Unless someone explains?

This week has been a crazy one.  My mother in law just got out of the hospital rehab yesterday so my writing has been limited.  Today I was studying in Acts 8.  Philip was led by the Holy Spirit to share the Gospel with an Ethiopian Eunuch.  I noticed a few things.  First, Philip allowed the Spirit to lead him.  Second, the Eunuch was reading from the Old Testament and had just come from worship.  This leads me to believe the Eunuch was seeking.  We need to always look for what God is doing in the lives of others.  What really struck me was when Philip asked the Eunuch what did the passage that he was reading mean?  In Acts 8:31 (NIV) it says, 

How can I, he said, unless someone explains it to me?

How many people are out there for us to explain what the Bible has to say?

Follow

I've mentioned this many times on this blog for all one of you who read it that I read a lot of leadership books and listen to a lot of leadership podcasts.  I took an organizational leadership class this spring where the professor argued against leadership and more on followership.  I struggled with his view but have gone a little more to his side than before.  The reason is everywhere I read about Jesus calling his disciples he tells them to "Follow Him."  I don't see anywhere where Jesus said go be leaders.  In John 21, the disciples tried to go back to their old lives.  Jesus wasn't having anything with it because He called them to follow Him.   He had them haul in a huge load of fish.  To me, He was showing them that they would be fishers of men as He had told them before.  He also told Peter three times to follow Him.  He didn't tell him to lead.  He said to follow.  I realize when I'm leading Jesus can't.

Until he/she finds it

Jesus is all about ministering to sinners.  That is good because I am one.  In Luke 15 the tax collectors and sinners gathered around Him.  How many sinners want to be around Christians today?  Probably not as many I would like to know.  I hope that people feel comfortable around me.  Jesus told them three stories.  The third is the prodigal son and I will be studying it tomorrow.  But today I noticed that two objects were lost.  The first was a sheep and the second was a coin.  Jesus said any shepherd would leave the 99 sheep to go after one.  A woman lost a coin that was important to her even though she had 9 others.  In both stories, Jesus said they looked frantically for both objects.  I love how Jesus says that they looked until he/she found it.  Isn't it great to know that is how God pursues us?  I think that is why I'm passionate about going after the lost.

Importance of Listening

I have had my life positively affected by some powerful messages by some dynamic speakers/pastors. I've been challenged and convicted by some dynamic messages. In fact it happened yesterday at church. I believe 2 Timothy 3:16 which says "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness," (2 Timothy 3:16 ESV).  

As a young person I was told that the Sunday Sermon was for the congregation to be taught and take what was learned and practice it in the world.  But I noticed something different when I went to seminary.  Some were so convinced that the Sermon was the primary way to see life change.  Again, I've seen lives changed through powerful messages. I've known Preachers that that is all they did. They preached powerful messages but had no interaction with their congregation and especially non-churched.  But the non-Christians whose lives were changed through those messages had a relationship with someone who brought them to hear the message. 

If we believe that a Sunday message alone is going to change the world we are sadly mistaken. Preaching is important to believers and non-believers who are ready to hear the message.  But for someone who doesn't believe in God or the Bible than preaching to them and sharing verses without their permission will fall on deaf ears.  Actually it will fall on angry ears. 

This has become more apparent to me in the last few months.  With changes in our culture moving away from a Biblical Worldview some well meaning (and not well meaning) Christians blast Social Media and Talk Radio shows quoting Scripture about various social topics that bother them. To be honest those same social topics bother me.  A few years ago I probably would have been in the same group mentioned above.  But I have learned through my ministry that less preaching and more listening has given me more opportunities to share my faith.  In fact because I've learned to listen more and preach less people start pouring out their lives without me even asking.  This has given me numerous opportunities to share my Faith!

Let me be clear that Preaching is a necessary and valuable tool.  But in today's society we need to become more active in building relationships with people whom we don't always agree with.  We can't get so offended that we destroy any opportunity to minister.

Huh?

It has been quite a while since I last blogged. To be honest, my previous stint blogging became burdensome. I was very active in my former denomination's reform efforts. In retrospect I'm not sure it was worth the effort. 

For the last 5 1/2 years I have been on mission as a workplace chaplain & manager in Birmingham, AL. We attended several churches from my former denomination and for various reasons never fit in. It was a little frustrating. Finally, to my hesitation, we visited a multiple-site non-denominational church. However, we ended up loving it & have gotten very involved.

I always thought God was calling me to lead a cutting edge church that reached the unchurched. But I don't know if I had the skill set to do it. It is so refreshing to be involved in a church that is reaching the unchurched without compromising the Bible. 

I think I finally found what I was meant to do. As a church staff member I always looked for opportunities to interact with the unchurched. I would hang out at Starbucks, go to health clubs & just try to meet my neighbors. But, the pastor tag always seemed to put up a wall between me & those I wanted to influence. But God in His wisdom gave me a new platform. Every day, I get to hang out with people who would never set foot in church. I have built relationships with these people. We are friends. I would never talk about what I have encountered because of confidentiality.  But, needless to say I get to hang out with all of the people whom I attempted to hang out with as a church staff member. This isn't a criticism of churches, but just an observation that I get to do everything that I went to Seminary to do through the workplace. 

I'm not going to make promises that I will update this every day or even every week. I really could care less about how many people read this.  I'm excited about what God is doing in my life & that I get to be a part of a great workplace mission field & a mission minded church.