The Dirty E-word!

Evangelism, is one of those dirty words that we use in the church today.  So dirty in fact that when it is mention in conversation its almost like you used a four letter word only reserved for someone who cuts you off while driving or when your football team throws an interception.  This morning, as I reflect on how we view evangelism today,  how do we break through the stereotypes that have given it the four letter connotation?  We have to start by remembering we are all evangelist. No that doesn't mean we need to get on our local cable access show, stand on the street corner with a megaphone and a sign that screams "Turn or burn!", or even walk around the grocery store passing out those popular tracks.  Unfortunately those are the stereotypes we think of when we think of the "E-word", but what is the "E-word" exactly?   Like many things in the western protestant culture we have complicated evangelism to the point where we have to have a process, formula, piece of paper, or scary message to get our point across. Have we forgotten that evangelism isn't about forcing people to have the same experience you have with God, its giving them the opportunity to have an experience of their own. An experience that warms their heart.

So how do we give people the opportunity to experience God in their own way? How did Jesus do it?  Jesus didn't spend his three years in ministry preaching turn or burn or passing out tracks that ask very scary vague questions. He spent it building relationships with people, all kinds of people.  We see throughout the gospels Jesus hanging out with people with bad reputations, tax collectors, prostitutes,  sinners as the locals call them.  He also hung out with religious leaders, Romans, the poor, the rich, and people who down right hated him. He built relationships with all people, and then he began to speak into their lives. People were able to experience the Love of God in their in ways that spoke to them. Then they had a desire to bring people to Jesus so they could experience that same Love, not in the same way, but in a way that would change their lives.

So how have you shared your experiences with God in a way that would allow someone the opportunity to experience God in a new, heart warming, live changing way?  Who in your life is begging for an evangelist? Where is God calling you to be an evangelist?

 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’ – Matthew 9:35-38

The harvest is plentiful and we are the laborers, go out and be the evangelist the world  needs today!

Love God, Love People, Change the World!
Zach

Are we blinded by having to be right? A look into Saul ' s calling.

To continue my part in our Sermon Series on Bad Days and How God Fixed them, I wanted to take a look at Saul.  I wanted to approach Saul's bad day a little differently.  We often look at Saul's bad day as hunting down the followers of Jesus or being blinded by Jesus on his was to Damascus.  Yes, those are bad days but I wanted to focus on what happens after he begins to follow Jesus.  I wanted to talk about how the Disciples, Apostles, and people he had been hunting treated him.  Often times as people we have a hard time accepting someone new into the church, especially if we know what they do outside of the church.  Saul was not easily accepted, yet Jesus changed his heart and he did amazing things, the early church was still apprehensive of him.  Who are we pushing away from God, because we as people have a hard time accepting that His grace can change even that hardest of hearts?

We explore Saul's experience with God's grace and how we as Christians today react to God's Grace working in the people around us.


Saul's Bad Day

1. Are we blinded by having to be right?
Acts 9: 1-2

2. God’s grace changes hearts, can we accept that?
Acts 9: 26
Acts 9: 13-15
Acts 9: 20-21

3. God empowers us through changed hearts.
Acts 9:20-22

We are all called! A look into Stephen's calling.

Stephen is a great example of God calling ALL people to share his love and grace, not just Clergy.  Stephen was not one of the original 12, but was asked to lead a food pantry ministry to the Jewish people in the area.  With that calling in his life Stephen begins to let the Holy Spirit work through him, and begins to upset the Jewish religious leaders around him.  Although Stephen was not called to be a pastor, he is called to preach the Gospel wherever he is.  We have the same calling by God. No not all of us are called to be pastors, yet all of us are called to share the Good News or Jesus Christ.  We are all called to love God and love Others. In my sermon below we talk about we are called just like Stephen was, and just like Stephen when we bring a Gospel that causes people to question what they are doing and calls them to change from the inside out, people will begin to throw rocks at us.

Below is a link to my sermon and the notes I provided my congregation.  Please take a listen and leave comments.  Let us be in conversation about what and where God is calling us too.

Stephen's Bad Day

1. We are all called.
Acts 6:5

2. When you preach the Gospel, people will talk about you.
Acts 6: 11- 13

3. When you preach a Gospel people dont want to hear, they will throw rocks at you.
Acts 7: 51-57

4. What Gospel are you bringing to the world? Are you living it?
Acts 6:8, 10, 15

You can be a good person without Jesus!

Two young men were talking about a mutual professor they had in college.  One young man stated that the professor was on of his favorite professors while he was in college.  Later on the other young man saw that particular professor and it sparked the conversation about the other young man.  "...he said that you were his favorite professor."  The Professor looked at the young man and said "He certainly came to class and listened to my lectures, but he was not a student of mine."

Yesterday I preached a sermon called "What difference does it make to follow Jesus?" I know that we live in a world that is not black and white, and people do believe that they do not need God to be a good person. I started my sermon prep with asking that same question to the people who follow me on Facebook.  I have friends on there from a variety of life experiences, life styles, cultures, and beliefs. I felt it was an appropriate place to ask the question and get honest answers to why people do or don't follow Jesus.   I wasn't wrong and my friends from all over shared why they do or don't follow Jesus very openly and honestly.  Now I wanted both sides to go deeper than, "I don't believe in God because the church is full of hypocrites" or "I follow God because he makes me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside." I believe it is important to go deeper than those 2 thoughts. I know people are turned off to God because of bad experiences with Pastors, with churches, and with Christians, and I know that God makes people feel good but there is much more to both sides.  That's what I wanted to dig into.

As I listen to those who told me why the don't see a need to follow Jesus, a common point came across.  They know they can be good moral people without God. Frankly they are NOT wrong, you can absolutely be a good moral person without God.  Knowing that many of the people I was in conversation with and have had conversations with over the years, don't believe in God period, I ask "If you don't believe in God, what do you believe in?" In various ways they all told me the same thing, "I believe in treating people the way I want to be treated."  To me that sounds like a great way to live no matter what you believe in.  See, the thing is, with or without God we believe that loving and taking care of people is one of the most important things we can do. As a matter of fact many people I have talked to have expressed a sentiment that they agree with what Jesus taught regarding the way to treat and care for people. If Christians would live by those teachings they might be open to a conversation about God.  I think we have a lot to learn from people who don't believe in God, yet they approach life living by the "Golden Rule'. They have the ability to see people for who they are and where they are, not who society says they are or even who other people have said they are.    That is exactly how Jesus approached people, for who they were, not who others said they were.  Unfortunately too often Christian's look at people for who we think they should be.   Christians tend to look at those who don't believe exactly the way they do, with or without God, as people who are lost, wrong, or "bad" people.  THAT IS NOT OK.  Again I will say, we as Christians can learn from those who are not Christian about how to love people.

Now as I began to go through the stories about why people follow Jesus, I had many thoughts. The major thought I had stemmed from many conversations I have had over many years with people. Remembering conversations I have had with people in coffee shops, churches, airports, cars, Facebook, bars, and so on. When people find out that I am a Pastor, I get one of 2 responses "Really?" or "Oh, I am a Christian but..." The "I am a Christian but..." statement is usually followed with a very direct and blunt statement or one that comes out in stories about their actions. "I am a Christian but I still like to party and get drunk on the weekends. I still sleep around and don't see a problem in it. I still watch pornography. I still treat my employees like they are second class people.  I don't give back to my church financially because I don't like the Pastor. I don't give to my church in service because I don't have time for that.  I treat my spouse like their purpose is to serve me and me only.  My kids are to be seen and not heard. I am a Christian but I hate the gays.  I hate this person because they don't believe exactly the same way that I do.

See in Luke 14 Jesus tells us to count the cost of being his Disciple, with a very blunt and hard statement.

Luke 14:25-28A

25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. Turning to them, he said,26 “Whoever comes to me and doesn’t hate father and mother, spouse and children, and brothers and sisters—yes, even one’s own life—cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever doesn’t carry their own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

This is a very hard statement that we take too literally. I know I did the first few times I read it, I closed my Bible and walked away angry and confused. But I came back to it, because I wanted to know what Jesus meant there. To understand that we have to understand where Jesus was going when he said this. Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem with a crowd of people following him. Jesus knows he is literally on the road to his death, and he turns to these people following him and tells them to count the costs of being his Disciple. He is not telling them they have to hate all that is near and dear to them but to understand what following him means. It means that you will lose your life as you know it. He wants them to understand there is no greater love than what he will bear on the cross and are they willing to do the same. He then tells them to pick up their cross and follow him, meaning we die to our former life, we die to vices that separate us from God. We leave behind the parties, the sleeping around, the porn, the dehumanizing of other people, our selfish desires and we put loving people first. See the thing is Jesus is calling us to be Disciples not Christians. There is a difference, you can be a Christian and say "I am a Christian but..", but you can not say "I am a Disciple of Jesus but..." because being a Disciple means we leave all the buts behind and see people for who they are, not what we think they are. We treat people like we want to be treated. We Love God and we Love Others regardless of anything else. Being a Disciple means we don't just hear teachings of Jesus but we actually live them out. Jesus can be our favorite professor, like in the story I started with, but if we just attend the lectures and don't become his student (Disciple) what are we really doing?

Understanding the difference between being a Christian and a Disciple is what I saw in those shared their stories with me. Those who follow Jesus in this way shared stories that because they starting being a Disciple of Jesus they found "Change", "Hope" and "Purpose" for their lives. They found God calling them away from the things that pulled them away from God AND People. They found themselves moving away from selfish actions and reactions. The people around them recognized this change in them and began to ask questions, giving them an opportunity to share why they have changed. Being a Disciple of Jesus has brought them hope, hope in a world that seems hopeless at times. They have been able to look past the world and see where God is working in them and in the world to bring hope to the people around them. Finally and maybe the most consistent thing people told me was, Following Jesus has given me a purpose. Many shared with me a feelings of uselessness, loneliness, and suicide. Many shared with me that before they came to follow Jesus they felt worthless and didn't see a reason to be live anymore. But as they grew to know Jesus and follow him, they found purpose in their lives. They discovered how God is using them and where there purpose is in life.

When Jesus tells us to count the cost of following him he means it. He knows what it will cost us and we have to be sure we are willing to give it up. It will not be easy. Our old lives will try to creep back in. That is part of following Jesus. The thing we have to do as Disciples is know the world around us. Know that there are people out there that do not believe in God, and ARE great people doing good and helping those around them more than some people who call themselves Christians. Learn from these good people. As the church it is time to pick up our crosses, and go out into the world. Not to judge the world but to love the world. Know who you are, if you are reading this and you don't believe in God but you are living by the "Golden Rule" keep up the good work! If you are a "Christian but..." I would ask you again, "Why do you follow Jesus". If you are a Disciple of Jesus Christ pick up your cross and keep loving God and loving others.

 Matthew 16:24-26

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?[l] Is anything worth more than your soul?

Raising up leaders who aren't afraid to fail.

I can remember the first time I stepped into a pulpit, not to preach, but to give an announcement.  I was terrified.  I was not almost paralyzed because I was afraid of public speaking, my entire life I had been in situations that called me to be in from of people and speak, no what was so terrifying for me was the thought of failure.  I knew I would never live it down in this situation if I was less than perfect. Less than perfect communication for this minor announcement would not be tolerated.  I had seen and experienced how others in my position and higher had failed to communicate and were raked over the coals for it.  I did not want that to be me, so, paralyzed with fear of pitch forks and torches, I stumbled through my announcement feeling like I had just committed the most unforgivable of sins.  From that moment on I avoided the pulpit, even for announcements, like the plague, because in my mind I was given one shot and I blew it.  The thought of actually getting up in a pulpit to preach a sermon was out of the question.  I had always been able to stand in front of youth to teach, have conversations, and do Bible Studies, but the idea to be in a sanctuary and bring the Good News of Love and Grace of Jesus Christ was out of the question for me. In the first several years of my ministry neither myself or any of the youth I worked with was ever encourage to take the pulpit in any fashion.  I know I am not the only person working in ministry who has experienced this injustice.  I will admit I did not have a desire due to my own experiences and what I saw others go through, but an invitation would have been welcomed. I would have considered the invitation, and I can not tell you what I would have said. The opportunity to even say "no" would have been better than nothing.  Dare I say the opportunity to say "yes" and then fail would have been better than no opportunity at all. It wasn't until I was thrust into the pulpit at a previous church that I truly understood, regardless if I succeed or fail miserably, I have the opportunity to bring the Good News of Love and Grace of Jesus Christ.  I ask, what can be better than that?

For the last several years of ministry I have not only had the opportunity to occupy in my own pulpit, my colleagues pulpit as a guest, and now sharing a pulpit with my Sr Pastor. I am truly grateful that I am given the opportunity to fail, because without that I can not grow and improve as a pastor.  I would be a total hypocrite if I did not practice this in my own pulpit with the youth and young adults of my past and current church.  Once a month our youth lead a service on Sunday evening that our entire congregation is invited too.  Immediately after the closing prayer the first time we held this service, I had a 13 year old young man rush to me and ask, "Can I preach the next time we have this service?  I believe God has put a message on my heart and I want to share it!"  Excited and humbled I absolutely said "yes" and gave him some instructions, tips, tricks, and unending encouragement! A few weeks later his time came and this young man brought the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Was he nervous, yes.  Was he shaky, yes.  Was he perfect, no, but who is?  What he did do was preach a sermon to a room full of his peers, elders, family, friends, and  handful of people what had not stepped into a church in many years.  This young man has a calling on his life. Is it to be a pastor?  At this point that is for him to search and find out.  At this point he has had an opportunity to explore that calling.  He had an opportunity and guess what, he didn't fail!  He succeeded because he had the courage to step up and lead.

I do not care what you do for a living, how old or young you are, how educated you may be, how successful or important you think you are, you are there because someone gave you the opportunity to fail. Who are you giving the opportunity to fail?  With failure comes an opportunity to learn and grow.  If we begin to raise up leaders who aren't afraid to fail, we will raise up leaders who aren't afraid to think outside of the box.  We will raise up leaders and empower them to be creative and courageous. We will raise up a generation of leaders who will revitalize, grow, and empower the church in ways we could never dream of.

 I am not saying you should expect people to fail, but if they don't have the opportunity to try, they can't fail and more importantly, they can't succeed.  There is only one person who has ever walked this planet who was perfect, and I am sorry, that it is not you or me.  As leaders, as pastors, as  people who care about our future, let us begin to give people young and old the opportunity to fail, because guess what?  They might surprise us and succeed.​

Go out a equip, empower, and encourage those around you to do something great!

Doubt or a Transforming Conversation With God?

I think it is really important that our parents and our church know what is coming out of the Youth Wing. I am really big on encouraging our youth to ask questions. We encourage them to ask questions about everything in life but when it comes to the church and God we sometimes fail to encourage questions. So I have asked and will continue to ask our youth four basic questions about the things they struggle with, what competes for their time, life issues, faith ques-tions, and then very generally is there anything you would like to know about (stories, characters, books, issues, and so on). There is not a topic, issue, or life situation that is off limits for these questions, and the questions that your kids ask are amazing. They are very transparent and honest (the exact thing they are looking for us to be) with where they are in their rela-tionship with God.

There are truly no silly questions when it comes to figuring out who God is and how God works. The thing I have found most common is the fear to ask the questions that are truly on our hearts. Sometimes we see our questions as doubt ra-ther than transforming conversations with God. Sometimes we see ourselves as no better than that “Doubting Thomas” who walked with Jesus but because he doubted, he’s not as good as the other disci-ples. And because we doubt or have questions, we aren’t as good of a Christian as our friends. I disagree with this idea completely, Thomas was an amazing Disciple. He followed Jesus and was willing to follow Jesus, even if it meant death. But simply because he wanted to touch the holes in Jesus’ hands, remember-ing the last place he saw Jesus was on the cross, we label him “Doubting Thomas”. Just because we strug-gle with God and sometimes we doubt, that does not mean we are a not as good of a Christian as everyone else.

James 1:2-6
2 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for ask-ing. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.
I want to encourage you to stop considering
your struggles with faith, life issues, and your questions about God, doubt. I want you to begin to consider them the beginnings of a transforming conversation with God. God welcomes your questions, He welcomes your doubt, He welcomes you when you wrestle with tough issues. When we take ownership of our questions and struggles God works through those to show us where his Love and Grace are at work.
So I will ask you just as I have asked your youth. Where do you struggle? What are your doubts? Where have you seen God at work through these?

Love God, Love Others

Zach

Called to Pastor

Recently, My Wife, posted another great blog about being a mom, a christian, and the future of our church.  Pastor Darren (who is the Senior Pastor here at FUMC Hobbs) also used a video clip of someone asking people on the street why they don't go to church.  

 Here are some of the phrases I heard often from various generations, social groups, and religious backgrounds:  "Church isn't fun", "That Pastor doesn't entertain me", "The music isn't my style", "We don't play enough games", "I don't like Sanctuaries", "Ugh that room is where all the old people are", "People like me can't go in there!", and my favorite (masked in "I hate organized religion) "I can't stand pews, hymnals, community prayer, reflection, stained glass, robes, altars and participation" 

 I will admit I have said many of those same things in my lifetime.What I have come to realize when I was saying those things is, I was looking to be entertained.  I wanted the Pastor, the Worship leader, the Youth Pastor, the Ushers, the Little Old Ladies, and the chairs that I sat in to make me laugh, make me feel special, make me feel happy, make me feel like I was the only person in the room. The only person that mattered.  I didn't want to go deeper with Jesus, I wanted to feel happy, and like I was completely fine where I was at.  I was one of those "Religious" people Jesus talked about in Luke.  I found this to be true of myself as I led my first youth groups.  I thought if we played games and entertained kids they would come to know who Jesus is.  Soon after I burned out and hated the idea of a full time ministry role.  I slipped back into a comfortable assistant position.  This was God, working in my life, breaking down my very selfish christian mentality.  I began to build relationships with youth, young people, and, believe it or not, people my parents and grandparents age. I found out two things that may surprise you, they didn't hate me because I was a young person, and we were searching for the very same thing, authenticity.  The folks who were truly searching to deepen their relationship with God weren't concerned with being entertained, they wanted to be pushed deeper. They wanted to know how they could share the same Grace and Love Christ shared with them, with others.

  

Now as I reflect on my time in ministry, and I minster to and build relationships not only with the my own generation but the generations before and after mine, I am finding many things to ring true.  We as people are looking for the love and grace of Jesus Christ.  We are looking for authentic people, who not only love God but truly love others.  Working with college students it was very easy to pick out the young people who had youth pastors who pushed them, and those who had youth pastors that entertained them.  Those who had youth pastors that pushed them didn't say the things I listed above.  They were hungry for something more than contemporary music or happy go lucky sermons.  They didn't care what kind of chairs they sat in. They wanted a Sanctuary, they wanted a place they could go and meet God, pray, cry, laugh, celebrate communion, sing, dance, feel awkward, but be welcomed and loved for who they were.  They wanted a place where the person standing in front of them, whether it was me or one of my colleagues, to be real. Those were the students who looked around our campus and said "How can we take Christ out there?".  The students who had entertaining youth pastors had a hard time with my leadership style.  They had a hard time when I would tell them no. They had a hard time when they sat in my office and asked "So what are you going to do for me?", "Change this for me.", "I would be happier if we did things like this.", "I would come more if you did this for me." 

I had a student sit in my office and tell me "I am mad because my friends are here!  I wanted this place to be for me and me only.".  The people who said those things, either found a ministry that would entertain them, or found other activities that entertained them.

This is too often our mentality as Christians.  We are so consumed with what WE want, to be even remotely concerned with the mom sitting across the sanctuary struggling with her children, thinking "Why doesn't she just take them to the nursery, so they wont distract me?" Rather than offering to help.  We are too concerned with ourselves to welcome to the new family of visitors, because they sat in our pew.  WE are too concerned with OURSELVES that we judge the young man who came to worship in shorts ( HOW DARE HE) to invite him to lunch and let him know we enjoyed seeing him in worship.  We are too concerned that the Pastor isn't telling funny jokes, or the fun stories in the Bible, or that there's a guitar for worship, or, my favorite, how dare they play that big organ and make beautiful music with such beautiful instruments. We are often to concerned about irrelevant things to see where God is calling us, and who God is calling us to.  

We teach this at a very early age that kids and youth are not welcome to worship with the adults by having alternative services or activities for children during the "Adult Worship Service". I am not saying having special Children's services are a bad thing, but not ever encouraging and welcoming youth into the main service is the problem.  I have served in churches that had "Children's Services" because the "Pastor" did not want kids in the sanctuary. (That's another blog for another time). I have served in churches that had the children's Sunday School hour during a worship service and advised parents to not let their children enter the sanctuary but move on immediately to their Sunday School class.  To be fair I currently serve a church that has a "Children's Service" during the worship hour.  Before you call me a hypocrite and never read my blog again, understand our order of worship.  During the summers and Holidays there is not "Children's Service" we encourage children and youth to worship with their parents.  The first Sunday of each month, which is Communion Sunday in our church, there is no "Children's Service".  The Sundays that we do have a "Children's Service" the children are present and active in the worship service, through singing, personal and communal prayer, affirming their faith, and their very own children's moment presented by the pastor.  After the children's moment those children who want to attend their service can exit the sanctuary with our Children's Pastor, those who wish to stay and hear the sermon are encouraged too.  I will add that the Children's Pastor does not take the children out and play games and entertain them, she takes the sermon the Pastor is preaching and presents it to the children, allowing them to ask questions and dig deeper into the message the Pastor is preaching in the other room.  We do our best to be consistent in this manner, acknowledging that our kids learn on a different level, but also acknowledging if we don't encourage them to worship in community, and show that they are truly valued in our church, they will not see a need to have a church and frankly they wont see a need to be present in their community.

  We as the church have dug our own grave.  By hiring and expecting that person to entertain our kids rather than take an interest in our child's faith development and care who is standing in front of them and what they are teaching them about God and the church.  We wonder why our churches are getting older.  It is our own fault and it is time that we take ownership.  It is not only the Pastors responsibility to teach about God's Love and Grace, its ours as parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors, and Disciples of Jesus Christ!  WE have to set the example, because if we don't guess who will, all those really entertaining things out in the world will.  

My job is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, who Love God, and Love Others, for the transformation of the world!  I take that job very seriously, so parents, grandparents, guardians, friends, and neighbors I encourage you to attend the church, attend the small group, attend the place the pushes you deeper into your faith, and strengthens your relationship with God, and not focus on how entertained you were. Find a place where you can laugh, cry, doubt, struggle, sing, dance, Celebrate Communion, and grow.  Find a Church that you can be the real you.  Find a Church that Loves you so much they are more concerned with pushing you deeper into a relationship with Jesus Christ, rather than putting on a good entertain show.

That's what Jesus would do.