Update time...

We just spent a great week in Colorado, hanging out with my aunt and cousins. We left this morning, and we are spending the night in Albuquerque. Nice hotel, questionable pool cleanliness...but that's another issue altogether.

As for the baby update, we are supposed to meet him in Phoenix on Wednesday. The social worker is working out the details, but it looks like we'll be able to spend some time with him. He won't be coming home with us on this trip because there is still court work to be done. But that part could be wrapped up in a few weeks, and we'll have a new member of the family!

Interesting side note: while we were relaxing at the hotel pool tonight with the kids, we met a guy who is also staying here. We started talking, and it turns out that he was in town on business, but he lives and is on staff at a church in the same Phoenix suburb where we will be meeting the baby. He was very encouraging. He prayed for us, right in the hot tub! It was a great church service, amongst the bubbles.

Please keep praying! I'll keep you posted...

A long-awaited update...

Well, maybe it's not "long-awaited." Maybe it's just "swallowed by overwhelming apathy." Either way, just wanted to drop in to say "Hi!" (Wow. I have used quotation marks three times since the beginning of this post. "Awesome!")

Anyway, some of you might remember that I was asked to preach for a few Sundays at a local church that was looking for a pastor. They asked me to preach for 4 Sundays, then for a couple more Sundays after that. It must have gone well, because the church voted to ask me to be their pastor!

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know my misgivings about traditional church. But after a lot of prayer and talking, the Mighty Mrs. J and I felt like it was something God had opened up for us. As of about a week ago, I became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Bell Gardens.

It's been busy. I still have my business to run, and I'm learning to juggle work and ministry. But I think it's going to be fun. They are a great little group of people, and they've expressed a real desire to minister to hurting people. There is a lot of work to be done, with the facilities and the people. We are looking forward to the challenge.

I think for me the hardest part will be to keep teaching and living grace as a lifestyle, and not to allow anything that cheapens the gospel to creep in. It will be interesting. Pray for us!

Jesus is our homey, too...

Hey there, party people! It's just me, checking in with my regular semi-monthly blog post. Just wanted to give you a quick story. As some of you may remember, I have been the substitute preacher at a local church for the last 2 weeks, and the next 2 weeks also.

Well, the lady who plays piano at this small church, as well as the woman who leads music, will both be out this week. So the Mighty Mrs. J is leading worship, and she roped me into I volunteered to play guitar to accompany her.

I'm not very good, so we have to sing one of about 12 songs I can kinda play. We were singing through one of them, "I See the Lord."

The Former Toddler Houdini must have been listening, because she came through the house singing the chorus. Except when she sang it, it came out as, "Homey, Homey, Homey is the Lord." Which is the way I plan to sing it on Sunday.

Remember, he can be your Homey, too...

Here she is, looking adoringly at her big brother:

A personal update on, well, me...

I've been a bit scarce around here. Business is going really well, and it's hard to make time for blogging. In order to blog regularly right now, I'd need to take time away from less important activities, like spending time with my wife and kids. (Maybe I need to change my priorities.)

I would like to ask for those of you who are praying folks to drop a line or two to God for me and the family. You may remember that a few weeks ago, I preached at a small local church. it was the first time I had preached anywhere in a while.

Well, it went pretty smoothly. No one threw anything, or heckled me. Now, they've asked me to come back and preach for the next four Sundays, and teach their Wednesday night Bible study.

I don't really feel nervous about the whole thing, at least not yet. But I do want to be a blessing to them while I'm there. So I'm asking for prayer in a couple of areas. First, pray that I would be able to preach and teach God's love, without the baggage that sometimes comes in a traditional church setting. Second, pray for my family. It will be a little hard to be away from the people we usually fellowship with on Sunday. (We're seeing them at different times, but it isn't the same.)

Anyway, that's my update. You may now resume your normal activities...

The end of evangelicalism?

Michael Spencer has a terrific blog (http://www.internetmonk.com/) that I read regularly.  He wrote a great, if sobering, piece for Tuesday's Christian Science Monitor called, "The Coming Evangelical Collapse." 

It's not a happy piece, but I think he's dead-on with his predictions.  I'll have some thoughts on it in the next few days, but I wanted you, my faithful readers, to wallow in the end of Christianity as we know it for a few days.

I think he's right, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing...

The church, working...

I know I spend some time on this blog talking about the church, about what's wrong and how to fix it. So here's my positive comment about something that's right with a church: this story about a church in suburban Chicago.

They get it. They understand that it's not about the buildings, or the decorations, or any of that other stuff. It's about living out the life of Christ everywhere we are: in our own lives, in our family, with our friends, in our communities.

Now everyone. On the count of 3: 1-----2-----3: Hooray, Waterfront Community Church! Hooray!

You may now return to your seats...

Who do you say God is?

This is probably my last thought about the Bentley/Lakeland revival thing. Unless something new comes out, I don't see the point in beating the issue any more. But I wanted to follow up on an earlier post. I talked about the fact that so many of us are searching for a special "anointing," some unique outpouring of God's presence in our lives.

Searching for this anointing, we will seek out people who claim to have a special relationship with God. We'll buy books, go to seminars, attend revival meetings, and spend long nights in agonized prayer, all in search of that "something extra" that God has given some of His favored children.

I wonder if part of the reason why so many believers, myself included, go through this is because of our wrong view of God. Do we see God as our loving, perfect Father who stands waiting to give us all kinds of good things? Or is God distant and grumpy, Someone you have to convince to like you by your good works and devotion? How we see God will determine how we see our relationship to Him.

The truth about God is this: He already loves His kids an infinite amount, regardless of who or what they are. He will never love His children any more or less than He does now. He never condemns us. He's never disappointed in our actions or attitudes. (That thought alone is changing my life. I can never disappoint God!) He is pleased to give us the kingdom. He's given each one of His kids the Holy Spirit as a promise that we belong to Him. He is constantly at work in and around us to make us into the people He means for us to be.

We are each anointed by God, called into His special service. Every one of us has equal access to God, no matter how important or unimportant you may feel. What does equal access mean? Any of us, at any time, can crawl into our Father's arms and talk to Him, cry on Him, ask Him questions, even complain at Him. And He's never too busy to love on His kids. He gives us every good and perfect gift. Best of all He gives Himself, and He desires and grows a real relationship with each of His kids.

If you see God as Someone who is only pleased with you when you perform acceptably, you will spend your life trying to perform acts that please Him. If you see God as Someone who is holding out the "really good blessings" until you do, say, or believe the right things, you'll spend your time looking for the secrets that will unlock the blessings of God.

But if you see God as Jesus showed Him to be, you'll see that none of that work is needed. He doesn't want my right actions, or my meticulously crafted orthodoxy, or my 12 secrets to a victorious Christian life. He just wants me. And, He's happy with that...

Note to Jesus from my son...

I love you jesus your the best

Aren't we all anointed?

I wonder if part of the problem with the Lakeland event that's been unraveling is that Christians are desperate for a special touch from the Holy Spirit. So we go everywhere, looking for someone who has that "unique anointing" from God. We gather around certain teachers, or apostles, or conference speakers, or pastors, thinking they will give us that word from the Lord that we so desperately need.

That way of following Jesus is, in my opinion, dangerous and unbiblical.

It's unbiblical because it ignores the fact that we are all anointed with the Holy Spirit. 1 John 2:20-21 says: "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth." Every Christian has the Holy Spirit living inside them. The Holy Spirit is given to every believer as a sign that he or she a child of God. The Holy Spirit lives in us as God's guarantee that He will continue His work until Jesus' return.

I'm not saying that we can't learn and grow from hearing the wisdom of teachers that God has gifted. What I am saying is that the idea that we are somehow incomplete unless we receive an "anointing" from some special leader is false and unbiblical.

Yet many Christians believe that they need something or someone other than the Holy Spirit living in them to become a whole Christian. I know, because I used to be in this group, and it made me miserable.

It's sad, really. And dangerous. And it says something about what we really believe about God. But this post is getting too long, so I'll jump into the other issues in a future post...

One great thing about America...

I like to gripe about America as much as anybody. (Actually, I probably complain more than most.) But I also realize how blessed I am that I live in this country. Especially when I look at all the nonsense that is going on all over the world. And, although I'm a little freaked out that either this empty suit or this waffler is going to be president come next January, I'd still rather live here than anywhere else.

One of the things I am most thankful for is the ability to worship freely. My family and I are not part of a traditional church. We do get together with other folks, and different people take turns hosting the group for fellowship times. And we can do this without being afraid that we'll be shut down, arrested, or harassed by the government. That's a special freedom that I hope my children will be able to enjoy and appreciate.

There's actually no point to this, except that I'm thankful for my freedom, and I pray that all Christians will soon be able to worship freely...

Great video on AIDS in Africa...

If you can watch this without choking up, let me know. I'll call the paramedics to go to your house. The AIDS problem in Africa is staggering, and the church has been slow to deal with it. I hope that is changing.

The money quote from the video? "People understand their sin without our help. It's grace they need help understanding."



(Thanks to the awesome folks at The God Journey !)

Tenth Avenue North...

Here's a song that really knocked me back...

Quote that got me thinking...

"Abba is one of the first human cries. Christ took it from the cradle of babes, and made it an offering of tenderness and confidence to God, a source of consolation and reassurance to man, a light among the obscurities of life."

Charles Wagner, By the Fireside

Angry prayers...

Sorry for the lack of recent posting. I know many of you spend your day by the computer, waiting, hoping for a new post from the Final Frontier. Unfortunately, sometimes I need to take care of less important things, like taking care of family and making money. But soon all your prayers will be answered and your dreams will all come true.

Until then, here's a web site that you might want to explore. It's called the Angry Prayers Project. The object seems to be to get people to look at the prayers of people in the Bible who were angry with God. The point being, I think, that it's OK to be angry with God, and even to express that anger.

I think the site is just starting, so I'm sure there will be more added to it. But it looks like a great idea. I think sometimes Christians are afraid to express, or even feel, those "negative" emotions toward God. But the psalms are full of anger and disappointment.

And I've had a few disagreements with God myself. But I'll have more on this later...

Thoughts on spiritual gifts...

I don't know what you think about spiritual gifts. I know I grew up believing that the "sign gifts" like tongues, healing, prophecy, and the like stopped being given to the church after the first century. So I was always suspicious of people who practiced these gifts. I think at one time I would have considered Christians who practiced sign gifts to be wrong, probably just overtaken with emotion. But I really didn't see God still working that way any more.

As I got older, I saw some of my friends get involved in Pentecostal churches. Some of them started speaking in tongues, some started talking about a "second blessing" of the Holy Spirit. That usually meant that someone who was a believer had to speak in tongues in order to be complete. I saw that then as being a very divisive belief in the body of Christ. It groups God's people into 2 camps--the tongue-speakers and the non-tongue-speakers.

My own position has changed quite a bit. I don't see anywhere in the Bible where you can legitimately infer that any gifts stopped after the Scriptures were written. (Please forgive me, Mr. Dike!) I also don't see any particular gift as being necessary for a Christian to be complete in Christ. I think Scripture is pretty clear that we are complete in Christ from the moment of salvation.

The gifts are just that--gifts. God gives them out as He wishes, to enable us to do His work. There aren't 2 classes of Christians, or 5, or 100. If you are in Christ, you are a child of God.

Two things really make me sad about the whole debate over gifts. One, it's divided Christians unnecessarily. (It's one more proof that the devil often uses good things to mess up the Church.) There isn't much difference theologically between most people who attended Baptist (or Brethren) churches and groups like the Assembly of God or other Pentecostal) denomination. But both sides are dug in, thinking the other is strange, or off-base, or out of step with God.

The second thing that makes me sad is that when we focus on gifts, we lose sight of the Giver. Really gifts aren't important at all. I'm not enabled to do God's work because of my gifts. I can do God's work because it's Jesus who is in me, to do what He wants. Gifts are tools He uses through His people.

Why am I thinking about this? This afternoon I heard 2 guys in the radio, each talking about their experience speaking in tongues. For both, they were believers who were seeking some reassurance that their faith was real. God gave them the sign they were looking for, namely, tongues. Both of them described how their lives had changed. They were secure in their knowledge that God was in them and with them. They were more in love with Jesus. They trusted God more than they ever did before.

Before, I probably would have dismissed them as self-deluded, convincing themselves that they had received something that wasn't really God at all. It was just their own minds, playing a trick on them.

Now, I believe those experiences, which are very different from mine, really do come from God. I mean, He meets me where I am, in all my weakness and strengths and pre-conceived notions. Why shouldn't He do that with His other children? Further, I think we probably need to give each other some room to maneuver when it comes to things of the Spirit. The one standard? It doesn't violate what we already know about God, revealed in the Bible. Otherwise, if God wants some of His people to speak in tongues or prophesy, let 'em do it. If He wants others to use "quieter" gifts, like hospitality or mercy, that's great too.

I think it's when you make your experience with God the norm, the experience that judges all the others, that you get into trouble.I hope we can some day get to the point where we can celebrate God's work in each of us without trying to stuff each other into boxes...

My gifts? Napping, and general mischief...

I like Southern Gospel music...so sue me

I'm not sure how this happened. I mean I grew up in southern California. Nobody listens to southern gospel music in southern California. But somehow I got hooked on the music of the Blackwood Brothers, the Stamps Quartet, Gold City, the Cathedrals. Even the Oak Ridge Boys, although they abandoned gospel music for a while.

I'm fortunate to have seen several of these groups when they would come to town. Which wasn't that often because there's about 7 of us gospel quartet fans in southern California. Most of the real old-time greats have died, and I'm not sure their likes will be part of American music again.

I think what I draws me to these groups is the harmonies (of course), but also the messages of the songs. These groups sang songs about living a life of faith and the hope of eternal life to come. I find myself returning to this style of music again and again for encouragement and inspiration.

My favorite group was always the Statler Brothers. They mostly sang country music, but they never strayed far from their gospel roots. Why did I like them best? They wrote most of their own songs, and they were great storytellers. I'm a sucker for a great story. And, they could sing. Really sing. Which sets them apart from a lot of musicians today. They also used to put on a great 4th of July picnic in their hometown of Staunton, VA. We went one year, and it was spectacular.

Anyway, here they are doing a couple of gospel tunes. The actual singing starts at about 1:20, but before that, one of the Cathedrals (George Younce) tells a very sweet story about one of the Statler Brothers:



And now, so, Band Nanny and Michelle don't feel left out, here's another great quartet, the Oak Ridge Boys. (This is an early, early version of the group; three of these guys are no longer with the group. I like this lineup the best.) They were pretty awesome in their time:

Thoughts on where God wants us...

If you look at the left side of the blog, you'll see links to the web sites of several musicians. They all helped my former church by donating songs for us to use on an outreach CD we gave away to people. One of the best of the bunch is Matt Nightingale, who has a great voice. I still have his CD as one of my "regular listens." (Go buy a CD for yourself here!)(And no, I don't get a cut from CD sales.)

Anyway, Matt is leaving his position as worship leader at a church in northern California. I'm sure his people there will miss him. When I emailed him to wish him well, he said that he had never done anything so crazy as leave a position like this. But he felt God was calling him away.

It made me think about my life in the last year or so, since we left the pastorate of the church we started. It's been a rough year in so many ways. Pastoring, like a lot of jobs, really defines the people who hold that title. It becomes a part of their identity. So I did lose a piece of who I was when I left that job. And I wasn't interested in going to another church, so that part of me really died when I walked away.

A lot of my life is different now. We started a new business. We've been finding new ways to fellowship with other believers. We're finding new ways to relate to people outside the faith too.

My reasons for leaving our church are different, I'm sure, from the reasons Matt and his family are leaving. I became convinced that the way I was using my gifts in the body of Christ were not consistent with what I saw in the New Testament church. And I didn't like the tension within myself that resulted from doing something I didn't really believe in. So I left.

I do want to ask every believer who reads this blog to pray for Matt, his wife, and his kids (4 of them, I believe). It's gutsy to leave the security of the known. Pray that God will lead the Nightingales to the place where He wants them to land.

Matt, I've got no advice for you, except this: I've learned a couple of things over the last year. One, following God is the craziest, most dangerous thing you'll ever do. But it's totally worth it. Two, I don't think God is that concerned about where you go, or what you do when you get there. (Not that He won't lead you where He wants.) But what He really wants isn't your service, or your talents, or your fervent efforts for Him. He just wants you. He doesn't love you for what you can do; He loves you because you are His child, His little boy. And as long as you are with Him, it doesn't matter where you guys end up...

Prayer for the new year...

"Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not enjoy it enough."
--Garrison Keillor

There's a million people in my house!!!

Technically, there aren't a million people in my house. But it kinda felt like it today. You see, it was our turn to host the Sunday get-together with the people we church with. (We try to rotate the host family, so no one has the burden of hosting all the time.) So we had over 30 people in our house this morning, having breakfast, singing, talking about Jesus, and generally having a great time.

How was it, having all those people (a lot of kids!) running through the house? Great! We actually had a great time. This is a terrific group of people that I enjoy more every time we get together. It's hectic. Our old house is big enough for everybody, but just barely. There were a lot of people bumping into each other, but no one seemed to mind.

One of the things I appreciate about the group we church with is the freedom we have during worship. Anyone is welcome, even encouraged, to lead out with a song, or a prayer, or something they feel like God has given them to share. That gives everyone a chance to lead the worship. I also think it makes worship more like what the Bible describes, where everyone has a part. I like being a part of it...

Real truth from an old song...

I live in southern California, where singing the old Christian hymns went out of fashion about the same time as 8-track stereos. But I grew up on the old songs, and I still love to sing them. Fortunately, I church with a group that still sings the "golden oldies" sometimes.

I was thinking of a line from one of my favorite hymns this morning, and the truth of it struck me in a new way. It was "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." This is the verse that got me thinking:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

The lines, "Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee," really resonated because I see now that God's goodness is really the only thing that binds us to Him. And all the things we use to try to bring us closer to Him are pointless at best, harmful at worst.

How many things have I used to try to build my relationship with God? Well, let's see, there's Bible reading, prayer, fasting, church work, Sunday School teaching, pastoring.and on, and on, and on.

There's nothing wrong with any of those activities, but so much of it was just me trying to gain favor with God with my own effort. Really it is God's goodness, ALONE, that draws me to Him. All those things can take the place of the Holy Spirit's work of growing us to be like Jesus.

In fact, I wonder how many programs int he church have grown and developed over the years for 2 bad reasons: we don't trust the Holy Spirit enough to do His work His way, and we have a lot of people attending services who don't demonstrate the Spirit's transforming power because He's not in them? Both of those possibilities frighten me.

More on this later...