Life2gether

It’s October and that means Halloween is on the horizon.  So what are you going to do?  As a pastor to families, I know this can be a hot-button issue.  But I think it’s a good one for us to wrestle with in a spirit of humility.

I think the big question we need to ask ourselves is, “Where are all the unbelieving families going to be on Halloween night?”  Answer: they are going to be out trick-or-treating.  According to the National Confectioners Association, 80 percent of adults in America plan to give out candy to trick-or-treaters, and 93 percent of children plan to go trick-or-treating.  So here’s the deal.  If the rest of the world is out there trick-or-treating, isn’t it our responsibility to be out there as well in a way that does not compromise our faith in Christ?  Although I’m aware of its pagan roots, I think it is possible to participate in Halloween without celebrating evil.  Indeed, most families think of Halloween as a fun night of just dressing up and getting candy.

This Halloween every family in your neighborhood is coming to your house.  Let’s live out the mission of God in our neighborhoods (Matt. 28:18-20). Let’s permit the children to come to us (Mark 10:14).  Let’s love our neighbors and let our light shine (Matt. 5:16).  Let’s give out the best candy in the neighborhood.  And let’s pray for opportunities (Col. 4:2-6).  Who knows … Halloween may serve as a little step into the hearts of those who live around us who so desperately need a Savior.

Note: As you know, this year Halloween falls on a Sunday.  This is how we’ve handled that issue at our church.  We will continue to meet for our regular Sunday night service, but before and after that service we also encourage our people to be lights in their neighborhood.

Dustin S:

In this short video Hussein Rashid and Joseph Cumming share their thoughts on the Ground Zero mosque controversy. I found Joseph’s comments to be very helpful in thinking about how Christians should respond. How does loving our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39) impact our view on this? How does Jesus’ command to do unto others as would have them do unto us (Matthew 7:12) impact our view on this?

Jay Younts on why the gospel matters for your toddler:

Parents who view presenting the gospel as primarily information transfer will lack a sense of urgency. I do not mean that this parent is unconcerned about the spiritual condition of his child. He may be deeply concerned. However, seeing the presentation of the gospel as transfer of information means waiting for when the child is willing to engage in this transfer.  The parent who sees the presentation of the gospel as one of search and rescue will have an immediate sense of urgency. Thus, even before the toddler can speak, he will be interacting with  parents who see the gospel as the most important reality of life. This child will hear his parents passionately talking to others about the gospel. He will hear his own actions explained in terms of his need of the gospel even before he can articulate a response.  He will see and hear that his parents are driven by truths that transcend the temporal. This is the process outlined in Deuteronomy 6. The very thoughts of God, revealed in Scripture, are graven into the hearts of this toddler’s parents. These parents are gripped by God’s call to rescue the lost. This mission defines these parents. This is an immense blessing to our toddler. He is being raised by parents whose mission in life coincides with God’s purpose for each day. That purpose, at least in part, is to bring honor to his great name through the rescue of the lost.

Practically this toddler will hear often of the wonder of Jesus Christ. His parents will see his sin as an opportunity to present the gospel to him and not merely to correct his behavior.  He will live in a home that is focused on the wonder of a God who forgives sins. This focus leads to joy. Joy comes from the reality that Jesus is our effective and loving high priest. Living for the gospel means living with joy.

So, when this toddler spills a cup of milk because he is still learning how to handle a cup, he is not scolded. His parents speak lovingly and reassuringly to him. They help him learn to handle the cup with more precision. He knows that he is more valuable than spilt milk. He is lovingly disciplined when he sins, but he is also lovingly embraced when he acts like a 2 year old. He is on the road to knowing what it means to be loved and being secure. The gospel matters to his parents. In time, Lord willing, the gospel will also matter to him.

This is a must-read article for church leaders (especially those who work with children and families). Instead of casting judgment on parents, we must “consider the possibility that an undisclosed or undiscovered disability may be driving problematic behavior.”

I also recommend this follow-up article entitled, “A Parent’s Greatest Fear,” where the author ends with this exhortation:

There may be parents who are trying their best visiting the church with kids who have bad genes, kids who experienced trauma or abuse, or kids who haven’t yet developed the skills to effectively self-regulate their emotions and behavior.  How do we welcome them and share with them the unconditional love Christ has for them? How do we as the church best communicate so we build the relationships necessary to cast influence in their family?

(HT: Jared Kennedy)

Poverty is not always financial, it is spiritual too. In Death by Suburb, author David Goetz identifies eight toxins that are plaguing the suburbs. These are the factors that are driving your neighbors to live the life they do. As Christians, it is our responsibility to be aware of these toxins, and their corresponding remedies, so that we can begin to reach out to our neighbors in meaningful ways. Identifying these addictions and offering something counter, something beautiful, will profoundly change the real face of the suburbs.

Here is a video where David Goetz talks about “suburban addictions”.

I read this book awhile back and posted my reflections on it here.  For those who live and serve in suburbia, it’s worth checking out.

(HT: Michael Wallenmeyer)

Ten years ago I taught 6th graders at Grace Christian School in Deephaven, Minnesota.  I loved it.  Pouring my life into young people was (and still is) a passion of mine.  After all those years, I recently heard from one of my former students.  It was so encouraging to hear about what God is doing in her life and how she remembers 6th grade as the year she started making a habit of reading the Bible on her own.  She is now a junior at Bethel University in Minnesota with a burden to share her faith in Christ.  I was so blessed to read this article and to be a small part of the story God is writing in her life.

So, if you’re a teacher, be encouraged.  You’re making a difference.  Many times you won’t get to see the fruit of your labor, but God is at work!  BTW … if you’re a former 6th grade student of mine, I’d love to hear from you!

Sea Parable from ilovepinatas on Vimeo.

I was intrigued by this video.  I think it captures the reality that as churches get bigger they have a tendency to become comfortable.  They can get sidetracked and forget why they started in the first place.  It reminded me of the tagline of my blog.  Life Together  — SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE.  Our community is not for community’s sake.  It’s for mission.  I borrowed the phrase (so others may live) from the coastguard rescue swimmers.  What a fitting picture for those of us who have been rescued by Christ and sent out like Christ to seek and to save that which was lost. 

(HT: Church of the Cross)

A few days ago I wrote this post and it triggered some good dialogue with a friend of mine about the gospel and community.  This particular section stood out.  It was written by Chad Nuss who planted Christos Church in Jeffersontown, KY.

Church community consists of people that are very different, who sin against each other, who don’t like each other from time to time, who do all kinds of bad, hypocritical things–yet they stick together because the call to Christian community is to learn how to die to ourselves for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of the church, for the sake of community, and for the sake of the glory of God.

Our enjoyment of community does not primarily come from how much we like each other, but from how much we are being rescued from destroying each other by the Gospel! The overflow of joy in the Gospel is joy in each other because we can look at each other and announce the Gospel to each other–the very Gospel that forgives us of sin and helps very different people with very different backgrounds with very different sinful tendencies with very different agendas, frustrations, and preferences come together around a common Savior.

We must be careful that we don’t get fired up and invite people to our community because of how awesome our community is–that is idolatry. We invite people to our community because of how awesome the Savior of the community is and what he is doing to enable our diverse community to gradually die to ourselves and become more and more authentic.

In his follow up post to 5 Dangers Facing Over-Churched Kids, Tony Kummer gives 9 strategies for reaching them. Here they are:

1. Empower them to teach
2. Teach for heart change
3. Use creative story-telling
4. Pray for every child
5. Teach the bad news
6. Model repentance
7. Make it relevant
8. Go deeper
9. Get them on mission

See how he fleshes each of these points out here … I think point #6 is particularly important and I’ll copy what he says about it below:

Model Repentance: With over-churched kids, we can’t pretend that Christians are always the good guys. They see behind our Sunday morning smiles and know that we’re not perfect people. When we are honest about our failings, and confess our sins, it points them to the Gospel. When teaching, use examples of Christian repentance and be transparent about your own struggles. This is a key to parenting, but it’s also a great strategy for kids ministry.

Yesterday my car started over-heating on the highway.  I was with a good friend of mine and we quickly pulled over at the nearest exit and prayed for a place to stop.  God led us to a Valvoline where I found out that my car had to be towed.  Little did I know God was ready to teach me about community from a most unlikely source.  

He was a scruffy, cigarette-smoking, 48 year-old country boy with a deep Kentucky drawal.  As we got into his tow truck, we started asking him questions.  It wasn’t long before he told us about how he was a member of the “Vannin Club.”  Yep, you heard it right.  The Vannin Club.  We told him we had never heard of such a thing.  And he was more than excited to tell us all about it.  In fact, he gave me the offical Vannin’ website and here’s what it says:

For those of you new to vanning, or who have somehow stumbled across us, vanning is a culture unlike anything else you may have ever dealt with.  Vanners are like a big family, they will travel for hours, even days to see each other on a regular basis. They watch out for each other, they celebrate together, and sometimes… they mourn together. Vanners are a diverse bunch brought together by their common love for the sport of vanning. Some people like to just camp out of their vans, while other prefer to make their van into something more them. Sometimes that is just curtains and a bed, for others its something they put their all into, chopping, gull wings, tubbing,..It’s amazing what you can do with a van. Whatever level of vanning you may enjoy, you do it because you want to. Vanning is also a very social event, we do some wild and crazy things, and consume more than our fair share of alcohol.   

There you have it.  Vanners are “like a big family … they watch out for each other, celebrate together, and sometimes even mourn together… a diverse group brought together by their common love for the sport of vanning.”  Wow.  Makes you want to be a vanner!  So as we thumped along in the front of his tow truck, this guy kept jabbering about his Vannin’ Club and the community he experienced there.  He rambled on and on about how much he loved it.  We just sat and listened.

Finally it was time to get out.  We shook his greasy hand, told him thanks, and said good-bye.  But he wasn’t done.   He actually turned to us, looked at us in the eye, and asked us to come to his next “Vanning Club” get-together.  We laughed out loud … but he was totally serious.  And as he rode off, I turned to my friend and said, “Weird.  He just invited us to his church, didn’t he?!”

You see, for this 48 year-old, buck-toothed, cigarette-smoking Kentucky hick, vannin club is where he’s found community.  He couldn’t help but talk about it, and in the end, invite us to be a part of it.

Everyone is looking for community.  Some find it in the strangest of places.  But I learned something from this simple tow truck driver.  He found community and was eager to talk about it and invite others into it.   Am I?  After all, I’m part of a community too.  A community centered on something that will last forever.  A community centered on a Savior who bled and died on my behalf.  All other kinds of community are only faint pictures of the real thing our hearts were made for.

And to think God used a tow truck driver to teach me all of that.