Review: Equipped for Adventure

Equipped for Adventure: A Practical Guide to Short-Term Mission Trips by Scott Kirby was published in 2006 by New Hope Publishers. It is a handbook for making short-term mission trips happen.  This is a holistic treatment of the process of making short-term missions a centerpiece of your church's ministry. Kirby casts vision, answers criticisms, and then proceeds step by step through the process of planning, organizing, actuating, and following up a mission trip.



I found this to be a helpful text.  Kirby provides the busy minister or volunteer with a guide to make missions a reality in any context.  I thought one of the most enlightening conversations in the book was in reference to partnerships.  The discussion helps to provide a matrix for understanding when and with whom a partnership ought to be formed.

I also found the Appendices to helpful.  These provide the resources to carry out the ideas and concepts taught in the book.  This is key.  So many other books on mission leave out the applicable.  I strongly recommend this book for those who are looking to begin doing short-term missions or bring focus to their church's mission program.

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Review: Spiritual Leadership in the Global City

Spiritual Leadership in the Global City was written by Mac Pier and published in 2008 by New Hope Publishers. This is a book of stories and mission combined to get your mind and heart thinking about what it means to reach a city.  Pier's text looks at twenty different churches and Christian organizations in New York City. He walks you through their development and growth. Each church and organization provides you with a key spiritual leadership insight.  It has a unique, engaging, and accessible format.



Quite honestly this is one of the most encouraging reads I have encountered in a long time. I am pastoring in Metro Detroit which by all accounts is a city on the verge of failure. From what I understand this is similar (on a much smaller scale) to what New York was going through in the 70s and 80s.  Upon finishing this book I was encouraged that there is hope for our city and surrounding region. I came away with a fresh desire to partner with other churches and leaders for the sake of the gospel.

The most helpful part of this book were the discussion questions at the end of each chapter.  The chapters function almost like little parables when paired with the questions.  I think this could be timely to be used with a leadership team in a local church in an urban environment.

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Review: Eyes Wide Open

Eyes Wide Open by William D. Romanowski

Brazos Press, 2001.

Group Discussion Questions

Eyes Wide Open was written by William D. Romanowski the Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences at Calvin College. It was initially published in 2001 and was revised and expanded in 2007. As a Christ-follower seeking to engage culture and to make culture I have found that this little book is remarkably helpful.  Romanowski's style is engaging and accessible.  He is writing from the Reformed perspective and is seeking to see Christians engage the world around them in such a way as to transform culture.

The book opens with a solid discussion of the state of Christian engagement within the culture.  The first eye opening discussion is on the apparent double talk by the Christian world regarding popular culture.  Out of one side of our mouths we decry the debasement of the culture around us and yet we consume pop culture as quickly as anyone else. Why is this? It's because we are members of the culture within which we live and it is through the voice of pop culture that we find a road map for understanding the world around us. While this is not inherently bad we as believers must come to the place where we can evaluate and transform this road map to point people to Christ and the redemption that he offers.

From here we come to a discussion regarding the re-imagining of pop culture. This section points toward the competing and yet similar aspects of the vision of pop culture and the church.  With the core question being: how do we reconcile this reality?

Next, Romanowski evaluates "Christian" art and points out that much of it is missing the point of pop art because it does not communicate to a fallen world. The closing chapters of the text give a framework for how a follower of Christ might be able to engage the arts and culture.

I think that Eyes Wide Open  is must reading for any Christ-follower that is serious about engaging the culture. Along with gaining a vision for how the Church can engage the lost world Romanowski also provides in his Appendix a matrix that is helpful in discerning the good and bad of pop culture offerings.  He also applies his matrix to the film, Titanic.  In conclusion, I think this can be a useful tool for helping train this generation of believers to think about the culture and engage it, as opposed to them waiting to be told what to think.

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Review: Compelled By Love

Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living was written by Ed Stetzer and Phillip Nation and published by New Hope Publishers.  Stetzer is the director of LifeWay Christian Resources and Nation is a church planting missionary in north Metro Atlanta.

Compelled is broken up into three parts. The first, "Death by Love: God and Mission" looks at how the three persons of the Trinity love and how their love applies to our relationships and ministry. The second part, "Identifying Love: The Church in the World" looks at how we are shaped by love.  This section really highlights the way that love works itself out in the context of the Christian community.  I would say that this is the central argument of the text. The third part, "Formed by Love: Believers and the World" looks at how the church is to interact with the non-Christian world within which it finds itself.  This section I think is the most important as it challenges the presumptions of the status quo.



There were two chapters that stood out among the rest. The first was Chapter 9 where Stetzer and Nation push back on the popularity of bashing the Church.  They argued  quiet well that if you say that you love Jesus then you will love his church.  The vision cast for the necessity and centrality of the local church is fantastic.  It might be one of the most simple and clearly stated arguments for the local church that I have read. The quote from James Emery White has really stuck in my mind over the last few days, "The church is not simply the vanguard of kingdom advance; it is the entire assault force (145)". When we pick on the church we are picking on the very bride of Christ.  We must love what Christ loves, and Christ died for his church.

The second chapter that really stood out was Chapter 12, "Called to Love: Living a Missionary Passion for the Lost". Here Stetzer and Nation challenge the deep rooted selfishness that is inherent in the Christian community by walking through the Jonah narrative.  They are calling the church to a renewed sense of contextualized service.  I was reminded again that I am a Jonah, as most of us are, willing to serve God on my terms in my ways.  How many times do we miss the God-sized redemptive opportunities around us because we are pouting in a corner as a result of not getting our way?

In conclusion, I can't really find too many weaknesses with this text. I think in future printings (yes, it's that good) it would be helpful to see an appendix with some best practices for individuals and churches to be able to look to as a model.  By no means a claim of a "magic bullet" or a "recipe for missional ministry" but just some jumping off points.  I think some of the people in my life will read this and wonder, "OK, now what?  How do I DO this?"

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Review: Trolls and Truth

So, I have this awesome opportunity to read and review books from New Hope Publishers.  It's a great way to score some free books and have some accountability to read! Anyway, here is review number one (review number two will come today or tomorrow).

Trolls and Truth: 14 Realities About Today's Church That We Don't Want to See is written by Jimmy Dorrell.  He is the lead pastor of Church Under the Bridge and also the Executive Director of Mission Waco in Waco, TX. This is a little book and quick read.  It hits on 14 key issues that Dorrell has found to be truths that the first world American church needs to hear.  He argues that most of the American church ignores the poor and broken in their communities.  He is writing from his own experiences as a pastor to those very people.  He tells the stories of 14 different people.  Those stories each function as a parable for a particular truth that he believes the contemporary church can learn from those people who live on the fringe of society. He covers a wide range of issues including appearance, actions, societal barriers, giving, communication, and music.



I found that his most powerful chapters were regarding the issues of gifts (Dedrick's Truth) and the fact that the "rich need the poor" (Catfish and Pilgrim Bill's Truth). Regarding giftedness, Dorrell tells the story of Dedrick and his unique issues and life.  While Dedrick has serious mental limitations he joyfully worshiped God.  Dorrell's church embraced him and found a place for his infectious excitement and exuberance.  He served the community with how he was made.  This is particularly challenging.  If you look around your congregation you know who "those" people are.  Will you embrace them and find a place for them to serve their God or will you ignore them?

Catfish and Pilgrim Bill's tale flips the script on the American mindset.  It argues for the fact that the rich need the poor.  The rich need the poor because it is through their engagement with them that they find meaning and purpose.  The poor teach them what it means to love and care for things beyond the almighty dollar. The rich need to get outside themselves and it is through relationships with the poor that they are able to break out of their self-centeredness. Truly powerful.

One area that I find weak in Dorrell's text is that I wish he would have written from a bit of a more universal application of his principles.  The question that I kept coming to was, "What if you do not have access/proximity to these kinds of people?" For example, our church is located in Farmington Hills, MI. While there are those who struggle and there are certainly a handful of homeless people, it is not a hot-bed for the poor and indigent.  For us to find the people represented in Dorrell's parables, we would need to relocate the church. I believe that our church is called to where we are and that God has a mission for us.  Dorrell would have provided an even greater tool for the church had he broadened his application a bit to more of a principle level.

All in all this is a wonderful book, especially if you are willing to do the work to take the application to the principle level and apply it to your context.  Well worth the read.

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>Down by the Sea

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Posted by Robin Schmidt on September 21st, 2009

Paul wrote a letter to the believers in Rome. In it he says that which is known about God is evident, for God made it evident. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made...

I believe that there is much to learn about God from his creation. How could you know the meaning of majestic without mountains? Or could you get as close to comprehending infinite without the grains of sand covering miles and miles and miles of beach?

Traveling to Florida last month, I went, among other reasons, to see what the ocean and sand and shells had to teach me about God, and this is what I learned.

There are several beaches that we walk on the gulf side of Florida. Each has different qualities, different sand or shore, different shells washing up. On the last day of the trip we sat on a beach that had small mounds of shells every couple of yards stretching for miles. It looked as though someone had intentionally dumped piles of shells at regular intervals.

I am always looking for shells. When I looked at these mounds of shells I saw thousands upon thousands of tiny shells all piled together. Each individual shell was one of thousands. Have you ever felt that way? Lost in a crowd? Alone among many?

But when I knelt down to get a closer look, I saw that each shell was unique, different in size, shape, color, texture.

God knows you. You are not lost in the crowd. He can see you, and he can see how you are different from every other person he has made.

When hunting shells, the shell most sought after is the larger, whole shell. One that is intact. They are very difficult to find. Very rare. Most all the shells that wash up on the shore are broken. And most are so broken the very inner parts of the shell are all that remain.

I suspect it is very difficult to make the journey from the depths of the sea to the beach without being broken. The crashing of the waves, tossing shell against shell, and being tossed against the sand wears and chips away at each shell.

Some shells have been worn and chipped away so much that none of the exterior remains, only the swirling inner pattern. Looking at them, their delicate shape, they are quite beautiful. But they are not whole. What a relief to learn that broken things can be beautiful.

Because it is very difficult, if not impossible to get to shore unbroken.

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Discipleship...who knew.

So it turns that some of the greatest thinkers in the Christian world are coming to the conclusion that the church has missed something.  It has missed "discipleship".  We are not training, building, developing, and sending mature believers into the world. 

It seems to me that this is the "cost" of the great "evangelical" movement that has developed over the last fifty-five years. Prior to the fifties the church trained people well.  There was a commitment to "catechism".  There was an emphasis on education.  However, there was a cost.  The cost was that of evangelism.  We were not inviting people into the community of faith. So, were we really training people well? Probably not.

But, now we get the message out and get people saved but we are not building and sending.  We need now not a pendulum swing but a re-centering on the life and ministry of Jesus.  I think that this is a good article and points us back to where we need to be.  However, it's still a rehash of Coleman's Master Plan of Evangelism. If we could only master the Master Plan.
NextReformation » The Great Omission

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A grocery store...IN DETROIT??? Yep...

So, one of the things that has always made living in the actual city of Detroit a difficult thing for many families (and no suburbs are not Detroit, ehem...Redford) is that there have been no real grocery stores there.  That is all about to change with Meijer building a store near 8 Mile and Woodward.  This is a genius move on their part.  With a mayor who has a plan, a city council that could get turned over (through elections or arrests), Detroit might have a chance to become an urban center again and Meijer would be on the ground floor.

There is something to be said for being the first. Well done Meijer.

Meijer signs deal for Detroit store | Detroit Free Press | Freep.com

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Review: Activate

Doug Walker passed along a book for me to check out and I thought that is was pretty helpful. So, I thought I would briefly review it here. The book is entitled Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups. The authors Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas are pastors at the Journey Church in New York City. They consider themselves to be a "Church of Small Groups". It is in this context that they have seen their church grow exponentially and powerfully.

Basically, the content of the book is simple and straightforward. They give a an overview of the subject in Part One. Here they take about 70 pages to give you a fly-over of their small group system.  In Part Two, Searcy and Tomas, then breakdown the system specifically and discuss how to implement the system in your church. They also provide an in depth calendar and very specific how-to's.

The text is an easy read and did not take very long to work through.  So, if you are looking for something quick that will also challenge and provide you a structure for you to consider regarding small groups this is a worthwhile read.



So, what's the evaluation? Most of what is written is pretty standard small group stuff. However, there were two issues that have stuck in my mind that I think are worthy to throw out here. First, Searcy and Thomas use a semester-based structure.  Their groups are only committed to be with one another for 10-12 weeks.  They argue that this model follows the best educational/growth model that we know of.  That is, the necessity of stress and release. This was interesting to me because it really flies in the face of conventional thinking about small groups. Most would say that a good small group requires a minimum of a one year commitment. This has been pretty challenging to consider the ramifications of this length of time. I am not sure what I think about this. I am still chewing on it.

Second, they unequivocally state that "intimacy" is a myth about small groups and as a result has caused the church to think in such a way that makes the implementation of small groups very difficult and sets them up for failure. "Intimacy" is something that is very difficult to create, if not impossible. When we look at small groups and tell people that they will have "intimacy" if they join a group this will almost always fail.  They want people to focus on friendship.  The idea that a small group provides a place for friendship which, with some in the group, might lead to intimacy. This change in direction is something I whole-heartedly agree with. The intimacy fallacy is one that has plagued ministries for so long.  If we would just lower the relational expectation a bit then we will find greater success and at the end of the day the intimacy we long for.

I am not sure on one of their key platform items. I really embrace another.  Time to go back and chew on this a bit more. I would encourage you to grab the book and think through some of these issues.

Powered by Qumana

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The Younger Unchurched...

There are so many thoughts running around in regards to the emerging generations.  These generations are building an ever greater legend for themselves as the "unreachable" generation. They drop out of the faith following high school.  They are all "evolutionists". They "hate the church".

The legendary status of this generation is amazing. The only problem is that the stats do not bear it all out. Ed Stetzer over at LifeWay Research is doing some good work. The stat that is most profound is that yes these generations find the church hypocritical.  However, they are very, very open to the Bible. Nearly two thirds of the thousand surveyed said that they were open to having a friend study the Bible with them.

The Bible. It's still relevant. Who knew?

On the Radio Talking about the Younger Unchurched... - EdStetzer.com

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Review: Prodigal God

On my vacation I am reading! It's great!  I just finished The Prodigal God by Tim Keller and am going to wade into Peterson's Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places next. But, I wanted to get some thoughts out about Prodigal first.

Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. He is beginning to expand his ministry influence through writing over the last couple of years.  He hit the scene popularly with his book The Reason for God. He has recently published a new book entitled, The Prodigal God. This is a short read (I read it in about two and a half hours) but the substance is much weightier (I have pondering it for three days!).



In a nutshell Keller tells and teaches the parable of the "Lost Son" from Luke 15:11-32. However, this is not your typical flannel-graph retelling.  Keller takes the parable and flips it upside down, left, right, and under. The transformation of our understanding of the parable comes quickly when he challenges the typical understanding of the term "prodigal".  We usually think about it as a negative term which has come to mean someone leaving or running away.  However, Keller redefines (or educates us about the true definition) as one who, "1 spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant, 2 having or giving something on a lavish scale." These definitions are often spun negatively and only applied to the younger son.  However, it is the father of the story who is truly living out this reality.

Our understanding of the parable of the "Lost Son" has always focused on the younger son who wasted all that the father has given him.  We shake our head at the older brother and his lack of grace. Keller wants us to see that the younger brother is the "tax-collector or the prostitute", the older brother is the "religious person" and the father is "God".  These are common enough.  However, the twist comes when he makes an excellent case for the fact that the key to the parable is the response of the father to the OLDER brother.  Read the passage again.  Notice, it is the OLDER brother that misses out on the banquet and grace of God.  He has lost his soul by obeying.  Keller spends most of his time driving this home.  The more insidious sin of the parable is the hard-hearted, legalistic, arrogant, obedient, heart of the older brother.

The exegesis of the passage is well done.  The target audience is broad so you won't get the nuts and bolts of how Keller came to his conclusions.  I would love to see an exegetically driven text from Keller that helps us understand how he came to his conclusions.  That being said, this is a must read for anyone who is trying to understand the gospel and how it applies to their lives.

By means of application and conclusion, I will share with you what I am wrestling with. Friends, most of you reading this are of my ilk, the older brother.  The prideful, arrogant, do-it-yourself, know-it-all, obeying-in-all-things, hard-hearted older brother. What happens when the father comes to us and invites us insider to celebrate the grace he has bestowed on another? Will we celebrate? Or will we stand outside in righteous indignation?

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Whatever...

The sermon from July 19 was lost.  So, I am putting up a manuscripted version of it for those that want to take a look at what was said but missed it.  It's not exact but hits the same points.

Hebrews 12:18-29

We don’t believe that God is who he says he is and therefore we we don’t care.

The question that we are answering this morning is this:

Why is there a deep apathy in the family of God? Why has there been no cry
or repentance for our nation’s sins just as Daniel did for Israel? Romans 1:18-32 speaks of God’s wrath against man because of his progressive downward spiral. Why no repentance?

This question is fundamentally about what we believe. A.W. Tozer said in his remarkable book, Knowledge of the Holy that “the most important thing about you is what comes into your mind when you think about God.”  I think that is one of the most profound statements in Christian literature.  Everything we do and say points to what we believe about who God is.

Consider what Annie Dillard says (from Teaching a Stone to Talk), “Why do people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless
ourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of the conditions.  Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does
o one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a bunch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.  It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing cr
sh helmets.  Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should alsh us to our pews.  For the sleeping god may wake some day and take offense, or the waking god my draw us out to where we can never return.”

Friends, this is the issue that is at hand.  What is it that we believe about who God is?

The letter to the Hebrews is in many ways a mystery.  Nobody knows who wrote it.  Nobody is really sure to whom it was written.  What seems most likely is that it was a letter written by a pastor to his Jewish congregation somewhere near Rome. There was a large Jewish population there and it is likely that within the city there were multiple gatherings of Christ followers and probably one within the Jewish quarter itself.  The pastor was writing to them on the eve of persecution.  It was about to get bad in Rome and he wanted to encourage his people.  He knew that they could avoid persecution if they would simply set aside this Jesus and go back to their old ways of believing. So, he set out to write a letter to encourage them to stand firm in their faith because Jesus is better than everything else.

So then we come to passage that we are going to look at today. Hebrews 12:18-29. Here the pastor is giving them a graphic image of the God whom they now serve.  He brings to their mind the image of Mt. Sinai and the giving of the commandments.  This is the key event in the story of the Hebrew people.  It was here that their leader, Moses spoke directly to God and would return emanating God’s glory.  The holiness, majesty, and glory of God was so real that they could not even touch the mountain or they would die. The God of the universe was present on that mountain and the people trembled in awesome reverent respect.

He is telling his people this is the God whom they are up close and in person with through faith in Jesus.

But, that’s not all look at what’s next: They come to celebration that is beyond anything they can imagine.  They are inheritors of the living God! This is what it means to be a part of the assembly of the first born. It means that you are included in the inheritance.

The story goes on though.  It comes with a warning.  He says look at this majestic, holy, great God who has invited you into his presence as his own, will you faithfully follow after him?  Will you listen to the call that is on your life? Will you refuse him? H
points to the return of Jesus and says that when that day comes the things that are not eternal will be shaken away and what is real and eternal will be all that’s left. Therefore we are to be grateful for being in this kingdom that will last forever.

What is his application? “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”  He says then, in light of all this, our response to the reality of God in us is that we are to acceptably worship God.

How can we acceptably worship God if we don’t really believe this?

I think that most of us live just like this from the film,  Talladega Nights. Ricky Bobby and his family are illustrations of our silly attempts at making God manageable, trivializing him down to something small and meaningless.  We seek to make him into something that we want. I think that Ray Ortlund describes it well in his brief essay, Jesus Jr.

"Our local deity is not Jesus. He goes by the name Jesus. But in reality, our local deity is Jesus Jr.

Our little Jesus is popular because he is useful. He makes us feel better while conveniently fitting into the margins of our busy lives. But he is not terrifying or compelling or thrilling. When we hear the gospel of Jesus Jr., our casual response
s “Yeah, that’s what I believe.” Jesus Jr. does not confront us, surprise us, stun us. He looks down on us with a benign, all-approving grin. He tells us how wonderful we really are, how entitled we really are, how wounded we really are, and it feels good.

Jesus Jr. appeals to the flesh. He does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. He is not able to understand them, much less impart them, because Jesus Jr. is the magnification of Self, the idealization of Self, the absolutization of Self turning around and validating Self, flattering Self, reinforcing Self. Jesus Jr. does not change us, because he is a projection of us."

Our lives, everything we do reflects what we believe about who Jesus is.

Why is there apathy? Why are we not seeing the repentance that we have seen in the past? Quite honestly it’s because we don’t really believe that any of this stuff is real.  We minimize Jesus and create a reflected version of ourselves so that we can remain safe and comfortable.

We say we believe in prayer, right? Well, let’s see on average there’s two or three people who gather prior to the service to pray.  I am not there either, but, I think it’s time I start showing up.  Maybe most of us are praying on our way in, but I doubt it. We simply don’t really believe that praying is effectual.  We don’t really believe that if we pray and ask God to move in our worship service that he will move in our service. No, we believe that we need a great band, a better speaker, maybe some entertaining videos and dramas. But prayer, well that’s not really doing anything.

We say we believe in the Bible right? Well, Romans 1:16 says, “the gospel is the power of salvation to those who would believe.” So, we boldly share our faith and invite people to encounter Jesus right? Oh, wait, no we don’t.  We don’t want to offend them. We don’t want to make them uncomfortable.  We don’t want to appear to be crazy Jesus people. We want our “lives” to “preach” the gospel to them. We think a slick ad campaign will bring them to Jesus. Except that Romans 10 tells us that it is by communicating, speaking our belief in Jesus that leads people to belief.

As Doug and I were planning one day at the Coffee Bean in Plymouth there was a man sitting near us.  He eyed us up and down.  He was listening to what we were talking about.  He would walk in and out of the room.  And finally he walked over and asked, "Are you pastors or something?"

"Yes we are." Doug replied.

"Do you have any people in your congregation who are sick? With chronic pain? Maybe cancer?" The man asked.

"Yes we do." Doug responded.

"Oh, man, then have you heard about medical marijuana?  It will change their lives! It has healed me and it's benefits are endless! You have to tell people about this and help them get the medicine they need!" Marijuana guy exclaimed.

He spent the next fifteen minutes proselytizing us concerning medical marijuana.  He believed that marijuana would change the world and fix the core problems of our society.

Do we believe that Jesus and the life he offers is better than marijuana? Most of our lives would say that we don’t. Or consider this from a man named Penn Gillette.  He is a devoted atheist and a comedian.  You may have heard of him, he is the Penn from Penn and Teller. Well, after one of his shows a man gave him a Bible and this was Penn’s response (click here for the video).

Profound is it not? How much do you have to hate someone to not share the message of Jesus with them?

We look at the statistics of young people walking away from their faith after high school and we try to figure out a better program to make Jesus more exciting.  Yet, what matters most is that kids see their mom and dad authentically living for Jesus.  Second to that is having another adult involved in their life authentically living for Jesus. All of us desire to see children who love Jesus and are getting to know him, yet it’s the same handful of people over and over again who get up an hour early to teach sunday school. If we really wanted kids to walk with Jesus people would be lining up to volunteer and mentor young people.

We see that there are people hurting everywhere around us and then wonder when the “church” is going to begin a program to reach “those” people and yet we forget that we are the church.  There is nothing “out there” that is going to do it for us. What will do it is us falling madly in love with our savior and really believing that we are so utterly broken that there is no hope apart from him. Until we really believe it then apathy and self-reliance will remain.

My brothers and sisters in Christ the reality that we must face is that we would prefer a manageable and safe deity of our own creation.  If we say that we believe in Jesus and yet ignore him and choose to fill our lives with other stuff so that we are too busy to engage in his mission, then what do we really believe?

In this question there is a desire to see spiritual awakening take place. In a little book called Fireseeds of Spiritual Awakening, Dan Hayes lays out the five pre-requisites for awakening.

• God’s people must recognize that there is a desperate need for spiritual awakening.


• God’s people must humble themselves before Him.


• God’s people must confess their sin and repent.


• God’s people must continually and earnestly pray.


• God’s people must call others to join with them to meet these pre-requisites.

We are pretty good at number 1.  It’s numbers 2-5 that we struggle with. It's 2-5 where things get to close to home and we are faced with the necessity of real change in us and around us.

The bigger issue for me is that if we do these things then history tells us we can expect:

• Holiness of life for believers.


• Obedience to God and His Word.


• Increased power from God.


• A massive movement of God’s Spirit in evangelism.

When I am honest with myself all four of those things scare me to death and excite me beyond comprehension.

What would happen if we lived this out? What would happen if this kind of spiritual awakening took place? We wold be transformed. The world around us would be transformed. God would be glorified.

You see, when we come face to face with the God of the Bible, the God we meet in Hebrews 12:18-29 we are necessarily driven to our knees humbled, praying, gathering to pray, and calling others to join us.

So what do we walk away with? Well that’s really up to each of us. Will we believe? Will we bear out that belief by how we live? How will we choose to live in this world? Will we pray or will we simply go on living as happy, brainless tourists on a tour of the absolute?

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Love and marriage, love and marriage, USED to go together...

If you are wondering about the effects of the much ballyhooed "Sexual Revolution" of the 1960s then I suggest you take a look at this article. If you are wondering whether or not things have changed in the world then I suggest you read this article.

Friends, this is not your world anymore.  The emerging generation has solidified a sexual and moral compass that requires us to help those who are Christ followers to find their identity not in the context of their generation but in and through the context of the Scriptures.  We are not to get caught up in the modern/postmodern debate.  That's just silly. Postmodernity is here and will remain.  The issue is how are we to live in light of the Scriptures and the new culture within which we find ourselves.

First, we must not desire the "good ol' days" because quite honestly they were not that good. Second, we must be teaching and training kids from the cradle to love the Scriptures and teach them to study and understand, not just inoculate them with bed-time bible stories.

The question before us is - will we engage (pun intended!)?

Marriage Still Fits Into Millennials’ Future…Eventually | Ypulse

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Model D - Another exploration of Detroit's farming potential, from Traffic Jam to the classroom

I wrote recently about the necessity for our city to draw people back and experience a revival. This article from Model D is a great example how we could possibly begin the revitalization of Detroit and its outlying areas. Could not the church be the driving force in this transformation and reclamation of the abandoned properties?

Model D - Another exploration of Detroit's farming potential, from Traffic Jam to the classroom

Tags: detroit, culture, mission

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>Are you comfortable?

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When I was in the hospital giving birth to Michael I was bouncing around on the bed a lot. My doctor asked me, What are you doing? I said, I am trying to get comfortable. He responded, with the wisdom of Solomon, You won't be comfortable until it is over. That truth applies to a lot more than childbirth...

Posted by Robin Schmidt on July 7th, 2009

I had a rough week last week. Maybe you heard. Larry and I were talking it over last night and between our parents and our kids there was some very hard stuff. Decisions were made and implemented. Reflecting on it last night I realized everything was going great, so why did I feel like crap?

This morning somewhere between waking and sleeping, dreaming and praying I grasped on to something and I'm trying to hold on tight, but it's a little like holding smoke.

What does it take to rock your faith? A job loss? Illness? We were talking about this the other night. What shakes our faith? What causes us to say, "I believe, help my unbelief"?

I love people, who according to my understanding if they died right now, they would be separated from God eternally. Loved ones going to hell, that's what rocks me.

Here's the trouble with reading about other people's stories in the Bible: we get to see the ending. In just a few pages, maybe even just a few verses, the end of the story comes. Job's suffering is over, everything is restored, over and above.

This is almost worse than TV, where every problem is resolved within 30 to 60 minutes.

As a woman I have quickly recognized that some of the middle stuff is being left out of the Bible. We are not reading in "real" time. When you read, "and Leah begot Reuben" let me assure you there is a lot more to it than the word "begot". Am I right Moms?

So this morning when I was praying, I began drifting into sleep and dreaming. But my dream was very realistic, which is unusual for me. I was with Larry and Allison at a restaurant for some end of the year graduation swim recognition banquet type event. But we got a phone call and I had to drive home.

Driving home I was alone and it was quiet, the best time to think about this kind of stuff and I realized that I want to know the end of the story, now. NOW, before the end. I will be able to relax and enjoy life if I know everything is going to turn out the way I hope it will.

I can take time and look back over Job's story and glean truth from it, knowing it's all going to be right in the end.

Job didn't have that advantage. Job had no idea how it was going to end, if it was going to end, or why it had all gone so bad in the first place.

And in my dream I was thinking about how I know God is sovereign and has the right to do what he wills. I believe that it is his right to save or condemn anyone I love. We all deserve condemnation.

But here I am knowing these people, loving them and wanting the very best for them. I want them to know God and be redeemed and restored. And I can't make that happen. So I wait and watch and hope and pray that that is the will of God.

But I want to know. Now.

In my dream I grasped on to something that I am trying to hold on to, but I feel it slipping away the more awake I become.

In my dream I came to the conclusion that better than knowing the end of the story, better than knowing the particular outcomes, better than that is knowing God. Knowing God better and better and better, so that in the end what I will want most is what he wills. Knowing God better every moment so that in the end I will want what he wills.

I can't know the end of the story right now. I am not particularly comfortable with my life right now. And I can't live in my dream, where driving down a very realistic street, I discovered that best thing I can seek after, the best thing I can want is not the "happy ending" but God himself.

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>The Power of Apology

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Posted by Robin Schmidt on June 23rd, 2009

Have you ever been hurt? It is usually the people closest to us that hurt us.

Is it ever easy to ask someone's forgiveness? Is it ever easy to say, I was wrong, I am sorry, please forgive me?

It may be even harder to grant forgiveness.

Growing up I can't remember my father ever saying he was sorry. We talked about that many years ago. I shared a specific memory about an incident that took place when I was 14. It began with me hurting my dad and then him not speaking to me. I said I was sorry and he wouldn't speak. What made an impression on a 14 year old, didn't stay with a 30something. My father said he didn't remember that event. But, he said, it sounded like him. Then he said,

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Two words. Spoken decades after the event, yet I could feel the hurt melting away. I could FEEL it. And now when I remember that event, the sting is gone.

I think that is what we call redemption. And forgiveness is a part of it.

Forgiveness is so important. To seek it, to give it. However hard it might be, it is so very important.

I have done some reading about dementia. It has hit close to home and so I have tried to understand what is happening, what has robbed me of someone I love.

Dementia refers to many symptoms/diseases describing various malfunctioning of the brain. Someone affected by dementia may not be able to retrieve information, or memories. They may not be able to connect faces and names and people. Someone with dementia is lost within their own brain. But there is one part of the brain that dementia does not touch.

Dementia does not injure the part of the brain that stores our emotions. No matter what else we lose, we will be able to recall emotions.

Emotions like anger.

I told a friend the other day that I fear dementia. I don't want to be trapped in my brain. I don't want to be trapped in my negative emotions. I don't want to store up a bunch of anger and then be trapped in it.

I don't know what the future holds for me. Maybe I will suffer from Alzheimer's. Maybe I will suffer from "hardening of the arteries". Maybe I will remain as lucid as I am today. I can neither predict nor control what happens.

I can, however, choose to follow Jesus. I can choose to humble myself and ask forgiveness when I wrong someone.

And when I am hurt, I can choose to forgive. I can choose to let Jesus redeem my past, my mistakes, my emotions.

Forgiveness may be hard, seeking it, giving it. But living with unforgiveness looks a lot like hell.

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Urban Exile: Gran Torino

I read this article this morning because I am always interested to see what people have to say about Michigan and Detroit.  Usually it's some sort of comedic piece or a good chuckle at the ineptitude of the city's political structure.  However, this morning when I read this Out of Ur post on Gran Torino I was moved.

You see, it's not everyday that you see a snapshot of Detrtoit that points to the racial and the spiritual. But, here we do. I have worked in and around the city of Detroit for four years. My first three and a half took place on the college campuses and for the last six months I have been in the suburbs working at Grace Chapel, EPC.  In my time here I have been amazed by what is happening in and around our city.

Many people look at 8 Mile and Telegraph, those grand dividers as the keys to what's going on here.  The reality is that they aren't.  There is a movement growing of the emerging generation to re-engage in a real way the very real problems that our city faces.  They see the problems.  They live the problems.  Yet, when you go to Wayne State University or talk to people from Citadel (a multi-ethnic church in the heart of the city) you begin to glimpse a different picture: hope.

Whereas our parents generation was one "lost in space", our generation is one that seeks to rectify those problems and change the future. Are we despairing? Yes. Are we frustrated with an institutional agenda that makes change difficult? Yes. Are we without hope? No.

As I think about what David Swanson says in his article I can't help but think that this is the generation that will change the tide. We can only hope.

View Original Article

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>The Road Not There

>Robert Frost took the road less traveled, and it made all the difference. But what about when the choice is not between two roads, but moving forward where there is no path at all?

Posted by Robin Schmidt on June 11th, 2009

We are the "sandwich" generation. Sandwiched between the needs of our parents and our children. I am feeling it. If I am feeling anything. Sometimes the feelings are hard to identify. Sometimes the path is more so.

What is the line between free will and predestination? Doug tackled this tough question a few weeks back. We do have choices to make, and they will have consequences and we are not sovereign and we cannot control those consequences. Those ideas and realities and ramifications are complex enough, however, it is not that simple.

No, it is not as simple as my choices. I stand connected to others and we all have choices. And our choices impact each other.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth."

If only I could find that yellow wood where there are two roads. I wish! I stand at the beginning of woods and there is no path at all. Alongside me are family members, also about to embark on travel through the woods. And though we will travel together as much as possible, we are not traveling as a group; there is no leader and no consensus.

I know others who have traveled these woods. Some seem as lost as I. Some are deep into the woods and have tales to share. But no two travelers adventures are near enough each other that a path begins to develop. No path. No road.

So here we go. I think I see a way that may prove passable. But no one will follow. In fact, I am waved off and confidently, recklessly, the journey is begun in a whole different direction.

But wait! I shout, I see some hazards ahead and we should prepare. This falls on deaf ears and on they plow with speed and haste and no thought to what lies ahead.

A creek appears and in we fall, we're now wet and soaked right through. But we don't stop, no on we go and picking up the pace. Next I see a place where the ground will fall away. Look there, I say, we should consider how best to traverse what is next.

Oh sure, is the answer, let us take care that we do not get wet again. But water was the last obstacle, not the next, and now we are preparing for what has passed. So when the ground begins its steep descent, we are not ready still, we could now meet a creek, but that has passed, so down we quickly fall.

I say, perhaps we could stop a bit and plan for what comes ahead. No time! Is the response. There is too much to do, all things in their own good time.

I pick myself up and stop and stare and wonder what are my options?

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:"
(No roads were there) in a wood, and I -
I took...

I took...

I took the hand of the One who made the woods,
and that has made all the difference.

(With apologies to Robert Frost, but sir, you left no map.)

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Connector Churches

I read this today and thought that the nine traits listed in Ed's book are really insightful.  What do you think?

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/

Creating Deeper Community
Churches that are effective at attracting and developing young adults place a high value on moving people into a healthy small group system. Young adults are trying to connect and will make a lasting connection wherever they can find belonging.

Making a Difference through Service

Churches that are transforming young adults value leading people to serve through volunteerism. More than being pampered, young adults want to be part of something bigger than themselves and are looking to be part of an organization where they can make a difference through acts of service.

Experiencing Worship

Churches that are engaging young adults are providing worship environments that reflect their culture while also revering and revealing God. More than looking for a good performance, young adults desire to connect with a vertical experience of worship.

Leveraging Technology

Churches that are reaching young adults are willing to communicate in a language of technology familiar to young adults. Young adults sense that these churches are welcoming churches that value and understand them, engaging them where they are.

Building Cross-Generational Relationships

Churches that are linking young adults with older, mature adults are challenging young adults to move on to maturity through friendship, wisdom, and support. Young adults are drawn to churches that believe in them enough to challenge them.

Moving Toward Authenticity

Churches that are engaging young adults are reaching them not only by their excellence but by their honesty. Young adults are looking for and connecting to churches where they see leaders that are authentic, transparent, and on a learning journey.

Leading by Transparency

Churches that are influencing young adults highly value an incarnational approach to ministry and leadership. This incarnational approach doesn't require revealing one's personal sin list so much as it does require that those in leadership must be willing to express a personal sense of humanity and vulnerability.

Leading by Team

Increasingly churches reaching young adults seem to be taking a team approach to ministry. They see ministry not as a solo venture but as a team sport--and the broader participation it creates increases the impact of ministry.

Is your church reaching young adults? If so, are any of these traits proving to me more instrumental than the others in your context?

View Original Article

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Baseball, Redemption, and a Hospital Room

A week ago yesterday my bride received a phone call. It was one of those calls that you dread. Her dad, Dennis, was in the hospital due to a stroke. It was "minor" but for a man like Dennis and for a family like ours it is major. Dennis is an athlete (at times becoming a scratch golfer!).  Dennis is the life of the party.  Dennis is the picture of the entrepreneurial spirit.  Dennis is the kind of man that other men want to be.  This is seen in the respect that his four son-in-laws have for him and the tender love that he bestows on his four daughters.

Amy left Detroit early last Thursday morning and drove (I am sure more quickly than she cares to admit) directly to the hospital room in Evansville, IN where Dennis was beginning his recovery.

But wait, that's not the whole backstory.

The beloved St. Louis Cardinals were about to finish their three game homestand against the hated Chicago Cubs.  The Cards had won the first two games of the series and were in position to sweep and return to first place in the division. In business like fashion they dispatched the Cubs and welcomed to town their cross state rivals, the Royals for a weekend set.

Every single day there was baseball. Every single day there was time spent in a hospital room. Every single daay there was a conversation over lunch or dinner that took place between Amy and Dennis about the Cards.

You see baseball was the beginning of healing. It was normalcy brought into an abnormal situation.  It was the pastoral balm that allowed father and daughter to sit and talk and be. Baseball. Not doctors. Not a golden tongued preacher. Not a good book. Baseball. It was the context.  The rhythm of life that never stops.  It's six on, one off created rhythm that touches us deep.

Some say the season is too long. Some say the games are too long. Some say it's boring. Some say it's day in and day out grind take away from it.

I could not disagree more. It is redemptive.  It is ongoing.  It is always with you. It provides passion, joy, pain, sorrow, elation. Most of all, it provides time.  Time for a father and daughter to be together.  Time for them to get lost together and forget that they are in a hospital room. Time for them to be transported to that place they both love.  That place where the buzz of the crowd, the warmth of the sun, and smell of the hot dog fill you.

Baseball.

Redemption.

A Hospital Room.

Beautiful.

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Scot McKnight on Spiritual Eroticism

Scot McKnight: Spiritual Eroticism | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders.

Above is a link to an article by Scot McKnight.  As I read it I was struck by how pointed the article was. Do we love Jesus, no really, do we love Jesus with the kind of love that requires us to be in his presence? Or are we satisfied with the idea of loving Jesus?

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>Two Scoops

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I like children's music and videos and stories. I learn a lot from them. Sometimes the most profound truth can be explained with two scoops and some breakfast cereal.

Posted by Robin Schmidt on February 26th, 2009

I heard a children's sermon once that really stuck with me.

Hugh Auburn of Bay Presbyterian Church gathered the children one Sunday morning and invited one of them to help him. He had two large mixing bowls full of cereal, one for himself, the other for his helper.

He told her the object was to scoop her cereal into his bowl while he scooped his cereal into her bowl. He gave her a big spoon and then pulled out a serving spoon, which was larger, and they began.

Cereal flew and it was immediately obvious that his larger spoon was scooping faster than her spoon. In the way of children everywhere she stopped and declared that it wasn't fair, his spoon was bigger. He was quite gracious and offered her his spoon, which she happily took.

He then pulled out an even larger spoon. They began again, cereal flying, laughing, same result. She stopped, I want that spoon. He gave her his larger spoon and pulled out an even larger one. She asked for that one before they even began scooping again. He obliged, but came up with an even larger spoon/scoop.

He then looked at us all and said, "You can't out-scoop God."

I can't out-scoop God. What a great thought!

I've read Malachi 3:10, Luke 6:27-38, Matthew 6:25-34, Philippians 4:10-20, II Corinthians 8 and 9, James 2:14-16.

But you know what? I've never tried to out-scoop God. I've never jumped in throwing cereal as fast as I can only to see God showering it faster. Is God standing with his large scoop waiting? "C'mon Robin, try me. Let's play out-scoop me!"

That idea has joined with another - "Do what is right without giving way to fear" 1 Peter 3:6...

and another from Psalm 50...God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

The cattle on a thousand hills? Have you ever seen cattle on hills? I've seen eight deer on our Grace Chapel incline. But the idea of God owning the cattle on a thousand hills is a little fuzzy to me.

You know what I have seen? Dollars. I have seen dollars and I have seen checking accounts. I think we might get a better idea if we translated that verse - God owns the dollars in a thousand checking accounts.

God owns the dollars in my checking account.

I am starting to get excited. I am looking about for a large spoon. I think I am ready to begin playing Lord, get set, GO!

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