A Challenge to me

I have recently been challenged in something that I felt was settled in my mind. First, by Rob Bell at the "Isn't She Beautiful?" conference at Mars Hill and then by Scot McKnight in his post Letters to Emerging Christians. What I heard and read I thought was a challenge to my beliefs, but I was wrong they were more of a confirmation of a belief that I already held, but just had not fully grasped.

One of my favorite passages of scripture is John 10:10, "A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest." What challenged me the most is that in most gospel presentations the Good News is presented as a ticket to heaven. I am not denying that when someone becomes a follower of Christ that they get into heaven, but the question comes is that all there is? What about my hell here on earth? Is the driving goal for us as Christ followers to just get people out of here. If heaven is the driving force of the Gospel then why doesn't God just translate us to heaven the moment we pray the prayer, confess with our mouth, make it public? I know that question brings a whole bunch of answers about the mission of Christians to share and the Great Commission, then why do we present the gospel so much as a ticket on the train to heaven?

Don't get me wrong I am looking forward to heaven. I preached a series on it last fall. I personally think the problem with many Christ followers is they are too enamored with the things of this world and not enamored enough with the things of heaven and that causes their focus to be more on the problems of the hear and now and not what is to come.

I am challenged by what Paul tells the Philippians in 1:6, "God is the one who began this good work in you, and I am certain that he won't stop before it is complete on the day that Christ Jesus returns." Another one that I think makes it more clear is 2:12-13, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

One of the questions that Rob Bell brought out is which Jesus are we following? The Jesus of 1-800-BIG-HAIR on Christian television or the Jesus of someone who claims to be but doesn't act like it. Bell referred to a book, "Stumbling Toward Faith" by Renee Alston. The disclaimer here is I have not read the book. I intend to read it in the near future because it seems incredible to me. In the book Alston tells of her life of abuse at the hands of a father who while abusing her would recite the Lord's Prayer. Those are just a few examples of the Jesus that people need to reject in their life.

What conclusion have I come too? Well, that is not completely settled. At this point for me what has happened is that Salvation is seen as more to do with someone's journey with Christ than it has to do with someone's point of decision for Christ. There are many people that have made a point of decision, prayed a prayer, walked an aisle, but the fruit of their life has no more to do with Christ than an atheist. Points of decisions are not wrong, they are markers along the journey, but there is more to the journey than the decision.

I like what Scot McKnight writes at the end of his article, "A Christian is someone whose identity is being transformed because of relationship with Jesus. I think Jesus, Paul, John, are all saying this very thing: the one who is a Christian is the one whose very being and identity are shaped by Jesus."

I simply have to concur!

Could be worse

Winter has officially hit the northeast . The high today in Frostburg , Maryland is suppose to be 21 . Welcome back to all the Frostburg State University students who started classes today. We have snow on the ground with the expectation of some more in the next few days.

But things could be worse. I received these pictures in an email this morning. They are from the town of Versoix near Geneva City, Switzerland. The water in the background is Leman Lake. They are quit incredible if I do say so myself.

Its 1:30 in the morning

It's after 1 AM and I just got home about an hour and a half ago from Grandville, Michigan and "Isn't She Beautiful?" at Mars Hill. May I say it was worth my time. Albert, the Youth Minister, and I left early today to get back at a decent time. We missed the afternoon breakout session on Tuesday and the evening. I am going to be getting notes from a friend who was sticking around.

Let me start by saying a little of my background with Rob Bell. I have read "Velvet Elvis" listened to several of his sermons and watched some Nooma Clips (AWESOME). I have found him to be thought provoking and extremely deep in his understand of scripture, especially the "Jewishness" of the Bible (my new word). I do not agree with him at every level, but I have found him to be genuine and heartfelt.

Now to the conference. Some impressions to begin. Mars Hill meets in a old mall. "The Shedd" is a huge open space with a stage in the center of the room with four screens in a box form above the stage. Just like the Mars Hill website (newly updated) the church is minimalist in look. There is no sign on the street near the church. When asked in a Q&A about it Bell answered, "you found it didn't you?"

Best phrase of the conference, "Wow, that is a big steeple." The phrase is taken from a Marilyn Manson song. Bell uses it to refer to ministers who brag about the size of their ministry.

Bell in his teaching has an ease of flow in his presentation. I sat there and listened to him speak and when he was done thought, "wow that was an hour and forty-five minutes." In the Monday morning session Bell's title was, "This lovely, frustrating, intoxicating, painful, hard, compelling mystery called church and why she's worth dying for." This was a wonderful talk on the Pastors being broken and poured out as a good gift(Eucharist) like Christ. Here are two quotes among many that hit me, "To be a leader in the church is to let your body be broken and your blood be poured out for others." The second about the church, "Your church is a gift (Eucharist) to your community." I could have left right after that session and felt the cost of the conference was well worth it. It hit me right between the eyes. I came away changed by that message and it will stick with me!

Monday evening Bell presented “There’s a box? A Theology of Creativity.” He spoke of the way he gathers for and presents sermons. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Came away with some great ideas and more creative and practical ways to prepare for preaching.

This morning he spoke on “A Few thoughts on God, Jesus, salvation, judgment, heaven, hell, who’s in, who’s out, and the end of the world as we know it.” I figured I would have trouble with this and I did, but it did make me think about my own view of salvation. I will not bash Bell point for point here. I will say it was useful to help me solidify a little more strongly my views of what the Bible says about salvation.

Best part of the conference was on Monday evening and the worship band. The leader opens by saying something like, we here at Mars Hill believe in responsive readings so you read the lines in parenthesis and I will read the rest.

We want the funk
(Gotta have the funk)

Those were the first two lines, I don't remember the rest. Then the band starts playing in the "key of funk." So we sing "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name," "Let it Rise" and several other songs in the "key of funk." It was soooo awesome!

I will be attending C3 in February and look forward to that. I will let you know how it goes.

Interesting Day in History

I love history! I actually majored in history in college because of it. So, each day I like to see what significant things happened on this date in history, also I like to see what famous people were born on this day. So, here is a little history lesson for January 8, 2006. Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Soupy Sales, and Stephen Hawking were all born on this day. You may not know Stephen Hawking who is a physicist.

On this date in American history is an interesting battle in the War of 1812, the battle actually happened in 1815. It was the battle of New Orleans, which did not have to occur since the Treaty of Ghent had already been signed on December 24, 1814. This battle which was a complete defeat of British regular army, by American militia and volunteers led by Colonel Andrew Jackson. In fact it was the battle that thrust Andrew Jackson into the national spot light more and he eventually became President of the United States in 1829. Jackson is also the co-founder of the Democratic Party. The United States forces were aided in the battle by pirates who were led by Jean Laffitte. Interesting note about Laffitte and his band of pirates is they wore red, like the British, and actually marched with small pockets of British troops before they would kill them. So, today I will probably sit back and enjoy a song of my childhood about this battle. I will listen to Johnny Horton's song "The Battle of New Orleans." Side note on the song is that my wife hates when the song comes on in a public place because I know it word for word...Thanks Dad for introducing me to the song.

Of interest more to me than anything would be that of what happened on a sand bar in Ecuador on this date in 1956. Five men had been dropping leaflets and gifts from a plane to the Huaorani people of that country hoping to get an opportunity to tell them about Christ. The Huaorani people were a violent group to other tribes and even to themselves. Missionaries Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully,Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian were all speared to death by a group of Huaorani warriors. God in his providential wisdom used the deaths of these men to inspire people around the world to serve God as missionaries, give to mission causes and prayer for missionaries.

So, today as you go through this day, take time and thank God for the freedom that you have in this country and pray for those who have made a great sacrifice and are serving God around the world to spread the Good News of what Jesus did.