Passion Burns Within » Literature

There is a Hunger

Passionburnswithin — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:31:05 +0000

I have been in my church for going on four years now and since the day I got here one of my goals has been how to grow attendance and involvement. Now there have been programs and gimmicks and silly ideas and serious ideas. And we have had some great successes and some failures. Wednesday night Youth worship has been a great success and we have had on and off success with our Friday night “Unleashed” outreach and both these things are good. We have come to a point with our Sunday School after experimenting for a few years where we are now solid. There is still room to grow in all these areas but the progress is there.

There has been one area, however, that has always escaped us and that is the area of Sunday evenings. We have tried a variety of different lesson plans group divisions and activities but could never get more than a few students involved. Then this past spring a student saw a book in my office that hand been on my shelf for almost ten years. The book was entitled “Why So Many Gods”. You may have heard of it or you may not have. It is a book written for teens in a reference type format. It details the distinctions of various world religions and cults and contrasts them to Christianity. When the student saw the book they expressed a desire to be taught about what other people believe and how to talk to them about Jesus. Upon hearing this I gave a half-hearted agreement and promise to teach it on Sunday evenings. We advertised for about a month and after a couple of delays in our start date began the series 4 weeks ago. Now while for weeks is not long enough to give an accurate assessment of the class it is worth noting what has happened.

The day I began the series I had several youth show up that NEVER came to anything else we were doing beyond Sunday School and Wednesday nights if we were lucky to see them then. Still class size was below ten in attendance and so I expected that it would be the typical response to everything else I had done on Sunday nights. I was wrong. Each week we have seen more and more students attending to the point where we have had to add chairs in the room we were meeting in. I have been both amazed and thrilled.

If attendance was the only marker I would only put moderate weight on the growth. Knowing that as school starts we would see a cycle of kids dropping off and out to handle homework and get ready for the school week. But there is something else going on. The interaction of the students is remarkable. I have fielded questions from everything from Church History and the formation of our Bible to angelology and demonology. Our students have shown week in and week 0ut that they are hungry to know more than just the Bible stories but to know the inner workings and deep reasonings of our faith. This hasn’t surprised me but has caught me off guard and I have felt ill prepared to handle the questions.

What does all this mean?

Evidence is mounting that gives us concrete proof that it is time to take off the kid’s gloves with the people of God within the church and teach them and lead them in the study of doctrine. Many church leaders skirt teaching Church History or Systematic Theology for fear that people will find it boring or worthless. Seemingly the sentiment is that it is only important that pastors know and understand this information. But the truth is that if we teach it and prepare it in a way that is interesting and speaks to the curiosity of our people that we will find that they consume it in the way a starving beggar consumes a small scrap of food.

It has been said, and I do not know by whom, that if a teenager can understand and be taught Algebra , Geometry and Physics then the can handle the teaching of Theology within the church context. It is our responsibility as their church leaders to feed them and when they wander away starving the blame will and should fall on our heads.

Book Review: Urgent by Joe Donahue

Passionburnswithin — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:26:00 +0000

My friend Joe Donahue has written his first book and in order to build awareness he has allowed me to get an advanced reading of the book in order to do a review. Now I have to say that at first I was worried about doing a review for a friend but after reading the book my fears are allayed.

Urgent is an incredible story of Joe’s life and the torment that he went through as a child. The personal and detailed account of physical emotional and sexual abuse is terrifying but captivating. I was so drawn in to the story that I could not and did not put the book down until i finished the last page. Through highs an lows Joe weaves a tale of how God can reach those hurt and broken in our world and how God can do amazing things in your life. He calls us to develop a sense of urgency, not primarily for others, which is what I expected in reading a book by an evangelist but rather an urgency for GOD! With this urgency developed other areas will follow suit and soon we will have a sense of urgency to do and to see God’s Kingdom come.

There is not a lot to criticize in this book as a matter of fact I can only come up with one shortcoming I saw and that is that it wasn’t enough. No, it made it’s point but I was so captivated by Joe’s story and the miracles of God in his life and the message that I was left wishing there was more and hated that it came to and end. I have already bought a copy of the book and highly recommend it to anyone. It will bless you, convict you and encourage you all at the same time.

What if? Part 2

Passionburnswithin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:40:35 +0000

WHAT IF the early church had decided their primary responsibility was to be political, thus organizing protests against the Roman government for occupying their land?
- Thank You! Thank you! Thank you! One of my pet peeves this past year has been Christians whining about the government and talking about how bad Obama is and how we need good Christian men in power. The problem is power always corrupts and there is no one on this planet that will right the government. Abortion, prostitution, alcoholism, homosexuality and pornography will not be stopped by laws. It will be stopped when the people of God look beyond the walls of the church and begin teaching and reaching people with the message of Christ. (and I dn’t mean the “get out of HELL free card” message) I mean the message that Christ is this radical life changing experience that turns you inside out and you are never the same. This country was founded on Christian principles but it happened because there were enough people that said you know we need to live differently and those people were motivated by it. We can’t get people motivatd to show up on Sunday morning in our church why are we surprised when they don’t care about moral decay. We have been in a fight to change the world politically for decades and all we have accomplished is losing more and more ground. An example of this is played out locally, I have seen a couple who spend their days protesting abortion at a busy intersection. They cary signs that say “Stop Abortion Now” and carry baby dolls in a stroller and strapped to their chests. But I have to wonder how much change they are bringing about. It is hard for me to believe that some pro- choicer riding down the road sees them there and say to themselves ” Their right”. What if the time taken to protest was used to love on people by taking care of them, helping them sharing with them. And I don’t mean knocking on doors telling them they are going to hell but living a life that is filled with the fruits of the Spirit ( yet another coming blog post) that showed people that there was more to this world and this thing called Christianity. Then maybe people would begin to turn back to God and when we are in line with God everything else will fall into place.

What if? Part 1

Passionburnswithin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:33:59 +0000

Perry Noble blogged this the other day.. It hit home. So I thought it migh be good to look at these and give you my thoughts. Over the next few days I will cover each one in detail

WHAT IF the early church had decided to simply study what Jesus said but not apply it?
- Wow what a statement can anyone say Sunday School and Discipleship Training? Heck even small groups and worship services fit this. When did we go from active proclaimers of the faith to lazy pew fillers? I heard Steven Furtick say one time that the church was full of spiritually fat Christians. That we all gatehred to consume spiritual food and gorged ourselves on God’s word when there were people all around us starving and dying of starvation. And he was right. We get so worked up about getting to know deeper theological truths and that is great if the motivation is to get closer to God but I can’t help but to believe that being closer to God means being more like God and if we are going to be more like God we are going to have a heart like God and his heart is for the Lost. That was probably a run-on sentence but I do not care. For at least a generation the church has turned a blind eye to this phenomenon and we are suffering the consequences now. Sunday morning I turned around from our front row seat with the youth and looked back and counted the empty rows. I then added all the rows with three or less people. I couldn’t see all the rows but I counted 30 rows. 30 ROWS!!! And what really gets me is not that it is our church but so MANY churches across the land that are empty on the day that we are to be rejoicing about what God has done. We have to take a LoNG look at what we are doing as churches and decide if it is for God’s glory or for something else

Uhhhh….Let me …….Pray About It.

Passionburnswithin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:59:35 +0000

Saw this vid on Gman’s blog

There is a line in the skit that got me because I hear it so often and it drives me up the wall. It goes a little something like this

Leader: ” Mr Smith we would like you to use the talents that we see in you to serve God”

Mr Smith: ” Hmmmm I don’t know let me pray about it”

Now certainly I want someone to seek God’s face in the course of a decision but too many times I hear this as a way to say “no” without actually saying “no”. What really gets me though is how we try to put God off. At what point in time did we decide that God didn’t have immediate answers for us? I am not saying we should rush into decisions by no means but if we are obedient followers of Christ we should

Be in tune with the will of God
Be willing to seize opportunities that God puts before us
Understand our own personal limitations

If we are earnestly seeking God’s will and are honest with ourselves there is really no need to put God off. We know if we have the time to be serving or not we know if God has placed something on our heart or not. We should be willing to be honest with ourself, others and God and stop hiding behind fluff clichès.

If you are serving God and an opportunity arises and you know He is moving you towards that then the issue is not whether or not to take up the opportunity but what other role you need to give up. Many times we cling to familiarity and pet projects that God is no longer using us in and we just don’t wnat to admit it.

What is God calling you to do?

The Worship Battle

Passionburnswithin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:09:10 +0000

Many times I am asked my view on Worship in the church. Which style do I prefer? Why is one better than the other? so on and so forth. Honestly my position on worship will offend both sides of the traditional versus modern/ contemporary aisle. I think both have it wrong. I think worship in most churches today is so screwed that very little honor and praise comes from it. here are the issues I see

rings true in the hearts of many

We have put style over substance
- Whenever we pick a style we often eliminate an aspect of our culture. The great music of years gone by still has relevance and still rings true in the hearts of many. If we are going to eliminate such large portions of our history and culture then we will feel shortcomings in our time together and our worship.
We have put preference over reverence
- How many churches have pitted generations against each other over this issue? At any time do you think God was honored? No The fact of the matter is when we pick what we prefer over what is reverent and unifying is disrespectful to the very God we claim to serve.
We have put performance over relevance
- This is the thing that bothers me the most. For years we have hired MUSIC directors in church. The number one qualifier for these men or women were that they had a degree in MUSIC we have been so concerned with the timing and the pitch and the tempo. We have become so concerned with perfection of the music that we have overlooked the perfection of the WORSHIP. Music and worship have to be understood as two different things some of the best worship leaders I know knew nothing about music beyond singing and reading a few notes. they couldn’t play and instrument well and they weren’t going to be asked to sing on a lot of albums but when they were there before the people they opened there hearts and led the people to the throne of the Father with such passion it blew me away.

The main thing the I seek, whenever I lead worship or am in worship is that in the course of the singing and the playing that the people being led get lost in the experience and connect with God in such a way that they forget there is anyone else in the room. It is in that that we should be focused and tied to.

“Our People”

Passionburnswithin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:06:08 +0000

Matthew 25:14-20 tells a story of the talents a king distributed the talents and when he came back he demanded an account. Those who multiplied the talents were rewarded the one who sat on the talent and did nothing was punished. Today in the church we use this story to point to what good stewardship is about. Unfortunately when most church people talk about stewardship they are referring to material things such as money and property. We aren’t good stewards if we spend to much money on an air conditioner or by state of the art equipment or if we let children drink on the new carpet. We have business meetings and deacons meetings and all kinds of uproar over every little thing we possess as a church. We then fuss at people about their tithes and offerings.

Occasionally we will use this passage as a way to guilt people into serving. By taking a monetary talent and relating it to the God given ability we call a “talent” today. We shame people into service and threatening them with God’s wrath if they do not fall in line.

But what about the heart of this passage? What is the meaning?

The heart of the passage is trust what has God has entrusted us with. Sure money and possessions are a part but what about people, community, relationships, reputation and duty? I get stirred up by comments I hear in churches like “we take care of our people first” or ” we have a lot of outsiders coming here” or “how many of those are our kids. See the premise there is that as a church we are inside and everyone else is outside but the problem with that is that Jesus never lived or taught that way. He was always one of the people. And beyond that he has entrusted us with the people that cross our path. Understand that your churc is in a community and that is your missionfield that is what God has entrusted you with. What is your church’s reputation what has it done for the community? Is your church giving on a deserved basis or is your church ministering when there is a need no matter the cost.

Simply put your church’s “people” are all the people around you….anyone that encounters a church member or comes by your church or that your church can reach out to is a person you are entrusted with. So the question is are you growing that or are you sitting on it waiting for the Master to return

Deserved

Passionburnswithin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:16:35 +0000

What do you deserve?

Our church for the last two weeks has been feeding the local high school band. The comment has been made to me that there are not enough band kids attending our church to warrant the money we are sinking into the meals. In other words because they are not our kids they do not deserve our money. I will go into the whole “our kids” later but lets look at the deserve part.

According to Romans 5:8 the very essence of salvation is based on getting something we do not deserve. We did not have to join an elite club or go through a process of earning our salvation. No, in spite of the fact that we were miserable worthless vile sinners God still gave us this incredible gift of salvationas an ultimate demonstartion of love. As a result our desire should be to pour out love on anyone and everyone that we can. The fact that they do not deserve it makes it all the more important that we do it.

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!!

Passionburnswithin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:48:37 +0000

I never have liked that phrase. It seems to me lately that I see it more and more. Unfortunately those people who seem to use it are on a self-destructive path. When they are cornered or confronted they lash out blast you with the “mindya”. As if that justifies their behavior. If you live a life that is glorifying to Christ and is respectable then you should not be scared of people knowing your secrets or offering their opinions or concerns.

Ultimately it is a lame defense and screams of a deeper problem.

Way to Pray!!!

Passionburnswithin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:00:04 +0000

Have you ever been called on to pray publicly and had someone compliment you on your prayer afterwards? They might say that you “did a good job” “said a lovely prayer” or “that was great”. Am I the only one to find that strange? I mean you do not walk up to someone after hearing their conversation and say “Way to Talk!!!” “way to put those words into….ummmm.. sentences and…..ummm paragraphs to complete ideas and way to use your…. errrr…..mouth to say it.

I know. I am being silly but the point is that when we pray instead of being focused on God we have the habit of trying to sound prestigious. In the church we have found that if we string a bunch of over used cliches together and throw in some King’s English people will compliment us and call on us to pray more.

I have been trying very hard to break that pattern. I have focused on praying conversationally with God as if I were talking with a person face to face. I want to be honest and transparent before God and I don’t care if I sound eloquent or not that isn’t the purpose of prayer anyway and if we practice these habits we accomplish nothing and get nowhere in our realtionship with God.