31 Flavors

A church right down the road has the usual “Traditional” and “Contemporary” service options. But they actually have a third option each Sunday morning: a “Classic” service.
A Lutheran Church near us has “Traditional Worship” and “Contemporary Worship” also (8:00 and 11:00). But if that doesn’t suit your tastes, at 9:30 they have “Celebration Worship.” Careful – don’t let any celebrating sneak into those other services!

Facility Update

The S.D.A. church seems to want a spiritual partnership, not a rental agreement, so for now this option is off the table. We appreciate your continued prayers for God’s leading in our facility situation.

Advance Previews of Coming Attractions

“The church’s mutual love and ministry for one another and to the world provide advance previews of coming attractions.” (from Urban Ministry, Conn/Ortiz) As God composes the body and brings the unity of the Spirit, local church families can provide a “preview” of the incredible fellowship of eternity when God brings the ultimate unity out of ultimate diversity as His people enjoy Him forever. When God’s power transforms people so that they “do nothing from selfishness or empy conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than [themselves],” this truly is a miracle, yet only a small preview of what God will do. May our churches truly be advance previews of coming attractions!

Hi Hola Hi Hola Hi Hi Hola

I smiled at the toddler’s cheery determination to get my attention: “Hi! Hola! Hi! Hola! Hi! Hi! Hola!” (and it kept going!). I was walking to the mailboxes, and he was calling from a second story window of a house down the street. I smiled – but it was a sober smile, reminding me that I live on a mission field where toddlers aren’t sure whether to say Hi or Hola because both languages are so common. Lord, send laborers into this harvest field who know their language – or provide the way for us to learn.

Facility Update

We appreciate your continued prayers regarding our facility situation. The Seventh Day Adventist church board is supposed to be meeting today to consider our facility request. I don’t expect a final decision from them, but this is an important step in the process. We only want to do what God wants us to do, so we would appreciate your prayers in this regard.

We’ve had a somewhat low and difficult time over the last six or eight weeks. Some families moved away and attendance has been down (it was back up a little bit to 76 yesterday); we’ve had a rash of fairly serious spiritual problems within our church membership; and it’s been a challenging time for our elders (Scott’s company is going through a very difficult time, and David was gone for three more weeks with Farmers). We are not disheartened, but continue to press forward and look for the providential opportunities God is bringing through the challenges. Exodus 5 and 6 were an encouraging study yesterday.

There is plenty of exciting or potentially exciting news: the Wilkinsons had an offer accepted on a house here in Menifee; the facility possibility; a new church website in the works; wonderful help from the Trues and Hamblens; and more. Thank you for praying for us.

The Study Bible Challenge

I’ve started into the new ESV Study Bible, which was just released this month. I’m in no position to write any kind of official review: I’ve just skimmed some of the notes, read some of the articles, and I’m working my way slowly through Leviticus. I could say many positive things: they’ve done an exceptional job in many ways. I love the fact that on the very first page of the introduction they take the time to make sure the reader knows the difference between the “divine words” at the top of each page and the “merely human words” (the study notes) at the bottom. That simple clarification exemplifies their deep respect for God’s Word.

But what has grabbed my attention already is the pastoral angst associated with nearly any study Bible. The ESV Study Bible comes from the doctrinal perspective of “classic evangelical orthodox.” They tell you in the introduction that “Within that broad tradition of evangelical orthodoxy, the notes have sought to represent fairly the various evangelical positions on disputed topics such as baptism, the Lord’s Supper, spiritual gifts, the future of ethnic Israel, and questions concerning the millennium and other events connected with the time of Christ’s return.” I expect most pastors would hear that and say: “Good. They’re trying to stay off of individual soapboxes, and provide a study Bible for a broad range of conservative evangelicals.”

But when you actually start seeing that commitment fleshed out in the notes, I think most pastors will begin to experience some angst. “Hey, why don’t they agree with me! They shouldn’t just leave that issue open like that!” And the angst is especially poignant when you consider recommending the Bible to your flock: “But people might come to conclusions different from the ones I’ve been teaching them!” If you make it through the “overview of the BIble” and “theology of the Old Testament” articles without any angst, it will almost surely arise when you arrive at the introduction to Genesis and work your way through “Genesis and Science.”

Please understand that I’m not criticizing the ESV Study Bible. It’s too early for me to draw conclusions, and there are a lot of things I really like about it. I’m simply noting that it’s one thing for a pastor to agree to the ESVSB team’s philosophy and commitments; it’s another thing all together to work up the courage to put those open-ended notes into the hands of your people!

Grace Bible Church on Facebook

Better late than never – come join the new GBC Menifee facebook group.

A new tool for sermon preparation

Short version: I’ve recently found that mind-mapping is a very effective and time-saving way to organize my sermon material. There are lots of options: I use the free program at www.mindomo.com. For a sample from this past Sunday:

Long version: We arrived at Exodus 4:22 this week, where God speaks of Israel as “My Son, My Firstborn.” Since this is the first Scriptural mention of this theme, it ended up being an extensive study for me. Cross references led to cross references, and soon I was working on the theme throughout scripture. It was a thrilling study, as one exciting passage led to another. Just one problem: I knew that when Sunday arrived, I had 40 minutes to lay out this theme for the listeners, for whom the thoughts would be brand new. How do you take all of that material, boil it down to the essentials, and organize it in a coherent and cohesive sermon? That’s the preacher’s challenge every week, but it’s especially challenging on weeks like this. For me, mind-mapping has been a tremendous help. I’ve dabbled with it for a couple of years, but just in the last few months I’ve started to use it extensively in sermon prep. It is not an electronic “toy” that wastes time – it is a tool that is saving me time and improving the clarity of the sermons.

For me, the basic process flows like this:

• Initial impressions (determining basic direction of study)
• Exegesis (the study itself)
• Mind-mapping (bringing together all the results of the study)
• Manuscripting (writing the sermon)

Mistreated Pastors and Christ’s Afflictions

Pastoral ministry is full of challenging situations, but not all of them cut deeply into his heart. But certain things do cut deeply. For me, one of the things that cuts deeply is when someone I’ve sought to counsel, disciple, and help suggests that my ministry to them has been misguided and harmful. I was introduced to this in the first months of this church plant when a family suggested that my ministry to them in a marital crisis “tore their family apart.” It has happened more times since then. I’m certain that all pastors experience this. I’m also certain that at times I have counseled and discipled poorly. I have probably done more damage than I know!

However, in many situation these accusations are largely unfounded. In these situations, my response is critical. The words of II Timothy 2 regularly challenge my heart: not quarrelsome, kind, patient, gentle.  I’ve recently been challenged by another concept. I’ve been reading a book that suggests that “God intends for the afflictions of Christ to be presented to the world through the afflictions of his people” (Col. 1:24, Gal. 6:17, II Cor. 4:10-12, etc.). When I feel the cut of a largely unfounded accusation, my response may give a glimpse of Christ to others (even those making the accusation). I Peter 2:23 While being reviled, he did not revile in return. Do I want to revile in return? Yes! But if I continue in patient, gentle, humble sacrificial love for them and entrust myself to Him who judges righteously, the accusers might see a little bit of Christ in me. They will not if I revile in return.

It is encouraging for me to see that mistreated pastors not only enjoy deeper fellowship with Christ in his sufferings, but can also spread the glory of Christ through the mistreatment.

Climbing the Pastoral Ladder

“Those who are most successful in the ministry of local churches move on to larger churches and higher salaries rather than moving on to challenging unchurched areas where their experience and abilities could be used in starting new congregations…. Where are the modern Paul’s – divinely motivated to go to churchless vacuums rather than large churches?” (Dvaid J. Hesselgrave, Planting Churches Cross-Culturally)

Those words grabbed my attention the first time I read them. I would love to spend my whole life ministering in Menifee. But I sometimes wonder if, someday in the future, God might want my family to go to another area of Southern California, a “challenging unchurched area,” and put our experience and abilities to work there? It may be that God wants us to stay in Menifee and play a supporting, organizing, preparing, and coaching role as others go to different areas in Southern California. But if God wants us to go, I pray that our hearts will be eager, even if to many it would seem like a step down the pastoral ladder.