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Waiting And Winning

January 23, 2012 in Church, Faith, I'm Learning, Midtown with 4 Comments

Our church (Midtown Fellowship) has been meeting for five years. We have 450-ish members, 60-something small groups, and around 800 people coming.

And we have never (except for a VERY brief stint) had services on Sunday mornings.

Can you believe that? (Just in case you don’t know, that is extremely rare.)

We’ve begged and pleaded with God to give us a space to meet on Sunday mornings. Because that’s when most people want to attend church services. Especially older people and families with children.

But for five years He said “Wait.” He certainly still blessed us in unimaginable ways. But with that seemingly very important thing, He said to wait.

So we did. And He still blessed us along the way.

And then yesterday, we finally had our first Sunday morning service (in addition to 4 other Sunday night services).

I’ll admit, none of us thought it would take five years to get that prayer answered.

But you know what we learned through it?

That God and His timing are worth waiting on.

That He’s good in the meantime.

That you don’t have to meet on Sunday mornings to be the church.

That sometimes you appreciate things more when you have to wait on them.

That God provides for us. Even with a bunch of young people and a ridiculously shoestring budget. He provides.

So. I bet there is probably something in your life that you are waiting for. Something you are praying and yearning for.

Maybe it’s a new job. One that you don’t hate.

Maybe it’s an acceptance letter from your dream school or a contract with a publisher.

Maybe it’s a husband or a wife.

Maybe it’s having a child.

Maybe it’s ______ , one of a thousand different things.

I have good news for you.

It’s not that if you just wait long enough, you’ll definitely get _______. Sorry. I could tell you that, but it’d be a lie. I don’t know if God will definitely give you what you’re waiting for.

The good news is that, in short, He is good and you get Him. A Father who gives good gifts to His children. And He grows and changes you along the way.

That’s actually better news than “You’ll definitely get _______.” Because He knows what’s best for you. You can trust Him. And He very well may give you _______ eventually.

But it’s okay if He doesn’t, because ______ is not a cure-all and it’s not the point and you still get Him. He is the real treasure and prize, so anything else is just icing on the cake.

He would have been good if we were a “Sunday night church” forever.

And He’ll be good if whatever you’re waiting for takes a really long time, or even never comes.

Because you’ll sit there without _______ and come to realize that you’re okay without it though you once thought you’d die if you didn’t get it. You’ll see that you have depth and relationship with your Father and you’ll be resolved that the immovable peace that He brings is better than a thousand _______’s.

So. The good news is:

If you have Him, you win either way.

African American Church Takes Over A KKK Shop In SC

January 12, 2012 in Church, Faith, Jesus, Stories with 2 Comments

This story from BET almost sounds too good to be true. But I am oh so very glad that it is true. (Excerpt below)

The Black church has taken over the KKK, or at least a store selling its memorabilia in South Carolina.

A circuit court judge recently ruled that New Beginnings Baptist Church is the rightful property owner of the Redneck Shop, which operates as a so-called Klan museum, selling robes and t-shirts with racial slurs.

According to court documents, in 1997, ownership of the Laurens, South Carolina building in which the store exists was transferred to the Rev. David Kennedy and his church, by a Klansman fighting with others within the hate group. A clause in the deed, however, entitled John Howard, a former KKK grand dragon for the Carolinas, to operate his business in the building until he dies.

After years of trying to have the property inspected, Howard was sued by Kennedy, New Beginnings and others in 2008 in an effort to void the agreement and, on Dec. 9, 2011, a judge ruled in Kennedy and the church’s favor.

“It has been a long time coming,” Kennedy, who learned of the ruling this week, told the Associated Press. “We knew we had done everything right. … The court knows that we have suffered.”

Kennedy claims that because of the store, his congregation’s numbers have decreased as some of its 200 members became fearful of reprisals from Klan members. The congregants also found Nazi and Confederate symbols and dead animals left outside of the mobile home where the church now meets, though it is not known if Klansmen were responsible.

What a huge divine “Gotcha!” this is for some of the unbridled ignorance and stupidity of racism in my home state. I pray that their church members will overcome fear and set up shop in that building to preach Jesus’ gospel of grace that tears down walls of hostility.

Maybe some of those KKK people will meet Jesus there one day.

Get To The Heart

May 3, 2011 in Church, Faith, Family with 0 Comments

The video below is a short clip from John Piper with some advice to young pastors on leading their families. However, it really is applicable to everyone, because at the heart it is really about communication. I watched it over a week ago and it messed me up. Specifically, the story about his 11 year old adopted girl. I think it is a beautiful example of one of those moments we all know too well, where everyone in a situation knows that there’s something that needs to be talked about, something needs to be dug up and addressed. But so often it just gets swept under the rug because that’s easier. It’s always tempting to let the difficulty of those conversations tempt you into avoiding them altogether. It’s hardly ever easy to get to the heart, and the more you let those moments pass by unaddressed the harder it gets to stop that cycle.

After I heard that simple story, all I could think was, “What if he wouldn’t have pursued that moment with her? What if he would have decided to watch TV instead that night (I know he’s John Piper and he doesn’t have a TV:)? What could that simple seed have grown into if it didn’t get addressed and uprooted then?”

Anyways, I wanted to share it in hopes that it would also spur you on in the difficult work of getting to the heart with people. It encouraged me to pursue diligence and intentionality in those moments, and to not take them lightly. I really want to be that kind of husband, father, and pastor.

on pastors, from 1656

October 5, 2010 in Church, Pastors, Quotable with 4 Comments

“Too many who have undertaken the work of the ministry do so obstinately proceed in self-seeking, negligence, pride, and other sins, that it is become our necessary duty to admonish them. If we saw that such would reform without reproof, we would gladly forbear the publishing of their faults. But when reproofs themselves prove so ineffectual, that they are more offended at the reproof than at the sin, and had rather that we should cease reproving than that themselves should cease sinning, I think it is time to sharpen the remedy.”

“We must not hate them, but plainly rebuke them, and not suffer sin upon them. To bear with the vices of the ministry is to promote the ruin of the Church; for what speedier way is there for the depraving and undoing of the people, than the depravity of their guides?”

-Richard Baxter

This was written in 1656. How crazy is that, and how familiar? The utter ruin of pride is timeless. And the idolatry of ministry must be as old as humanity.

#Stuckinacabin2010

February 2, 2010 in Church, Midtown with 1 Comment

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted. I won’t apologize, because this is my “very un-daily” blog. However, I feel like a month and a half with no posts is well, a long time. And I miss it, because I love writing and sharing thoughts, so I’m gonna try to be a bit more regular, though still very un-daily.

So, really short life update: Last fall was absolutely brutal. Christmas and New Years were great, except for almost getting shot on Christmas Eve(story for another time). January was great, besides mourning the death of Kristi’s grandpa. I was ordained to be a Pastor at Midtown. I have been detoxing and learning a lot, and this Spring looks like it will be much easier. I’m in a class on the book of John and it is amazing.

Now, to the awesomeness that was this past weekend. I was stuck in a cabin in Pigeon Forge when our Midtown Family Vacation became #Stuckinacabin2010 due to a blizzard of epic proportions. At least for South Carolinians. We did some adventurous sledding on steep icy roads but thankfully no one had to go to the hospital, because we would not have been able to get there. I think Derek Jakes may have broken his elbow sledding down a hill standing up in a rubber trash can though. Bad idea, I know. Unfortunately it was my idea, but he wanted to try it first! Sara Prothro couldn’t figure out Spoon Art and it was HILARIOUS.  It was so rough, waiting out the blizzard while sitting in the hot tub on the porch looking out over the mountains…I know you feel sorry for us. Meanwhile, we shared stories of how Jesus is working in our lives and talked about being missionaries to our city. It was awesome, as you can already tell. I love love love my Midtown family.

Here’s to getting snowed in on top of a mountain. Scratch that off my bucket list.

turning our chairs

December 15, 2009 in Church, Family with 0 Comments

“Why is spiritual community so rare? I suspect it has to do with the requirement of brokenness. We’d much rather be impressively intact than broken. But only broken people share spiritual community…It is our weakness, not our competence, that moves others; our sorrows, not our blessings, that break down the barriers of fear and shame that keep us apart; our admitted failures, not our paraded successes, that bind us together in hope. A spiritual community, a church, is full of broken people who turn their chairs toward each other because they know they cannot make it alone.”

–Larry Crab

the early church

November 16, 2009 in Church with 0 Comments

An excerpt from Justin Martyr, written about 150 AD, describing an early church service (before the Constantinian revolution). It is chapter 67 of his “First Apology” and is one of the earliest descriptions of a Christian worship service.

“And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president [the one who stands before] verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.”

where everybody knows your name

November 3, 2009 in Church, Family, Quotable with 2 Comments

“The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give His church. It’s an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality, but is a permissive, accepting, and inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable…You can tell people secrets and they usually don’t tell others or even want to. The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and to be loved.”

Chuck Swindoll, in Dropping Your Guard

This quote absolutely breaks me. Because it is so true. And because so many people are trying to fill this need in bars and not in our churches.

Oh that our churches would truly exhibit this kind of God-designed community.

no pretending necessary

October 18, 2009 in Church, Family, The Gospel with 0 Comments

“When relationships are built around the truths of the gospel—the truth that we are walking in light even though we are still sinners in need of cleansing by his blood—we can be free from feelings of inferiority and the demanding spirit that is born of pride. We can pursue relationships without fear of being discovered as the sinners we are. This kind of open relationship rests solely on the realities of the gospel. We are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, and so is everyone we know. Because of this, we won’t be surprised by other’s sins. They won’t expect us to be sinless either, so we don’t have to give in to self-condemnation and fear when they see us as we really are. We don’t have to hide or pretend anymore.

The gospel also tells us that we are loved and welcomed without any merit on our part, so we can love and welcome others whose merits we can’t see. We can remember the circumstances under which we have been forgiven, and we can forgive in the same way. We don’t deserve relationship with the Trinity, but it has been given to us. We can seek our relationships with others because we know that we have been sought out by him and that he is carrying us all on his shoulders.”

- Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Dennis E. Johnson, Counsel From The Cross

not just a packet. not just a picture. not just a letter.

October 16, 2009 in Church, Jesus, Links, The Gospel with 1 Comment

I wish I could have been there to see this in person. Unbelievable. You really do have to watch at least the middle part of this video, starting around 3:45. I’m serious, its not optional.

A little preview of heaven.

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