Updates and Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

Hello all, we are back from Catalyst and I have officially caught up on seminary. Is that a miracle or what? Catalyst was terrific. The worship was terrific, the speakers were terrific, but most of all God was terrific. He was glorified and He spoke very loudly to me last week.

What did he say?

1) Well he told me not to go with Tim this week. Tim, our senior leader is speaking tomorrow at Willow for the Reveal Conference. It is an amazing honor for our church and Tim, but God said sit at home with your family. Andy Stanley was speaking and proclaimed, "Some pastors were sacrificing their family on the altar of ministry." I knew God was speaking to me. I spent last week at Catalyst, this coming weekend I am leading teens in worship at Windemere.. I am heading to honduras the first weekend of November. I argued a bit with God that this was like a once in a lifetime thing for our community and Tim... but he said spend time with your family. So right now I am watching a Halloween spooktacular cartoon featuring Barney and Thomas the train.

2) God changed yesterday's message. He laid 2 Timothy 2:14 through the end of the chapter on my heart and wouldn't let the fire burn out. I preached it pretty hard. And I shared some very serious things God had laid on my heart. Things dealing with "moralistic therapeutic deism." You can read more about it: here ... Moralistic therapeutic deism is the dominant american religion and I believe forms of it has penetrated the church and is not limited to youth or young adults. Actually, if you will read this study you will see that many of the deists are active in local churches and many adults follow this religion...

I'm ashamed to say, that I think some churches unknowingly lead people to this belief through their teachings. They teach moralism rather than grace. They teach therapeutic sermons rather than truth. And they teach about God and sin in a generic way.

We will not be a church like this.

I'll post some pics and more catalyst moments later.. Matt Chandler's message from 1 Timothy 4:6-16 was very challenging for every pastor/elder at the conference. They should have let him preach longer.

Busy few weeks

Hello all, I thought I would drop a note to say I will blog on and off as I travel. The family and I had a great time at a cabin Monday and this morning. Tomorrow, Becky and I leave with 8 leaders from our church 30 and under to attend the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. I'll blog some of our experience.

Other cool happenings:

1) Concrete is being poured tomorrow at the new church site for the Sprung. Men we'll begin work next week.
2) This coming Sunday's message is on dealing with crummy co-workers and how we can "be the church" at work reflecting God's light.
3) Next week Tim is speaking at Reveal. I'll be traveling with him and a crew from our church.
4) The weekend of the 17th I am leading worship at Windemere.

Not so cool happenings:
1) I am behind on my seminary.


I just wanted to keep you updated. More to come.
2)

Discussions from "I am Church" series

We kicked off a new series at The Bridge last week. Our primary focus was on 1 Peter 2:1-12. Below is the beginning of a discussion we are having between now and November 2. Please feel free to join in. These questions are developed as a guide for our cell families to use with last week's sermon and notes. If you missed the teaching, you can pick up a DVD. If you are not in a cell, please consider joining one today.

Starter questions:

What was your first experience with “church” like?

What comes to mind when you hear the word “church?”

What do you think Jesus intended His church to be?

Popular misconceptions:

• Church = services

• Church = clergy

• Church = a particular denomination

• Church = a building/place I go to

What does the Bible say about church?

Background:

In the New Testament, the word church is the Greek word ekklesia, which means assembly. The word ekklesia was primarily used to describe the followers of Jesus, however at times it was used for a nonreligious gathering (cf. Acts 19:32, Acts 19:41).

In a primary gathering aspect however, ekklesia is most used to describe groups of followers of Jesus as they met in homes (Romans 16:5, 1 Cor. 16:19). The church “gathered” on mission (Acts 14:27), but never do we see that people met at church.

The following discussion really centers around, "Is church a building or a people?"

Scriptures to Study:

Ephesians 1:22-23

Ephesians 2:19-22

1 Peter 2:4-12

Question 1: If the church is a place, how can it fill everything thing and be everywhere? (Ephesians passages)

Question 2: What does 1 Peter 2:5 and Ephesians 2:22 tell about what God’s house/temple actually is?

Question 3: Who does 1 Peter 2:5 say God’s priests are?

Dialog: Is church a place for people, or is church the people of God all over the place? Is it theologically correct to say that you are going to church? Why or why not?

Question 4: What is the difference between going to church, and being the church? 1 Peter 2:9-12

I go to church vs.	I am the church
Services/Church is seen as a dispenser of religious goods and services. People come to a building to be fed, to have their needs met through quality programs, and to have the professionals teach their children about God.	Church is seen as a body of people sent on a mission who gather in community for worship, encouragement, and teaching from the Word that supplements what they are feeding themselves throughout the week. This gathering (ekklesia) equips the people of God to be the church and shine the marvelous light (Christ in You) in culture.

Question 5: What are the implications of being the church rather than going to church? 1 Peter 2:12

Question 6: Where does Acts 1:8 tell spirit-filled followers to be God’s witnesses?

Question 7: Sunday, Nov. 2^nd we are concluding this series with a sermon called “We are Church.” We are challenging the people of God to “leave the building” and to be the church in our community in the surrounding days. What ideas do you have for your cell family to be able to do this? What ideas can you share for The Bridge Community as a whole to consider?

P.S. Yes, we still have celebration services at 9:00 and 10:45 at E-Hall. These teachings/discussions are challenging our people to "leave the building" and to be the church in their world beyond walls.

Fire proof....and now Bullet proof?

Player-Coach: Economics

I view my role at The Bridge Community to mainly be that of a player-coach. My main function is to "equip the saints for the work of ministry." I do this by giving instruction while being in the heat of the battle myself. I am not standing on the sidelines shouting out, I'm literally bleeding in the same battle every other minister/missionary (child of God at the Bridge Community) is.

A part of my "equipping" ministry is to lay a firm foundation which is Jesus Christ and God's word. At the Bridge, we are constantly providing avenues for disciples of Christ to be grown. I as well try to be very incarnational and model a life that is based on Christ's firm foundation. We believe in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and the Bible. A second part of my "equipping" ministry is to prepare/train others. We provide avenues for everyone to discover and find their gifting, provide specialized training, and use cell families/gap for mobilization. We view our Sunday celebration as a time to prepare our community to be missionaries in their neighborhoods engaging culture with the gospel.

I would be wrong to neglect that a part of my player-coach role deals with mending and restoring. This week I will focus on equipping our community to be priests to one another in this aspect individually and through cell. But now to be frank, a lot of disciples need to fix what is broken in their finances.

Remember, I am in this same battle. At The Bridge we use Crown Biblical Financial Training as a tool to equip and mend/restore financial situations. Please check out their website here. http://www.crown.org/ . We offer the Crown Biblical Financial study once a year - but we will offer it more often if we must. It is time to reduce debt, and free up God's resources to be used for God's kingdom. Too many disciples have not heeded Biblical financial principles and have now become servants to a lender just as Proverbs 22:7 has warned.

Here is where I stand as a player-coach in this battle. I currently have two mortgages. We moved into a nicer home for an exceptional price. We viewed this as our long-range family home, but we did not sale our other house. We instead began renting it and now we wish that we would have sold it. We have a choice to make. We can rent it out again or sit on it until it sales. We are seeking God's face and committing to him to reduce debt and to help other disciples reduce debt as well. Why? Debt hampers a disciple's ability to bring the Kingdom of God to their surroundings. It imprisons, entraps, and destroys.

Will you commit to reducing debt? With the debt that you now have, what could the same amount of resources have done for God's kingdom in your own neighborhood for the glory of God?

Prayers

Please keep our family in prayer for the next 40 days. I have a killer schedule that depresses me to look at. This month outside of preaching and leading cells and cell leaders, we are constructing a sprung for our permanent location as The Bridge. I as well have the Catalyst and Reveal conferences. Throw in concerts at Chester, Windemere, and Waterloo and I'm toast. I'm praying that my family doesn't just toast me. Start praying as well for November. Becky and I are traveling to Honduras for a few days to help with the Global Leadership Summit and see the work of Compassion International. Finally, we have a house that we need to sale or rent-to-own.

I don't often ask for prayer.. but now is a good time for it.

This is a very exciting time. I can't wait to see/experience all that God has in store. It is also a time that I need to be extra careful to spend time with Becky, Brylee, and Halle.

Complete Awesomeness

Crowder and UBC covering "Jesus is a Friend of Mine" on YouTube.