Baling Hay and Saving Souls

Today was good, long day.  Winding down watching the NBA Finals with Joseph.

After the last day of VBS, we went out and helped Charlie Derrickson and his grandsons bale hay.  Johnny keeps his calves at Charlie's farm, so it's kind of like rent.  It was a really good time for Johnny to see what it's like to bale hay.  May be the first kid who has never complained about it... It was, strangely enough, a great way to cap off a great day.  The hot work burned off some energy.  Doing something really productive on top of an amazingly productive Bible School just seemed perfect.

Bible School... you have no idea if you weren't there! We have been dissatisfied with the VBS packages put out by various publishers.  Dave Sheffel has been asking for a few years that we just write our own. We wanted something that had more evangelism, more discipleship, more spiritual formation.  I have to say, as soon as we started working on it, I was stoked.  The ideas for crafts and skits and content was so energizing. To sit around the table with Jessie, Dave, Peggy Fannin, Mike Breeze, Adam Foster and Emily Neal was a highlight of any week we did it.  I looked forward to the energy and excitement.  We settled on Jonah, and we were going to intentionally, every day, share the Gospel with the kids.  My contribution was I wanted slime to throw at the kids to remind them of the whale's belly.  Really, just any excuse to have slime!

Doing this set our people free to do the best work they have ever done.  It was an amazing bible school for start to finish. Drew and Mary Ellen McNeill did a great job leading an awesome worship that taught kids lots of Scripture. It was like a vision of how we could do awesome worship with families and help kids know Scripture and Jesus... 85% of people make a profession of faith between the ages of 4 and 14!!!

I think we made some great strides in meeting young families.  And then there was a Chinese woman, who has only been in the country for a week.  She brought her son. Anyway, I had one last Chinese Bible and gave it to her.  She ended up sitting on a couch in the lobby, and did not put it down for three hours.

I may blog a little bit more about some the specifics of VBS this year, but here is what I really want to get to.  I got a chance to ask the kids to give their hearts to Christ.  And it was so easy.  All I had to do was walk them thru the 5 points, one of which was the theme of each day.  They had sung the theme, watched a video about the theme, had a bible story time about the theme, did crafts about the theme, and journalled about the theme in a reflection time.  16 kids gave their lives to Christ today!!  We should do VBS all the time!!!

I had more people tell me they wished it wasn't over.  Three youth volunteers said, "we should do it just like this next year."

16 kids gave their lives to Christ today!!!

Something Robert Coleman Said

I love Robert Coleman.  I mean, there's probably no real way to express how much of an influence he has been on me.  First and foremost is, of course, his classic book, "The Master Plan of Evangelism."  I love that book so much I mined the bibliography to find another great book, "The Training of the Twelve" by A.B. Bruce.

I first me Robert Coleman at an evangelism resources dinner in Wilmore, KY.  He gave the invocation.  I elbowed a few people in the buffet line to get a chance to talk to him!!!

I have been privileged to hear him speak a number of times... at the Exponential Conference, when he came and spoke at Morehead (!) and at the National Discipleship Forum.  That latter one, well, two years later I am still trying to unpack what happened in my spirit.

Long story short-- any conversation about discipleship and evangelism, we are having it because of Robert Coleman.  All the flurry of books on discipleship these past 10 years, it's because the crisis that was long predicted has hit the church with full force, and we are sitting back and saying, "Hey, didn't that guy write a book about how Jesus did evangelism and discipleship?" There's no Exponential Conference-- the largest gathering of church planters on the planet-- without Robert Coleman's simple work of asking us to do what Jesus taught His disciples to do!

SO... I wrote to Robert Coleman a bit ago.   A number of times, actually, trying to gain insight on how he has run his legendary small groups.  I asked him, "Which books have been most influential on you?"

Here's what he wrote back:

"Books that have helped me across the years include:
John Wesley's Sermons
works of Jonathan Edwards
Charles Finney
Francis Asbury
J.I. Packer
Ajith Fernando
John Bunyan
Francois Fenelon
Brother Lawrence
Richard Baxter
Blaise Pascal
Phoebe Palmer
Robert Murray McCheyne
John Charles Ryle
E.M. Bounds
D.L Moody
John Watson
Andrew Murray
along with the great hymns of the church.

He added, "I also like to read the Fathers of the Church and biographies of great missionaries.  This is enough to get started.  God bless you."

After I read it, I sat there stunned. I have to admit, I was looking for some long-forgotten tome (like Bruce's "The Training of the Twelve"), some pivotal but obscure discipleship book that I could learn from that made Robert Coleman into the man of such profound long-term influence that he is.

In short, I was asking for a drink of water, and he took me to the well.  "this is enough to get started."  I had to chuckle.  This is enough to last a lifetime.  And I am heartily reminded that discipleship is about following Jesus.

Not Technically Evangelism, but Good Stuff

So,  dove headlong into an amazing rabbit hole two days ago.  Yesterday morning I still had not come out of it... not exactly sure where it is going to end up.  It started with reading Numbers.  Sometimes you need to read big chunks of Scripture, to get familiar with it before you drill down.  That's what I was doing, but I noticed something that I had not noticed before.  Numbers 13, the spies that the Israelites send out into the promised land.  They send 12 men, one from each tribe.  They come back and 10 of them give a false, bad report saying they can not take the land.  Caleb and Joshua, however, say that with faith in God they can surely take it.

In verses 6 and 8, Numbers tells us that Caleb was from the tribe of Judah and Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim.  Lights went off.  That can't be an incidental piece of information--as if there were such a thing in Scripture.  Long story short (and not the point of this post), Judah is the tribe of David and Jesus.  Ephraim, the younger son of Joseph who receives the birthright that belonged to Reuben.  Ephraim "stands in" in Scripture for the ten northern tribes and Judah, well, Judah stands in for Judah and Benjamin. [Thanks to Theo Hagg and Wes Holland for diving down the rabbit hole with me]

ANYWAY. I thought, "I need to look up what Adam Clarke as to say about this..." Sadly, he passes it by, at least in Numbers.  Maybe he picks it up in comments on Hosea or Chronicles.  I'll see.  But when I got to the end of his Numbers commentary, he has this to say:
 "Canaan was a type of the kingdom of God; the wilderness through which the Israelites passed, of the difficulties and the trials to be met with in the present world. The promise of the Kingdom of God is given to every believer; but how many are discouraged by the difficulties in the way! A slothful heart sees dangers, lions and giants everywhere; and therefore refuses to proceed in the heavenly path.  Many spies contribute to this by the bad report they bring of the heavenly country,  Certain preachers allow that the land is good, that it flows with milk and honey," and go so far as to show some of its fruits; but they discourage people by stating the impossibility of overcoming their enemies.  'Sin,' they say, 'cannot be destroyed in this life--it will always dwell in you....'  Here and there, a Joshua and a Caleb , trusting alone in the power of God, armed with faith in the infinite efficacy of that blood which cleanses from all unrighteousness, boldly stand forth and say, 'Their defence is departed, and the Lord is with us. Let us go up and possess the land, for we are well able to overcome.' We can do all things through Christ strengthening us: he will purify us unto Himself, and give us that rest from sin here which his death has procured and His word has promised. Reader, canst thou not take God at His word? He has never yet failed thee. Surely, then, thou hast no reason to doubt. Thou hast never yet tried Him to the uttermost. Thou knowest not how far and how fully he can save."

The Importance of Visitation

I want to follow up on that letter Tom Ditto wrote.  He was pastor in the church I serve 50 years ago.  Perhaps you remember that I could point to two couples that I know, and their kids and grandkids, who came to this church because of the visitation Rev. Ditto and members of the congregation did.  I asked Sue Wells, a member who knows a lot about this town and this church.  She took the names and addresses and made a report for me.

From that report, in addition to the two couples I know, Sue noted that at least 8 people became active members.  She had additional information about a number of people who became active to some degree and then others who while they never joined were a strong part of the ministry.  And how about this… there are a number of families who the parents did not come, but the kids did.  And one of those “kids” now has two kids in our youth ministry.

What a great legacy—new members, people exploring the faith, maybe the parents did not come, but some grandkids are here.  Think long-term.  Yes, it is awesome when someone comes to Christ.  But for that to happen on your watch, many others went before you, preparing the ground.  I look at the two grandkids (not using their names because I have not asked permission yet) and I think how important they are in my kids’ lives… to think that an important piece in their accepting Christ last year was something they probably have no clue about: some people from the church visited their grandparents.

I am also humbled by my spiritual fathers.  I have Howard Willen’s robe, Harold Hunter’s stole, and Harold Dorsey’s service book.  And now Tom Ditto’s letter.

I really hope that we are encouraged to reach out to our neighbors. To be serious about visitation! Over and over you hear that it doesn’t work.  Even now, someone is saying, “well, it worked then, but that was the 60s. Times are different. It doesn’t work now.”  Have you tried it?  Consistently? Not one-and-done, but regularly going out with some people, inviting new folks to the church? Inviting people who have been here forever… to come to church?

I have a favor to ask.  A friend of mine, John Wesley Leek, will be leading some visitation work with his church in rural Mississippi.  He has been serious about going out and getting to know the neighbors, helping them to get to know the church.  Will you pray for him and his church?  I bet if we get some prayer power on it, his little church will see great results!

Bishop Asbury Speaks

Those of you who know me and those who have read this blog know that often enough I bring up the practice of visiting house to house.  This kind of evangelism freaks people out for a whole variety of reasons we can talk about later.

What I want to bring up here is the vow we take as Methodist pastors.  “Will you visit from house to house?”  All those who are ordained as Methodist pastors get asked this at their ordination service.  We are all supposed to answer “yes.”  And we do.  I visit house to house first of all, because I took a vow to. (The other vows are worth looking at, too.  Again, later.)  I visit house to house because IT WORKS, on a bunch of levels.  Sometimes it brings people to church and then to salvation.  Sometimes I get to pray with people! People I would otherwise never meet, or know the burdens on their heart.

I have noticed from the beginning of my ministry that almost no pastor who vowed to visit house to house does so.  I have asked all kinds of people—other pastors, District Superintendents from various conferences, bishops—and I get a basic response.  The questions are “heritage” questions.  We are acting out an old ordination service, but we don’t need to live into the vows.  Or, for the specific question, “Will you visit from house to house,” I have been told most often that it means the people in your church.

Francis Asbury, one of the two original Bishops of the Methodist Church, died in 1816, 200 years ago.  I have been thinking that this would be a great year to read his journals.  I have read Wesley’s Journal, and it was probably the best thing I ever read about what it takes to be a pastor.  Asbury was the bishop who laid out a vision for the Methodists in the new nation.  Well, finding Asbury’s journal has been a little harder.  I found one on Amazon, but it is only volume 2 of a three volume set.  No biggie, I figured I would start there.

As I was packing to head to Illinois, I picked it up to put in my bag and it opened.  I glanced at random and came across this gem from May 24, 1795: “I spent part of the week in visiting from house to house. I feel happy in speaking to all I find, whether parents, children, or servants; I see no other way; the common means will not do; Baxter, Wesley, and our Form of Discipline say, ‘Go into every house;’ I would go farther and say, go into every kitchen and shop—address all, aged and young, on the salvation of their souls.”

So, there you have it.  Asbury, who knew Wesley well, gathered that visiting from house to house really  means going from house to house!  And not just the homes of your own people.  He cites Richard Baxter, probably thinking of his great book on pastoral care “The Reformed Pastor,” and John Wesley and the Methodist book of Discipline.

All that remains for us to decide is if this practice makes any sense today.  What has changed since 1816, and when did it change, so that visiting from house to house should be neglected?  And if it should be neglected, can we drop it from ordination, because it seems in poor taste to start ministry with dishonest answers to questions that don’t matter.

Or… could it be that in a day when fewer and fewer people come to church, and very few know much about what it means to be a Christian, that pastors should rediscover this to get to know the people who aren’t coming to church, and for whom the “common means” (going to church, growing up in a Christian culture, etc) are not working?

A Letter to My Church

I have now, in my formerly gunpowder-stained hands, a letter, written in 1961,  to my church from its then-pastor, Tom Ditto.  In just a few days, it has become a very important and inspiring thing to me.

But before we go back to 1961, I have to say a few words about Tom Ditto.  When I was going through ordination, I was placed in a sort of small study group of other ordinands.  I was in there with some of my closest friends in ministry.  Martina Ockerman, one of my oldest friends in Kentucky; my best friend from seminary, Lyle Morton; and Scott Wilson—you know that story… we went to middle school together in Germany, and how cool is it to be in ministry with him AND his son, Jacob.  Well, Tom Ditto was assigned to us as a clergy mentor.  Man, did he walk me through some thorny stuff.  My first church had the meanest white woman in America in it.  I bet I cried to Tom once a month.

I would see Tom about once a year at Evangelism Resources’ banquet.  He went home to glory a little over a year ago.

Last week, Janis and Jack Ellis invited me over to give me some of Jack’s old books.  Look through a preacher’s, a writer’s, a scholar’s books?  Yes, please!

I was not prepared that the best part of what was in one of the boxes he gave me was the aforementioned letter.

The letter was written to a number of people who had gathered together to go over names of new people in Morehead, and then went out to visit them (!!!) and invite them to church.

The most important paragraph of the letter, and the only part I will quote, reads: “’Jesus Christ is Lord’ is the emphasis of the Methodist Church for the next four years.  Immediately the special area of this emphasis is centered in evangelism.  The goal is that every member of the Church will begin to witness about Christ to friends, neighbors and associates.  Let us each prepare ourselves daily with spiritual disciplines that will enable us to do this.”

Whoa. Friends, this is great stuff!  One time, not too long ago, the national church called its members to evangelism? To the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Evangelism has fallen on hard times in the United Methodist Church.  Since Rev. Ditto wrote that letter, the UMC has lost more than 60% of its members.  In 1957, we were the largest Protestant denomination.  Since then, a continuous slide.  But we’re paid well, have nice pensions, and a lot of property value.  You know, the stuff the Great Commission is all about.

But there is more to the letter.  In fact, it’s not so much what Rev. Ditto wrote as it is what else was in the letter: the names and addresses of many new people in the community.  I want to sit down with some of the older members and see how many of the folks on this list became a part of the church.  But I can tell you that two of the families on that list did and are still here. I know their kids, grandkids, and soon great-grandkids.  Paul Ousley is on the list. He has gone home to glory.  But his dear wife Gail is still here, one of our treasurers.  And so are Howard and JoAnne Setser.  Howard and JoAnne’s daughter Elizabeth married a friend of mine from Sunday School in Lexington, Mike Berry.  Mike and Elizabeth are both prominent leaders in a great church where Jerry Beck-- a pastor I love-- serves!

I have no way of calculating the impact of these families on the Kingdom.  Their years of worship.  Of service. Of tithing. Their witness to their friends and family. The work that goes on through their kids and grandkids.  Now what would happen, if were to learn about how so many others of our members came to know Christ?  Wouldn’t we have a totally different view of how to do evangelism, WHY to do it?  How to stay encouraged about it?  Joyce Saxon’s father told God is she got saved he would become a preacher.  What about countless fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers praying by children’s bedsides, doing devotionals together, exalting Christ in the day-to-day? If I think about it, I am overwhelmed. I see each person in my mind and cannot fathom how many people, stretching back to the Apostles, were faithful in living and proclaiming so that each person in my church came to know Christ! To think that today, I may be someone who can witness to another.  Any person living their life in the light of Christ—we can never understand what influence they will have. Each one of us who is saved is a miracle!

Someone went to visit the people on this list.  I know of at least two other prominent members of my church that came because Rev. Ditto visited them when they came to town.

I think this letter is one of the most encouraging and challenging things I have come across.  A simple letter, nothing of earth-shaking historical value.  But what it shows us is a pastor and church who wanted to reach their town for Christ.  A small town, but that does not matter.  Everywhere, people need to know Jesus, and we should be pleased to introduce Him anywhere to anyone!

And then there’s this.  We may think, “I went out and visited people, and invited people, and no one came.”  Don’t I know it! If I counted the fruit of my evangelism based on the percentage of people who became followers of Christ, I’d be so depressed.  My own self-assessment is that I am a less-than-average evangelist.  But I don’t worry about numbers or rejection. What I do focus on is that when one person accepts Christ, angels rejoice.  And this letter from Rev. Ditto reminds me that each person who comes to Christ can have an amazing impact over the long haul of the Kingdom. Don’t obsess about all the people who don’t respond to your invitation.  Or who reject your precious Savior, who is so dear to you that it hurts if they take Him lightly.  Think that those who do come to know Him through your witness will also bear fruit for the Gospel.  You may never get to see that fruit.  But it is there.

So it has been a long time since I have posted here.  A part of me wishes that I had written something soon after the Exponential West Coast Conference, because some really wonderful things happened there.

Maybe I should just hit the highlights.  Maybe that will jog my memory a bit.

Exponential is a church planting conference.  Church planting is kind of like the space program of the church; it pushes the envelope and develops new strategies for evangelism and discipleship.  So even if you are not interested in planting a church, you can still learn a lot.

There were really great speakers, too many to mention.  Max Lucado was definitely a highlight, but so were Joby Martin, Derwin Gray, and Oscar Muriu.   I think, though, two speakers really stood out.  JD Greear has been beating the drum of multiplication and releasing leaders and resources to start new churches.  Ying Kai is a church planter in China whose organization has baptized 1.7 million (yes, you read that correctly) people in 20 years.  And he freely gives away what he has learned.  As I write this, I realize that I will spend some time blogging about this in the future.

What I want to say now… God does some amazing things.  I just keep finding that he puts so many people in our path.  I don’t know where to start so maybe with the first crazy thing.  In the first breakout session, the guy presenting talks a bit to me and says, “Hey, you’re from Kentucky, go meet Jamey!” So I meet Jamey, who planted a church in Louisville, but is now planting a church in Phoenix.  Where are his parents from, and where did he spend most of his summers as a kid? Menifee County!  We hope to have a conversation with him to reach out to some of his family who still live there!

Some of you know how much I agonize for places that don’t have the Gospel preached, and how much I am distressed that California, my home state, the state with the most population in the U.S. has so few Methodists.  My great-great grandmother was a Methodist from Bitterwater.  I can’t imagine what a middle-of-nowhere that place was 140 years ago… and still a Methodist circuit rider went out there, because even though homesteads were few and far between, there were souls there to save!

Anyway, one day at Exponential, I was in the bookstore of the church that was hosting the Conference.  They have their own Lifeway bookstore…which is another story.  I see a guy whose name tag says he is from my dad’s hometown.  He and his wife are planting there. She left and was never going back, but she said they were visiting and saw so much pain and brokenness and they wanted to plant a “life-giving church for God’s people.” God was working on me, because I woke up the next morning weeping with the joy of the Lord! The Holy Spirit had started working me over before I woke up!  I was so blown away that this couple was there!  God spoke plainly. “Don’t worry about California.  I’ve got that.  What I don’t have is Eastern Kentucky.”

I had to laugh, because as I look back on my intense prayer time last year where God told me I could ask Him for anything I wanted, and after weeks of Him pushing me to ask for something real, for something only He could do and only He could get any credit for, I finally blurted out, “Give me a disciple-making movement that wins Eastern Kentucky to Christ!” He worked me around to where my heart broke for what breaks His; He led me to follow where He was going.  I am so thankful! Otherwise I would be roping the wind.

This Conference was in many ways a dream.  I took Jessie, Mike (our planter in Frenchburg) and Jacob, who I hope will be able to come on board at our church to lead worship in a third service.  I keep wanting to take more and more people, to let them have a taste of the deep desire so many have for evangelism and discipleship.