I Miss My Friend!
I have a photo album, and on the inside cover of that album I wrote:
“There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24)…I have four of them.”
And throughout the album are dozens and dozens (we’ve probably taken hundreds) of pictures just like this one:
That there will never be another photo of us five added to this album…breaks my heart!
21 years of the five of us. 21 years equals thousands of memories.
Today Scotty thought of a hand on his knee and remembered Chris, Greg thought of his bunny rabbit and remembered Chris, Aaron thought of a goat and remembered Chris, and I thought of bathtub cleaner and remembered Chris.
Chris made all these things funny and lasting memories. Who else can do that?
21 years equals thousands of memories…and there won’t be any more made with ALL The Ohio Boys…and my heart just can’t handle that yet.
Yesterday one of The Boys was tragically lost and thousands of memories that will one day bring me comfort, at this moment just leave me reeling.
There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother…I lost one…
8 Random Things I’m Looking Forward to In Our Move to Maryland
In the midst of the sadness of leaving California I am I’ve decided to focus on some of the random things I am really looking forward to about moving to Maryland. I do this, not to avoid my sadness, but as a reminder that there a little positives even in the most challenging of times.
So here are five realities that I am really looking forward to in our move to Maryland (these are completely unrelated to my new pastor position):
- Sleeping in my own king size bed. I know this is a first world problem and really quite superficial, but our bed has been in Maryland since November and I won’t lie, I miss it a lot!
- A return to running. My friend Rich from Academy is a superb runner and he has already committed himself to my wife and others to get me back into shape. His running skills and commitment to running are a motivation. So is losing weight…though after seeing the temps out there during the winter I may be tempted to keep the extra pounds on. 🙂 Just kidding Christina! I look forward to being able to lay down some serious miles again. Please pray, for no injuries!
- Ice baths. Yep you read that right! Ice baths. After a good long run I really like soaking in a great ice bath. Over the last 5 years+ we haven’t lived in a house with a bath tub, and I’ve sorta missed warm baths, but I’ve really missed ice baths. It hurts for the moment, but I always feel so much better after a run when I’ve taken an ice bath; so the hurt is worth it! Anyway, in our new house we have several bath tubs, so the ice baths will return.
- Eating in the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist’s headquarter cafeteria. I recently had the privilege of eating there and it truly was a privilege. One of the things I loved about college was the cafeteria, and being at the GC cafe was like a return to college, probably a little healthier, but the variety was great and so was the food!
- Museums, museums, museums. I love museums! And most of them are free!
- Lots of baseball stadiums in close proximity. My sons and I are going to love a day trip here and there to watch different teams play, along with some regular visits to the local teams (The Nationals and Orioles).
- History! Oh I love history. Battlefields, memorials, Boston, DC, New York, South Carolina, Richmond, etc., etc. If you love history come visit and we’ll go on a history tour together.
- Politics. I’ll admit it I am not at all bothered by being so near the thick of political action. My plan was to be a history major, become a lawyer, enter politics, move to DC and never leave. Well, God had other plans, of which I am grateful, but I still have my not so closeted love of political activity. I won’t discuss it with you anymore, but privately I will read and follow to my hearts content!
Yes, my heart is broken leaving California. When I moved here six years ago I truly thought I would never leave. But God’s will is perfect and His ways are always right so I trust Him and choose to look at all the positives including the little ones I mentioned above.
California I love you! Maryland I will love you too!
Thank You Central California Conference
In my last hours of my last day as a Pastor serving at the pleasure of The Central California Conference,
The Visalia Seventh-day Adventist Church, and The Ark Community Church
Thank you!
I love you!
I will miss you!
More Than a Voice!
For the past 12 years I’ve had the privilege of working for The Seventh-day Adventist denomination. My prayer is that I continue to work for them until Jesus comes back or I die, whichever comes first. I truly love this global community of faith; that said there are occasions that I become flummoxed by some of the things I am seeing and hearing within my church.
Recently I’ve been reading the biography of J.N. Loughborough by Dr. Brian Strayer. I have thoroughly enjoyed the read, it might be my favorite of the Adventist Pioneer Series thus far.
As I’ve read almost two-thirds of the book however I have found myself getting sideways on an issue…
The lack of inclusion of young adults at the highest levels of leadership within our church!
I have heard, ever since I accepted Jesus and started hanging-out around Seventh-day Adventist leaders the statement, “We need to make sure our young people have a voice within their church.”
Here is what I would say to how well that has gone: if young people truly had a voice in this church, a voice that anyone was listening to, a voice with a vote, then there would be a more diverse spectrum of ages amongst our church leadership at every level.
As it stands now though, at the highest level of leadership, The General Conference, there are currently no administrators under the age of 50…and I would venture to guess that there are not even any under the age of 60, if any of you are I apologize :). But it is not just at the General Conference level, The North American Division has the same problem; we have some leadership in their 50’s, but no one at a significant leadership level is below the age of 50 to my knowledge. The same is true within our Union leadership.
I got sideways as I was reading the Loughborough biography because I am reading stories about young adults that are in great positions of influence within our church…oh and when I say young adult, I’m not talking about 40’s and 50’s, I’m talking about 20’s and 30’s, even a few in their late teens. Presidents, GC executive committee members, top theologians, General Conference sent evangelists.
Reading these stories makes me so proud of our early church and so disappointed with our current church.
Young in leadership is just something that is not seen anymore…
Something that is not even given a chance to be seen or experienced at any level other than the local church and maybe, just maybe a local conference or two, at least here in the United States.
There is much talk about giving the young a voice, but folk the young need more than a voice they need to be in on the decision making process, they need at times to be the actual decision makers.
Let me ask what I believe is a very logical question: If the church is trying to figure out ways to retain the youth and young adults of our church would it not make sense for the young to be deciding what actions are going to be taken to reach & retain those demographics? Every successful business in the world has figured this out, why can’t the church?
Hear what I am not saying. I am not saying that we should put those of the older ilk out to pasture. We are a multi-generational church, so we should have multi-generational leadership…AT EVERY LEVEL!
People like Pastor Rodlie Ortiz should be sitting at any table at the highest levels of this church that are visioning and strategizing for church growth, if you don’t believe me ask Pastor Dwight Nelson. Pastor Anthony Wagenersmith I believe would be an asset to the Biblical Research Institute. He has a brilliant theological mind, before we were even out of seminary he was a grad assistant that was delivering lectures to other graduate students. Gina Creek, is a gifted writer, that writes in a unique voice; she should be at the Adventist Review or Signs of the Times or writing copy for The GC. Pastor Taj Pacleb is one of the most gifted traditional evangelists I’ve ever heard, why aren’t we tapping him for global evangelistic events or media posts? Pastor Benjamin Lundquist is in my opinion the most innovative youth and young adult leader out there right now. Every youth and young adult leader should spend time with him. These are just a few, the list could go on and on!
My point is the young adults are out there, out there ready to lead at the highest levels. Just like they were in the first 50 years of our church.
But their church isn’t inviting them to even consider such a step.
Their church, our church, my church just keeps talking about giving them a voice…
but what good are their voices if they are not being heard in the rooms making the decisions?
If their voices don’t actually have a vote when the decisions are made?
Please church that I love, be a church that truly represents ALL of us! Give us more than a voice!
Do This ONE Thing To Grow Your Church
It is hard to reduce church growth down to one thing. In fact it probably should almost never be done; but in this post I am going to do just that…
I want to give y’all just one method to grow your church.
Yes it will grow MORE with many other things involved.
It will of course grow MORE if prayer is the driving force behind all the things you do.
Your church will grow MORE if it is a healthy church…
If the music is inspiring…
The Preaching is alive and Biblical…
If there are friendly greeters…
But I am not talking about MORE growth…
just SOME growth!
And so for that I want to give the ONE thing that you can do, that every church member can do to grow their church.
INVITE!
Yep, invite!
Maybe the saddest reality about the lack of church growth in North America is that every church could grow but most aren’t and the primary reason…
NO ONE is inviting folk to come visit their church.
This is truth!
Thom Rainer reports that in their research of the unchurched 45% of all unchurched would say “NO” if someone they knew invited them to church. 5% said they would probably be hostile in their rejection of the invitation.
Wait a second…
Do you see what that means?
It means, 55% of all unchurched people would respond positively to an invitation to church by someone they knew…and guess what? They don’t even have to know the invitee well!
55% indicated they would still respond positively even if the invitee was just an acquaintance! WOW!
We spend time focusing on the 45% that would say, “NO” and more than likely we’re scared to run into one of the 5% percent that have a burr in their saddle…yep I just used that idiom like the old man I’m becoming…
But we should be spending time focusing on the 55% that would say “yes!”
Picture a church of 100 members.
If each of those members invited one person per week that would be 5,200 invitations in a year.
Now applying Thom Rainer’s research we would surmise that 55% of those invitees would accept the invitation and attend church at least once.
That means a church of 100 members inviting 100 people each week by the end of a given year would have 2,860 guests pass through the doors of their church. Not only that but 55 new people would be in church every single week! Can you imagine how exciting that would be to have 55 NEW people worshiping with you each and every week? That would be awesome in a church of 200 or 300, much less 100!
Now I want y’all to pause and think about a couple other statistics very quickly. These statistics come from Pastor Nelson Searcy.
The average church loses 3 members per 100 members each year due to death, a move, apostasy, or just becoming inactive.
So let us go back up to our church of 100 members; in order for that church to maintain it’s membership of 100 people all they would have to do to not decline is win the hearts of 3 of those 2,860 guests that attended their church in a given year.
3 FOLK!
I didn’t say 300 or 30 or even 13…just 3! (Contact me on Twitter @chadnstuart and I’ll share with you just a couple things that you can try at your church to turn three guests into members).
But this blog post isn’t about maintaining, although that would be a huge step for many of our churches since 80% of all our churches are plateaued or declining, no this blog is about growth.
So let me share with you how many guests you need to retain in order to grow your church at a steady pace.
Are you ready for this huge number?
5 per 100 members.
So in a church of 100 members, if every member is inviting 1 person per week, roughly 2,860 of those invitees would become a guest at that church, and if that church retained FIVE individuals per year they would grow at a steady pace.
Because the next year 102 people would be inviting 1 person per week (remember there is an average of 3 members lost per 100 a year) and that means 2,917 people would attend the church as a guest (based on Rainer’s 55% percent rule of thumb) and with more guests there would be more chances of guests becoming members…and so the next year if 5 more joined, the membership would now be up to 104 and 2,974 guests would attend…
And maybe within a few years, because everyone wants to be a part of a growing church your church would start retaining 7 guests or more a year and then your church, believe it or not, with just the retention of 7 guests a year would be considered a rapidly growing church in North America.
So will you make a commitment right now? Will you commit to help grow your church? It takes just ONE thing…
The ONE thing: Love Jesus enough to invite someone to come hear about Him at your church just one time per week!
Musings On The Call of God
Have you ever felt God calling you to something and you wondered if it was really Him calling you to do that something? Have you looked for evidences of His calling? If so may I suggest a few evidences based on scripture that may not be the evidences one often looks for when desiring to know if something is the will of God or not.
The call of God is never to a place (literal or figurative) you think you want to go:
- Noah–“Build a boat and go float in a giant body of water you know nothing about.” (Genesis 6-8)
- Joseph–“I’m not telling you where you’re going, just follow the slave in chains in front of you.” (Genesis 37 & 39)
- Moses–“Go back to the place they wanted to kill you.” (Exodus 3)
- Daniel–“Enjoy Babylon.” (Daniel the entire book)
- Peter–“You’re going to go with Me until you eventually die on a cross like I did.” (John 21)
- John–“You’re going to write a great book on an empty island after being placed in a pot of boiling hot oil and surviving.” (The book of Revelation, writings of the Reformers and early church writers)
The Call of God ALWAYS requires leaving something behind:
- Abram (aka Abraham)–“Leave your homeland; okay that wasn’t enough now leave your family too.” (Genesis 12)
- Elisha–“Leave a lot of wealth and a good job, oh and kill some of that wealth while you’re at it.” (1 Samuel 19)
- Jeremiah–“Leave your pride at the door b/c your feelings are definitely going to get hurt.” (Jeremiah 20)
- Israel–“Leave your dreams of home behind, go to captivity and enjoy it.” (Jeremiah 29)
- Simon, Andrew, James, & John (and other disciples too)–“Leave your jobs and your Dad, we have no place to lay our head, and you’ll literally leave everything for me, but you’ll be okay.” (Mark 1; Matthew 4; Mark 10; Matthew 19)
- Rich Young Ruler–“Leave your stuff with poor people.” (Matthew 19)
- All followers of Jesus–“Leave it all, including your family (or at least be willing to)” (Luke 14)
The Call of God usually involves doing something that seems ridiculous/impossible/or makes no sense:
- Noah–“Build a boat for 120 years with no water around” (Genesis 6)
- People of Israel–“Take Jericho by just marching, no really it will work.” (Joshua 4-6)
- Rahab the Harlot & Ancestor of Jesus–“Hang a red cord out your window and when the entire city falls down your piece of wall will be spared.” (Joshua 2, 3, & 6)
- Gideon–“Only fight with 300 dudes that like to smash pots.” (Judges 7)
- Ezekiel–“Eat human feces…okay, it doesn’t have to be human, I’ll let you eat cow dung instead.” (Ezekiel 4)
- Esther–“Don’t worry about the previous Queen that was banished, you defy his laws too. It’ll all work out.” (Esther 5)
- Hosea–“No you don’t need to clean your ears out, you heard me correctly: MARRY a PROSTITUTE! (The entire book of Hosea)
- Peter–“No really, water is as sturdy as cement!” (Matthew 14)
- Paul–“They only thought you were dead, now go back and preach some more!” (Acts 14)
The Call of God usually comes with just enough evidence to build your trust, but not enough to give you all the answers:
- Noah–“Build a boat I’m sending a flood. Okay you don’t get any evidence you just have to trust me.” (Genesis 6)
- Abram–“Leave all your family and I’ll make you a great nation. Actually you don’t get any evidence right away either, just trust me and I’ll help you trust more along the way.” (Genesis 12)
- Abraham–“Yes you heard me right kill your son, the evidence is that I wanted this boy in the first place.” (Genesis 22)
- Joseph–“Slavery, imprisonment, yeah you don’t get any signs either, just trust me!” (Genesis 39 & 40)
- Moses–“You’ll deliver them, trust me! I already gave you a burning bush and a snake stick. What more do you want?”
- Gideon–“It was wet, it is dry, will you just go already.” (Judges 6)
- Jonah–“Really you still don’t understand, didn’t I deliver you from the belly of the whale?” (All of Jonah)
God’s Call sometimes leads to prosperity after tragedy:
- Abram–>Abraham–>Many nations–>Many lands–>Many livestock, leads to much power!
- Job–“I know it was rough but here you have back more than you had before.”
- All God’s people–“Yes I said all the storehouse of heaven.” (Malachi 3)
- The People of Israel–“I promised you the land.”
Of course God’s call can ultimately result in death too:
- Moses death just outside the Promised Land.
- Samson death by self amongst his mockers.
- John the Baptist death by beheading at the bequest of a bitter queen.
- All the disciples minus 1 were martyred: Death by hanging, stoning, beheading, crucifixion, burning. They just wouldn’t stop talking about Jesus!
- Paul death by beheading. He went to Rome to witness even if it meant death.
- James White death by exhaustion (okay this one isn’t in the Bible).
Evidence of God’s call in summary:
- You probably will not immediately want to go.
- You will have to leave something you love behind.
- You will be asked to do the impossible/uncomfortable/ridiculous
- You will receive just enough answers to trust, but never enough to be fully satisfied (b/c the call is all about continued trust).
- Temporal life on this earth may in the end may turn out good or bad; in other words, you have no earthly guarantee that it will all be okay.
The Call of God cannot fit neatly on a list of pros and cons, or in a box defined by humanity.
The Call of God is however the only safe place ultimately for the Christian to walk in!
For the Sake of The Gospel: A Solution to End the Women’s Ordination Debate
This is a wonderful video short illustrating the value of the moderate view, on what has been the most hotly debated issue in The Seventh-day Adventist Church over the last three years. There have been some (like myself) that have been staunchly in favor of women’s ordination. There have been others that have been staunchly opposed to women’s ordination. Then there is a group that has a preference and believe the ideal is male leadership within the church, and it is from within this group I believe the largest contribution to the entire debate has been made. A contribution that if embraced will hopefully end the debate, or at least tone down the rhetoric, but more importantly will move us forward as a church FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOSPEL!
Oh and Nate Dubs I’m proud of you for using your gifts in this way!
Watch and see what you think:
Abortion is Cruel, But So is Guilt
I am saddened when I see anti-abortion signs as I drive down the freeway. Yes, as a pro-life individual I am sad about all the abortions in the world. I find the idea of abortion cruel, but this is not why I’m sad about these signs. I’m sad about these signs because they are tools used to inflict guilt on young ladies that have or are considering an abortion. Because not only do I find abortion cruel, I also find guilt cruel!
I’ve had three close friends that I know of that have had abortions. In two of the three cases, I found out about their abortions after they had already happened. In each case, as they shared with me the decision they had made and the action they had taken there were tears in their voices. In the one case that I knew about prior to the decision, I urged against abortion. I prayed for her to decide against abortion. But in the end, she still chose to have the abortion. When I spoke with her after the fact, just like I had experienced with my other two friends there were also tears in her voice. In those moments I did not feel my Christian duty was to express my great opposition to abortions, they already knew I felt that way. Rather, my responsibility was to affirm my love for them, more importantly, to affirm God’s love for them and assure them that God does forgive (Yes this was a question they all had).
Would it not as Christians be far more beneficial to use our resources to come around these young ladies that have gone through these experiences and love them, to use our resources to provide counseling that will help them as many of them deal with the regret and grief of what they have just gone through? Could we use the resources we use to put up signs and picket abortion clinics to do more preventative training in our communities on the front side of an abortion decision? It seems like proactive work within a community will go a lot further than the last-minute guilt trip of a freeway sign that says, “Abortion will leave you feeling empty inside.” Yes, I’ve actually seen that sign, and yes that “empty” feeling you have about that sign is the recognition that guilt is cruel!
I hear people say, “well the unborn need a voice.” Let God be their voice. Our voices should be used to minister and love on those who are still living. Love is not the condoning of an action. Love is the expression of the value of each individual no matter how much we may disagree with their decisions.
Abortion is cruel, but so is guilt. Please Christians I appeal to you: tear down the signs and spend your money, your time, and your voice loving the living. Christian love will have a far greater impact on reducing the number of abortions in this world than any freeway sign ever will!
“For Sinners Only” Really?
A cliche (def: a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought) that absolutely drives me nuts is the phrase, “This church is for sinners only.” People think they are being clever playing off the words of Jesus in Luke 5:32, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
But the position, “this church is for sinners only” is really just obnoxious!
It is first obnoxious because it oftentimes comes across as a statement of feigned humility; what is referred to in the twitter-sphere as a #humblebrag, “I know I’m a sinner and you don’t, therefore, I’m better than you.” Or it seems to me in my opinion that folk that make this statement are somehow inferring that because they recognize they are sinners they are somehow more loving. But let me say this, a position that excludes anyone from the house of God whether broken sinner or broken perceived saint is not loving at all!
It’s also obnoxious because it is a gross misinterpretation of Jesus’ statement! First of all Jesus’ statement is not a statement of exclusion of any specific group to being a part of His body. He isn’t saying I will only associate with people who know they are sinners, Jesus is saying, “I am calling sinners to repentance.” His statement is about repentance not who can be part of the church club. Second, when this phrase is posted on church signs or dropped in a sermon because it gets an easy (cheap) amen it is being done in a way of pitting one group against another, Jesus was seeking through His statement to help the Pharisees see that they were actually in the same boat of need as the tax collector and his friends they were condemning. These Pharisees knew the scriptures, they knew Psalm 14:3 & Psalm 53:3, “There is none righteous, no not one.” I see no evidence of Levi-Matthew and his pals high-fiving and saying, “awesome we’re sinners and those legalists aren’t welcome! Woo hoo, this is our church, not yours!”
The third reason this phrase is obnoxious is that it actually places the people who are saying it in the exact same position they are condemning. A person saying, “this church is for sinners only” is, in essence, condemning those who think they are perfect and thus because of their perfectionistic state end up being judgmental. The statement though in and of itself reeks of judgment. Which leads to the final point.
Finally, this phrase is obnoxious because it places folk in a position of judgment that Jesus clearly tells us we are incapable of performing. In Matthew chapter 13 Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the tares. In this parable, Jesus makes it clear that it is at the end of time that Jesus decides who are the wheat and who are the tares. Who are the sinners and who are the saints. Who are the redeemed and who have rejected redemption. If we spend a lot of time trying to root out folk now (even the legalists) we might just end up forcing out someone that Jesus considered “wheat.” Why because we aren’t very good judges of character, “for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7c)
In conclusion, I don’t want a church that is for “sinners only” and by this, I mean only those that recognize they are sinners. I want a church with people who know they are sinners because they need Jesus. I want a church with people that think they are perfect, because they need Jesus too, and finally I want a church of people who are indifferent, who don’t really care one way or the other, because guess what they need Jesus too.
You can keep your “church for sinners only,” I want to reach everyone!
How Committed is Your Church to the Disney Princesses?
If you think of animated Disney films probably some of the first images that come to your mind would be princesses: Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty (sorry I don’t know her actual name), Ariel, etc.. Disney’s entire history is shrouded with princesses, yet in 2010 Disney recognized princesses were not the success stories they once were and Disney exec of animation informed the world that Disney was putting a moratorium on any new princesses…”at least until someone has a fresh take on it…” and Disney stuck to this until of course the smash hit this past year of a movie entitled “Frozen” (not an endorsement I just know a lot of people are singing the song and it has made a lot of money). But can you imagine the courage it must have taken to announce, to make the decision that “the past was nice, but we have to change if we are really going to move forward successfully”? “So either bring us a fresh idea on a princess or no new princess movies at all.” Wow! The announcement was so large there were articles written about it in the LA Times, Forbes Magazine, babycenter.com, and more.
Why would Disney do such a thing? Because they recognized you can’t grow into the future if you are overly committed to the Disney Princesses of the past.
How committed is your church or your school to the Disney princesses of the past?
In his book, “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” Thom Rainer reports on the analysis of churches that have died and the 12 factors they discovered that lead to these deaths.
The very first trait which Rainer said was, “the most pervasive and common thread of our autopsies” was, they were in love with a Disney princess of the past and hoped she would revive again to bring the church back to greatness. Well not a literal Disney princess and Thom Rainer doesn’t use those exact words, but his meaning is the same. Rainer uses these words, “the dying churches lived for a long time with the past as hero.”
These churches talked about how many people used to attend their church. They talked about how great their church used to be. And when people would try and change things these churches would resist, insisting that they could still get back to where they were with things just as they are. They were unwilling to change because they were once great and surely they could stay the same and become great again. They were in love with the Disney princesses and wanted to keep making them hoping they would eventually take them back to their former greatness.
Y’all let us be very honest the majority of Seventh-day Adventist Churches and schools (elementary & secondary) are dying or plateaued in North America. Is it because we are more committed to the Disney princesses of the past than looking toward new ideas, methods, structures, & solutions? When someone comments on our decline do we become defensive? Bringing up the past? Making excuses?
- “Oh our church used to be full, if we could just get the right pastor.”
- “We used to have so many students in attendance and if we just hang-on a few more years I believe we can be back there again.”
- “The conference hasn’t given us the support that we need.”
- “If we could just keep more of our tithe.”
Many churches and schools are going to die because they were more committed to what they once were, rather than realizing who they are now and adjusting to their current reality.
I believe there are a “big three” things that Seventh-day Adventists should be committed to that came from the past because they are timeless in their ministration unto the people of God in the present:
- The Trinity: God The Father, His Son Jesus Christ, & The Holy Spirit
- The Word of God
- The writings of Ellen G. White
Everything else from the past, while being held fondly in our hearts, should be available to change.
- Church service times (11 a.m. is not sacred)
- Church structure (General Conference, Division, Union, Conference, Local Church)
- Church service format (We don’t have to start with announcements and a hymn)
- Online campuses
- Satellite campuses
- School satellite campuses
- Merging of schools…or maybe even better if feasible: following Mrs. White’s counsel and encouraging each church to have their own school thus…
- Dividing of schools
- Location of schools (see above)
- Less ordained ministers in administrative positions and more in the field
- Non-traditional evangelism receiving the majority of the evangelistic dollars
- Sabbath Schools each day of the week rather than just Sabbath morning
- The placement of Bible Workers taking precedent over placing associate or even head pastors in churches/districts
- Tithe distribution
- Every pastor must plant a church that can adequately support them or they no longer have a job (oh wait that is from the past, but I still love it!)
- Congregational expectations of a pastor
The list could go on and on. Maybe you have a few?
My appeal to the church I love:
If it’s not one of the big three then let go of all that you think made us great, honor it appreciate it, but to quote the latest Disney princess, “let it go, let it go”; because in North America 1.3% growth is not great and clinging to the Disney princesses of the past hoping greatness arrives once again does not justly serve the cause of this movement that Jesus placed on earth to usher in His Second Coming!
A Pitch-Back Baseball Training Aid, The Sabbath, & the Happiest Moment of My Day!
A story that leads to the happiest moment of my day:
After much pleading I bought Dayton a pitch back baseball training aid today. He said he wanted it because he wanted “to practice [his] baseball catching.”
It was $20, so on the condition, my exact words, “he practice EVERY SINGLE DAY” I bought it.
Well I have to say I was impressed immediately after I put it together; he & his little brother spent close to an hour playing with it.
Then after dinner outside (we live in California 😉 ), he spent another hour practicing.
It was during this second stint of practice as I was sitting at the computer working on something and watching the boys through the window that I saw Dayton suddenly stop and he came running into the house.
Dayton ran up to me baseball mitt and ball in hand–I noticed a concerned, maybe even distressed look on his face and then these words flowed out of his mouth,
“Daddy I will practice all the other days I promise; but I don’t want to practice baseball on the Sabbath.”
I smiled gently though inside I was absolutely beaming!
I said, “Dayton I think that is a good idea. Thank you for correcting & reminding me.”
He got a big ‘ole smile on his face and ran back outside to play some more.
He made a deal with his Dad, he was concerned about breaking the deal, but he was willing to do it for his convictions on the Sabbath. Even though I would have told him I didn’t mean Sabbath too, he didn’t know that. All he knew was that he told his Dad he would practice every day, but then his little 5 year old mind remembered that he had a more important Dad that asked him to “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy…” And to Dayton without anyone prompting him, practicing baseball and keeping Sabbath holy didn’t jive and so he had to break the deal with me. His face showed this concerned him, but his convictions were more important.
He didn’t ask, he said, “”Daddy I will practice all the other days I promise; but I don’t want to practice baseball on The Sabbath.”
The Ten Most Read Posts In March 2014 & A Secret Bonus List at the End
You’ll want to read through this entire post, b/c at the bottom there is a special top ten list that you won’t want to miss! But first check out the top ten most read posts for March 2014
- How I Hope Adventists Will Respond to the Kenneth Copeland/Pope Francis Video: This post not only is number one for this month, but after its second month in the top 5, it became the new number one post on Outside the Pulpit of all time!
- Why the Recent Rhetoric in the Church Makes Me Want to Shout About “SPIRITUAL FORMATION”: This blog while having another strong showing in the month of March it lost it’s hold on the number one all time post after just one month.
- Kurt Cobain: A Different Perspective Twenty Years Later : The previous two posts were written in other months, this is the first top ten written in this month.
- Genesis 1:29 Supported in Six Minutes with No Words: Several things I have observed and have been pointed out to me since I first posted this video. First, that this is about more than what we eat, but rather the cruelty to animals. We should remember they are creatures created by God. The second idea is that gluttony not necessity drives a lot of the meat consumption in this world. Third, we can’t just pick on meat, sugar, soda, etc.; the gluttony of these things is just as detrimental to us as is the massive unhealthy meat consumption.
- Jesus’ TED Talk: I liked this post. Not a lot of others read it, but I enjoyed typing it.
- A Response to Elder Stephen Bohr’s “Reflections on Deborah & Huldah: This one still gaining readers with each passing month.
- What the Church Can Learn from: “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos & the Age of Amazon“
- Faster Pastor Episode #7: “Is Christmas Compatible with Christ?”: This third all time most read blog is still reaching the top ten from month to month.
- Help! Adventist Ed is Dying
- The Superiority of Adventist Education WOW it is back into the top ten! This post has a continuous life.
Ten Posts You Probably Never Read (Because not too many people did:) )
Disclaimer: I don’t remember most of these so if they don’t sound like me, maybe I’ve changed since writing them.
- Thou Shalt Not Deceive Oneself
- Learning About Church Planting Day 1:Not sure what happened to the other days 🙂
- The Twitter Blessings
- What Are You Worth? This is actually a video by David Asscherick that blessed my heart!
- You Don’t Do It; Why Should They?
- My Central Valley!
- Tomorrow
- Oh My…
- Perspective From My Two-and-a-Half Year Old
- I’m Not Convicted…
Kurt Cobain: A Different Perspective Twenty Years Later
This coming week, April 5th, 2014 will be the 20th anniversary of the suicide of one Mr. Kurt Cobain.
Cobain was 27 years old–
I was 16 years old.
I was crushed!
Kurt Cobain for those that don’t know was the lead singer of the Grunge band, “Nirvana.” In 1994 for me music was all about Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Doors, and Celine Dion. Yes, that is right I said Celine Dion…there is a story to that last one, but I’ll spare you of it.
Nirvana though was truly at the top of my music love list! I was an acerbic kid and the in-your-face lyrics that Kurt Cobain as the lead singer and songwriter produced resonated with my bitter life.
I had grown-up hearing the stories of the 60’s, always feeling that I had been born in the wrong era, but now I felt like this man, Kurt Cobain, was our generations Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison. And I guess he truly was since he/his music was loud, in your face, and just like that–dead.
While he didn’t die of a drug overdose like Joplin & Morrison, Cobain died of a self-inflicted gun-shot wound. The autopsy report revealed that if he hadn’t killed himself with a gun-shot blast he would have been dead from drugs shortly anyway as his body was so full of them his heart would have likely stopped that same day.
Twenty years ago when I heard the news I remember camping out in front of the TV for days taking in every single story from, what was then truly a music channel, MTV.
You see I wasn’t just a fan of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”; in fact I resented those individuals that acted upset by Cobain’s death but really only knew that one song. NO! I was a true fan, I even had a cassette tape of “Bleach” their independently released album.
Twenty years ago when I heard the news I remember being almost proud of Cobain. His suicide made him even more heroic to my teenage mind. I thought, “Cobain had had enough. Society had been “raping” him so long and he finally said ‘that’s it, you can’t touch me anymore.'” (this was the language I would use in reference to his song “Rape Me”).
Twenty years ago when I heard the news I remember being affirmed in my own desire to die. I thought going out like Cobain would be somehow satisfying, I was I guess you could say caught-up in the Werther effect or Suicide Contagion of Cobain’s death.
Twenty years ago when I heard the news I turned on Nirvana and got high in honor of Cobain.
Twenty years ago I gave no thought to the the 2-year-old daughter Cobain was leaving behind.
Twenty years later my perspective has changed…
My new perspective can be summed-up in three thoughts:
- Jesus’ heart hurt(s) because He loves Kurt Cobain and died for him, just like He died for the rest of us. This is a truth that should resonate in the mind of every Christian at the knowledge of each and every death in this world. We should not become callus to death, the greatest evidence of our greatest enemy, and we definitely should never glorify it! Jesus died, in part to put an end to all death.
- Kurt Cobain reached the final destination that all folk that don’t understand and accept the love of Jesus will eventually arrive at. No, maybe all won’t take their lives like Cobain did; but all, apart from Jesus, will at some point in their quiet moments, in their alone times, in their solitude feel a deep emptiness that they believe nothing but death can take away.
- While I was mourning the death of Kurt Cobain twenty-years ago, Jesus was orchestrating things so that I would choose to worship a different hero that gave of His life freely rather than ending it selfishly. That is a pretty amazing truth. If you had told that 16 year old kid that He would one day be a preacher in love with Jesus I would have had a very hard time believing you. It was at that time much easier to believe my ultimate reality would fall more along the lines of Mr. Cobain’s. I praise Jesus while I was wandering aimlessly after the world of Cobain, Jesus was wandering not so aimlessly after me.
Jesus’ TED Talk
I am consistently annoyed with how long I preach!
I often have the following quote in the back of my mind:
“Speak short. Your discourses are generally double the length they should be.” Ellen, G. White, Testimonies to Ministers & GW, p. 311
I don’t always preach too long, but often I feel that I do. I’m happy to be in the 32-35 minute range…I’m mildly perturbed if I get over 40 minutes, and I’m downright irritated with myself when I get near 50 minutes or above.
I know, I know, there are times for long talks:
“He should not always give so long a discourse that there will be no opportunity for those present to confess Christ. The sermon should frequently be short…” Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, p. 171
This would indicate that occasionally it is acceptable to give a long discourse, but for the most part, “The sermon should frequently be short.”
Now when I talk about “short” we are not speaking of laziness…some pastors are short because they’re lazy. I’m not talking about shallowness, because some pastors are short in their preaching because they’ve chosen to be shallow…or some have just chosen not to study and are thus shallow because of their brain emptiness. No I am talking about the type of “short” preaching Jesus did:
“In Christ’s teaching there is no long, far-fetched, complicated reasoning. He comes right to the point. In His ministry He read every heart as an open book, and from the inexhaustible store of His treasure house He drew things both new and old to illustrate and enforce His teachings. He touched the heart, and awakened the sympathies.” Ellen G. White—Manuscript 24, 1891
Why am I thinking about this?
Because last week I preached
45 minutes & 11 seconds
& the week before that I preached
50 minutes and 21 seconds
& before that
42 minutes & 52 seconds…so you can see I’ve been consistently annoyed with my preaching recently.
Yes people have been blessed…but I could do better…
I want to be better…
Oh yeah why am I thinking about this?
Because I enjoy TED talks.
What are TED talks? You can listen to them (after you finish reading this blog of course) here.
Basically they are some of the greatest minds around sharing ideas about our world and all kinds of different things in our world. One of the distinctive features of a TED talk, they are messages delivered in 18 minutes or less (a few people go a little over but that is the general rule). If you listen to some of these talks you’ll be amazed by their quality and beauty and how they capture your attention (just watch this one by Benjamin Zander…after you finish reading my blog of course:)). And they do all this in a very short amount of time.
So I am thinking about this…
Because I want to capture peoples minds with the Word of God the way TED talks capture my mind.
As I thought about this I began to think about the sermon I have often heard referred to as, “The greatest sermon ever preached.”
I was once at a Youth Specialties Conference and I heard Shane Claiborne recite just this sermon…no other words…just this sermon…
and I was raptured by its beauty,
profundity,
and also by it’s brevity.
It is Jesus’ TED talk. It is found in the Bible in the first book of the New Testament, known as Matthew; Matthew chapters 5-7.
The greatest sermon ever preached…
The Sermon on the Mount
So tonight I paused and I read it aloud…
I read it like I was doing a dramatic reading…
I read it as I remember Shane Claiborne reading it…
Simply & slowly…
I read it because I wanted to see how long it was.
Let me pause and say, if you have not ever read scripture out loud to yourself…not just at church or in front of another;
But to yourself…
Start with The Sermon on the Mount…
It moved my heart to hear these words.
Not because of my voice…but as I slowly read, as I read as if I were preaching…
the words…Jesus’ words, moved my heart.
Read scripture out loud to yourself…you’ll be blessed.
But I read out loud, slowly, like I was preaching to see the time…
To confirm my self rebuke.
It was confirmed!
Jesus’ TED talk was 00:13:11:98
Thirteen Minutes
Eleven Seconds
Ninety-Eight one hundredths of a second
The greatest sermon ever preached was 1/4 of MOST of my sermons.
So I want to be like Jesus.
This includes in my preaching.
The TED talks motivate me to get shorter…
Jesus’ TED talk convicts me to get shorter.
What the Church Can Learn From: “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos & the Age of Amazon”
I love business books. Not because I’m in the business world. Not because I have a desire to be in the business world. I love business books because I learn about leadership, organization, systems, vision, management, etc.; all essential things for a pastor to know and grow in.
Yet while I love consuming business books I’m simultaneously saddened by them. I am saddened because I read stories of men and women that were and are willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of their vision. They devote their money to the business (most of the great companies had someone that devoted their life savings in the beginning) their time, all their thoughts and energy. This saddens me because I wonder why every single pastor is not willing to do the same for their church or churches.
I am saddened because I read about how vision and mission drive the direction of these companies & these leaders. While I see so many churches being driven by tradition and “sacred cows.”
I am saddened because I read about leaders that are constantly looking to grow, to improve, to be the best in their field; yet so many pastors are content. They don’t read books, go to conferences, seek mentorship, look for the best in their fields to get better; so many are content with status quo & so many churches let them be, or don’t know that they deserve better!
All of this saddens me because we serve a cause much greater than any business, Jesus’. We have a power on our side much greater than any man made method or model, The Holy Spirit. We have a mission much more important than money, the Salvation of humanity!
We could learn a lot from our secular, business world counterparts, and every time I read a business book I learn much and I am grateful.
Here are some ideas I gleaned from the most recent book I partook of: “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos & the Age of Amazon” by Brad Stone.
- Balance between the member & the not-yet member: Amazon’s passion is customer service. They are vigilant about retaining their committed customers (members), even willing to sacrifice revenue at times to avoid making the member (customer) feel unappreciated or uncomfortable. Yet, they never take their eye off their ultimate goal which is to win other people to their “family.” To create new “fans” of Amazon. They work to keep both of these goals in harmony with one another. I find that many churches struggle with the balance Amazon has seemed to achieve. In the larger churches I’ve worked at and been a part of I’ve found that they tend to be imbalanced towards the ability to gather and attract new people, all the while the already committed members are silently slinking out the back door without any real notice or fanfare. Because of our system in the North American Division and maybe even around the world we’re allowed even encouraged by the example of our World Church to inflate reality. We broadcast that our membership numbers in North America are 1.2 million members yet we know that truly only half, if even that attend church on a consistent basis. This creates a system where we care about the growth of that number, not the retention of that number. We never see the article on the cover of the Review, “Membership at 1.2 Million…But We Have No Idea Where 623,000 of Those Members Are.” So our larger churches a lot of them are like our organization. On the other hand I’ve worked at smaller churches that seem to enjoy their close knit of community so much that they don’t really have a great earnestness to attract new “customers.” New disrupts what is and disrupting what is, is tantamount to apostasy. And while they won’t brag about their numbers, they will brag about how they know everyones name in the church; of course you do it’s not hard to know 30, 40, even 75 names. Obviously both cases are not the universal absolute; I’ve seen large churches that are great at retention & small churches great at evangelism. But Amazon shows me how we all are better off with balance towards both!
- Word of Mouth Evangelism: Jeff Bezos’ goal is to one day be able to completely eliminate Amazon’s marketing department and just grow by word of mouth. In fact Bezos believes that the best “evangelism,” the best way for a company to grow is when the customer shares their experience with a non-member through word of mouth. The church needs to develop the same attitude. In fact Amazon is so committed to their committed customers with the belief this commitment will be rewarded with those people being personal evangelists for the company. Our churches and church members need to embrace this same idea as the best form of evangelism. Bring a friend to the “store” please!
- “Complaining is not a strategy” & Hard work is strategy: The former is a direct quote from Bezos, and I love it! Nothing changes with complaining! If someone wants a change they should apply the latter lesson from Amazon, “hard work is strategy.” If you want things to be different then they should work hard to be a part of the change they want to see. Oh how this could be learned in the church; less letters, less emails, less phone calls, more active engagement to strategically move things in a positive direction! This applies to Pastors as well, far too often we spend more time complaining about our bosses than really working for positive change. I’ve found that most folk I have worked for if they see a pastor working hard and committed to the growth of God’s Kingdom, then they’ll reward this and give greater ear to the ideas of those hard working pastors. “Complaining is not a strategy.”
- Innovate, Innovate, Innovate! : Normal human beings fear change. In church though a far greater fear should be stagnancy, and without change, which comes from innovation a stagnant and eventually a dead church will be the ultimate result! Innovation is not the creeping compromise that folk think it is. There were many that were not comfortable with the innovations that HMS Richards was initiating through his radio ministry Voice of Prophecy back in the day. There was an overall fear of technology and the potential evils of associating with the radio & eventually through George Vandeman the television mediums. You know who may be utilizing these mediums of technology most in 2014 within the Adventist Church? Groups like Amazing Facts & the 3ABN folk. Isn’t it funny, what was once thought as potential evil liberal compromise is now widely embraced, endorsed, and funded by those within our church that are perceived to be of the more conservative bent. Jeff Bezos said, “What is dangerous is to not evolve.” I would say to that a very loud “AMEN”! And I hope all the church echoes that “amen.”
- Imitate What Works: “We watch our competitors, learn from them, see the things that they were doing for customers and copy those things as much as we can.” -Bezos. Our church (Seventh-day Adventist) is far too scared of imitating the methodologies of those outside our own movement. If it is not challenging our theology & it is working elsewhere we should grab it and run with it! In our church we’ve incorporated many an idea that came from a business book I read or a church growth book I read from authors of another denomination. In no way has this watered down our theology, in fact what is most often communicated to me is that our church has become more (for lack of a better term) “conservative” in my tenure at this church. We don’t imitate theology, but we do imitate some methodologies, obviously within reason. We also try to learn from our fellow Adventists, another area I feel we have drastic deficiencies as a church. Sharing, receiving, and implementing the best practices even within Adventism.
- No One is More Important than the Vision: In Amazon’s culture what this means is that no one gets to keep their job simply because they were there from the beginning. No one gets to keep their job because it is going to cause tension to replace them. No one gets to keep their job for doing an adequate job. The vision rains supreme and if folk don’t want to run with the vision then the vision will move on without them! Many a church is hampered by a person that feels entitled to a position, entitled to be the road block to change. There is only one irreplaceable person at Amazon, Jeff Bezos; and there is only one irreplaceable person in the church and that is Jesus. Any pastor, any teacher, any administrator that is not charging ahead with the vision should be removed. Any elder, deacon, or treasurer that is not on board with the vision should be willing to step aside. This doesn’t mean that they see all eye to eye. But the overall vision and mission of Jesus “to seek & save the lost” if that is not embraced and pursued with reckless abandon then in the view of Amazon it is time for change. I think this view would move the church forward too.
- Take Little Steps Every Day to Get Better: I think in the church there are far too many “major” initiatives, I’ll include myself in that theory. In this book one of the ideas I appreciated was the idea of incremental changes made daily to try and get better, to try and be the best they could be. It hasn’t been the big moves we’ve seen like Kindle or Amazon Prime that have pushed Amazon to the top, but the daily unseen changes that have pushed Amazon up the retail mountain. Bezos demands of himself daily growth and expects nothing less of those around him. What would happen if every pastor, every conference administrator, every elder, every Bible Worker, every departmental director, every teacher, ever member said I want to learn one thing today that will help me to be a better witness for Jesus than I was yesterday. I think that would revolutionize the church a lot more than initiatives like “Let’s Talk” or even “Revival & Reformation.” These have there place but I fear they are too often strategies that help the membership to hide the fact that far too many are ok with status quo.
- It’s Okay to Be Misunderstood: I would love to see more pastors live by this principle. I think far too many of us worry about what others, primarily our church members think about us. We capitulate to the complainers. We don’t step out for fear of losing our job or our influence. Amazon has been misunderstood at the point of every major positive step they’ve ever taken. They’re okay with that. They’d rather be misunderstood than being bold for their cause. Pastors wouldn’t it be better for us to be misunderstood than to be stuck in the rut?! Now let me share one caveat; pastors, don’t use this as an excuse if everyone misunderstands you! If you look around and realize no one is following, it’s no longer about being misunderstood, its just about being a bad leader. But don’t back down to the few, run with the many even if it means, being misunderstood!
- “Make History!”: Jeff Bezos wants to “work hard, have fun, and make history.” I want to be a part of a history making movement. The church is of no value if it is not making history. In our world, in our communities, in the individual lives of our people and the people we are reaching.
These are some of the things I learned from the book, “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos & the Age of Amazon”
I hope they’ll help you in your ministry, in your church, in your life.
Ten Most Read Blog Posts for February 2014
In this past month of February, my blog was viewed more times than any other month in it’s history and more times than the entire first year (2011) of “Outside the Pulpit.” This was due to the fact that three of the blog posts are in the top ten viewed of all posts in the 3 1/2 year history. So here are the most viewed posts on “Outside the Pulpit” for February 2014. Thank you for being a reader of this blog! I hope if it is a benefit to your life that you will share it with others.
If you missed any of the following posts I hope you will enjoy your read.
The Top Ten:
- “Why the Recent Rhetoric in the Church Makes Me Want to Shout About “Spiritual Formation” This post was not only the most viewed post of this month, it is the new number 1 viewed blog in “Outside the Pulpit’s” 3+ year history.
- Help! Adventist Ed is Dying: I was criticized by some for this article and I believe some of the criticism was fair, a point I made then about that post and I make it again here about the opinions I had in this post, “Take ‘em or leave ‘em as a parent that will soon have three kids in Adventist Ed, these are my thoughts.” They were just my thoughts.
- How I Hope Adventists Will Respond to the Kenneth Copeland/Pope Francis Video.
- Why I Get Defensive
- Please Count! This post to me is so important and can be a real help to folk, I hope more will read it!
- Please Move to The Middle
- A Response to Elder Stephen Bohr’s “Reflections on Deborah & Huldah”: This post was written back in October of 2013 but due to of course the nature of the ordination debate and the attention it continues to receive this blog has remained well read each month.
- Faster Pastor’s Episode # 7: “Is Christmas Compatible w/ Christ?” This was the most recent Faster Pastor Episode we did and also the most viewed of any of the episodes we have done. Dr. John Reeve joined us and we were blessed by his insights. David has moved off to Australia that may actually make it easier for us to do more Faster Pastor’s since he’ll be more permanent and not roaming all over the world now that he is the Senior Pastor of a church down there.
- Glad to Know I’m Still a Child of The King: I’m always a little saddened that my spiritual posts are not nearly as well read as my “controversial” posts. I guess that is just human nature. Though I hope we all realize, a controversy will never enhance our lives only the love of Jesus will. With that in mind I hope you’ll read this post for the first time, or 2nd time if necessary!
- The Superiority of Adventist Education–Please Read & Respond: This post was written back in 2011; yet at times it still pops up in the top ten list. What can I say? People are passionate about Adventist Ed, as well they should be!
Those are the top ten. Some new posts coming soon in March. Thank you again for being a great group of readers. I’d love to have you share any or all of these posts if you feel others would be interested.
How I Hope Adventists Will Respond to The Kenneth Copeland/Pope Francis Video
“Have you seen the video?” That question has been going around a lot on Facebook & in conversations I have been having with many a peer and member; even I’ve asked verbatim that question to a few folk over the last two days.
Here are some thoughts I’ve had on my own and some that others have shared with me or motivated me to think in light of this video that I pray will resonate with those of my readers that are Seventh-day Adventists in how they respond and act in response to this video. If you haven’t seen “the video” I am speaking of, it is posted at the bottom of this blog post.
I want to first address those that are not sure why folk are making such a “big deal” about this video:
The “big deal” is only understood if one embraces a prophetic understanding of Revelation chapter 13 that points to the first beast of Revelation 13 as the theological system of Roman Catholicism & the second beast of Revelation 13 as the United States of America. This may be new insight to some of you, which is why to those that have wondered what is the “big deal” I would encourage their response to this video to be a thorough study of the prophecies of Daniel & Revelation! In so doing they will see that we are not against unity in and of itself, what we are leery of is the implications of unity in the context of such a prophetic picture:
“One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.” –Revelation 13:3
&
“Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.” –Revelation 13:11, 12
We as Seventh-day Adventists are alarmed for a second reason; Bishop Tony Palmer in the video states that there is no longer a need for Protestantism because, “the protest is over.” He claims that the protest is over because the Catholic Church has affirmed and agrees with justification by faith (which I question as the need to say certain prayers seems to counter act this premise). Thus “Luther no longer has an argument” against the Papacy. Even if you agreed with Bishop Palmer that the only argument that Luther had against the Papacy was in regards to understanding of justification by faith, which my seminary course on “The Writings of Martin Luther” with Dr. Trevor O’Reggio taught me otherwise; but even if you do agree with that as a Seventh-day Adventist my protest still could not be over! Why?
Because I must still protest:
- The Papal doctrine of eternal hell. I protest that a loving God would ever condemn people to such a state.
- The Papal doctrine of purgatory. I protest the teaching that a loving God would make an individual go through a time of burning to purify themselves before being fit for heaven.
- The Papal doctrine of priestly intercession. I protest the teaching that another human being has the right to grant me forgiveness of my sins. I protest the idea that a priest can condemn me as having committed a “mortal sin” banishing me to a condition of eternal lostness. I protest that a priest can define the degree of my sin.
- The Papal doctrine of the Authority of the Church to change “times & laws.” I protest the Douay-Rheims Bible which adds books to the Canon of God. I believe there is but one Canon. 66 books in length. I protest the church changing the Ten Commandments by the removal of one and alteration of another. I protest the Catholic Church declaring their right under the Authority of the Church to change the day of worship from Sabbath to Sunday.
- The Papal doctrine of The Saints. I protest the belief that any organization can place Sainthood on another, now deceased individual. I protest the belief that praying to images (idols) of said Saints will bless me in any way.
So Bishop Palmer I respectfully disagree and I hope all Adventists respectfully disagree, the PROTEST is not over!
And this is my response to those which wonder why this video is a “big deal.”
My response to Adventists that have used this video as opportunity to ramp up their venom against Catholicism:
This video has of course given focus to our differences with Catholicism and even many within the Protestant Christian world. But two things we should remember and one thing we should avoid: We should avoid labeling anyone as having “The Mark of the Beast.” We have been taught within the history of our church that NO ONE will receive The Mark of the Beast, until Sunday Worship is made compulsory. Sunday is not the Mark of the Beast, the Compulsion to keep that day holy or as a day of worship is the Mark of the Beast. We must remember in our amazement at this video that we are not against a specific person or people group. We should always be quick to express that our “protest” is not against a man, Pope Francis, Kenneth Copeland, Tony Palmer; our protest is against the systems that will attempt to unite all people under one religious banner. So let us not use inflammatory language against Catholic People. Many of those Catholic people, many Charismatics, many Evangelicals will be our neighbors in heaven and many of those that we sit next to in church each week will not. We protest beliefs and a system that desires to enforce those beliefs on all of us. We also must remember that though it may seem more exciting to talk about this video, let us never talk more about this video or the implications of this video than we do Jesus! Jesus is to be the topic that consumes our thoughts and flows out of our hearts into words. Jesus is the only one that can redeem. Knowing Jesus saves, not knowing the prophecies. So we teach the prophecies but don’t think the prophecy will change a life, remember Jesus will change a life and then we can help folk to understand the times that we are living in. That thought on witnessing leads me to address a third group of Adventists responding to this video:
My response to Adventists that seem overly giddy in regards to this video and it being a further sign of Jesus’ soon coming:
(I hadn’t thought about this response ’till one of my Bible Workers pointed this out to me). It seems from reading some of the comments of those watching this video that their responses are overly enthusiastic. What do I mean by that? What I mean is that they are excited by this being a further sign that Jesus is coming soon & that for them, at least in their own personal assurance, means they’ll soon be out of this world and walking with Jesus. I understand a modicum of joy in thinking of this potential reality. But I am afraid that too much of such a response is not truly living up to the prophetic calling God gave to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As we see the signs approaching of Jesus’ soon coming we aren’t to be dancing around celebrating, we are at the appearance of these signs to be spurred on to even greater and more devoted witnessing! The Three Angel’s Message is not one of a party it is one of warning and appeal. Noah didn’t see the signs and rejoice that he was going to be safe in the boat. Abraham didn’t see the signs and rejoice that Sodom & Gomorrah were going to be destroyed he pleaded with God on their behalf. Jesus didn’t see the future of Jerusalem and the temple and rejoice that the sacrificial system that pointed to Him would be destroyed, He wept. When we see a video like this, when we read the prophecies, and see the signs our response should not be a giddy hurrah! We should instead remember the story of the 99 minus 1 (Luke 15:3-7). The shepherd doesn’t rest if even one is out there lost, the shepherd would never celebrate saying, “at least these 99 made it.” The celebration occurs when all 100 are safely in the fold. So until Jesus comes or until all are reached (and there will always be 1 more to reach) let us put aside our abundance of exuberance and replace it with a deep yearning to tell everyone about Jesus & His soon coming! May we plead like Abraham with our Lord that He will hold back the winds of strife a little longer so that we may tell “1 more” Jesus loves them!
Why the Recent Rhetoric in the Church Makes Me Want to Shout About “SPIRITUAL FORMATION
So today I was listening to a book on tape, in this book on tape there was a chapter heading, “Spiritual Formation.” I listened to the entire chapter and guess what? Afterwards I didn’t want to go and empty my mind, burn incense, light candles, chant in repetition or deny the infallibility of the Bible. In fact the authors description of “SPIRITUAL FORMATION” made me want to read my Bible more, spend more time alone being guided by the scriptures to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. He impressed upon me the need to have a consistent devotional time, and that part of Spiritual Formation included being willing to be more generous with my money to the cause of Jesus, particularly the local church…can you believe such heresy? I say tongue in cheek!
At the end of the chapter the thought that came into my mind and started to drive me crazy, “There are so many in our church that would have shut the audiobook off, or closed the book (if they were actually reading it) the moment they heard/saw those words, “Spiritual Formation” and they would have missed out on some great counsel! Why? Because over the last 3+ years many in the Adventist church have taught our people to be scared of words and phrases, like: “spiritual formation,” “liturgy,” and “kingdom growth.” Even “meditation” is being spoken of like all meditation is bad…I sure hope the folk that believe that fallacy never read the writings of Ellen G. White, there are over 800 references of “meditation” or “meditate;” and oh boy they better not read the Bible either, since there are a good thirty times meditation is mentioned in that GREAT book.
Why would I even say that? Because I really believe some would be shocked! They’d be shocked because we don’t teach them to read and to study and to discern truth for themselves, we teach them to be scared of certain words and so many of the sermons I’ve heard say, “Spiritual formation is evil. It is about meditation, and mantras.” And therefore meditation is wrong, even when there is a very good kind of Biblical meditation, but these people don’t know that, all they know is what we’ve told them to be scared of. We’ve taught them to be scared of words, just like the pharisees taught the Jews to be scared of Jesus because He used the words, “I Am.”
In preaching in this manner and writing EXTREME books on this topic not only are we teaching our people to be scared of words, we are also teaching them to be very judgmental.
I was given a CD of a fairly popular and well known speaker amongst Adventists, he is one that frequents many camp meetings. I’d heard him on a couple different occasions and was usually blessed by his messages. Then I received this CD and I listened…what I listened to was fear mongering and a call to judge, not to judge on actions, not to judge on doctrine, just to judge based on words. This preacher was speaking of a pastor of a mega-church and pointing out all the areas he was in error; which by the way, how far have we fallen when we think that is an acceptable topic for a Sabbath morning service? Anyway, he then said this, which blew my mind, “When you hear our preachers (Adventist preachers) use the term ‘Kingdom Growth’ you know they have been under the influence of (name of the Sunday preacher here) and you need to be on guard.” REALLY? REALLY? This semi-well known pastor with at least a moderate amount of influence told a bunch of folk to judge their pastors based on a phrase, “Kingdom Growth.” I’ve been using that phrase as often as I can ever since; yep, there is a rebel in me.
So we’re teaching our people to be scared of words. We’re teaching our people to be judgmental based on phrases. We’re also teaching our people how to be mere reflectors of man’s thoughts, rather than true discerners.
I was at a camp meeting. The evening speaker delivered a wonderful message, but he went on a tangent. In this tangent he began to condemn those associated with spiritual formation (he didn’t give context to this), he just used those catch words of course. But what drove me even more crazy was at the end of this little tangent he said, “that is why we shouldn’t be reading anything outside of Adventist literature.” REALLY? REALLY? I love this man, he has been a blessing in my life, I don’t know him, but I’ve read his books and listened to his sermons. But REALLY? I couldn’t take it so I confronted him afterwards, “How could you say that?” I asked. Well in the course of the conversation he acknowledged we should, and he even quoted Mrs. White referencing her statement about our need to be well read in the literature of the age, and how of course he didn’t mean don’t read anything outside of Adventism (he has a doctorate from a non-Adventist university). I asked him then why he said it, he didn’t have a great answer, something to the effect of wanting to protect the people. That is not protection though, it is dumbing people down. To this man’s credit he corrected the statement in his seminar a few days later and acknowledged that is not what he meant; unfortunately there were only 150 people at his seminar versus the 2000 that heard his original statement.
We’re teaching our people to be scared of words. We’re teaching our people to be judgmental based on phrases. We’re teaching our people how be mere reflectors of man’s thoughts, rather than true discerners.
But maybe most of all we’re teaching people how to miss the good and beautiful truth completely. The pharisees were so focused on all the potential negatives that could happen around the Sabbath day that when someone, Jesus Himself, actually showed up on the scene keeping the Sabbath they way it should be kept…they missed it completely! I worry that we are teaching our people to focus so much on the negative that they may actually miss a lot of good when it is being done right in front of their eyes.
Someone smart in my life said, I’m not sure who said this to me (maybe it was David in our Faster Pastor episode on Christmas), but whoever it was this is brilliant, “Words and symbols only have as much meaning in your life as you allow them to have.”
Our church needs to learn this! The words Spiritual Formation or any others like this only have the meaning that one attaches to them and if we attach all kinds of fear, judgment, and ignorance to them that is exactly the meaning they’ll have in people’s lives.
But maybe some people out there are using those same words and they are doing a great job of teaching about Bible Study, Sacrifice, Prayer, Service, Repentance, Tithing…but our people will never know; cause they’ll close the book the moment they see the buzz words our church has decided to condemn and attach unnecessary negative value to over the last 3+ years.
Lord help us to spend more time teaching people about the beautiful truths of Jesus and in the glorious light of Jesus’ truth maybe we can trust them to be able to discern error for themselves.
Please Move to the Middle
This blog isn’t a discussion of my political views, nor is it a discussion on conservative or liberal church views.
No this is a short blog with some free advice on a little thing every church can do, no matter how big or small, to make their church a more comfortable environment for guests.
And this piece of advice involves one simple act…
…a move to the middle.
When a guest arrives at my house one of the first things I do, if they are going to be there for a while is to invite them to, “sit down” or “have a seat.” If other guests are there and all the seats are taken we say, “let me grab you a chair.” If my kids are in a seat that would be more optimal for the guest to sit in I say, “please move Dayton/Landon, so our guest can sit in that chair.” If there is only one seat left and I was sitting in it, I say, “Here take my seat, I’ll just grab another chair” or “I can just sit here on the floor.”
Why?
Because the comfort of my guest is of utmost comfort to me.
Why should it be any different in a church? Our guests, after God, should be our top priority. But so often, probably without any forethought or malice in very little areas, maybe seemingly insignificant areas we actually show a lack of regard for our guests at church.
One such place we show a lack of regard for our guests is in where we choose to plant our behinds during the worship service.
In most churches I have been to, most members immediately gravitate towards the back rows & the aisles.
In both cases I would urge members…please move to the middle!
Why to the middle? Because just like in our homes our guests should have priority in their seating to what would be most comfortable to them; and there are definitely two things which are not comfortable for a guest:
Needing to crawl over or push past people in a row to get to a middle seat…
&
Being forced to walk towards the front of the church to find a seat.
Most guests, especially the truly unchurched, want to come into a church & sit without any notice or recognition–yes they want to be greeted and treated warmly at the door and in the foyer; but once they are in the sanctuary they want to draw as little attention as possible. Something which cannot be accomplished as easily if all the members are sitting in the aisles seats and in the back rows.
So this weekend when you attend church, I would like to encourage you dear church member…
…Move to the middle
Unless you are a Mom or Dad with young children, or someone with an extremely small and active bladder there is NO reason you have to sit in the back of the church, nor in an aisle seat.
So for the sake of the guests, make a big difference with a small movement…
…to the middle.
Maybe even move all the way up front. I promise the preacher won’t bite & maybe, just maybe this one little act will make the guest feel more at ease to come back for a second visit…isn’t that after all our hope with all our guests? That they will feel comfortable and want to come back?