confessions of a church planter

I can’t believe I’m going to write this: I’m grateful for a class I took in seminary on the History of the Eucharist.  There I said it!  I’m done.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but 8 years later (man, I’m old), I’m grateful.  Not only am I grateful for that class, but recently for the work of Barna in a book called Pagan Christianity.  Both the class and book (among others) help people understanding the progression of how communion got to be in its current state.  What’s the current state?  Confusing.  So, I thought I’d share with you some quick thoughts about how communion has progressed to where it currently stands in some circles.

• First century Christians celebrated communion in the context of a celebratory meal at homes without clergy to officiate.
• By the late first century and early second century, Christians called the meal “love feasts.”
• In the late second century, the Lord’s Supper was moved from the context of a larger meal to an isolated event taking place exclusively on Sundays.  (Barna quotes sources stating that the reason is that the Christians/Church leaders did not want unbelievers profaning the Lord’s Supper, p.193.  I noted in my message yesterday, 10.25, that Paul clearly communicates that communion is an act of proclamation in 1 Corinthians 11:26.  Therefore, by it’s nature, it’s evangelistic!  Not to get too deep into the Wesleyan tradition, but JW claimed communion as a means of grace.)
• The Council of Carthage in 397 A.D. prohibited “love feasts” among Christians.
• The phrase “Lord’s Supper” almost completely disappeared and was almost always replaced with “Eucharist.”  BTW, “eucharist” is a derivative of a Greek word “eukaristos,” which means “grateful,” and is now commonly used to mean “thanksgiving.
• By the fourth and fifth centuries, communion was no longer joyful, no longer a community event, and no longer participatory of all.  Instead, it had been replace by awe and dread, an isolated Christian community, and a priest to officiate (Pagan Christianity, p194).
• From the third to the ninth century, the term sacred was used to describe the bread and cup rather than the act of taking the bread and cup.
• This progression gave rise to the notion of transubstantiation, which means that one substance changes into another substance, during the eleventh through thirteenth centuries.
• This notion was debated during the Protestant Reformation by Martin Luther.  At that time other explanations were developed such as consubstantiation, which is the real presence of Christ available in the bread and juice/wine.

So, there it is.  Short, sweet, and to the point (literally).  Like I said yesterday, remember it’s best to go to the source and our source is Scripture.  Furthermore, there’s no need to shed blood between people who disagree over communion’s meaning and methodology.  After all, communion is a celebration of the blood that was shed for all of humanity!

I just got some photos from Day 1 in Mozambique.  Our team went to a village where some of the Masana boys lived.  While there and doing ministry, Morgan Collins told the story of the prodigal son.  She highlighted how the father made it possible for the son to come back into relationship with the father!  The closing prayer of their time can be viewed at http://vimeo.com/7171816.  (I’ll work on embedding that video later!)  After ministry they had dinner with a couple of the boys who were helped by Iris Ministries.

Today’s been an interesting day.  My head feels like it weighs 100 pounds from a cold I just contracted on Saturday.  Looks like the bug’s bitten others too.  My younger brother cancelled our meeting today b/c he’s sick.  Once a month I coach him as a church planter and leader.  Now, before you laugh at that, just remember, some of the worst players make good coaches.  I can’t think of any examples right now, but I’m sure of it!  If you’re interested in my coaching abilities, let me know and we’ll work something out!  I’m blogging right now b/c I just learned of another cancellation.  This one I became aware of while waiting for the person to arrive.  When that person contacted me, they apologetically said, “i hope you’re not upset.”  Upset?  Look, cancellations are a gift from God, in my opinion.  In a hectic work, margin is where you often make up for ministry gap!  Did you get that?  Margin is where you make up the ministry gap!  While I could say I’m doing ministry all day long, which I am, except when I take a break to read the news or uga sports’ blogs, the truth is that some of the BEST ministry happens in the margin.  Look at Jesus’ life.  Pay attention to all the times he was interrupted.  Now, maybe interruptions are different in your mind than cancellations.  They are in that respect, but not when it comes to margin.  Both create margin.  Margin is often where major ministry happens.  So, here’s the ministry that happened in my margin today.  I continued some reading on 1 Corinthians 3.  A couple of things messed me up.  Maybe they’ll mess you up too!

• ^“6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.”  I love this reminder.  We can work hard and others can work hard, but ultimately any successful ministry comes through God’s power and will.  I’ve got a role to play and others have a role to play, but God’s got the major role to play!  I’m just an extra and so are you.  NOW, somebody’s gotta plant and somebody’s gotta water!  SO GET ON IT!!!!!!!  Remember this quote (which isn’t mine, btw):  ”work like it’s all up to you.  Pray like it’s all up to God!”
• “I planted the seed…”  I might be overstepping my bounds here and it’s possible that I’ll lose any exegetical credibility I had with people that are concerned with exegesis.  For those of you that don’t know what that is, don’t worry about it.  BUT, here’s what I think Paul is saying with this statement and with the context of other verses in this chapter.  He’s a PLANTER!  He plants seeds.  He lays foundations.  That’s where his job ends and possibly his spiritual giftedness (at least in this situation and/or season of his life).  Truth is, he was good at planting seeds.  Imagine all the seeds he planted!  There’s nothing wrong with being a seed planter and there’s nothing boastful about being a seed planter.  Margaret Feinberg at the Nines conference compared two types of vitners.  The one from Fresno she interviewed was responsible for growing thousands upon thousands of grapes for mass use!  If Paul were a vitner, perhaps he’d be this kind, and not the second kind.
• “Apollos watered it…”  While Paul plants, another spiritually gifted person takes the seed the next step!  There are some planters and some waterers!  The best part:  It’s okay to be either one.  There’s nothing wrong w/ being a planter or a waterer.  The other vitner was from Napa Valley.  His job was to take a few acres and grow the best grapes possible.  The other was concerned and gifted for quantity, but this one is concerned and gifted for quality.  Which vitner would you be and are you ok with that?
• “The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose…”  What a great reminder that both are needed and both have the same purpose.  What’s that purpose?  Make disciples of Jesus Christ!  Do you have people surrounding you who are concerned with and gifted to do the other role needed to achieve that one purpose?
• “… and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.”  I’m reminded by this that sometimes I give and receive way too much credit for ministry results.  I’m also reminded by this that sometimes I don’t give enough or receive enough credit for ministry results.  Guess what?  It doesn’t matter how much I give/withhold or receive/don’t receive b/c one day it will all be weighed out!  The same’s true of you.  If you receive a lot of reward on Earth, awesome!  Just know that one day, it will all be weighed-out eternally.  If you don’t receive enough reward on Earth, awesome!  Just know that one day, it will all be weighed-out eternally.

Just some thoughts created by the margin of Cancellation and Corinthians!

Two separate people have made comments this morning that have caused me to realize that Jesus doesn’t faint in his chase for a person’s heart!  I just wanted to share that with you this morning.  The moment we repent or turn around, he’s there.  If that’s true, that also means he doesn’t faint in the chase.  Even if he has to chase you to hell and back, he doesn’t faint in the chase.  He doesn’t tire.  He doesn’t rest until you’re resting in him.  He doesn’t waiver in his pursuit.  He doesn’t waiver in his love.  He’s like a shepherd looking for a lost sheep.  He’s like a woman looking for a missing 10% of her income.  He’s like a father looking for a missing son.  He doesn’t stop until you stop!  Whether that’s for you, a spouse, a friend, a neighbor, just remember that Jesus doesn’t faint in the chase!

Yesterday I officiated the wedding of one of my most favorite people in the whole world, Reed Moore.  In fact, I blogged about him during the “young gun” series.  At his reception, this stranger approached me.  It wasn’t too out of the norm to be approached by a stranger at a reception.  Often they’ll tell you what  a nice job you did or tell you that they know so-and-so, but this convo was a little different.  I learned that while he was a stranger to me, I was not a stranger to him.  He’d heard about me through Sarah Olds and Reed Moore.  The reason for his approach was that he was struggling with how to proceed with his call.  While the wedding party entered the reception dancing to a Beyonce song, he and I talked for a while about a lot of stuff-seminary, discipleship, Kingdom of God, church work, etc.  While I’ll keep the content of that discussion between the two of us, it got me thinking about my calling.  Then, this morning as I was reading 1 Corinthians 1:1, I thought about that calling again.  Paul wrote, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”  I slipped off into reflective mode for a moment.  Here’s what I was remembering:

• In April of 1994, I asked Jesus to be the leader of my life.  I’d known him as my Savior and friend most of my life, but never completely submitted to him until one night in April.
• In April of 1995, I was having a deep, intense time of prayer in the peer-leading room of Central Gwinnett High School (of all places) when I heard God say, “You will work for me.”  My response was, “Excuse me?  I thought you just said, ‘you will work for me.’”
• For a second time, I heard God say, “You will work for me.”  At that point, there was an incredible warmth that came over my body.  It was as if someone were pouring warm oil that was covering me from my head to my feet.
• I felt a peace like I’d never felt before.
• I wanted the calling to be  a Christian Counselor-not b/c I was called to be that, but b/c you could do that and make a very good living monetarily.
• In August of 1995, I learned that calling isn’t about money, but surrender to the will of God.  I learned this as I joined the staff at a medium-sized church as a Youth Pastor.  I was originally supposed to be interim, but they removed that adjective a few months after I started.

And that’s how it all began!

Need to confess?

Confession: I really didn’t want to have Quiet Time this morning. Once I got to my secret place, I really didn’t want to be there. I found that it was hard to get in the zone. Just so you know, the zone is what I call the moment when you realize that God is present with you in your reading and prayer. I love the zone and long for the zone, but when I’m not there or have difficulty getting there, quiet time is difficult. One of the difficulties of getting in the zone is unconfessed sin. Confessing sin is must for being in the Another difficulty of getting in the zone is confessing sin. Sometimes I get tired of bringing my crap to Jesus! Not b/c I don’t think I should bring my crap to Jesus, but that somehow Jesus gets tired of being crapped on. Furthermore, I get tired of my crap. So, this morning I was having a pity party in prayer. Thinking things like “why do I still sin, God?” I was so consumed with this thought this morning that I wasn’t able to reach the zone. So, check this out: While I have a normally scheduled Bible reading, my prayer journal has a verse at the bottom of each page. I happened to look down and it read: Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

That’s the zone and that’s the zone. God met me right there when I was having difficulty meeting Him, which is the way God operates anyway. Furthermore, that is grace! That’s the zone! That verse challenged me to march right into the throne of grace. There was mercy or restrained judgement/punishment awaiting me. There was also unearned favor to help me.

I don’t normally like to share secret place stuff, but I kept feeling pressed that there might be some of you out there who need to know to approach the throne of grace with confidence today. God’s ready to meet with you and The Zone is awaiting your arrival today!

Ken wants to know: do you feel there has to be an exact moment a person comes to full relationship with Christ, or could it be gradual, over time?

That’s a great question and only slightly less difficult than Kent’s question from yesterday.  If we’re to take Ken’s question at face value about a person’s relationship with Christ, then the answer could be either one, especially a gradual commitment to Christ.  However, I think Ken might be asking about when a person is justified or “saved.”  This question deserves a little more attention.  Very early in John’s gospel, Jesus is having a conversation with a guy named Nicodemus.  Nic wants to know what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus responds by saying that he must be born again, which is only possible when a person is born of the Holy Spirit.  Obviously, there has to be a moment of birth, but I would argue that there might be a gestation process.  Take for instance, the disciples process of a fully committed relationship with Jesus.  At what point where they fully committed?  Was it when Peter makes his confession that Jesus is the Son of the living God?  If it was, what do we do when Jesus calls him Satan or when Peter denies Jesus 3 times?  By Acts chapter 2, it’s pretty obvious that Peter’s been born of the Spirit.  Shoot, he and the others speak in foreign languages under the power of the Spirit.  But, when did it happen?  I’m not sure.  In the modern church (over the last 50 years of Christianity in America), we’ve focused on the moment!

Did you pray a prayer?  Did you raise your hand?  Did you walk an aisle?  (Just so you know…I did!)  Some call this “decisional regeneration.”  However, a moment or a decision doesn’t “save” a person.  It’s only by grace through faith that someone is justified.  That’s not determined by a moment, but complete trust in what Christ has done completely!  That might take place in a moment, but it might take place gradually.  The important question is this:  Has it taken place?  Is a person in a fully committed relationship with Jesus?  Is a person born of the Spirit?  THAT’S ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS!

FYI, in a 5-mile radius of Chateau Elan, there are approximately 19,000 people who do not have any level of a relationship with Jesus Christ!

Need to confess?

Jacob Burson wants to know: Can someone be a committed Christian and not serve in the local church?

Short Answer: NO

Now let me explain! First, I think it’s funny that we use the term “committed” to describe Christianity. The first Christians were being insulted. In Scripture, the word “Christian” isn’t used that often and when it is, it’s derogatory. It was meant to describe one who is a slave to Christ. To be Christian means to be committed. It means a person’s life is owned by Jesus! Second, if you’re a slave to Christ, then you do what Christ did. If there’s one thing that Christ did, it was serve!

In John 13, Jesus is having his last real hang-time with the disciples before he dies.  John records him as saying that he wants to show them the greatest extent of his love.  He wants them to know the fullest measure of his love.  One of the most interesting things about that chapter is that Jesus clearly wants to show the extent of his love to those who are his.  How does he do it?  He washes the disciples’ feet.  Now, that was a task reserved for hired slaves.  It’s clear Jesus is making a huge point.  Slave-like service=Fullest Measure of Love.  Now check this: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”  That’s a quote from Jesus if you didn’t catch it!  It’s pretty clearly that when it comes to those who are HIS, we’re called to serve one another with radical love.  At our church over the summer, I challenged people to out-serve one another on Sunday mornings!  Not that we need to, but let’s move from Jesus to Paul.

Paul says that each person who belongs to Jesus has at least one spiritual gift and that gift is to be used for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7).  Spiritual gifts are given for the building-up of the Church.  If we aren’t serving within the Church, then we’re neglecting our spiritual giftedness.  If we’re neglecting our spiritual giftedness, we’re neglecting the Holy Spirit, which is the same Spirit in Christ.  So, bottom line is that we’d be neglecting Jesus Christ.    One last thing: Paul says that we’re all members of the same body, the body of Christ.  As a member of the body of Christ, we belong to each other.  If you’re reading this blog and you’re a follower of Jesus, I belong to you!  Now before you go crazy on that one, remember, you belong to me too!  If one part of the body neglects it’s role, the whole body suffers.

*There’s one exception to this answer: The person who has just given his/her heart to Jesus Christ.

Can a person be an uncommitted Christian?  Nope.  Can a person be a committed Christian and not serve?  NOPE!

Tomorrow’s Blog:  Kent asked “Why Women Can’t Serve as Pastors (or can they)?”

Need to confess?

Confession: All week I had a strong feeling that someone or someones were going to accept Jesus at The Vine this week. Add that to the fact that I asked our staff to pray earnestly for the salvation of folks who don’t know Jesus Christ, and I was completely stoked about this morning. Turns out that the prompting and the prayers were dead-on. Our serve teams at The Vine are ridiculous. We gathered at 9:00 for prayer and asked them to pray right there and throughout the morning for people who don’t know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Well, drum roll please…at least four people recognized that they made a decision to place faith in Jesus Christ. That’s awesome! That’s why we exist! That’s why we wanted to build-out a bigger facility!

The second cool thing is that at the 11:00 service we had to bring out more chairs. That’s two weeks in a row. Just to be clear, we didn’t move back the chairs that we moved out last week. So, that means we had more people show up this week at 11:00 than we did last week. Ridiculous. If you go to The Vine, keep it up. If you haven’t been to The Vine, come and check-it-out! It’ll be worth your time I promise.

While I’m certainly fired up about what’s been going on at The Vine, I’m also fired up about what’s going on at a number of churches recently. One of my dear friends (that sounds weird) is a pastor at 12Stone. They’re just down the street from us. Here’s a quote from his twitter: “My fav way to preach is soaking wet from baptizing people the service before. Today was spontaneous goodness all over.” Apparently, over 300 folks were baptized today. What? That’s ridiculously awesome. Keep it up Kevin and 12Stone.

Add that to the people who are going to be baptized at The Vine next week and that’s a good addition to the Kingdom of God!

Need to confess?

Confession: I felt like we just birthed another church. By the way, planting a church is not an accurate term for it. Birthing is a more appropriate description. Planting, I could do by myself. Birthing requires the help of a whole lot of people. Well, that’s what happened the first-go-round and that’s what happened on Sunday. If you haven’t heard, The Vine opened a new, 10000 sqft facility. Our launch team was about 3 times the size of our original launch team, and we were better equipped for it. My wife, who also doubles as Kidzu Director, had an amazing team of folks working almost non-stop for 2 weeks to pull-off an amazing kid’s experience. In fact, here’s a picture of the worship taking place there on Sunday:

The crazy thing about Kidzu is that we double the amount of kids in one week! All I know is that my kids loved it. One woman who filled-out a first-time guest survey said that her best impression was that her 7-year-old wanted to return! That’s awesome.

We actually double the amount of adults worshipping with us as well. We had a ton of first-time guests worshipping with us. Their overwhelming first impression was the amount of greeters and the quality of being greeted! That’s what I love to hear. One of the things that I harped on before we launched was the theme of hospitality to the foreigner that is prevalent throughout Scripture. Well, looks like we had that in place on Sunday. Thanks to all who served in Guest Services. One lady responded on the survey by saying that she was blown away by both the hospitality and the awesome coffee. Put those two things together and you’ve got a winning combination. The actual worship experience was great too! The amazing thing is that the “best is yet to come.”

That night, the new facility was crawling with teenagers! They got to enjoy the new blu-ray lounge. I wish I had a picture to show you b/c it was legit. Tucker preached a funeral for “Mr. Clique.” He was hilarious and it drove home Gus’ point that cliques aren’t acceptable in Christ. I’ll add to Gus’ message and spin Colossians 3:11 by saying, “Here there is no {clique}, but Christ is all and in all.”

Oh yeh, the best thing that took place on Sunday was that a young woman gave her life to Christ! That’s what this is all about.