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Excited About the Future

If you go by the news that's churned out moment by moment by the big news companies, most of what's going on in the world is bad and the future looks anything but bright. So what's the truth on that? Should Christ-followers be pessimists? Idealists? Realists (with the myriad of definitions of what that means)?

Here's a thought: I'm sitting in a Starbucks sweating like a pig because the A/C is kaput. I'm beginning to stink. But I'm happy and hopeful. Why? Because for the past 20 minutes or so, I've been availing myself of the wifi to once again view Fall Creek Community Church's future story. You can find it on this site, under "Resources," then "Sermons," then at the bottom of the page titled "Fall Creek Strategic Vision Presentation."

It's a story that makes my heart sing, because it was discerned by the whole church, over the course of a whole year, with plenty of open and frank discussion. And the whole shebang was bathed in prayer. It portrays in story form our best sense of what this church could look like ten years from now if we live into our full potential with and before God. To ask the classic kids' travel question, "Are we there yet?" Nope. Not by a long shot. But my heart sings nonetheless, because now we have a picture of what we could be. We have broad outlines of what to aim for and what to look for along the way. And because we have those things, we also have freedom to graciously say no to ideas that may be great but they're not God's call for us right now.

So yes, I'm beginning to ripen. Customers come and go (mostly go) while I'm here, exclaiming about the heat and humidity. I wish it were cooler. But I'm not complaining. I can see beyond the moment, to a future that looks bright because of who is there and who is leading us along the way.

Ah, the wonders of communication

It seems like it ought to be so easy, but understanding and being understood correctly takes plenty of patience and effort. Consider the following true story from 1993 when FBI agents conducted a raid of Southwood psychiatric hospital in San Diego. The hospital was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of reviewing medical records, the agent in charge called a nearby pizza place to order out for his colleagues. Here’s the phone conversation that took place, pulled together by the agent involved & verified by snopes.com:

Agent: Hello. I would like to order 19 large pizzas and 67 cans of soda.

Pizza Man: And where would you like them delivered?

Agent: We're over at the psychiatric hospital.

Pizza Man: The psychiatric hospital?

Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.

Pizza Man: You're an FBI agent?

Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.

Pizza Man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?

Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the front doors. We have them locked. You will have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.

Pizza Man: And you say you're all FBI agents?

Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?

Pizza Man: And everyone at the psychiatric hospital is an FBI agent?

Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving.

Pizza Man: How are you going to pay for all of this?

Agent: I have my checkbook right here.

Pizza Man: And you're all FBI agents?

Agent: That's right. Everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.

Pizza Man: I don't think so.

** Click **

The FBI agents eventually got their pizza: but they had to drive over to get it.
How's your communication lately? I'm thinking Covey is on to something when he urges us to seek first to understand, and then to be understood. Here's to getting the pizza and pop delivered--but also driving over to get them if that's what it takes!

Worry, pray, or plan?

Worry hurts you. Prayer inspires you. Planning prepares you.

Worry is natural. Prayer is supernatural. Planning intertwines the natural (the world as it is) with the supernatural (the world as it could and should be).

Worry drains you. Prayer fills you. Planning fulfills you.

Worry isolates you. Prayer connects you. Planning integrates you.

Worry shrinks your vision. Prayer expands your vision. Planning enables your vision to come true.

Which will you do right now with that thing that is nagging at you?

Following God When It Gets Tough

Starting a new series tomorrow through the opening chapters of the Old Testament book of Exodus, titling it, "If I Were God, I Would..."

The opening scene strikes me for its barrenness. God's chosen people, who have gone to Egypt at God's leading, find themselves in the midst of unbelievable prejudice, oppression, even genocide. Multiple generations of Jews are born into slavery, suffer their whole lives, and die enslaved.

The passage raises one of the biggest of the big questions: Where is God when good people suffer? A hint is there in the story: within Exodus 1:1-2:10 you can find four examples of God's quiet intervention: a couple of midwives doing the hard, right thing; a mother making a hard, risky choice; a king's daughter directed to see and moved with compassion though she'd be among the most unlikely to do so logically; and a child asking the right question at the right time.

Nothing in the macro situation changes. Not yet. It would be very easy to miss God's quiet interventions, given everything else that was going on. But he was there.

I think of friends I care about who find themselves in the midst of crushing difficulty. Anyone who would give them trite answers is clueless. But there is hope. The dark opening scene of Exodus hints at what is to come down the road, shedding enough light in the present moment to take the next step, to keep believing, to persevere. If you are in the grip of a tough situation, my prayer is that you'll find the realistic hope presented in Scripture, that God is there in the darkness with you.

God's Intervention & Our Intelligence

When God starts a new thing, he partners his intervention with our intelligence. Contrary to what some of the prominent atheists insist on these days, the Christian faith is anything but mindless. The greatest commandment God has given us, Jesus said, includes loving God with your entire mind. That gray matter between our ears was given to us to be used well.

A passing comment in chapter 16 of the New Testament book of Acts illustrates. One night, early church leader Paul has a vision of a man from Europe (Macedonia) begging him to come help the people there. The next day, Paul runs it by his team. And together, they talk it through until they conclude that this is more than an ordinary dream. It is, in fact, God’s call.

History reveals the results. They were right. On they go to Macedonia; God has people ready and waiting to hear about Jesus, and voila! The good news of Jesus begins its journey across Europe, forever changing Europe’s history for the better.

Digging deeper into the narrative that precedes the vision is God preventing that same team from going elsewhere. What I love is that in the account what we find is a natural partnering of God’s intervention and our intelligence. God guides them negatively by guiding them away from the places they were thinking of heading, and then he guides them positively by giving Paul the vision. But he doesn’t impose his will. They get to think it through and decide what to do.

History is replete with examples of this kind of ‘double guidance,’ God’s negative and positive guidance. My own story includes both. I started out thinking Bible translation was the way to go, heading off to live with a remote people group who don’t have a written language and then bringing them God’s Word in their mother tongue. Noble aspiration, but the more I reflected on it, the more I realized there’s no way I want to study grammar for hours on end. Closed door number one.

I redirected toward teaching Bible in Africa, was accepted as a candidate with one of the international Christian organizations, and was raring to go. But then as part of grad school I did an internship with an international church in NYC. I was hooked, stayed four years, and then went on to a suburban Chicago church known for its commitment to God’s work worldwide. Eight years ago, I came here to the Indy suburbs to pastor this church.

Looking back now, I can see God’s hand all along the way, and I know what his call is for me—to

pastor here but with a twist: to lead Christ-followers here in thinking and acting as God’s ambassadors to our own context, because our own nation needs to be won to Jesus Christ and his Church.

Did that come down from the skies? Nope. It was a progressive process of God’s intervention partnering with human intelligence. How about you? Are you wondering what God has for you, where he is leading? Start here: when God starts a new thing, he partners his intervention with our intelligence.

When God Starts a New Thing

Good to go to a funeral?

I hate funerals. Yes, a pastor who hates funerals. The grief on the family's faces, the sometimes crushing sense of loss...it rips me up. I also know it's not altogether bad to go to a funeral now and then.

Fishers has the youngest median age for the entire county, about 32 years old. We're young, up and coming, on the fast track to success. Death simply isn't in our plans. A wise old guy long ago experienced the same, and offered this counsel: "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart." That was ancient Israel's King Solomon, in the Bible book Ecclesiastes, chapter seven.

I still hate funerals. But I have to agree with Solomon that once in a while, from time to time, it's a good thing to come face to face with what's coming...and then live a bit more focused today. It's a good day, isn't it?

 

Rich

Finding Financial Peace

Halfway through a class we’re hosting at the church, “Financial Peace University.” The stories that are starting to come out are tremendous: a first vacation ever enjoyed on budget and without credit card debt; getting a hefty product discount simply for asking; hiring an out-of-work acquaintance with painting skills to do the job for less than the pros while still for the full price he wants; stupid spending habits beginning to change; honesty about realizing that where the cash disappears to is an area that can at least be scaled back if not eliminated. Each week, there are stories. Good buzz. Burdens a little bit lighter if even from discovering you’re not alone in the fight. What a help to have a good group of friends, and to have friends who keep their arms open to welcoming others. It’s been a good evening.

Going Viral

I love the whole phenom of viral videos, which go from being one person's personal record to being watched by people all around the world. Here's a fun one from just this week:
www.youtube.com/watch
The same way vidoes go viral has been God's plan for how his good news spreads--one person telling their story or Christ's story to a friend, who tells a friend, and...well, you get the idea. Two stories found back to back in the New Testament show this happening in a wonderful way.

First is when a guy who has been paralyzed for eight years is healed, and everyone in town starts talking. No kidding! Next comes the account of a woman named Tabitha who grows sick and dies. According to Jewish tradition, her body is washed in preparation for burial that same day before sundown. But her friends don't want to bury her. They don't want to accept her death. So they send word a dozen miles away to Peter, one of Jesus' main buds.

Peter rushes back with them, prays, and Tabitha's life is restored. What happens? Same as before: people start talking. Word spreads. And good gossip...goes viral. In both towns, in the wake of each miracle, the good news gone viral leads many to trust in Jesus Christ. I like that. As a guy who talks about the Bible for a living, I like the fact that no one preaches a sermon. Peter really doesn't say much at all. There's no sermon, but there is a lot of talk, good gossip, as one person tells another what they've seen and heard.

Here's to good gossip...going viral!

Taking it Outdoors

Six days & counting until the church fields are abuzz with little kids' soccer & T-ball games through our partnership with the local YMCA. That came about a few years back when I was new in town and met with the directors of the Y as it was being built. I explained that we have 10 acres and would love to see the church property widely used by the community. Ever since then, the partnership has grown.

New this year is that every Saturday, we'll have Fall Creek members out to meet and greet, with refreshments available for parents and their kids. It's a small way we hope to provide a service and get to know members of our community. Fishers is a great place to raise a family. Fall Creek is a great place within Fishers to raise a family to know and honor Jesus Christ. If you're in the area on a Saturday morning to early afternoon, stop by and say hi. We'd love to meet you!

Starting at the End

Leading Straight in Crooked Times

Tourists love the Tower of Pisa: 16,000 tons of marble leaning precariously enough that you might think twice before walking beneath its shadow. The good news is that since 2008, those in the know have declared that the tower has stopped shifting for the first time in its history, thanks to years of stabilization work.

A life that's bent is not quite so amusing. I've been chewing on this as we prepare for our next teaching series, this one through the apostle Paul's leader coaching letter to Titus. Titus was called to lead God's people on the Mediterranean island nation of Crete. Crete was a bent place. Its residents were legendary for their immorality, dishonesty, laziness and gluttony. Bent.

They needed leaders who were straight and true. Titus was just such a man, and in turn was called to find and appoint leaders of similarly straight character to lead well. They would be challenged for sure. But it was through them, tried and true leaders, that God's stabilization work would advance.

If you are a leader or aspire to leadership, I hope you join us for this dig into what it looks like and how great the need is for those who will lead straight in crooked times.

H1N1 Close to Home

H1N1 is the big news buzz these days. It has also hit close to home—my home, that is. My daughter and now wife have contracted the bug. So far, Meghan is getting the worst of it, with a temp as high as 105. Seeing my family under the weather from something unseen makes me think of the similarities to temptation and sin. Both H1N1 and temptation arrive uninvited and at first undetected. When they find a host, both multiply into nasty consequences.

If only a single exposure to sin would result in immunity from contracting it again! But it isn’t so, is it? Just as our physical health includes vigilant habits like hand-washing, our spiritual health includes steering clear of influences which we know lead to sin.  

A Time for Action

Great time at church this morning! Six leaders talked about why they're accepting accountability to lead us forward in several new initiatives aimed at becoming more effective as a church. After they spoke, we asked everyone to join one of the action teams. It was heartwarming to see members coming forward to bring their response cards. Now the fun begins!