Thursday, December 23, 2010

Reflections of 2010 -- Part 1

My Christmas break is busy. I like it that way. I am trying to hang around and serve my wife as her arm/wrist heals from a nasty break that required surgery. But, while I am doing that, opportunities abound. I am meeting today with some leadership from a large church in Southwest Missouri that is seeking some direction in becoming Gospel-centered and missional. That is exciting! But, I have also spent hours wading through the initial draft of a book called MOVE by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson (Willow Creek). They have asked me to read and make comments before the book's next editing. This is fun, but also very time consuming. Good to see the process because I know that there is a book to author someday about God's blessings on The Bridge.

This morning though, I was starkly reminded of a neat fact as I read through the book's content. I know it sounds ridiculously simple, but the more time that we spend in private with the Word of God, meditating and praying over the living and active Word of Truth, the closer we will get to the Risen Christ! Their surveying of over 250,000 church goers proved that out again. The reminder though came very personal though because I made a commitment last January to read through the Bible in a year with the folks from The Journey in St. Louis and it was one of the best things I did in 2010. There is a stat out there somewhere that about 82% of the Bible reading and meditating that most pastors do is in sermon prep. That is a huge mistake and it causes us to neglect the personal development time with Jesus. The reality of this is that people will rarely outgrow their influencers, so it is essential that I (and our other elders, staff, parents, and cell leaders) be in the Word of God and growing with Jesus.

I want to thank The Journey for putting a lot of time into the program that I did because I think it has been a big influence in a great year of Bible focus at The Bridge. If nothing else, I am closer to Jesus because of it. Reading through the Bible in a year should not replace closely meditating on a few verses for God to speak to us, but man has it been great.

I challenge you to consider this for 2011. It took me an average of about 25 minutes a day. Here is the program if you would like to consider it. http://journeyon.net/engage/scripture/reading

How can we make disciples if we are not disciplined ourselves?

Monday, November 22, 2010

Who Are You Day-to-Day Responsible For?

This coming Sunday is going to somewhat be about Judgment Day responsibility. We will give an account on the Day for those that we were RESPONSIBLE for their care and their spiritual well-being in the Gospel. You don't have to show this to anyone, but you might consider who God has put on your list and how well you are doing with that list. I have put mine into six groups because of my responsibility as a pastor, but you might only have three or four. You might want to share this at cell or just pray over it at home with your family, but this is worth your time. We can only day-to-day be responsible for about 30 people at most (15-20 is optimal). Here is my list as an example at a glance (don't be insulted if you are not on here because you probably are indirectly as my day-to-day care of some of these people trickles down to you). Notice that I do not have extended family on here. I am very close to my sister, but I am not going to be held RESPONSIBLE for these two areas with her (may be too hard-headed to let me influence her anyway -- haha -- we will see if she reads my blogs). The first 4 are day-to-day concern, prayer, and responsibility. Everyone should have their missional cell folks on here whether you lead the group or not, or you are probably not understanding the FAMILY identity of cell. Five and six for me are areas that I pray for and I am responsible for, but not day-to-day (would be impossible) Here we go:

1 -- Immediate Family
Kelley, Justin, Taylor, Mom, Juanita
2 -- Missional Cell Coaches
Ben, Lance, Stan Jackson
3 -- Mission Cell Leader Mentees (I coach this group)
Seth Durbin, Josh Massey, Bill Rawson, Brian Hurst, Stan Reiner, Jason Roney, Ken McIntyre
4 -- Board & Staff & Cell Family
Jerry Wallen, Roger Durbin, Tammy Durbin, Meg Reiner, Rob Pierce, Sarah Winch, Brad & Wendy Brown, Jeromy & Julie McDowell, Chris & Cheryl Guthrie, Bill & Amanda Simmons, Nathan & Melissa Bollinger, Paul Pinkston, Heather Jaco, Vickie Forsythe, Ronnie & Angie Buckingham (this group is fluid as some will leave to start cells and we will invite new folks in).

That is 36 people. And, I am failing miserably with some of these folks. I need to love them better. I need to more deeply engage their lives. I need to talk about Jesus more and encourage their Gospel-Centered lives. I need to be more intentional in going on God's mission with them. I need to love them better (yeah, I know that I repeated that one).

5 -- the entire Bridge community & not-yet Christian friends. I pray for and shepherd and love the entire church, but I must prepare and train others for the day-to-day care of this group. Also, I must rub shoulders with folks who do not know Jesus yet in a hope that He will reveal Himself to them.
6 -- the Body of Christ and my extended family. I love the church universal and want to see it grow and prosper. I mentor many leaders in the faith, but I do not care for them day-to-day. I love my family and want to see them in heaven.

Who is on your list? How are you doing with it?

Interesting, huh?

Saturday, October 23, 2010

"NO" Can be a Holy Word

Just a note about God reorienting and resetting our priorities from last Sunday's sermon. To make the move to the Gospel centering all areas of our lives and building a close knit Gospel community in a home environment, saying 'no' to a lot more to things that look really important becomes a necessity -- sometimes even to charity work or church work. Mission and community are our new main priorities. NO almost becomes a holy word. If you did not see the last two weeks on Gospel-centered missional community, you can check it out at this link.

http://vimeo.com/channels/11022

Monday, September 20, 2010

Inflamed with Passion? Pursue Godly Marriage

Yesterday, I preached from 1 Corinthians 7 that God says that if we are inflamed with passion “that we should pursue Godly marriage.” I want to be clear about that pursuit. I hinted at it in the sermon, but never came right out and said it. We should not pursue Godly marriage by counting on dating websites, singles ministries, or definitely while HOWS (hanging out with sinners), or other worldly wisdom avenues. We pursue Godly marriage by devoting all of our time to PURSUING GOD. Singles, inflamed with passion, easily step into idolatry (the idea of being married) and make sinful mistakes in this pursuit. Once again, it boils down to the ultimate questions in life, “Is Jesus sufficient?” and “Do I trust Him, that if I spend time with Him - getting close to Him, that a Godly spouse will show up on the horizon.” My experience in watching people walking closely with God is that as they discover His glory, His majesty, His power, they discover that the passion (the urges, the hormones) did not own them quite as much as they thought it did. To pursue Godly marriage, first and foremost, PURSUE GOD -- LOVE AND SERVE GOD. Flee from sin, flee from sexual immorality, go to war with worldly wisdom, and pursue Him with time, service, prayer, fellowship, resources, EVERYTHING. Trust in Him; watch Him work in your life.

Note: I am not against singles ministries. My observation is that many times they are filled with people in idolatrous pursuit of companionship over Jesus. That is unhealthy. There are many healthy singles ministries and many healthy Christians that attend them.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Labor Day Musings -- #2

Had a car in front of me driving through town that had a big sticker that covered the whole back window that stated, "I will only be judged by God!!" In a sense, this is accurate and I am glad. We really don't want anybody except the perfect God Jehovah deciding who gets into heaven and who doesn't.

BUT, that is not really what the statement was getting at. This person was declaring to the whole human race, "Leave me alone; I will do what I want to do when I want to do it." The only problem with that is that it is not Biblical Christianity. The Bible designs the church to lovingly keep each other in check, and we Americans don't like it because that requires judgment. This person needs to study 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, and quite honestly the whole New Testament. Our wicked hearts are prone to wander without loving Spirit-filled hearts to bring them back into line with some judgment.

Labor Day Musings -- #1

Growing and bearing fruit in the Gospel (Col 1:6) brings with it enlightenment. We think differently. I am reading through the entire Bible with The Journey (Darrin Patrick’s church in St. Louis) this year and this morning, I bumped into a passage in Proverbs 11.
When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes;
all he expected from his power comes to nothing. Proverbs 11:7

And, I had an epiphany. Before God straightened out my theology, I really used to think that there were three groups of people. There were: 1) the wicked people, the really bad people who do evil things, 2) the sinners, people who were basically good, but did not know Jesus, and 3) the born again Christians. I now know two things. That there are only those whose hope perishes when they die (we all have a wicked and deceitful heart), and those that Jesus has come and rescued from this hopelessness. And, at one time I was among the perishing wicked. I was not just a sinner that was basically good. Proverbs 11:7 was about me. But, I was washed, I was sanctified, I was justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:11). So, hope rises this morning!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Finished

As I was cleaning at The Bridge today, I kept noticing some things around our new building that are not quite finished. Our church is spectacular, but there are a few places that need some paint, some trim, etc. The upstairs bathrooms are not complete, and on and on. This is not a criticism; we will never have everything done. It made me start thinking that anything put together by human hands just never quite gets perfectly done. There are always imperfections and just a little more refining to do.

I began to worship because Jesus completed His work on the cross of atoning for our sins. He completed His Bridge. When He said, "IT IS FINISHED," IT was finished. The act of remission of our rebellious sin was complete for those that He calls and respond by repenting and believing the Gospel. A perfect act by a perfect God. Praise Jesus!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

GAP'S EDUCATOR'S DINNER

Attention all local educators!!!

Ready for some food, fun, and some great conversation? And it won't cost you a thing except an evening of your time.

On August 5, GAP (the Great Adventure Project, a Christian organization here in St. Francois Co.) wants to do something nice to honor our local educators and provide some possibly valuable information at the same time. We are personally inviting you and all of your administrators, teachers, and classified staff to a dinner at The Bridge Community Church in Leadington at 6:00. The dinner is free, and this is NOT a fundraiser. This is just an evening for you to enjoy with other educators as we eat, have some music, some (hopefully hilarious) drama, a couple of speakers, and hopefully just some time to hang out. The speakers will be three Constitutional law attorneys from the St. Louis area who will be giving a short presentation on what educators can actually do Constitutionally in terms of dealing with ANY religion in the public school setting. There will be a Q & A to follow which should be very interesting. I think that you will thoroughly enjoy the evening, and it is being provided without any cost to the first 300 educators to respond with a RSVP. Right now, we will not be able to handle spouses for the evening because we are expecting a big response from educators. Please include your e-mail address with your RSVP and let us know if you would like for your spouse to attend, and we will contact you if there are some seats left. Feel free to forward this invitation to anyone you know that is in education.

Please RSVP to Tim Gray, GAP, at timgray22@gmail.com. Or call at 573-518-1131. E-mail is better. On your RSVP, include your two favorite JOY-FM (99.1) songs. The live music for the evening will be the highest requested songs.

If you RSVP, please show up or cancel. Our food people need an accurate count. Money that we don't spend here will build a home in Haiti or turn someone's electricity on in St. Francois County -- that is the kind of thing that GAP does. The dinner will not be fancy as GAP does a tremendous amount of local missions in feeding the hungry, turning on necessary utilities for the poor, and handling transportation for educational opportunities, jobs, and addictions ministries, and there is a significant cost to those efforts. However, we think that spending some resources to feed the awesome educators that do such a great job with our kids in the community is well worth it. The evening will be well worth your time to drive over and hang out for a couple of hours.

Sincerely,

Tim Gray
The Great Adventure Project
573-760-4933

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Clear Communication & Darien

It was pointed out to me last night that I may have misspoken on Sunday. As I talked of the cup that Jesus told the disciples (and you and me) that they would indeed bear, what I hope was communicated was that they would later understand that he meant that their cup would bear an essence of the suffering and sacrifice of THE cup (the one and only atoning cup) that he cried out to the Father to remove in the garden, not that they were the same cup. Jesus was taking them from talking about his arrest, death, and resurrection (the one and only atoning cup) in Matthew 20:17-19 and with great intention uses cup as the metaphor, so they would know that true followers would have a SIMILAR, not the same bloody cup of atonement that only he could bear, cup that he predicts for them in verse 23. If I said they were the exact same cup, that was not my intent and I apologize because it would be heretical. There is one cup of salvation (Psalm 116) and only Jesus has drunk from that cup. However, we do have to be willing to bear and drink from a cup that contains the essence of its suffering and sacrifice. That was the point as He led us to understand the depth of servanthood -- that ours would resemble His which cost Him His life (vs. 28). Jesus said, “You will indeed drink from my cup.” So, the question that was posed is fair, “Are you ready to suffer and sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom?”

While I am writing, I am trying to work through this Darien Black thing in my mind. Darien is the young man from Justin’s class who tragically ended his own life in the last week. I found out yesterday that there was a testimony given at his funeral that he had always told people that he got saved at a youth camp at The Bridge. This caused my mind to start racing. The first church camp of The Bridge in the summer of 2006 was in Eminence and there were some absolutely unforgettable events that took place there. Andy Sherrill’s talk along the river during the float trip on JOY (Jesus first, then others, then you), Derek Franklin getting bit by a poisonous snake and the frantic drive to the emergency room, and the youth band wowing us with their worship are all etched in our minds. Darien was a big part of that memory because he was the cow bell player in the band and he played loud and did not hit on the beat one time during the whole camp, but wow did he have a good time. It was fine and nobody said a word because he was new to church, and we were just ecstatic to see him so engaged. Somehow though, Darien got lost in the shuffle. He had not entered my mind for a long time until I heard of the tragedy. How can that be? How can people just slide into our frame of reference and back out again so easily. Apparently, he was dealing with things that nobody knew about. It makes me wonder who is in our midst right now that is dealing with things that nobody knows about, and maybe I am too busy to care? I pray that Darien’s family receive some peace from his encounter with the Gospel for a few days as he banged a cow bell way off beat.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Koinonia -- Missional Cell

Check out this excerpt from the book Total Church:
The New Testament word for community is koinonia, often translated by the now anemic word "fellowship." Koinonia is linked to the words "common, sharing, and participation." We are the community of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:9) -- sharing our lives (1 Thessalonians 2:8), sharing our property (Acts 4:32), sharing in the Gospel (Philippians 1:5; Philemon 6), and sharing in Christ's suffering and glory (2 Corinthians 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:13). The collection of money by the Gentile churches for the poverty-stricken church in Jerusalem is an act of koinonia (Romans 15:26; 2 Corinthians 9:13). Our community life is celebrated and reinforced in Communion, where we participate (koinonia) together in the body and blood of Christ: "Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf" (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).

I challenge you to study these passages before we take a special communion on Sunday. Let's show up to church on Sunday recognizing that we are a collection of communities sharing in all of these acts of Biblical community.

Are we getting it? The rugged American cowboy, the independent, private American was a neat concept, but it does not make for very good church. We have to do this together in community. Big community, smaller missional community, and groups of two or three will be the church that God wants to see and bless.

We learn about koinonia at places like the Walk to Emmaus and other conferences, but it just never seems to get put into practice. Get into a missional cell and just be open to all God wants to do through that and watch God accelerate your love for Him, and your love for others. Isn't that what we are commanded to do? Let's enjoy living out these Biblical commands in the natural rhythms of our lives.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Missional Cell

Missional community (at The Bridge we call it missional cell family) is a must in 21st Century church. People really caring for people in our fast-paced lives must be intentional in a 'small-church community,' or it just really never happens. Discipleship is maxed out in these settings when the groups are on common mission for the Gospel. Also, church should be fun, and these groups have an absolute blast doing life together when they are functioning properly. The Bridge gathers on Sunday to worship the most high God and train these groups; then we scatter every day of the week with our MC folks and work with other cells (and other churches) to go on mission and care for needs.

Jim Belcher, the writer of Deep Church who I just saw in St. Louis a couple of days ago, tells a story in the book that proves these points. Jim's church is in a relatively upper middle class area of Orange County in California, and he told the story of Doug and Mattie who were rolling along in the American dream -- great jobs, a magnificent home, leather-seated cars, and lots of travel. Small problems, but life was good. They even went to church for good measure. They called it, "checking the box."
Then in January 2005, their world changed forever. Their son Nathan was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned on felony drug charges. Humiliation set in to the point that they had to put paper over their windows to get local media and neighbors out of their destroyed worlds.

Then, Doug & Mattie encountered missional community from a group based out of Redeemer Church where Belcher pastors. I want to emphasize that they did not come into the church through the front doors of a worship service. A couple that became aware of their need reached out and invited them to hang with their cell. They found the acceptance in the home environment exactly what they needed and they continued to come back (not exactly knowing why). Mattie said, "They immediately accepted us, loved us, and comforted us. They shared in our suffering. They prayed with us. It was incredible. They literally saved our lives." In some terminology that we use at The Bridge, all the folks involved became willing to "know and be known." The couple did not visit Sunday morning services for months after all that you are about to hear about. The church gathering on Sunday is not the story here. If they had walked into most larger church settings in America, those who cared would have 'put them on the prayer list' while others (who obviously don't care and have bad hearts) would have scoffed and gossiped about their failings as parents because 'good' parents don't have children in prison. However, the missional community group put their lives on hold for a couple they barely knew but grew to love quickly. This is the story, the difference maker, for the glory of God that can happen when MC is done correctly.

You might notice that this missional community was not pounding Doug & Mattie with the Gospel at this time. They were hearing the magnificence of the Gospel as they attended the home gatherings, but it was not directed at them. The turning point in the whole story happened through the group exhibiting agape love in a time of suffering and need. The prison was a couple of hours away from home, and due to limited visiting slots, to see Nathan on Saturday morning at 7 am, Doug & Mattie would have to leave the house at 12:30 am to get in line at 2:30 to receive one of the visitor's passes. It was a grueling, exhausting procedure week after week. Soon, they were physically and emotionally drained. However, one Friday a member of their missional cell told them to go ahead and go to bed and set their alarm clock. The member had discovered that he could go stand in line for them to receive the pass and Doug & Mattie could just show up at 7:00 am for the visitation. The group began to rotate doing this for them, so that they could survive the ordeal. "Who does this kind of thing?" queried Mattie. "What would motivate someone who barely knows us and has never met Nathan to reach out with such kindness and compassion?"

God really had their attention now, and they noticed as they studied Romans 3 that they had never heard terms such as justification and sanctification. Jim admitted that they had always attended church, but he "did not understand the depth and breadth of the Gospel. Over the years we heard lots of engaging pep talks on how to live better, improve our lives and serve God, but never was the Gospel clearly and consistently taught." Months later, as the Gospel was actively changing and transforming their lives, they began to attend worship services. Doug said, "We realized that the Gospel impacted every aspect of our lives. Our lives took on new meaning. It was and is exciting."

Remember, this all started with a couple (never named in the book) who was fully engaged in missional community reaching out to a broken couple and bringing them into the community with love and care. The story gets better as Nathan sees the change in mom and dad and is absolutely overwhelmed by the story of the people standing in line over night in acts of agape. Nathan heard that the hole in his heart that he had tried to fill with drugs and crime could only be filled with a restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He had his heart cut by the Holy Spirit and came to Christ, and now is leading a missional community that focuses on drug addiction and parole violators since his release from prison. He actually joined the church from prison (big picture of him on the screen in his orange jump suit with a smile on his face that only Jesus can put there and a recording of him confessing Christ and committing to the body).

This is what can happen in missional community and is what we have been trying to foster since the first days that we planted The Bridge in cell families. We have some stories like this one here, but too many people still want church life to be much easier than that. This missional cell that loved on Doug & Mattie invested DEEPLY into them. There was a cost in time, money, & self interests!! Agape love requires sacrifice -- and quite honestly, it appears that few have been raised by Christ to that level across the church landscape.

I wrote this blog because I received an e-mail for a prayer request for a couple who has been occasionally attending our Celebration worship services for a little over a year now. They have not connected with a missional cell. I don't even know if they have been approached by a missional cell -- if not, I am disappointed. Their list of needs blows away Doug & Mattie and the reason that they are hanging around is that they have heard that the people of our church care. Who is going to be the couple that does more than just pray for them (see Matt. 5:44-48, James 2:14-17), but reaches out and brings them in? Our people at The Bridge are doing awesome, but we must be more missional with the disconnected and marginalized. I watch our people in large gatherings and most us talk to the folks that we know well. That is comfortable and easy. Our version of Doug & Mattie have essentially been ghosts for over a year now. How long will they stick around? The staff could try and 'place' them in a cell, but that is not what works. What works is for someone to reach out and invite them to dinner with their group -- just dinner, so that they know somebody cares. Who will be in tune with the Holy Spirit and reach out and pull them into Deep Church?

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Financial Rumors

I have been in the middle of the public eye for almost 30 years now and have been the topic of coffee shop and beauty shop gossip many times. Gossip, rumor, and innuendo are some of strongest supports to the Biblical notion that we are all born with a wicked and deceitful heart. Passing on rumor and innuendo without checking out validity of facts deeply grieves God. So much so that he lists it in one Biblical passage right next to murder in a list of practices that bar us from heaven. Gossip within the Body of Christ is most often the greatest enemy to the Gospel. People who are living far from God can’t stand the way “Christians” talk about each other.
Ordinarily, when lies and rumors that have no credence have hit the streets, I have always had a standard policy. LET IT DIE; do not respond. I have not addressed these things because it usually only adds fuel to the fire, and lies, rumors, and slanderous gossip usually go away because there is no fire, only artificial smoke.

Well, I am about to break that policy. There is a damaging rumor about The Bridge that has hung around for over three years now and is rampant right now that is not true and must be refuted. Listen closely people --
WE DO NOT ASK PEOPLE FOR ANY PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION (I.E. W-2's, CHECK STUBS, TAX RETURNS) FOR THEM TO JOIN THE CHURCH. We never have and we never will. There is not one person in leadership that has any idea how much money any member of The Bridge has or makes. This is a malicious rumor that was started by some people who would like to damage our credibility AND IT MUST STOP. If anyone reading this is a Christian and you have talked about this piece of misinformation without checking it out, you are in deep sin and are maligning the Bride of Christ, His body, the church. That will not go well for you when you see Him face to face. If you are not a Christian, I would ask you also to do the right thing and check this out before talking about it with anyone. There are 130 active members of The Bridge that you can ask, and they will all tell you just how ridiculous this falsehood is.
We do teach about finances at The Bridge. We do this a lot because Jesus did. He taught more about money than he did heaven and hell, so He must have thought it was important. Therefore, we teach about it, and we ask people to be obedient to the Bible on the subject.

Here is the covenant that every member of The Bridge signs:
Covenant #6 – To fulfill the New Testament command (1 Corinthians 16:2) for Biblical giving to the local church and to learn that I am not to store up earthly treasures, but heavenly treasures, I am committing to CONTRIBUTE a set and organized financial amount.
______ % of my gross income will be cheerfully given to The Bridge each week.
$__________ is going to be pledged to Gideon 300 per month.
Name___________________________ Date______________


This covenant asks that the member prayerfully commit to a percentage of their income (that we have no idea how much it is). If this is 1% or 50%, the person is allowed to join the church (see below for some more facts about the Biblical teachings). Also, we ask each member to make a pledge to help us pay our building off in three years. That is what the pledge to Gideon 300 is about. Every church asks its members for commitments to time, talents, and treasures in some fashion. We just get a little more specific with those areas, but we have no idea about our members’ personal financial business.

Here are some of the discipleship teachings that we convey about finances:
1. We teach the correct Biblical concepts that we should be open-handed with God's money. The New Testament teaches that when we become Christians that we no longer possess anything; all of creation is God's. A realization comes to us of a fact that has been there all along -- God owns everything. He is simply gracious enough to allow us to steward HIS money and creation. We are to be wise and not greedy with material things. Open-handed means that we put ourselves in a position where when it is time to help those in need, we can and do respond. The Bridge has done so locally by turning on gas and electricity for people and provided food for the hungry of St. Francois County. The local open-handed giving has been nothing short of astonishing. We have also assisted in building a fresh water well in Chacocente, Nicaragua, sent medical teams to three continents (including one of the first to arrive in Haiti along with a fresh water purifier so that people could stop dying from bad water), and are currently assisting in building 25 homes for the 1 million homeless in Haiti. We are sending money for the materials, and our next team of selfless builders will arrive there on July 5 to build streets, dig latrines, and a community building so that the residents will have a place to go to school and church.
2. On giving to the local church, we teach that we should be organized and open-handed there at the same time. 2 Corinthians teaches us to be organized in our giving to the local church and set aside a percentage for worshipful giving to our body of believers. That percentage should test our faith; it should be sacrificial and hurt a little. We teach that the Old Testament concept of the tithe (a tenth part) is a good starting point for that testing of faith and worship, but it is not commanded. We agree with Dave Ramsey, Crown Financial, Randy Alcorn (The Treasure Principle), Rick Warren, John Piper, Mark Driscoll and many other great Bible teachers that the tithe is too limiting to our open hands. We should learn to be extravagant and cheerful givers to our local body and trust that the church will glorify God in its stewarding of what God's people entrust to it. As God blesses our finances by increasing our standard of living, we should increase our standard of giving as Randy Alcorn states. Giving to the church and to other Kingdom work should be sacrificial, worshipful, and an absolute joy. We are still immature or have not repented and believed if we are controlling and political with our giving. Not giving or not giving with the proper spirit is just plain sin.
3. The Bridge is very open with its membership about the church's finances. The members receive constant reports as to where every penny is spent and an independent CPA examines every receipt in a yearly audit to ensure complete accountability. There are no fewer than eight checks and balances to ensure financial integrity. Five of those are completely independent of the church itself (CPA, two banks, an investment firm, and ECFA).
4. The Bridge is very lean in its spending and always will be. We hate debt. I think God hates debt for His people. We have some debt, but we are STRIVING to eliminate it quickly, and we will not borrow again. Instead of constructing a building a that is glitzy and glamorous, we saved over $2 million dollars by building a Sprung building giving us 24,500 square feet of ministry space without destroying our ability to do ministry. Our staff salaries are lean, and we budget 10% of our general budget to missions.
5. Most importantly, how we treat our finances should point us to the Gospel. Jesus was the greatest giver of all. He set aside his spot on the throne, came down and took on a stinky body like ours, and GAVE 100% to us for our restoration from sin and death. If the Gospel is transforming us to look like HIM, we should mirror this extravagant giving. How can we be stingy and selfish with a God who gave enough to endure the cross? Love should beget love.

We do ask our members for strong commitment. If I am reading the New Testament correctly, that is what Jesus did. We are not weird; we do not do strange things like this destructive rumor. If people will just come and find out instead of sneaking around the shadows and just talking about what they have heard, the truth will be known. If you spreading this gossip, please stop.

Monday, April 26, 2010

More from Jacob

The American church landscape is littered with three basic types of people. Since we often forget the Gospel as the centerpiece of our lives, the tendency for a long time now has been to teach and preach a kind of moralism or do-gooder mentality that has stripped the church of its First Love. This creates two of these groups of people. The first are the moralists who try to achieve righteousness on their own by doing better and trying harder to follow a set of rules. Then, you have the millions of people (most of which have left the church out of frustration) who despair because they can't seem to be good enough to follow the rules. The first group becomes legalistic and arrogant as the 'ones' who have it figured out. Jesus blasted these 'religious' people. The second group will never give the real church a chance because of their despair which comes out in many forms from anger to downright rebellion. The lack of Gospel-centering has driven both groups to extremes which are living far from peace and restoration.

Our look at Jacob in Genesis 32 showed us the answer to this problem. When Jesus initiates relationship, we should do what he did -- just hold on in meekness and humility and don't let go of your First Love. Listen to God speak through the prophet Hosea about this encounter between Jacob and God:

In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;
as a man he struggled with God.
He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel
and talked with him there—
the LORD God Almighty,
the LORD is his name of renown!
But you must return to your God;
maintain love and justice,
and wait for your God always.
Hosea 12:3-6

This says that Jacob WEPT (as a broken and contrite man) and BEGGED for the blessing of God. This is from one of the most selfish, self-centered men in history. Therefore, this should be our daily attitude as we are saved, are BEING saved, and will be saved. It is Jesus, the Lord Almighty - our first love, that brings us to daily repentance and then joy, peace, and restoration. It trying to follow a set of rules that leads to arrogance or despair. In contrast, it is holding onto Jesus and loving Him because He first loved us. Then, we stand up in humble power and love a dying and hurting world as ministers of reconciliation. This is the third group -- the deep and blessed group. Which group are you in today?

Monday, April 12, 2010

Kel's Health

Update -- The cat scan report came in today and she has two more nodules -- one in each lung. One is 6 millimeters and the other is 4. We have to wait 3 months and pray that when they take more pictures, none of the 3 are growing. This is not what I would have chosen, but as usual, I am not doing the choosing. Thanks for all of the prayers and loving attention. Christ will be glorified. See below for the original post.

Original

Actually, here is the straight scoop on Kelley's health, so that if you have somebody asks you, just refer them to the blog. I have already heard some crazy distortions of this.

She has not been feeling well for about six weeks now, and we thought she just had a UTI (bladder infection). When she saw a urologist, blood was discovered in her bladder. It is automatic procedure now to do a cat scan when blood is found in the bladder. The results of that cat scan gave us quite a shock. The bladder is still a mystery, but a 4 millimeter nodule (pretty good size, easy to see) showed up in the bottom part of her lung.

That is really all we know right now. There is no evidence of cancer at this point. But, we are in a tortuous waiting game. She will receive another cat scan in three months. If the nodules have grown, surgery will take them out immediately to be be biopsied. If there is no growth (she may have had this for 20 years), we repeat that process for 2 years (cat scans every 3 months). If they come out and are benign (growth does not necessarily mean malignancy), we are done. If it is malignant, they will remove an entire lobe of the lung immediately (and I am sure other ugly things start). If there is no growth in 2 years, we are done.

She is feeling fine. She ran a 5 mile race in St. Louis on Saturday and hosted lots of people at our house yesterday. We studied the magnificence of God together last night as we starting the Crazy Love study in our cell. That was sweet. I have a feeling that we will do a lot more of that stuff as the two years creep by.

It is a major sin in my life that I have taken a Proverbs 31 wife for granted. She was widowed as I chased basketball championships, and maybe a little as we have gone nutso for Christ by starting The Bridge. She has just always been so solid and there while I was at times wildly chasing dreams. I will now be solid for her if Christ reigns and rules in me.

Here are things you can pray for:
1. That we both draw closer to Christ minute by minute through our ordeal.
2. That HE be glorified every step of the way no matter the news.
4. That the current nodules stay at the same size they are now.
5. That the doctors get to the bottom of the bladder issue. That is what is making her sick.

Thank you for your love and concern. May Christ be glorified.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Am I Regenerated (Saved)?

Not long ago during a Q & A at a Sunday night Bible study called "The Story of God," someone asked a prolific question, "How do I know that I am saved?" Believing that our nation is largely one of false conversions, my immediate answer was a curt "wait a while." Yon Wibscov proceeded to give a very good answer about believing in the One who was sent and obedience and fruit and loving God and others, etc. But, I have been mulling and praying and reading since then and I thought I would share my thoughts. These are just kind of observations and Scripture rolled into characteristics that are both internal (things that you feel if God has redeemed you) and external (things that others see in you and probably make comment on).

Here we go in no particular order, but maybe some order:
1. Brokenness -- Psalm 38 & 51 -- I understand that I have deeply offended God with my sin. I am an unworthy slave. I have Godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10). On my own, I have no possessions or rights (except what God grants me after restoration, then I am called a child of God, a co-heir with Christ). I am dead, been crucified, and no longer live.

2. Full weight on (in) Christ -- believe and trust -- nor longer rely on myself for righteousness. God grants us the faith to place our entire existence in the Gospel, in the capable hands of the risen Christ. I know I am nothing without Him.

3. Willingness for obedience -- I do not fight God's commands. Desire to learn. Never perfect, but willing. He speaks; I obey. If not,

4. Constant repentance -- "all of life is repentance" (Martin Luther). When we offend, the Gospel leads us to change, to turn around -- to go to war with sin. Jesus said in His first words in public ministry in Mark 1:15, "Repent and believe the Gospel." Covered in #2-4. I know that I just shifted from first to third person. Salvation is intensely personal, but there is always a "we" that functions in community toward these ends as well.

5. Distinct Changes -- Lovers of God, Lovers of people, on mission (Great Commission at forefront of every day). Repentance is a gift from God, so we move from selfish to selfless and it is OBVIOUS. Not because we are trying (however we do also have a role in working out this salvation with fear and trembling), but because it now who we are.

6. Fruit -- Jesus was clear that without bearing fruit, we are useless and to be burned up in the fire. Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 goes along with #4). There will become a long history of fruit. The changes are not temporary resolutions; they are supernaturally instituted by the Holy Spirit, so they REMAIN. Serving God and serving others becomes a way of life.

7. Deep Satisfaction -- People and circumstances do not change our deep joy and satisfaction. Our joy is in the Gospel -- not people (they don't make very good gods), and not circumstances (they tend to unravel at some point whether we are saved or not). The Holy Spirit is rooted deeply in us, and so "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)."

8. Love -- Kim Walker cries out in this video that, "WE ARE NEVER THE SAME AFTER WE ENCOUNTER THE LOVE OF GOD." CLICK HERE

I have a thousand other thoughts and I am sure that you do also, but I wanted to get these out there because I think people wonder about their status. These eight should resonate deeply with the regenerated man or woman. How did you do with the test?

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

As God Begins to Work

A young lady entered our lives a couple of weeks ago in the GAP ministry. We have had the opportunity to love on her some and serve her by taking care of some needs. Her needs are many, and it has been a joy to get to know her as we present the Gospel. Rachel writes poetry. Here is some of her writing after experiencing some love from God, from God's people, and the Word of God. Remember, she has no church background at all.

A lost soul with no place to rest.
Racing thoughts flows the pen like
water does the body.
The tongue can not be still,
but my mouth is closed.
The many questions asked but receive
no answer.
The world stops,
time stops but only for a while
Chaos! Confusion! Silence!
Screaming thunder fills my veins,
one touch.
Vertical, horizontal, sinner, believer.
Calming waters from a gentle yet firm
voice.
Come my child,
for my pain is your pain,
my blood is your blood,
my beating heart is in rhythm with yours.
the door is open,
I am your answer,
I am God!

That is extraordinary! I see the Gospel throughout!
The vertical -- swapping love in relationship with God.
The horizontal -- swapping love with people washed with the Gospel.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Are we ashamed?

Did you know that God is seeking men (and women) who will raise holy hands to Him in worship and prayer?
I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. 1 Timothy 2:8 (NIV)
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the LORD.
Psalm 134:2 (NIV)

Let me be clear; this is not a Biblical command. If we do not raise our hands in worship, that is NOT sin. I am not insisting that people do this, but quite honestly most of you don't because you are more worried about what people think that what God desires. If you don't raise your hands in submissive prayer to God, have you analyzed why?

It could be that you are ashamed to raise your hands. You could be worried about what people think. We tell ourselves that we don't want to upset new visitors. Relax about that; visitors appreciate anything that is authentic. They can sniff out phony.

I had this in tomorrow's sermon and I took it out because the sermon was too long, so I blogged it instead. Personally, I raise my hands to the King of Glory because He deserves it. I love Him because He loved me enough to pluck me out of hell. He is my primary affection and I am vastly more worried about what He thinks than what people think. Jesus got pretty blunt about this in his discussion about who is a true disciple of his:
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 9:23-26 NIV

Am I ashamed of him? Unless you have a bum shoulder, let yourself go.

Don’t force it (you should not do something that you do not truly feel), but submit and try it.
We fist pump an Albert Pujols' home run, but won't submit our hands in prayer and worship. I have seen a bunch of you go crazy over AP; how about we show our appreciation to the King of Glory?

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The Bridge -- Haiti Relief Plans

OK. Here are The Bridge's response plans for the earthquake disaster in Haiti. I am hearing from a lot of you, so this must have really touched your heart as we know it has touched God's.

1. PRAY. Keep all of the efforts and the people who have been devastated at the forefront of your prayers, but mainly focus on your faith that God is capable of bringing order and Glory out of the chaos and heartache.

2. If you would like to give money that will go to immediate relief, we would like to make some suggestions of quality organizations that have people on the ground already there that can make a difference today. You can just go online and give with a credit card.
a. Medical Teams International @ www.medicalteams.org. This is the medical group that will be in there quickly that Jon & Lisa Bird (Bridge members) work with in medical crisis situations like this. Please pray for Jon & Lisa as they are discerning their role in this crisis. Others of you in the medical community might want to contact Jon and Lisa about the possibility of getting down there to help with immediate medical needs.
b. Compassion International -- https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/disasterrelief.htm?referer=105910. This is a great way to get immediate help to kids as Compassion has such a LARGE presence with the orphanages in Haiti. The money that is given to this section of the website goes to Haiti today. We have a working relationship with CI and we trust them.
c. All 11 of these groups recommended by the Desiring God people would be good also. They are there already working. http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2188_11_charities_collecting_donations_for_haiti/

3. On Sunday, we will be taking a special offering for Growing Hope for Haiti which is run by Gerson & Heather Wickham (also some of the Bridge's own). This giving will be a little more long range as we resource our own missionaries to go take care of the people that they love so much. Gerson and Heather are here right now and could use a lot of prayer as Gerson does not currently know the health status of any of his family members and many others as you can imagine. Just make out checks to The Bridge and write Haiti in the memo. We will funnel the money to them.

4. Gerson and Heather are aware that many of you would like to go down there and physically help. They have agreed to keep us informed on how that may be able to happen. Probably will be a while as the immediate relief organizations have all of the top priority right now. I do think that it is beautiful that some of you are wanting to go. I am thinking and praying about it myself. If God wants us there, He will find a way to make that happen.

Situations like this are very challenging to our faith. Remember that sin and disobedience brought curse and disaster to this world, not God. And God must have some reason in His master plan to have allowed this fallen-world tragedy to have happened. Let's seek His face, rely on Him, and act as his ministers and missionaries. That requires sacrifice. Let me give an example -- if you give to the immediate need groups or to Gerson and Heather and then give less to your tithe at The Bridge or Gideon 300, what faith or sacrifice have you shown? This giving needs to be sacrificial (above and beyond) and God will respond both corporately and personally. Borrowing from one area of His Kingdom to serve another is not the way. We do that to Him with our time all the time. Think about that when you pay your satellite, cable, or unlimited texting bill and people are sleeping or bleeding in the streets of Port-au-Prince tonight.

Love you more than you know.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Connection Triggers

OK. Today I gave The Bridge some of my connection triggers that move me into an experience or a connection with God. I talked about how showers remind me of the washing away of my sin, of baptism (the death of the old man and being birthed as a new creation), of the living water of John 4. Any experience with being in water, swimming, whatever moves me toward God. I also talked about eating, that eating brings me to communion -- the bread and the wine -- the body and the blood -- and I am in AWE (love that word) of the risen Christ. CONNECTION. I also mentioned stop lights triggering stop sinning, go to war with sin, stop cussing at the stop light. Nuff said. Noah -- rainbow. Abraham -- circumcision -- HAHA. I want to know what your triggers are. I want to hear from you. What brings you to a connection with our Creator? Hit the comment button and let me know.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Bible Reading

I am a hypocrite. Right smack dab in the middle of preaching a sermon series on taking time to find God and rEFUEL in small things, I have started a LARGE Bible reading plan. I am reading through the Bible with The Journey church out of St. Louis and they are providing some excellent teaching videos and position papers along the way (like when we read Matthew 5 SOTM, they provide a paper on divorce and remarriage). All of this is very well done. You can look at it right here.

As we start the Story of God Part 1 tomorrow night, I want you to see these writings from the reading plan. Notice that the name of the class is not The Story of Me; it is God's story that we get to be a part of. Check this out from The Journey:
How do I read the Bible?
The Bible is not primarily a moral guidebook. The Bible, simply stated, is the greatest story ever told because it is God’s own story. Two guiding principles will help you as you endeavor to read God’s word:
1. The Bible is not primarily about you.
If the Bible is about us it becomes a
crushing burden, a set of moral
principles that we must, but cannot,
follow. Rightly understood, The Bible
is not a book of virtues; it is the story
of how God is redeeming his people
and all of creation through Jesus
Christ. The Bible is not primarily
about us. The Bible is all about Jesus.
2. The Bible is not about our search for
God.
It is a story about God’s search
for us. This story has four basic
chapters: Creation, Fall, Redemption,
Restoration.

This is how we are going to divide up our study at The Bridge -- into these four segments. The first of these segments begins tomorrow night as we look at creation and the nature of God.

More on the four from the Journey's base writings:
Creation
The story does not begin with a God in hiding. God initiates the story by creating all that exists, including his prized creation – human beings – whom he pursued in relationship. What God created in the beginning was not just good, but perfect, whole, complete, lacking in nothing. He designed the Earth as an ideal environment for his creation to flourish.
Fall
Unfortunately, the first human beings ultimately chose to meet their needs apart from their perfect Creator. Moment by moment, we face the disastrous consequences of our rebellion. Created to enjoy God in loving dependence on him, human beings now face God’s wrath.
Created to relate with God in healthy community, we now hide from him. Once connected intimately to the power source for life, we now face certain death in our fallen world.
Redemption
The longest chapter in the story of God is redemption—about how God began redeeming and restoring his prized creatures. This story includes ancient covenants, the 10 Commandments, David & Goliath, and much more. But it culminates in the character of Jesus. Jesus, God himself,
demonstrated how God would rather experience the death we deserved than let go of his people. The redemption chapter is the climax of the story—God’s relentless pursuit of his people at the expense of his own life.
Restoration
This chapter is still being written, though the previous chapter plays the spoiler and tells us how it all works out. The final chapter is basically this: what God has set in motion through the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, will finally, one great day, be fully realized.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Reasons for What We Do

Our three pastors had the opportunity to interview candidates for baptism last night. We heard stories. These stories are the reason that we have church. One person told us that they came to The Bridge actively seeking more relationship with God. God showed up. He blew her away. She has repented and believed the Gospel in a way that she did not realize existed. God has moved her to levels of love for Himself beyond her wildest dreams. She wants to express the death to self that has happened to a new creation in the Gospel. Another person told a story of having been involved in church as a teen, followed by years of rebellion, followed by God visiting during the Alpha retreat and removing the veil. She has repented and believed the Gospel. She is going to publicly profess her full faith in the Messiah, Jesus Christ in baptism. The third young lady told us a story of having never gone to church and begrudgingly coming to The Bridge in May and liking the music and being intrigued with the videos. So, she returned and two weeks later, she described what happened to her as, "I felt my heart get cut." "I was changed at that moment and I cannot shut up about Him. I want to shout IT from the mountaintops." She was regenerated and repented and believed the Gospel. We will celebrate that on January 24 in baptism. Can you picture that? People were stumbling along lost, God acted, the people responded and now people who were headed for judgment are now headed to heaven. That is why we do what we do; to God be the glory.

Then, today I got to have coffee and lunch with a young man whose life is in shambles. He has lost everything -- his job, his wife, his four kids, and on and on. There is nothing right -- quote, "I have no reason to leave this coffee shop. I have nothing -- no purpose." The reason that I was sitting with this young man is that he had called me and wanted to talk about his malady. How did he know me? On the Sunday of our Christmas services, I picked him up walking along the road in front of E-Hall because his wife has left him to walk from the Desloge Wal-Mart. As I took him to his truck in Farmington, I shared that God, through his Gospel, cared a lot about people just like him. I gave him my phone number doubting that I would ever hear from him. I did. He called and I feel God moving in the life of this 28-year-old father of four who feels like he is at the bottom of the barrel. I think we will see him and the 4 kids for Family Worship on Sunday. Pray for him. To God be the glory for giving us purpose.