A Post-Denominational Church

WARNING: You are about to enter the Twilight Zone of Ben's mind. All thoughts and opinions found within the following text are purely speculation and the musings of a young man's mind. In addition, the length of this post is undetermined, enter at your own risk.

For some time now, I have been considering going to seminary. In all reality, I have felt the call to be a pastor since the summer before 6th grade. I have been on that track the whole time, I just haven't always realized it. I went to Wartburg College to pursue a Religion major with a seminary prep emphasis. It was at this Lutheran college that I fell out of love with my Lutheran denomination. I was also during this time that I was introduced to something called "the Vineyard."

The concept of the Vineyard remained elusive, despite all of my attempts to understand it. This was, in part, because the denomination itself was newly formed and didn't have a strong central leader to cast a vision after the death of John Wimber in the early to mid 1990's. The other reason the "Vineyard" was so elusive is that it was never intended to be a denomination. John Wimber's original goal was to create a movement which would impact the larger Church and bring together classic Evangelical theology with biblical Pentacostal experience. This movement also emphasized low-key worship, intimacy with God and contemporary music.

Wimber's death in 1993 galvanized the movement into a denomination in order to maintain some sort of control over the name "Vineyard." In all fairness, the man who assumed responsibility of the Vineyard after John Wimber's death, Todd Hunter, explored many ways of keeping the movement alive without resorting to denominationalism. It is one of those ideas I wish to explore today.

A man by the name of Wayne Grudem counseled Todd Hunter to adopt a style of organization called "apostolic networks." The following definition of Apostolic Networks is taken from Bill Jackson's book, The Quest for the Radical Middle, "this new area of research recognizes that we are entering into a postdenominational era where apostolic men are rising up in America's free market religious economy to gather around them clusters of churches, either through church planting or adoption."

In other words, we are entering a time in Church history where denominational boundaries are blurring or falling away altogether. Arising from these ashes of Christendom is an ancient and modern mode of governance - the apostolic bishop or overseer. These men are appointed by God, and accepted by men, to oversee various clusters of churches. As esoteric as this may sound, it is already happening in post-modern America.

For instance, think of how Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Rick Warren and Bill Hybels influence churches throughout the nation. How many millions read their books and apply them to their churches? How many churches pipe in their sermons via webstream? How many churches now have multiple campuses, but remain under one larger church's covering?

Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is all a good thing. I am, and always will be, a diehard proponent for the small local church and a pastor who ministers to the immediate needs of the people. But there is something about Apostolic Networks that grips me. I haven't yet thought through all of the ramifications and implications of such a move, but we, collectively, as well as me individually need to start doing so because it is happening around us.

A few parting thoughts that are of a more personal nature. I mentioned earlier that I have been interested in pursuing seminary. The main issue I have been struggling with is, which one? Since I work in a Vineyard church and have been actively involved in the Vineyard for some time, it seems natural that I would choose their seminary program. But I found myself asking, what is unique about the Vineyard that is worth saving, that is worth advancing by becoming a pastor in it? That is what has lead me to start researching the movement more thoroughly and to start asking questions of the regional leadership. But then I got to thinking, what is unique about any denomination that is worth saving and advancing? All of the good movements that became denominations were successful because they brought something to the larger church.

Contemporary worship is not a Vineyard thing, it is a Church thing. Prophetic ministry and the laying on of hands is not a Vineyard or a House of Prayer thing, it is a Church thing. Salvation by grace through faith is not a Lutheran thing, it is a Church thing. The gifts of the Spirit are not a Pentecostal thing, the belong to the Church.

And so I find myself continuing to stew, dwelling on the idea of a postdenominational Church and what that means for me. But the larger question, the one that supercedes all is, "God, what are You up to?"

Snow and Sore Fingers

There is a lot of snow around Waverly. A lot. Looking around, it doesn't seem that way, but I don't measure snow in inches. I measure snow in the number of times I need to shovel. Thus far, there have been four shovel outings and another needs to happen.

Please don't misunderstand. I am not complaining. I absolutely LOVE suiting up in my Carhart coveralls and getting some fresh air and exercise. I go stir crazy in the winter and generally end up picking on my wife, so I am thankful for this snow.

The snow I am NOT thankful for is the snow that is keeping my sister imprisoned in London. I want to hang out with her this Christmas so I am working my connections. :) But, wether we celebrate on the 25th or not, we will still have Christmas as a familiy at some point.

Now, for the sore fingers part. I played my first two-hour worship set last night and my fingers HURT. (BTW, I am sorry for all of the caps, but I am using a laptop at work and my usual italics and bolding functions don't seem to work well. My apologies for yelling at you.)

It was a ton of fun, except for when my fingers started to bleed a little. Ah well, war wounds right? It was a full band and a snowy night, it was glorious. I really enjoy playing the bass and I look forward to joining Amy's worship band on Sunday mornings as soon as I can find some people to take over the AV job that I am doing now.

Well my friends, I don't know how many posts will come in the next few days, so in case I don't get the opportunity at any other point... MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I pray that you have a very blessed and enjoyable holy day with your family and friends. I love you all!

Last Sunday's Sermon

Hey friends, I thought I would upload my transcript from last Sunday's sermon. Our OT reading was Isaiah 35 and our NT reading was James 5. I thought I would let you know since I mention them in the sermon but don't give reference notes. Sorry for the book.

Dec. 12 (Third Sunday of Advent)

Gospel Text -- Matthew 11:2-11

As I reflect on the texts for today, two related themes jump out at me.

The first is the coming of the Lord and the second is our patient endurance

until He comes. One one hand we eagerly expect Jesusʼ return and the

ushering in of His Kingdom. On the other we realize that He has not yet

returned and that His Kingdom is not here in its fullness. John Wimber

described this as the “now, but not yet” of the Kingdom.

Isaiah gives both a beautiful and startling account of “the great and

terrible Day of the Lord.” He begins by speaking about the desert and

wilderness becoming fruitful and glorious once more. The dry places will

have abundant water and the wild places will become well tended gardens.

We are want to keep reading about the glorious things to come - the blind

eyes see, the crippled legs dance, the mute tongues sing for the very first

time and on and on it goes. But before we get to all of those wonderful

things that will happen in the Millennial Kingdom and beyond, we must first

experience the coming of the Lord.

In verses three and four, Isaiah speaks prophetically to the people

who will see that great and terrible Day of the Lordʼs return. He encourages

them to strengthen their feeble hands and steady their weak knees. He

encourages them to be strong and not fear for the Lord is coming to save

them. All of this sounds great until Isaiah describes how God is going to

save His people. “He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He

will come to save you.”

I cannot think of a single thing so opposite of the “Christmas spirit” as

the idea of divine retribution. I mean, come on, what is a text like this doing

in the readings for Advent? Arenʼt we supposed to be focused on love and

joy and good will towards men? Isnʼt that what Christmas is all about?

No, its not. Christmas is about Christ - Jesus - who, though He was

and is fully God, chose to come to earth as a baby so that He might take on

our frailty and redeem a people for Himself. Jesus inaugurated the Day of

the Lord over 2,000 years ago when He was born in Bethlehem. When He

returns it will be the full consummation of all that He has planned.

Christmas is the time when we focus on Christ, when we focus on who He

is and what He came to do. Jesus is the full expression of God, who

revealed Himself to Moses saying “I am who I am and I will be who I will

be.” Christmas is the time when we take Jesus at face value, when we try

to understand Jesus as who He has revealed Himself to be, not the Jesus

we try to make Him be to fit our own needs and wants.

John the Baptist tried to pressure Jesus into being who John wanted

Him to be. That is the Gospel reading for today.

John is in prison and starts hearing stories of what Jesus is doing.

Now John was very well aware that Jesus was the Son of God, the Christ,

the Anointed One - after all, John baptized Jesus in the Jordan and saw the

heavens rent, he saw the Spirit descend on Jesus like a dove and John

heard the audible voice of God say, “This is my Beloved Son, with Him I am

well pleased.” So why on earth would John send his disciples to ask Jesus

“Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Quite simply, Jesus wasnʼt living up to Johnʼs expectations. John

knew Jesus was King, and yet he was still in prison. John had his own

ideas about how God should run his Kingdom - and those ideas didnʼt

involve personal suffering in the least!

John wanted Jesus to be an earthly king. He wanted Jesus to storm

Herodʼs palace, kill the trouble maker and set John free. John wanted

Jesus to run things the way John would have run them. And that is the

foolishness that you and I battle every day. We forget that we were made in

Godʼs image. He was not made in ours.

Jesus gently reminds John of this in the answer He gives to Johnʼs

disciples. He says ʻYes John, I am the One who was to come. The blind

see, the lame walk, the diseased are cured and the dead are raised - my

Kingdom is breaking into this world. But John, I am not coming for you. My

plan for you is that you will die by Herodʼs hand. You will be blessed if you

do not fall away on account of me.ʼ

Phew, what a response. How hard that must have been to receive.

How hard it still is to receive. Jesus is not like us. He is for us, that is, He

works everything for our good, but He does it in His own way. He is

Sovereign, He is Lord of all. He will be who He will be and He will not be

chained by our own expectations of how things should be. I think C.S.

Lewis said it best in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - “Heʼs not a

tame Lion, but He is Good!”

And it is that Goodness that we trust in most dearly. To come face to

face with an unpredictable God is a terrifying thing, but He reveals Himself

to us in ways that cause us to trust Him, even as He maintains His mystery.

To Moses God said, “the Lord, the Lord, (I am, I am,) the

compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and

faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness,

rebellion and sin. Yet I do not leave the guilty unpunished.”

So even as God declares His independence to “be who He will be”

He also reveals to us His character, the motivations of His heart. He is

compassionate, He loves grace and mercy, He is slow to anger and

overflowing with love. He is faithful and also just. God says to Malachi, “I,

the Lord, do not change!”

Praise God for that, for it means that in every circumstance God is

good and merciful and caring and just and compassionate and loving and

faithful. And it is those qualities, God very character, that we trust in, even

in difficult and trying times. That is what Jesus was trying to tell John. That

is what Jesus is trying to tell us, even now.

James confirms this in our New Testament reading. “Be patient

brothers... do not grumble, the Judge is at the door! My brothers, as an

example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke

in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have

persevered. You have heard of Jobʼs perseverance and have seen what

the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

This is the heart of the matter: even while we eagerly anticipate the

Day of our Lordʼs return, we must patiently bear with our present

circumstances. And if those present circumstances are undesirable

(sickness, persecution, suffering, death) then we trust in the character of

our God who works all things for our good. There is a statement I want to

unpack and then we will close.

God will use the least severe means possible, to reach the greatest

number of people at the deepest level of love while still maintaining human

free will. How do we know that?

God is merciful, He does not delight in the destruction of the wicked

so He will use the least severe means of reaching people that He can.

Godʼs desire is that everyone will be saved. Therefore, He wants to

reach the entire world with the Gospel of salvation.

God is loving and compassionate. He wants people who will be His

bride, His friend. He wants people who will voluntarily respond to His heart

in love. That is why He wants to reach people at the deepest level of love

possible. It is also why He so valiantly protects human free will. He does

not want robots nor does He want people who cower before Him and are

too afraid to come near. God is a gentleman, He will not force Himself upon

anyone.

And so we trust in Godʼs character, who it is that He has revealed

Himself to be, in every circumstance. We trust that in everything - pain,

trial, temptation, persecution, blessing, abundance - God is working all

things for our good. We trust that in everything He is Good and gracious,

merciful and compassionate, just and righteous, faithful and loving. We

trust that He is using the least severe means possible to reach the greatest

number of people at the deepest level of love while still maintaining human

free will.

This is who God has revealed Himself to be, this is the God we serve.

This is the God whom we anticipate this Advent season. Even as we

remember His first coming, we anticipate His second. And we hope to say

with the Apostle Paul, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth

comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” To the praise and glory

of God our Father, Amen.

Humility and Meekness

I am in a refining period. This is a good thing, I did ask for it after all, but it is incredibly painful at some points. As I become more aware of my own sinful tendancies, I grow more and more dissatified with my current spiritual state. Now I realize that there is a time to look around and recognize how far I have come and to celebrate my successes, but this is not one of those times. This is a time to look at my life and say 'God, I want more! There has to be more than this, make me more like Jesus.'

I have been studying meekness and humility lately. They are two of my favorite characteristics of Jesus and they are some of the most valuable for us as Christians. In my searching I have come across a great definition of meekness. I don't have my reference handy, but I will give the definition as best I remember.

"Meekness stands in the middle of two extremes. One extreme is getting angry for no reason. The other extreme is never getting angry at all. Meekness takes into account the frailty of the individual and seeks repentance and restoration. Meekness is getting angry at the right time, in the right way and in the right measure."

Yeah, I can buy in to that. Cultivating meekness is not to go about being a doormat. Cultivating meekness is cultivating a spirit of wisdom, long-suffering, humility and righteousness. Cultivating meekness is learning when to leave things in God's hands and when to act in a very decisive manner - a manner that will show oneself or others the error of their ways and draw them back to Jesus in repentance. Meekness is really trusting God when He says, "It is mine to avenge. It is mine to repay." So much of my time and energy is spent defending my name, character and reputation. I constantly interject comments into conversation to quantify, qualify or interpret statements that I make. I want to persuade people to see me in the best light possible.

That all sounds fine until I start measuring my life to the life of Jesus. Jesus was so sure of himself and his position before his Father that he didn't need to go about defending the things he said. Jesus simply said the things that the Father wanted him to say, in the way in which God wanted him to say them, and let people deal with it in their own souls. When he was accused of immoral bahavior, he told stories which pointed out the intentions of those accusing him and how he had acted in accordance with God's will. He didn't do this often, only when he was publically challenged. Even then it was a rare occurance. When he was before Pilate, Jesus was completely silent. He could have spoken and aquitted himself for the case against him was weak. Instead, he remained silent and submitted himself to the will of his Father. He was obedient unto death.

That simply amazed me. How I long to be like that. I wante the daydreams of my heart, those things I think when no one is looking, to be about how I can glorify God. I want to daydream about how I can become less so that God can be more in me. I want to imagine ways in which I can submit myself to God's will so other people can see God clearly through me.

I am not at that point. I am not even close. But that is where my gaze is fixed. That is what I am aiming for. I want to be a tool God can use with joy. I want to be a tool that God wants to use again and again.

And so, Lord, my prayer is that You would continue this refining process in my life, that You would even accelerate it - that You would do more in a shorter amount of time than You had even planned. I want to partner with You. I want to submit to You. I want to be more like Your Son, Jesus. Amen

Perspective

Do you ever have those moments when God expands your perspective and you are completely taken off guard? I do. I start looking at my life and thinking 'OK, I kind of have a handle on this. This is a pretty cool plan God has for my life.' Then God brings me up a little higher and I start seeing more and more of the picture. The only thing I can liken it to is hitting the minus (-) button of Google maps or something like that. What was big and in focus suddenly becomes very small in the grand scheme of things. And I am overwhelmed.

God! Your plan is this big? Whoa! And He just smiles, knowing that the plan is so much larger than even that.

This scene has played out at least four times in my life and seems to be happening with more regularity. This is very cool, very exciting and very humbling. Gaining God's perspective on things really makes life start to make sense. Things that were huge to me before are suddenly shrunk down to their proper size. Conversely, things that I thought were relatively unimportant prove themselves to be part of a far larger picture than I ever imagined.

I realize I am being rather vague in this, but I promise I will share more in time to come. I am just very excited for how things are shaping up with IHOPE and the Vineyard. God is moving (He always has been and always is) and we are just trying to grab a hold of His coattails and follow along. Blessings to you this Advent season!

Amana Colonies

Amy and I just got back from a weekend away to the Amana Colonies. This is an annual tradition for us and we meet up with Amy's mom and step dad to do some shopping, relaxing and pigging out on sweets. It is always a restful time, which I appreciate in the midst of this busy season.

The thing I like best about the Amanas is the religious heritage. The settlers of Amana were religious immigrants from Germany. They were staunch Lutherans who dreamed of a better world. Part of the separatist movement, the Inspirationists (as they called themselves then) tried to live apart from the world. They founded their own self-sufficient communities and needed little from the outside world. I admire their independence and hard work, but what I like best was their commitment to being the Church in the world.

The Amana people met for worship and prayer 11 times throughout the week. They based their lives around it. And it was this devotion that allowed them to prosper. It maintained unity in the community even though there were over 1,500 members and it allowed them to go after God with one heart and mind. God blessed their work and they became prosperous and even reached out to the community with free meals, hostels and medical care.

It is looking back at such a rich religious tradition that gives me hope for the future. People can work together for a greater cause, people can live in the world but not be of it. The Amana way of life only lasted 80 years and I do not know the reasons for its demise. Even still, I hope that the Church can reclaim some of that heritage. What would our communities look like if we had churches that were empowered by the Spirit and united in purpose like the Church was in the book of Acts? I don't know, but the very though excites my spirit. Lord, may Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

Death Sucks, Resurrection Rocks

For those of you who might not know, Amy's father, Todd Leggett, died last Sunday (Nov. 21, 2010) playing golf. He was only 47.

Everything in me wants to say, "That is too young! He should have had more time." And truly, in our culture and others, we all try to justify death. We come up with silly rules like "Parents should never have to bury their children." Or we try to say "Death is just a natural part of life."

NO ITS NOT!

Death was never intended for humanity - did you know that? The Bible makes it very clear in Genesis chapters 1-3. God created a good world and we were part of that good creation. He placed us in a garden and intended us to keep it. Within this garden were two trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We were instructed to not eat from the latter tree, but we could eat freely from the first. We were created to live in a perfect world, free from sin, sickness, disease and death. We were meant to live eternally with God in unbroken fellowship. Now, we (through Adam and Eve) screwed that up, but God hasn't changed His original plan. All of history since that point has borne witness to this. God immediately started forming a people for Himself so that He could send His Son, Jesus.

Jesus was Plan A from the beginning. God wasn't scrounging for ideas after Adam and Eve ate from the tree, He knew what would happen and built redemption into the plan. That is not to say that God made Adam and Eve eat from the tree. God has always protected and respected human free-will, but He also knows all things - what a crazy tension in the heart and mind of God! I can't really get my head around that even a little bit.

Jesus came for a number of reasons, but redemption is one of the most important. Through Jesus, the second and last Adam, God corrected the twisted nature inside of us. Through Jesus, God killed our sinful selves and enabled us to live righteously by His Spirit. Galatians 2:20 "It is not longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."

When we give our lives to Christ, we are baptized. And what are we baptized into? His death. Humans can only bring death, but God brings life. We were baptized into His death so that, by sharing in a death like His, we might also attain a resurrection like His! Jesus' resurrection is the foundation of our faith. If Christ was not raised, our faith is worthless. But Christ was raised and He is now seated at the right hand of the Father and He is coming back to judge the living and the dead and to raise the righteous to eternal life with Him. Eden will be restored to us - even better than Eden is promised to us.

And that is what we cling to as Christians. That is what gives us hope. That is what allows us to shrug off the grief and despair that comes upon us whenever something shitty like this happens. Now, this hope doesn't mean that we don't grieve - far from it. But we don't grieve like those who have no hope. We grieve for our loss, but we know that we will be reunited in perfect fellowship with God and one another. That is what we labor for, that is also why the Christian message is so so important.

For their is another resurrection, one to darkness and gnashing of teeth. I know it isn't culturally acceptable to talk about people going to hell, but it is too important to sugarcoat. And just because our culture doesn't like it doesn't mean it wont still happen. The Bible is exceedingly clear, many people will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but will be thrown into the lake of fire because they never knew God.

If the thought of temporal death is so painful, how much moreso the thought of eternal pain and punishment! That is what motivates me to share the Gospel! I want those I care about to live with me in the new heavens and new earth. The most calloused and hateful thing I can do is not share the message of salvation with those I love most.

Enough of that. Todd was a Christian, he loved God and his relationship with Jesus was important to him. I started this post by saying he died golfing. That is true, but Todd made sure he always went to Church first. He never let his hobbies interfere with his faith. And that is what gives me confidence that he is resting joyfully in the Lord until it is time to come back to earth in the resurrection. This sure belief is what helps me to carry on. We will only be separated from those we love for a short time; then joy forever.

For those that are grieving Todd's death, I pray this message gives you peace. For those that will grieve in the future, remember the joy of God's salvation. He has given us beauty for our ashes. Amen, how Glorious He is!

3 Streams

I have been reflecting this morning on the three streams that make up the church. They are the Sacramental, Charismatic and Evangelical streams. Now, in those categories I don't mean to imply the Christian groups that have taken those names, but I am appealing to the original meaning. I will hopefully clarify things as I go on.

What got me thinking about this was a discussion I had with a friend a couple days back. We were talking about wanting to expand IHOPE House of Prayer to also be a Missions Base. For us that meant a shift, or at least and addition, of focus. I have my thoughts formatted in a diagram, but I can't include that here, so I will do my best to explain.

Within the Church, there are (in my opinion) three main facets that each have a question, an answer, a desired behavior and that fit in one particular stream or another. I see the breakdown like this:

Congregation - "What can God do for me?" - Sacramental (Means of Grace)

HOP - "What can I do for God?" - Charismatic (Spirit empowered living, Fruit of Spirit)

MB - "What does God want to do through me?" - Evangelical (Gifts of Spirit)

At the congregational level, we often ask "What can God do for me?" We are interested in why we should be Christians. We are interested in God's promises and offers. I place the congregation or "church" (small "c") in the sacramental stream because the Sacraments most clearly answer this question. We know God's heart for us and what He promises us when we take communion. We remember that we are part of a new covenant, that He has removed our sins, that we have died with Him so that we might also live with Him.

At the House of Prayer level, our question is "What can I do for God?" or, a better way of phrasing it would be "How can I minister to God's heart?" Where the congregation focuses on God's work for us, the HOP focuses on our work for God. In the HOP we are students of God's emotions. We engage in long periods of prayer and contemplation because that is how we communicate with God. We listen long and hard to what God is saying. If we celebrate God as "Bridegroom" in the congregation, we celebrate God as "King" in the HOP. And what a beautiful and amazing King Jesus is! He is a servant-king, one who goes lower than all, but is exalted above the heavens. One who is perfect in power, but also in humility. And how we long to be like Him - so we ask the Spirit to come and fill our lives, to empower us to grow in peace, patience, gentleness (etc.) so that we might be like Him when He returns.

The Missions Base asks still a different question, "What does God want to do through me?" Whereas the congregation and HOP are focused on the vertical relationship, the missions base focuses on the horizontal relationship, how we live out our faith in a community and in the world. This is a place where we partner with God, where we join in with what He is doing. There is a sense of urgency in the MB. Jesus is coming back and while He is coming back as Bridegroom and King, He is also coming back as Judge. He will judge the living and the dead. He will separate the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats. He will distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. Our goal in the MB stream is to expand God's Kingdom, to grow His family. This stream is primarily concerned with bringing God joy, as we know that He rejoices more over those who repent than over those who have no need of repentance. We are seeking to snatch people from hell, to prepare them for heaven. We are seeking to establish God's Kingdom here on earth and it is in heaven. That means restoring people and the planet, for God cares about both. We seek to establish Godly justice on the earth.

That is the breakdown as I see it. However, each particular section is going to have overflow from the other streams too. Nothing stands on its own. How those elements combine will determine the culture of any particular organization.

Alright, I have already written a book, so I will let you go. Thanks for reading.

Remembering the first, Anticipating the second

For those of you who are not part of a liturgical tradition (and who therefore probably don't follow the church calendar) yesterday was the start of Advent. Advent is a four week period leading up to Christmas. It is a time of great anticipation and excitement. It is the time of year especially set aside to reflect on the miracle of God coming to earth, in flesh, as a human baby.

Well, yesterday, Bill (our main teaching pastor at VCC) had a wonderful sermon talking about the second coming of Christ. Just as we spend this time remembering Jesus' first coming, we are also spending time looking forward to His second. There was one passage in particular that God highlighted to me. It is found in Matthew 24.

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. So it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." Matthew 24:37-39.

Woof. "As in the days of Noah..." What were Noah's days like? Matthew describes them a little bit for us, but the bulk of the description is found in Genesis 6.

Noah's days were evil. Men were so corrupt that God was grieved that He even made man. But there was one, only one, who found favor in God's sight. This man was Noah (comfort - that is what his name means in Hebrew btw). God commissions Noah to build an ark because God is going to flood the earth and wipe out evil humanity. And so Noah, who is 500 years old, begins building an ark.

I can only imagine what his wife, children and neighbors thought. An old man who thinks he heard from God going out to chop down trees and make a big boat because it is going to rain? What the heck is rain? The old man must be nuts. You see, it had never rained before. The people had no grid for what Noah was talking about. Up to this point the earth was only watered by streams and rivers and water coming up from the ground. Rain, water falling from the sky like arrows, was completely foreign to them.

But Noah was faithful because he was sure he had heard. God had spoken and Noah would be faithful to do as he was commanded. Noah was faithful in building the ark for 100 years! He served longer than most of us will live and he was scorned and ridiculed the whole time. No one would listen to his warning. No one took him seriously - until it started to rain. And then it was too late.

Noah's story isn't really all that different from our own. Do you remember me talking about Forerunners in an earlier post? Well, this is why I want to be one. I don't want millions (billions?) of people to be caught unaware. And the message is just as crazy as what Noah had.

There is this man, his name is Jesus. Jesus is also fully God, but there isn't more than one God, there is only one. Well, Jesus came to show us what life in His Kingdom is like. He came to redeem us as sinful people and he did that by dying on a cross in our place. On the third day He rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead and then He will remake the heavens and the earth and we will live, reign and rule with Him for eternity. And He is coming back soon, but if you don't repent and believe in Him, then His sacrifice wont protect you and you will be judged and found guilty. The punishment for that is eternal life in hell. But God promises that if we confess our sin, repent, trust in Jesus, are baptized into His name and confess Him as our Lord, we will be saved and forgiven.

To me that makes perfect sense. To an unbeliever that sounds like insanity. But God is softening people's hearts - they are beginning to respond. But there are many more who are going to continue on with life as usual, thinking Christians are doing nothing more than wasting their time. Until He comes back. Then things are different. Then our message becomes "relevant." Then they can't hear enough. And it is the grace of God that they can still repent and find a place in His Kingdom.

That is our God. He is generous with His wealth. We are all undeserving of His mercy. Sometimes we forget that as Christians. Sometimes we start to feel entitled because of all of our years of service. Bull. You don't serve by your own strength, nor do I; it is the grace of God. I hope to be as faithful as Noah. I hope that I can be a faithful messenger in a crooked and perverse generation. I hope that I can love people like Jesus did and hopefully save some. I wonder is you would join me? The road is narrow that leads to life, but it has got to be wide enough for us to walk side by side.

Two Extremes

Over the last few weeks, God has made something abundantly clear to me. There are two extremes in Christianity and they dramatically affect the way we live.

One extreme is the idea that I want to do as little for God as possible and still maintain my salvation and a clean conscience. The other, opposite, extreme is - I want to do as much for God and His Kingdom as I can and still fulfill my earthly obligations. Allow me to explain.

The first extreme is, in my opinion, the state of the majority of the Church in the Western world. These people want to do as little as they can for God because they want to do as much as they can for themselves. These are people who spend copious amounts of time shopping, watching t.v., eating out, etc. They spend much of their time and energy entertaining and pleasing themselves.

I want to state right now that I am not against pleasure in any sense. God has given us highly refined senses so that we can interact with and enjoy the world around us, but the people in this first group take things to the extreme. And I think this is why - they have no understanding that Jesus is coming back.

Our view of the end-times greatly influences how we live in this present day and age. I am not saying we need to be cultish and start predicting dates, but we need revelation that "they day of the Lord's return is nearer now than when we first believed." Jesus is coming back. The liturgical church confesses this every sunday in the Apostle's Creed - "He [Jesus] will come again to judge the living and the dead." The Bible readily attests to this fact; a mere skimming of the Book of Acts or Revelation leads to the conclusion that Jesus is coming back. This belief is what invigorated the Apostles, it (along with the Holy Spirit) is what turned them from cowardly fishermen into fiery evangelists who changed the entire world with their message. These men and women were living for something greater than their own entertainment or fulfillment. They had calling and purpose.

The belief of a pre-tribulation rapture has crippled the Church in the West. Not only is it a biblically unsupported idea, but it has only cropped up in the Church within the last 100 years or so. But because it was popularized in the Left Behind book series, many Christians believe this is what the Bible teaches. Historically, the Church has always taught that the Church will be around for the Tribulation. (The Great Tribulation, by the way, is the term used to describe the time leading up to Jesus' return. It is a time when the Church releases God's judgment on the regime of the Anti-Christ and the Anti-Christ then retaliates with widespread persecution of both Jews and Christians.) The Church needs to be around for the Tribulation so that it can continue to witness to this world, to call it to repentance and life in Jesus. But because many Christians think that they will not be around for the Tribulation (many don't even have hope that Jesus is coming back in their lifetime) they do nothing but eat, drink and be merry.

Jesus is coming back. This is the hope that we must cling to. And it is this belief that will change the way we live. If Jesus is coming back soon, then I need to live differently. I need to be a witness for Jesus to those around me for their time is short. I need to fast, pray and mourn for my nation for the godlessness that it has entered into. I need to be like Daniel and "repent for my sins and the sins of my nation." I need to let people know the severity of our times. But I also understand that Glory is on its way.

I read the Bible and I see Jesus' challenge. He seems to say, 'How much of me do you want? Give me your best shot!' He challenges us to fast and pray. He challenges us to obey His commands and teach others to do so. Why? Because we can greatly affect our standing in the New Heavens and New Earth.

Paul talks about some people entering the Kingdom as though passing through fire. They themselves are saved, but they have nothing to their name. Others spurned the persecution of their day to receive a better resurrection (Heb. 11:35). Jesus challenges us to store up treasure in heaven. Beloved, I want to be a rich man when I enter the Kingdom. I don't want to be a door keeper, I don't want to squeak by - I want to be a king. I want to be close to Jesus. Now, being a doorkeeper in Heaven is better than being in hell, but I don't want to settle for that.

And it is that heart that brings us to the other extreme. I want to do as much as I can on this earth to advance the Kingdom of God and better my resurrection while still maintaining my earthly obligations. I want to be sold out for the Kingdom. I want to put my hand to the plow and never, ever, look back. I want God to use my as fully as He possibly can. Yes, I still need to pay the bills and I still need to put food on the table (at least on non-fasting days), but those are not my life. And yes, I will still see Harry Potter in the movie theater, but I know that I am part of a greater story, one that will last for eternity.

Some may say I am extreme. Some may say that I need to take a break from this whole "God" thing. That is not how I see things. When God was forced to make a decision, He chose to save me and send His Son, Jesus, to the cross. ME! He chose me, in all of my sin, foolishness and rebellion and He sacrificed the only One who was perfect, Good and True. God did that because He loves me, because He wants to be with me forever. Beloved, in light of that, what I am doing is not extreme - it is the only appropriate response.

Prayer

I am preaching this coming Sunday on prayer. I am excited for it because I think it is a valuable part of our Christian life. It is how God's Kingdom is administered. I am not talking about weak, obligatory prayer. I am talking about powerful, vibrant communication with a God who loves us more than anything else in this world. I am talking about prayer that shifts nations, principalities and powers and that empowers believers to do the things that Jesus did.

We have a long way to go to reclaim the type of prayer that Jesus exemplified. But we need to get started. Our churches need it, our cities need it, our nation needs it. Prayer fills us with God's life and light and love. Prayer is what puts us into God's hands so that He can use us most fully. Prayer is a privilege for us as Christians, not an obligation. Prayer is what enables us to impact our world more fully. Prayer, communion with God, is inspiring, invigorating and most of all... fun!

Our Puritan roots run deep in this country - anything pleasurable has to be sinful, right? But we were made to pray, that is the essence of Genesis 1,2, and 3. We were made to rule with God through fellowship. That is exactly what prayer is - fellowship, communion. We give and take, speak and listen, share and receive. We spend time with one another, we find out and work towards having things in common. We are changed by prayer from glory to glory, not because prayer is anything special in and of itself, but because prayer is what brings us into God's presence and the more we see Him the more we become like Him. Praise God for that. I want to have a face that shines like Moses and I don't want to be ashamed of it like He was. I don't want that glory to fade, either. When Jesus comes back, I want to be like Him - that will only happen through prayer.

I wear suspenders

There are several clothing items that top my list as favorite things. Among them, in no particular order are: flannel, pearl-snap shirts, loggers pants from Duluth Trading Company, wool socks and last, but certainly not least, suspenders.

My choice to wear suspenders on a near-daily basis has caused no end of grief to me these last few weeks. People simply to not wear suspenders any more, so to see someone stepping outside of culturally accepted norms demands comment. For me, suspenders are more than a fashion statement, they are an act of defiance, of rebellion against what this world has become.

Suspenders harken back to a time in our past when men were men. They worked hard, got dirty and still held open doors for a lady. They derived a sense of worth and satisfaction from how much they could do and provide themselves as opposed to how much they could buy in a supermarket. These men worked long hours out doors. They sweated, were tan from the sun and didn't think to count calories as they ate biscuits and gravy with sausage links and coffee.

We have lost much of that rugged past, but I think it is coming back. People want to do things for themselves again. They want to have dirt under their fingernails and know what a tomato fresh off the vine tastes like when it is still warm from the sun. These neo-Pioneers give me hope, hope that one day I will see more men in suspenders.

What, you may be thinking, does this have to do with advancing God's Kingdom on the earth? When is Ben wasting my time and his writing about suspenders and frontiersmen when this is supposed to be a blog about the Church and ministry? What does this mean for me life? Honestly, nothing. Honestly, everything.

You see, our churches are in decline. Our churches have gone the way of our culture rather than the Way of Jesus. Our churches have become soft, pious places where no one dares to say anything of any damned importance for fear of offending someone else. I am tired of it. I am sick from it. This isn't the Church that I read about in the book of Acts where people drop dead because they tried to deceive the leadership and advance their reputations. This isn't the Church where Godly instruction is given and is confirmed in power by the Holy Spirit. This isn't the Church that can say without hypocrisy "If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ," Galatians 1:10c.

We need people who will "wear suspenders" to church. Men and women who will stand firm on our Christian heritage, who will defy the Doctrine of Tolerance in our Age. NO, all ways do NOT lead to heaven. There is only ONE Way, and that is Jesus. That is the offense of the Gospel. Jesus is both radically inclusive and radically exclusive. Absolutely anyone who comes to Him, confesses their sins, repents, is baptized and names Him Lord will be saved. Easy, right?

But so many will not.

So many are prideful, they think they can win God's favor with their own righteousness. So many think that Jesus is just a man who had a few good things to say, but is largely irrelevant to our world today. So many think that Jesus is just one of a multitude of great thinkers who wanted to push humanity towards enlightenment and fulfillment.

My question - Is anyone telling them differently?

Again, there is a growing movement of people who are. People who are fervently proclaiming "Jesus is LORD" to the exclusion of any other. People who are living radically different lives because they are sold out on the Gospel message. People who are reclaiming Biblical Christianity as a viable alternative to the impotent culture of this age that claims there are no absolute truths. We call these people Forerunners in the House of Prayer movement. Like John the Baptist, they choose to be a voice calling from the wilderness, "Prepare the way for the Lord!" It sounds foreign to our modern ears, but Jesus is coming back. The Early Church knew this, indeed, it was their only hope. That hope empowered them to live differently than the culture around them. It empowered them to seek God in every circumstance. It empowered them to shrug off temptation, persecution and punishment for the Glory that lies ahead.

I want to be one of those Forerunners and I want to live in a community that wants the same thing. So this is my encouragement to you who read this, you are not alone. Surround yourself with people who will love you and support you so that we can all cry out together. You are always welcome at our table.

It is November, wow! October was an awesome and very full month, I am looking forward to what November holds.

We have three weeks left in the IHOPE Internship and then we start making our own schedules. While I am excited to sync up my schedule with Amy a little better, I have really come to love the community we have and I am sorry to see it disband. Part of the reality of working for a House of Prayer - Missions Base is that we have people worshipping and praying around the clock, that means I wont see many of them except for on our Saturday night worship service. Bummer.

One a lighter note, I am going to learn Bass Guitar. A gentleman named Patrick has offered to give bass lessons to anyone who is interested and I signed up. I tried learning guitar several years ago, but I found that my hands are not well suited to it. I have rather small and meaty hands, which makes playing chords on a guitar rather difficult. But on the bass, I only play one note at a time and at a slower pace - JACKPOT! I will keep you posted on how all of this plays out.

In other exciting news, I have started work on the Adult Discipleship curriculum for the Vineyard. As that progresses more, I will let you know. I probably will not post it online, but if you are interested I can email it to you.

It looks to be another glorious day. Don't forget to vote!

The Great Pumpkin

Last night, at youth group, we watched "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin." For those of you unfamiliar with the cartoon, a boy named Linus waits up all night on Halloween to see "The Great Pumpkin." The Great Pumpkin sounds a lot like Santa Claus, flying through the air and bringing toys and whatnot. Everyone thinks that Linus is nuts, he misses out on trick or treating and also misses a party. To top it off, the Great Pumpkin never appears. But Linus is undeterred, he vows that next year the Great Pumpkin will rise.

In my small group we camped upon the idea of sincere belief. While it is good to have sincere and unshakable belief, that belief must be grounded in the Truth. While Linus' belief is sincere, he is believing in a lie. We talked about why Jesus is the Truth. How he is real and trustworthy and how we can know that. Then I put a challenge before them. I let them know that they are living in an age that is outrightly hostile to Christianity and that many people think that believing in Jesus is the same as believing in the Great Pumpkin. My challenge was this, I would be an unbeliever and they would try to convince me that God is real.

It was rough.

I started by saying, "I think believing in Jesus is the same as believing in the Great Pumpkin. He doesn't exist and you have much better things to do with your time than coming to youth group on Wednesday night or to church on Sunday morning."

Blank stares. Finally the other leader pipes up. "Do you believe that there is a God."

"Sure. I think that there is more to life than chance."

"So if there is more than chance, we could say that God is involved in things pretty closely. What do you think happens to bad people? Do you think they go to hell?"

"I don't believe in hell. I think that God loves everyone, regardless of what they have done." (Remember, I am being antagonistic here.)

"What about people who do evil things? Think of a parent, if their child misbehaves they punish them don't they? Hell is like that, God punishes us for doing bad things."

"But parents don't punish their children forever. Isn't that what you think hell is? Eternal punishment? How could a loving God do that?"

Lots of blinking. "I think this is where I say class dismissed."

Really? I don't mean to slander my fellow group leader. He is a faithful witness and a godly man, I just want to make it clear how unequipped we as Christians are when it comes to sharing our faith. We couldn't let it go at that. We had to show these kids how to be effective witnesses.

We in Christianity have tried to make the Gospel respectable and reasonable. We have made it try to make sense and address people on an intellectual level. If someone is already and Christian and has a renewed mind, the Gospel makes total sense, but for the unbeliever, the Gospel is foolishness. We need to share the Gospel in ways that most effectively allow God's Spirit to work through us.

My speech to the kids after the failed challenge went something like this. "Jesus is real. He is a real man. He came to earth, died, was resurrected and is seated at the right hand of God right now! The way we can be sure of this is because of the Holy Spirit. Jesus sent the Spirit to guide us into all truth and remind us of what Jesus taught us. The Holy Spirit also gives us power to work signs and wonders. So if you come up against someone who challenges your beliefs, pray for them. You need to know God personally really well. You need to have belief in God like Linus had in the Great Pumpkin. You need to know God well because He is speaking to you. So when you pray for someone, you need to ask God to work on this person's heart. You also need to ask Him to tell you something about this person - we call this prophecy. Because when you tell that person what God told you, it removes all doubt that God is real. It lets them know that God is real, that He does see them and that He desperately wants them to believe in His son Jesus and be saved. But you need to know God. You need to spend time listening to Him, reading your Bible and learning about Him. Not everyone you meet is going to believe that God is real just because the Bible says He is. That is like believe in Santa Claus because someone in the mall says, 'well this is his house...' Pray for people, God will work in their hearts at a much deeper level that you can get at with your words."

Needless to say, they were a little shell-shocked. I don't think anyone in their life talks to them this way. I am not saying that to glorify myself. I am saying that because it hurts my heart that our children are not being discipled. Our kids are growing up in a hostile environment to their faith. If you post anything about Christianity or morals on your Facebook page, you have half a dozen people crawling down your throat. We need to equip our children so that they can stand steadfastly on the Rock.

Please pray that God would raise up more people to do this. That God would use parents to train their children in the faith. Thank you for reading this.