My wife and I have been in Durham, NC now for about a month and a half. We are very excited that we’ve found a church home – River Oaks Community Church. What a wonderful group of people – they have welcomed us warmly into their congregation.

Today, Pastor Bill Denning challenged the church. He spoke primarily about church planting, and about the church’s (the church as a whole in America) relevance in our culture. Pastor Bill argued (convincingly) that the church simply is not relevant today – especially to the non-church goer. This explains why, as he said, that in the last 30-40 years there has been a significant rise in interest in spirituality, yet a siginificant decline in both attendance and membership of mainline denomination churches.

The story was illustrated by a video. In the video, the narrator is talking about growing up in a community.  In the 50’s, the narrator was a child and saw the establishment of both a church and a grocery store.  Through the decades, the community changes tremendously, and the grocery store always remained relevant to the changing community.  When multi-cultural families moved in the neighborhood, the store sold ethnic foods.  When people became very health-conscience, the store sold healthy foods.  All the while, the church remained the same.  After 50 years, the narrator noticed that the grocery store was completely different than it was 50 years ago, yet it still sold food.  It’s essence was the same, but the way the store delivered food changed to remain relevant to the community.  After 50 years, the only difference to the church was a for sale sign.

Churches are closing their doors at an alarming rate, and one reason is that many churches either cannot or will not change and become relevant with culture.  In the same way the essence of the grocery store remained, the essence of the church – the Gospel – should never, ever change, but the way the church communicates the Gospel must be applicable to the culture in which it exists.

If we are to follow the Great Commission – if we are to make new disciples – we must reach those that are “unchurched”.  To do that, we have to communicate the Gospel in a way that is relevant.  That’s what Jesus did, and that’s what we should do also.

I’ve been reading through a very challenging book called “Planting Missional Churches” by Ed Stetzer.  I’m almost through it, and I recommend you read it – whether you feel like a church planter or not.  Stetzer challenges his readers to be “missional”.

This idea certainly isn’t new.  Before Jesus ascends into heaven after his resurrection, he tells his disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matt. 28:19).  He is basically saying that we should be missionaries.  Growing up, our local church always sponsored and sent out missionaries.  I remember a couple of them distinctly – one missionary family was in South America, and another missionary was in Africa.  I have a Great Uncle and Aunt that served as missionaries in Japan.  When I hear the word “missionary”, I think about somebody going somewhere very, very far away.

I am re-thinking what it means to be a missionary.  The mission field isn’t, and shouldn’t be, another continent.  The mission field is whatever ground we are standing on.  It is so important that we understand this concept if we are to be called disciples of Christ.

So, I am trying to understand what it means to be a missionary in my own neighborhood.  I’d like to encourage you to do the same.

I really don’t get into politics.  I never have.  But let me tell you why I love Barack Obama…

Because I am a follower of Christ.  Jesus talked a lot about how to live, but when it all boils down, one thing remains, and that is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).  The scriptures are full of how to treat people, and they all resound around one thing – Love.

You might notice that the title of this post is a play on something that has come to light in the news recently – a pastor from Arizona preached a sermon titled “Why I Hate Barack Obama”.  Now, like I said, I really don’t mess around too much with politics, and as a result I’d say that I am usually not as well educated on current issues as I should be, but I have heard a lot of people criticizing our President and his administration.  Not only that, but I have heard a lot of people in church circles criticizing, and more often than not, the tone I have heard is dangerously close to hate.  Now, you or I may not agree with everything our president stands for, but as followers of Christ, we should be known for one thing above all other things – love.

I suppose this post is just a reminder to all of us out there who call ourselves Christians – let us be known by love.  I’m not saying you have to agree with everything, or that you should agree with everything, but please – love.

On a side note, here is an interesting observation.  Obama’s campaign was built on the idea of change.  As a nation, we rallied behind it, and as president, he is attempting to effect change.  What is the result?  America is going nuts.  Parents don’t even want their children to listen to a Presidential address – which, by the way, was a very, very good message to the youth of our nation.  People bring weapons to public town hall meetings.  Our president is essentially doing what he said he would do – change – and he is getting raked over the coals for it.  I say this:  It is easy to stand and point at something that we feel is wrong.  It is much harder to stand up and do something about it.  In my opinion, our current administration is doing just that – they are trying to create the best America that they can, and for that, I respect them.

Finally, I like that our president can do pull-ups.

In Luke chapter 7, a prostitute washes Jesus’s feet with a vial of perfume and her hair. She does this in front of a room full of religious leaders and churchgoers. When Christ is challenged, he defends the prostitute.

We live in a world where we feel we cannot open up to people about our sin. We feel like we have to make our lives clean before we can come to God, church, or each other. The prostitute poured the symbol of her life of sin on Jesus’s feet, and we can do the same with our sin.

I’m a Youth Pastor at the Memorial Road Mennonite Brethren Church in Edmond, OK.  I don’t preach all that often – about 4 times a year, but I really enjoy preaching.  I preached my last sermon at MRMBC on Sunday, July 12. Well, my last sermon as the Youth Pastor there.    My wife and I will be moving to Durham, North Carolina in just a few weeks (more info on that here).

Anyway, I preached on a passage that’s been on my heart for a while – Luke 7:36-50.  It goes like this:

• Jesus is invited to a dinner party.
• The host (a Pharisee named Simon) is incredibly rude to Jesus.
• Somewhere along the way a “woman of sin” (probably a prostitute) shows up and starts washing Jesus’s feet with her tears, then pours a bunch of perfume on his feet.
• Simon doesn’t like the fact that a prostitute is pouring her perfume on his floor, so he starts complaining.
• Jesus doesn’t like that Simon is complaining, so he calls him out.
• Then Jesus proceeds to blow everybody’s mind talking about forgiveness and sin.

Basically, Jesus breaks every Middle-Eastern-AD-30 social rule in the book according to their culture and defends a prostitute in a room full of church leaders.  It’s a crazy story, and it’s implications should literally change our lives.

Here is the sermon audio:

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Download the mp3

I’ve been in a writing mode lately.  Songwriting, anyway.  It’s really been years since I’ve focused on songwriting, and it feels really good to try and formulate thoughts, emotions, and passions into lyric phrases.

One song I’m currently working on is called “When You Stand”.  Here are the lyrics, as they stand now.

I can’t wait until this is over
I don’t think I’ll ride this out
If I can’t talk to anybody
I’ll never get my feet on the ground

So won’t you be my crying shoulder
Help pick these thorns out of my crown
Will you be there when it’s over
And pick me up off of the ground

Cause we all fall down
Yet we all know how
To point and stare and ignore what’s there
We all fall down
And we wander around
We will find our way  when we stand

So I will be your crying shoulder
I will be there till the end
I will be there when its over
You will see me when you stand

The message of the song two-fold.  First, we all go through hard times in our lives.  We all mess up, we all feel guilty, and we need each other.  Yet it is human nature for us to point the finger at somebody else when they are down and totally ignore what is going on in our own lives.

In Matthew 7, Jesus addresses this when he says, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?” (Matt 7:3-4).

The second part of the song deals with how I want to respond to people around me in need.  Rather than point out a spec, I want to be an encourager.  I use the imagry of being down on the ground as opposed to standing.  I want to be the person that lifts up rather than pushes down.  The last line states, “You will see me when you stand”.  It’s saying that if you are a person in need, I want to be there for you – to go through the battle with you, and to stand up with you.  When it’s all over, and you are back on your feet, I want to be one of the people that is standing with you.

I’m almost finished with the song, and hopefully I’ll get it recorded soon.