Future

As there are several things in my life right now that will hopefully be changing I have decided that I should start posting again.  It has been a while since I have written anything and this is largely due to a poor attitude I have developed over the past few months.  This attitude is a culmination of several things in my life that will hopefully be changing.  It is a result of what I believe to partially be spiritual immaturity that has brought me to the place I am now.  There are several aspects that this has manifested itself in my life and hopefully all of these will be changing, but the one that I will mention now, which is also the one I have the most control over, is my health.

The aspect of my life that I have the most control over, as I just said, is my health.  I control how much I work out, if I even do, what I eat, and for the most part how stressed out I let myself become.  I am making a decision to live a more healthy life by eating right and working out when I can.  The reason I put this in a post like this is because I would like my friends and family to help me in this endeavor to live a more physically healthy lifestyle.  You can do this by calling me out on what I eat and asking me when the last time I worked out was.   The encouragement you can give is greatly appreciated and calling me out on my lifestyle in such a way will force me to consider my choices more clearly.

At this point I would like to apologize as to the nature of this post as usually I reserve this for any deep theological or spiritual thoughts that I may feel the need to express or of some knowledge I feel inclined to impart.  However I feel that this is also beneficial to those reading in that I hope it will help you understand that Spiritual Health is not simply made up of reading your Bible and Prayer but rather it is an accumulation  of every aspect of your life.  If one portion of your life whether it be your bible study, health, attitude towards work, or your relationship to other people (note this is not an exclusive list) is not in line with how we are called to live as Followers of Christ then your Spiritual Health is suffering.  I ask that you take a look at your own life as I ask you to help me make important changes in mine and perhaps we can grow together in our relationship with Christ.

A Call to Evangelism

Recently God has brought two young men into my life in a way that has somewhat forced me to think about evangelism.  I say this not because I have not thought of evangelism before, or because before now I haven’t found evangelism important, but rather because I believe He has purposefully brought these two young men to my doorstep (literally) for me to speak truth into their lives.  These two young men are Mormons.  They came to my home as part of the beginning of their two year mission and for the first time in my life, rather than simply smile, nod, and hope they will go away, I listened to what they had to say and invited them to come back.

Now I have to be honest and say that I did not expect them to come back but rather thought that if I truly wanted to invest anything into them I would have to search them out.  However tonight, while my wife was conveniently out of town and most people had other plans, they came back.

I believe that we all as followers of Christ are called to go out and make disciples.  I believe that part of this is evangelism and that we are called through the Great Commission to make an effort to go out and evangelise.  I need to confess that I have rarely done so.  At this point in time I find myself in a position where two men who do not know the Truth have come to me and for the first time in my life I am not just waiting for them to go away.

As I begin my journey through listening to what these men have to say, and hopefully being able to correct their beliefs to bring them to a belief in Christ as Lord, I am encouraged to find expressing what I believe, in a way that is understandable, not as difficult as I had feared.  I find myself not being as uncomfortable with speaking the Truth with complete strangers as I had thought that I would.  I find strength in the fact that I believe that God has brought me into this for the reason of hopefully changing these young men’s lives.

Now I say all of this not to boast but rather to express to you how easy it is for us to begin the process of making disciples if we simply step out of our comfort zone and trust that the Holy Spirit will work through us to plant and water the seeds of faith.  I now find myself excited not just to continue my conversations with these men but to also go out and preach the gospel to more people.  I am excited not just about investing in believers, as has always been my passion before, but also about the opportunities I am given to spread the gospel to non-believers.

I pray that you who read this will take this as an encouragement to take advantage of every opportunity that is placed before you to share the Gospel.  We are not called to just share the gospel with our friends and those we know but called to make disciples of every nation.  This comes from leaving your comfort zone and talking to sometimes complete strangers about Christ.  I am not saying that we all need to travel to the far reaches of the earth because I can prove to you the depravity of our home town.  I ask rather that we all stop making excuses about why we aren’t participating in the act of evangelism and go make disciples.  It is time that we stop sitting around waiting for those with the “gift of evangelism” to do all the work and bring the Truth and in effect complete life change to all of those around us.

Take Charge

There is something I found that I have been struggling with throughout my entire Christian life.  It is something that I believe is a struggle for every believer and an issue that most of us don’t even realize that we have.

I struggle with building my faith off the faith of others.

I look back at how I have come to the doctrinal beliefs that I have this day and realize that the majority of them are just ideas that I have adopted as my own from men who I trusted and not from personal study or reading of the Scriptures. (Not that I am saying these were not godly men but rather that I have not tested what I have taken as Truth.)  What I need to be doing is testing everything I hear before I accept it as truth.  Over this past year I have found myself, instead of just dismissing different doctrines out of hand, taking what I have heard and testing it through Scripture myself and I have found that much of what I had taken as truth were simply the beliefs or personal convictions of others and not the Truth of God’s Word.  I have had to rework my thinking because of God’s Word being taken out of context or from taking man’s words as Scripture.

I say all of this not because I am going to give you a list of some doctrine but rather to make the point that we cannot live off the faith of others but need to be taking charge of our own faith.  We are told to be continuously training ourselves.  (1 Timothy 4:7-8)  We are told to test everything we hear (1 John 4).  We cannot as Followers of Christ just assume that everything that comes from the pulpit is true.  It is not enough to know what you believe you also NEED to know why you believe it.

We need to take charge of our own faith and stop living off the faith of others.

What everyone is talking about today

Today is the day after the election here in the United States and as you all know by now Barrack Obama is our new president.  I have seen a lot of posts today and heard a lot of people talking about this both good and bad and now I am going to give my opinion of this years election.

As a follower of Christ it does not matter who won.

Now please don’t misunderstand me.  I did vote and I did care who won the election.  However the results do not make a difference in how we as Followers of Christ should live.  Had McCain won, yes, we would continue with the changes in the economy and it may or may not have straightened out.  Yes Obama is going to attempt to make changes in the policies in the United States that I may not agree with.  But as a Christian my priorities and the way I choose to live my life will not change.  As Followers of Christ we need to stay as committed to the Mission as we have been to this point.  We need to continue to redeem the relationships we are in and continue do develop new ones as we work to draw more people to Christ.  The Mission has not changed.  What we are called to do as Followers of Christ has not changed.  Will there be changes in our country, yes.  But our purpose on this Earth has not changed.  I am still committed to following the Great Commission.  I am still committed to bringing people into the body of Christ and developing those who are already a part of the body.  I am still committed to living a Missional Life and no changes in the politics of man will change that.  As such we who are Followers of Christ should not waver from the Mission we have been called to.

The Mission is NOT a new idea

Those of you who are involved with conVerge, or have at least checked out our website, know that we are putting all our effort and our lives into not just bringing new believers to Christ but also to redirecting the lives of those who already are followers of Christ.  You also know that we are devoting our entire lives to living out the Mission of Christ as seen in Matthew 28:18-20 in that everything we think, do, and say needs to be focused on making disciples.

Some people look at conVerge and are thinking that we are just trying to start some new movement or something, but I want you to understand that this is not and should not be thought of as something new.  I think that a post such as this has been a long time coming and right now is heavy on my mind.

I am currently reading “Growing an Engaged Church” by Albert L. Winsemen (which please note I am not far enough into the book to recommend it to anyone at this time) and up to the point that I have gotten, which is just past the first chapter so far, the entire premise is that churches in the United States are shrinking because we have lost our focus.  The cover of the book says “How to stop ‘Doing Church’ and start Being the Church again”.  This is the idea of the Mission, shortened into one sentence.

Perhaps I am being repetative in writing this post but I think we all need to understand that we as Followers of Christ have a responsibility, and I believe if we are growing closer in our walk with Christ a desire, to see the Church grow.  Not just through empty programs and through “getting memebers involved” but rather through the redeeming of old relationships and the development of new ones.  The biggest thing the church has been missing is relationships and that is the entire idea of the Mission.

Christ told us to make disciples of all the nations.  He did not tell us to “evangelise” the entire world.  We cannot make disciples without building solid edifying relationships.  It is not enough to just have someone pray a prayer and leave them at that.  If we are not investing into each other and into the lives of those around us then we are not fullfilling the Great Commission.  This is the Mission of the Church and what conVerge has committed to.  The Mission is NOT a new idea, rather the final commandment Christ gave us before He left this world.

Sacrifice

As I begin to become more involved with conVerge Church I am, hopefully, beginning to fully understand the sacrifices that need to be made as we live our lives based solely around the Mission of Christ.  When I say this please understand that this does not mean we cannot have fun as followers of Christ, we still need to enjoy the life that God has given us, we do however need to manage our time more efficiently.  For me this means I need to cut back on video games and watching TV, for you it may mean any number of different things.

I am beginning to understand that although I thoroughly enjoy these things I can’t spend all my “free time” doing them.  I could be spending more time developing relationships with more people or deepening the relationships I already have (both fun things).  I could be learning more about my relationship with Christ by listening to pod-casts or reading more books (both things that are enjoyable).  But the sacrifices that I need to make are things that have no impact on The Mission.  These things are in all of our lives: video games, TV, browsing the Internet, ___.  You can fill in that final blank with whatever it is in your life that you spend time doing that in no way fulfills the Mission.

Please understand again that I am not saying you can’t have fun or that these things have absolutely no place in our lives, but I believe these things so easily become “idols” in our lives and I would also say we are wasting our time doing them when we could be spending more time dedicated to the Mission.

We all need to take a step back and look at what we spend most of our “free time” doing and take a moment to think how this affects the Mission.  Is what I am doing becoming an idol?  Is what I am doing glorifying to God? Is there something different I would enjoy doing that would impact the Mission?  These are questions we need to be asking ourselves and there is a good chance that we need to make some sacrifices in our lives.  Also keep in mind what Caleb Turner said in Missional Communities last week (and I will paraphrase it a bit) If we are developing our relationship with Christ than we will enjoy doing things in our lives that are Missional.

My Mistake

There are so many things going through my mind right now.  I find myself so distracted from the emotions that suddenly spring out of me, from anger to stress to fear to sadness, that I can hardly think straight.  I came to a realization tonight; Just because we may believe that we are fully relying on God does not mean that we truly are.

Although that may not seem like a profound statement to you understand that it is one of the easiest things to do without even realizing it.  I have been believing that I have been relying on God when in fact I have simply been using that idea to excuse myself from actually taking control of my own life and following any direction that God may be giving me through His word or through my friends.  I have been “Relying on God” instead of taking the actions that are required during this step of faith (remember it isn’t a ’step of faith’ if you aren’t actually taking any steps)  It has been so easy to simply push worry and stress aside and say that I am “relying on God” when in fact I am simply using that as an excuse to sit on my lazy but and not step out and do what God requires of me.

This being said please learn from this mistake I have made and am now suffering the consequences of.  Understand that Relying on God is not just saying words or thinking the thought but it means that, while you are actually working towards what it is you have put in His hands, you are FULLY trusting in Him, realizing that it will either work out in His timing or you will come to where He wanted you to go in the first place.

Relying on God and Not myself.

I find it so interesting how God places circumstances in our lives to guide us when we need it the most.  As those of you that know me know I just got married about a week and a half ago.  I had been asked a few weeks before if I would speak at my friend Pastor Sidney Fields Student Ministry’s “Teen Week” which is the week after my honeymoon.  After talking to the most beautiful woman in the world, who is now my wife, about this, and spending some time in prayer about it, we decided that it is something God is leading me to do and were very excited about it.  Well the time has come and I have been feeling as if this is not the greatest idea.  We both want to go home and get stuff settled in but I have made this commitment and am sticking to it.

As usual I find myself doubting if this is really what the Lord is wanting me to do right now and have been uncomfortable, and feeling a bit insecure about my messages for this week, when I began catching up on reading some of the blogs that I missed while in the Dominican Republic.  As I said before it is so amazing how God almost manipulates (in a good way) the circumstances in our lives.  One of the posts that I was catching up on was Pastor Steven Furtick’s blog and interestingly enough the one that hit me the most was a guest he had blogging on his page Ryan Hollingsworth who was making an analogy of his high school running career and comparing it to his life now, talking about how we need to keep our eyes on the goal and not critiquing every decision we make causing us to doubt ourselves.

I need to keep myself focused on the reason that I am here speaking to these teens and that is because of my passion for teaching God’s Word.  I need to stop criticizing myself and trust that God has brought me here for a reason.  I need to speak from my heart and not just from some notes that I have put together.  I need to allow God to speak through me and trust that what he has led me to prepare is what these teens need to hear.  I need to follow Proverbs 3:5-6 and trust in the Lord with all my heart, leaning not on my own understanding but acknowledging Him in all my ways, allowing him to direct my paths.

Marriage is the Missional Life

So this coming Friday I am getting married to the most beautiful woman in the world. We have been best friends since High School and have been dating for almost 3 years now. Our lives are going to completely change after this Friday as every decision that either of us make will no longer be affecting just ourselves but each other. We will have to work together on our finances, how we spend our time, and everything else that life consists of. It will be a complete transformation from the way that we have been living up until this point. It is really starting to hit me at this point in time how real this change in my life is going to be. Our cars are in both our names, the house is rented in both our names, our bank accounts are being merged, everything that has been done on my own is now being done together with Sarah.

At this point in time it is also hitting me the degree of how this marriage relationship parallels our relationship with Christ. The bible uses this illustration over and over again and although I had thought I understood what this meant and what the severity of this relationship is it has never really hit me as it is this week. When we come into a relationship with Christ, when we dedicate ourselves to Him, we are in fact becoming one with him. Every decision from that point in time on needs to be focused not just on ourselves but also on Christ. Our lives are no longer our own. Just as after Friday everything I do will need to be done in consideration of my wife, everything I do from the time I accepted Christ as my Savior needs to be done in accordance to His will. I need to be a new man “transformed in the renewing of my mind”. Everything that was important in my life before my relationship with Christ needs to be put aside and my priorities need to be built around the mission He has for my life. My upcoming marriage needs to be focused on how we can live our lives in accordance to the mission of Christ. Everything that we do needs to be based upon making disciples throughout the entire world in whatever capacity Christ calls us to. What I do for a living, who I hang out with, what I do with my free time, everything I do needs to be run through this question, How is this furthering the kingdom of God. I am a new man in Christ just as I will have a new life with my wife in 5 days. The impact of this should not be lost on any of us as we need to understand that our life in Christ is one that should be 100% committed to spreading the Gospel and that is all that our life should be based upon.

The past misconceptions and current positions.

So I have been considering for a while now the idea of starting my own blog. I have written a few things in the past and just posted them to facebook and myspace but have never really created my own page for anything like this. After listening to the advice of Dave Gardner (which is usually a dangerous thing to do) I have decided to create my own page and begin blogging hopefully on a regular basis.

Right now I am at a very strange point in my life, one that I had never before even considered being in. For those of you that I talk to on a regular basis you know that I am getting married in 14 days (June 6th) and when I return to Lynchburg I will be married and unemployed. This is an idea that is frightening to me, in the sense that I know that I need to be able to provide for my wife and myself, but is causing more worry for Sarah and her mother than it is for me. Fully relying on God is not something that I have every really had a problem with, it has always been something that I have just done knowing that God will provide everything I need (Matthew 6:25-34) and occasionally things that I want. He has, however, from time to time found need to remind me to fully rely on Him and has placed me in situations where I find myself facing an almost impossible task. Right now I am faced with the task of providing for a family as well as pay for Sarah to finish her last year and a half of School. I need to find a job that is both going to provide for those needs but at the same time continue in my calling as a follower of Christ to fulfill the Great Commission. Sometimes I think life would be so much easier if I were not a Follower of Christ but then I remember all the different situations I have been put in that I would not have successfully come out of had it not been for the amazing providence of God.

As I sit here and continue to think these things through I find myself these days having to constantly remind myself that these decisions need to be made not only with the thought of providing for my family and paying for Sarah’s school but also that whatever I do needs to further the Kingdom of God, and that needs to be its sole purpose in my life.

Lets go back for a moment to the statement I started the meat of this blog off with. As I said I am in a position I never thought I would find myself in. I have been assuming for the last 4 years that when I graduated college I would dive directly into Youth Ministry. This has been a passion that God has directly placed into my heart and is the vocation that I know God has called me to. I had assumed that I would get married as soon as I graduated and that I would have a job all lined up and my life would fall into this perfect world of “Developing adult leaders to impact and influence the lives of students so that they will develop a faith that will impact the World for Christ.” I would have an Adult leadership team around me as I developed the youth in whatever geographical location God called me to and would be impacting an entire culture for the Gospel of Christ. Instead I find myself unemployed almost begging God for a position at Liberty University so that I can pay for my future wife’s schooling and still pay the bills, not having any idea where in the world to start looking outside of Liberty for a job that is not ministry related because I believe God has me involved with conVerge Church for a reason, and wondering where in the world God is directing my life.

You now have an indepth look at where I am in my life right now. As I post more blogs understand that this is where I am coming from whether the blog is based around something that smacked me in the face through scripture, my day to day walk with Christ, some new revelation about Youth Ministry, or whatever inspiration I find in my daily efforts to live every aspect of my life based upon the mission of Christ.

Feel free to comment with ideas, suggestions, advice, or just random comments to any of the blogs including this one. Thanks for taking the time to read it.