Prosperity Gospel or Redemption Theology

Did you know that Kanye West put out a new album on October 25^th and it’s his 9^th consecutive #1 Album  (Did I lose some of you already on this one?)

Do you find yourself thinking; "Brent, Why do I care about Kanye?” (You wouldn’t be alone)

The reason I tell you all this is because Kanye's most recent album is entitled "Jesus is King"

Yes, You read that correctly, Kanye West released a "Gospel Rap Album" and say’s “He’s found Jesus”

After 20 years of "secular (even violent) music and all the selfish things he's done, we are expected to believe he just "all of a sudden a Christian?"  

     Honestly, I'd say yes, we should.  Above that, not only should we believe, but we should accept and celebrate it.  But it's hard isn’t it?  It's hard to overlook all the things that we remember in the news of what he has done and said.  The natural inclination most of us have is to take a "wait and see approach"  We want to see if he is really all about it or if he is just trying to "talk a good game"  Christianity isn't easy so let's see if he can handle it before we accept his faith.  (That honestly has been the response from many of my fellow youth pastors, and I even found myself entertaining those thoughts a little bit) And if I may be so bold and honest, that is the wrong response to have.  

     Yes, Christianity is hard!  Jesus never said following Him was going to be easy, but he did say following Him was The Way.  When a person decides to follow Christ, Jesus doesn't sit up there and say "O.K. you are in a 90 day trial period and at the end of that time we will evaluate."  I think when "the lost" find their way to God, there is a celebration in heaven!  We should do the same thing here, we should celebrate but we should also begin to pray.  Pray for Kanye and that he may hold true to his conversion and his Profession of Faith (Just like we celebrate it when people here Profess their Faith, we also acknowledge that the Profession isn't just an end goal, but the next step to actively living for God and we promise to help them).  Pray that he will continue to see God.  Pray that people who can help him when struggles of life happen people can walk alongside him.  Pray that God will use this for his God.  Pray that people who previously laughed at the idea of Christ and God will take notice and start to explore Faith and find Christ.

However there are many who say he is only in it for for making money and why wouldn't he take advantage of an "untapped market" (Christian music industry) to broaden where his financial gain could be.  No disrespect meant to KJ-52 or John Reuben but in terms of Rapping Talent, he carries a little more "musical respect" than the vast majority (if not all) of the Christian Rap industry.  Would a "True Christian" charge $140 for a pair of sweatpants, $250 for a sweatshirt or even $20 for a single pair of crew socks?  I know of several people (especially youth) who look at rap as an emotion and musical driven way to express life.  For most people, music is a driving force for passion to expressed.  (I mean when was the last time you hears someone "talking along to a book on tape in their car?)  Maybe Kanye looked at the Christian Rap industry and saw and "underwhelming industry" and thought to himself why don't I add to my numbers but doing something no one else in the secular music world has?  I understand the question, but if we are going to play that game, there was this one guy named Thomas in the New Testament once who doubted.....

What I'm saying is yes, it is a struggle to see that part and that question will always be prevalent because, well that is the day in age we live in.  It's easier and more natural to come up with reasons to doubt or reasons (excuses) for why it's false then it is to why it may be true.  And maybe in time that is what we will discover (though I hope not) but I do not know the mind or the heart of Kanye.  Only God and Kanye do.  At the same time though, the same thing could be set about me, or you.  And what is Kanye wasn't as well known for what he is known for, if he was an "average guy like me" would our impression/thoughts be any different?

Even though we may be skeptical of who is proclaiming Christ, Christ is still being proclaimed and we need to continue to pray for that

Maybe in the end it will be about Prosperity (I hope not but again, I don't know).  But for now, I'm hoping, praying and talking about it as a Redemption.

I'm sure Chuck Colson, Lee Strobel and even Saul would agree

Possibly the least favorite phrase in church...

Want to see 95% of people squirm out of their seats in church?  Or for them to start scanning the landscape of the foyer for the closest exit?  Ask them if they would consider being a volunteer Youth Leader.

Now maybe this is just my youth ministry experience coming out... (or bias) but why does that question cause so much angst and anxiety?  (Curious what I mean, you can read an article I wrote that The Banner published here)

Lets be honest though.  Very rarely does anyone have an issue with volunteering in the nursery and holding a baby or two, and sometimes the adults have just as much fun (if not more) building the cardboard block fort as the 1 year old has knocking it down so you can do it all over again. 

Why does this kid that we know and have seen grow up in church for a dozen and a half years cause us such angst and anxiety?  Actually it comes long before that.  Does it start at 13 years old?  8 years old???  (Well that is a rhetorical question anyway)

Now before I get people up in arms (especially those who have been volunteering in programs for 5, 10, maybe even 20+ years)  I'm asking this as a broad question for the church, not necessarily just for individuals.  I also know that sometimes yes, volunteers need breaks  (I mean you can only fill someone elses bucket as full as yours currently is.) but in talking to many of my peers in ministry in other churches, our needs are the same across the board.  A lack of "volunteers"

However, as I've contemplated this issues about the need from volunteers, it was from a conversation I had today in a morning committee meeting about our need for more volunteers where I got hit over the head by God's bricks (and not the same ones we have in the nursery) I've started to really think about the word "Volunteer"  How did it get into the church vernacular today?

Do you know what word you only come across maybe half a dozen times in scripture; and never in the new testament?

Yup, Volunteer   (Unless you count the one time use of "voluntarily in the book of Philemon)

Why is that?  Because honestly, I think it's because of Matthew 28:20 and Eph. 2:10

In there Jesus calls us to "Make Disciples" (Matthew) and that we have "work that God prepared in advance to do" (Ephesians)  

God didn't call people to "volunteer"  He called them to make disciples in whatever ways were presented to them.  Sometimes it was running alongside a guy in a chariot, sometimes it was while they were in prison... They didn't volunteer for those positions, God presented them and they responded.  They never even thought about saying "no"  or coming back with saying "I'm just not equipped for that"  God had all of them equipped through the Power of the Holy Spirit and it is no different today.


Maybe we need to stop asking people to Volunteer and instead need to start asking people to "fulfill their calling"

Is that too bold a statement?

Recently I asked a congregation if they thought "The Youth were the future of the church" and I was met with numerous "Amens"  Honestly, it pained me a little bit.  (Not because I have an issue with that phrase... which I can get into another time) but more so because if the church agrees so much with it, then why are we scared of it? (Not to mention when is the "magic time" that they become the "church of today??") 

Honestly, I believe everyone is called to "youth ministry"  because everyone is called to "ministry".  I'm not saying everyone needs to rush out to Seminary and get their MDiv. because well I haven't done that.... yet.... and not everyone is called to "Preaching" but everyone is called to "teaching"


God is providing us the opportunities to minister and he has provided us the power to do it through his Holy Spirit (which scripture tells us we all have) but  I'm not saying that from this day forward you are committed to teaching a Sunday school class for the rest of your life  (Lets be honest, even Jesus had to get away to be "filled by his Father") 

For many, they have found their current calling and you have my appreciation, respect and prayers

If you haven't yet, I'd love to help you discover what it may be.

God already has given us the calling... When are we going to heed it?

A 6 year Sabbatical...

It's been a long time and I'm sure most of you  didn't even realize it and for the rest of you, well I'll just say we didn't know each other yet ;)  

Yet hear I am back on this site that probably no one will read (because lets be honest, I'm wondering if I'll even have the time to write in this... let alone expect someone to actually read it.)

But that is just it, do we actually take the time anymore.  Do we have the patience.  Before, when I first started writing in this 10 years ago, I did it because.. well I was writing for the church news letter and I had the energy  of a 26 year old;  what changed?

Ministry did

Life did

I did

God called/directed me to a new ministry.  While I tried to keep up relationships with people from the previous church, it also meant getting to know everyone at a larger church.  With larger churches comes more programs, more people, more responsibilities... you get the idea.  Thank goodness God revealed a special woman to help me along that journey a few years ago.

But now we come back to this.  What will this look like?  I don't know yet, but 6 years is long enough I think.  I used to enjoy writing about ministry, and I still do I think, but it's taken a back burner and it now I think takes  more if a discipline rather than the "off the cuff writings" I used to be.  I've changed the heading from "Brent's Random mind" to "Ponderings"  What God places on us isn't Random, it comes for a reason, but I think I was just to "ministry naïve" to realize it at that time.

It's less about what I want to say, and more about what I think God needs me to say.

so stay tuned  (if you made it this far)  Lets see what happens.

7 months was a long enough gap right??? And just in time for Christmas

It has been quite a long time since I have last posted, or really written anything of significance (though one could argue that I never have really written anything of significance, haha)  But after several months, I find myself once again led back to this blog wondering if anyone really still does blog anymore (and believe it or not, some still do)  I have spent a lot of the down time of the last several months enjoying the summer months, taking vacation, and finally working on getting that stack of 17 books waiting to be read a little bit smaller (with some success too as I'm down to 11)

But once again I find myself back at this thing writing out my thoughts of randomness on a computer screen and sharing them with anyone who may be bored enough to read them ;)  Anyways... 

So, I will be honest, whenever we get to the Christmas Season, I am the first to be excited by what it represents.  Yeah, people will state that Good Friday and Easter may be the "biggest celebrations" of when it comes to the Christian faith, but at the same time, we couldn't have Good Friday and Easter if it weren't for Christ's Birth.....  Anyways, I digress...

Obviously one of the biggest stories that you hear around this time of year comes from Luke 2, and yes it is a beautiful story, but for the last several years quite often I find myself coming back to Mark Chapter 1.  No Mark 1 does not share anything about the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary's story, Herod, The Wiseman..... etc...  But I think it touches on something just as big when we come to this time of year, but if the Birth story in Luke (and Matthew) is 1a, Mark 1: 1-8 would be 1b for me

Let me share

Mark 1

English Standard Version (ESV)

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.^[a]

² As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,^[b]

“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way,
³ the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
    ‘Prepare^[c] the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight,’”

⁴ John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶ Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸ I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

 

 

Now why do I like this part so much?  I'm glad you asked ;)

 

First of all I share it in the ESV because, well I think it articulates the true words better then the NIV does (not slamming the NIV by any means, I still use it a lot, just saying)

 

Anyways... I love this passage because I think the same storyline that played out then, plays out today with all of us. 

 

In what ways are you (we) to be like John the Baptist.  I look at this and the first thing is does is reference the book of Isaiah saying that the messenger is being sent ahead to prepare the way for people to see the ministry of Christ, to help people get on the path way that leads to Salvation... The straight path if I may

 

And where is the voice?  It's not in Jerusalem per-say, it is in the Wilderness!  It is out there in the "anywhere" area, it's not confined to one location at any time or all times.  John also was not someone that was going to be dressed like everyone else, the story he shared didn't necessarily comes from the man who was the best educated, or the most well dressed, (which if you think about it is all of us) it came from the gifting of the Holy Spirit in his life.  (Yes I think hey was full of the Holy Spirit, even before the actual Pentecost story).

 

But, above all, why do I really love this story?  Because it is a challenge to me.  Over and over again we hear that we are "to be like Christ" and honestly, that is the truth, we are to model ourselves to be just like Christ.  And yes I know that we will never succeed at that, not in our time here on earth, but even John knew that he wasn't even close to being able to accomplish that (he who's sandals I am unworthy to untie)  But it also tells us the second person I believe we should... even commanded, to live our life like...   John the Baptist

 

No, I'm not saying we need to quick run over to the nearest body of water and start "dunking" anyone who comes to see us (or sprinkle) ;)  But it does say that we to "prepare the way"  How are we doing at that?  How are we doing are preparing the way.  How are we doing to not only prepare the way for people to know about Christ, but how are we doing are preparing the way for people to spend eternity with Christ?

 

Just as John was sent to get people ready for the ministry of Christ on earth, I think the same story line should be said for each of us.  We believe that Christ is coming back, so how are we doing at it?

 

Lastly, and one small thing that I just love and maybe it's just me that would, I don't know, but I really love how this chapter starts.  "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ..."  It was just the beginning of the Gospel... and no where in the book of Mark (or the other gospels for that matter) does it say "and this is the end of the gospel"  I don't think the gospels in essence are finished being written yet!!

 

Your life can be a gospel.  While it may not be something that will ever be written down in book form like the 4 that we know, but the definition of "gospel" is (according to Webster)  "The teachings of Christ and the apostles.  You can help others learn the teachings of Christ through your own life.

 

So how are you doing at "making the way for the Lord"?

 

How are you doing at "writing" your own Gospel?

 

How am I doing at mine????

 

Do we really know?

I just got slapped in the face.  Just now, I’m serious!

O.K., so not literally (though I guess I’m sure it could be possible that I should be, and some might think it was funny)  

But I did figuratively.

About two weeks ago (very end of April) the email went out, talking about submissions for the newsletter and (sorry Deb) I kept putting it off unsure of what I felt led to write about.  But today (Monday the 13^th) I set aside the afternoon to get this done.  For the last couple hours (seriously) I have been looking over notes from lessons in youth group the last several months about what I could write about but nothing stuck out to me.  Next came the paging through books I had read over the last several years, looking at highlighted parts but still to no avail.  As a last resort I turned on my Kindle (which I hadn’t done since the Jr. High Retreat in January) and BAM!  I read the most recent “highlight” in a book I forgot I even had.  Instantly my mind started racing with thoughts and, believe it or not, apologies to God.  What had I just re-read you might wonder?  Here it is:  “…And then I raised The Question:  Did we – did I – know Christ more as a result of the passing of another year?  Were we any closer to God?”  (Glenn Packiam – Secondhand Jesus)

What an amazing question to ask.  

Do we? Do you? Do I? Know Christ better today than we did a year ago?  

Or do we “know him” just the same as we did before?

I sure hope not!

We as humans have the natural desire to be in relationships with one another.  God made us that way.  One of the ways to build relationships with one another and to know people better is to spend time with them, to talk with them, and to listen to them.  The learning will never stop either.  Every week I continue to learn new things about the youth of this church.  Even after 5 years, there are still so many things that we have yet to learn about each other.  Marriages are the same way.  You continually learn about one another, likes, dislikes, things that have changed, and new hopes they have… that is how relationships work!  You spend time with, you talk to, and you listen.  If someone was to ask me about my best friend and I was to tell them Chris Chelios they would more than likely laugh at me. Why would they?  Well, what would make him my best friend?  The fact that I walked into a Family Fare and unbeknownst to me, he was there ringing the bell for the Salvation Army and I got a picture with him?  (True story by the way)  The fact of the matter is; I know Chris as well now as I did then. 

Who is your best friend?  

 Are there things about him that you didn’t know a year ago that you know about them now? 

 I would certainly hope so.  

 I know there are many things I know about my friends now that I didn’t know about them then. 

So, how about Christ?  Our friend, our Holy Father, our ultimate Savior!  Do you know him any better today than you did a year ago?  

Have you tried to get to know him better?

Do you really want to know him “any better”?

Have you “allowed” him to get to know you better?

Is he any closer to you and your heart?

There is so much in the Word that he has left for us to read and to uncover about him.  So many different ways that he reveals himself to us through people and creation. 

He spends time with us, He talks to us, and He listens to us

Are we doing that for him?    Are you?   Am I?

Resolutions, Coupons and the New Year

Everyone loves a deal right?  For those of you regular shoppers (grocery and other) how often do you go out without knowing what coupons you have and/or knowing what’s on sale?  It is an amazing marketing tool for stores and manufacturers that they will always provide in hopes of getting people to come and make purchases of stuff they need (or in many cases want.)  We just a month ago finished up the Thanksgiving holiday and along with that comes “Black Friday” (why they refer to it as “Black” I’ll never know, Black Days usually mean bad, hmmm.)  Then we have the Christmas season and all the ads of the “great deals” for before Christmas sales and then of course the after Christmas sales to get ready for next year…  (Seems like it never ends.)  But anyways, in thinking about it and talking to  people who had over the last month, planned days in advance the stores they would go to, the routes they would take, who would go where, what time they would get there etc… I had “Reva-piphony (combination revelation and epiphany)   maybe we need to provide coupons for the church.  Here are some of my thoughts for what they could include.

·         “THE BACK ROW RESERVED JUST FOR YOU (WHO WANTS TO SIT IN THE FRONT ANYWAYS)”

·         “GOOD FOR ONE SUNDAY OF PLAYING JUST THE SONGS YOU WANT TO HEAR, PLAYED HOW YOU WANT TO HEAR THEM AND IN THE ORDER IN WHICH YOU WANT TO HEAR THEM”

·         “GOOD FOR ONE SUNDAY, WE WILL WAIT TO START THE SERVICE UNTIL YOU ARRIVE AT CHURCH”

·         TAKE ONE BREAD AND WINE GET ONE FREE”

·         “ONE FREE FRIENDSHIP REGISTRY SIGNING WHEN YOU ARE NOT THERE”

·         “ONE FREE COPY OF THE SERMON IN CLIFFNOTES”

·         “GOOD FOR FREE PASS OUT OF THE SANCTUARY/CHURCH BEFORE ANYONE ELSE”

·         “GET OUT OF VOLUNTEERING FREE CARD”

Obviously things like this will never happen (or maybe some will, I already know there are people that would love to use these) but why do we need to?  Why do people of the church have such a hard time with church?  It starts the same time on the same day of the week every week.  And all it tries to do is to strengthen your relationship with your neighbor and the very One who created you.  I don’t think that is something that everyone is against, do you?  You are too tired or just don’t feel like it you may say?  It’s too early?  That’s o.k. you can go in the evening if you’d like, or maybe even on a Wed. Night, there are even places that allow you to worship on a Sat. Evening.  Why do we as Christians (and yes I’m including myself in that one) have such an easy time scheduling sporting events, going  out to eat, go shopping etc…(all of which cost money) but such a hard time going somewhere to spend time with God and fellow believers (and all he wants to do is give us something for free) 

In his book “Not a Fan”, Kyle Idleman writes “The biggest threat to the church today are fans who call themselves Christians but aren’t actually interested in following Christ.  They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it required anything from them.”

Is that you?  (I hope not), but that is a question we all need to ask of ourselves.  Are we just “fans” of Christ/Christianity/Church, or are we followers?  I hope we can all refer to ourselves as followers, but it’s hard.  So, as we have just “finished up” Christmas and, have Easter coming, the two most widely attended “church days” let’s make a renewed effort in ourselves to spend more time with God.  In fact, let’s make a few resolutions.  Here are a few suggestions from Jonathon Edwards and Louis Giglio;

1.       I will live for God

2.      If no one else does, I still will

3.      I will embrace the Grace of Christ every day

 At worst you’ll be able to spend more time with God, your very creator who loves you no matter what and fellow Christians, and at best, you’ll be able to spend more time with God (who still loves you no matter what) and your fellow Christians; your brothers and sisters.

 And even better it’s still free; you don’t even need a coupon J

So as we continue on into the year of our Lord 2013, let’s make it exactly that; The Year of the Lord!

Horrible averages, and I'm not talking just about my posting rate

So, it may be hard to believe, but the unofficial end of summer is here.  Football games, cheerleading, and band practices have already been going for weeks, other sports will also be starting soon if they haven’t already, and you all know what that means don’t you?  The schools are full of students once again.  Exciting isn’t it?  O.K. I don’t figure too many students are nodding in agreement with that comment, but it wouldn’t surprise me if several parents are.  Don’t worry parents; your secret is safe with me.

Anyways, since we are on the “Back to School” theme, I thought I would give you a couple of “basic” math problems and see if you can figure them out.  And then we will explore their significance in just a little bit.  The first one is “1 divided by 8”  the second one is “1 divided by 20”  Now before reading the rest of this, if you haven’t figured out those equations, quick, run, get a calculator and do those a minute...

… O.K. have them figured out?  All right, let’s explore them a little bit.  First, “1 divided by 8”

The correct answer to that question is “.125” Now if we are to figure that into percentage, that equals out to be 12.5% Now what is so important about the idea of 12 percent?  Well, I’ll tell you.  In a study done by the “Search Institute” (a research institute) that was commissioned by Fuller Theological Seminary; 11,000 teenagers from 561 church congregations across 6 denominations found that roughly 12 percent of youth have a regular dialogue with their moms about faith/life issues.  12 Percent!!! But that isn’t all, remember, I had two math questions.  By now you have probably figured out where I am going with this, but just in case, I’ll address it anyways.  So if you thought that 12 percent was a rough figure, 1 in 20 equals only 5%.  Yup that’s right, the conversations with moms about Faith and Life were 12 percent, the conversations with dads about Faith and Life is only 5 Percent!!!  If you ask me, that is a very depressing statistic.

So what do we do about that little piece of information?  We work on improving it and there are a few different ways on how we can do that.  Lets quickly look at a couple.

First:  Most parents miss out on the opportunity to talk about faith with their kids.

 On a nationwide telephone survey of over 3,000 kids and their parents as well as 267 in depth interviews, Sociologist Dr. Christian Smith from the Univ. of Notre Dame concluded “Most teenagers and their parents may not realize it but… research suggests that the most important social influence in shaping young people’s religious lives is the religious life modeled and taught to them by their parents.” He goes on to say it even more simply in an interview “When it comes to kids’ faith, parents get what they are.”  Have you ever really thought about that one?  What kind of Christian Faith are you modeling to your students?  Are they seeing the importance that your Faith has on your life?  Does it really have importance on your life?

Second:  The best discussion about faith happen when parents don’t just ask question, but also share their own experiences. 

Now I don’t mean to step on any toes here, but if I do, well, it is a risk I am willing to take, but I am talking about the “basic questions” of “What did you talk about in Church today?” or “How was Youth Group” and my personal favorite, “What did you think of the sermon?”  (And we all know usually the answers are shrugs, grunts, “mehs” and “I don’t knows”)  While asking these questions can occasionally pay off, research shows that in order for really getting a Faith to stick is when parents share their own faith.  Don’t just “interview” your kids, but discuss your faith journey, both the ups and the downs.  What better way for a kid to seek and discover the value of faith in their own life when they see how it can impact lives of those closest to them?

Some of you may be reading this and wondering, Brent, are you writing this only for parents?  Nope, it is for everyone.  For the youth who may (and even for the ones who aren’t) if this is something that is hard for your parents to do, take the initiative, ask them questions about how they might have handled situations that you might be currently struggling.  And for all the rest of the adults, remember, (I’ve talked about this before) the promise you made during each students baptism.  To help the parents in whatever ways you can, in raising the child in a Godly and Christian manner through both prayer, and encouragement.

So are you as excited for upcoming Education year as I am?  I hope so; let’s make it a great one.  Remember, we are all in this together.

Blessings