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Thursday evening (Dec 18) our staff held our annual Christmas party. It was fun tine with good food, lots of games, and a few small gifts. It is always refreshing to spend time with the folks you work with, outside the office. You can really get to know them on a different level. Of course some levels are best left unknown. Am I right Hot Pastor?
Toward the end of the evening we read several Bible passages about Jesus, and then we were asked to write down our favorite gift from God. We were all given a few minutes before being asked to share what we had written.
The first to speak was a husband of one of the staff. His answer was probably similar to many answers. He had written that his favorite gift from God was his wife. He went on to give a heartfelt explanation for his answer by explaining that everything was better with his wife.
I am sure that several people there wrote something similar. When asked about a favorite gift, our minds often turn to tangible things. Wives, children, ministry positions, or even material possessions would probably top the list of many people’s favorite gifts.
To be honest, my first thought was my family. I love my family and love to spend time with them. I find peace and solace in my home. However, before I could write that down I was urged by some inner nudge to look deeper. If we are truly looking for our favorite gift would not the answer we give be something along the lines of a redeemed life?
I know for me that had to be it. No other gift can do what the gift of redemption has done for me. Because of Jesus I now have a life that means something. I am working for a God who has eternal things on his mind. There can be no more significant work than work which has eternal consequences.
I see people everywhere that are striving for significance, but in the end are failing. The sad thing is they don’t even realize it. Wealthy individuals with philanthropic endeavors striving to make a difference in this lifetime will fall miserably short of true significance. Sacrificial servants who work in the underbelly of society, a part from God’s grace and redeeming message, will only change things for a short time.
True significance comes with the life redeeming message of Jesus Christ. The only change that lasts is the one that comes from the Savior. You may feed a child in Africa, but he will hunger again. You may create a vaccine for Aids, yet death will continue in other forms. These things are fleeting in their effect. God’s message of love will change a life forever. Jesus said; “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.” John 4:13-14.
Now there is significance! My life has been transformed into a well that springs forth life, a well that not only provides life for me, but all who care to drink from it. I have now become an outlet through which God can bring life to others. Hey, do you need a drink?
Monday, December 22, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
I am second
I just viewed a wonderful website called I Am Second. Powerful, is all that I can say. Why am I second? Because I can screw up my life in a heartbeat and have many times over. God is the only one that can redeem my life. He is doing that even now. Four and a half years ago I was a factory worker with no college or seminary, attending and serving in a church that limited my ministry due to a divorce in my history. I chose to say yes to God, and now I am a familiy minister serving an awesome God in a great church. I have a staff of five, and hundreds of volunteers. Only God can do that. Left on my own, God only knows where I would be. That is why I am Second. How about you?
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Are you a Christ Follower
How to be a Christ follower?
Summoning the crowd along with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone wants to be my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me”. Mark 8:34 (HCSB)
Step one, Deny Yourself
What does this mean to the Children’s minister? For me it means laying aside my plans for my life and the ministry that God has placed me over.
There was a time when I thought that I wanted to be more than a children’s minister. As if that position was not important enough or glamorous enough. I now realize that this is my calling from God and as such I can do nothing more important, nothing that has greater value than follow after God and his call in my life.
Now that I have embraced this calling, to deny myself means that I lay aside all preconceived notions that I might have of what a children’s ministry should look like. My plans have no place in God’s ministry. God’s plans for his ministry are my marching orders.
Step two, Take up Your Cross
Jesus gave this challenge directly after telling his disciples about his upcoming death. So imagine if you will how the disciples might have received this. Was Jesus telling them that they too must die a terrible death? Does this mean that all who follow Jesus must also die by crucifixion? No certainly not.
What Jesus was telling his disciples, and by extension us, was that a part of denying ourselves is to obediently follow in the path that God has ordained for each of us. Jesus was being called by God to literally pick up a cross and go to Golgotha for the sake of mankind. It was not a pleasant assignment to be sure but it was his to bear alone.
Each of us has our own cross to bear. We each have our own assignments from God. They are as varied as mankind itself. Each one uniquely fitted and designed for each life. Our days and our mission were planned out for us before we were ever born. We have a calling and a purpose. God has plans for us; our job is to follow him in that calling. It begins with denying our own wants and plans and then picking up call from God.
For some it involves vocational ministry. For some our cross and calling will be played out in the trenches of everyday life. In the factories, boardrooms, and living rooms of this world. You may be called to dig ditches for God, revolutionize the banking world, or raise godly children in a loving Christian home. None is more important than the any other when we are following God’s call in our lives. Whatever our cross we must willingly deny ourselves and pick it up.
It takes daily devotion to this one calling. In the parallel passage in Luke, Jesus tells us to daily pick up our cross and follow after him. Daily commitment requires a daily decision to lay aside what we want for our lives and for the day that awaits us. Even after we have followed Jesus in a overall direction for our lives, daily following Him in his calling for the day is the requirement for being his follower. This leads us to the third ingredient of being a follower.
Step three, Follow Him
I have heard it said that if you think you are a good leader look behind you to see if anyone is there. If not then you had better find a different term for yourself. The word leader implies that someone is following. The same is true for those who claim to be a follower of Christ. The term follower implies that you are following. You can’t follow if you don’t know where Jesus is.
One of my favorite studies of all times has been Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. The precepts behind this study are simple and yet profound. We must determine where God is working and then follow Him. You see you can deny yourself and decide that you need Jesus, pick up your cross by choosing to obey Christ for your life’s calling, but if you don’t follow after God. What good will it do?
I am a Children’s minister. My heart’s desire is to make disciples out of children and help parents live out their calling to be the spiritual leaders of their homes. Yet if I am not following Jesus in this ministry that he has placed me in, then I am turning it into my ministry. I would be off doing my own thing. Sure, I would still be considered a children’s minister. I can even come up with great programs that educate and motivate children and parents, but if I am not following after God I am not being as affective as I could be.
God has a plan for me and he wants to lead the way in that calling. There is great comfort in knowing that we are following Jesus. With Jesus right there with me leading the way there is no fear because He will never let me down. I will always remember following after God when he called my wife and I to leave everything behind in Illinois and travel to Texas to attend Seminary. I had to quit my job of fifteen years, sell our house, leave family and friends behind, and move our little clan 800 miles away without so much as a promise of a job when we got there. Yet there was no fear because God was with me. I was following after him and I knew He would not let me down.
What confidence there is in that truth. You may be called on to make some scary decisions in your life while following God, but you can make those decisions with confidence when you know that you are following in obedience. The alternative is not so sure. If we are blazing our own trail we can only be sure of one thing. We will be missing the blessings of God. We may be doing something good, but if it is not what God we miss the blessing.
When you are following someone you have to keep your eye on them at all times. If you look down they might move and you will not have noticed. Following Jesus means that you are in constant communication with him to see where he is leading. That is one of the reasons why the spiritual discipline of a daily time with God is so important. If you aren’t in regular communication, how do you know where he is?
That reminds me of a funny story that happened to me while in the Army while stationed in Germany. I was the driver of an M1A1 tank. My company was changing locations late at night, or early morning to be exact. We had been up for more than 20 hours. The column of tanks was moving very slowly and resembled a traffic jam on I35 in downtown Dallas. We would move for a little while and then set for what seemed like an eternity. Everyone else in my tank was asleep. I could tell because of the snoring coming over the intercom.
Inevitably one of the stops was just a little too long and I too succumbed to the sleep monster. I can only assume that the tanks behind us thought that we had broken down and went around us and no one contacted us because we were on radio silence. Whatever happened, when I regained consciousness the tank in front of me that I had been following was not there. The tanks behind me were no were to be found. We were alone on the road in the dark with no way of knowing where everyone else was. I put the tank in drive and poured on the diesel. What an eternity and a half past (though I am sure that it was not as long as it seemed) before we caught up to the rest of the company and we pulled into our new location right behind the last tank. Much to my relief, no one ever knew what happened.
But the point is I had taken my eye off the tank I was following, and I was lost, if only momentarily. A true follower of Jesus must stay in touch with him in order to remain a follower and not a sleeping talk driver separated from the rest of his company. Following requires knowing where the leader is.
So do you want to be a follower?
Summoning the crowd along with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone wants to be my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me”. Mark 8:34 (HCSB)
Step one, Deny Yourself
What does this mean to the Children’s minister? For me it means laying aside my plans for my life and the ministry that God has placed me over.
There was a time when I thought that I wanted to be more than a children’s minister. As if that position was not important enough or glamorous enough. I now realize that this is my calling from God and as such I can do nothing more important, nothing that has greater value than follow after God and his call in my life.
Now that I have embraced this calling, to deny myself means that I lay aside all preconceived notions that I might have of what a children’s ministry should look like. My plans have no place in God’s ministry. God’s plans for his ministry are my marching orders.
Step two, Take up Your Cross
Jesus gave this challenge directly after telling his disciples about his upcoming death. So imagine if you will how the disciples might have received this. Was Jesus telling them that they too must die a terrible death? Does this mean that all who follow Jesus must also die by crucifixion? No certainly not.
What Jesus was telling his disciples, and by extension us, was that a part of denying ourselves is to obediently follow in the path that God has ordained for each of us. Jesus was being called by God to literally pick up a cross and go to Golgotha for the sake of mankind. It was not a pleasant assignment to be sure but it was his to bear alone.
Each of us has our own cross to bear. We each have our own assignments from God. They are as varied as mankind itself. Each one uniquely fitted and designed for each life. Our days and our mission were planned out for us before we were ever born. We have a calling and a purpose. God has plans for us; our job is to follow him in that calling. It begins with denying our own wants and plans and then picking up call from God.
For some it involves vocational ministry. For some our cross and calling will be played out in the trenches of everyday life. In the factories, boardrooms, and living rooms of this world. You may be called to dig ditches for God, revolutionize the banking world, or raise godly children in a loving Christian home. None is more important than the any other when we are following God’s call in our lives. Whatever our cross we must willingly deny ourselves and pick it up.
It takes daily devotion to this one calling. In the parallel passage in Luke, Jesus tells us to daily pick up our cross and follow after him. Daily commitment requires a daily decision to lay aside what we want for our lives and for the day that awaits us. Even after we have followed Jesus in a overall direction for our lives, daily following Him in his calling for the day is the requirement for being his follower. This leads us to the third ingredient of being a follower.
Step three, Follow Him
I have heard it said that if you think you are a good leader look behind you to see if anyone is there. If not then you had better find a different term for yourself. The word leader implies that someone is following. The same is true for those who claim to be a follower of Christ. The term follower implies that you are following. You can’t follow if you don’t know where Jesus is.
One of my favorite studies of all times has been Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. The precepts behind this study are simple and yet profound. We must determine where God is working and then follow Him. You see you can deny yourself and decide that you need Jesus, pick up your cross by choosing to obey Christ for your life’s calling, but if you don’t follow after God. What good will it do?
I am a Children’s minister. My heart’s desire is to make disciples out of children and help parents live out their calling to be the spiritual leaders of their homes. Yet if I am not following Jesus in this ministry that he has placed me in, then I am turning it into my ministry. I would be off doing my own thing. Sure, I would still be considered a children’s minister. I can even come up with great programs that educate and motivate children and parents, but if I am not following after God I am not being as affective as I could be.
God has a plan for me and he wants to lead the way in that calling. There is great comfort in knowing that we are following Jesus. With Jesus right there with me leading the way there is no fear because He will never let me down. I will always remember following after God when he called my wife and I to leave everything behind in Illinois and travel to Texas to attend Seminary. I had to quit my job of fifteen years, sell our house, leave family and friends behind, and move our little clan 800 miles away without so much as a promise of a job when we got there. Yet there was no fear because God was with me. I was following after him and I knew He would not let me down.
What confidence there is in that truth. You may be called on to make some scary decisions in your life while following God, but you can make those decisions with confidence when you know that you are following in obedience. The alternative is not so sure. If we are blazing our own trail we can only be sure of one thing. We will be missing the blessings of God. We may be doing something good, but if it is not what God we miss the blessing.
When you are following someone you have to keep your eye on them at all times. If you look down they might move and you will not have noticed. Following Jesus means that you are in constant communication with him to see where he is leading. That is one of the reasons why the spiritual discipline of a daily time with God is so important. If you aren’t in regular communication, how do you know where he is?
That reminds me of a funny story that happened to me while in the Army while stationed in Germany. I was the driver of an M1A1 tank. My company was changing locations late at night, or early morning to be exact. We had been up for more than 20 hours. The column of tanks was moving very slowly and resembled a traffic jam on I35 in downtown Dallas. We would move for a little while and then set for what seemed like an eternity. Everyone else in my tank was asleep. I could tell because of the snoring coming over the intercom.
Inevitably one of the stops was just a little too long and I too succumbed to the sleep monster. I can only assume that the tanks behind us thought that we had broken down and went around us and no one contacted us because we were on radio silence. Whatever happened, when I regained consciousness the tank in front of me that I had been following was not there. The tanks behind me were no were to be found. We were alone on the road in the dark with no way of knowing where everyone else was. I put the tank in drive and poured on the diesel. What an eternity and a half past (though I am sure that it was not as long as it seemed) before we caught up to the rest of the company and we pulled into our new location right behind the last tank. Much to my relief, no one ever knew what happened.
But the point is I had taken my eye off the tank I was following, and I was lost, if only momentarily. A true follower of Jesus must stay in touch with him in order to remain a follower and not a sleeping talk driver separated from the rest of his company. Following requires knowing where the leader is.
So do you want to be a follower?
Monday, November 24, 2008
Jesus was a Man's Man
If you read this you will no doubt discover that I am not a poet. I wrote this essay (or whatever you call it) in response to a friends observation that many praise songs have an undesirable effect of feminizing Jesus. Lyrics that describe Jesus as being beautiful and lovely leave some men a little hesitant to join in worship of our Lord and King. Now make no mistake, the acts of Jesus are beautiful to me. However, I would not walk up to a man on earth and tell him he is beautiful to me no matter what his actions. I am not trying to say that anything is overtly wrong with our praise songs. I am just trying to give outlet to a little manly expression of who I think Jesus was and is.
Incidentally I am writing this from the perspective that Jesus was a builder and not a carpenter. This idea comes from the translation of the Greek word tecton which can be translated builder, and if a builder then he worked with stone more than wood. I will not debate this, I am just letting you know where I am coming from.
My Jesus, My Savior
A back, made strong by years of lifting stone, wood, and earth. A back striped with open soars from searing lashes, mercilessly applied; now bearing my sin and my cross.
Arms, hard and strong from working as a builder, chiseling stone, sawing wood, driving nails, leveling the soil; now spread out in love across a cruel wooden beam. Spread to show his love for God and for me.
A brow, weathered with the sun, often furrowed with concern, always glowing with the glory of God; now pierced with wicked thorns shedding the blood that atones for my sin.
Hands, calloused and ruff, a testimony to a life of industry, a life of hard work, always ready to help in times of need. Feet, dirty and dry, feet that walked miles in life and ministry. Both brutally spiked to a hard instrument of death, all for you and me.
Legs, chiseled and powerful, legs used in carrying heavy loads, accustomed to running for work and play; now trying to lift my saviors weight for one more breath as He dies for me.
Three days:
A back, strong and straight, scarred but healed, a testimony to the faithfulness of the Father who raised him from the dead.
Arms, indescribably powerful, capable of carrying untold millions to heaven. Once spread in anguish; now spread in acceptance of all who believe.
A brow, once covered in blood, twisted in agony; now luminously crowned by my God because of his obedience and sacrifice.
Hands, once pierced and bloody; now beckoning the lost to come. “Don't labor in vain, trying to earn what can never be earned” they say, “the victory has already been won. Come have your share.”
Legs and feet, once shaking in excruciating pain; now stalwart and true, confidently standing in the gap for you and for me.
James Brown
November 9th, 2008
Incidentally I am writing this from the perspective that Jesus was a builder and not a carpenter. This idea comes from the translation of the Greek word tecton which can be translated builder, and if a builder then he worked with stone more than wood. I will not debate this, I am just letting you know where I am coming from.
My Jesus, My Savior
A back, made strong by years of lifting stone, wood, and earth. A back striped with open soars from searing lashes, mercilessly applied; now bearing my sin and my cross.
Arms, hard and strong from working as a builder, chiseling stone, sawing wood, driving nails, leveling the soil; now spread out in love across a cruel wooden beam. Spread to show his love for God and for me.
A brow, weathered with the sun, often furrowed with concern, always glowing with the glory of God; now pierced with wicked thorns shedding the blood that atones for my sin.
Hands, calloused and ruff, a testimony to a life of industry, a life of hard work, always ready to help in times of need. Feet, dirty and dry, feet that walked miles in life and ministry. Both brutally spiked to a hard instrument of death, all for you and me.
Legs, chiseled and powerful, legs used in carrying heavy loads, accustomed to running for work and play; now trying to lift my saviors weight for one more breath as He dies for me.
Three days:
A back, strong and straight, scarred but healed, a testimony to the faithfulness of the Father who raised him from the dead.
Arms, indescribably powerful, capable of carrying untold millions to heaven. Once spread in anguish; now spread in acceptance of all who believe.
A brow, once covered in blood, twisted in agony; now luminously crowned by my God because of his obedience and sacrifice.
Hands, once pierced and bloody; now beckoning the lost to come. “Don't labor in vain, trying to earn what can never be earned” they say, “the victory has already been won. Come have your share.”
Legs and feet, once shaking in excruciating pain; now stalwart and true, confidently standing in the gap for you and for me.
James Brown
November 9th, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
A good weekend
This past week I took part of my leadership team to listen to Jim Wideman. Every time I hear him I get inpsired. There are many things that I need to do to get this ministry organized and motivated. First and foremost is cast a clear and compeling vision for this ministry. I would like to get away and spend time with God defining and clarifying what He wants. I am currently struggling with a name for the ministry. I wanted a name that would communicate something about the direction, but I am now just thinking about calling it Cowtown Kids.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Welcome
Hello everyone, I pray that all that you read here will be helpful and encouraging. I am on staff at a Southern Baptist Church in Fort Worth TX. My title is Minister to Families with Children. I hope that this site will help me to discuss and explore ideas for ministry.
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