long time no post

Well, long time no post. No excuse except for being busy. Hopefully, I will start to post again. If not here then at our new site when it gets up. I will let you know when it is ready.

Dangerous men are we!

Here is a quote I recently read:

"Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds

Awake to find that all was vanity;

But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men,

That they may act their dreams with open

eyes to make it possible.

- T. E. Lawerence [Of Arabia]


2007 will be a year to remember.

Get rid of our monsters...nothing else!

I was reading this morning in Matt 8 about the demon possessed man[or men? Why do you suppose that it is two demon possessed men here and only one in other places?] and how Jesus cast them out and all that bit. All the people who were tending the pigs went to everybody in the city and told them everything that happened. I was kind of reading it differently this morning as if I was expecting a different ending to the story for some reason. I mean Jesus does this great miracle and even service to these other people by getting rid of these demon possessed monsters. You would think the sequence would be 1. there is a problem with demons. 2. Jesus comes and does great miracle. 3. The people go and spread the word to everyone else. 4. Everyone comes to meet Jesus. 5. REVIVAL. All of the steps happened except the last [number5] When they saw Jesus they didn't beg him for more, they begged him to leave! It sounds ignorant here in the story but how true it is in modern day. Most people don't REALLY want Jesus or revival in their lives, they wish that He would just leave them alone so that they don't feel a spiritual burden or responsibility for eternal actions. Most just want to live a simple, quiet, fun, american dream of a life. Sometimes I feel that way. Sometimes I wish I didn't have this "call" that drives me everyday. Sometimes I wish that I could just be left alone to live life like it seems others are called, or at least at peace, to live. But if I think about it too long I think...that would be the most senseless, purposeless, meaningless and boring way to live. If I have to live that way then just shoot me now and send me to heaven! I would rather have nothing but the will of God than have everything and the will of Shawn.

First Public Gathering

Just wanted to give an update on Journey Church. This Sunday we are having a meeting at the Liberty Community Center in Liberty, MO. It starts at 10:00am. I can't wait for people to start an authentic journey with God! All are welcome to come! Hope to see some of you there.

How do you become a child of God?

Seems like a pretty important question doesn’t it? Oh, I’m sure there are a million ways to answer this question. One could say “seek God first”, another might say “by faith” and yet someone else might quote a scripture about salvation. These are good starting points but the problem is… that’s all they are…starting points.

I’ve given my fair share of altar calls and I’ve seen thousands over the years respond to them just to find that they didn’t have any apparent lasting spiritual value. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in planting seeds and that there may one day be a harvest but it makes you wonder sometimes if the seed has simply fallen on thorny ground. I believe giving an altar call is great and I will continue to do them as often as I have opportunity, I just wish we could be more effective in producing life-long Christians.

On the other hand, I have talked to people who have been a Christian all of their lives and, in some ways, are in the same place spiritually as these who walked down to the altar simply to return no different. These Christians have been on the church scene, sang in the choir, taught a Sunday school class and still don’t know if they are a child of God any more than the one who engages in the “one night stand” at the altar of salvation.

So how do you BECOME a child of God? I obviously believe that there is a moment of new birth where your spirit becomes alive, but I also believe that there is a process of sanctification that will continue as long as we live in this temporary home. The moment of faith that is required for the new birth can be assuring at the time but too often it quickly fades away to just a distant spiritual moment in the time-line of our lives. [Case in point- the church of Ephesus in the book of Revelation chapter 2] This causes people to eventually question if they have ever known God in the first place. Oh, you probably haven’t heard anyone say this because everyone is too spiritual to talk about real spiritual issues in the church today.

So what’s my take? How do I think you become a child of God?

I hope to make the point with one of my real life stories as a Youth Pastor. I was a Youth Pastor for 5 years and for those of you who don’t know, youth pastor years are probably equivalent to doggie years. It’s about seven youth pastor years for every regular human year. In other words, a lot can happen!

I have had the conviction all of my life to abstain from rated “R” movies. As a part of my requirements for youth leaders to serve with me, I asked that they abstain from rated “R” movies as well. One of my points in doing that was to be an example for the teenagers. I mean, if Hollywood says they are too young to see a certain movie then how much more a youth pastor should say it…or so I thought. You wouldn’t believe how much flack I have gotten over the years for simply not seeing one of those movies! I had youth leaders threaten to leave if I would have a legalistic requirement such as that. I also had people just say “heck with it, I’m going to do it anyway, I don’t care what he says.” I thought it was great! To me, it revealed the heart. It just took a movie to bring it out.

Still, it troubled me. I would ask them why they thought it was okay and they would say stuff like “Well, God hasn’t convicted me about it so you shouldn’t either.” That always made me question. God, why would you convict me and not them? Is it wrong or not? Am I legalistic or right in what I’m doing? Are they just not hearing Your voice?

One of the keys to staying out of trouble in life is simply minding your own business. I can’t do that. I’m a pastor. But God did show me that I can have a high standard for myself and that’s okay. He taught me to swim upstream. He taught me that I don’t know what He is doing in someone else’s life and heart. He taught me not to be God for somebody else. [He’s plenty capable of that!] He also showed me a key to knowing you are one of His children. You see, what I saw through this whole experience, and through several others, is not that God wasn’t convicting other people but that God WAS convicting me! Right or wrong wasn’t important. God was disciplining me. Like a child. It was a good thing to know that He loved me enough to require something out of me. It was good to know that the pain of correction and discipline leads to joy unspeakable and full of glory. Why? Because He knows I’m here. That’s enough for me.

Hebrews 12:5-11 confirms this when it says:

And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
7If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

He disciplines who He loves. If He’s not disciplining you, you’re not a child of God. It could be something different for you than for me but just thank God for His conviction. Learn to love to hear God’s voice! Whether it is an encouragement or a correction, it is still His voice and it reminds us that we are His children.

Vacation

Well, just got back from vacation last week. Thought I would put up a picture or two. We went down to Branson. Not a bad trip, although I found myself saying a lot of things I didn't expect. Some of the phrases were... "Stop chewing on that seat belt!", "Don't throw rocks at the fish!", "yippee, gas is $2.19!", and the infamous..."If you don't stop doing that I am going to pull this car over!". All in all, it was a great trip. It's good to get away from it all every once in a while. My problem usually is that after a vacation... I need a vacation!

I dream of a church...

We had our first "official" church meeting last night. It was just a group of people who feel some sort of draw or calling to what God has begun in our hearts. It was basically a vision casting meeting where I could lay out what has happened so far with the church and what the values and vision will be in the future. We talked about what our "dream" church would be like. I asked "what do you see when you think of a dream church that is of God?". What is in it? What does it look like? What does it represent and value? We wrote them down as a list of things. I will continue to add to mine but here is a short list of the first things that came to mind. I am sure I will post back later with more:

I dream of a church...

1. that is not boring
2. that is full of people doing their best to live the bible way rather than their own
3. that Jesus would be proud of
4. that Jesus would call His
5. that has real answers for people's problems
6. where my family is valued and included
7. that makes an impact on the community around them
8. that is full of God's power untainted by men's influence
9. that has real friendships and accountable relationships
10. that is a highway of holiness, a hospital for the hurting and a home for the homeless
11. that befriends tax collectors and sinners for the saving of their souls
12. that dares to pray
13. whose prayers get answered
14. that has the compassion of Jesus and the conviction of the Holy Spirit
15. where husbands and wives are true examples of Christ and the Church
16. that is full of worn out bibles and tear stained altars

God's grace be upon us as we put our hand to the plow.