Harris Creek Baptist Church

I am fascinated by the concept of time. Just wondering about some things…

1. Past time is unalterable. No matter how much you fret over it, it doesn’t change. So what is the value of the past?

2. Past time still affects “present” time. For many people, who they have been is the strongest predictor of future behavior. So where are you going to break from the past?

3. There is no real present. ( Is it now? or now? or now? ) So what are you living for?

4. Since the present doesn’t exists, the precious moments will always slip by. That’s why they are precious (J M Barrie.) So is your constant examination of the present hindering your enjoyment of it?

5. The future is inevitable. We are all going toward our future. So what future do you want to go toward? (i.e. what is your preferred future?)

6. The future changes with each choice. Each thing we do puts us closer or farther from our preferred future. So what choices are you making today? (What non-choices are you making today?)

7. Fulfillment, then can only be found in eternity. Timelessness is what we were created for. So how does that change all the other questions I just asked?

“He has also set eternity in the hearts of men”  Ecclesiastes 3:11

I love that term. A friend repeated to me today. I am a pro bowl arm chair quarterback. I could definitely turn the Cowboys around, I mean what does Wade Phillips have that I don’t? (Besides about a hundred pounds.) I have questioned the last two or three Presidents; Clinton, (C’mon, the community reinvestment act seemed like a bad idea way back when I worked for a major bank, now it seems even worse), Bush (So we already won in Iraq?)  I have questioned Baylor University’s Administration;  (seriously, paying folks to retake SAT’s to boost your rankings doesn’t sound fishy to you?), Baylor’s Board of Regents (Getting Rid of Sloan for Lilley?) Truth is it seems so “easy” from here. If only all these folks had consulted me. Just think about how much better off the world would be. And I sometimes question God. Oh, I know he knows more than me, but if only he had seen things from my point of view. I could at least provide some perspective. Last night I went to a fundraiser, and while there I overheard a conversation questioning my leadership decisions. (It wasn’t a conversation I was meant to hear, I just appeared at the wrong place at wrong time.) Ouch! “But,” I wanted to protest, “hindsight is 20/20.” Of course that is the point huh? I had to confess all the times I judged other leaders without understanding. I had to confess all the times I resisted God, because really, deep down, I thought I knew better. I wanted to be in charge, in control. I believed that I would have done better. It struck me because I am writing a sermon for advent- ” Emmanuel- Us with God.” Not God with us. God with us sounds like God goes along as our side kick. But we go with him, us with God, and our life is marked by the extent that we follow his ways ( even when we think we know better.) So I guess I need to hang up my armchair career. Feel free to come to my retirement party. We can sit around and question other people’s decisions.

Here’s to following God! Blessings!

(But, Wade, if you need some help, feel free to call me. We can get this thing on track and still win the Superbowl.)

Nothing beats dropping a bomb like that on your facebook/twitter status. It is only three little words. But when you put them together they raise questions. What does that mean? Well, to me it means this. When we are faced with a crisis, we often encounter cognitive dissonance. That is, we are forced to evaluate our circumstances, our ideals, values, habits, thoughts etc. We can’t live with things that don’t make sense for us. Hence the reason that in the absence of information we fill in the gaps, usually with incorrect information.

Our minds love patterns. Whch s why y cn stll mk sns f ths sntnc wtht vwls. You didn’t even really have to work at it much did you? Because words are recognizable patterns that are even wired in our brains (see Steven Pinker’s Words and Rules.) Do you ever wonder why kids say things like “I runned to the store?” Because they inherently pick up rules for language and the make a past tense word like the rules should be, except for the fact that english often produces cognitive dissonance. It has weird rules. Ox, Oxen; Box, Boxen? No, Boxes. (Feel free to submit your favorit english oddity.) So when faced with a crisis we are often faced with a choice to rearrange, modify or eliminate our “rules” as it were. This is a highly creative activity. Of course you can always keep reasserting your version of reality. Or you can use the natural function of crisis to get you out of your box (or boxes).

Creativity is a God given ability to see what could be. But we often don’t do that snuggled in our well insulated life. Or at least I don’t. Physics applies to all of life. A body at rest stays at rest. (Think about your exercise routine. Starting up is the hardest part.) so too with creativity. A mind at rest stays at rest. So maybe a crisis moments can be a blessing in disguise, a force that gets you moving. Who knows, you may discover something the world needs to know. Or you may just grow yourself.

So, what is producing cognitive dissonance in your life?

That was my “tweet” yesterday. My mini blog, since I read a “wired” news article that blogs are so 2004. (Being out of touch makes me think of a great line from a folk song. “He’s so far gone, he’s so far gone, He’s so far gone, that he’s back again.” Maybe if I stay out of touch long enough, I will be back in touch.

Anyway yesterday I tried an experiement. Collaboration. I asked a few friends who are pastors, and ministers to collaborate with me on a sermon series for advent. They are going to be teaching the same series, so we got on a conference call and read the text and worked on it together. Seems weird in our “pastor goes into a dark cave and listens for God then reemerges with the truth” scripture exegesis model. I don’t have the final results yet, but at first pass, it was really fun. It was also challenging, to have to defend your take based on the text, to bounce ideas around, to see things you hadn’t seen before. The result, greater insight, coupled with a desire for greater clarity for communication. We will each write a portion and then send it around for editing. (Talk about odd, how many pastors submit their sermon to the scrutiny of other pastors prior to preaching). It is still scary and different, but to tell you the truth I was energized. I chose to work on my part last night rather than watch football. (That is highy unusual for me!) But I just wanted to see where it was going, I couldn’t wait to see what would be found. I can’t wait to see what the other guys have. Yes, if you are wondering, I felt like my contributions were the weakest links. These guys are smart and educated. Yes the discipline of getting better is tough, but if the end result is deeper sermons communicated with riviting clarity why would I not submit?   I suppose this is why the early church always read scripture in community. Where two or three are gathered, says Jesus. So I say it again, collaborate more.

So what do you do that you can invite collaboration on?

You can celebrate integral day by dressing up as your favorite calculus equation!

Integral day

PS Leibniz was the last person to know something about everything. After him the world became too complex, and the era of specialization began.

Also, his Theodicy is worth a read. (There is no calculus in it, praise the Lord!)

1. This is fairly clear. This means nobody really understands, either it’s crystal or it’s mud. “We see now through a glass darkly.”

2. Everyone loves Jesus. But not everyone loves to do what Jesus told us to do. When he, as the very Son of God, told folks how they ought to live, they killed him.

3. Love others. Case in point for # 2. This sounds easy but ends up being really hard. When you tell people what this practically entails, you might end up where Jesus ended up.

4. Take up your cross daily. Ending up where Jesus ended up means following him. Easier said than done.

5. Acknowledge difficulties-Via Dolorosa. Gee is this why it is called the road of sorrows?

6. Celebrate vigorously. So in order to get down this road of sorrows, I have to see the God given bright spots and celebrate with gusto, or I will lose hope.

7. Assess the situation-Most people are without hope. Not hopeless, but without hope; there is a difference.

8. Re-evaluate what you have- I have faith, and ultimately the hope I am looking for is a product of that faith. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”

9. Don’t worry about what other people think-Certainty with out sight leads to strange behavior. Living for unseen things might get you labeled schizophrenic. Or it might make you a great saint, only God knows!

10. Focus on the right things. What is seen is temporary. The eternal realities of God are more real, not less real.

11. Find Clarity. Clarity is not something you create for yourself,  you find it. It is a gift from God. That is when it changes from mud to crystal.

I was reading about Giordano Bruno recently. (Who?) Bruno asks a thought provoking question in Ash Wednesday Supper; “Do we stand in the shadows, or rather they? Do we, in conclusion, who begin to renew the ancient philosophy, stand in the morning to put an end to the night, or in the evening to put an end to the day?”

There is nothing like starting a blog with a quote from a heretic. Bruno’s case is complicated. His heresy; belief in infinity. “Infinity”, you say “what is wrong with that?” Well, depends on how you view infinity. Bruno said in The Immense and Numberless,

Past time or present, whichever you

happen to choose, or the future:

All are a single present, before God

an unending oneness.

Hence contradictory things can never

persist at the same time….

Everything, when it is, because it is,

must exist, then.

Ultimately Bruno’s beliefs about infinity led him to believe that time itself is eternally present, and therefore unredeemable.

(Ok you say, but burned at the stake for that?) But if time is unredeemable, then the particular does not exist. “Hence contradictory things can never persist at the same time.”  Infinity can’t be contained in time. Therefore the Son of God must not be truly God, for that would make him both infinite and finite (contained within time). In those days, saying that got you killed. Too bad for Bruno he didn’t live in our day and age. Now he would get a book deal and speaking tour and front page coverage in NY Times.

Wow. Didn’t need the philosophy lesson this early, but it brings me to a point.  I have been thinking about culture, postmodern or whatever it is today, the church, the future. So many people are fighting for the church and grabbing her and pulling her I often fear it will tear the church apart. Labels are thrown around aplenty. The labels: liberal, fundamentalist, emergent, traditional; each of these a pejorative comment, meant to jab, hurt, malign. (Of course we do this with utmost concern for the poor misguided folks we label.) Don’t get me wrong. I think there is bad theology, bad doctrine, bad belief systems. Bruno was a heretic. I believe Jesus is God. Should I burn those at the stake who disagree?

So who is standing in the shadows, us or them? Do we stand in the morning to put and end to the night? Or do we stand in the night to put and end to the day?

At WillowCreek’s Group Life Conference, Miles McPherson shared about how community transforms. But really, it was a call to return to the Gospel! Beyond being funny, Miles made some great challenges.

1. Redefine your evangelistic starting point.

• Gospel is not just propositional truth but the person of Jesus Christ
• The Gospel is acknowledging the cries of a broken world (see Exodus 3:7)
• Listen carefully to the pain of others- Jesus said “Remember my death” ie remember my pain

2. Identify God’s response to brokenness in my own life

• What is God doing in your life? What is your God experience?
• Purpose is 2 Cor. 1:3-5; that is, we receive comfort from God to give that comfort out.
• The purpose of pain leads us to others with that same pain.

3. Identify and Love the brokenness of your church/group

• Why did God assemble these people? is there a common thread?
• This is where your group can reach your community

4. Identify and love the brokenness in you community

• Where are people crying in your community?

5. Re-establish evangelistic priority

• Don’t make them christians- make them Jesus followers (Amen)
• Take risks to share the Good news of Jesus-Comfort them!

So, have you heard the cries of others lately? What about your own pain, what is it? How can you put those together in Christ and comfort those with the same comfort you have received?

Because it would be a shame to waste that pain. Jesus didn’t, and neither should we.

Wow.

Summer has come, ravaged our family, and is quietly slipping away. I am ready for the school year and the stability that provides. So much happened that I didn’t write much. But sitting here watching cartoons and eating fruit loops with my youngest two, I reflected on some things. Life is a gift. That is one of those truisms that we toss around, but truly has implications for how we live. None of us is self made. Our parents and our families played a huge part in who we are. They are one of God’s gifts to us. Some people probably don’t feel that way. They may not have had the best family experiences growing up. Yet some of the best people I know came from the most difficult circumstances. It has radically shaped them in ways they could not have imagined. “All things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Family is a gift, even if we don’t realize it. I have a great one! My wife, Teri is amazing. (She was recently volunteer of the year at Mission Waco, an organization that helps the poor, while raising three kids and keeping my life afloat.) She is not one for the limelight either. (People with talent should at least be arrogant, so the rest of us can look down on them in some way.)

The second gift was brought home to me recently as I became a part of the Facebook world. (About time said at least 20 people the day I got started!) I found lots of friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Many had a huge impact on my life. Most I never thanked. I found my old younglife leader Cheryl Fletcher. She is great! She has challenged me, encouraged me, led campaigners, been mad at me when I did live up to God’s potential, and mostly prayed over my life. Now, that is truly a gift. At a time in my life where God was hardly on the radar, she kept pointing me to the center. So, here’s to Fletch!

Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our path, is the perfect preparation for a future only He can see.-Corrie ten Boom

That was never more true than Fletch, or the whole other host of friends I have had a chance to reconnect with. There are almost too many to thank. Joe Cuello for inviting me to help him with younglife training and for asking me to speak one week while he was out. Keith Eddlemen, who after that fateful club talk, told me that if I didn’t preach I would have missed God’s call on my life. (It has taken me a long time to come to grips with that, but very prophetic!) Ross Rutherford, childhood friend who made a lot of mistakes with me, but also gave his life to Christ and has encouraged me to be bold. When my dad died, at the funeral, some mutual friends where asking how I could be holding up so well. Ross shared with them that my dad was a believer and therefore would be with Jesus forever. What a chance to share the gospel! David Pemberton (whose father died while we were in Denton) said that we all need a dad to tell us well done. So here we are on vacation a few years back. David with his lovely new bride Brandy, and Teri and Darby and Dylan and I. David said, “You can’t hear you dad say it, but You have done well. He would be proud. “ ( If you aren’t teary eyed there, then I didn’t convey how powerful that moment was.) That was before I came to Harris Creek, but I played that memory over in my head often when I became the Pastor of a church. How many people in the world need some one to step in and pronounce a blessing on their life? To hear the words of their heavenly father spoken through human lips? “You have done well” and more importantly “I love you.”

The trouble with listing people though is the list is endless. What about Joey Turner, who did the most radical 180 I have ever seen and has never looked back. I mean, that dude lives for Jesus like Paul, Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead with this goal in mind I strive toward the prize of the upward call of Christ Jesus...What about Patrick and CV and Whiteside and Wegehoft? Their impact has made me who I am. I couldn’t even start to list church members. I have been given far more than I have given. I am the recipient to more blessings than you can imagine. So what should I say? If I haven’t said thank you to you in person, then I have failed. But here these words for your life.

I thank my God every time I remember you. I always pray with joy in my every prayer for you.-Phil 1:3-4

Why Small Groups (which we are going to call Life Groups)?

George Orwell said something about tea that I thought interesting.

“If you look up ‘tea’ in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.
This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:”

Reading that I thought of discipleship and Life Groups. (Maybe we should serve tea?) There is no simple solution to growing a healthy, balanced body of believers. Much like Orwell said of tea, there are some strong disagreements and often-violent disputes about how to help people grow in discipleship.

I wanted to share with you the reasons why I believe that Life Groups are the path for Harris Creek Baptist Church. We have not tried to keep this secret; rather we have been allowing you opportunities to come and hear the vision from me, and to ask questions. We will also continue to keep dialogue open so that you can feel a part of the transition. For some of you the transition hasn’t been fast enough, for others it feels too fast. We will also continue to have venues for you to come and hear more about Life Groups. So, why a small group strategy? (Life Groups)

1. Life groups are not a new program but a primary biblical model for doing church.

Small group ministry is the primary model found in the New Testament. The church could have met in very large colosseum. Herod built a theater that held 4000 and had excellent acoustics. Herod also built an amphitheater that was larger than the colosseum in Rome. The early church made a conscious decision based on who God was, and how he had worked in the world, to stay small and work through small outposts.

Acts 2:46-47
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Notice in that passage they met in the temple courts and in homes. The book of Acts teaches that the early church met as a church gathered and a church scattered. Somehow, we have forgotten the “scattered” church, and Life Groups can help us model the early church.

We must work together on what it takes to help people do life together just like Jesus. And the best part about this is that Jesus didn’t just tell us to do it—he modeled it through his own life and ministry. Jesus took 12 men and lived life with them, imparting to them the things of God. He taught them the scriptures, prayed with them, held them accountable, worshipped with them. These 12 men changed the world, by the power of the Spirit, in community. We need to do life in community with a few like Jesus did. Doing life together is a biblical model, not a fancy program.

2. Small group community is a primary felt need in America, let alone in our churches.

In South Orange County, there is a community known as one of the top 10 fastest growing developments in the country. For every new home construction, there are 10,000 applications from interested buyers.

Part of the appeal of this community is that it is built from the ground up for community. Its ads sell a return to “Mayberry” days, when everyone had a front porch, a true neighborhood community, and a sense of family among friends.

They actually have a Community Director for one of these kinds of neighborhoods. Her job is to create and cultivate a sense of community—where people feel loved, supported, needed, and have a true sense of belonging. She hires, trains, and manages cul-de-sac leaders, helping them launch social events, such as progressive dinners, costume parties, and charades nights. Her job includes a weekly trip to new and existing cul-de-sacs with a truck filled with fresh Starbucks and Krispy Kreme Donuts.

The people who most need to be reached by our church are not going to walk in the front door just because we are here. Yet they might come over to our house for a group meeting, especially if we are investing in their lives and inviting them to be a part of what we are doing.

Instead of trying to get the community to come to our church, why not bring our church to the community?

3 . Significant life transformation can happen in small groups.

We want lives to be changed. Merely lecturing without living out the truths of God does not change hearts. Bill Hybels says, “Life change happens best in small groups.” Rob Lacey says it’s a great place for people to “talk back” about the Bible and discuss the implications of its message, leading to greater application of truth in the lives of those who attend. Bob Buford, founder of the Leadership Network, said recently, “There is a definite shift in the church from just a procrastination model seen in churches all across America, to a greater demonstration model of Christianity that leads to greater transformation of our hearts.”

Life Groups are about the encounter of God’s word with our lives in a way that changes us. With the introduction of new DVD and video teaching delivered directly into living rooms and classrooms in churches, we can get the best of both worlds—proclamation and devotion. Churches that go with a life group model almost always have a positive response about teaching and training materials from members who say they are glad not only to have more teaching, but more talking about teaching, as well. Talking about teaching leads to greater integration of truth in the lives of people—resulting in the transformation of the minds, hearts, and hands of believers for Christ!

Soli Deo Gloria!

James