A Statement on Political Violence I Would Have Preferred

 The Southern Baptist Convention released a statement after the murder of Charlie Kirk. Initially, I signed that statement, but after a few days of thought I retracted my name. As I explained elsewhere, while I could carry the necessary views and nuance in my head to comfortably put my name on it, the resulting assumptions made about me because of my signature missed the mark. In short, it said too much and simultaneously not enough.

Below, I present an edited version of the SBC statement which is more in line with my thoughts. It, too, isn't perfect. However, I believe it hits most of the points necessary for this moment, and is broad enough for the vast majority of Southern Baptists to agree with. You may disagree, and that is perfectly acceptable.

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As leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, we lament the assassination of Charlie Kirk and we mourn his death. Political violence is a grave sin, and it represents a threat to our nation and its government. The murder of Charlie Kirk, as well as the murder of Minnesota State Congresswoman Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the attempted assassinations of President Donald Trump, Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, just within the last year, are grave warnings to us all as we consider the health of our nation and society. 

All persons of goodwill must condemn these premeditated acts of violence and see the depth of evil in them and in a spirit of violence that will undermine our ability to function as a nation.

Christians are rightly grateful for Charlie Kirk’s public witness to Christ and for his courageous defense of the dignity of the unborn and a host of other issues that uphold God’s created order. To the extent that God’s created order was shared and defended, and done so in a godly manner, we rightly appreciate the profound impact Charlie Kirk has had on that work, inspiring young people to live with bold conviction and take righteous action on these issues.

We mourn with his wife, Erika, whose husband has been so murderously taken away, and for their precious children, now left without an earthly father. We pray for them, and ask our Heavenly Father to protect and console them. 

We call for righteousness and justice and for the lawful prosecution of the assassin, as well as those involved in the violent acts mentioned above, and urge Southern Baptists to join us in praying for their repentance and salvation. We also call for Southern Baptists and all Christian brothers and sisters to recommit ourselves to the defense of life, liberty, and biblical morality in our nation, and we pray for an end to political violence in any form. We condemn any retaliatory violence. 

We call on all our brothers and sisters in Christ to bear faithful witness to the good news of Jesus Christ — the world’s true King and our only hope — who was crucified and raised so that sinners might be forgiven and have eternal life.

May God have mercy on our nation, and may we be found faithful in our generation.

An Unexpected Love for Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day 2016. Significant others have been flowered, chocolated, and ballooned, all at the behest of florists, chocolatiers, and balloonists. My lovely bride has no real concern for Valentine's Day. Should I get her something, she'll be pleased, but it isn't expected in my home. She prefers the thoughtfulness and surprise of flowers when I've been gone on a trip to the manufactured and planned presentation every February. However, this isn't a post about the uselessness of this made-up holiday, though I believe I could produce one so compelling, you'd never again deign to spend your evenings of February 13th skedaddling from one Walmart to another in search of the last crappy card.

Nor will I Jesus-juke the holiday. Certainly, the only true love is that offered by God in the person of Jesus Christ. Absolutely, the church father for which the non-holiday is named would cringe at the sappy sentimentalism for which his name has been used. But why would I want to steal food from the mouths of Hallmark's president's children? Enjoy your fun, if you see fit to participate.

However, one can't approach this holiday without at least the thought of love crossing one's mind. And the love that crossed my mind is one that truly surprised me, though I don't know why. It's my love for our adopted beauties, the Twinadoes.

J3's adoption was final in July of 2014 and J4's was final in August of 2015, so this is the first Valentine's Day with both of them fully ours. Etta and I regularly look at them, marvel at their beauty, and wonder aloud how we got them. We question whether they could truly be ours and if no one will come to get them to take them to their "real" parents. It's all part of the marvel of adoption, I suppose. We have no true fears of any of this, but it boggles the mind some days that they are actually ours.

Then, in the midst of all that, I'm struck by how much love I have for them. I'm a fairly nice guy, mind you, working on loving people and all that. I also knew coming into this that I would probably love them. What I don't think I was prepared for was how quickly and completely I could love them. I know this isn't the case for all adoptive parents, that some find it more difficult than others, but this has been my experience. And it has blown me away.

I can't imagine life without them, but that's not even the half of it. They are my son and daughter, as surely as J1 and J2 are. Other than a slight difference in skin tone, I don't see any distinction between the four of them. My love is complete, as much as a human father's love can be, and I am floored by it.

The fact is, I loved them before they were ours, and I don't just mean when they were foster children in our home with an uncertain future. I mean before I knew them, I loved them. It was a decision we made when we entered the process - we didn't wait until children had been placed with us. It was a willful decision on our part.

But it was much more than that. This was divinely orchestrated. I don't think I can take too much credit for loving them. This is the calling God placed on our lives and, when he placed the calling, he placed the love. God told us to foster and adopt children, but what we didn't understand is that God told us to foster and adopt 'our' children. That's what we did. That's why we love them so.

They're ours and they always have been. And we can't believe how much we love them.

Why I Will Not Be Voting for Donald Trump

This is not the most flattering picture of Donald Trump, but it is representative of the image I get when I think of him. This is one of the many reasons I can't vote for Donald Trump.

Let me say that I am angry about the direction of our country. The legalization of gay marriage; the failure and fiasco that is Obamacare; the disdain that President Obama has for our country; the fact that Planned Parenthood is not indicted for selling baby parts, but the man who showed that they were IS indicted; Christian refugees are turned away; and a myriad other issues. However, there is a big difference between allowing that anger to motivate a calculated, Christian response and allowing that anger to motivate an irrational, violent reaction. I'm afraid, given his comments over the past year, we can expect more of the latter, rather than the former, from Mr. Trump.

Here is a man that uses Twitter as a font of venom. Just a quick perusal shows tweets calling people stupid or dumb. He regularly uses such mature tactics as calling people ugly. He often will say something rude or crass (plain-spoken, right?), but then have to backtrack the next day, saying he didn't mean what he said. Megyn Kelley knows about that one. The sort of garbage that has come from him is unbecoming of a human, much less a president.

Then there is his ego. I'm thoroughly convinced that he thinks he should be president simply because he is Donald Trump. Why else would most of campaign promises end with "because I'll make them"? We currently have a president with more ego than ability, and that hasn't worked so well for the country. To run for president, one admittedly has to have an extreme amount of confidence, but even with confidence there can be humility. Trump can't spell humility.

I don't think Trump is good for families: up until a few months ago he supported Planned Parenthood. Suddenly he's very against it, but we have no real proof of that change. I don't think Trump is good for foreign policy. You can't dismiss a fellow world leader because you don't like her looks. Statecraft is about the art of the negotiation, in most instances. You can't just yell "you're fired" when you don't get your way. I don't think Trump is good for the economy. He supports government bailouts and his extremely liberal use of bankruptcies (read: business failures) is a source of great concern. I don't think Trump is good for religious liberty. America cannot turn against an entire religion because some, even many, of that religion use it for evil. If the government can spy on a mosque with no cause, they can spy on a church with no cause. And really, given our government's track-record under Obama, who is seen as more subversive, Christians or Muslims? Regardless, freedom of religion is unalienable, even if that religion says hateful things about others. I don't think Trump is good for immigration. Certainly, something needs to be done, but promising a wall and that Mexico will pay for it isn't a real plan.

And finally there's his complete lack of morals, shown often in his Twitter attacks and campaign promises, but even more glaring in his personal history. No, no person is perfect. Yes, I voted for a Mormon, someone I do not believe will go to heaven because they are a part of an non-Christian cult. But at least he had morals. Trump has been married three times. He owns strip clubs. He says he doesn't need forgiveness, because he's never done anything that bad. (Um, all have sinned and fall short of the glory or God. --Romans 8:28) He's crass. He's rude. He's crude. And I prefer a candidate like what the Southern Baptist Convention resolved we should support: one with moral character. When Bill Clinton was president, we said character mattered. Apparently, many Evangelicals have changed their mind. (I'm looking at you Robert Jeffress and Jerry Falwell, Jr.)

From my perspective, Donald Trump sees Money as god, and Donald Trump is its prophet. We can do much better, Christians. We have to, for our own credibility and the gospel we claim to represent.

**Spoiler alert: should my choice for president be between the Democrat candidate and Donald Trump, I'm very likely to vote third candidate. Because, based on their histories, what's the difference between the two anyway?

A Great Lesson for Pastors

Others May; You Cannot
by George D. Watson

If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25

If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians. In many ways, He seems to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.

Others who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and scheme to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

Others can brag about themselves, their work, their successes, their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you begin to do so, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others will be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or having a legacy left to them, or in having luxuries, but God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward while keeping you hidden in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade.

God may let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit, but He will make you work and toil without knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you have done; this to teach you the message of the Cross, humility, and something of the value of being cloaked with His nature.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you, and with a jealous love rebuke you for careless words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over.

So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.

God will take you at your word. If you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot. Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways which others are not dealt with. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God.

My sermons online!

I'll be adding them as I get them formatted. All of my recorded sermons should be up in about 2 weeks, because I can only upload a certain amount per week.

Go here:
http://vimeo.com/user6989785/albums

A New Beginning for Us and the End of Hope Fellowship

(This is a repost of what was put on our Hope Fellowship website on April 4th.)

Today I share with you the news that I had hoped to never have to share, but knew that it would always be possible: Hope Fellowship came to an end yesterday, one day short of the 1 year anniversary of our first preview service. This was a mutually agreed upon decision by our leadership team. It was an incredibly hard decision for me to make, but it was exactly what needed to happen.

There are many reasons why we made the decision, most of which I’ll process and blog about at http://www.mick-b.blogspot.com/, but I can briefly cover a couple here. We’ve been working at this for over four years now and we hadn’t seen the results we expected. More specifically, I’ve worked two jobs the whole time we’ve tried to start the church and, because of that, I just wasn’t able to give it the time I needed to. I had hoped that, as we progressed, the state convention and other churches would see our commitment and advancement and join us with financial support. When that didn’t happen, we knew it would be difficult to continue but we pressed ahead. We also know now that we are the third church to be unable to start up in that community. (We weren’t aware of this until after we had begun meeting as a church.)

It is, however, very difficult for us to refer to this as a “failure”. We know, without a doubt, that God called us to this mission in this location at this time. I can only assume that I misunderstood what the goal was. God was using this to teach, not build the next mega-church in Houston. There have been numerous times that we were ready to call it quits, but God would give us something that made us know we were to continue. The interesting thing is that, as Etta and I discussed ending it this time, no “divine rescue” came. It was clear that it was time to stop and see what God had next for us. Just so you know, I don’t know what that is yet. But He’ll tell us when He’s ready.

I can only begin to tell you all the things I have learned that I can take into my next ministry--I’ll cover more of it at my blog. I can say that one thing I’ve learned is that when God gives people in your church a vision and a calling, you get behind them. I’ve also learned things about planning, budgeting, vision-casting, outreach, and countless other things that I never would have learned in a traditional, established church setting. I have amassed a treasure trove of knowledge that I can’t wait to begin to unpack and see how God is going to put it to use.

Thank you, from the bottom of hearts, for all of you who prayed and gave to support our vision. You didn’t give to us, you gave to God, and He used that to change lives. That’s all you can ask for any time you give to Him. And your prayers kept us going when nothing else did.

This isn’t the end for us, just a page turn to the next chapter. We are eager to see where God takes us next. Pray with us as we seek to be right in the middle of His will.

Humble Pie: Tastes Like Crap and Good for You Too!

Have you ever sat in a room with your wife and a group of people you consider your friends and have all of them tell you how the very thing you love to do isn't as good as you think it is? I have. It ain't that great.

Sunday night, February 27th, in the course of discussion of our vision and future as a church plant, we got on the subject of my preaching. I think I may have been the one to bring it up. Thus began about 15 minutes of what was wrong (and occasionally what was right) with my preaching.

This is nothing new. Every Sunday, I ask Etta what she thought of my sermon and I want honesty. I want to know if I made sense, if it connected, etc. I want her to analyze the delivery, style, content--everything. And she does. Completely. Honestly. Bluntly. But that's how we roll, so it's okay. Many of her critiques have centered around the fact that though I get very excited about the research and the exegesis, which is vital to deliver God's word with clarity, I tend to deliver a sermon that's very wooden and academic, at least for the first 15-20 minutes. But she always adds that the application portion, usually saved until the end, is better and more relateable. And she expressed the same on that Sunday night.

Let's just say my Leadership Team concurred. They were very positive about it and even told how they generally love that kind of academic, in-depth study. But not so much on Sunday morning. It would be great on Wednesday-small-group-night but it comes across as more professorial and less preacherly on Sunday.

Now, I wanted to give them all the reasons for exegetical, verse-by-verse, through-the-Bible messages. But it wasn't necessary, especially to my wife who typed all my papers in seminary. Besides, I had to hear what they were saying, not the words they were using. What they want is not a less exegetical sermon but a more passionate one.

I admit, I'm not a snort-and-blow preacher who slings snot and tears at every turn, but I am passionate--I thought. But again, they weren't asking for flair and emotion-they were asking for passion. They were asking for their pastor to preach from his heart not from a series.

You see, I want to be like all the great preachers out there that have a clever title that everyone smiles at and preach a series that has, at least figuratively, motocross behind me and hot air balloons and Ferraris and dog tricks. But that's not me. So what my people were getting was a seminary lecture because there was a box I was trying to put myself into: the preach-through-a-book-exegetically-but-keep-it-topical-and-interesting box. And I was having trouble making me fit there.

I'm pretty sure Etta said this every Sunday, a friend wrote me a note last summer that said this, and my team said it Sunday: passion isn't external, it's internal. They want me to preach from my hurts, struggles, victories, questions, and needs. They want to see a pastor on the stage that gets them and where they are. You can read my post on plastic preachers and how I dislike them, and now I was becoming one. Until Sunday, February 20th...

Saturday, February 19th, I was done with church planting. Too many things were falling down around me to be able to continue. My sermon prep day is Saturday but this time, I didn't want to do it. So I didn't. I knew one family would be out; therefore, we would likely only have two families at church on Sunday. So we were going to cancel church and go to Denny's. There, I would probably tell them that we were closing the church before too long because I was done. Sunday morning came, I had no sermon prepared and at 10:15 we would cancel and leave. And at 10:14 a very sweet family that has shown they want to be a part of our church came. So I couldn't cancel. Did I mention I had no sermon?

Earlier in the week, a friend had sent me a verse, Isaiah 41:8-10.

8 But you, Israel, my servant,Jacob, whom I have chosen,the offspring of Abraham, my friend;9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,and called from its farthest corners,saying to you, “You are my servant,I have chosen you and not cast you off”;10 fear not, for I am with you;be not dismayed, for I am your God;I will strengthen you, I will help you,I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

So I fed off this verse and mainly talked about how, though I believe this verse, it's often hard for me to live this verse. I basically griped a little while and bared my soul.

And it turned out to be one of my best sermons. And this according to my team, definitely not according to me. I thought it probably sucked. So why did they think so highly of it?

Because it correctly parsed the Hebrew? No.
Because it had a clever title and a catchy hook? No.
Because I had a Bentley or skateboarders on the stage? No.
Because it was from my heart and an expression of what God was doing in my life? Yeah.

So that Sunday night, February 27th, I feasted on humility. It wasn't easy, but I know it was best for the church and for me. Am I now worried that I have lost my ability to lead, because I allowed my team to critique me? Just the opposite. I believe I am a better leader because I showed I am willing to learn and correct myself. If we as leaders believe we are infallible, we will soon have no one following us. People are begging to follow someone who "gets" them. One of the many attractive aspects of Jesus is that, because He was fully human, He fully gets us. We as leaders are certainly no better than Him.

So, it didn't taste good. It wasn't fun. But it was necessary. Leaders: be willing to hear the criticism of those that are following you. It might just make you a better leader.

11 Rules of Life That You Won't Learn In School

From an article written by Charles J. Sykes in 1996, so forgive the reference to a "car phone" as a status symbol.


Rule 1: Life is not fair--get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will not make $60,000 per year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping--they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault. So don't whine about your mistakes; learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you "find yourself." Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is not real life. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

"Merry Christmas" is for Christians

I've read and heard a lot about the debate over "Merry Christmas" in businesses, companies, etc. and decided to add my two cents to the conversation. I see the point of most of the sides of this argument, so I'll try to address each.

I agree that the loss of "Merry Christmas" shows the further secularization of America and I don't like that. The question we must ask, though, is "Is this a battle worth fighting?" Is it one we can win? Is it one we need to worry about winning? I'm not taking a defeatist stance and saying we can't stop the tide, so don't try. (Though we can't stop the tide. Read Revelation.) What I am saying is we may need to re-evaluate where we are using our resources. Ed Stetzer said it well that we should be more worried about telling people about Jesus rather than making them say Merry Christmas.

Another point about this battle is that it doesn't affect our evangelism. How many people will have their eternity affected negatively if Lowe's sells holiday trees instead of Christmas trees? There are definite battles that do have implications on people's salvation: evolution, abortion, redefining marriage. These are issues that are gospel-centered. What greeting we use at Christmas is not. We must focus on what gets people saved (or hinders salvation, morality, etc.), not what just ruffles our feathers.

Besides, can we truly expect secular organizations, often led by people indifferent to the theological reason for Christmas, to focus on the spiritual impact of the season? We can't. We scoff at people that obviously "say the right things" (hallelujah, praise God, etc.) in church or around pastors when we know good and well that they have no concept of salvation through Jesus Christ. They are merely going through motions and we don't approve. So why should we demand it of businesses that are merely going through motions so as to not lose money from boycotting Christians?

I daresay we are, in a sense, asking them to take God's name in vain, using the original meaning of the commandment. They are taking the name of Jesus (Christ-mas) in a way that is purely meant to positively affect their bottom line. Wouldn't that fall into the definition of taking God's name in vain (no purpose other than personal benefit)?

Let them say "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings." As Christians worshipping the Savior whose birth we celebrate, we'll say "Merry Christmas." And smile when you do it. Until there is a law that says we can't. When that day comes, we have bigger issues than our favorite Christmas greeting.

Fasting Still Works!!

Now, I'm not saying that when we fast we have tricked God into giving us what we want. What I am saying is that because we are attuned to God, we are more likely praying in His will. When that happens, the Bible says God will give those things to us (1 John 5:14-15). So I'm finding that my fasting has resulted in prayer more focused on Him--not me and my wants--and this has led to many answered prayers.

What if we all took a day here or there to fast and pray? I think we would see some incredible things happen in the church.

A Ritual Obliged

I now understand how a great spiritual discipline can become an empty chore or worse, an afterthought.

I am still committed to my Lenten fast from Coke and to my one day a week fast from food. But they quickly lost their status as spiritual encouragers and became just another thing I had to do. Within two weeks, it had become an empty tradition, as Jesus called it.

If it can happen in two weeks, what becomes of a lifetime of going to church every Sunday and Wednesday? What becomes of reading your Bible and praying everyday? As I examine these things, I find that most days they blend into the cluttered backdrop of other check marks on my to-do list.

We have to fight (Paul said in the same way that we buffet our bodies) to make sure that our spiritual disciplines remain spiritual. Church isn't just a social gathering or business meeting, prayer isn't a soliloquy, Bible reading isn't a sedative to help us sleep, and fasting isn't a diet plan. These are opportunities to fine-tune our heart strings to our Composer, Concert Master, and Conductor.

As I renew (daily) my commitment, renew with me (daily) your commitment to the spiritual disciplines God has set before us.

A Fast Observed

Though I am not usually a participant in Lent, this year, due to the gravity of the spiritual war we are in while planting Hope Fellowship, I decided it would be a good idea to observe the spiritual discipline of fasting. I'm running a couple of fasts for Lent: I have sworn off Coke (I'm a two-a-day type) and I have chosen a day each week to fast from food. The day I've chosen isn't important--I don't want to appear to be fishing for praise from men and thus have my reward.

The Coke thing is hard: I have refrigerator full of them in my classroom and a refrigerator full of them at work at Domino's. The fasting from food for a day was difficult, but not as hard as the Cokes--I knew food was just hours away.

So what did I learn?

I'm not doing it for holiness, per se, or as a rote Christian requirement. The desire for those things I've given up are used as a stimulus to pray for and about our church plant.

And let me tell you, it works.

As if planting a church isn't on my mind enough, it is a constant burden while fasting. But it was an easy yoke. I knew throughout the experience that I was communing with God. My awareness of Him was heightened--not in any mystical, go-out-in-the-desert way--but in a way that had my entire day focused on Him. Through my hunger I found joy and assurance that He was in control, aware of everything we need as a family and church plant, and has every intention of fulfilling those needs in His good time and by His good methods. Incredible is a good word for the experience.

And the kicker? Less than a day after my first full fast, multiple prayers were answered.

Should it surprise anyone that God's ways, taught through His word, work?

Sometimes, I'm afraid, we are surprised. But it sure is an awesome surprise.

Ahhh, deja vu...

Remember the feeling after church camp? You were excited, you were pumped, you were storming Hell with a water pistol, and you promised to God and everybody that you were going to take your Bible to school with you that fall. You came back Saturday, slept all day, then had a service at church on Sunday to remember, relive, and reinvigorate.

Then Monday came.

You still had chores, you still got in trouble with parents, and you realized that you weren't really looking forward to the impending arrival of school. Maybe you had a job to go back to. Somehow, the Jesus high got lost in flipping burgers or cleaning up after someone else's brat kid.

I just had the pleasure of reliving that experience.

When we learned last week that we were approved for Fall Creek Elementary for our services, I was pumped. When we had a meeting of our LAUNCH Team Saturday night, I was excited. Sunday came and I was able to tell people what was happening and that things were speeding forward.

Then Monday came.

I still had to work, I still had troubles with people, and I had no clue how all these wonderful plans were going to work out. Somehow, the church planting high got lost in delivering pizzas and teaching someone else's brat kids.

But here's what I know:

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear nothing, for You are with me." Psalm 23:4

This is no shadow of death!! These are everyday struggles. There are some tense moments of stress, some problems to be worked out, and some logistics to puzzle through, but this ain't staring death in the face.

Therefore, we push forward, resting in the assurance of the green pastures of God's provision. If he's got my back when death comes messing around, then I know He's got me with something as mundane as living. We simply wait on him to provide.

Even when reality dashes our white-hot excitement with a frigid bucket of blah.

Full disclosure

I am so completely stressed right now. As a matter of fact, in the three years that Etta and I have known of our call by God to plant a church, I have not felt more pressure or stress about it. I'm sure there will be equally difficult, if not more so, places in the church planting travelogue, but this one is kicking my tail right now.

We finally have a location and a start date. But that just exacerbates the other uncertainties: where will the money come from to complete the tasks we need to, people to fulfill all the roles, how can I work 65 hours a week and still plant a church, etc.

God has been incredibly faithful for these three years, both in our home life and church planting life. I am supremely confident that He will continue to guide and direct it all. But some days it gets hard. Real hard.

"Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!"

Hope Fellowship Update - 020210

If you’ve been wondering how all this would work out and the timing of the events, it’s been formalized. This is our proposal of the way things will go over the next nine months. We also have a HUGE prayer request for you to lift up. I’ll give you the timeline first and then the prayer needs.

Activity
Date
Projected Cost

Purchase equipment for services
3/1/2010
$5,000.00

Advertising for April preview service
3/10/2010
$10,000.00

April preview service
4/3/2010 - Easter Sunday
$1,000.00

Advertising for May preview service
4/10/2010
$5,000.00

May preview service
5/1/2010
$1,000.00

Advertising for June preview service
5/10/2010
$5,000.00

June Preview service
6/5/2010
$1,000.00

Advertising for July preview service
6/10/2010
$5,000.00

July preview service
July 4th
$3,000.00

Advertising for August preview service
7/10/2010
$5,000.00

August preview service
8/7/2010
$1,000.00

Advertising for Lauch Service
8/10/2010
$10,000.00

Launch service
9/12/2010
$5,000.00

Television advertising
June-November
$10,000.00

Total Cost for 6 months of pre-launch
$67,000.00

We currently have about $200 per month pledged, so we have a long way to go toward our goal.

Now for our HUGE prayer need: I have been in contact with the facilities coordinator for Humble ISD about renting two elementary school cafetoriums. The first one we want to rent is Summerwood Elementary. It currently has a church meeting in it on Sunday mornings, but we want to rent it on Saturday nights to have our monthly preview services in. We would communicate clearly and repeatedly that we would begin our weekly services on September 12th on Sunday mornings in a different location. That different location would be Lakeshore Elementary. It isn’t available for renting at all until school starts because it is less than a year old (HISD policy). So pray with us that we get approved for both locations.

Two good things could come out of this. The first is that the church that is meeting in Summerwood Elem would move out before the next school year and we wouldn’t have to change locations. That is a possibility as they are currently building on a site. Pray for their finances and their building to be done rapidly. The second possible good outcome would be that we have so many people that want/need a Saturday night service that we launch on September 11th/12th with two services: one Saturday night and one Sunday morning. We would be excited about either occurrence.

Pray with us about how you can give financially. There is a lot to be done and few resources with which to make it happen. Currently, our only financial support is through individuals. There are no churches, conventions, or institutions supporting this effort. But we know that, as God provides through you, we will see amazing things happen in the lives of Houstonians living in Summerwood.

Also, pray about how you can be “boots on the ground” for us. We are going to need a group of about 15-20 people each weekend of our preview services to help us pass out info cards in the neighborhoods on Saturday morning, prayer-walk, and take part in the preview service that night. This will be vital to creating immediate excitement for the preview services. This is something that my launch team of 6 adults can’t do on their own. We need your help for this vital part of the process.

Thank you so much for your continued prayer and financial support of this work that God is doing in Northeast Houston.

Yes, I'm still here.

Time has not permitted posting, but I will strive to do better.

We have hit a critical phase in planting Hope Fellowship. We are planning our first preview service for Easter Sunday and we are struggling to find a place to meet. We have some options, but they are few and slow in developing.

But we are learning. I've known all along this would be slow and that has proven to be the case. But we are still seeing God work and gradually realize some reasons for His timing. We are also seeing how He is continuing to work things out.

Rethink what we do sometimes as the church...

Looking forward to tomorrow night...

Tomorrow night is our first Bible study in the Passmore's home. We should have one newcomer, I'm excited about teaching on Galations, and Etta has done an INCREDIBLE job developing the kids' Bible study to go along with what the adults are studying. The series in Galatians is entitiled The Audacity of the Free and Easy Life. We'll be looking at how Paul let the Galatians and us know that the gospel of grace gives us a life FREE from the condemnation of the law and instead, offers a plan as EASY as faith, not requiring the works of the law. Tomorrow night is The Audacity of Exclusivity. We'll be looking at how Paul clearly tells us that there is only one gospel and no other. Jesus is the ONLY way to God.

Hope Update - 072509

We’ve seen some changes over the last few weeks at Hope Fellowship and have started with a new era in our church plant and outreach. First, a little recap of where we’ve been:

We began our first outreach in September 2007 by eating at Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant every week at the same time on the same day. We did that for 9 months. During that time we left cards about our church at the counter. Two months after we stopped eating there regularly, a family picked up our card. Eight months after that, in April of 2009, they joined us and began working with us toward our launch. In September of 2008, we moved our church into an apartment in the community of Summerwood where we are called to plant. In January of 2009, a young, single woman joined and has been a very active force in our plant. Do the math: 2 years, two families. We realized long ago that this would be a slow process. Throughout the year in the apartment, we did various outreach events in the complex: cookouts, meals, car washes, etc. We interacted with over 250 people in that time and had a weekly Bible study time. We could get people to the events, but we couldn’t get them to Bible study. We also offered special studies, like Financial Peace, with poor results.

At the beginning of this summer, we moved into the community center in Summerwood. The idea was to offer various meeting times and people who wouldn’t come to the apartment would come to the community center. About the time we started in the center, I met with my associational church planting consultant. She reminded me that the number one rule of church planting (what I had learned in numerous seminars and meetings) was to build relationships. We had been trying to attract people to church things, not truly build relationships with them. We had lost our focus.

What I am NOT saying is that the past two years have been a waste. Everything we have done has brought someone in. I truly believe that each move we have made has been exactly what God has told us to do. He said do it, He didn’t say He’d bring us 100 people because we did it. The exception to that is the community center. I feel like that was me, not God, so we got out of there in a hurry. That brings us to what we are doing now.

A few weeks ago we started meeting at the home of the family that learned of us at Manuel’s. We pray and then we walk. Sunday and Tuesday. Their neighborhood has two blocks in it with 85 homes on those blocks. We pray as we walk, we talk as we walk, and we speak to everyone we possibly can. This is no power walk. We stroll. The goal is to meet as many people as possible. We want them to see Etta and me, get used to seeing us, and have opportunities to talk about the weather or kids or pets or landscaping or whatever. Why? To build relationships. We’ve walked the neighborhood about 8 times now. There are people whose names we now know and others we just know on sight. This is our foot in their spiritual door.

This Sunday, the 26th, we are having a block party in the neighborhood. We passed out flyers Tuesday night and got some good reaction from some people we talked to. One lady even asked if there was something she could bring! We don’t know how many to expect but we are praying for a traumatic blessing. This is a very low-key event. God may present opportunities to witness, and we certainly won’t be shy about what we are doing, but this is not a Hope Fellowship coming out party. We want to sit and talk and build relationships. As my consultant told me, churches are no longer geographical, they are relational. People don’t come to church because it’s in their area; they come because they connected with someone. This Sunday, we are looking for connections.

Pray that we make connections.
Pray that, because of the relationships we make, people come to know Christ and we see growth in the kingdom.
Pray for the church’s finances. Though we have had to put some of our personal money into it, there is never anything the church needed that we’ve had to go without. However, a little monetary boost now and then never hurts. You can give at our website.
Pray for our focus. I will begin teaching again in a couple of weeks (at a new school, by the way) so my time will be more limited. There is always a lot to do.
Pray for our launch. I had set a date of September 13th to launch, but that won’t happen. We are now looking at February.
Pray for our new Bible study time. We will begin August 9th having Bible study in the Passmore’s (the Summerwood family) home at 6PM. Pray that our new relationships will lead people to come.
Pray for whatever the Lord lays on your heart. He’ll let you know what we need.

Thanks so much for your faithfulness to us. If you know of people who would like to receive this update, send their email to me and I will add them. We can always use more prayer.

Hope Update 052509

First, happy Memorial Day. We praise God for the sacrifice of the men and women that have died for our freedom.

Now for the update.

We have some great news! We are finally moving our Bible study into the Residents’ Club in Summerwood! This has been one of our goals for a couple of months now and it’s finally happening. This is really going to give us much better exposure to the wider community of Summerwood. Pray that this new tool in our arsenal will be effective in getting our name out there. We are still in the stage of needing name recognition as much as anything.

Thanks again to that family that donated the money to pay for our entire lease of the apartment. We will be moving out of it in July, but we would not be where we are now if it had not been for their generosity.

With these new opportunities come new monthly expenses. We would love to have anyone who is able sponsor a particular need in this new opportunity. I’ve listed the new needs and their monthly costs. If you would like to support one of these areas, you can mail us a check or give online at our website. The needs are as follows:

Community center rent: $25 per week
Summerwood newsletter $50 per month
Storage unit $100 per month

We also are beginning another round of Financial Peace University this summer at the home of Brett and Amy Passmore. Please pray that this allows us an opportunity to begin some new relationships and continue to see Hope Fellowship grow.

Thank you for all that you do for us and please continue to lift us up in your prayers.