confessions of a church planter

I got this from an attendee of The Vine.  I asked for her permission to share it with you.  She, of course, said yes.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

There he was again, Scruffy Guy.That’s what we call him.

He lives in our area. I see him often as I’m out and about running
errands. My kids have seen him too. They wonder about him, because he
looks like he might be homeless; always commenting on how they feel
sorry for him, hoping he has food or a place to stay.

I’ve secretly thought to myself, that when and if the opportunity
presents itself I would pull over and give him some food or money, next
time I saw him. Surely he needs help.

Thursday morning I got the chance. I took time off from work so I could
attend my son’s class Christmas party. I had some banking and other
quick errands to run before going to the school. I had some time to
kill, so I squeezed in a little more Christmas shopping before heading
off to the school for the party.

The party was great and went along right on schedule. I was done and out
of there by 11:00. I’d have a little more time to squeeze in maybe one
more stop for gift shopping before heading to work for the afternoon.
Only problem, my husband accidentally took off with my keys when he left
the party. I was stuck at the school until he could turn around and
bring them back to me. I tell you this, because as we all know, timing
is everything.

Well, due to the key fiasco, I had to head straight to the office and
forget about another quick shopping stop. No worries… I’d still get to
work by noon. So, off  I went… heading down Spouts Springs Road to
I-985 South. I wasn’t 100 yards down the road before I ran into a
traffic snag. Not sure what it was but there was an emergency vehicle
and a fire truck tending to the scene and of course traffic was at a
stand still. My smooth schedule and extra time continued to dissolve.
It’s always something.

Luckily, it was only about a 5 minute delay…. and I’m off again.

Just as I was about to take my left onto I-985 south, there he was.
Huffing it down the road in his usual scruffy fashion, with a purposeful
walk. I looked across at him, then at the Target bag sitting on the seat
next to me. It had the plain white, flannel twin size sheets I bought
for Olivia to take back to school with her. Do you have any idea how
hard it is to find plain white sheets? Flannel at that? They were the
only ones at Target, in twin size, and on sale. Sweet.

Yes… I did the illegal U turn and whipped it around to meet him on the
other side of the road. I felt good about what I was about to do. A
little scared, but good.

“Hi! Would you like some sheets?”, I shouted out the window to him. I
raised the bag to him and extended it out my open window. He approached
and gave me a huge, scruffy guy, bad teeth smile and said…. get this….

“Why no, but thank you. I have some sheets. Are you doing OK?” …. Me?
Am I doing OK????, is what I was thinking.

“Christmas is coming, isn’t it!”, he continued with cheerful enthusiasm.
“You gonna have a good one, right? You be real careful out here, OK?” I
felt he was truly more interested in letting me know he was OK and he
hopes I am too. It was weird, but in a good way weird.

It was nice to know that he was OK. I guess that was a gift. Maybe he
is, maybe he isn’t. Appearances would say he isn’t.

I have contemplated on this little exchange since Thursday. I felt so
good after that little encounter and I couldn’t figure out why. He
didn’t take the sheets that I was sure he could use. He didn’t ask for
anything else. But, he also didn’t try to snag my purse right there on
the seat, by the open window. He could have, I guess.

Here’s what I finally figured out. Someone cared more about how I was
doing, than about his own obvious needs. A complete stranger. He cared.

As we offered each other our “Merry Christmases” and good-byes, I looked
in the rear view mirror as I was pulling away and he was watching me
pull away…. and smiling and waving. Like a father would his child.

I don’t know why I wanted to share this with my friends and prayer
warriors, but I do. It may mean something completely different to you,
but for me, Scruffy Guy was not who I thought he was. I thought he was a
poor soul, who was in need of much. I was going to be his helper, just
one little hand or gesture reaching out to help save him. But I think he
probably gave me more on Thursday than I attempted to offer to him.

Someone is helping him. He didn’t need me. That’s good news.

Merry Christmas.

Love,

Lisa

From Friday:

• Liz and I braved the elements to finish up our Christmas shopping.  We split up at one point so the kids and I could buy her present from the kids.  I was getting some crazy stares pushing a double stroller with two older kids giving an escort.  That gave me a glimpse into Liz’s world.  First, it makes me wonder if it even phases her anymore.  Second, it makes me love my wife even more.  She’s ridiculous!  I see the struggle some have with one and Liz makes it look easy…with 4…5 yrs and younger!  She’s a super mom and I love her so much.
• Liz and I braved I-85…at 5:00…the Friday before Christmas!  We left Discover Mills for the Mall of Georgia.  It took 45 minutes to travel 7 miles.  Distance=RateXTime.  Our rate was real slow.
• After the mall we took back roads for some Little Caesar’s pizza and a Walmart stop.  All totaled, it took us 2 hours to get home from Discover Mills.
• I feel asleep about 11:00 and Liz woke me up at 12:03.  That’s all I needed to cause me to stay up until about 3:00.  During that time, I spent a good bit of time praying for HiDef.
• Our youth ministry, HiDef, was doing their portion of raising funds for our annual Christmas Offering.  They raised well over $1000 to help people right here and over there (at The Vine and Mozambique)!  I’m so proud of Gus’ leadership and the effort that our students put forth!

From Saturday:

• Liz and I thought we’d surprise the kids by taking a field trip to Fernbank Science Center to see a program at their Planetarium called “Winter Star.”  I haven’t been there since the fourth grade.  Oh, the planetarium…oh, third grade…Janie Bolden and I held hands while looking at stars.  Saturday, I was holding Cade.  I’m crazy old!
• It was short trip.  The kids liked the reptile displays, the swamp displays, and the planetarium.  Then, it went downhill.
• We made a short stop at Moe’s.  You would’ve thought we were torturing the kids.  Liz and I were doing our best to bless our kids, but they were so blinded by their selfishness and preferences that they couldn’t even receive it.  When we wouldn’t let them devour chips before eating the decently healthy food, they went off.  Liz and Laney had an interesting exchange where Liz told Laney she was acted rude.  Laney said, “Actually you’re rude.”  Laney later told me that I was mean.  I asked her if she really thought that.  She said, “no.”  I asked, “Do you think I’m good, but sometimes I don’t do things that you want me to do?”  She answered, “yeh.”  I then thought about God…
• God is good!  BUT (that’s a big but, Jason) sometimes God doesn’t give us what we want.  God sometimes gives us what we need!  God sees the bigger picture and what’s best for us.  Don’t ever forget though that God is good.  Bill Johnson says that’s the cornerstone of all theology.
• After getting the kids straightened out, I went for a quick work-out.  It was my first in weeks and the most difficult in months.  I had three realizations while working out: I’m bigger than I want to be, more out of shape than I want to be, and weaker than I want to be!  No more.  It’s war!
• I went to bed early and made up for missed sleep throughout the week.

Sunday:

• Jason brought the word this morning.  Here are a couple of his points:
• “Ever notice how there are “buts” to our plans.  ’Joseph, I’m pregnant by the Holy Spirit.’  That’s a big but!”
• “God’s been working on His plans a lot longer than we’ve been working on ours!”
• “Sometimes the blemish is the blessing!”
• Gregg revealed his latest song.  It reminded us that the Gospel is beautiful and so are the feet of the one who brings us the good news.
• I just realized “good” is a funny looking word!
• The Vine’s lobby was full of coats and gifts getting us ready for this year’s “Coats for Christmas.”  Even if you don’t attend The Vine, we’d love for you to go with on Christmas Day to take coats, lunches, and gifts to the homeless.  For more information, check out our church’s outreach blog!
• Our youth are having a Christmas Party tonight and watching Elf.  Not sure if my favorite quote is:  ”Buddy, the elf, what’s your favorite color?” or “Ooh, sucky!”
• Let the countdown begin for Christmas Eve services (3:00, 5:00, 7:00).  Which one will you be attending?

Confession: I often get distracted by the second option or the second tree.  Last week, while attending a conference, the speaker spoke about how Jesus’ words are always life-giving and eternal.  He cited two particular passages where Jesus speaks grace-filled words, but that the words are hard to receive.  The first passage was John 6.  In John 6 Jesus says something that’s so strange to the people of his and our day.  The only way it’s not strange to people of our day is if we’ve grown up hearing it and have become numb to it.  What Jesus says is that his followers must eat his body and drink his blood.  No matter how you slice it (ok, bad choice of words there), that’s weird, disgusting, and doesn’t make sense.  It causes a mass exodus at the church service Jesus was holding.  (That makes me feel a little better about my preaching.)  For those that remain, Jesus picks up on how concerned they are about what he said.  To address their concern, Jesus directly asked them, “Do you want to leave too?”  Their response was, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”  Some of the folks get side-tracked b/c Jesus is Joseph’s boy.  Others get sidetracked b/c Jesus’ words were hard.  Jesus’ main crew found life in his words.

The second passage is Luke 4.  This contains Jesus’ famous proclamation that he is the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the Messiah.  Most people immediately jump to the people’s rejection of Jesus without recognizing their first reaction.  Their first reaction was amazement.  They were amazed!  Why?  Well, besides Jesus being amazing, his words were full of grace.  They were gracious or grace-filled.  BUT, then someone asks the question, “Ain’t that Joseph’s boy? (NST-New Southern Translation)”

In both situations, Jesus speaks life-giving, grace-filled words.  In both situations an oppositional question is asked.  In all situations, two options are presented.  Two trees if you will.  Will you choose the tree of life or will you choose the other?  Will you choose the words of Christ, the words of life?  Or, will you choose the other?

Need to confess?

One of our core values at The Vine is that communion with God, change in character, and compassion for others are the results of a true connection with God through Jesus Christ.  On Sunday I preached on two of the three for a few minutes in the context of the whole message.  One of the things that I’ve been most grateful for throughout my time at The Vine is the level of compassion displayed by the church as a whole and individuals who are growing in their faith.  It should come as no surprise that people are compassionate when they’re connected to Christ.  I love the way the Apostle Paul put it in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!”  (I added the exclamation mark-that’s why it’s italicized!)

The first thing Paul reminds us is that we are a piece of work.  Tell someone today that they are a piece of work!  Just kidding. Truth is, we are a piece of God’s artwork.  We’re an artistic creation from the Creator.  You have value and worth.

The second thing Paul reminds us is that we were created to be in Christ Jesus.  In Colossians, Paul puts it this way: All things were created by him and for him.  So follow the logic: You were created by Christ Jesus, for Christ Jesus, to be in Christ Jesus.  Two of those are out of your control.  One of those is completely within your will and control and that’s a person who’s in Christ Jesus.  When you decide that you want to be created in Christ Jesus, you trust Jesus to be the forgiver of your sins and leader of your life.  In doing so, you are created a second time.  Jesus explained it like it was a second birth, but this time of spirit, not water and flesh.  When we live in an active relationship with Christ Jesus our purpose is good works!  That’s one way I define compassion.  Compassion is love in action.  Compassion is living life with passion for others.  Gregg and Jake at our recent “Volunteer Appreciation Night” defined compassion as keeping your “i” “on” the “compass,” which is Jesus (It was really funny)!  Compassion is responding to that nudge in your gut through loving action.  You get the point.  In Christ, people are compassionate.

Finally, these opportunities for compassion were created in advance for you to do.  Whether it’s your wiring of strengths and spiritual gifts or orchestrated opportunities, God has positioned you for good works.  If you don’t see the opportunity for good works in front of you, God’s POSITIONING you for good works.  Another thing to keep in mind is that God’s always seeking to use you right where you are for right now and in preparation for the next step!

So, I’m grateful for the compassionate people of The Vine who are in Christ Jesus doing what they’re created to do.  If you’re looking for ways to put your faith into action through compassionate outreach, check-out our church’s outreach blog!

Need to confess?

• Despite some technical difficulties at the 9:30 service, the worship was ridiculous!
• Seriously, Gregg and Regina led “O Holy Night” w/ a little Shane-n-Shane flava and it was incredible!
• Before we received the offering this week, we got to hear a message from Sarah Olds thanking The Vine for their generosity!
• Speaking of generosity, The Vine is closing in on their financial goal for the Christmas Offering.  With just a few weeks to go, we’re only a few thousand dollars away from reaching $12,000.  Someone who is reading this blog right now can write a check for the remaining amount!  Don’t delay.
• We talked about the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Future!
• In talking about the future, we discussed compassion.  In doing so, we learned more about what Sarah does with Masana.  I’ll get the video on my blog as soon as I gain access to it.
• Speaking of Sarah, she made an appearance at HiDef last night.  She and James Murphy talked about their mission experiences.
• Speaking of HiDef, they’ll be hosting a night of homelessness this Friday night to raise funds for the Christmas Offering!  Apparently, the students are going to sleep outside to gain appreciation for the teens in Maputo, Mozambique and to raise money to help eradicate homelessness.

Confession: It’s been an insanely long amount of time between blog posts.  Truth is that I just got tired of blogging.  It almost got to where it was a part of my job instead of a hobby.  As I type, I’m still fighting my lack of desire to blog, but something I learned last week at a conference might help.  Of course, I’m not sure you care or that there’s anyone out there reading this blog!

Last week I attended a one-day conference called “Victorious Momentum.”  The keynote speaker is a pastor from a huge charismatic church in California.  Long story short: the church that he leads has seen some pretty crazy, supernatural stuff happen.  During a Q&A session over lunch, someone asked the pastor about miracles.  He ultimately ended up saying that if miracles don’t follow you, you need to follow miracles until they follow you.  Essentially, he’s saying that miracle-working environments can’t be taught.  They can only be caught.  I believe him.  While we were there, some chick had two diamonds in her hand that were growing right there on the spot.  In my world, that’s weird and abnormal.  In their world, that’s expected and normal.  Dude, was telling a story about how a couple of weeks ago it started raining inside a room.  Um…I guess I need to follow until they follow me.

With that, I’m going to follow blogging until it follows me.  I will be disciplined and see if it rubs off on my desire.

Need to confess?

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!