A Bigger Boat or a Bigger Net?

In the classic movie Jaws we are formally introduced to the monster fish when he raises his mammoth head out of the water as Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) is throwing fish food off the back of their rickety boat. Thus proceeds the sober quote by the traumatized chief, “You're gonna need a bigger boat.”

Now allow me to jump ship here to another fishing boat, the church. Bigger churches are not bad, but bigger churches don’t necessarily catch bigger fish or more fish for that matter. The secret to a good fishing boat is not only what is seen above the water but the vast nets that are towed beneath the waves.

It is also important where we cast our nets so we don’t end up getting our lines tangled with other fishing boats. Basically, churches should not cast their nets into other churches.

Just last summer I was staying with friends right on the beach in North Carolina. I awoke one morning before the swimmers went out because I heard the gentle humming of the fishing trawlers over the breaking of the waves.

My first impression was one of solitude, but as I looked closely I could see that the small boat – nearly identical to the boat in Jaws – was dragging nets that were hundreds of meters long. And while the fish and the vast nets were unseen by the inattentive sunbathers strolling to the beach the fisherman’s gaze was fixed on them via some sonar-driven fish-finder.

This is a great picture of what the church should be, and if we see a big church then we would assume that the nets are vaster even reaching to other nations. A fleet of such church/fishing boats with disproportionally large nets would change the world, but unfortunately some large church-boats have become cruise ships with little or no nets at all. Some behemoths run into icebergs due to the captain’s pride and vanish beneath the waves with many lives wrecked or lost.

Nonetheless, let’s have bigger churches, fleets of churches, because the potential catch is disproportionally larger than the number of solitary fishermen trawling among the nations. And let us assure that the nets that we cast are even bigger.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Luke 5:4

The Church: In Lieu of Flowers…

I have been known to read the obituaries, which my wife thinks is morbid. What interests me is not death but what is said about a person’s life and the legacy that they left behind. One comment that often catches my attention is something like, “In lieu of flowers contributions can be made to the American _______ Society.” That society is often named after some awful disease that took that person’s life.

To me it is as if that person and their family fought that disease until the bitter end, and even after the fight was lost the family wants to celebrate the fight of life instead of giving honor to death. They continue that fight by investing and encouraging others to invest in conquering that dreadful disease.

As a church planter I am sometimes confronted by statistics on how bad the church is doing and how far certain nations have drifted from God. Many proclaim a woe-is-us mentality while accusing one person or another and discussing church and leadership spiritual obituaries as evidence that the sky is falling.

I for one do not agree because the world has always been more or less a mess, and Jesus knew this when He gave the Great Commission to “GO THEREFORE!” I would like to tack onto the end of every cynical church obituary or apocalyptic news headline the following: In Lieu of Flowers please…

• Proclaim in faith that God’s kingdom will in fact come on earth as it is in heaven. I seem to remember this being included in a famous prayer somewhere.
• Study your culture, its problems and dive ever deeper into God’s word to better understand how to communicate the cure. A right relationship with God, following Jesus & making disciples is the solution.
• Take the step of faith to be a part of reaching others, and invest in other ventures throughout the world as other like-minded people do the same.
• When the faith of others is derailed by the defeat or failure that they perceive in the church or in a nation then step in and stop the funeral. Jesus literally stopped funerals!

This battle begins with personal faith in God, but we must by all means proclaim this faith to others. The enemy does his share of proclaiming through secular media and even through believers who sometimes – pardon me here – just seem to be in morbid awe of what kind of mischief the antichrist is up to. I had better stop here before I necessarily offend someone.

We used to sing this song that was the proclamation of a pagan king. It would not hurt to sing it again.

…For He is the living God and enduring forever,
And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed,
And His dominion will be forever. Dan 6:26

Missions: Pregnant With a Baby

The following is part of a comment I left on one of Ed Stetzer’s posts recently. He has a great blog and some great books for all you who dream of church planting or for all of you missionaries who dream of, well, the same thing, finally getting a church going.

As a church planter I can attest to the pressure to produce that outward gem, the dynamic Sunday morning meeting. I am in an environment - Ukraine and a few other places for the last 16 years - where there is no choice but to be missional. I have started one church, and we are now on our second. Starting a work from nothing is not easy, and many things that might be taken for granted in the west just don’t exist here. For example, I have never met a Ukrainian who has gone to Vacation Bible School. They were in Pioneers or Komsomol.

I was recently in the US where a pastor asked, “So, have you started your church yet?” This really bugged me because it is like asking a pregnant woman if she is planning to have children in the near future. It is as dumb as my redundant blog title “Pregnant With a Baby” which I saw in a newspaper. What else would a woman be pregnant with?

Having a child requires an initial interaction (sex), conception, prenatal formation and birth. Then comes parenting, etc. Each part of a child’s life is important as is each stage of a believer’s life. Just focusing on herding a bunch of people into a well-organized meeting is both shallow and short-sighted.

A photo of the newborn in the hospital maternity ward is great, but this does not portray the actual labor and pain of the mother in carrying and giving birth to that child. The plan of God is not represented just by a gathering of His people in one place once a week. Life is more than a snapshot and so is Christianity.

I remember reading about the life of Hudson Taylor years ago and his passion for Jesus and reaching the lost. Later in his ministry he was hit with the reality of the need to start churches, but that was secondary to reaching the lost. For him it was about the people and their relationship with God.

In Ed’s blog he talks about pastors who burn out on church planting. They lose their passion and become “shop keepers” while ignoring the spiritual disciplines. If we focus on the basics without yielding to a success-motivation I believe that more of us will cross the finish line actually breathing. “Crossing the finish line first and dropping dead is not victory.”

Missions: Ejection, Reflection & Reconnection

When I served in the United States Air Force my job was aircrew life support. This had to do with everything that kept the pilot of an F-15 fighter jet alive: parachutes, ejection survival kits, water survival training, helmets, oxygen masks, etc. One day I had just changed out the survival kit on an ejection seat before the pilot climbed in for a mission. The kit including a life raft that automatically deployed and inflated after the pilot was released from his ejection seat. Hopefully, he would never need this…

I had a few more jobs that day, and upon returning to the squadron shop I found out that the same pilot had just ejected over the Gulf of Mexico. I froze and turned pale with fear, but we later found out that all my equipment had worked and the pilot survived with injuries after punching out at over Mach 1 and landing in the Gulf.

The pilot was not in error, and the cause of the crash was structural failure. The Air Force knows that a pilot’s confidence is often low after a mishap, so they always seek to get the pilot back in the cockpit as soon as he is physically able. Our pilot was flying again in a month.

On the mission field there are also mishaps of various degrees where the missionary has to punch out, leave the field (eject). This could be battle-fatigue, health-related, severe persecution, marriage or family related or even spiritual failure.

Regardless of the reasons I have found that even though many ministries do a good or average job of sending out missionaries very few know what to do when a missionary has to eject. This is true for small ministries and large denominations alike. The ministries and leaders do care about their people, but they just don’t have the experience with this phase of ministry.

Some missionaries end up as adjunct staff members of churches with little definition, few who understand them and little to do because it is believed that they need an extended break from all ministry. This is often called “being retooled”, but this is not only a misnomer but a total misunderstanding of what the missionary needs.

I have experienced this to various degrees during our 16 years on the field, and I now find myself advising other missionaries who feel that they have failed, been fruitless or found themselves on the perpetual “sick list” of their ministry because they needed to eject for a season.

While the needs of many missionaries are very unique and not easily understood by the sending agencies there are some simple principles by which we can keep our missionaries encouraged and moreover, in a state of health in all areas of their lives. There are not many who will uproot their lives to move to another country, so we would be wise to help those who do as much as we can. The bench of replacements is usually empty, so I have compiled a short maintenance list that will keep us flying. To be fair to my own ministry many of us are working on ways to better implement these ideas.

Retool
I hate the way this word has become a blanket answer for actually doing little, but in the right context it means to sharpen or give a better tool for the task. The zeal of the worker is not in question, only the effectiveness of the tool. This is a matter of training, and training does not mean sitting. It means doing.

Rebuilding
When something has been built wrongly it needs to be repaired or built again from scratch. It might need a new foundation altogether. Some missionaries have a works or a man-pleasing foundation that cause them to burn out quickly. This might also cause them to burn others out. Unfortunately, this may take an extended season of sitting and learning how to be a follower of Jesus all over again. The famous racing horse Seabiscuit had been trained so badly – trained to lose so other horses would feel more confident - that his new trainer said that he just needed to learn how to be a horse again.

Relaunching
This happens when an attempt at launch reveals a faulty strategy or poor state of readiness. Reassessment, correction, and subsequent better preparation will make a relaunch more effective. Again, inactivity is not the answer. Listen, study, Work!

Refreshing or Refueling
When someone needs encouragement then we should simply encourage them. This is not a complex or deep concept. The umbilical cord from sending nation to the field is often long with limited nourishment – encouragement, coaching, mentoring – coming through. The missionary might have done everything right and still have met with little success. Refreshing comes with periodic breaks in ministry to spend time with God, family and missionary friends who know how to encourage us with new perspective and wisdom.

Restoring
On most computers there is a “restore point”. This rolls back the operating system to a time before the virus or mistake was made that caused the computer to shutdown. Restoration when there has been personal error is not easy, but suffice it to say that there must be a plan to remove the error and reboot the person’s life and ministry at that point. The restoration can occur in proportion to the health of that person and the renewal of trust with those who were affected by the failure.

Resuscitate
To bring back to life, from death or near death. This is essentially CPR. All people, saved or unsaved, are valuable to God. If you don’t believe this then look at the average price paid for each individual life. A good shepherd will leave the 99 for the one.

A battered reed he will not break off, and a smoldering wick he will not put out, until He leads justice to victory. Matt 12:20

He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. Is 40:29-31

Lord of the Harvest

In a recent post “Here I Am, Send Me” I talked about the spiritual process necessary to inspire men and women to want to join God in His mission for this world. That mission is commonly called The Great Commission, and the word “commission” already gives us a hint as to how it all gets going. The Great Commissioner is the starting point, and He is Jesus, the Lord of the harvest.

However, I still find myself leaning on human understanding as to how I can motivate people to go – actually for me it is to “come” to Ukraine. I can use multimedia and tourism methods that show how beautiful Ukraine is, but the novelty will wear off once someone has ridden enough times with 50 people in a bus that was built for 25. Winter here will also send you packing unless something other than adventure is the motivation.

Ukraine is not unique in this aspect because all who seek to increase the number of missionaries on the field are in the same proverbial boat – seemingly without a net I might add. How can we better motivate people? To that question I have discovered a truth that is so simple it is often drowned out by the background noise of human missionary activity.

And He was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Luke 10:2

First and foremost the harvest is presided over by Jesus. He is not only Lord of our lives, but He is Lord over the harvest. This implies that this realm called the harvest is His work place, and He governs everything from the finances, sowers, reapers and fishermen to the wheat & fish (people) who are brought into His kingdom.

Second is that He is more aware of the need than we are. He loves the lost more than we do, and He does not rest in His labor while there are nations that are still outside the saving grace of His kingdom.

Third is that He asks us to ask Him to send more workers. This is very odd indeed from my point of view. It is one of the few times in scripture where God tells us in detail what is needed, and then tells us to ask Him for it. I believe that another reason He confines the sending of new leaders to the simple process of our asking Him is that He wants to keep missions as a work of grace that glorifies Him and not the talents and abilities of men. In this context anyone can be a missionary, not just talented people!

Finally, there is a peaceful rest in this one verse for all Christians who love God and the harvest. Our responsibility is before God and not before ever-demanding man who too often only wants results at any cost. We need to simply ask Him in faith for workers and go on our way faithfully preaching the gospel and equipping those who have heeded the call to serve. It is God’s responsibility to do the commissioning and sending. Ps 127:1,2

I preached a message based on my post “Here I Am, Send Me” last week at a conference in Novodnistrovsk, Ukraine. One young woman – the daughter of one of the pastors – came up to me afterwards and said she wanted to join our church planting team. She said that God warmed her heart as I was sharing. Another young youth leader also wants to join me in about a year. I did not know these people, but God did. He knows many more, so let’s join together and ask Him for the very thing that He wants us to ask Him. We can’t go wrong in this.

Here I Am, Send Me!

In June of 1993 I experienced a sound that to this day I have not forgotten. I did not simply hear it, but I actually experienced it. The sound was the whizzing of an electric motor followed by a kerplunk. It was the sound of the landing gear closing on the plane as we left Raleigh, NC on our way to start a church in Lviv, Ukraine. I had quit my job a few months earlier, and the sound of the landing gear closing was like a giant umbilical cord being severed. All that was safe and secure was cut off, and our future was literally in the air. We were being shot from a cannon, and since we were some of the original missionaries at that time the net on the receiving end was not yet in place. The method of sending in those days was “Ready, Shoot, Aim”, and I felt ill-prepared for the task ahead.

Every missionary has their own version of this story, and I was reminded of our story just recently after I returned from a missionary pastors’ retreat in Warsaw, Poland. One of the common themes discussed was the lack of people who were willing to go to the mission field. “How could we generate more interest?” was my constant thought. The harvest was fruitful in many places, so how could we promote the need? Is there a better way to do this? What can possibly motivate someone to rip themselves up from their roots and choose such a path? The answer was elusive until I recollected how I was originally motivated towards missions.

I honestly would not have picked myself for a mission team in those days, and I often felt like a football player whose position was third-string bench. When all the other players were injured the coach would probably look in the bleachers for replacements before sending me in the game.

Still, I was the one that went, and this is the case with most missionaries. The secret of what motivated us is not found in methods and slick presentations, but it is found in God. We are ordinary people with ordinary giftings who simply had an extraordinary encounter with God. Something had gripped us to such a degree we could not let it go.

Isaiah was a man of God and a prophet, and something quite profound happened to him that I consider to be the motivation and basis of all true mission endeavors. The first thing was that he saw God, and he saw Him in all His glory. Heaven opened and shook beneeth his feet as the praises of God and of His holiness proceeded forth from all the angels. This scene struck the prophet: “Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Is 6:5

Isaiah was acutely aware of his spiritual condition, and he was also aware that not only was he polluted by sin, but the whole nation did not stand a chance before the holiness of God. In much the same way all true missionaries are acutely aware that they live in a world that is under the judgment of God. The renowned missionary Hudson Taylor even published statistics of how many thousands of Chinese entered a godless eternity every day, and this motivated him and a whole generation to literally lay down their lives to reach these dear people. Radical compassion and identification with lost people were and are essential for a missionary.

Isaiah also let God remove his own sin and guilt. The circumstances of this are rather incredible because it shows just how serious the sin issue was as angels took a hot coal from the altar of God to bring to him and touch his lips. Imagine the terror of the moment. The angels could not touch the coal themselves, and Isaiah was already laid waste by the presence of God. However, even as God’s holiness and judgment touched him he was not injured. Instead, his sin was removed. His guilt was gone, and he could not only stand before God but he could answer a specific question that was forthcoming.

Now came the call, and the call was not from angels or from man. It was from God. "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" Is 6:8 Even before God could tell Isaiah where he would be sent or what he would be doing Isaiah jumped in response, "Here am I. Send me!" Is 6:8 God then sent him to those same people of unclean lips, "Go and tell this people…” Is 6:9

There you have it, and to this day the preparation of any missionary is unaltered. They have a revelation of God, His holiness and their own inability to stand before him. They also understand His goodness, His greatness and power on behalf of those who believe. As for me I grew up knowing about the historical Jesus, but when He revealed to me that He was King of kings and Lord of lords I soon abandoned my kingdom and goals for His.

Those who heed the call understand that their sin and guilt have been graciously taken away by the work of Jesus on the cross. They cannot keep this secret like some absurd personal faith, but are compelled to make it known.

They hear the call like it is a personal call, but it is most interesting that God did not say, “Isaiah, will you go?” He asked, “Whom shall I send?” The call is open to all who have ears to hear and understand.

I for one am a strong advocate for understanding that we are all missionaries where we are, and after a bumpy beginning of “Ready, Shoot, Aim” I can attest that practical equipping is essential. However, the lack of interest that I see in foreign missions and the lack of a spark in the eyes of Christians when I talk about this need greatly trouble me.

As leaders we must drive people to the presence of God, and once they have met Jesus and continue to walk with Him they will be able to hear the call. Then sending people will be more like pulling a plow behind 50 race horses and less like coaxing mules with carrots.

Listen, hear & volunteer!

No More Poop?

We have a new dog. For those of you who are parents with pets that first sentence should be enough to evoke sympathy. My family wanted a dog, and after having parakeets, fish, a real parrot and a large rodent (guinea pig) we have graduated to a real pet who can actually return affection. The parrot was actually a puppy in disguise, but have you ever tried petting a fish?

The dog’s unofficial name is poo-er which is a contraction meaning “one who poops”. Pastor Igor’s mother in law, Nadia, gave us the dog. Pooer's mom, snoopy, belongs to Igor’s family, but it conveniently lives with Nadia. I asked Igor if he wanted the dog back, and he said that he would accept ownership as long as the dog continues to live in Kiev. Igor is infinitely wise.

After two months of cleaning up small reservoirs and landmines from our living room floor every morning today is the first morning that pooer neither pooped nor sprung a leak during the night. Hurrah!

However, the victory was short-lived; we now have kittens! Apparently they were living under the front porch, and they emerged for food when their mom did not show up to make dinner. Well, we will not have pet cats for several reasons. First of all, I don’t like them. Second, my family is allergic to cats. If you would like a cat then pay me a visit, stick around for coffee, tea or to help us plant this church.

This whole episode reminds me of discipleship, and if you get upset that I am going to compare Christians to pets then you will just have to get over it. God calls us sheep, and I for one could be compared to a dog chasing cars and turning over trashcans before I was saved - spiritually speaking of course.

Many of us have also pooped on the floor a few times – spiritually speaking again – as new believers. Our friends and leaders just put a clothes pin on their noses and patiently cleaned up after us hoping that we would eventually get a breakthrough. Once we think we have made progress with new believers along come kittens – more new people - to complicate things. More work!

However…Even though life can be messy where would life be without lives? My family loves these pets. We are having a lot of fun. Also, where would God’s kingdom be without new life, new people, messy people who need discipleship, lost people – stray souls - who need a home? The church would be a clean house, but it would also be an empty house.

What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost. Matt 18:12-14

Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much revenue comes by the strength of the ox. Pr 14:4

The Opposite of Community: Being Alone

There I stood before the church trying to figure out the best way to describe the need for small group ministry. What complicated this was that I wanted to use the word “community”, but this church did not understand that English word because they were Ukrainian. I also had to use a translator that day, Pastor Igor, because I cannot preach in Ukrainian.

As I discussed my message with Igor before the meeting the only word that we could come up with to describe community in a Ukrainian context was family. Still, this word did not convey exactly what I wanted because families here are often fragmented. As I began my message I could not resist playing with Igor a little. As I preached I used the word “community” anyway. Igor paused while not expecting my change, and two leaders on the front row immediately offered what they thought to be the best word to use.

I stood for a minute to let the lesson of this distracting example sink in. “You see”, I continued, “we cannot even agree on what word to use for this foreign concept.” In fact, it really is a foreign concept because every culture on this planet has a slightly different understanding of community. However, I still believed the concept was both biblical and universal. There must be a simple key to unlock this truth, and there was.

In the very beginning: The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone…” Gen 2:18

And there we have it. The best way to understand community in any cultural or spiritual context is to understand its purpose and even it’s opposite. It is not good for us to be alone.

About once a year I read the tragic story of some poor soul who was found dead in their home or apartment after a period of many years. This usually happens in Europe or the US, and one person was found to have died 10 years before. No one noticed the mail piling up because there was no mail. Shocked neighbors would later say, “They kept to themselves”, or “I thought that they had moved.”

While some would blame the relatives and neighbors for not being “neighbors” – and this is oftentimes the case - we cannot overlook the fact that some people have simply decided to drop off the map. This can include Christians who see no need for the local church, but when things go wrong in their lives they often become critical of the church for not responding.

Even people who go to church are sometimes just visiting a crowd that has no expression of community throughout the week. Hundreds of people can be standing around you, and you are still alone. I must add here that when I used this example in church that day there were two reactions on the faces of those listening. Younger people had a look of disbelief, but older people had a look of terror. They felt more vulnerable and had the greatest fear of loneliness and abandonment.

• Community, family or whatever you want to call it in your language provides for things that are essential for the human soul: Love, nurturing, protection, encouragement, values, joy, fun and vision.
• Spiritual community provides for the exact same things with the added elements of eternal purpose and equipping for life and service. To live without these is to at best simply exist.
• Spiritual community is also important to the secular community. People would wander in darkness if it were not for the family of God, and they will remain without hope and vision without you.
• Secular community is also important to spiritual community. You will not grow either individually or as a spiritual community if you do not reach and serve those who do not have the hope of eternal life.

Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Prov 27:17

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. Eccl 4:9-12

I Must Decrease

One of my favorite areas of ministry is mentoring young believers and young leaders. I enjoy seeing new believers discover more and more about Jesus, His grace and His call to reach others. I enjoy seeing young leaders take more responsibility and come up with ideas better than my own. I am also a little selfish here because if the young leaders will do more then I will have to do less.

LESS. Now that is not a popular word. As in fashion where “Green is the new Red” we now find that “Less is the new More.” I am hopelessly colorblind, green really is red for me, so I probably ruined that last example. The problem with this new – actually ancient – spiritual fashion is that some leaders just can’t get enough of “more”.

I often hear of leaders still trying to hold the reigns on peoples’ lives, on the creativity of their leaders and lastly on the pulpit. In its extreme it is both sad and tragic as a whole generation is stunted in their growth because of one person.

John the Baptist set the bar when he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Jn 3:30 I think that this frightens many leaders because they simply cannot see the Holy Spirit moving in anyone except themselves. Other leaders think that the most talented has to be the one up front, and some are more simple-minded in their approach. They think that they are Moses incarnate.

“Less” and “Decrease” do not mean a decrease in the kingdom of God. This actually means increase in the right context. A kingdom that depends on one man being the conduit of the power of God will surely blow a fuse. The fuse is often the pastor. However, the increase comes from the enormous magnitude of effectiveness when God’s power, creativity and purpose are manifested in all His people. We want the lordship of Jesus to increase in the lives of all people, not our lordship.

There are several areas where this principle causes more growth:

• The more I come to Jesus on a daily basis and rely less on my natural strength, the more His kingdom will be manifested in my life. Still working on this!
• My daughters are at the age where I am mentoring them to make their own decisions. I often ask them what they think God would lead them to do in a specific situation. This sharpens their discernment, and this is necessary now because in a few years they might have their own families. They will still probably call me though to babysit.
• Young believers have to be carried at times, but we need to help them stand on God’s word, and we have to instill a personal faith in them that does not rely on the people or things around them. They need to be weaned from us so they can feed themselves.
• Young leaders need to be able to express their own creativity, and we need to give them reasonable latitude to make important decisions even if we might disagree. Letting people skin their knees a little with some not-so-so-well-thought-out-plans can be a valuable lesson. We can’t insulate them from pain and failure, but we can help them grow in wisdom to make mature decisions.
• We can also simplify the vision so that our personal gifting is not projected over them. Let them be creative. They hear from God as much as we do. Let them take the wheel sometimes.
• Let them take the wheel more.
• Then give them the wheel.

When we hold on to the wheel we will eventually lose it, and God’s kingdom invariably suffers a setback. When we decrease and let Jesus increase in the lives of others we actually lose nothing. People grow, God’s kingdom grows and the leaders whom we helped only invite us back in as wise counsel and eventually peers.

Even Jesus wanted His disciples to do more miracles than He.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Jn 14:12

Ice "Fishing for Men"

When I began a series on “Fishing for Men” a year ago I was in the warm tropical climate of the Philippines. There were many examples of fishing all around including net fishing, a fishing village on the water and even fishing with explosives. On a side note, some interesting Google search results have led people to this site “Simple Truths” and to the post “Fishing with Explosives”, namely people googling for “simple explosives”. Therefore, I feel a responsibility to tell all you would-be terrorists out there to “find a new line of work!”

Back to fishing. The one example of fishing that you will never find in the tropics is ice fishing, but you can find it in Ukraine. I see people every day setting up chairs, drilling holes in the ice – not so thick ice I might add – and defying all barriers just to get a fish or two. I liken this to the must stubborn types of evangelism. It is not fishing/outreach season, the fish are lethargic, the climate is not welcoming, the ground is cold and as hard as concrete and the catch is small. Nonetheless, the fisherman goes out.

Church planting or simple outreach is sometimes like this. It takes stubbornness, patience and resilience. Some countries are like the frozen lake. They are cold both spiritually and physically. They are even deadly like real ice fishing. They can swallow the missionary without a trace. Nonetheless, we are called to go. He calls us to go. Jesus does so because He did so Himself. He came to the coldest place, the hardest ground, uninvited and unwelcomed. The place was not just geographical. It was our own hearts.

I have friends in far-away places doing things for God that might never be heard of. They are heroes. They are not more gifted as you might think. Neither are they less gifted. They are just stubborn. Most of all they are obedient. In an age of grandiose strategies for what is popularly called “planting churches” these people have the heartbeat of the Lord. They will not take “no” for an answer. Neither are they dissuaded by rejection from those whom they seek nor are they disheartened by those who should encourage them but don’t. Well, I might be wrong about the discouragement.

In order to fully obey the commandment that Jesus gave to disciple the nations we must have the same stubbornness, patience and resilience as the ice fisherman. It is not a sport. It is the heartbeat of God.

The First Foreign Missionary

I was preaching in Lviv recently when I remembered an example of missions that I had not thought of for 40 years. What jarred the deep archives of my brain is a mystery, but the example was apt as we were expounding Isaiah 54 where God was telling Israel to enlarge their tents. Of course, we were using this example for evangelism.

As a child our family still gathered around the TV for shows like “Ed Sullivan”, “Jack Benny” and “Truth or Consequences”. It was a golden age of low technology, but clever, family-oriented humor. On this particular evening the host of “Truth or Consequences”, Bob Barker, invited a “random” person from the audience to try her luck at winning an all expenses paid trip to any place on the planet that she chose. Let me add here that the host and the woman’s family had planned this all in advance. She was not randomly chosen, and neither was her destination.

In order to win the trip the woman only needed to throw a dart at a giant world map, and wherever the dart landed she could go. Did I mention that she would be blindfolded? They rolled out the giant map, she threw her dart – it never hit the map but landed on the floor – and to her amazement when she took off the blindfold the dart was stuck on North America. Well, there goes the trip to Europe. She still might get to New York.

Another map was rolled out, and it was a detailed map of North America. I will let you know now that this woman was from a small, unglamorous town in northern California. The woman repeated the dart throw again while managing to this time hit the map, and once again when she removed the blindfold she was surprised to see the dart stuck in California. She still had hope that she might get another trip to Hollywood, but her countenance was dropping.

The next map to roll out was of course…California. The process was repeated, and when the blindfold was removed the dart was right in the middle of Smallville, California, her hometown. Meanwhile, the audience was having a corporate hernia holding in the laughter because they too were actors in this ruse. Our sad subject was now using all the inner strength that she had to display thankfulness that she had won a trip to her own hometown, but the joke was soon revealed, and she was given a real trip to Europe with her husband. The ending was good.

So, what in the world does this have to do with the church and the first foreign missionary? Glad you asked! First, let me reveal to you who the first foreign missionary was/is. He is the Holy Spirit. Despite whether or not you are Baptist or Charismatic you have to agree that the very first utterance of the Holy Spirit through the church in Acts 2 was to proclaim the mighty acts of God in all the languages of the foreigners in Jerusalem. God wanted the nations to hear the gospel from the first divine breath of the creation of the church. Next, God had to practically drive the church out of Jerusalem so that they would go to the nations. Nonetheless, they still stayed within their comfort zone, and they only finally realized what God wanted to do when God gave both Peter and the gentile centurion, Cornelius, direct visions to meet each other. It was only complete when the Holy Spirit made the same proclamations through the mouth of Cornelius.

In the modern church, God is like the woman throwing the dart hoping to get us to reach the nations. However, the church being the host of the show continues to move the dart closer to home with the sad result that we can no longer recognize the nations that God has brought to us. Isaiah is used by God to exhort the people of Israel to broaden their influence, and he is actually talking about doing so on the level of the individual.

We need to open our eyes and to be aware that God has called us to reap a mighty harvest, but we cannot do so unless we aim for the nations. In the end, we should stop repositioning the dart.

You Are Planting a What?

There is a phrase that often perplexes me even though I know what it means, church plant or planting a church. To the religiously minded person a church plant could be one of a variety of ferns or memorial wreaths at the front of a church “sanctuary” and near the “altar”. I am not sure of the purpose of these plants other than to reverse global warming or to provide a hedge to separate the clergy from the laity. Still, they look nice sometimes.

However, “planting a church” brings in even more confusion to the uninitiated. The first absurd image that comes to mind is of a missionary planting little steeples in the ground. If it were only that simply! Don’t we wish that we could go to the local Christian book store and buy a church planting kit? Just add water. I was driving in the States once, and one of my daughters commented on the number of lakes that we saw along the way. I told her that there were so many because there was a sale on lake kits at Wal-Mart. The instructions simply said, “Just add water.” The kit included a shovel. They love and hate my jokes.

So then, how does one “plant a church?” I must admit that there is a lot of pressure on pastors and missionaries to produce the outward product of a dynamic Sunday morning meeting, but this is a sad goal if that is our goal. Our job is to reach the lost and make disciples who can in-turn do the same. These people then reach every aspect of their community so that dramatic changes are seen in families and in nations. The culmination of all this is what we call a healthy church, the fruit of obedience to the Great Commission. This healthy church also happens to meet together a few times during the week.

So many pastors are stressed about keeping up the Sunday morning appearance. It takes so much emotional and physical fuel, and it leaves us somewhat empty, just another job. Let me say something bold yet simple here, we are not called to build churches. Christ builds His church. We are involved in planting and watering but God causes the increase.

Unless the Lord builds the house,They labor in vain who build it;Unless the Lord guards the city,The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early,To retire late,To eat the bread of painful labors;For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
Psalm 127:1,2

Excuse me while I go water our new plant, Kiyevicus Cultivaticus Evangicus. It should bloom soon, but a few more gardeners would be helpful.

Mitt Romney, Democrats and The One Thing

This is not a political post, but it will make some uncomfortable, I hope. Some time during the last two years I read an article - I can’t remember the author – written by a Democrat who was a conservative Christian. He was frustrated by moderate and left-leaning attempts in his own party to court the Evangelical vote in the US. What frustrated him most was that these people would talk on and on about what they thought the Evangelicals wanted to hear: faith, family, freedom, church, tradition, patriotism, etc. However, they would never talk about the one thing, and this One Thing was the core of the Evangelical belief system, the person and mission of Jesus Christ.

Not that a man has to be an Evangelical Christian to run the country, and I am sure that some well-meaning Christians are not even qualified to lead. Some are. I was preparing this post when I heard that Mitt Romney, a Republican candidate for President and practicing Mormon, was going to give a speech on faith. I was reasonably sure what he would say, and I was correct. It was a very eloquent speech about freedom, tolerance in American history, church and liberty with a subtle Universalist haze. Jesus was mentioned – a classic Mormon slight of hand - but it was a different Jesus, and most of all the One Thing was not to be found.

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 1 Cor 2:1,2

I must confess a little trickery here because this post is really about the church. For some reason there are leaders and church planters who use the exact same approach doing the same as the left-wing and liberals, but they are doing it in reverse. It basically says this: “Let’s talk about everything that we think they – non Christians - are interested in, but let’s leave out the One Thing. It might be too offensive. The less difference they see between us and them the greater chance they will come to our meetings.” Beneath this is hidden the fact that they know very few lost people; thus, the awkward approach.

I am honestly annoyed when people try to patronize me using my faith. They lose credibility in my eyes. They should simply say, “No, I am not a Christian, but I do think I can lead so please vote for me,” or “Sorry, I am an atheist, but this is still a good business deal.” I would respect that much more. (Actually, Mr. Romney was rather honest and true to his colors – vague colors I must add - unlike others who are election year chameleons.)

I also venture to say that non Christians must be annoyed when they see us courting them while trying to act like them and pretending to enjoy the same things that we think they enjoy. They might think, “Why are these guys hiding or even DENYING the traditional tenants of their faith just to get me to attend their meetings? I heard from my grandmother that they used to believe in something. What is it that they want so badly with me to make them do all of this?” (Beneath this is also hidden the fact that they don’t even know us, their neighbors and co-workers.)

Well, that is the question isn’t it? What is it we want with these people? Not votes. Are we driven by a success motivation to fill Sunday venues, catapult ourselves to Evangelical fame or are we driven to see people come to the Crossroad of the One Thing that will forever change their lives? By keeping the One Thing as an anchor of our creative evangelistic endeavors we can’t really go wrong. Removing it is disaster. Truth with love will prevail. It also helps to simply get to know people who are an arm’s length away. No artificiality, just …be as natural as Christ was.

but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 1 Pet 3:15

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The Modern Church: Autobot or Decepticon?

This post is a continuation of the previous post concerning how a Biblical church has to better communicate unchanging eternal truths to an ever-changing culture. In discussing this I can think of no better example than the recent movie “Transformers”. You know the plot: alien robots morph into Detroit’s latest auto innovations while trying to either save or destroy mankind. Actually, I loved the movie.

At the heart of the Autobots was an unchanging identity, an unchanging form and an unchanging mission. However, outwardly they had the ability to morph into any situation without changing who they really were inside. The Apostle Paul was sort of an Autobot Apostle of the ancient world while becoming “all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” 1 Cor 9:22 What a heart! He was still Paul. I do not think his goal was to be all things to all men. He just wanted to reach and save some.

Concerning Transformers and machines many of us have taken something apart only to reassemble it with a few parts surprisingly left over. In cartoon fashion we wish the thing would still work without these parts, but we soon find out that it was not meant to be. Those parts had a purpose, and it is best to let them stay.

Many Christians are excited about new progressive ways to reach the lost, and in doing so they aggressively disassemble archaic religious practices only to reassemble them into something understandable. This can be useful, and I do it myself. Some go a little further and attempt to disassemble the church itself thinking that it too is an archaic hindrance to reaching people. This is already dangerous ground and the risk of amateurish mistakes runs high.

Then there is the radical who thinks that the message itself needs to be disassembled and reassembled. The result of this – and it is happening right now in Evangelical Christianity – is that the reassembled form has a lot of parts left out that for some reason did not seem to fit the new and popular paradigms. Well, these parts that have worked for many millennia also have a purpose, and the organism will not work without them. The authority of Scripture, the Virgin Birth, the very tenants of our faith are under attack from within.

This is not the Autobot Apostle Paul church that wants to see men saved by progressive outreach, but it is the Decepticon church. It is at its core humanistic and heretical. It is deadly. It is poison. I hate to even post about such things, but something must be said. There are certain truths that need to be dusted off from time to time, and here are a few.

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! Gal 1:6-8

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. Rev 22:18,19

Does the Church Need a Tan?

I have been bombarded in the last week by many ideas concerning why churches do not grow and what we should do so that the church can attract more people. My wife is reading a bestselling book by a famous atheist who is also attacking the church, so it seems that the modern church is disliked by Christians and non-Christians alike. What is the solution then?

This reminds me of an anecdotal story I heard many years ago about an ailing man living in a remote, frigid mountain village. He was pale and anemic from an unhealthy life, so his friends and doctor told him to go to Florida for some rest and sun.

Well, the idea seemed fine to our protagonist, and he soon found himself lying on sunny beaches eating lots of healthy food. However, he died in a few weeks. Sorry to end the story so soon.

The deceased was quickly embalmed and sent on a train back to the mountain town, and at his funeral his friends remarked in astonishment how much better he looked after his trip. “Oh, he has finally put on some weight, and he is not as pale and anemic looking since he got some sun.” “You know”, one woman exclaimed, “that trip to Florida really did him a lot of good!”

Does this sound as stupid to you as it does to me? It is equally ignorant to think that cosmetic change on a Sunday morning service will bring life when the real problem is that some churches are rather dead in either their walk with God or their desire to reach their communities. Outer changes simply enhance, but they cannot give rise to life.

Now back to my main point. Both the atheist writhing in his best-seller and some progressive church planters make the same mistake. It is not really archaic styles of worship and out-of-style clothing that make churches irrelevant. These are definitely barriers that need to be addressed if we are to reach a godless culture. However, the problem often lies with irrelevant Christians and those who call themselves Christians while saying and doing stupid things. Many of the criticisms from this atheist were not even related to Christian truths but to basic Christian behavior (or misbehavior).

A person who knows Jesus will love others enough to be motivated to make Him known. He can dress like Mr. Rogers or a punk rocker. In the end, it won’t make a very big difference. The lost will be attracted to the genuine life of Christ within us. By the way, Mr. Rogers was an ordained minister. I would not be surprised if punkers still watch his show when no one is looking.

The world needs a Resurgence of life through vibrant Christians following Christ in community.

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Green Eggs and … a Healthy Church

Some of my favorite books to read to my daughters when they were growing up were anything by Dr. Seuss, and especially Green Eggs and Ham. I was able to read the tongue-twisting dialogue at ever increasing speeds which always impressed and entertained Abigail & Rebecca.

I thought about this book again recently when I was reading Joey’s blog Discipleship & Listerine. This product’s ad slogan was “If it tastes bad it has to work.”

Speaking of taste our friend in the Seuss story would not try green eggs & ham no matter how it was served, with whom it was served or where it was served.

I do not like them in a box.
I do not like them with a fox.
I do not like them in a house.
I do not like them with a mouse.
I do not like them here or there.
I do not like them anywhere.
I do not like green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

This guy was simply stubborn and self-centered, and I don't think he liked people very much. However, persistence finally wore him down, so he tried the awful-sounding food. He actually liked the food, and the rest is literary history.

How does this relate to a healthy church? Well, it doesn’t. I just wanted to fill some space. No really, for my many friends who are trying to solve complex church problems I would like to offer a rare savory dish: outreach!

• It will work in a box (a car).
• It will work in a house.
• It will work here or there.
• It will work anywhere.
• It will also get our eyes back on the thing that Jesus never takes His eyes away from: the un-reached lost that are both here or over there.
• It will drive us back to our knees to intercede.
• It will drive us to the Bible to be equipped.
• It will keep us at the foot of the cross.

Try it!

Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." Matt 9:36-38