Out of Bondage

This weekend I am speaking at HCBC-UT. I am really excited about the opportunity of speaking at such a missionally-minded church. If you have a spare Sunday come check HCBCUT out this weekend. Anyways, this Sunday is the first week of Advent. Typically, in the first week of this season, the focus is on hope. I've really had to wrestle around with this message. I keep asking myself questions like, "Why is hope so essential in our lives?" and "Where does our hope stem from?"

In my studying I really focused my efforts on Romans 8:18-25. The brokenness of this world seems to pervade from this passage. It speaks of how all of creation is held in bondage to corruption and futility. We, as humans, and the rest of creation recognizes that the world isn't as it ought to be. A tear in the universe has occurred (because of our sinfulness and nature) and something deep within our souls lets us know that we are broken. Creation desires to be set free from this bondage. It instinctly knows that somehow we must find freedom. Out of this recognition of our broken state, we MUST and NEED TO hope that freedom is possible. We must hope that life is available through Jesus. We must hope that one day God is going to reconcile and restore all things. We must hope that God is our refuge and strength. Genuine and true hope starts when we confront our own brokenness and understand that we need saving from it.

Through Jesus, God has come to rescue his creation from its' broken state.

I Need Your Address

I am about to send out a prayer/update letter. If you would like to receive it, please give me your e-mail address AND your home address. Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to tell everyone...Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you celebrate all that God has done for you tomorrow. I know that Heather and I have so much to be thankful for. We are truly blessed by the Almighty!

Top Ten: Reasons Why They Leave?

Ed Stetzer and others have done some interesting research on why 70% of 18-22 years old drop out of church. If you want to go to the article here it is (click here). I highly suggest that you read it, if your interested.

Here are the 10 top reasons why these individuals leave the church:
1. 27% simply wanted a break from church.
2. 26% felt that church members seemed judgmental or hypocritical.
3. 25% moved to college and stopped attending any church.
4. 23% had work responsibilities that prevented them from participating/attending.
5. 22% moved too far away from their church to continue attending.
6. 22% were too busy, but still wanted to attend.
7. 20% did feel connected to their church.
8. 18% disagreed with the political or social stances of the church.
9. 17% chose to spend more time with friends outside the church.
10. 17% originally went to church to please others, but had no interest in attending themselves.

As the church we must wrestle with how we keep these individuals involved in a local body and then use them to reach their generation. What do you think?

Thick Skin and Beautiful Feet

As any church planter knows building relationships within your target community is hard. Heather and I have been doing surveys, trying to start conversations with complete strangers, and talking to whoever will listen. Sometimes great conversations formulate, but the majority of the time this doesn't happen. We have been rejected countless times by many indidivuals. I guess if I wasn't connected to a church or God, I wouldn't want to talk to some weirdo, who brings up God and starting a new church in the area either. When talking with these people, I feel like am this giant weirdo who has a third arm going out my forehead. If your skin isn't thick this can be very disheartening. I do want to mention, I am not forcing God, the Gospel, or the church down anyone's throat, rather I am just trying to engage in a natural conversation that may or may not have a spiritual twist. It all depends on the situation and context of the conversation.

There have been several instances where I just wanted to quit and tell God I prefer the attractional model over the missional model. I want people, who are interested in God, the Gospel, and the church to come to me and the environments I create. There is a certain ability to control the conversations here and spiritual questions seem to natural follow. Spiritual discussions are easier to generate here. It's hard to go to the community and search out those who are receptive and form meaningful relationships with those that aren't receptive for the purpose of eventually getting to the Gospel and Jesus. Yet, I believe that God called us to be missional. The Great Commission starts with the word "Go" and not "Come." It is our job and task to go to them with the news of Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection.

I think this is why we are told in Romans "how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news." These individuals set aside themselves for the sake of people's souls and the Gospel. Though rejected and dismissed by the masses, they continue to bring a message of hope and reconiliation with God and man to whoever will listen. Bringing the Gospel to people is hard. You have to have thick skin and beautiful feet.

Will Ferrell as Bush

I love this video!

What is our mission again?

One of the most engaging questions in Mark Driscoll's Confessions of a Reformission Rev. was "Will your church have a mission of community or be a community of mission?" It is the tendancy of most Christians and most churches to become inward-focused communities. Most Christians seem to go through various spiritual stages and at some point in this process they cut themselves off from the world surrounding world. They find contentment in surrounding themselves with other believers and removing themselves from everything else. We get "Christianized" and our mission switches from reaching and connecting with non-believers to creating a community of themselves, which typically turns out to be a pretty judgmental community. Now don't get me wrong, I believe that we all have a God-given need to be around others, relate with them, encourage them, and "do life with them." However, it seems that is the mission for many of us - community.

Is this what Jesus died for? Is the message of the cross to create safe, warm, and friendly environments for believers to exist in removed from the world? I think not! Instead having a mission of community, we must have a community of mission. A community of people that are dedicated to being missionaries to their work, nieghborhood, and zip code. The beauty of community is only reflected when people do life together because of the mission they've been called to.