good night

Kristy and the kids picked me up after a long, wet, kind of dreary day at work.

On the way home, we stopped and picked up Enchanted. We ate supper, then started a fire in the fireplace and put in the movie. Everyone loved it, especially the girls (including Kristy).

As the movie finished, thunderstorms started to roll in. Lightning popped and flashed through the windows. The kids started to get scared, and no one wanted to go to bed.

"All right," I said, half resigned to the inevitable and half happy. "Everybody go get pillows and blankets - we'll sleep down here tonight."

The kids shrieked with joy and ran upstairs, returning with blankeys and pillows.

Gracie spread out her blanket, positioned her pillow carefully, lay down, then looked up at me. "Daddy, after you go get your jammies on, you can come back down and I'll make you a spot next to me."

I told her I needed to check my email, then I'd be back down. I was going to get some sleep in my bed for work tomorrow, but who can turn down that?

So I've checked my email and gotten into my jammies. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got four hyper, wonderful children and one sleepy, wonderful Mama to go snuggle with.

to forgive is divine

Our prayer gathering this evening centered around Jesus' call to forgiveness. We read the words of Jesus on forgiveness found in the Bible in Matthew 6:9-15:

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

We worked through the unmistakable call to forgiveness. Given how clear it is, it's amazing how little forgiveness is lived out by many of us who claim to follow Jesus.

Everyone admitted to having been wronged by someone: some recently, some deeply, some with scars that will remain. And we agreed that this forgiveness that Jesus calls us to is not something we can do within our own strength. It's possible only through the power of Jesus as He changes our hearts and lives.

And then we prayed. We brought to the forefront of our minds the names and faces of people who we needed to forgive. Some of us shared how we had been hurt, and asked for us to pray for them as they grappled with this. Some shed tears. And we prayed for a lot longer than I expected.

I really believe that forgiveness is a marker. It sets followers of Jesus apart from those who don't know Him. And if we harbor the bitterness, anger, and resentment that come with our refusal to follow Jesus into forgiving others, then we end up looking not much different for having known Jesus.

my little hoopster

Ever since I was a kid shooting baskets on a hoop Dad mounted on the side of the barn, I have loved the game of basketball. I played as much as I could growing up, through high school, and I loved it so much that I went through all the conditioning and practices to be part of Fairhaven Baptist College's basketball team, even though I never played and knew I pretty much never would.

So, now that I have sons, it's been a lot of fun that Trey is starting to like the game of basketball, and wanting to play and go to games with me. He even drew a picture at school of us playing.

Apparently, in Treyland, we all play in turtlenecks.

So, last Saturday, Mama and Trey headed out to get Trey some basketball playing clothes. And then we had to go play, even though it was still cold.



We have a total blast. And to top it off, one of the places we found to play is an elementary school with a 7 1/2' rim, which even I can dunk on.

Which makes both of us very happy, indeed.

local perspective on national trend

Easter Sunday, 10:20 am, ten minutes before our Easter Celebration begins: one of our members walks up to me. "Looks like all churches are having trouble gettin' people in," he said matter-of-factly.

He pointed to the front page of his copy of the Sunday Indianapolis Star. "Says so right here."

Ten minutes before start time, worshipping our risen Lord, and I have to talk about this?

The front page article by Robert King ran the following opening paragraphs:

"Patrick Brady and Melissa Madill grew up going to church. But when millions of Hoosiers attend Easter services this morning, Brady and Madill will likely take a pass, instead grabbing brunch somewhere and then going for a walk.

"It isn't that the Irvington couple, who have been married for five years, don't care about matters of the spirit -- they say they believe in God and are deeply spiritual. It is just that they rarely enter the sanctuary of a church."

The article goes on to describe church experiences and attitudes that turned people away, and described the efforts of various religious entities to - well, grapple with the reality that people like Patrick and Melissa exist, in growing numbers.

I had read about these statistics from a national perspective, but not from a local one. I know these people exist: they jog down my sidewalk, they stand in line at Walmart with me, and dozens of them will enter the Veterans Center where our church meets for worship, smile and shake my hand, and go on about their day, meeting with other club members.

And every time I see them, my heart aches because the message of Jesus, which He left to His followers to share, has, in our collective hands, lost its significance and become, in the minds of these people, something that has no possible bearing on their lives.

The article ends with a quote from Arthur Farnsley, a research fellow with the Center for Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis:

"[Churches] must consciously consider thinking about who they are, what their mission is and how they present themselves to the world."

That is the truth, for churches and Christ-followers alike.

for kristy

So I'm burning a little midnight oil, getting ready for our Easter Celebration. I'm upstairs at the computer, and it's 1 am. As I'm looking through some last-minute edits and image redos, Kristy is downstairs, preparing a treat that we will share with those who worship with us today.

And I remember: 12 years ago last week, in spite of my complete lack of interest at that moment, God allowed the most beautiful woman to walk into my life for the second time. As fervent a follower of Jesus as she is devoted to our family. The yin to my yang. At my side through everything.

And God gave me the good sense to not let her walk out a second time.

I love you, Sweetness, and I'm really proud of you.

see what i mean? you're reading this, aren't you?

I caught an article in the Winter '07 Intelligent Life about the evolution of the long-distance sports fan, and the following section caught my eye:

"If satellite television did half the job of creating long-distance fans, the internet has done the other half. In the past, if you were, say, a Northampton Town football fan living in Hollywood, you would have been starved of news. The Los Angeles Times has many strengths, but covering distant leagues is not one of them. Now, you can bookmark the club website, read the Northampton Chronicle online, put the club's name into your RSS news feed, follow matches minute-by-minute on the BBC site, and generally be as despairingly well informed as anyone in Northampton."

The internet has created an amazing opportunity - not just to dispense information, but to create better-connected people, people more able to take ownership in the successes and mission of something bigger than themselves. This is true of sports teams, causes (the environment, for instance), and...church.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure: our church does not have a website yet. But it will, hopefully soon. And as I'm thinking this through, something strikes me: if our church uses the internet only to dispense information, that will certainly be helpful. But if our church can use the internet as a means to engage people, help them enter into the story, and enable them to be a part of something bigger than themselves...well, then we'll be getting somewhere.

And, to be clear: nothing takes the place of personal interaction, and any online experience should guide people toward real world action. I'm pretty sure the Miami Dolphins don't want people to spend Second Life money in their store, and Greenpeace doesn't want people to feel better for having read several articles. But it is a portal, an entrance that many will walk through if given the opportunity.

an announcement and a thought

Party at my house! We're having everyone over for a March Madness Game Night at our place tonight. Wings, jalapeño poppers, other good food, board games, and IU-Arkansas! (And before that, we'll get to watch UNC thrash someone - can't remember who.)

If you're in town, come on by - it'll be fun! (If you want directions, email me!)

- - - -

As a follower of Jesus, one thing I'm always looking for - and talking to others about looking for - is a place in a conversation where it naturally flows toward Jesus.

As much as I'm a little weirded out by this, I have found that one surefire place to do that is with conversation about End Times stuff - Left Behind, something to do with 2012 and the ancient Mayans, things like that.

I'm a little weirded out by it because those aspects of Scripture are only one part of a whole book. But I understand the intrigue, because to someone not familiar with the narrative of Scripture, Revelation is the summer blockbuster movie of the Bible. Stuff blows up, monsters show up, people disappear.

But behind all the sometimes bizarre questions is someone curious about - and open to - Jesus.

So, to my fellow Christ-followers, I say: don't miss the opportunity. Be able to look through the hype and misunderstanding, and see a searcher waiting to be pointed toward Jesus.

connection. conversation. God. conversion.

So this past Sunday, Joshua and I ran into Sarah, who'd come to a couple of worship gatherings a while ago. She'd been through some hard things, and Kristy and I had been praying for her.

I asked her if she wanted to come to our home for the Wednesday prayer gathering, and her face brightened as she agreed. I told her to be at Joshua's house at 6:30. (Joshua's is the one place in the neighborhood I know how to get to for sure.)

Wednesday came, and it was a long day delivering for FedEx. On my way home at 6:20, I found out that, not only was Sarah coming, but so was John, and Joshua, and his friend Brittany.

They were at Joshua's house, and he was leading an impromptu Bible study about the Trinity.

I laughed and smiled as I drove to pick them up. I think God did, too.

Once back at our home, we spent some time around God's word, then we prayed. They had some questions, so Kristy took Brittany and Sarah into the front room and talked, while I talked to Joshua and John in the living room. John is new to Christianity, and I enjoyed our conversation about his life and the overview of God's story. Joshua had more questions about the Trinity, and we grappled some more with that.

Meanwhile, Sarah shared about some of what she was going through, and Kristy got to pray with her. Then Brittany spoke up, and that conversation led to her accepting Jesus into her life. Which filled us all with joy, but especially Joshua. I've never seen the dude so happy. He smiled, he laughed, he fist pumped, he randomly twitched because he couldn't help himself.

It was awesome.

Joshua, me (no time to change), and John

Brittany, Kristy, Audrey, and Sarah

re: new weekly gatherings schedule

In a recent post I described the new gatherings schedule for our church, and some of the characteristics. A good friend commented with some questions, and I will use this post to respond to his questions. Because, let's face it: you know you were thinking the same thing.

Or not.

What does "stripping away the religious lingo" mean? I like how it sounds (especially if you are trying to attract non-believers)?

I used that phrase to further describe my attempt to use terms that are intentional and accessible. I do not want to strip away religious lingo purely for its own sake; however, if by using different terms a church experience can be more intentional and accessible to people unfamiliar with/turned off by church, then I consider that an acceptable change for the sake of the Gospel.

So in the case of "worship gathering" versus "service" (a common term used in describing this event), "worship gathering" does the following: 1) it's a better description of what the event is supposed to be; 2) it's off the norm just enough that it makes people - especially churched people - look at it twice and think about it; and 3) it begins to convey the idea that everyone is there to participate, as opposed to "service," which can subconsciously convey the idea of a performance to be observed, with active engagement as an option.

Plus, it is my view that "gathering" more accurately describes the precedent set by the church in the end of Acts 2, and the idea conveyed in Hebrews 10:25. And, as far as I can tell, the term "service" is never used to describe a gathering in the Bible. It's used as the noun form of "serve."

Being a family and blocking out time to eat, have fun, and truly be a family is great.

It has been great so far. And I must add that somehow it has been more effective since we've hosted those particular gatherings in our home.

Why break out into segmented groups (men, women, teens, seniors, college, married)? It seems like you would lose some of the value of experiences and energy/zeal from these groups that would be best captured in a combined format where everyone is comfortable being sincere.

Point taken. We haven't actually done any segmenting yet, and it would never be for an extended period. I just want the option of being able to teach specific material to targeted groups. For example, if I believe God is showing me that our men need training in living out their roles in ways that please Him, I want the flexibility to be able to teach them separately. But that hasn't happened yet, and it wouldn't be for any extended period.

Why is what you wear important here?

As I look back at the post, the items describing what I wear are probably out of place. But these transitions are about being intentional and accessible, and what I wear was a big transition for me in that regard.

What if people come in and don't wear what you are?

Then I'll know that a) they're not as spiritual as me, and b) they didn't get the "wouldn't-matching-argyle-socks-be-like-totally-awesome?" memo.

Seriously, people not wearing what I'm wearing will be loved like people who happen to be wearing what I'm wearing. And my experience so far is that they'll find someone who looks like them among us, because the clothing our people wear runs the gamut, style-wise. The only uniform we have seems to be Peyton Manning jerseys during Colts season.

Why distinguish from "formal" or "less formal" gatherings?

Because, while I'm making decisions in the direction of intentional and accessible, the reality remains that a large chunk of our community - not to mention my blog readership - is familiar enough with concepts of church to get a sense from those terms. Certainly "formal" and "less formal" are in the eye of the beholder; the terms are used here as a broad brush stroke.

Isn't this the "house of God" and you are his children? Don't you think he would want you to be most comfortable in his house?

Yes. That's why I take my jacket off when I get hot.

Actually, for me, a list of priorities would put "comfortable" behind "intentional" and "accessible." In every area of my life and ministry, I want to be intentional about portraying an example of life in Christ that is accessible to the time and place in which God has entrusted me with His mission. That's not to say they're mutually exclusive, of course.

As for those who are part of our gatherings: I want them to be comfortable enough that they haven't turned off the speakers of their heart before God even gets the chance to say word one. Once God speaks to them, I want them to be uncomfortable enough to move toward Jesus.

even the octupus was good. relatively speaking.

Our Learning Environments (Sunday evening gathering) was an especially meaningful time tonight. Here are a couple pictures and some highlights.

The picture below is of the chalkboard in our kitchen. Kristy likes to use the space to write a welcome for the guests we welcome into our home. I looked up as I was teaching and saw that, as she was cleaning and preparing for the gathering, she had taken a moment to write a welcome. She's an awesome lady.


We worked through material having to do with the Trinity this evening. Lots of interaction, lots of questions. It was great! And at the end, Joshua mentioned that he still didn't have his mind completely around it, and wanted to dig deeper into it. Totally awesome.

So then we shared a meal. Tom wanted to surprise everyone with a special dish, which looked like a run-of-the-mill pasta/marinara number. Turns out, it was a dish prepared with baby octupus. I even knew it was coming, and the little curled up tentacle on my fork was still a little...revolting.

And chewy.

Then Joshua asked Kristy if she wanted to play a little Go on the PS2, which they did. As they played, they talked, and Joshua asked questions about what it was like for us growing up, and shared more about himself, and some of the things God was/is doing in his life. Two hours later, we had blown through his curfew and had to get him home.

It was one of those evenings that makes me almost burst with the joyous realization that this is what God put me on this planet to do.

don't settle

So I was talking to someone recently about steps to improvement in a marriage relationship. And something dawned on me:

It's never good to settle.

Sometimes it's easy to think that not blowing up when an argument happens is the best one can hope for in a marriage. So we bottle it up and we settle.

Sometimes it's easy to think that showing up and not getting any real help from a church experience is the best one can hope for. So we sit in a pew and we settle.

I don't know what your pain is. I don't know what your dysfunction is. I don't know what your longing, your craving, is. But I do know that God wants to take you on a journey toward healing, toward wholeness, toward fulfillment.

And I know He doesn't want you to settle.

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. - Jesus

new weekly gatherings schedule

We recently transitioned to a new gatherings schedule at our church.

For context, here was the previous schedule:

Sunday, 10 am - Worship Service
Sunday, 6 pm - Evening Service
Wednesday, 7 pm - Prayer Meeting/Bible Study

Here is the new schedule for our weekly gatherings:

Sunday, 10:30 am - Worship Gathering

• We devote one gathering per week to corporate worship.
• As we are of a size where only one time is necessary, 10:30 is a more accessible start time.
• "Worship Gathering" is a term meant to be more intentional and accessible in describing what we're doing. Helps to strip away the religious lingo a little bit.
• For this gathering, I wear a suit/sportcoat and tie, as a way of honoring those who have come before me. But the other men wear open collars.
  

Sunday, 5:30 pm - Learning Environments

• This gathering is devoted to more interactive teaching for people seeking to live out the ways of Jesus.
• I describe the format as "combination classroom and living room."
• Right now, everyone is in the same group, working through our "101: Following Jesus" material. In the future, we will be able to have multiple environments going on at the same time, dealing with learning specific to certain groups (men, women, studying specific subjects, etc.)
• The target running time is 5:30-7:00 pm, which is eating time for many. So we have light foods and drinks, coffee, etc. to get through to supper. Sometimes, we serve supper afterward.
• We were doing this at the church facility, but since we closed it, we have been having this gathering at our home, and it's really been a great experience.
• I usually wear slacks and an open-collared shirt for these gatherings. Sometimes I wear a sportcoat, but then it gets hot and I'd just end up taking it off.
  

Wednesday, 7:00 pm - Prayer Gathering

• In this gathering, we take a few minutes to focus our hearts and minds on the object of our prayer for that evening (repentance, our community, etc.), and then we get to praying.
• This is the least formal of our gatherings. Usually, I wear a sportcoat and jeans for this gathering.
• Because many cannot meet with us in our home for this gathering, I have started asking those present for the Worship Gathering to commit to praying from 7 to 7:30 wherever they are. I've had good response to this, as people have shared with me where they have been when they remembered that they were supposed to be praying. It also benefits our people, giving them an opportunity to actively engage in the life of the church from where they find themselves.

news

So, a lot of things have happened - I'll give you the bullet points:

- We transitioned the church into a new gatherings schedule.

- We closed the church facility. We were more or less pouring money into keeping open a building that many passersby thought was condemned. Then we had three months of water bills that were seven times the normal amount, due to a water main break and repairs that didn't stay repaired. It was time.

- I didn't know for sure where we would meet, and nothing opened up right away, so we met in our home the first Sunday of March.
It was awesome. And the best part was the amazing way my amazing wife totally got excited about it and rose to the challenge. Did I mention how much I love her?

- Then the afternoon after we met in our home, I met with the volunteer staff that operate the Fort Harrison Veterans Center. It is a facility that houses several veterans support groups and other volunteer efforts centered around local veterans. They enthusiastically agreed to allow us to use their meeting rooms for our worship gatherings! So we met there this past Sunday. It's going to work out really well.

Almost ever since I got here, I've been sharing with our people that the best place to reach out to our community is from the Fort Harrison area. Now we're able to hold our worship gatherings in that very area.

Pretty cool.

- We voted to change the name of our church. From heretofore, we will be known as Village Baptist Church. We want to be unique and identify with the community God has placed us in, and what it is becoming. This name helps us do that.

- Trey (my son) came home from school and described one of his favorite games in gym class: "It was tight."
For those of you scoring at home, this is my son:
I very nearly fell over. Then I laughed really hard. Then it occurred to me that I was possibly having my first generation-gap-ish moment. Then I thought a lot about what had just happened.

- We took family pictures!