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PASTOR’S BLOG
Gordon blogs daily at www.jgordonduncan.com. His blog deals with issues of culture and Christianity. Included below are samples of some of his recent posts.
06/22/08
It is pretty difficult to encapsulate the week of General Assembly, but for my sake and for the benefit of the church, I want to give it a shot. I had several hopes and goals for the week, the primary of which was to make sure it wasn’t a boondoggle. Fortunately, that was pretty easy as this year’s seminar lineup was pretty incredible. We had the opportunity to hear experts on “Planting Churches in a Small Town” and “Marriage: A War of Two Kingdoms” as well attend some Q & A’s with some of the brightest and Godliest ministers that I know.
It is really a blast to walk around the vendor hall and bump into your favorite authors so that then you can ask them specific questions that apply to your context. Amy and I had a chance to hear and speak to authors like Ed Welch and Paul Tripp who write the best marriage and parenting books. I got some time with Ken Sandee the author “Peacemakers” and Amy and I also got time with our denomination’s Native American Outreach Coordinators.
The church business was handled very well. There was really only one moment when interaction from the Assembly floor was contentious (it is pretty hard to get 800 delegates to all agree). But I was very thankful for how things were handled. When passion turned into frustration in some of our discussion, we as an Assembly stopped and prayed, and several pastors spoke encouraging words to us all.
In addition to all the big head time, I had the chance to connect with new prayer and financial partners for Sovereign King. The prayer commitments are solid and the financial commitments are under consideration.
One great story is bumping into Paul Leary who is the Missions Director for World Harvest Mission. Amy and I met him back in 03 when we did a London missions trip with World Harvest. When Paul and I first met, we talked about our background. Paul mentioned how in the late 80’s he was an InterVarsity staff worker at NC State but once a month he would go to ECU to encourage a group of students that wanted their own IV chapter. Upon hearing that story, I told Paul how much I owed him because I benefited from that fully formed IV chapter at ECU just a year or so after his efforts. I would not have grown in the Lord as I did at college without Paul’s faithful efforts. Bumping into him was fun because he checks in on me, and vicariously enjoys my pastoring because he knows that God used him in ways that he never imagined.
And then there is the $500 worth of free books. I learned last year that if you hit the vendor hall while the booksellers are packing up, you can convince them to give you a book or two. Last year, I might have scored 4-5 freebies. This year, Amy and I the floor with full force, and every vendor but one gave us books. We have titles ranging from marriage, parenting, end times, handling conflict, pastoral burnout, mission strategy, as well as several different types of Bibles. I still hope the get the entire list up soon. All in all, we scored over $500 worth of books and had to pack extra luggage for the flight home to get them all home.
So many more great things happened at GA, and as I recall them, I’ll find a way to fill you guys in on it, but it was an incredible week.
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06/15/08
GA UPDATE: 2.2
Day Two of G.A. begins early for me of course. I’m sitting in a little coffee shop (surprise) waiting for a buddy so we can grab breakfast. It has been great to catch up with some old friends. This is the only opportunity to see some of my friends all year. Since yesterday, I’ve seen my original mentor in church planting, my good buddy that served with me at Redeemer, a fellow missionary from our trip to London, and lots of church planting buddies. I love my brothers in the ministry here, but after a day I am reminded how much we love to argue theology. This comes as no surprise to me after running the gauntlet of seminary and ordination complied with nearly 10 years in the PCA, but hey, can we say, ‘Hello, how are you doing?” before jumping right in? I imagine I am as guilty as the rest.
There is, however, very fertile ground for encouragement here. In terms of planting churches and proclaiming the Gospel, this is the place to find the people who are passionate about it and know how to do it. I know the work of the church nationally always involves some theological debate. My prayer is that we engage in those conversations peacefully, move on from them, and then start talking about proclaiming the mercies of Christ…proclaiming them to ourselves first and then to those that do not yet know them.
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06/08/08
KINGDOM ANGST
For the better part of the last 3 days, I, and other members of Sovereign King, have worked to help a young 18 year old. He was kicked out of his home with less than two weeks to go in his senior year - no home, no money, no food.
Since the phone call on Sunday evening, I've become a regular at Garner Magnet High School getting to know the Police Officers, Counselors, and Staff. Stepping back into the high school environment has been eye opening. My last year of teaching was 1997, so I'm a decade removed from the environment. The obstacles for the students have not decreased by any means. Their options are few, and they don't have the luxury to choose between public, private, religious, our home school. This is their school. Many of the folks who have the choice have opted out.
What happens when an institution constantly experiences an exodus of Christian presence and influence? Garner High School is what happens (This is a thought that requires more attention than I have given it either here or so far). Along the way, I've met some great staff, teachers, and students. They are weary at this stage of the year, but they have not given up.
This brain-dropping is a small part of the kingdom angst that I am feeling, so we'll see where it goes. BTW, the young man has a place to stay now, and if he can pass his exams on Monday and Tuesday, he will receive his diploma.
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06/01/08
SERVANT MASTER
Here is the article the good folks at the Garner Citizen published yesterday.
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SERVANT MASTER
This week, my wife and I both got nights out to ourselves. Whenever I get a night out, I usually grab a meal and movie with buddies. My wife, Amy opts for getting together with her gals and talking the night away. We try to do this as much as possible – if not each week, every other week.
Now when Amy gets a night out away from me and the kids, I have a couple of goals for when she returns. I want the kids in bed, quiet, and asleep without incident. If there is an incident, I don’t want it to carry over to her in any way to her. I also want the kitchen to be spotless and the living room to be straightened up. Essentially, I want Amy to get time away, but not dread coming home. She doesn’t need to ruin her time off by having to clean up my mess that night or the following day. I do this because I want her to relax and not worry about the house at least for a few hours.
Well, in scripture, Jesus figuratively and literally leaves the house and He has put you in charge. He has expectations of you while He is gone, and they are a little bigger than making sure the kitchen is clean. In His parable of Luke 12, the master Jesus has left and He will return when no one expects it. If He finds the servants awake, alert, and ready to serve their master when He returns, He promises to do something amazing. He will take on the clothes of a servant and will in turn, care for His servants. But if while He is gone, the servants become lazy and get drunk and abuse the other servants, the master will return unexpectedly and cut those unfaithful servants to pieces.
Quite literally, this teaching is intended to scare the hell out of us. Who doesn’t want to be found faithful? Who wants to suffer the master’s wrath? And the passage makes no bones about it. We are all Jesus’ servants whether or not we acknowledge it. We will all be found as either faithful or unfaithful.
As I read and preached this, I wondered, “Where is the hope?” I can be so unfaithful in managing my master’s resources. I so often look at my home, my money, and all my possessions as mine. Am I the unfaithful servant? Fortunately, just a bit further in Luke, I find hope for this unfaithful servant. Jesus, after giving the Lord’s Supper to the disciples in Luke 19 says this, “Let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”
This promise of Jesus by no means lets me off the hook. I am called, and you are called, to be faithful servants. But it does give me hope that Jesus is the faithful one among us that serves. Our Savior is also our master, but He even more so, is our servant master securing not only salvation but a life of faithfulness.
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05/25/08
GREENVILLE AND DR. UNKS
I took to Greenville and ECU this past weekend to catch up with some friends and to retreat for study and planning. Greenville obviously holds a place in my heart from my college days, but I like to go back for more than nostalgia and to take note of the progress on campus. I love to see what God is doing in Greenville. I love to hear about the gospel going forward.
My first disciplined study of God took place in Greenville, and I had several mentors there and a church that placed a high emphasis on Biblical teaching. Going back is definitely going back home.
One of my goals last week was to map out the summer sermons for Sovereign King and to get in some book study that I otherwise don’t have time to get to. But I also wanted to raise my finger to the wind and find out what impact the Gospel was having in Greenville and at ECU.
I have friends at Christ Presbyterian Church and caught up with them, but their grounds have moved to Winterville (a suburb next to G’ville), so I went exploring for a church in the downtown/campus area. I found Harmony Church (http://www.harmonygreenville.com) and Derek Brown. I first bumped into Derek at a Vintage 21 luncheon and was intrigued to hear what those guys were doing.
If you are not familiar with Greenville and ECU, the campus sits in the downtown area, but recently that space has be re-dubbed “uptown” for revitalization’s sake. There is really only one church, and it is much older and established with very little campus/young adult reach. And of course, with uptown development comes homeless displacement and a host of other mercy and justice issues. Well Derek and Harmony church are tackling those issues with the Gospel.
First of all, Harmony wanted to be in the area that they were targeting. Downtown doesn’t offer too much space right now as anything empty is being remodeled, so they got creative. Harmony meets in Dr. Unk’s Bar. I had lunch there, and I thought the space was awesome. The stage for the bands works for the stage for music and preaching. They have full use of the flat screens and PA, and the owners let Harmony use the space for free. Their meeting there caused an uproar in the local paper with Derek being interviewed and writing a few articles. My encouragement to Derek was, “Don’t worry about the uproar. Just make sure they spell the name of the church and the website correctly.
To tackle the mercy/justice issues, Derek’s church has adopted some of the homeless in the area. Members take the folks out to eat once a week, befriending and even mentoring some of them.
In addition, Derek is a voracious reader and writer (I knew I liked this guy), so he is creating materials for his congregation and has even finished a Mark commentary.
It looks like the Gospel is alive and well in Greenville. I can’t wait to see what happens on campus and in the uptown/downtown area. Thankfully, in my 15 years (has it been that long?) since graduation, there are still folks there who cannot wait to see what God and His kingdom will do next.
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05/18/08
GIRL RAMBLINGS
A rambling without a grand point...
On Saturday, I took my three girls out to wrap up their Mother's Day shopping at Target, and then we made a grocery store run. A buddy of mine said he saw me walking through the parking lot, and I had a determined look on my face. I told him 3 girls age 6 and under requires a healthy bit of determination. The initial thought of heading out with all the girls to run errands wasn't pleasant, but as I was out I thought, even though Emma is only 23 months old, she should get to go with the girls to buy Amy's Mother's Day presents. Despite the fact that I had to say no a million times in both Target and the grocery store, we all had a lot of fun.
This being a Saturday, I was bouncing around in bummy clothes which for me means shorts an old t-shirt. My shirt of choice was an Yngwie Malmsteen tour shirt. The back of the shirt read "Facing the Animal Tour - 1998." Amy's brother, Jay, and I saw that show in VA (incredible btw). Well, the grocery trip was coming to an end which means my girls' restlessness and my patience were both battling. They were doing pretty well I thought, but we were all ready to head home. As we came around the final corner, a woman I didn't know came up to me. She stared at my shirt which is common as most folks haven't heard of Yngwie much less know how to pronounce his name (ing-vay if you are curious). She said, "1998...that must have been before kids." I laughed, but had several thoughts.
First of all, I keep t-shirts a long time. I didn't realize this one was 10 years old. But the women's comment did make me think about life B.C. (before children). My day's are full of kids activities, and I'm sure they will only get busier as the girls get old. I still sneak in the occasional concert every now and then (Yngwie is touring later this year). And though Amy and I look forward to the days when our gals have become the wonderful women they are going to be and head off to do whatever they want to do, these days are a blast.
Things that made the day fun were Meredith with her list on the tiniest piece of paper with gift ideas for Amy. Landry was incredibly excited when I bought pop tarts (generic but she was still pumped). Emma enjoyed saying any words that she knew at any point in the trip (You would be surprised how many bouncy balls there are in Target). I don't dread rallying the girls by myself. There are times when it ain't easy but Amy deals with that every day. And my girls are cool too, so that helps. They know who Yngwie is.
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05/11/08
FALLING DOWN ON THE JOB
Some of you heard about last week incident, but here is how I got eight stitches and ten shots in my lip…
As Sovereign King was readying for the first service in their new space, I took on the responsibility of setting up the sound system. We have a sound snake that allows us to plug everything into the front. That snake runs a long chord above the ceiling tiles and down to the board in the back corner of our worship space. When I set this up last time, I climbed a ladder alone, threw the snake in the ceiling, moved five feet, climbed back into the ceiling, threw the snake again, and then repeated the process until the snake crossed the space. No problem. This time I took on the project but had actually had some one holding the ladder.
I should have gotten a taller ladder though. I was waist high in a nine foot ceiling, and when I threw the snake, I fell, bringing down a ¼ of the ceiling and ripping my top lip in half. I guess it was good I hit the ladder because a fall from nine feet can lead to broken legs and arms (I’ll take a bloody face over broken bones any day). Well, as I stood up with blood gushing and my lip hanging, my first thought was, “I wonder how much it is going to cost to fix that ceiling?”
Fortunately, the person helping at church wasn’t going to take no from me, so after coordinating a repair guy to look at the ceiling, I made my way to the doctor’s office. My wait was pretty short, and I got back relatively quickly. The doctor had to pull ceiling tile and insulation out of my lip before starting the stitches. He then starting giving me shots to numb the pain. Six shots later, I could still feel the needle. He had to amp up the medicine, so after ten shots, he was finally able to stitch the inside of my mouth and my lip back together.
As you now know, the ceiling was fixed and Sovereign King’s first service went off without a hitch. I preached with slightly better articulation and a large scab on my lip.
A funny postscript happened to this yesterday when I went to get my stitches out. Apparently, I’m not done with my clumsiness just yet. As I checked in the doctor’s office, I spilled an entire cup of coffee on the check-in desk. No one was injured, but all the papers were ruined and the phone system was soaked. I no longer look like Frankenstein, but I am, at the moment, pretty dangerous to be around.
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05/04/08
That collective sigh you hear is the passing of the April 15th tax deadline. Some folks are looking forward to getting money back, some have to pay, and some file an extension. Even with a refund, most folks aren’t too happy about doing their taxes, and at least a mild case of anxiety accompanies the process. But this year, if you file your taxes, you have an economic stimulus payment coming to you. File your taxes, and you get cold hard cash. Married? Double your payment. The cherry on top is extra cash for each of your children.
In no time at all, we’re all in the money. Now, why would the government want to mail us all a check? Well, our economy apparently needs stimulating, and the government hopes those dollars will burn a hole in your pocket. Now is the time for a plasma TV, a down payment on a car, or a new wardrobe.
Now I have no political dog in this economic stimulus hunt, but I do find it odd that in this age of inflated adjustable rate mortgages and massive credit card debt, the government doesn’t want us to refinance our home loans or pay down our Visa. They want us to buy more stuff. That will help the economy. I’ve considered putting a storm door on our front porch myself.
Well, since the government has expectations about what you should do with your money, I figured I would throw my two cents in as well. According to the President, the government has set aside $152 billion dollars or 1% of GDP for this stimulus package. That, my friend, is a massive amount of money. So, I began to dream about what could be done with that much cash (other than clothes, cars, and storm doors).
Here is what I suggest. Spend it however you want. Be wise and pay off debt, or have fun and be frivolous. But consider for a moment what would happen if we went old-school and charitably gave away 10%? What good for our community (other than a boosted economy) could we do with 15 billion dollars?
What if those 15 billion dollars were focused on improving and meeting the needs of our community? I’m not talking about naming a wing of a building after yourself or contributing so much to something you get a brick with your name on it. Though these things are fine, but if this is community money, how about contributing to a church building that existed solely for the needs of the community? I could be down with that. We could start new programs to support our police, fireman, and EMS workers. We could start tutoring programs. We could aid Katrina relief. We could fund addiction recovery programs. We could. We could. We could. The question is will we?
I’m not politically savvy enough to know how to gauge the effectiveness of this stimulus package economically. But as a pastor that wants to serve the community, I do think there will be very tangible ways to gauge the impact locally. If our folks give back, we can attempt to love and serve our community more. Churches and charities will be able to cover their overhead. New programs will be started. Existing programs will be sustained. And maybe along the way, screen doors will be hung (either mine or someone who really needs one).
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04/27/08
Second Garner Citizen Article
The message of peace with God that Jesus declares is so free that if it is preached correctly, it should make you feel a bit uncomfortable. You should ask ,”Where is the guilt, and where is the condemnation?” When Jesus responds, “I took all the guilt and condemnation for you,” it is simultaneously refreshing and terrifying. Free forgiveness is refreshing because the struggle has ended. Free forgiveness is terrifying because it sounds too good to be true.
Born the son of a preacher man, I’ve been in church since conception. In my 37 years, I’ve heard everything from the scandalously free message of forgiveness to condemnation to outright heresy. I even heard that God would save me, but my breeches would be smoking when He did as if the Father is holding a match and Jesus is trying to restrain Him.
Some say that the message of forgiveness from God, even the message of needing forgiveness, is passé. Some would ask, “Can’t we move on to more important matters?” That is one of those questions that is best answered with an affirmative and a negative. Let me explain.
Yes, we do need to move on from the message of forgiveness but only in the sense of learning to apply it. So often the church talks about forgiveness but never gets around to actually practicing it (sorry for the split infinitive but God will forgive me). What I mean is that the church spends a lot of time talking about God forgiving sin, but so often we don’t know what to do next. Perhaps we should consider what it looks like to demonstrate God’s forgiveness in areas like mercy and kindness and doing good for the sake of doing good. That would be a pretty clear demonstration that we understand the forgiveness that we proclaim to the world.
But we can also say that the church does not need to move beyond forgiveness? We need to explore just how free and how comforting the end of the struggle for goodness is. I think that kind of message is pretty appealing now days, and I’m confident it is consistent with, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” I even used King James there. Wow that message is timeless.
I don’t presume that I, my church, or my circle of friends have got it all figured out. That would be pretty inconsistent with our overwhelming need for forgiveness that I’m talking about here, but we would all do well to proclaim and practice it in the same scandalously free manner in which Jesus first mentioned it.
Gordon Duncan is the pastor of Sovereign King Church ( www.newgarnerchurch.com), the Garner Police Chaplain, and best of all, the husband and dad to his great family.
04/20/08
GARNER CITIZEN ARTICLE
I mentioned that the "Garner Citizen" published my first article as their contributor last week, and they were gracious enough let me write about Sovereign King's Two Year Anniversary. There isn't a digital link to it on their site, so here it...
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I grew up in a time where churches would have yearly homecomings, and family and friends would return to celebrate. I know these still happen, but they seem to be much less frequent. As a preacher’s son, I had the vantage point of seeing these events come together each year, and I think it really shaped my view of community within and outside the church.
The success of those events in that long ago time was probably due to the fact that churches held more influence in the broader community than they do now. Who knows why that is? Maybe churches have become more inward program focused. Maybe there are just more options for people to choose from, so no one has a “home” church anymore. At worst, perhaps these homecoming events don’t happen as much because the community at large doesn’t see the need for church involvement. Some I have spoken to think this is because churches aren’t involved in the broader community as much as they used to be, and they have rendered themselves irrelevant.
I considered these things this week as Sovereign King Church celebrated two years of services. I wouldn’t necessarily call the event a homecoming because in so short of time, there aren’t many people that need to come home. No, our two year event was about celebrating our survival and our desire to worship God and love our community. We invited the Mayor, the Chief of Police, the Aldermen, and any other civic officials that we knew because we wanted to remind ourselves and our community that we truly want to serve them as an act of worship to God.
Lofty goals? I guess. It just seems to me, and it became more evident over the Easter season, that every time scripture calls us to worship God, it also calls us to serve and love our neighbor as one of those expressions of worship. Perhaps if we, and other churches as well, can return to expressing our love of God by loving our neighbors and considering others better than ourselves, our communities will see us as significant and relevant.
Our goal as a church, and I hope it is a goal shared by other churches as well, is that we can serve such a vital function within Garner that her citizens would see the work we do as beneficial and necessary - whether or not those citizens ever darken our door.
04/13/08
DO YOU TAKE THIS...
Marriages are fragile things. Trust is so much more easily lost than it is gained, and reclaiming trust can appear to be impossible at times. Bitterness and self-righteousness are diseases that spread quicker than they can be cured most often. But, we get this incredible picture of the purpose and intent of marriage in scripture through the imagery of Christ and the Church. Scripture calls the Church the Bride of Christ and Jesus is her Bridegroom. In the ultimate fulfilling of all things, we see the union of Bride and Bridegroom in Heaven.
Let's not make the mistake of thinking that the relationship between Christ and the Church is based on human marriage. We find the foundation and pattern of human marriage IN the relationship between Christ and the Church. The patterns of a husband giving himself fully for his wife and the wife loving her husband are based on the work of Christ for His Church and the call of the Church to her Bridegroom.
So, in working through marital difficulties (preserving and regaining trust) as always, we must pursue Christ. Men, we need to pursue our humble, meek, and powerful Savior, and women need to pursue the picture of the church's relationship and responsibility to Christ. Humility on both parts is so helpful. Husbands don't come anywhere close to measuring up to our Savior, and wives fall short in devotion just as the Church does. There is so little room...meaning none...for self-righteousness.
Fragile though marriages are, they are opportunities for immense joy just as they relationship between the church and Christ is as well.
04/06/08
Well, Sovereign King's Two Year Anniversary went off without a hitch. What an incredible day.
It really is hard to start to tell you how things went. Of course, things went just incredibly well, but that doesn’t really do the event justice. First of all, all the SK’iers just rocked in pulling off this event. There was a reception prior to the service with food and coffee and tables of information about SK, the music team and all the elements of the service (offering, Lord’s Supper) went off without a hitch, and the reception afterwards just rocked. Our folks worked so hard to pull the million little details together, and I can also tell you that the auditorium was cleaner when we left that when we got there. Amy and I just marveled at how so many did so much over the weekend.
We were blessed with a bunch of guests. Amy and I tried to figure who was there and how many, and by our count at least 50 folks showed up in addition to the normal crowd to worship. We had friends from multiple churches that have supported us. We had family there. The Mayor showed up and spoke for about 5 minutes about the work of Sovereign King in the community. The Chief of Police was there as well other officers of the GPD. Two of our Board of Aldermen for Garner were there. The owners of Bushiban made it for the reception. We even got a letter from the Governor of NC officially congratulating us on two years of service.
03/31/08
GENERAL HOSPITABLE
For our Easter service at Sovereign King this past week, a new thought sprung to mind as I was preparing the sermon. As Jesus walks with Cleopas and friend after His resurrection, the two are not aware that they are talking to the risen Christ. Finally, after a long journey, the two men invite Jesus to join them for dinner. As Jesus breaks the bread and blesses it, their eyes are opened to the fact that they've been talking with Jesus. They respond with "It had to be you; our hearts burned so when you spoke with us."
My thought was that in that moment of hospitality from the Cleopas and friend to Jesus and from Jesus to them, the risen Savior was made known and clear. Isn't that often the case...we experience the hospitality of Christ in His grace and during worship and He becomes more clear to us. We demonstrate hospitality to others and they receive a clearer picture of who Christ is. The thought was a nice lead in to our celebrating the Lord's Supper.
All along, I've been very thankful that one of the defining characteristics of Sovereign King is that the SK'iers are hospitable. We know how to throw a good party, and that goes a long way to demonstrate the grace of Christ. My encouragement to us all is to find opportunities to enjoy the hospitality of God and also opportunities to demonstrate that hospitality to others.
03/23/08
FIGHT TO SURVIVE
I was musing with a friend the other day about Sovereign King's endurance through two years and where I thought God was leading us. Without any plans on being profound (I guess if I planned it, it would be posturing) I said, "Sometimes I grow tired of our struggle to survive, but I guess the moment we stop struggling to survive, we start dying."
As I made that comment, I realized there was some insight in it. Yes, Sovereign King needs to grow numerically, spiritually, and financially (pretty much every "ly" word). However, where we are continues to keep us in a place of dependence upon God which is a place in which I think He always wants us to remain.
Growing up in the church with a father and a father-in-law in the ministry, I've been a part of growing and dying churches and I think that is true. Once the struggle for survival ends, you get complacent and though your doors stay open, your church starts dying.
It might be nice to experience a different version of survival I guess, but right now, we are right where God wants us.
03/16/08
CROSS-CULTURAL
I recently had coffee with a PCUSA (Presbyterian Church United States of America) minister who pastors nearby. For the sake of explanation, Sovereign King is a PCA church (Presbyterian Church in America), and we broke away from the PCUSA in the early 70's as we found ourselves more conservative in issues concerning the scripture, abortion, lots of stuff in Genesis, etc. Recently, their local PCUSA presbytery passed what will ultimately be some pretty controversial motions concerning homosexuality and the ordination of ministers. Ecclesiastically and theologically, there is no reason for us to hang out...but I liked the guy.
We briefly discussed some of those differences, but we spent more time talking about the good bit we had in common. We are both pastoring young churches that are doing their best to keep their heads above water, and we want to see Jesus become all-pervasive in people's lives.
I could never pastor his church, and I bet he wouldn't want to pastor mine. We've already decided that we don't want to be in the others' denom, but I glad we made contact, and it is good to know and pray for folks outside one's theological circle.
03/09/08
DRESS REHEARSAL
35 And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.”
In the book of Luke, right before Jesus’ arrest, He turns to His disciples and He asks them, “Hey guys, way back 3 years ago when I told to go and proclaim the Kingdom of God and not to take anything with you, how did that turn out? Were you ever lacking? Did you ever go without? Their response is, “No Jesus. We never lacked for anything.”
Jesus is reminding His disciples that He has always been faithful to the promises that He has made. He is saying, “Hey listen guys. I’ve kept all my promises up until now. Can you think of any reason why I wouldn’t keep my promises going forward?” You see, Jesus is getting ready to ask them to demonstrate even more faith than they already have demonstrated – even more than when Jesus asked them to leave their jobs and their homes to follow Him. Jesus wants them to know that He will be there when they exercise faith.
Have you ever been in this situation when you needed to be reminded of how God has been faithful before? Usually those kinds of reminders come about by the loving, yet gentle rebukes or reminders of a friend. You know I’ve been in the situations before. When I quit my job to go to seminary and when I’m moved to Garner to start Sovereign King, we saw God answer so many prayers and He proved Himself faithful.
So when I’m down, or when I’m struggling with how the church is going to grow, or how we are going to be effective, or how we are going to support the police officers, I have people in my life that say, “Hey Gordon, remember that time when there was no money in the bank account and God provided a gift at the last moment? Do you remember when your sound system was given to you? Do you remember when someone donated the piano? Do you remember that time when you were so poor you couldn’t buy Christmas gifts and Toys for Tots showed up at your door?”
Fundamentally, we need to rehearse God’s faithfulness to us to remind us of how wonderful He is, but we also need to do it to prepare us for greater acts of faith.
02/24/08
RADICAL REFORMISSION
I think I would have enjoyed "Radical Reformation" by Mark Driscoll more had I not just read his "Confessions" a couple of days before. Don't get me wrong, I think "Radical Reformission" is very good. If "Confessions" is the biography of Driscoll's church, then "Radical Reformission" is their philosophy of ministry. I should have just spaced them out more, but I highly recommend this book for anyone who is trying to understand how to better engage their culture for Christ.
Driscoll offers some very helpful analysis as he talks about reaching out without selling out. For example, in the examination of the church's approach to culture, he looks at the interaction between the church, the gospel, and the culture. He offers this analysis...
Gospel + Culture - Church = Parachurch
Culture + Church - Gospel = Liberalism
Church + Gospel - Culture = Fundamentalism
(These formulas are fodder for a blog at a later day)
He offers this formula: Church + Gospel + Culture = Reformission. He defines Reformission as "gathering the best aspects of each of the above types of Christianity: living in the tension of being Christians and Churches who are culturally liberal yet theologically conservative and who are driven by the gospel of grace to love their Lord, brothers, and neighbors." He adds, "Reformission is the radical call for Christians and Christian churches to recommit to living and speaking the gospel, and to doing so regardless of the pressures to compromise the truth of the gospel or to conceal its power within the safety of the church."
The topic of exploring better ways to communicate the gospel in our culture is never-ending, and if you want to understand the philosophy of someone who is doing it well, then read Driscoll.
02/17/08
RUN TO YOU
In addition to the dozen or so books that I have set aside to read this week, Amy has done the same thing. She is reading "Painting in the Dark" by Paul Thorson, and this quote jumped out to her (and to me as well). He says, "In the face of my failures, I run to my favorite addictions, looking for a place to hide."
Wow. I have seen this truth demonstrated in practically every arena of life.
The pastor under pressure looking at porn.
The at home mom drinking too much during the day in light of the stresses of raising her children.
The teenager whose Dad preached Jesus but no grace choosing drugs in light of constant failure.
Affairs arising out of marital struggles.
There are literally millions of examples of this. Indulging a sin habit to ease or salve the pain of failure is the default mode for our sinful natures. It is so hard to remember Jesus' assurance that His yoke is light and that He desires to comfort the weary laden. It is also so hard to remember the character of God in our failures. Despite hearing of the love of Christ and even accepting grace by faith, in our failures, we assume that God forgives us only because He has to and that He really would rather just squash us like a bug. Our hearts pull away so often to think that God's scowl is what awaits our approach to the mercy seat.
It is no coincidence that just prior to Peter's denial, Jesus prayed for Him. Jesus prayed for His disciples and even for us who believe so many years later. Even knowing Peter's sin (and our sin as well), Jesus prays in His high priestly prayer, "Father, love them as you have loved me." In our sin and failure, knowing that the affection the Father has for Jesus is the affection that awaits us, we can turn to Christ instead of turning to our sin.
02/10/08
THERE WILL BE BLOOD
“There Will Be Blood” is an astounding movie. It is breathtaking, unnerving, and one of the most thematically textured movies released in years. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (“Magnolia”), “Blood” centers on the life of Daniel Plainview, a silver miner turned oil baron at the beginning of the 20th century. Hard, determined, and methodical, Daniel by his own admission does not want to see any one else succeed other than himself, but his fortunes are always inextricably connected to the fortunes of others as he prospects land. One person in particular to which Daniel is connected is Eli Sunday. Eli is a young pastor in New Boston where Daniel is drilling for oil. Similar in many ways, Eli has an empire to build as well, the Third Revelation Church.
The beauty of “Blood” is that Anderson tells this story without judgment or ill motive. He allows Daniel and Eli to mark their own paths of fortune and heartbreak without showing his direct opinion about either character. While you sit physically passive in the theater, your brain actively races to see Daniel’s plan for New Boston unfold. Along the way, questions of allegiances to Eli and the other land owners are contrasted with the relationship between Daniel and his son, H.W. H.W. allows Daniel to appear human alongside his ambition, but Daniel’s dealings with the rest of the world create an ongoing tension as to whether violence or neglect will ultimately characterize the father and son relationship.
Eli appears to want to build a church (both physically and spiritually) with the same fervor that Daniel wants to build an oil empire. At times he appears either trustworthy or greedily ambitious, but somehow (to the credit of actor, Paul Dano) Eli has the appearance of meekness. However, both characters are asked at different times to violate their own principles to see the advancement of their empires. The audience is left to wonder whether either character can ultimately be redeemed or whether they will lead each to bankruptcy (either financial or moral).
I think the most enjoyable theme though, and what truly lies at the heart of the struggle for the characters and the audience, is the connection between the growth of the church and capitalism. In my observation, two conditions fuel the church more than any other: persecution and prosperity. Ironic though it may be, nothing causes churches to grow with more fervor than standing up in the face of persecution or riding the wave of capitalism. Persecution comes with promised blessing while wealth comes with warning. Anderson does a good job of pursuing both throughout the movie.
“There Will Be Blood” doesn’t leave a bunch of innocents in its wake, but then again, I imagine there aren’t a lot of innocents watching it either. The lessons and warnings that come from observing Eli and Daniel are worth noting either for ourselves or for our churches, but don’t let the opportunity to see this film get away. It is worthy every minute of its two and half hours.
Since posting this, the good folks at www.theooze.com agreed to publish it. You can find it on the front page or at http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=1980.
02/03/08
SOVEREIGN BLACK BOOK
Every moment, every single second of the day is an opportunity for the proclamation or the application of the Gospel. We lose sight of that in the day in and day out, but that doesn't change the fact or the circumstances. Some days I'm more aware of it than others; some days I'm blind to it. Right now...my eyes are wide open.
Romans 5:1 tells us that there is no condemnation for those that have faith in Christ Jesus, and Romans 8:1 tells us that those that are in Christ Jesus now have peace with God. Honestly, most believers struggle to to understand the statement, "God neither condemns me or is against me. I'm at peace with Him." Sadly, the lack of understanding that in our lives results in a lack of fervent evangelism. If we don't understand the benefits we have in Christ, how are we going to effectively communicate those benefits to those in need?
Well, at the moment, I'm finding myself in situation after situation where people not only need to hear the Gospel, but are open to exploring it. God sovereignly works to place us together and He sovereignly works in their salvation just as He sovereignly worked in mine. Embracing the peace and freedom that Christ has secured for me by His work of life, death, and resurrection, should only motivate me to proclaim that truth to others. "The comfort I received from God is the comfort by which I then comfort others..."
The people we bump into or spend time with each day are placed their sovereignly by God. Our opportunities for the proclamation of the Gospel are not random acts but sovereign appointments that we need to keep. We need to pursue understanding the benefits of our salvation so that we can then more excitedly share it with those that we spend time with.
01/27/08
IMAGE OF GOD
At Sovereign King, we have been studying key doctrines that help us understand the scriptures better. This past week, we looked at the doctrine of man with an emphasis of understanding that we were created for God’s glory and in His image. So what does this image of God have to do with our approach to understanding scripture?
Well, the Scriptures themselves are part of God’s means of grace in your life. In the Bible, you find God’s perfect revelation of Himself and you find the purpose for which you were created. Closer to understanding the scriptures puts you closer to understanding what God would have for you and your life. The farther away you place yourself from the scriptures means that you will be that much farther away from God and His purpose in your life.
After we answered that question, we applied the same thought to the mission of Sovereign King: creating and engaging community. So you might ask, how does the fact that we are created in the image of God help us create community?
Well, at Sovereign King, I can look at each person differently now. They are not just someone that I go to church with. They are co-image bearers that Jesus has redeemed and reconciled to God. Just like them, I was an enemy of God, and I take no credit for my salvation. They like me, have been restored to my original purpose. We can glorify God and enjoy Him forever because Jesus has undone the sin that we have done. We stand in solidarity as those who have been saved from ourselves, so I want to know them. I want to know their story of being redeemed and changed.
How does the fact that we are created in the image of God help us engage community? Whether or not a person believes in Jesus or not, I can still see them as a co-image bearer who needs the reconciling work of Jesus.
Now this is a little different way to view evangelism. The first thing I can do is tell people that they are going to Hell, and yes apart, from Jesus’ work, people are going to Hell. But it is, I think, a much more advantageous starting point to tell folks, “Hey, we were created for more than this. We weren’t created for the drudgery of life. We were created to glorify God.” Jesus restores us and this life of pain and death and frustration is redeemed because Jesus has overcome our sin. We have the chance to no longer be God’s enemies through Jesus Christ.
Folks that is the message we have for our families. That is the message we have for each other. That is the message we have for our family, friends, and coworkers that do not know Jesus. Jesus is restoring the image of God in us.
01/21/08
DEATH DOESN'T BECOME ME
I have grown weary of death. In the last ten days, the wonderful matriarch of our church passed away. A brother of one of our church members died. I was called to help do a death notification for a double fatality with the Garner Police Department. A good friend lost her dear God-Mother, and a neighbor's Father passed away. I know that deaths happen every day, and if we were to become more aware of people's lives, we would become much aware of death, but not matter. I have grown weary of death. I long for heaven, and I long for the final removal of the residue of sin that we all live under.
01/13/08
I’m doing some reading from a great book entitled “Confessions of Reformission Rev” by Mark Driscoll. In it, he does an extended explanation on his thoughts about community. Well the word “community” is no stranger to Sovereign King as we hope to create one and engage one. Driscoll gives this warning. He says that without defining what the community should like, “the goal of people will be to hang out together in love, like the family they never had. While this is not evil, it is also not sufficient.” Driscoll goes on to say that we have to be vigilant to make repentance and personal faith in Jesus the hallmark of our community. Repentance and faith create authentic friendships.
To illustrate this, Driscoll outlines two prototypical communities in scripture: Babel/Babylon and Pentecost.
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Babel Community
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Pentecost Community
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A small city
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A large kingdom
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Built to house a few people
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Built to house many people
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Marked by walls
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Marked by no walls
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Intentionally resisted diversity and gathered a homogenous people
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Intentionally pursued diversity and gathered a heterogeneous people
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Avoided hospitality
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Practiced hospitality
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God came down and judged their sin
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God came down and forgave their sin
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Made their name great
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Made Jesus’ name great
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God confused their languages
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God united their languages
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Driscoll contrasts the two communities. He says,
The Babylonian version of community is godless affinity. Babylonian community does not aspire to grow except by internal births, does not welcome people who are different, does not practice hospitality, and seeks to remain safe and successful. Community is the only goal for churches who think Babylonian. God’s response to Babylonian Community is judgment and scattering because it is a sin, especially in the church.
The Pentecost version of community exists for mission, not for itself. Pentecost community is not held together because people are similar but rather because they are on the same mission with the same Lord. Because of this, Pentecost Community is marked by a desire to expand God’s kingdom through salvation of many diverse people, who are hospitably welcomed to learn about the greatness of Jesus.
In seminary, I saw several varieties of these types of charts, but the emphasis was normally on Pentecost’s undoing of the curse Babel (a healthy study in and of itself). I do not remember such a detailed comparison of communities such as this one, and I think Driscoll does a good job of addressing the concerns that some folks have about new churches while also providing a needed warning to existing ones.
01/07/08
TO ANSWER A FOOL (FOOL TO BE DECIDED)
Proverbs 26:4-5 - 4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
One of the topics that Scripture is not silent about is (with no sense of irony) is the tongue. I won't even begin to list all the verses and references that pertain to how we should speak to one another. Sometimes, these commands are confusing (Proverbs tells us both to answer a fool and not to answer a fool). These more ambiguous commands are not contradictory but prove the point that we need to exercise wisdom in the how we speak.
Years ago, I would have found myself at the leading edge of every argument. I enjoyed the fight and sinfully enjoyed humiliating people. It is a temptation I still face, but the life of practical ministry, sharing the gospel, and copious hours in coffee shops have taught me to be a bit more patient (but not completely mind you). Not every thing I object to needs to be addressed much less corrected. Again, wisdom is necessary.
I have come to this conclusion. With people like myself who enjoying silencing others in an argument, there is a warning. There are times in a debate when you know you can silence the other person. Your point can be forceful. It can be made forcefully, or you can just flat out humiliate someone. This is what I have learned. In those moments when the other person is silenced, no ground has been gained. Just because the other person no longer participates in the discussion does not mean that I have convinced them of my point. Here is the dirty little secret. They may perceive me or you as a person whose character is of such poor quality that I have become the fool not to be answered.
Folks, this happens at home, work, or wherever, not just in the proverbial coffee shop. Yes, people can be forcefully and intelligently silenced, but that does not mean that the day has been won for your point. It may be that I or you have become a fool in their eyes. Very little or nothing is gained for the kingdom.
12/31/07
31 DAYS OF PRAYER
Beginning January 1st, Sovereign King is beginning an effort called 31 days of prayer. Throughout the month, we will be praying through a calendar of needs, desires, and wants concerning the church, our families, our ministries, our community, and so many other things. We did this when we first launched as a church, and it proved effective in unifying our hearts to God's building of this church. We are going to post the calendar of prayer on the church website, and I plan on journaling a small prayer each day to correspond.
We invite any and all of you to join us. Between now and January 1, we will give you more details, but if you are interested in praying with us, either post to this entry or email me at jgordonduncan@yahoo.com.
Merry Christmas
12/23/07
INDIGENIZATION
I have taken my time working through Ed Stetzer's "Breaking the Missional Code" - just an incredible book, and I'm in no rush to finish it. It is so good that I've told my folks at Sovereign King that if they want a copy, I'll buy it for them myself. Stetzer (and his co-author David Putman) do a great job through research and narrative explaining how the church must contextualize its message to the culture to which it speaks just as a foreign missionary does. When that happens, a church become indigenous. Let them explain that term...
The idea behind indigenization is that a church should spring forth out of the soil in which it is planted. It is indigenous in that its leadership, expression, forms, and functions reflect that of the context. At the same time, it serves as a transforming agent in the very culture that sustains it. When this happens, we can truly say we have an indigenous church. What we have found is that when the pastoral leadership, core of the church, and community all line up, the potential for the church to taken on an indigenous form is significant. The combination seems to provide a greenhouse for explosive growth.
That is one of the hopes I have for Sovereign King. I didn't grow up in Garner, but I did grow up 20 miles down the road and presently, I fit the description of the new citizens of Garner. I've grown up in a rural community, earned my college degree, and can relate to a ever evolving community that is making the transition from small town to suburb. Our folks are committed to this area and are learning to speak the language. Hopefully, God will bless those ingredients to make us a highly functional, effective advocate for the Gospel and the Kingdom in this community.
12/16/07
THE GOLDEN COMPASS
“The Golden Compass” is causing a pretty big stir among the religious community. Described as the anti-Narnia by its author, Philip Pullman, the “His Dark Materials” trilogy takes shots at the church, the existence of God, and most everything else precious to Christianity.
I first heard about the books a few years ago as they were gaining attention amid the “Harry Potter” furor. I read about the complaints from churches, so I decided the read “The Golden Compass” myself. The book fits neatly into the Narnia/Potter genres with a young female protagonist discovering a second world larger than the poor one she lives in. At first read, I noticed that the anti-God, anti-church rhetoric is not as prevalent in the first book as it is the in the remaining two, but it is there. You can feel a mounting argument against both by the conclusion of book one.
Much of the hubbub recently against the books has arisen because of this past weekend’s release of the “The Golden Compass” movie. Reportedly, the movie cost $180 million to make and with advertising, some report the cost at $250 million. That’s right…1/4 of a billion dollars. There is a lot at stake for this movie to succeed.
Protests and petitions have been flying from various church organizations in the last two months. It has been a story on CNN, Fox News, and there is even a facebook protest group. Well, here is my take. If you want to sign a petition or join a social utility protest group, go for it. But if you want to rally and speak out against the books/movie, then do one of the following: see the movie or read the book. Please join the conversation intelligently and do not join it after merely reading bullet points from this blog or any other source. Christianity can withstand the criticism I promise you, but if you want to be a part of the exchange, please do so with first hand knowledge. I think the conversations that could come from the book are actually pretty good jumping points for an introduction of the Gospel.
Well, the results are in btw from the movie’s opening weekend. For it to be a success, it needed to make in the high $30 million range and up in its first weekend. Preferably, it needed to make $50 million because its number will take a huge hit once “I Am Legend” debuts. Good or bad, the movie only made $26 million in its opening weekend and will probably not even top out at $100 million stateside. Essentially, it is an utter failure.
To be honest, I just don’t like the story. Aside from Pullman’s philosophical leanings, I just didn’t like the world he created. Narnia works if you like Narnia, you know what I mean? I find that a much better argument to deter people than a philosophical point by point banter anyway.
12/10/07
WHY THEN SHOULD WE SING?
Continuing the thought from Friday’s post, Mary in Luke 1 sings praises to God because through her, God was being faithful to His promises, and God was going to manifest those promises to all the people around Mary at that time through the birth of her son. Of course she wasn’t selfish with this blessing; she was excited about what God was doing. He was remembering promises made long ago to Abraham and others, and being faithful to what He said He would do, He displayed His power, holiness, and mercy.
And maybe, just maybe, Mary knew what this meant long term, but I doubt it. No one could have imagined that God would draw people from every race and every people to know Him. But we stand in faith as the beneficiaries of what God was doing then and long ago. Mary clearly had two things in my mind: she understood that God was fundamentally beautiful in His mercy, power, and holiness, and she knew that she was part of God’s redemptive plan.
So as we stand here by faith, worshipping Jesus, the child of Mary, we need to see in the day to day moments of our lives, that God is beautiful and that we are a part of God’s redemptive plan. No, none of us are going to give birth to the Savior. It’s not necessary anymore. But God, works in faithfulness to Himself, and gifts His people with faithfulness, so that we all become part of a redemptive plan in history that’s bigger than ourselves. As we struggle in whatever place we are in, as we rejoice in triumphs or struggle in adversity, we need to see that God’s intention is to use those things redemptively because He has promised to be faithful to His promises of mercy. We all live in a heritage of faith and are called to moment by moment faithfulness to be used in God’s plan. That helps us to look beyond the moments of our lives and take joy in what God is doing in us and through us. Like Mary knew, that is something to sing about.
12/03/07
GARNER CITIZEN ARTICLE
I've mentioned Sovereign King's Spaghetti Dinner for the Garner Police before. Well, the Garner Citizen asked me to do a 350 word article on why we wanted to undertake the effort, and they ran my article practically word for word. Here it is... “Gordon Duncan, Police Chaplain.” The words still sound strange to me. My chaplaincy came about when my wife, Amy, and I moved to Garner two years ago. We dreamed of starting Sovereign King Church, but we had one problem: we didn’t know anyone. So, as pastor of a church with no people, I needed to familiarize myself with the community.
One avenue for doing so was meeting Chief Tom Moss of the Garner Police. After a period of time that included ride alongs and extended conversations with other officers, the Chief asked me to become Chaplain. By this time, Sovereign King was meeting for services and desiring to engage and serve Garner. The chaplaincy was a perfect venue for us to do so.
Over the past year, we have prayed for the officers and staff daily, given them Christmas goodies, Bibles, and Halloween treats. Good efforts, but we always want to do more for a segment of our population who do so much for us.
Recently, Amy suggested a spaghetti dinner for the officers and their families. With a dinner, we could serve and get to know them in a more concrete way. Additionally, by including the families, we would be supporting those that support them. Another woman in the church had been thinking the same thing, so thus was born the First Annual Garner Police and Family Appreciation dinner. Quickly, the Garner Lions Club donated their facility, and local business like Golden Corral, Raggazzi’s, Bushiban Coffee, Olive Garden, BJ’s, Food Lion, and Wal-Mart joined in the effort.
A dinner like this goes only a small way towards showing the officers and their families our appreciation. Sovereign King and I feel a responsibility and even a sense of indebtedness to them, so we will continue to explore avenues for appreciation and care. Now that we know that the citizens and businesses of Garner desire to serve them as we do, we want to explore opportunities together.
11/25/07
ROAD TRIP
After serving meals to the Police/EMS officers last week, I think Sovereign King was a bit tired. After surgery on her foot, my wife was a bit tired. After looking to the household last week, I was tired. The words of my buddy, James Sutton, meant so much as he preached yesterday. He reminded us, "Your help comes from the Lord." James described how Psalm 121 was a song of ascent. It was sung as the people of Israel traveled to Jerusalem, the City of God. He likened it to a mix tape you make for a road trip. These are songs that are fun and have/ meaning to the journey. Sometimes, they add surprising meaning to the journey. He told a story of a road trip he made in the Sudan back in college, and "Highway to the Danger Zone" was playing. He'll never forget that time and that song helped burn the memory in his brain. Well, the crying of "Where does my help come from? It comes from the Lord," was sung as the people went to celebrate Passover or one of the other national festivals. They were reminding themselves that God is gracious and He is the one that protects them. As our folks recovered from several weeks of intense ministry, those words were a comfort to us. Thanks James.
11/18/07
BIRTHDAY REFLECTIONS
I celebrated my birthday on Sunday turning 37. I don't feel 37 though my body does have more aches than it used to have. I can still get out and run, play golf, and do the things I've always done, but I know that I require a bit more rest. I still function off of about 6.5 hours sleep a night as long as I get naps on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, so that is good.
I remember at my 30th birthday party declaring that the 30 year old me could beat up the 20 year old me. I doubt I'll make that declaration at 40 as I know I can't make it today. Broken hand, foot, and shoulder surgery have slowed me down a bit since 30, but I still feel good.
I've toyed with the idea of a marathon in '08, but I may just go for a couple of 5 or 10ks. I do feel a bit wiser (or at least more experienced) about life in general and especially life as a pastor. Planting a church will grow you up (or make you old) quickly.
Planting a church is a life of faith (all of our lives are), but being a church planter means that the world gets to observe your faith and at times, even judge it. I wouldn't say that I was unaware of that, but it has become more apparent as Sovereign King grows (or at times doesn't).
All in all, it has been a great year and getting older doesn't bother me. My beautiful wife and kids celebrated well with me, so who can complain when that is the case?
11/12/07 - WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?
I asked this question this week, "When did you first realize that the Gospel was more than just the thing that you believe when you get saved?" I felt like the group had a pretty good grasp on the answer, but we still needed time to process the thought. Do a simple search of the word yourself in scripture and you will see it used in various ways http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=gospel&qs_version=31&language=english
So often meaning the proclamation of the work of Christ, reading those scriptures reveals what the Gospel does not just what it is. It is our clothing in Jesus' righteousness, the end of struggling, the power to overcome sin, the power to work in people's lives to overcome sin. We miss out on so much when we reduce it merely to John 3:16. It is that but it is also so much more as the Christian life is continued. So, preaching the Gospel is not just offering an altar call at the end of each sermon. Preaching the Gospel is a day to day, moment by moment prayer and application of Jesus' work in our lives and the lives of others.
Our crowd offered some great answers to my question. Some talked of serving and worshipping with the homeless in NY and seeing the power of the Gospel to break down social, cultural, and other barriers. Some talked about the power of God to help them overcome addiction. Some talked about resting in Jesus' goodness and the constant battle against legalism. Some sat and pondered.
Considering the Gospel and its applications is a never-ending process. The Gospel reaches further than we can imagine and its benefits extend greater than we ever hoped. Great discussion.
11/05/07 - FAITH HOPE AND REALISM
Over a cup of coffee, my friend says, “Everyone tells me that I’m so negative. I’m not negative; I’m just being realistic.”
I said to my friend, “You are negative. You’re negative about everything. Where is your hope?”
He says, “Oh I believe God can do anything, but I’m still realistic.”
“It sounds like to me you are just giving lip service to hope in God. The Gospel changes us. Hope outweighs realism otherwise you are no different than the person who doesn’t believe in God. They are just being realistic as well.”
“I hear ya.”
“I don’t think you do. Do you have hope, real hope, that God is more than just powerful? Do you believe and hope with faith that He will work and does that change your day to day life?”
There was not really an answer to my question. But it got me thinking. What was the hope that I was proclaiming to my friend? Well it is a hope that changes us and outweighs realism (which is just an acceptable term for negativity).
Romans 15:13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” We serve the God of hope; it is part of the definition of who He is and His Spirit prompts us to live and even abound in hope.”
This hope changes us. It causes us to believe that God is active and is going to work. We become risk takers are bold for the sake of God because 2 Corinthians 3:12 says, “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.”
I understand realism. I live in this world and I don’t really know any naïve people that walk around surprised by evil and bad things. That being said, faith in Christ means hope in God. Just as our faith should be active, so should our hope be. Let’s not mask the lack of faith by calling it realism.
10/28/07
STEADY AS HE GOES
This past week, Sovereign King got to participate in an incredible event, but let me tell you some history first.
Two months ago, Shawn Stead, a young boy in my neighborhood, was struck by a truck while he was on his scooter. The Garner Police called me to get to the hospital because they honestly didn’t know if Shawn was going to make it. Two months later with some setbacks, lots of patient, rehab, and prayer, Shawn is now walking with a walker and beginning to speak again.
Well, this past week, friends of Shawn and his family organized a bowling fundraiser to help them with their medical bills. A good number of Sovereign King folks, 80 plus bowlers, and over 100 folks total bowled, laughed, interacted with Shawn, and basically just loved Shawn and his family.
The Steads are family now and loving them is easy. I’m thankful for the opportunity as Police Chaplain to meet folks and care for them and allow God to build these relationships. Functionally, stuff like this is who we are at Sovereign King and I’m glad to say that it is a natural act for us now – not efforted or contrived.
If you would like to keep up with Shawn’s progress, log onto www.carepages.com, register, and search for “shawnstead” – Kristine, Shawn’s mom updates the page every day. We also have a page on the Sovereign King site dedicated to Shawn informing you how you can partner with us in serving the Steads. Check it out at http://www.sovereignkingpca.net/5.4.html.
10/21/07
THE HEROIN DIARIES
I've always enjoyed reading autobiographies, especially from people that have gained some perspective in their life. The stories of people who have endured or learned hard lessons always intrigue me. Stories of people who are still riding the wave don't interest me at all. Also, in the last few years, I've pursued the stories of people who have overcome addiction because hearing their stories are both encouraging and educational. Well, I've found the whopper of them all.
Nikki Sixx is the bassist/songwriter/co-founder of one of the world's most infamous bands...Motley Crue. During the height of their first wave of success in late '86-'87, Nikki moved on from alcohol and cocaine to shooting up heroin, and as a result, he OD'd twice. Twice, this guy died and came back to tell the story. The first time he died it was at a drug dealer's house in Europe. The dealer thought the best way to resuscitate Nikki was to beat him with a bat. When that didn't work, he dumped him in a garbage can. Apparently, the beating worked because Nikki woke up a few minutes later and played another gig that night.
To his surprise, a few years ago, Nikki was digging through some boxes and found a stack of journals. Apparently, during his most intense time of addiction, he kept an incredibly detailed diary of everything that happened. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine finding the most difficult time of your life chronicled in diary form and not even remembering it?
Now clean and sober, Nikki started editing the journals to be published, but he also went a step further. He interviewed the people in his life at that time and asked them to be bluntly honest about what was going on. So, scattered throughout the journal entries are insights from friends and managers telling their side of the story.
I must admit, this is one of the most harrowing books I have ever read in my life, and thankfully, there are only a few pictures. The ones included are so tough to look at, I keep the book hidden when I'm not reading it. Having said that, if you want to understand addiction, or the mind of addiction, I can't imagine a better book. During the height of his paranoia, Nikki confessed an absolute love of doing drugs but also an absolute paranoia about most everything else in his life. Incredibly, his band was selling millions of albums and touring the world to millions of fans. He comically includes a letter from his accountant telling him that his daily expenses were $5,000 and that if things didn't change, he would be broke in eleven months.
Fortunately, Nikki is clean now though he has suffered relapses multiple times. I read the other day that he is now two years clean. He has started "Running Wild With The Night" - a fundraising initiative to help Covenant House - a home for youth living on the streets who are addicted to drugs.
One last note: I look forward to getting to the end of the book where Nikki writes the postscript about his sobriety, but to be honest, the lessons learned from his journal during addiction are powerful (no matter the addiction). I'll update you as I get closer or when I finish.
10/14/07
CLOCKWATCHERS
20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”
A rich young ruler asks Jesus what he has to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus decides not to answer the ruler directly because Jesus wants to reveal something about the ruler to himself. However, the ruler appears to just want affirmation. So, Jesus gives him enough rope to proverbially hang himself. Jesus starts listing the commandments…don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and your mother.
Now, this is interesting to note. All the commandments Jesus mentions are the commandments that are directed at how we love one another. He doesn’t list any of the commandments that relate to how we love God (no other gods, no idols, don’t take the Lord’s name in vain, and observe the Sabbath). So often, when we think we are obeying well, we judge our obedience by how we are interacting with others, completely forgetting the heart commands of loving God. Jesus knows this.
So what is the ruler’s answer? He says, “I have obeyed those commandments since I was a youth.” Essentially, since I was bar mitzvahed, I haven’t broken the law.
Can you imagine answering that way? “Oh, I haven’t lied at all in the past 20 years. I’ve always obeyed my parents, etc.” The ruler had figured out how to obey outwardly to make it look like he obeyed to the law’s satisfaction. We do that all the time I’m afraid. Let me give you an example.
When I was 16, I worked at the grocery store and the timeclock recorded time at every ¼ of an hour and you earned another ¼ hour every eight minutes. So if you clocked in at 7:07 that was really 7:00. 7:08 was 7:15. If you clocked out at 7:22, that was 7:15, and if you clocked out at 7:23, that was 7:30. So you could clock in at 7:07 and clock out at 7:23, working only 16 minutes, but you would get 30 minutes of pay. Did I work 30 minutes? Technically, but not really.
That was how the ruler and we so often obey – technically but not really. You see what Jesus is doing here. He has been asked how to inherit eternal life, and He is giving this guy every chance to bail out and not make a fool of himself. A sane person says, “I know. God is good and I haven’t been able to do that at all. Is that the only way?” Jesus, the master teacher is trying to lead the guy to the proper conclusion instead of just telling him. But unfortunately, the guy doesn’t get it. The ruler’s response essentially says, “You know what? God is not the only one that’s good. I’m good too.”
10/07/07
BREAKING THE MISSIONAL CODE
Ed Stetzer is one of the smartest guys in the room. He is a pastor/church/planter/coach/writer whose work and writings are essential to any church planter. But he is smartly, taking his skills to a broader audience by writing the book "Breaking the Missional Code" (www.breakingthemissionalcode.com).
The book's premise is this. Whenever a missionary goes to a foreign culture, they learn the language, they learn the customs, they assimilate in order to find avenues to proclaim the gospel. Makes sense. Ed's point is that today in America, we have to do the same thing. Old methods and even proven methods of proclaiming the Gospel don't always work. We have to become students of our culture and our community in order to effectively proclaim the Gospel in a langauge that people can hear.
I would encourage every pastor to read this book, but honestly, if you have a desire to see people come to know Jesus (don't you?), this book is helpful. Ed is not a deconstructionist btw. He doesn't just stand there and say what the church has done wrong for the past 30 years. He highlights errors that have been made and then offers helpful examples and guidelines in which to go forward. Check it out.
10/01/07
THE MEASURE OF A MAN
This past weekend, in a moment of clarity, I realized that I had not done much reading lately outside of sermon prep. I'm about halfway into a novel, but other than that, things weren't progressing much in my reading. Since then, I've picked up reading two books, so I'll give you the heads up over the course of the next week or so.
It has been a while since I've read a "Christian Men's" book. Writing that cracks me up. I'm not talking about a Christian Maxim with Sandi Patty on the cover. No, I'm talking about the books targeted towards scriptural instructions towards men (ie "Wild at Heart" "Every Man's Battle" "Man in the Mirror" etc). I'll be honest. I have never been a huge fan of that genrey, but as of today, I'm about 1/4 of the way into "The Measure of a Man" by Gene Getz. This book was recommended to me by my church planting coach. He said it was excellent for both men's studies and officer training.
Getz's premise is that the qualifications for a church officer in Timothy and Titus are essentially the expectations that God has for each man, so he walks through each one in detail providing both individual and group study questions. Along the way, there are some projects for each reader to do to help bring out deeper meaning to the text.
I found myself deep into chapter 3, and I had another realization. I was reading and highlighting and preparing as I normally do. I would read the individual and group questions and think through how they might play out in a group setting. And then I thought, "Hey, why don't you actually answer the questions like you are in the study instead of reading through them like a facilitator?" Shocking. I wondered when was the last time I actually did something like that.
Come to find out, the book is much better when you answer the questions. Who would have thought?
09/16/07
Prayer is such a fascinating thing. There is the element of prayer where we pray wondering what the outcome of prayers will be. Then, there is also the element where we pray and we wonder what changes will take places within us. That has been the aspect of prayer that has amazed me recently.
Recent changes in my schedule have afforded me a perfect opportunity to pray more (waiting in line to pick Meredith up from school). That and other circumstances (desperation I think) have added a couple of more hours a week to my prayer schedule, and I am just now beginning to sense a change in my thinking.
One aspect of prayer is, of course, asking God to do things. Each week I ask that God would bring in new visitors to Sovereign King and that He would transform people, bringing them to know Christ. I still ask that each week, but now I'm asking addition things. Now, I ask, "What will you do with us?" Praying for the same things over and over has caused me to just become more curious and less peitionary.
09/23/07
REDEMPTION
I feel like I haven't written anything significant in a few weeks. Writing for me is cathartic more than anything else. I just feel better and more able to process when I write regularly. Because my postings have been so short and sporadic, a ton of ideas have come and unfortunately for me, some have gone. Here is one thought...
In my consulting world, I work with a Dr. who lettered at ECU in football and played two seasons with the Colts. He is now an OD, and the more I learn about his story, the more I want to see him get the news out there. Having starred his Junior year at ECU at linebacker, he missed his senior year because of a grade issue. Fast forwarding 6 months later, he received a phone call that tells him that their are NFL scouts in town.
Without training the whole year, and without any prep for a workout, he shows up at the workout and runs a 4.5 40 (as a linebacker). They ask him to do it again, and he matches the time. So, after missing his entire Senior year, he gets drafted by the Colts in the 7th round.
Two years with the Colts provided two more injuries. He eventually played for the London Monarchs of the World League who won their championship that year. One final injury ended his football career. What did he do? He went back to school, finished his degree, applied to optometry school, graduated, and now owns his own practice. Now, that is an understatement. What it took for him to go back and do those things was more than a lot of people have the fortitude or faith to even attempt, but he did it.
What a story! Every high school football player needs to hear this story because so many dream of a career in football, and statistically, very few of them are ever going to make it. My friend knows what it is like to fulfill his dream and then have it taken away. He knows what it is like to pull yourself together and trudge on through disappointment. His story is an inspiration to me, and I'm encouraging him to get out and speak more so that folks can learn from his experiences.
I'm sure there are several sermon illustrations here for me as he is a man of faith, so feel free to give input as to some of the best ways to apply these lessons. Oh, and thanks for the feedback offline I got on the Faith series.
09/09/07
THE SECRET IS OUT
In Luke 18, Jesus tells two parables about prayer (the persistent widow and the tax collector/pharisee praying) and just prior to that, Luke tells the story about the one leper that returns to give thanks for his healing. From it we can learn what the appropriate posture is when you approach God in prayer. It is not that we just focus our mind like “The Secret” recommends so we can get whatever we want. No, our posture should be one of thankfulness, persistence, and humility.
First of all, we need to be thankful like the one leper who returned to Jesus and thanked Him for his healing. Isn’t that interesting? Jesus teaches us that we need to be thankful for answered prayers BEFORE He teaches us how to pray. Think about it practically. If you have kids, you always teach them to say “thank you” even before someone gives them something. Jesus is teaching us the same lesson.
Second of all, we need to be persistent in our prayers like the widow. Our persistence shows our passion for what is being asked, but even more, our persistence shows that we trust the one that we are asking to give to us. I wouldn’t persist in asking if I didn’t think the one I'm asking could deliver on the request. Jesus tells us that God grants justice to his children, so be persistent b/c God delivers on His promises.
And finally, we need to be humble in our prayers like the tax collector. We need to have a posture of humility before our God, not trusting our own goodness or looking down on others. We need to beg for mercy and not presume thinking God is impressed with our goodness. Exalt yourself and God will humble you. Humble yourself and God will exalt you.
It is unfortunate that so many people are buying into "The Secret"'s formula of name it and claim it minus God. I recognize it's appeal but also recognize that it lacks even the semblance of humility.
09/02/07
THE BEST FRAPPUCCINO EVER
I was hot and in desperate need of caffeine with just enough time on my hands to swing through the drive thru at Starbucks. I ordered a coffee/vanilla frappuccino and pulled up to the window. The young employee reached out to take my money and asked, “Are you ready for the best frappuccino ever?” I thought, “Wow, yeah I am.”
Now by asking that question, the employee definitely raised my expectations, but he obviously felt confident enough in his product that it would deliver on his promises. The effective marketer working for Starbucks took me by surprise. I loved his confidence and his willingness to put himself on the line. It of course caused me to think about…worship.
What are our expectations when we come to worship our God? Are we there out of guilt? Are we there with our list of complaints about the service? Are we there casually indifferent or even just casually? I asked that question to Sovereign King Church at the beginning of our service this week. I asked them, “Are you ready for the best frappuccino ever?” The story got a chuckle from the congregation, but we eventually began to explore the line of thought.
We considered just why we were here together. Did we come to worship the most beautiful one, Jesus? Did we arrive with the expectation that we would interact with our Savior in a way that we hadn’t all week? Did we come with the hopeful expectation that God would be active and alive among us? Essentially, we short change the character of our God if we come any other way.
But the Gospel is always prevalent even in our shortcomings and even in our worship. We may not always come with the highest of expectations when we worship (we may even come with doubt or hate), but in worship, we meet our most beautiful Savior. Jesus instructs, rebukes, calls, changes, transforms, convicts, teaches, leads, and moves us in worship. So, with the knowledge and experience of that, my prayer for my church and for you is that we would arrive to worship our God (heck, wake up each morning) with the expectation of the best frappuccino ever.
(The folks at www.theooze.com are quick. I submitted this article for consideration around 7:00 a.m. and got a response at 7:39 a.m. They will publish an edited version of this article on September 12th.)
08/28/07
RUBBER DUCKIE YOU'RE THE ONE
I learned a lesson in sermon application this week. As much as possible, without binding people's consciences, application needs to be a specific (especially when it comes to church life/vision). I've been thinking through that a lot lately as I prepare for my sermons. An illustration helped me see the need...
Whenever Amy gives the girls a bath, she never gets soap in their eyes. However, when I give the girls a bath, Landry always gets soap in her eyes. I just couldn't figure it out. I always tell Landry to look up before I rinse her hair, but she still gets soap in her eyes. Finally, I figured it out. She was doing exactly what I wanted her to do. She was looking up but her eyes were open. So, I changed what I said. Now, I say, "Heads up; eyes closed," and she doesn't get soap in her eyes.
In the same way, we need to apply the Bible (sermons, devotions) in the same way. We need to hear and think through what specifically we need to believe, repent, and obey. Otherwise, change never occurs. Our hearts will just say, "Yeah that's right," and we will go on with our lives. My goal personally in devotions and pastorally in sermons is to make application as specific as possible. Without it, we can't look back and see how God has transformed us.
08/20/07
STRIPPERS AND THE GOSPEL
My brother works in the Rent To Own business, so aside from having some pretty hilarious stories, he also meets some pretty interesting people. One of which is Bubbles, a local stripper. She comes in each week and pays her bill faithfully so my brother has gotten to know her a bit. Today, he asks me, "How do we share our faith in a situation like that?"
What a question, and it is probably the question of our time, at least for the church. The old answers don't seem to work (don't know if they ever did). Saying, "Hey, you know you are going to hell, right?" is a bit out of context and doesn't really provide an avenue for discussion. Saying, "You know your problem is that you need Jesus" has truth in it but generally brings a response of, "You don't know me. Don't tell me what I need." So, we are still left pondering what do we do.
I think the approach to sharing our faith with a stripper is not really any different than the sharing of our faith with any one else. (BTW, I'm aware of the dangers of men sharing their faith with strippers. Obviously one has to be careful. I'm discussing how you share your faith in general). I think the answer lies in the Luke 14 parable of the Kingdom where Jesus likens the Kingdom to a banquet hall that will be filled with the lame, the blind, the beggar, the homeless (the stripper, the bum, the crack addict, etc). Jesus' point is that if you are at the Kingdom table, you are the outcast that has been brought in. Our task then as an outcast is to find others just like it and point them to the one who welcomes outcasts. Relating to others in sharing our faith is about telling others about how we are those in need who have found the lover of our souls.
It is not a complete solution (and it is oversimplified for the sake of this entry), but I think it is more productive than "You're Going to Hell" and "You just need Jesus" - these and other topics are what we hope to discuss at Sovereign King from Sept 9 - 30. Check out www.dont-light-it-to-hide-it.com for more info.
08/12/07
EVERYBODY'S A WINNER
I wish I was smart enough to plan this but I'm not. Let me explain.
This past week I preached on the parable of the unfaithful manager and Jesus' teaching that if we are faithful with a little, then we will be faithful with a lot. Ever wonder whether you would go bankrupt if you won the lottery like the New Jersey woman who won it twice and still went bankrupt? e answer is that if you are faithful with $10, you'll be faithful with $10 million. Jesus then goes on to warn that if we aren't faithful with the world's riches, why would be God entrust us with heavenly riches? I talked about here is where our church can grow in community. Those of us who have grown in faithfulness in one area can help others that are struggling with unfaithfulness. The good news is that none of us are completely faithful so everyone has an area to be both strong and weak with each other. That same attitude can help our community.
But the amazing thing that I didn't plan was how that sermon would connect with the 9:30 prayer study. We are working through the Lord's Prayer and providentially we covered, "Give us this day our daily bread." We were able to discuss contment, trust, thankfulness and even the plural nature of the prayer (OUR daily bread).
The two made for a nice time of God pressing in on us about His provision, His faithfulness, and His expectations for us. Hearing that He provides our daily bread was an encouragement as we considered His call on our lives to be faithful.
08/05/07
We are very excited at Sovereign King Church to announce a Fall sermon series focused on equipping believers in sharing their faith. In addition, we hope that the series will spark an interest and provide a venue for the curious or the seeker who wants to know more about Jesus Christ. The program is called "Don't Light It To Hide It." Today is the official launch of www.dont-light-it-to-hide-it.com as well as http://www.myspace.com/dont_light_it_to_hide_it and http://shoutlife.com/dontlightittohideit. Not all of these sites are completely done (there is still some tinkering to do), but they are up enough to start the buzz.
Sovereign King Church will be hosting DHITLI from Sept 9-30, and the format is such that is can be translated into weekend seminars, conferences and retreats. If you want more information, just send an email to info@dont-light-it-to-hide-it.com.
I can't wait to see what happens.
If you don't have time tor run all over the internet, here is the basic info for any that are curious...
Luke 11:33-54 - 33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
WHO - Sovereign King Church, www.newgarnerchurch.com, is a young, active church in Garner, NC. They hope to simultaneously create a community that loves and honors Jesus while at the same time engaging the community of Garner with service and faith. To learn more about both Sovereign King Church and their pastor, Gordon Duncan, click here http://www.dont-light-it-to-hide-it.com/2.html.
WHAT - "Don't Light It To Hide It" is a four week series that combines sound Biblical teaching with real world examples with the hope of helping people share their faith. To learn more about what "Don't Light It To Hide It" is all about click here http://www.dont-light-it-to-hide-it.com/3.html.
WHERE - Sovereign King Church is located at 140 Donmoor Court, Garner, NC 27529. Directions to Sovereign King Church can be found here http://www.sovereignkingpca.net/4.3.html.
WHEN - "Don't Light It To Hide It" will start each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. from September 9th until September 30th.
To learn more about where and when "Don't Hide It To Light It" will be taking place, click here http://www.dont-light-it-to-hide-it.com/4.html.
HOW - Some of you may be interested in hosting a "Don't Light It To Hide It" event. If you are, click here http://www.dont-light-it-to-hide-it.com/5.html.
07/20/07
A pastor buddy and I were eating lunch a couple of days ago. We strike up a conversation with one of the waitresses. She knows I'm a pastor, and we have talked about her growing up in a Christian school before. Well, she mentions that she went to the Burn Festival in Asheville this past week, which is a lot like the Burning Man festivals that happen every year. If you are not familiar with the festival or those like it, it is a combination concert, smokefest, pseudo pagan/spiritual festival - that's the best I can do. I asked her if she went because it was a spiritual event or because of some other reason. She stated it was out of curiosity.
I asked her if she felt like this festival gave her something that church did not. She then retold me the story about how she got thrown out of a Christian school for asking questions. She wanted to know if there was incest in Genesis if the whole world started with 2 people. Her principal responded with "DON'T QUESTION GOD," and ultimately she was shown the door. (Editor's note: I'm sure more went on there but the response to the question was the response). She then explained that church was full of hypocrites because she works at a strip club and whenever she goes to church over the holidays, she sees all of the club's patrons. In fact, when she applied for a loan, the loan agent said, "Oh, you're one of those people who steal husbands away. You know you are going to hell." We talked a while longer about everyone's need for grace because we are all hypocrites to some extent. She said she appreciated our li |
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