An Interesting New Book I’ll Be Reviewing – An Amazon Bestseller

Shortly, I will be receiving a review copy of “God’s Favorite Place on Earth” by Frank Viola. The book released May 1st and stayed in the top # 50 on Amazon.com for 8 straight days. There’s a lot of buzz about this book on the Web, and I’ll be writing a review after I read it.

Here are a few interesting nuggets about the book.

* It’s been recommended by 47 Christian authors, including John Ortberg, Jack Hayford, Leonard Sweet, David Fitch, Tricia Goyer, Mary DeMuth, Greg Boyd, Todd Hunter, Jon Acuff, and many others.

* There is an interesting video trailer for the book that introduces it.

* The book tells the story of Jesus in the little village of Bethany and the amazing things that happened there through the eyes of Lazarus. It combines biblical narrative, dramatization, theological insights, and nonfiction devotional teaching. It argues that “Bethany” was God’s Favorite Place on Earth and explains how every Christian and every church can be “Bethanies” today for God.

You can check all of this out at http://GodsFavoritePlace.com

Why You Should Come to the Missional Round Table

On Saturday May 18th we’ll be part of a group hosting the first ever Missional Round Table in the Cleveland area. Missional has become quite the buzz word in evangelical churches over the past few years and because of that it’s provoked lots of questions about what it means to be missional and what our churches should do next. The Missional Round Table is intended to be a place to learn and ask questions from practitioners who have been traveling this road for a few years as well as create space for us to learn from each other.

Why should you join us for the Missional Round Table on Saturday May 18th?

• David Fitch & Geoff Hosclaw will be presenting. Both David & Geoff are professors at Northern Seminary in Chicago but more importantly they c0-pastor Life on the Vine – a missional church in Chicago. They have also just released a new book called Prodigal Christianity.
• You’ll be able to meet and share with others in the greater Cleveland area wrestling through the same ideas you are wrestling through! There will be leaders of church plants, established churches, house churches and missional communities so no matter where you’re at in this journey.
• This will be a local conference. While Fitch & Hosclaw are joining us from Chicago the desire is to have a discussion of missional church right here in Northeast Ohio.
• There will be time to listen, process with friends and discuss issues your church is facing in this process.
• Everyone who registers will receive a free book from Fitch & Hosclaw.

If you’re interested in joining us check out the MRT website or Register Here!

What Father’s Should Tell Their Children

I’m a 33 year old man. I have a great wife, 2 great kids, a great job at a church we helped start. I have been able to achieve many goals in my life – academically, personally, spiritually and physically. I feel very satisfied with who I am at this point of my life.

I know many others my age who have achieved similar things in their lives at similar ages but when I talk to many them they’re not satisfied – in fact for many of them they feel like what they’ve achieved isn’t enough. If we’re able to have an in-depth conversation there is often one main difference between their life and mine.

In my entire life I have never wondered if my dad was proud of me. I remember him telling me how proud he was of me when I was very young. At times it was because of something I had done and at other times it was said for no reason than to just let me know. When I look back on my skills and abilities during my formative years they weren’t all that impressive – there were many who were better than me at sports, academics and the arts – but my skills in comparison to those around me never impacted how proud my dad was of me and how willing he was to tell me.

When I talk with other men my age and older I am always struck by how little their dad’s have told them they are proud of them. Many say they’ve never heard their father say it and are certain he never will. At times these men will say that as they achieve a monumental goal in their life they are often thinking “maybe this will make my dad proud.” Maybe it does – but they’ll never know because for some reason their dad’s will never tell them.

This morning I was reading the beginning of Mark and I was struck by something incredible as I read about Jesus’ baptism. In Mark 1 it says this…

Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:10, 11 NIV)

It’s always very important for us to remember that Jesus was a man – a human man. He had human emotions and human questions – later in scripture it tells us that he experienced everything we experience and has gone through every temptation we suffer with. That means that there were days when Jesus was tempted to think he wasn’t good enough. It means that there were questions that would plague him too that would tempt him to wonder if his Father was really proud of him. God the Father spoke directly to Jesus’ human heart and told him and apparently anyone around “You belong to me! You are MY son! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!”

The strength that this this gives to Jesus seems to be incredible. The very next thing that happens is he’s lead into the wilderness and is tempted by Satan. Can you imagine what kind of temptation he would have faced in those days if he was wondering if his Father was proud of him – if he was doing enough – if he would ever measure up? Instead he resisted Satan and was able to walk confidently into the full force of his ministry!

If you’re a dad you should make sure your kids know you’re proud of them. Believe me – even if they’re in their 30s or 40s or 50s they are wondering. Many of them think of how to make you proud when they do things that seem to have nothing to do with you – and they hope you’ll notice how they’re doing and that this thing will finally be the one that makes you take note and say something. You may have told them before – but saying it again (and maybe again and again) won’t hurt – it will only give them confidence to be who they were made to be.

Let me just say, if you’re dad’s never told you he’s proud of you – I’m sorry. It sucks wondering all the time and trying to figure out what you have to do to earn his approval. The good news is that through Jesus we have a Heavenly Father who is proud of you just because you’re you. If you need to know that someone’s proud of you take a few minutes, hours or even days and just ask God what He thinks of you – of who you are and what you’re becoming. As you ask be willing to listen. Maybe his Spirit will speak to your heart or you’ll read something in scripture that is like medicine for your heart. He may even use someone around you to tell you how much he loves you and how proud he is of you.

Can you imagine what kind of strength your kids – and really all the children of God – would have if we just knew their dad was proud of them and they didn’t have to do anything else to prove themselves?

Song of Praise

This morning during my Bible reading I read the Song of Praise from David at the end of his life in 2 Samuel 22.  It’s so amazing to see a powerful man reflecting on how God’s hand is the reason all of that has happened.  It motivated me to write a “song of praise” this morning reflecting on the last two years of our church’s life.  Here it is…

Lord – you are so good to us. You have provided us with so much. You have met our needs and opened up many doors in our community. You have given us relationships with so many different people – both those who are already connected to your family and those who have yet to be adopted. We have found such great favor in places we would never expect or gain on our own.

Your healing hand has worked through this body. Marriages have been restored, diseases have been healed, hearts have been mended and depression has been lifted. We have seen You do things that though we said we believed we were unsure of the possibility in our own church & life!

You have called people into your family through our ministry. You have used the words spoken, the songs sung, the life shared to invite people into your Kingdom. We have seen people saved, return home and renewed in amazing ways!

We know there is no end to your goodness which gives us confidence that the next days, weeks, months and years will bring even greater amazement. We know that you will continue to provide for our needs, we know that you will continue to open doors into communities you want to renew, we know that there is no end to the number of people you will save/heal/set-free through the mission you’ve called us to. We are certain that we can trust in you as we pursue these things because they are your plans and not ours.

Oh Lord, make our paths straight. Give us favor and fill us with your Spirit. Have your way in and through us! May you alone receive the glory for the work you are doing through our church.

#FutureGospel 2

Yesterday I posted my initial post around some thoughts I’ve been wrestling through when it comes to the future of the Evangelical Church in America.  In that post I focused on the kind of people and interactions we must have if as a church we’re organized around mission. In doing that we’ve got to decide if “truth” or Truth is more important (read the post for greater clarity on those vague statements go read that post).  The reason I offer the summary above is because Iam well aware that when one starts talking about “truth” or Truth they’re feet are planted firmly on the edge of the slippery slope they will soon be sliding down.

I would argue that the future of evangelicalism rests on the theological decisions we make and the positions we take moving forward. This is another reason i am so excited about Missio Alliance’s initial gathering next month.

It seems to me that now more than ever there is a temptation to back off what seems to be clearly outlined in the scriptures and has been classically accepted throughout church history.  There are many reasons to back off of these things – some of them even good reasons. Some make the shift in order to welcome more people in, some make the shift to keep up with a changing culture, some shift because they can’t imagine Jesus being so close minded or stuck in the old ways and some just do it because they think the new way is much more loving and after all God is love.

While we may be able to welcome more people in and extend opportunities to people who had previously been given the impression they could never be welcomed into the church in doing so we are giving a false impression they’re “safe” but not ever helping them see their need for the grace of God made available to all of us in Jesus.  After all if there’s no hell, everyone’s saved, sins not sin anymore then Jesus is just a well respected figurehead and the cross wasn’t necessary at all (again – an oversimplification I know…).

So what do we do?  I’ve been encouraged and challenged by Jesus’ words in Luke 9

Luke 9.23-26
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

There are plenty of things that I would like to forget. There are issues that we face in our day that would be easier to condone, endorse, accept and move on. There are things we’re called to uphold, support and enforce that seem to be less and less popular and even possible. When I read these words all I hear Jesus telling me to do is lay down my life and follow Him. I may gain position or favor by going the other way but what do I lose?

Jesus.

The future of the church rests on our ability to organize around mission formed by solid theological understanding. If we lose either one of these things we will be lost in the future.