Crazy for God Part 2

I finished reading Frank Schaeffer's book Crazy for God. Near the end of the book he writes, "When I left evangelicalism, it certainly was not because I was disillusioned with the faith of my early childhood. I have sweet (if somewhat nutty) memories of all those days of prayer, fasting, and 'wresting with principalities and powers.' We might have been deluded, but we weren't unhappy." Later he goes on to talk about converting to the Greek Orthodox Church. He writes, "Genie and I like the fact that in our community, half the congregation comes to church late, so we can wander in at any time and still feel like we participated. And I don't have to go to church more often than I can stand. When it starts to feel like religion again, I just drop out for a few months, then wander back."

Schaeffer's book really got me thinking about my own faith, the work I do as a minister, the love and care that I express, or don't express because I get so busy, to my family, the routine of ministry versus my relationship with God. My relationship, the one I am responsible for. In many ways Frank Schaeffer blames his parents, their ministry, their beliefs, his environment, etc., for what he became and now has rejected. I think the same thing has happened to a lot of Christians who were unable to process their growing up years and all the things that happened to them in the "name of Christ." I remember the things that I was not allowed to do, and the standard answer for the question, "why not?" - "it's against your religion." Today, some of those experiences still trouble me because of the way they bend and warp my view of God and my relationship with Him. I'm thankful that I've been able to work through much of this. I'm still working on it, however. I don't think the process ever stops.

Crazy for God

Crazy for God, subtitled How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back, is the title of a recent book by Frank Schaeffer. Frank is the son of Francis & Edith Schaeffer. The Schaeffers founded L'Abri, an intellectual and spiritual community in Switzerland and were bestselling authors and worldwide speakers and lecturers. Sadly, Frank has completely rejected his faith and soundly criticizes his parent's work and legacy. In the prologue to the book he writes, "My life has been one of all-consuming faith-not my faith, but the faith of others that I seem to have caught like a disease and been almost obliterated by. What does God want? I am still trying to find out. And having once been a 'professional Christian,' my vision is muddied by the baggage I carry."

During my college days and beyond, I read everything that Francis Schaeffer wrote. I still have most of his books on my bookshelf. His 35 page booklet, "The Mark of the Christian", had a tremendous impact on my life and some of that teaching is forever embedded in the way I am trying to live my life. Reading Frank's book shows another side of people that I respected because I saw them at the very top of the evangelical leadership group. I must admit disappointment with some of the things I have read that were allowed to happen in and around the Schaeffer's lives. It reminded me of the harsh realities that I discovered during our time as employees of the PTL Television Network. I met and got to know Christian television personalities that had a "television life" and an "off camera life". Disappointing, but real.

The bottom line for me... I will not judge anyone else, I can't. I, alone, am responsible to God for my relationship with Him. I can't blame anyone else or any one's hypocrisy for not taking full responsibility for my life in Christ. I must continue to accept God's forgiveness and consistently live in my relationship with God. I'll write more on this later when I've had time to absorb more of Frank Schaeffer's writing.

I Hate Poison Ivy, And It Hates Me

Two weekends ago I spent part of my Saturday morning getting IVs of a steroid and something else in my arm to reduce the swelling around my left eye. The previous Tuesday I had worked in my backyard, pulling weeds, and I must have pulled some poison ivy roots. Later, I probably brushed some sweat off my forehead and spread the poison ivy to my eye, forehead, and cheek. I also got it on my neck, chest and unfortunately, I used the restroom...no more details. I usually get one really bad incident of PI every year. I always get it on my face, and I'm miserable for two weeks while it heals. This time, it was very early in the growing season and I didn't even see any of the leaves that I have come to be able to identify and dread. So it must have been just the roots. One of these years I'm finally going to get it so bad that I'll immediately go condo hunting. No more yard work, or at least pulling weeds.

Isn't it amazing how something you can't even really see could affect you so badly. Sometimes that's the way it is with things we should stay away from, but don't. We can't see their long term effects, so it seems okay to dabble in them. Later, when you can't change the outcome, you wished you had done something very different. With PI, it doesn't start to itch until a couple of days after the contact. By then, it is too late to do much. Oh Lord, help us to see through Your eyes the things that seem so harmless, yet can be so harmful. Protect us from ourselves, as we try to live lives fully devoted to You.

It's Raining....again

This has been a very wet winter and spring in St. Louis. For weeks now, I have tried to get work done in my yard to prepare it for the growing season. My normal day off is Tuesday, and Saturdays are free if nothing is going on at the church. Incredibly, it has rained, or snowed, almost every Tuesday and Saturday this spring. Yesterday was a wonderful day. It was sunny and 80 degrees. Of course, Monday is a work day, and we had a leadership meeting until 6:45 PM. I thought I might get some work in before dark, but there wasn't enough light left by the time I was ready to go. I got up this morning full of expectation, because, even though the forecast was for scattered thunder storms, maybe they would scatter other places around St. Louis.

I'm writing this at 9:37 AM central time and all I got done outside before the rain started was to put gas in my lawn mower. I can't even believe it...

I've been reading a through-the-Bible-in-a-year called The Daily Message. Yesterday's reading was from James where the Message says, "And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, 'Today--at the latest, tomorrow--we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money.' You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, 'If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that.' Maybe my "plan A" for today was not God's. After all, my yard will always need work, and I know it won't rain every Tuesday and Saturday. It's still early, so this "wisp of fog" will try and figure out what God wants me to do today, and I know it will be the right thing.

Checking Out Houses In the Promised Land

A couple of nights ago Kathy and I went on a walk after dinner. There are some new homes being built near us and we wanted to see what they were like. We peered through windows, tried door knobs and garage doors and did our best to see inside these $500,000.-900,000. homes. I think we used the phrase "my goodness" several times as we gawked at some of the accouterments inside these palatial homes. As we walked away from the sub-division, realizing that our "little cottage" (which we love, by the way) would fit nicely several times in some of those huge houses, I was telling her about my daily Bible reading. I'm at the place where Moses is instructing the children of Israel just before he dies and they enter the Promised Land. He tells them what to do with the people, animals and plunder when they get there. I said to Kathy, "wouldn't it have been an interesting experience to have entered a city after all the inhabitants had been cleared out. It might be like walking on this street, picking out a house to live in. Going in, finding it fully furnished, someones precious belongings still in the dresser doors and closets, animals in the back, food in the pantry... You didn't have to do anything except possess it, with God's blessing."

I wonder sometimes if we miss the "possessing God's blessings today" because we're looking down a future road, hoping for something different. As we turned the corner on our street, it was a comfortable and secure feeling. Trees are blooming and leafing out, flowers are blooming, grass is getting green and our cottage is ours. (well, actually ours and the bank's) Thank you, O God, for your blessings, today.

Life's High and Lows

Missouri had some severe flooding in March. Our son and daughter-in-law live in Springfield and had 24 inches of water in their basement. We drove down last weekend to help where we could and to help estimate what it is going to cost to repair the damage. There is a lot of sheet rock work to be done, carpet to be laid, and a host of details to make the basement livable again. Talk about low...

On the same weekend, he gave us a tour of Evangel University, where he will start this fall as a full time college professor in the Music Department. His mom and I were incredibly proud as we walked around his alma mater, realizing that he was returning to the campus where he knew as a 9th grader that God was sending him to. Talk about a high... At one point I had to walk away from a conversation that Kathy (my wife) and Jenny (our daughter-in-law) were having because I couldn't contain the tears of joy that welled up. I took a moment to thank God for his incredible faithfulness. Jason (our son) received the news of his new teaching assignment on one of the toughest days of the basement flooding. Wow, what a contrast in emotions.

As we walked around their house and tried to determine why so much water had come into the basement, we fixed some things and made a list of other things to do. There will be a lot of work, but it's doable, and between his dad, brother and willing friends, we'll get it all done. Sometime this summer, we'll walk into the basement and it will be new again. We'll all say something like, "glad that's over, I hope we never have to do this again". Jason and Jenny will probably even laugh about some of their experiences. God has been good to them throughout this very difficult ordeal. They have received some very unexpected help. After we've looked around the basement and laughed about some of the funny stuff, we'll all pile into one of our mini-vans and head for the office supply store. Jason needs some "office stuff" for his new office. After all, new professors should at least look like they know what they're doing. God is so good!!

New Buzz Words?

There are a couple of new buzz words to describe churches showing up in blogs, new books and magazine articles. They are "attractional" and "missional". The online dictionary I use does not have any listings for the word "attactional" and all 3 entries for "missional" related to traditional missions definitions. Are we really so far ahead that the dictionary will have to catch up? Or are we still so far behind that the dictionary really doesn't care? :)

One definition for an attractional church is "one that, through its presence, programming and marketing--everything to four-color brochures to word-of-mouth, seeks to attract people to its services." Unfortunately, fewer people are "attracted" to most churches every year. We may be spinning our wheels by spending a lot of time trying to figure out what will bring people to our open doors. In fact, most of our effort is aimed at the people we already have.

One definition of a missional church is; "a missional church is evangelistic and faithfully proclaims the gospel through word and deed. Words alone are not sufficient; how the gospel is embodied in our community and service is as important as what we say." A resounding theme in some of George Barna's research on what people are looking for in a spiritual experience is a church that lives and demonstrates the gospel.

Sometimes I wonder if our church buildings get in the way of truly demonstrating God's love for a hurting world. It reminds me at times of the childhood game of hide-n-seek. A tree or playhouse was the "safe base". You always tried to get back to the safe base before the person who was "it" found you. Is the church building our safe base? Is it too safe, so safe that we aren't willing to risk sharing God in "word and deed" away from it? I don't really have any answers, but I do know, I am desperate to be involved in what God wants to do in people's lives who do not know Him yet.

Exciting and Frustrating

Our church, West County Assembly of God, will be holding a Missions Convention in a few weeks. As far as I can tell, this is the first one in which just this church will try and excite, inspire, cajol and motivate our folks to look beyond our walls. Through the years, the traditional way of being involved in missions was to send money to missionaries around the world and here in the U.S. to do the work of ministry. Sending our money around the world really worked! Today, in the Assemblies of God family, there are 57 million members and adherents with more than 295,000 churches and preaching points. However, paying people and building buildings hasn't been too successful here in the U.S. Overall church attendance is down, and sinking every year. Our churches lose most of their high school graduates when they either leave to go to college or join the workforce. It isn't that there is less interest in spiritual things, it's just that young people today are exploring the almost unlimited religions, plans and personalities that are all competing for their young lives. Somehow, we haven't helped them grow in their relationship with Christ to the point of not getting restless or feeling the need to explore other forms of spiritual interaction.

Today, I'm excited about the thousands and thousands of people around the world coming to Christ. Today, I'm frustrated because we can't seem to get our act together in this country. Oh God, help us listen to your heart...and join with Your creativity as you help us reach across the street.