I'll be honest with you, I absolutely love church. In fact I'll go as far as saying, it's down right fun. Yes, church is fun. I know there are some who might think the words "fun" and "church" don't belong together, but I think they do.

I especially love the Wednesday night bible studies. I think I sat through the whole Wednesday night bible study last night with a big grin on my face. I felt like a kid at Six Flags who was having a blast. There's something about those Wednesday night services that put the charge back in my battery and keep me going until Sunday. I can't imagine anyone not wanting to go to church. When I get together with my church family, life is good.

Labels: Church

I don’t want go to church anymore. I'm done with just going to church, instead I want to be the church. I want to be the church that I read about in the bible, and that church was not just something that was done on Sunday, but it was something that was lived seven days a week.

For too long the church has been defined by its buildings, its stain glass windows and its location in the city. But that was never Jesus's plan for the church. Jesus's plan was that the church be a place defined by its people who love and serve the lost. We were never called to go to church, but to become the church!

When will we get it through our thick skulls that the lost aren't coming to us, so we must go to them? Outside the bricks and mortar of what we call a church building, you'll find a city, a nation, and a world waiting to be reached, and those lost people won't follow Jesus because our buildings are open and our lights are on. So it's the churches mission to leave the building and take Jesus into the streets of our communities. No more should the church be contained by 4 walls, instead it's time that we go become the hands and voice of God. Instead of just listening to the sermon on Sunday, it's time the church becomes the sermon seven days a week.
I'm tired of the church being defined by the world as a building of bricks when it's really a body of believers. But we've brought it on ourselves, because for too long we've just been going to church instead of being the church. Let's make it our goal today to become the church that Jesus fully intended it to be.

So, who is with me? What do you say we rise up together today and with one loud voice shout to the world, "I don't want to just go to church anymore, I want to be the church."

(Want more on this subject? Click here to listen to the sermon "The Church has left the Building!"

Labels: Church

I'm finding more and more Christians all the time that believe ... to be a good Christian and to go to heaven you must be an AA Christian. "AA" stands for attendance and abstinence. To go to heaven you must have faithful "attendance" in church (which includes singing, giving, communion, etc) and "abstain" from bad things (cheating, cussing, lying, etc). The good Christians who do the two "A's" will go straight through the pearly gates.

I like that theology because it's simple, but the more I read the bible and the more I listen to Jesus teach, the more I have a problem with the AA theology. One of the texts that have always challenged the AA theology is found in Matthew 25:31-46. It's there that Jesus tells me about two groups of people. The first group on the right gets eternal life and is going to heaven. The second group on the left gets eternal punishment and is going to hell. What's the difference in the two groups? Did the group on the right go to church every time the doors were open? Did they take communion every Sunday even if they had to stop on the road to do it? Did they always abstain from the bad stuff? AND, did the group on the left fail to attend all the services and abstain from everything?

Here's what Jesus said about what the first group did right, "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' "

And here's what Jesus said the second group did wrong, "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

I'm not saying you don't need to attend church services and I'm not saying it's okay to do whatever we want morally. Attendance and abstinence are good, but they don't make you a Christian, and neither will save you. Christianity wasn't founded on the two A's, but on a relationship with God, obedience to Him, and our service to others. I believe Jesus put it this way when he was asked what's really important, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself."

So I need to ask myself ...

• When was the last time I fed someone who was hungry?
• When was the last time I invited someone into my home?
• When was the last time I sat by a dying person?
• When was the last time I visited a nursing home?
• When was the last time I gave someone a second, third or fourth chance?
• When was the last time I offered forgiveness?

“Jesus never says to the poor, ‘Come find the church,’ but he says to those of us in the church, ‘Go into the world and find the poor, hungry, homeless, imprisoned.’ ”

“We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours. I had come to see that the great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor.” ~Shane Claiborne

• What do you think?
• Have you ever been taught AA Christianity?
• Have you ever bought into it or met someone who has?

Labels: Christian Living, Church

• During a sermon I was preaching I saw our youth minister get up, go to the back (unseen by others) and double over in pain. For the next 3 minutes he paced back and forth stopping regularly to double over in pain. I kept thinking, "Surely someone is going to see this guy and help him." It was obvious something was wrong and yes, I probably should have stopped and checked on him, but I was right in the middle of making a great point. (By the way, he was fine ... just bad indigestion.)
  
  
• I've witnessed a young man get so nervous when he was about to lead the prayer, that he literally froze up. Someone finally went up and rescued him.
  
  
• Once during a funeral I attended, the preacher asked for the deacons to bring a crying, out-of-control woman to the front. As they grabbed her from her pew and carried her to the front she cried and screamed louder. They placed her in front of the coffin, which the preacher opened and the preacher told her, "Look at him, look at him, he's dead and he ain't a coming back. Now get over it!" They then took her back to her seat. I was glad I wasn't crying and that I was on the back pew.
  
  
• Once when holding a revival for a small country church, I noticed that in the baptistery instead of water there was a large rat trap. On night two, during my sermon, I clearly heard the trap pop shut and a rat start flopping, flailing, screeching and dieing for the next 20 minutes.
  
  
• Again, while I was preaching elsewhere, I once saw a man on the front row take off his socks and clip his toe nails while I was preaching.
  
  
• One Sunday morning as a new teenager, I was entertaining everyone around me during the sermon. I then looked up and saw the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life... my mom looking very angry, standing at the end of the pew and waving for me to come with her. It was the longest walk of my life as I had to climb over all my friends to finally get to where my mom was standing. We walked to the back of the auditorium as everyone watched. I remember someone closing the doors and... well... that's all I remember. I think I was knocked unconscious from all the blood loss.
  
  
• I did not see this, but I have to share my friend's story. He was doing a gospel meeting when during the invitation a woman came down and confessed to adultery. She then stood and pointed out the man in audience, who was sitting with his family, that she'd committed adultery with and said, "He needs to get down here too. He's as guilty as I am." Wow, I'm glad I wasn't there that morning.
  
  
• Someone said this had to be in their funniest moments. Ha, real funny! And yes, he's still grounded. :)

I can't wait to ask this question ... What are some crazy things have you seen take place in a church building?

Labels: Church

The comedian Gallagher (yes, the watermelon smashing guy), recently reflecting on his childhood church experience said this, “Church was a weekly reminder that there was something worse than school." That made me laugh out loud. While Gallagher's church experience as a child might not have been all that great, let me tell you about another kid. His name is Jacob and he came over after school to play with Connor. Here's a conversation that happened with Jacob and I that sunny afternoon.

"How many more days until Sunday?" Jacob asked me.

"Two," I said.

"YES!" he said, as he pumped his fist in excitement.

"What's happening Sunday?" I asked, expecting to hear of a family trip or something special.

Looking rather surprised that I even asked, he said, "I get to go to church!"

"Awesome!" I told him and I thought to myself, "I wish everyone was this excited about church."

Jacob and his family have been going to church with us for about 5 years now. Thankfully church has been a positive experience in this young boy's life. When he grows up maybe he'll remember school was much worse than church ever was. :)

Now if I could just get this kid to come around on the church thing! Ha

Labels: Church

About once a year we have a Friends Day at church. Yesterday we had a great Friends Day '08. I never got an official count, but we had over 100 visitors from our community that came to worship with us. I preached on the subject of "What God Thinks of You." The Childress church did a fantastic job inviting their friends and neighbors to come. I had 1000 Friends Day invitation cards printed up and we ran out of those over a week ago. I don't know how many people were actually invited, but it seemed like everyone I invited said they'd already been invited by someone else.

Our church has really grown over the past few years and our Friends Day has been one of the great outreach tools that we've used.

Today the fun begins as we start the follow up to our Friends Day. We hope to reach those visitors who are looking for a church home. Besides a thank you note in the mail later this week, our visitors will receive a homemade pie or plate of cookies today with an invitation to come back next Sunday. Dozens and dozens of pies will be delivered today alone. Pretty cool, huh? Our church has really grown over the past few years and our Friends Day has been one of the great outreach tools that we've used.

I'd love to know some of the things your church has done to reach out to your community?

Labels: Church

The big sign outside the church building reads, "30 Minute Worship - Guaranteed." It's a new concept of church for busy people. They advertise, "It's all about the quality, not about the quantity." They offer worship for 10 minutes, the word for 12-15 minutes and response for 5 minutes for those that don't have much time.

Have we become so busy that we now need a worship service that lasts the same length of a tv sitcom? Are we so time starved that we now can only do a Sweet Half-Hour of Prayer? What's next, drive thru church where you don't even have to leave your car?

I'm actually not sure what I think about this. Here are a few questions still swirling around in my head that I'd love your opinion on:

Labels: Church

I visited with a man the other day that was very concerned about the church where he was attending. His exact words were, "We're dying. Some don't care, and the others don't know what to do about it!" He and I got to talking about some of the signs they were seeing that pointed to their church dying out. The following are a few we talked about, and of course I've added a couple that are a little tongue-and-cheek. So with the help of my friend, here is "10 Signs your Church may be Dying."

1. It does nothing to reach its community.
2. The only thing that seems alive in worship is the greenery at the front of the auditorium.
3. The song you sing most on Sundays is, "Tis so sweet to Rust in Jesus."
4. Worship is quiet because there are no children.
5. Its only conversions come from baptizing its own kids.
6. It is concerned with look and not action.
7. It is happy just being comfortable.
8. It is out of touch with the 21st century.
9. It is all about money, buildings and budgets.
10. It is all politics.

Can you add any to this list?

Labels: Church, Top Ten List

Yesterday I talked about my vision for the church in Childress. Let me continue those thoughts today with a dream I have for this church.

About a week ago I did something I usually don't do. I looked to see what the men serving communion were wearing. This used to be an issue years ago. I'm glad we're passed it. I had a woman a few years back mention that "so-in-so" was not wearing proper clothes while serving at the table. She also mentioned that one of the young men could have used a haircut. Finally, she closed with, "And there were some people talking during communion."

I had heard her complaints many times before and I'd been very kind and gracious to her, but that morning for some reason, she caught me at a weak moment. "It's obvious," I told her, "if you have that much time to look around and take notes of who is doing what during the Lord's Supper, then you are not focusing on the things the Bible says that you need to be focusing on!" She took it remarkably well. I tried to explain to her that what you wear is not important and that she needs to be focusing on Jesus, and if she does she won't even noticed who is waiting on the table or what they are wearing.

This past Sunday I noticed who was waiting on the table. We had ten men of all different ages serving communion. I thought it was interesting that 3 had on ties and dress pants, 1 had on a full suit, 4 had on a pullover polo shirt and khaki pants and two had on a t-shirt and jeans. I smiled and thought to myself, "It's awesome that we can have a good mix of people waiting on the table and it doesn't really matter what anyone is wearing." Then it hit me. This wasn't as good as I though it was. Somehow I was missing the big picture. The thing that would have made it better than a mix of ages and clothing styles, would have been a mix of backgrounds, colors and people. Everyone up there were middle class people that looked just like me. I asked God to forgive us and ask His blessing to please help us reach out to those who are different than us.

"It's obvious," I told her, "if you have that much time to look around and take notes of who is doing what during the Lord's Supper, then you are not focusing on the things the Bible says that you need to be focusing on!"

I dream that as a church we will be as interested in reaching, loving and serving people different than us as we are in reaching the middle class white family that's just moved to town. Jesus was the perfect example of this. He didn't spend all his time with people just like himself. Instead he spent his time with the outcast, the different, the unloved and the lowly?

• The woman at the well. She was married five times and was shacking up with another man when she met Jesus. Yet Jesus found her incredibly important and salvation worthy.


• The thief on the cross. One of the greatest stories of grace, ever.


• The woman caught in adultery who Jesus told, "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more."


• He ate with sinners. He taught the prostitutes. There were also the tax collectors, lepers, the demon possessed, the crippled, those of lower status... He offered them hope, the truth, and a way out of their misery.

I'm thankful that I look around the church where I worship and I'm beginning to see more people all the time who are different than me. I'm beginning to see people from different backgrounds not just skin color. Just a couple of weeks ago there was a 10 year old boy with us that had never been to church in his life. I thought that was amazing.

I want to worship with people who make some uncomfortable, people who look different and people who come from different backgrounds, not people who look just like me. Unfortunately, most of the people I see still look just like me. It is my conviction and dream to reach out to more people that are different than me. People who I've overlooked in the past.

What's the makeup of where you worship?

Labels: Church

Vision is believing it CAN be done! And, we must have vision to see the great things God can do through us.

In Numbers 13 we're told of twelve spies who went into the promised land of Israel to see how to conquer the land for Israel. Ten spies didn't have any vision but two of the spies did. The ten visionless spies said, "We can't take the land, because the people who live there are like giants. We are like grasshoppers compared to them." God called their opinion an evil report. The two spies with vision, Joshua and Caleb, said, "Let us go up at once and possess it. The Lord will give us the land; the Lord is with us; don't be afraid." I find it interesting that we remember the names of the two spies with vision, Joshua and Caleb, but we don't remember the names of the ten that were visionless.

Walt Disney's brother used to say to him, "Walt, you will never amount to anything; everything you dream of is too big and costs millions of dollars." Old Walt didn't do so badly did he? Funny thing is that no one remembers the name of Walt's brother, but what we do know is that he went to work for Walt. Disney's most daring vision adventure came when he was an old man and he suggested the building of Disneyland. He proposed this to his board and every single person was against it. Not one of the men in leadership thought Disneyland would be a financial success because of it's tremendous cost. But it was! Walt said before he died, "As long as man has vision, Disneyland will continue to grow." That's not a bad motto for the church.

I want to shout the same message that Joshua and Caleb gave, "Let us go up at once and possess it. The Lord will give us the land; the Lord is with us; don't be afraid."

Our churches despretly needs vision. And my vision for the church in Childress is that we take the entire unchurched Childress community for Christ. It is possible. And then after taking the Childress community for Christ we're coming for the rest of the world (smile). That's my goal and my vision. As long as we believe it's possible with God ... it's possible. When it comes to reaching my community with the message of Christ, I want to shout the same message that Joshua and Caleb gave, "Let us go up at once and possess it. The Lord will give us the land; the Lord is with us; don't be afraid."

We need vision to see that God can do great things through us. The secret to building a great church has nothing to do with the education level of the people, the amount of money available in the budget, the location of the building, BUT the secret to reaching the community for Christ and building a great church is VISION. We must have vision to see and believe that God CAN do great things through us and then be willing to let God use us!

• So, what's your vision for how you would like God to use you today?


• What's your vision for the church? What would you like to see the church do or become?

Labels: Church

It seems that there are 3 kinds of people in our churches today: Risk Takers, Care Takers and Undertakers.

• Risk-Takers: These are the people who are willing to try something different to reach more people with the message of Jesus. Risk-takers aren't worried about being traditional, only being scriptural. Risk-takers are willing to go outside their comfort zone to reach others. God has actually created us to be risk-takers (Matthew 25:14-30), but sadly, there are many more who are comfortable with simply burying their talent. We need more risk-takers in the church today!
  
  
• Care-Takers are just satisfied doing what they've always done. They don't want anyone stirring the water or shaking things up. They are simply much more comfortable just leaving things the way they always have been. When proposed with new ideas of reaching the lost, Care-takers often use the phrase "But we haven't ever done it that way before!" Care-takers never want to be stretched spiritually, they just want to remain comfortable. To them, it is as if Jesus never said, "Take up your cross and follow me," but more like, "take up your easy chair and follow me..."
  
  
• Under-Takers: Sadly when the care-takers out number the risk-takers, that's when the under-takers show up! In the last 100 years, more churches have closed their doors than opened them. We definitely don't need more undertakers .
  

What kind of "taker" will you be? Hopefully someone who's not afraid to take a risk for the Kingdom. Hopefully you'll be a "risk-taker" for Jesus.

Labels: Church

Can you believe it? It makes no sense to me, but A CHURCH IN DALLAS WANTS TO BUILD MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUILDING IN ORDER TO "KEEP UP" WITH OTHER CHURCHES IN THE AREA (and they still owe 9 million on the one they've got).

I just had to share a story with you that makes no sense to me. I'm not anti-church building, but building a church building just to keep up with other churches is stupid!

• Build it when you out grow the one you've got.
• Build it when you wear out the one you have.
• Build it when there is no other church in the area.
• BUT DON'T build it just because you need to keep up with other churches. That's got to make the Lord so happy.

I personally think some church buildings are the most under used buildings in the community when they are only used on Sundays and Wednesdays. What are some ways your church uses it's building to reach out to the community?

Labels: Church

Here are a few phrases I hear periodically that just don't make sense to me...

• "LORD, WE HOPE WE'VE DONE THIS IN A WORTHY AND PLEASING MANNER." I understand what's being prayed when we say this, and I'll be the first to say, "Let's do things respectful and right," but sometimes I think we think that God's going to strike us dead if our minds wonder during worship? Maybe we think God will bar-b-que us for forgetting the words to a song? Is God just looking for a chance to catch us doing something wrong? Have we beat people up with the story of Nadab and Abihu so much that we're living in constant fear of our Father? How sad! Why do we enter His throne room as frightened children with our head down, afraid to make eye contact? Is God not pleased to see & hear His children? Are we not to, "Approach the throne of grace with confidence?" Hebrews 4:16. WAKE UP people. He's your Father, and He loves you. He's not a task master with a whip looking to beat you!



• "THE LESSON OF THE HOUR WILL BE GIVEN BY TREY, OUR REGULAR PREACHER." Actually this phrase always makes me laugh. First, I've never preached for an hour in my life, but does this mean I can? Second, how do they know I'm regular? :)



• "THIS CONCLUDES THE LORD'S SUPPER AND NOW WE'LL HAVE THE CONTRIBUTION." Does it not count if we don't use that phrase between the communion and the contribution?



• "BAPTIZED BELIEVER." Okay, before I get in trouble I want you to understand that I understand what's being said here. I honestly do. But "baptized believer" is an unbiblical phrase. Jesus spoke of two groups of people, believers and non-believers. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever say anything about a special group called the "baptized believers." Am I saying baptism isn't essential, necessary or important? No way. I am saying that if we're going to follow the bible and do things biblical, then let's use biblical words and phrases correctly, too.



• "EPISTLE." Again, just like above, use biblical phrases. Biblically they are called letters not epistles. That word has to be so confusing to babes in Christ.



• "UM, YOU JUST TOLD A LIE IN CHURCH!" You're not supposed to lie anywhere, and it doesn't make it worse if you do it in the church building.



• "WE'RE GOING TO CHURCH." I've told you before, we don't "go to church", we "are the church." The church is wherever the people meet. It's not the building.



• "ARE YOU GOING TO EVER DO FULL-TIME WORK SOMEDAY?" The dreaded phrase heard often by youth ministers and associate ministers. What a slap in the face. "Full-time" work? What does that mean? Do they already not work full-time? They probably put in more hours than the minister every week, but for some reason many think that associate ministers or youth ministers are not in "full-time" ministry until they "move-up" to preaching. Does it make you more holy if you preach? Honestly, Paul said, "God gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers" (Ephesians 4:11). Or if I can rephrase that, "God gave some to be ministers, some to be youth ministers, some to be associate ministers, some to be bible class teachers, etc." Don't belittle one of God's servants because he doesn't preach.

Okay, enough preaching today. Any phrases or words you're not crazy about?

Labels: Church

• MY DREAM IS FOR UNITY. It's time that we grow up and stop fighting. If Jesus prayed for unity (John 17) among his followers, and Paul preached it (1 Corinthians 1), I think we should start doing it. We're all in this together and our goal is to take as many people with us to heaven as possible. When we fight, we're simply focused on the wrong thing.



• MY DREAM IS THAT WE WOULD FOCUS ON PEOPLE. Church is and always has been about people, not about buildings, programs or mission statements. Let's put our focus back where it should be ... meeting people's needs. Stop building multi-million dollar buildings just because you feel the need to keep up with what other churches are doing. This is STUPID and unbiblical. (More on this later this week.)



• MY DREAM IS FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR MISSIONARIES. It would be SO awesome to use the Lord's money on missions throughout the world. I'd love to see that anyone who wanted to go and do mission work could financially. Instead missionaries want to go, but no one will send them.



• MY DREAM IS FOR COMMUNITY OUTREACH. It's not just about reaching the world, but also reaching the people across the street. It's about reaching the people you work with, play with and run with. Church is not just about what we do "in the building," but also what we do "outside the building." Every church should be outwardly focused to win their community for Christ. Just unlocking the doors and turning on the lights on Sundays and Wednesdays won't do it. We must go to the world and not just expect them to come to us.



• MY DREAM IS THAT WE BECOME A CHURCH THAT TALKS ABOUT JESUS ALL THE TIME. He's our main focus. Our main focus isn't buildings, budgets or bottom lines, it's Jesus. We don't need gimmicks to draw people in, we have Jesus. He should be at the center of everything we do and teach.



• MY DREAM IS THAT WE WILL FOCUS ON TEACHING AND TRAINING OUR CHILDREN AND YOUTH (THE FUTURE CHURCH). Children are the future. You cannot put too much emphasis on the youth and children. Our future looks bright when we invest time, money and effort into our youth. Teach them and train them to be a powerful and effective church.



• MY DREAM IS THAT WE WOULD LOVE PEOPLE EVEN WHEN THEY HURT US. Too many people get their feelings hurt and quit church. I'll be the first to admit that it's always been a temptation in life and ministry to become bitter and angry at people who hurt you. But you never want to allow negative things to drive wedges in relationships that may last an eternity. Love people...Jesus did. It’s not easy, but we’re called to do this.



• MY DREAM IS THAT WE WOULD BECOME A CHURCH THAT TALKS ABOUT REAL ISSUES. While it is important to study all things in the Bible, most people attending our churches do not care about the measurements of the Temple, but they do want to know how they can hold a marriage together, how they can keep from going under financially and how to raise good kids.



• MY DREAM IS THAT WE WOULD BECOME A CHURCH WHERE ALL PEOPLE FEEL WELCOME. I don't know how many times I've heard in the past, "The last place I wanted to bring my friend was to church, because I knew the preacher would say something to embarrass them or me." How sad. The church needs to be a safe environment where people know they can bring family or friends without them getting their "hides nailed to the wall."

I'd love to hear some things you dream of the church becoming...

Labels: Church

I've heard of comedians being heckled, but never a preacher. It was this past Sunday that I knew immediately during the evening sermon I'd said the wrong word. I made the statement, “If you don’t drink enough water you’ll get hypothermia.” As a preacher and a paramedic I immediately knew it was wrong. I meant to use the word “dehydrated,” but for some reason it came out “hypothermia.” Instead of correcting it (which I should have done immediately) I decided to just continue preaching, because I was in the process of making a point, and I knew if I stopped everyone would lose the point I was trying to make. Besides I didn’t think anyone would really catch what I said anyway.

To make a long story short, let me just say, I never expected to be heckled from the pulpit after the closing prayer. Following the “amen” the good brother who lead the prayer said, “I didn't mention it in my prayer, but you know something else I’m thankful for? I’m thankful that when I don’t drink enough water, I don't get hypothermia.” Everybody laughed. There I was, heckled for the first time ever, by a "good" brother in Christ. What makes it even worse is that brother in Christ is also my oldest son.

So, should I ground him for 2 years or 4? :)

Labels: Church, Morgan Family, Preaching

When he stopped me in the store he said he needed to talk. In his words, he needed help, "Big time." He had been struggling with alcohol. He couldn't pay his bills. He was about to lose his job, get kicked out of his house, and to top it all off, his wife was threatening to leave him.

I listened to him talk about needing God to help him and getting his life straightened out. It was when I asked him, "Have you ever thought about going to a church to look for more help," that his words cut me deep. He said, "A church? Why would I ever want to go to a church? They'd only make me feel worse."

Here was a man wanting to run towards God for help but run away from God's church. He saw God as a life-preserver who could help him, but he saw God's church as causing more problems in his life. Have we, as a church, moved so far away from mercy and grace that people don't see the church as a place to find help or God? Wasn't it the "down and out" that flocked to Jesus during his time, but now people run from his followers when they're in need of help. What have we lost?

It's been said, "Churches ought to be competing to "out-grace" their rivals, and grace should be Christianity's best gift to the world." Amen to that. Here are a few questions I'm trying to figure out...

Labels: Church, God, Grace

I got an email yesterday from a friend and regular blog reader about our discussion on how we should be "dressing for church." She had an idea about what she wants to wear to church. Her story touched my heart so I asked her if I could share her story. She said yes. I hope it touches your heart too. Enjoy ...

Hi Trey!

I loved your post on dressing up for church. I have the perfect story but it is so long I did not want to post it in the comments. So I hope you will enjoy my story about Monroe.

Monroe was a part of our church family for about 5 years. I never saw Monroe in anything but overalls and a T-shirt. Most of us cannot imagine living the way Monroe lived. He had a house, if you want to call it that. A strong wind would have blown it over. There was not a way to keep the wind from blowing through it in the winter and the floor was rotting out all through the house. Needless to say Monroe did not always look acceptable to many of the "good" church going folks. He didn't sound acceptable either. He had a Cajun accent and a very pronounced speech impediment. It took me a year before I really felt I could understand what he was saying to me.

Monroe and his brother, Willie, had been turned away from many churches. They were usually willing to give them food or help pay a bill but most congregations did not want to fellowship with them. Many had openly made fun of them and some had asked them not to worship with them.

Our church family came in contact with Monroe through one of our members who happened to be Monroe's physician assistant. She saw a need, but more than that she saw Monroe's heart. She convinced Monroe to come to church with her. He was very unsure because he had been rejected so many times before. She finally convinced him to join her. Monroe soon became a huge part of our church family. We took him in because we thought we were helping him. Boy, were we wrong. God showed us what it meant to have a pure heart. Monroe simply loved Jesus. Because he loved Jesus, he loved all of us. He was baptized in our church at the age of 70. You have never heard so much clapping. There was not one person in our church family that was not touched by Monroe. He was so transparent. He was very honest about his past. (I heard stories I intentionally chose not to understand all of because they were pretty shocking). He was never shy about talking about his past and he was always ready to praise God for his salvation. He was just real. He had nothing to give from a financial standpoint. But he gave everything he had in the form of love.

Sadly, early this year Monroe's brother Willie passed away. Monroe was not in the best of health himself and a couple of months later he also died. We have had a huge hole in our church family ever since. I am so thankful to have been given the privilege of knowing Monroe. He made me look outside myself more times than I can count. God blessed me, my family and my church family in ways we cannot measure when He chose to send Monroe to us.

So, if you ask me what you should wear church. I have the perfect answer... a pure heart. I know this because I witnessed it and I know what I am supposed to be striving for. Thanks for always making me think!!

Labels: Church

A friend asked me recently what my opinion was about "how to dress for church." I've been giving it a lot of thought on how to answer her, but I haven't really come up with any solid answers. So I thought I might ask for your help and opinion today on this subject.

I grew up with three sets of clothes: the play clothes, school clothes and church clothes. And you better not have been playing around in the yard with your church clothes on or you were in big trouble. I was raised believing that when we went to church on Sunday mornings, we wore our Sunday best. My "church clothes" were by far the nicest clothes I owned. I also still vividly remember my hand-me-down, avocado green leisure suit I wore for years as a pre-teen. And I can still recall a time when women only wore dresses and men always wore a suit and a tie to church.

These days things have changed in dress, some for the good and some for the not-so-good. Gone are the days of everyone wearing their Sunday best to church every week, but thankfully so are the days that you had to wear a suit and tie to be allowed to wait on the table during the Lord's Supper. Now it's not uncommon to see people in Hawaiian shirts, Bermuda shorts, baseball caps and flip-flops. My friend Mike says, "The older generation is a lot more formal just because they were raised that way and it was the teaching at the time. You dress your best for God when you go to worship," he said. "Generally, the younger generation is much more casual. The younger generation has gotten more interested in what they look like on the inside, and they consider that more important." Which group is right? Probably both, as long as you don't look down on the other because they choose to either dress up or dress down.

I've always thought it's important to honor God by wearing our nicest clothes on Sunday, but recently I asked a new lady who had been coming to church if she was enjoying coming. She said she was but what made her so uncomfortable was that she didn't have any nice clothes like everyone else. I tried hard to explain to her that it doesn't matter what you wear as long as you're here. But as I explained those things to her the thought kept going through my head, "Does this mean that if we dress up, we might make people who can't buy clothes feel unwelcome?" Nothing would be worse than making someone feel unwelcome because their clothes aren't nice enough. So I think there has to be a balance.

I personally cannot find any scripture that spoke directly to how one should dress for public worship. In fact, the only clear New Testament reference to dress is found in James 2. Though the point of that passage is how the saints treated one who did not have ‘proper’ dress, not what he might wear to church.

A few thoughts on how to dress...

• There should never be a dress code at church that says you must be dressed up to attend, worship or serve. Clothes are not what God is interested in, it's the heart. You should feel free to come as you are.



• At the same time, we must make sure our clothes are respectful and modest. A Budweiser shirt, a dirty wife-beater undershirt, a halter top or see-through clothing would not really be appropriate, unless it's the only thing you own. The problem with this type of clothing is it might cause others to draw their attention to you and not God.



• I guess the best advice I can find is where Paul urges us to "dress up for church" everyday with the best clothes possible: compassion, humility, forgiveness, and love (Colossians 3:12-14).

So what are your thoughts on dressing up or dressing down for church services? I'd love to know.

Labels: Church

I'm really confused. It makes me angry. And it makes no sense to me whatsoever.

A church here in Texas dropped all their mission works from their budget and told their missionaries that they were supporting, "We're sorry, but your support ends at the end of the year" ... WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS? Simple ... because they wanted to build a new auditorium and couldn't afford to do both.

Who knows, maybe I've misinterpreted Mark 16:15-16. Maybe what Jesus was really saying was, "Go into all the world and preach the good news, but only if you can afford it and you don't have a building project going on ..."

Sorry about the preaching today, but something seems way wrong here to me. I wonder what God thinks about it?

Labels: Church, Missionaries

No matter how hard I try, I can't ever remember not going to church. That's probably because I always have. I was raised in a family that never missed. And I do mean never. There was no such thing as, "I'm not going to church tonight because I have too much homework." I didn't know you could even skip church unless you were deathly ill. I'm thankful for how I was raised and the memories I have of church "when I was a kid."

A lot of things have changed about "church" since I was little. Here are a few things I remember from long ago...

Labels: Church, Family