joy in following Jesus. Do we pray with them, to teach them how, to hear and see the quality of our relationship with Him? Do we teach them to love to read the Bible? Do they know our joy when we are in worship with them?

And I suppose the same can be true with our friends who don't know Jesus. Do they know our joy? Do we share who Jesus is? What He has done for us? And the joy we have because of Him?

Recommendation

I want to recommend that you subscribe to a blog written by my friend, JD Payne.  JD is a church planter, was professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, and is now on staff at Brook Hills Church in Birmingham, AL.  His work is on how to be effectively in mission-- through evangelism, missions, and church planting.  He disseminates cutting edge information about the current needs in mission and evangelism, with a strong Biblical foundation.

Check it out: http://www.jdpayne.org

Back Again

I have not posted in a while, y'all probably think I don't love you. I'd like to say it's because I have been so busy. That's only partially true. Most of it is I have not had much to say.




It has been a fruitful time in a lot of ways. I have been part of a small learning group called Future Travelers. We met in Tacoma in February (I think!) and then Exponential was two weeks ago and next week is the last meeting with the Future Travelers. It has been really fruitful to be around some of the best church planters and practitioners of discipleship and evangelism.

A really good book I can recommend: Missionary Methods: St Paul's or Ours? By Roland Allen. Written in 1912, it still has amazing insight. That's not surprising, he is gleaning insight from the Bible, which is always relevant. Because America is a huge mission field, what he has to say about mission work is applicable to us.

Some leading edges: partnering with “networks” to plant new churches. A church planting network is a group of... what? Churches, planters, theologians, mentors who come together to help plant churches. It's a tougher job than people imagine. The networks are becoming much more diffuse. That is, instead of being “institutional,” they can do work on a case-by-case basis in many contexts with many kinds of planters. So, at one time there was a sense that you planted one kind of church one kind of way. Now the work is more “well-known” and there are broader, scriptural principles put to work in a variety of places. My great hope is that not only will the Kentucky Conference partner with a network—to either plant our churches or to teach us how to become our own network. And even moreso, I think that individual churches interested in church planting could work with these established networks to be fruitful in church planting.

And always-- who have you told about Jesus today?

Calves, Worms, and Evangelism

So yesterday, we got John's calf. We travelled out to a beautiful hilltop farm in Elliott County. John is working with Charlie Derrickson to learn about taking care of cattle. Mike King drove us out there because he had the only vehicle to get us out to farm if it was really wet.

This morning, John and I got up and went out to Charlie's farm to feed and water the calf (named “Buck.” I said we should name him T-Bone...) and also to let the calf get used to John working with it. I was surprised at how quickly John was able to get hold of the halter and put his hands on the calf. As we were leaving, John prayed a great prayer of thanks for getting his calf.

Thursday there was a really strong downpour. I was walking to the church and noticed in the gutter that a lot of worms were being tumbled along in the flow of water. I wondered if they were dead and just got swept up. When I came to a driveway, and the water spread out a bit before being forced back along the curb, I saw some worms crawling out of the water. No idea where they thougth they were headed.

But I was reminded of something my friend Starr Clay said one time, that has great wisdom and encouragement for evangelism. She said when she was a little girl that she always tried to save the worms that were stuck on pavement drying out after rain. She found out that you couldn't save all the worms.

This is definitely true in evangelism. First, a broken heart is cultivated in us for the people who do not know Christ, who will perish in everlasting fire without Him. And then, we set about sharing the life-saving knowledge of Jesus' atoning death and resurrection.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12) and “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction” (Matthew 7:13).

But we face problems. No one seems to listen or care. They may not even appreciate the danger of a life lived apart from Christ. (This baffles us, because even the worms know to swim out of the gutter!) Or we find that if people do listen, no one is converted.

It can be discouraging. But if you went into it thinking you could save all the worms... We have to remember Jesus' words: “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and few find it.”

So we do not lose heart. We do everything we can so that we might save some.

Apostles

Back in 2004, I was in Vegas for my brother's wedding. There was a lull in the activities, so while John napped, I did some research.

I had taken some grief from someone in my church about saying that Jesus is the only way to salvation. So I sat down to read the Gospels and see what it said, with an eye towards understanding Jesus's self-understanding as the only way to salvation.

Short version: it's everywhere, and if you take it away, Jesus doesn't have much to say. Jesus just is-- whether we like it or not, seems nice to us or not-- the only way to salvation.

Well, in our Future Traveler's meeting last week in Tacoma, Alan Hirsch was talking about the apostolic gift in the church. He said something like you can find out what an apostle is by what they say about themselves, or is said about them. You have to go there because there is not really a definition of apostle given in one place.




So, today I took a cursory look at what Acts and the epistles say about apostles. Too cursory to say much, except that it is a terrible job description. You'd never take it if you knew what it meant going in. The key verse sticking out at the moment is 2 Corinthians 2:16: “who is equal to such a task?”

I will be working on this off and on for a while I bet, and I will try to keep you updated.

Some of where this is going is that Ephesians 4:11 lays out 5 gifts for the church, Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher. But churches ordain pastors. And pastors do some teaching. We don't really know what to do with the evangelistic function, so we wish they'd shut up. We have reduced prophets to people who speak out about political/cultural issues, and we only like them if they are in our party. And apostles, well...these guys have the task of guarding the doctrine and “sentness” of the Church, and they just won't let us do whatever we want to do.

There is a lot of inertia to overcome... 1700 years of the church looking for pastors and teachers. In some sick way, we have done ok functioning on 40% of the gifting the Spirit has for us!

Funerals

It's been a long week. A good week, but a long one. And I say a good week, even though there were two funerals. A funeral is an excellent time for a kind of evangelism, “apologetics.” As we become more and more secular, death is seen as some kind of anomaly. The secular mind tends to fear death, to disbelieve it. It happens only to old people who are carefully secluded away so it won't scare children... or adults. And even then, death is seen as an injustice, evidence that God does not exist or does not care. So, on that level, if people thinking that way come to a funeral (and sometimes they do, to honor the person being memorialized), there is a chance to present the claims of the Gospel, the reason for the hope the deceased had in Christ. It's not an easy thing for the unbeliever-- they are alternately attracted and repulsed. From the vantage point of a preacher, you see indifference, surprise, comfort, hostility. But the point is to acknowledge death as the consequence of sin and death and to acknowledge eternal life as the reward of faith in Jesus Christ.

And the deep mourning of the family is also something that a strong, Christ-centered funeral addresses. I remember a funeral that Howard Willen took me to. He was the pastor at First Methodist in Lexington, who helped me immensely, not the least way was helping me discern a call into ministry. Because I was going into ministry, he took me along to things like meetings, hospital calls, nursing home visits... and funerals. So at the first one...

It was interesting. I knew I was going to have to get used to funeral homes. Caskets. Mourning. Death. And constant reminders of death. What a weird job pastors have, I remember thinking. Most people would actively try to avoid going to a funeral home. And yet, we go, and will be with the people as they are dying, perhaps when they die. I won't lie, it's tough. But you get to go with Jesus, and occasionally you see some signs and wonders.

Well, Howard and I were headed into Kerr Bros. funeral home, the one downtown. It was a cold day, maybe winter. Howard had said he would call me if there were a funeral so that I could see how they were done. As we went in-- I will never forget this-- he said, “Let's kick the devil around.”

How? Death is his turf. Mourning and hopelessness is his game. But the Gospel is preached in the face of death. And the death of the believer's physical body is the first step to resurrection to eternal life.

So I am always ready to roll at a funeral. I've got Good News. How good it is to be able to offer the consolation of the Lord!

I wrote some of this in the middle of the night. Nadia had a nightmare, I got her and brought her into bed with Jessie and me. And then Nadia ran me out. Three episodes of Burn Notice later and I was still wide awake.

Now it is Saturday evening, a bit of snow coming down. I had a great Sabbath. Slow morning to go over the sermon. Great lunch with our DS Terry Reffett—we chewed some of the same dirt in Clark County. Good, slow day with the family. Right now a fire in the fireplace. Going to read a few more chapters of My Side of the Mountain with the boys. Thinking back to how Dr. Willen scooped me up out of the gutter, and how good the Methodists have been to me and my family.

What's The Scorecard?

A few years back, I was visiting with some parishioners in Lexington.  The wife was a Methodist pastor's daughter.  She said something that has really stuck with me.  She remembers her dad coming home one day (I think this was the 50s).  He had been at some kind of denominational meeting. She said he sat down at the kitchen table and was weeping.

The powers-that-be had decided to strike a statistic from the reports pastors make: "evangelistic contacts."  He said it would mean terrible things for the church because we no longer valued the important work of reaching out to people who did not know Jesus, and getting out of the church office.

I have heard about this statistic.  But I have never been asked about it in my ministry.  We are asked about money and property and insurance.  And, indeed, we report on worship attendance, professions of faith.  But at some point I can't help but think my parishioner's weeping father was right.

The simple fact is that what you celebrate gets repeated, what you measure is worked towards.  As Methodists, the two things we should value most: people coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ (Justification), and their continued growth in grace (Sanctification).  Put another away, Evangelism and Discipleship.  From my perspective we seem to think you can make unconverted disciples-- never talk about Jesus, just do good things and be a nice guy.  That's works righteousness, and no one has ever seen God that way.

Long Nights

One of my best friends has about 15 years of sobriety in. He told me something about Christmas that really struck a chord in me. Christmas was on a Wednesday, a day he usually chairs an AA meeting. He mentioned that he was still going to chair the evening meeting, even though it was Christmas, because someone may be coming in needing help. It's a bad time of year he says.

I can agree to that. I have found that Christmas-New Year's Eve is a good time to do evangelism. The Christmas-New Year's season reminds people about the past year and the New Year. And for folks who have had a hard year, remembrance is a bad thing. And if there is no hope that the New Year will be any better... I remember a terribly sad evening, visiting a young man in jail. As I was coming out, I noticed that his mother was there, but she was being booked... she had come to visit him, but she had come in drunk. I could not imagine the sadness in that moment.

We have so many opportunities to speak to people. Some times if we speak to them, it is a word in season, something that can bring hope and joy. I wonder if we can think of ourselves the same way my friend thinks of AA, being ready with the word of peace in Jesus' name.