Loving, Learning, and Leading

This is one of those blog entries where I am thinking out loud with the hope that you may respond with your thoughts and prayers. As many of you know, I love to read.  I read 500 to 1000 pages on the average week, mostly Christian non-fiction and social commentaries.  This week I began a book, and for the first time in a long time, I am struggling with the messenger's choices over and against the message of the book itself. Sara Miles' book "Jesus Freak' focuses on a deeper relationship with Jesus that allows you to do the same things that Jesus did, such as feed the hungry, heal the sick, and even raise the dead (bring life out of death!).  That message reasonates with my spirit.  Jesus said that those who come after him will do "even greater things" (John 14).  She goes on to reveal that this stems from her radical conversion to Christ through a dramatic understanding of eucharist (some know this as communion).  As I am reading, I am excited about wha...

Over the past several weeks, I have been reading Gary Thomas' book "Pure Pleasure".  Gary Thomas, author of sacred marriage, sacred parenting, and sacred pathways, is one of my favorite authors in that he tends to capture to essence of spiritual formation within the context of everyday living. In his most recent book, he talks about the way that Christian people often stigmatize pleasaure.  Somewhere, someone decided that God was all about sacrifice and pain.  This is so ingrained in western Christian spirituality, that we can not possibly connect Holiness and Pleasure.  We have learned to convince ourselves that everything pleasurable can be made painful in our guilt ridden conscious. For instance, have you ever saved up enough money to take your family on vacation, just for another well meaning Christian to tell you that with the money you are spending on that vacation, 50 children in Haiti could eat for a year.  Or how about treating yourself to an aesthe...

Last week, I was invited to participate in a pastoral prayer movement, that was to initiate a ministry planting movement within the city of Rochester.  The other participants had been gathering for the past several months and were seeking others to develop a multi-congregational vision for the city of Rochester.  This is exciting stuff, as Jesus himself stated that world should know a genuine movement of his by its unity (John 17). I met with the pastor who was representing this burgeoning prayer movement and we got along very well.  We talked about ministry experiences, divine calling, and the missionary movements, both domestically and internationally.  It was a great conversation. But.... The wheels began to fall off when we spoke of the role of women in ministry.  He went on to explain to me that the participants of this prayer initiative were strong advocates of male-only leadership.  When I mentioned that the Free Methodist Church, as well ...

Recently, I have engaged with a number of people who are struggling in their spiritual lives.  Some are overwhelmed by the problems of life, some are beset with habitual sins, and other feel alientated from the presence of God.  As I have been praying with and for many, I believe that that there is a simple, biblical cure that is so simple, that most feel that it can not be effective. The cure is community.  God specifically places his people in community for blessing, bonding, and believing.  We were never meant to walk our spiritual journey alone, but need others, who are filled with the Holy Spirit, to ground us and help us focus on the important, over against the urgent.  We need others to help keep us accountable for those sins that would chain us and keep us from experiencing the abundant life that Jesus promised to his followers.  We need to see that the presence of God is not always a mystical experience within the ecstacy of worship, but resides ...

Lately, I have been struck by the diversity in thought within the Christian Community regarding the use and possession of money.  In some communities, large homes, luxury cars, and extravagance are considered signs of God's special favor or annointing.  In other communities, wearing jewelry is a sign of sinful indulgence.  In both communities, there are God-fearing people who deeply desire to please God, but which is more accurate.  Jesus was clear that our possessions are "on-loan" from God and are to be used for building up the kingdom by blessing others.  It is interesting to me that Jesus could have been born into a wealthy family or a noble family, but specifically chose to identify with the poor and needy.  The Apostles, the foundation of the early Church, also chose to identify with the poor.  The Early church, according to I Corinthians, was also relatively poor.  The Law of Moses, in the Old testament, prevented the accumulation of weal...

Crystal Cathedral asks vendors for forgiveness | cathedral, vendors, creditors - News - The Orange County Register Posted using ShareThis The above link is regarding the current financial difficulties experienced by the Crystal Cathedral in Orange Coutny California.  Many of you will recall that this is the church founded by Robert Schuller who is well known internationally, particularly for his message of positive thinking, grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The article outlines that this "megachurch" has "megadebt".  Despite defaulting with many of their vendors who helped supply things such as exotic animals for opulent productions such as the "Glory of Christmas".  The church has asked its creditors for a 90 day reprieve from legal action while it closes many of its ministries such as daycare, athletic ministries, and camping ministries to pay for the 2+ million dollar debt.  The irony is that is continues to worship in the extravagant Cryst...

Yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting with one of my staff Pastors, and we had a significant discussion regarding suicide.  This pastor was ministering to a young adult (about 17 yrs old) who expressed the desire to end her young life.  She was already in a setting where she was getting professional psychiatric care, but as we try to listen and enter into the pain and angst that this young woman experienced daily, we were struck by our inability to come to a common consensus on the issues surrounding suicide.  Suicide is the 10th most common cause of death in the U.S., so it is relatively common.  Among young adults in United States, 15-19 yrs of age, 5 will take their lives today.  Yet, despite its frequency, we found that the young woman had already heard several inconsistent, supposibly Biblical responses to her pain. Traditionally, Christians have often described suicide as an unpardonable sin.  The only suicides listed in scripture tend to b...