Loud & Clear

facing the dark

I’ve been on a blogging fast for the last three months. It was unannounced, for which I apologize. With the realization of my job transition out of a Communication Director role into a Campus Pastor role, I knew I needed to draw away for a bit to prepare.

In my reading today, I came across a section that spoke to why I felt the need to pull away. Solitude has not always been a strong spiritual discipline in my life but has become more and more important in these last days. Here’s why:

Only those who have been brave enough to ride their own monsters of anger and greed, jealousy and narcissim, fear and violence all the way down to the bottom will find a truer energy with which to lead. Only those who have faced their own dark side can be trusted to lead others toward the Light.

This is where true spiritual leadership begins. Everything that comes before is something else.  -Strenghening the Soul of Your Leadership pg.44, Ruth Haley Barton

This speaks what I could only feel before. When it’s time to step up, it’s time to step away to take measure of what lies beneath waiting to rise up and destroy everything you’re trying to build. And not that we have the capacity or strength to change ourselves, but God who is within us shapes and calls us toward who he has already made us to be. It’s through surrender and disciplining ourselves to obediance that we are positioned to have God work through us, to accomplish what we are called to do.

When was the last time you took a good long look at what’s lurking beneath the surface in your life? How long since you got away and spent some time in solitude with God and let him wrestle those things to the surface? Can you afford to wait any longer?

the big news

It doesn’t take a degree in economics to know that we’re in a deep recession. Many families at Clovis Hills have lost their jobs and homes and many others can see it from where they are. Just as our families have been impacted, so has our church budget.

Last week, I was called into a meeting with Steve, our lead pastor, and Greg, our exec pastor. I learned that they were eliminating seven positions at Clovis Hills, five full time and two part time. Part of those lay offs was the dissolution of my department, Communications. This includes myself and my assistant Thilani.

I’ve been through this before, a couple times. I know what it’s like to look out and wonder what God is doing and what’s next. God uses times like this to create dependency on Him. He uses it to challenge our faith, our worldly view of security and most importantly our walk.

In fact, for the last six months I’ve wrestled with a restlessness in my spirit, knowing that God was preparing me for whatever was next. The word I got from him was, “Whatever you do next will be something you’ve never done before.” A hard thing to grasp since I’ve done so many things here there’s not much left to pick from.

So, when I walked into that room, I was prepared. I was at peace. God had been prepping me for months for this moment. What I didn’t expect was that the next thing would show up right in that meeting.

I was offered something different. Very different. A campus plant in Firebaugh. It seems there’s several families in that area that have been attending Clovis Hills over the last six months who approached Steve about helping them plant a church or campus in that area, reaching out to both Firebaugh and Dos Palos. The offer was to spearhead whatever that campus would evolve into.

WOW. It was terrifying. It was exciting. I thought about all the things I’ve done at Clovis Hills. Student Pastor. Worship Leader. Performing Arts. Weekend Service Producer. Communication & Marketing. Many of the skills I’d need to accomplish this new work.

I took a solitude day that week and drove out to Firebaugh with my wife. We just wanted to be in the town, drive around, meet some people and spend time in prayer. During that time, God gave me twelve specific scriptures affirming his call on me and what he is doing in Firebaugh. In fact, he told me it was something he was already doing. It’s his work, I just get to be a part of it. It was the last piece of the puzzle.

I’ve officially accepted this new position. I’m still on staff at Clovis Hills and have an office at this campus. And that’s about all I know. I’ll meet these families in the coming weeks. I’ve a whole department to transition out of, setting up systems to keep everything flowing. I have more questions than answers. But if you know me, that’s pretty much heaven for me. Discovery, learning, creating, building relationships and stepping out in faith. There’s nothing better than that!

Please pray for the other folks who are transitioning out. Everyone’s still employed through May with ample leeway to discover what God has next. Pray for hope and peace. Pray for provision. And pray with expectation for what God is going to do through our church and our staff, those leaving and those remaining.

One of the verses God gave me during my solitude time was a promise of what’s to come:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9

do you have an integrated or dis-integrated faith?

I’ve been wrestling through this interesting dynamic in our culture of growing spirituality. As the world continues its path toward one large global village, spirituality continues to rise in the global social awareness while closed system religions challenged as being intolerant, arrogant and terrible out of fashion.

A new dialogue is needed to communicate God’s love to a world that is hungering for wholeness but rejecting hypocrisy.

But this challenge crafting of a new dialogue can’t even begin until we can address the justified global village reaction to believers proclaiming one thing and living another. If we can’t follow our own beliefs, who’s going to listen?

I read a great concept this week from Doug Pagitt. While I don’t agree with many ideas he has, this one really struck me:

“God’s intention for individuals and for collective humanity is to bring together full integration of God’s agenda with our world…”

Our problem is not with our actions, but with our beliefs. There’s a huge difference between knowledge and understanding. Between hearing and listening. Between recognizing truth and believing truth. If we profess faith and do not live it or follow prescriptive rules for life without the inner transformation that birth those behaviors naturally, we have a divided faith. A divided faith invariably leaves gaping holes in our lives filled with sin and hypocrisy.

So the key concept is an integration of faith and deed. This full integration is what we modernly call “relationship.” But with the amount of broken relationships in this world, it’s almost no wonder we don’t fully get the whole picture of faith by that description.

So how do we achieve this kind of integration? For starters, we could try marrying our beliefs with our actions. The book of James says,

“What good is it…if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?”

And this is not a new problem by the way.  In Romans, Paul writes:

“You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. No wonder the Scriptures say, ‘The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.’”

We have a dis-integration problem. When the world looks at the Church, it sees dis-integration. Our actions say the opposite of Jesus’ message. In fact, it’s completely distressing me to know that our culture seeing Christianity as standing for the exact opposite things that Jesus stood for.

This simply is the product of a dis-integrated life. Jesus said,

“Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

It’s this remaining that creates complete integration. Paul says in Colossians:

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

Do you have an integrated or dis-integrated faith? Whose agenda do you wrestle with each day, yours or Christs? Are you evidencing the Fruit of the Spirit?

Now remember, there’s no condemnation if you’ve got a ways to go on this. I know I do.

But this is the journey we’re on. A journey of transparency, authenticity and integration with the Holy Spirit. And from that wholeness, we will have a foundation to engage a culture yearning for truth but fearful of dogma. Because, as Jesus said, the truth is what really sets us free.

where did miracles go?

I received this question recently and thought I’d answer it here for everyone to chime in on.

“I was reading in Acts today and I started thinking…Once Jesus left the disciples, why were they able to do miracles (like healing and casting out demons) and why don’t we see anyone doing that today?
Do you know?”

This is a really great question. And honestly, I don’t have a really great answer. Let’s start with what we know.

1. Both Jesus and the disciples preformed many miracles. Just peruse through the Gospels and Acts and you’ll see many amazing examples of physical healing and restoration. Sick people got better.  Blind people saw. Crippled people walked. Dead people came back to life.

2. Miracles do happen today, just not as frequently. I know of people personally that were miraculously cured of sickness and cancer that made doctors scratch their head. I’ve read true stories from reliable sources of God intervening in some pretty remarkable circumstances. I’ve seen completely broken marriages fully restored. Relationships mended. Watch some pretty hard, angry, bitter folks completely change into affirming, forgiving and life giving people.

They may not all physical miracles but to me they’re really just as remarkable.

3. Jesus said we’d do even greater things than he did.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” John 14:12

This is an amazing statement! How could we possibly do more than he did? He was one man who did the most amazing miracles. The disciples did some amazing miracles as well, but they never brought themselves back from the dead. What did he mean by this? I’ll give you my guess…

4. Jesus still has a body on this earth and it’s called the Church. The influence, the prayer, the meeting of needs, the miracles Jesus accomplished while he was on earth is now magnified by millions. As all of us follow Christ, become like him, allow him to work through us, we literally accomplish more per person than Jesus did.

As the body of Christ in our world, we have the opportunity to end poverty, eradicate sickness and establish justice to millions and millions who desperately need it. We have the opportunity to be Jesus to every person we interact with. Because at the end of the day, what is it we are really longing for- miracles or changed lives?

So, why don’t we have miracles today like there were two thousand years ago? I honestly don’t know. I know they still happen, just not as frequently. Or maybe they do and we just don’t know about it. Pretty much any time Jesus healed someone he told them not to tell anyone. Maybe he purposely keeps them hidden.

See, I think God isn’t looking for a quick hook to get the masses to believe, which big flashy miracles could do. Instead I think he is looking for individuals discover a relationship with him through a relationship with us. Really, I think that’s what Jesus was about as well.

What do you think?

predestination- does it matter?

I’ve been working through the Calvinistic thoughts of some of the Emerging Church leaders. Now, people devote entire books to this subject so the little bit I post here is hardly exhaustive. However, I’ve often wrestled with this concept and today spent some time anchoring what I’ve felt in scripture.

I’m settled on two facts that I believe are scriptural and founded on the character of God.

First, predestination is a scriptural view that those who are believers and followers of Christ are chosen by God to be so.

I’m not going to go into all the scripture that shows Jesus Christ died for our sins and provided a means for us to be reconciled to God, through forgiving our sins and making us new creations, in order that we might surrender the leadership of our lives to following and increasing the depth of our relationship with Jesus Christ through faith and action. (Wow, that was a long sentence!)

Starting with that assumption (scriptural, but phrased for those of you who may not believe this yet), here is the scriptural support for predestination:

1. Jesus gave his life for many, not all. Matt 20:28; Matt 26:28; Rom 5:17-19
2. We were chosen for salvation and to do good works through faith. Acts 13:48; Eph 1:3-11; 2 Thess 2:13
3. God has the right to give grace to those he chooses. Matt 20:12; John 15:16; Rom 9:20-21

Second, since we are saved by faith, it is the act of believing and following Christ that confirms you are chosen.

This is an important concept. The point of free will was for us to freely choose to love and follow God. So how does this work together?

1. God calls the chosen through our sharing the gospel. Rom 10:14, 17; 2 Thess 2:14
2. God chooses us through our act of believing and accepting Jesus Christ. John 1:12; Rom 1:16; Rom 9:30
3. Salvation is the fulfillment of God’s promise to receive any who believe. John 6:47; Rom 10:13

Conclusion- speculating about predestination is futile endeavor. The Great Commission doesn’t give us the freedom to simply trust in predestination as a means for people to come to Christ. Scripture clearly shows that through our sharing our faith and the gospel people find salvation and the wholeness both they are yearning for and that God desires for us.

My personal belief is that there is a difference between God knowing who will come to him and God pre-choosing some and condemning others to hell. And this isn’t even going into the scriptures that show that we as believers are able to influence and change God’s mind. So, praying for those we can’t imagine would come to faith is a completely worthy endeavor! I’ve seen it happen!

So, ultimately this concept changes nothing about how we are to live out our faith daily, how we are to put our faith in action and how we are to share the gospel. The Great Commandment and The Great Commission should still govern how we live our daily lives.

What are your thoughts?

discipleship: an opportunity, not a process

We’ve been having some conversations on staff about how we communicate the different things that happen at Clovis Hills. And there’s a bunch! Growth Groups, Core Classes, Crown Financial Classes, Personal Development Plans, Mission Trips, Super Bowl Breakfasts, Recovery Groups and on and on.

The conversations have centered on our need to change how we communicate these things. It feels like we’re pushing too hard. Instead of offering an opportunity we’ve been trying to sell attendance. And there’s a big difference between those things.

I heard in a recent video cast from a national church leader that we will never adequately defend the accusation we are not discipling people. And I believe it. You see, we can’t MAKE people be disciples. At some point spiritual growth is about each us, individually, pursuing a relationship with Jesus Christ.

As a church, it’s our job to create “irrisitable environments” (to borrow a phrase from another well known church leader) in which if you have any desire to grow, you will.

But getting you there… that’s up to you. You have to want to grow.

We’re not going to just give up trying to get you there! But we are going to try to stop pressuring you and begin inviting you, you to take a next step of faith.

How can we do that?

1. We can demonstrating how God is working in our life personally as staff members.
2. We can provide worship experiences that draw you into a real interaction with God.
3. We can provide messages that help you understand God knows you, loves you and has a plan to make you whole if you’ll follow him.
4. We can provide you opportunities to share your life, blessings and struggles, with other people like you in a committed small group.
5. We can provide you opportunities to stretch your faith in knowledge and action through Classes and Serving Opportunities.

After that? It’s pretty much up to you.

learning to really love

“That’s where you and I really live: wanting to be loving people to the people around us, but so often failing miserably to even love the people we love the most.

But this higher love is possible. It’s doable. It’s practical. And it’s what we and the people around us need most. But you have to listen.

Jesus gives us the secret to loving like this. The night before his crucifixion, in John 15, he says,

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands you’ll remain in my love just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. And I have told you this that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his live for his friends.”

And that next day Jesus would demonstrate just how great his love is. But here’s what we have to understand: Love is a verb… Love gives. Love serves. Love sacrifices. Love is not an emotion.

The power to act comes from God. The feelings will follow. We respond to God, but none of it depends on that other person. And this is critical to understand: It’s our choice whether we will love.

God wants to lead us to a higher love. But the secret friends is what Jesus said. He said, “As the father has loved me, that’s how I love you. Now remain, soak, bathe, moment by moment exist in that love.”

See, you and I don’t have it to give. We don’t have the ability to sacrificially love others because too much has been taken from us. We need too much. And too often we give love in order to get. We give love but it has a secret price tag attached, right? And then when people don’t give back to us, we get angry and resentful because we feel like something’s been taken and we need something in order to give.

But the secret is really simple: Let God give it to you

See, the problem with our world is that we stay disconnected from the source of love. We’re not our own source of love. Only the love of God is inwardly strong enough, deeply confident enough that it doesn’t need anything.

It doesn’t need to take from others in order to have something to give.

It doesn’t need to protect itself or remain safely unattached in order to feel secure.

It doesn’t need to retaliate against it’s enemies because it’s not afraid of something being taken from it because nothing can be taken from it.

And once you begin to experience this love from God you start to realize I have nothing to be afraid of. Because my worth, my security, my value comes from God who said he will never leave, never harm, never withdraw his great love from you.

So finally, you and I have something to offer, something to give. We can take risks. We can learn to relate to those around us in new ways.”

John Burke, Gateway Church “Soul Revolution: What’s Wrong With These People?“ 10/26/08