After our break for Mother’s Day we’re jumping back into our study on “Discovering Authentic Church” this Sunday at the Crossings.  Over the next two weeks we’ll be looking at the two major Churches highlighted in the book of Acts.  The first one is the original Church in Jerusalem that is described primarily in chapters 2:42-47 and 4:32-37.  The second Church in consideration is the Antioch fellowship found in Acts 11:19-30 and 13:1-4.  Both of these Churches leave a lot that we can learn from today.  However, the goal is not to legalistically or mindlessly follow each point in detail, but rather to look and learn from the overall picture of what God did and how they responded to Him in the first century.  As we begin to wind down this series, I really believe that the authenticity of the first century Church really can be a reality in the 21^st century today.  So for everyone who lives in the Northwest Houston area, be sure to grab a friend and come by one of our services.  For everyone; how are you going to “BE CHURCH” this week?  In the mean time, check out this guy whose life was changed by “Discovering Authentic Church.”

At The Crossings this past Sunday we started a new series called Discovering Authentic Church.  I love the Church and so do many of you.  But I also know that some of you really don’t resonate with the whole idea of Church.  Some of you have been burnt or jaded because of something someone did while wearing the name Christian.  Others have experienced things in the name of Church that don’t feel too much like Jesus.  I get that.  It reminds me of a book that Dan Kimball wrote in 2007 entitled They Like Jesus, but not The Church.   I’ve met Dan before and have heard him speak, so I know where he’s at on the issue.  He loves Jesus and the true Church.  He just points out that a lot of folks have simply been presented with a counterfeit model of the Church.  I get that and have probably felt some of that pain in my own pilgrimage.  I know I have.  But my hope is that in this study we can see a picture of what the authentic Church really looks like.  I hope we can clean up the mess of misunderstanding.

The true CHURCH is seen in scripture as a beautiful creation of God.  She is loved by God.  No, the Church is not perfect, at least not now.  That’s because it’s made up of imperfect people.  But she is still the “Bride of Christ.”  Because of that significance, I hope everyone can take a second look at this mystery called the Church.  As we continue through this series I hope you’ll ask questions and open up to what it means to experience Authentic Church.  Yes, I love the Church and hope you will too.

What are some of your stories of experiencing the counterfeit?  What are some of your stories of finding the authentic?

Have you seen this clip?  It was made a couple of years ago.  But I came across it again the other day while researching a church planting organization.  Though the clip is not new, I believe it’s worth checking out again.  Jeff Maguire did a fun job describing the authentic Kingdom life which he refers to as Missional living.  The point being that authentic Christ followers are all called to live out the Kingdom of God in their own daily lives.  Sharing the message and love of Christ is the call of every Christian and not merely the domain of the decorated.  Remember, the CHURCH is not a building; but the people.  So whatever your niche in the Kingdom, be sure to be “missional” about it today.  Enjoy and implement!

Today we are hearing from our second main author on “Healthy Pastors.”  Todd Owen has had a wide verity of ministry experience and can easily speak to the need for spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health for long term and full-time Christian Service.  My partnership in the work with Todd goes back to the early 90s when I think he went by “Spike” at Ozark Christian College.  Todd works with New Mission Systems International and also blogs here.  So for now, enjoy, comment, and look for more to come.

White Space

I’ve been writing newsletters for over twenty years, mostly as a missionary but also the church newsletter when I was a pastor. One consistent piece of advice I’ve had over the years is that every newsletter should have wide margins and lots of white space. When the page is uncluttered it is easier for the reader to follow what’s being written rather than being distracted by the noise and visual dissonance on the page. As often as possible, even when I was tempted to write too many words and cram too much into a given space, I cut the verbiage down, simplified, and kept the message straightforward.

I’ve read a lot of newsletters over the years. The ones that don’t respect the rule of white space usually send a shiver through my soul and create an inner cringe. The writer’s all-too-important message is lost in the crowd (of words).

If the rule of white space is true for a newsletter, what does it look like when applied to a life? Your life is on display. People are following the lines of your life’s message. Do they see a bedraggled and bloodshot pastor barely making it from week to week, trying to put a good face on it but essentially drying up and burning out piecemeal?

In our increasingly chaotic society, it is vital that when people view our story, they see plenty of white space: God-ordained and –called order. As they see this, the likelihood that they will see the Word amidst the words of our lives is increased by a factor of 10? 100? 1,000? Who can say?

The reality check is that most of our friends aren’t used to seeing an uncluttered life. It may take them a while to adjust to it. Don’t let that stop you. Try a few things on for size and see what change they bring in your walk with Christ and your ministry.

First, reflect on the letter written to the church in Ephesus as recorded in Revelation 2:1-6. What is the Spirit speaking to your heart about first love? Does this impact your view of busyness/margin?

Second, schedule in a Sabbath space in your week. Turn off the iPhone, leave the laptop at home, unplug from the digital and engage . . . quietness. Attune your ears to the still small voice. For me, that usually involves a park, the beach at sunset (I live in SW Florida), or journaling on a park bench. It may be different for you.

Third, schedule Sabbath spaces in your day. Take a few minutes every few hours to relax, meditate on a Scripture verse, or pray.

Give your “readers” the benefit of uncluttered message through the “white space” in your life.

Welcome to our new page for ministers.  I’ve been in some form of professional ministry for quite a while now and I’d be the first to tell you that it’s a hard gig at times.  By professional ministry, I’m not talking about a mere career path that one takes, but a calling on one’s life.  For me it means that I am called to what I do the same way a surgeon is called to Medicine.  I don’t do it for a pay check, though it’s nice when I get one, I do it because it is who I am. There are many joys in this calling.  But there are many heart aches and trials as well.  So the purpose of this page on Kingdomology is to support those with a full-time ministry calling in their lives.  Our main author for Healthy Pastors is a guy named Tom Salter from California.  I met Tom when we did a church plant in the Nor Cal a few years ago.  Tom has a huge heart for pastors and he is actually the brain child for this page.  Another author is a very good friend of mine going all the way back to my college days.  Todd Owen has had experience on the foreign mission field, the located church ministry, and is presently directing discipleship and care for missionaries with New Mission Systems International.  Our first post on this page is coming from Tom.  So if you’re involved in full-time Christian ministry; be encouraged.  If you’re not a “Pastor” or “Missionary” you can still feel free to enter into discussion and learn more about ministry in the 21^st century.  For now . . . Here’s Tom:

 Can you Make it to God’s Finish Line?

A disturbing incident today.  A pastor I had approached to go to Africa as part of our teaching team, wanted time to think and pray before deciding.  Fair enough.  But now, I need answers and have to make my own decisions.  I consult their website to get his contact information, and there on the site is his resignation letter.  Sigh.  This man of God is dynamic.  The church under his leadership has experienced major growth.  But now, it turns out—at a price.  A very heavy price.  Gratefully, there was NO moral failure.  Just burnout, a burnout so complete, that recharging the batteries doesn’t evidently seem possible.  In his letter he referred to sleepless nights.  He spoke of the toll the ministry took on him and his family.  He concluded: “I knew it was time to draw a finish line…”  Sadly, although not absolutely foreclosing the possibility, he believes the pastoral ministry is not in his future.

The Apostle Paul could declare, “I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished the race.”  I’ve heard pastors say, “I’d rather flame out than rust out”.  I respond, “Are those the only two choices?”  My ministry, Barnabas Factor, is predicated on the idea that preventative self-care will allow us to last all the way to God’s finish line.  Are you pacing yourself to do that?  Or are you ready to draw your own finish line?

Tom Salter

I was blessed to be part of the Crossings “Share Fair” 2010 event this past Saturday.  To me it was just another wonderful example of a local body of Christ putting their faith into practice by coming up with creative ways to serve their extended community.  The “Fair” was a great success this year as we gathered donations and gifts and networking with a local school, were able to get them into the lives of families in our area who are struggling.  A HUGE thanks goes out to Larry Foster who handled the goliath share of the details which made everything come together.  I also want say thanks to everyone who helped with the setup, teardown, and serving throughout the day.  In all, “Share Fair” was just another reason why you rock Cypress Crossings.  So keep up the good work and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Alright, show of hands here.  How many of you actually enjoyed taking history classes in High School?  Yup, that’s probably about right.  History is not the most popular subject with a lot of folks and that’s ok.  On the other hand, I’m one of those wired guys who actually enjoyed the study.  Don’t know, but maybe it’s just because I liked blowing an hour going to the film room at Tascosa High to watch a WWII documentary instead of sitting through Geometry.  But history does have important lessons to teach us in creating a more successful future.  If we take time to examine the good and bad decisions and the lives of those who have gone before us, we can learn from their victories and mistakes.  So it is with the CHURCH.  The first followers of Christ were so much like Jesus that they were actually called “Christians” for the first time in Antioch (Acts 11:26).  But how can that kind of “church” be realized today?  By that I don’t mean the wearing of a term, but actually being and living in such a way that others will see the real Christ and His Kingdom in us.  One of the ways to realize this is to rediscover the ancient church before man made traditions set in.  With that in mind, we’re going to take a few months to periodically examine what the early church looked like from the book of Acts and extra biblical sources written prior to the second or third century.  This was a period prior to the institutionalization of the church.  Writing about this era, Eberhard Arnold remarks that “The original witness of the church must lead us all, though still in very different camps, into the unity and purity of the clear light.”  Yes I know that there are some folks who would chuck this pursuit as being just too impractical for the modern Western thinker.  But I tend to agree with Roland Allen who rightly summed up the issue well in stating that, “In no other work do we set the great masters wholly on one side, and teach the students of today that whatever they may copy, they may not copy them, because they lived in a different age under exceptional circumstances and were endowed with exceptional genius.”  In every other pursuit, we take into consideration what past and ancient leaders have exemplified, so it would stand to reason that we can do so in living out the Kingdom and Church life as well.  Let’s take some time to rethink CHURCH in light of the ancient order of things.  What about you, have there been examples in your Church experience that more resembled western American culture or some other custom above simple Christian spirituality?

Recently we had our first “Official” membership class at the Crossings and it was a lot of fun.  It was just neat to see so many new and old faces excited about what God is doing in our own little part of the Kingdom.  It was neat to see people stepping up to the plate in heartfelt commitment.  Now I understand that in the greater body of Christ there’s been some debate as to what to do with Church membership.  Some claim it is not a Biblical principle and others hold the opposite position and see it as a great practicality for our day.  On my part I lean toward the second camp, so I’ve listed 7 reasons at the bottom of the post as to why we’ve gone with a formal membership at The Crossings.  But I think the greatest reason why I fall on the side of a designated church membership for the located body of Christ actually comes from a true story from our time in the former Soviet Union. 

The specific event actually took place about a year before Deb and I arrived in Moscow to help with a new church and the establishing of a Bible College.  It was the process of forming that new church that shaped how I think about “membership”. 

Lenin at Red Square

When Russia opened up and a number of people in Moscow embraced Jesus Christ, they began to come together as an official church to meet on a regular basis.  The State allowed them to do so but required them to provide evidence showing that they were indeed a legal church entity abiding by the laws.  So the Russian authorities asked for at least a dozen people in the church to come forward and submit copies of their pass ports for proof of the organization’s legitimacy.  This they did.  At least 12 Russian adults who had grown up under the Iron Curtain complied and their information was submitted.  Now that doesn’t sound like too big of an issue for us in the West and especially in the U.S.  I mean, we give our Social Security and Driver’s license numbers often when filling out documents.  But the big deal for these folks is that by giving out their information they were possibly putting their lives on the line if the winds of politics changed in Russia and the old guard Soviet Union came back.  Many of these people had relatives or knew people who were taken by the Soviet KGB in years gone by for religious reasons. So this was a heavy decision for them.  But they cared so much about committing to a local body of believers that they were more than willing to take the risk.  They had a level of discipleship and commitment that many in the US simply don’t understand. 

So when it came down to it, I decided that it was more than acceptable if not expected to ask those wishing to join The Crossings to attend a class and sign a commitment card. 

But for those who are still chewing on this issue, check out the seven reasons below.  What would you add?  (or not add)

 Why Make a Commitment?

 The difference between “attendees” and “belonging” can be summed up in one word:  commitment.

 At The Cypress Crossings Christian Church we recognize the need to be a membership-based church and therefore ask you to commit to membership for a least seven reasons:

1.  A Biblical Reason:  Christ is committed to the church.  “Christ loved the church, and He gave his life for it.” Ephesians 5:25

2.  A Cultural Reason:  It is an antidote in our society.  We live in an age where very few want to be committed to anything; job, marriage, and country.  This attitude has produced a generation of church ‘shoppers and hoppers’.  Membership swims against the current of America’s consumer religion.  It provides a model for our society on the value of belonging.

3.  A Practical Reason:  It defines who can be counted upon.  Every team must have a roster.  Every school must have an enrollment.  Even our country takes a census and requires voter registration.  Membership identifies our family.

4.  A Personal Reason:  It produces spiritual growth.  The New Testament places a major emphasis on the need for Christians to be accountable to each other for spiritual growth.  You cannot be accountable when you are not committed to any specific church family.

5.  A Creative Reason:  It creates the type of future we desire.  Commitments are greatly misunderstood in our culture – they are often seen as something that ‘ties us down’ or holds us back.  But commitments aren’t constraints, they are road maps.  They are the tools that God uses to shape our future!  Our commitments help us create the type of life and future that will glorify God and fulfill us.  We make our commitments, but in the end our commitments make us.

6.  A “Same Page” Reason:  Membership does not mean uniformity, but it does mean unity.  As followers of Christ we are all different and there is really a lot of freedom in the Church of Jesus Christ for all kinds of practices.  But when we commit to the same mission and values of the church we commit to each other as a football team commits to the same play book.  By doing this we avoid division and commit to going forward together in strength and unity.

7.  A Legal Reason:  It shows our willing submission to the authorities.  In order for us to benefit from non-profit status and 501c3 standing, we must be able to clearly illustrate and define to the State what our membership is.  This shows that we are indeed a non-profit entity by their standards.

Deb and I still have a bunch of really great friends back in Nor. Cal who will always be a part of our lives and the Kingdom effort.  One friend that is somewhat new to me is a great guy named Troy who has been involved in church planting and discipleship for a while and is really striving to know God.  Troy and Dawn live on the edge for Christ and I really appreciate their wisdom and input.  So, I was strolling down one of Troy’s blogs yesterday and came across a recent post he put up.  I thought that it really fit some of the discussions we’ve had on Kingdomology and the CHURCH.  In particular, do we really need to go to church every Sunday or is that just something archaic and for our grandparents.  I’ve got some thoughts, but check out Troy’s post, chew on it for a bit, and I’ll get back to you in a few days.

 Thanks Troy,

From, Sacred Scribbling. by Troy Dean.

This week I am away for a few days of solitude and reflection. This is the third Spring I have visited St. Columba Retreat House. It’s located on the Point Reyes Peninsula. I typically take a hike each day somewhere I can hear the waves crashing and see wildlife unseen in Lincoln (elephant seals). There is a historic lighthouse at the very end of the point. Many folks travel the winding roads pass a number of historic farms to come to visit and whale watch for a few moments. There are 300+ steps down to the lighthouse from the visitor’s center. It’s usually quite windy and sometimes foggy. The interesting thing about this particular lighthouse is that it no longer is lit. It does still have a loud fog horn that goes every 30 seconds, yet the light no longer is shining. It’s not due to budget cuts either. A number of years ago it was made automatic but now is dark. The information center states that since so much of our navigational equipment has advanced to include satellites and GPS maps, the light is no longer necessary. Modern day shipping no longer needs lighthouses.

It seems to me that might be said about what many think about the Church today because technology has given us a buffet for our spiritual appetites. We have a ton of unique and helpful Bible translations and tools to help us navigate the scriptures. We can listen to a favorite teacher or message via podcast. We have access to so many worship songs through sites like iTunes that we can construct our own personal worship set. We have big and comfortable homes to connect with our friends and host a family BBQ. We even have PayPal to help us give to those charities and compassion projects that personally move us. We can do everything that we do on a Sunday through our homes and the advanced technology of the internet. So who needs Sunday (or Saturday) church? It seems that modern Christians no longer need churches.  Can’t we just sit in front of our glossy screens (mine is an iPad) as belonging becomes an online customizable experience?  Do we really need the gathered church?

Before I respond to this critique, allow yourself to take a few moments and reflect on the question. Why do we need Church? Especially our weekend gatherings?

What do you think?

Oksana and the Blinchiki

I’ve always said that I could eat Tex-Mex food two or three times a week and I think that’s probably true.  But tonight was a dinner full of memories as we got together with some friends in North Houston for Borscht and Blinchiki.  Our chef, Oksana, is from Uzbekistan which used to be part of the Soviet Union.  So it was a lot of fun trying to remember our Russian and the names of the great dishes we had while living in Moscow back in the mid 90s.  I love trying foods from all over the world.  Probably the worst thing I’ve ever eaten was on a college internship in Chile back in 88 and I’d say that the best food I’ve ever had was in Nagaland, India.  But I think one of the greatest parts of these fun food festivities is not just the palate, but the friendships, culture, and Kingdom experiences that come along with them.  Cultural because we are all different and I love that.  But from the Kingdom standpoint, it is a reminder that the Kingdom of Heaven is not an American thing, but a God thing.  The real Kingdom of God, or Heaven, is something that Jesus said is within us.  It stretches all over the world and across time.  It will continue to expand in the hearts and minds of God’s children until Christ comes back.  So in a very real sense, the Kingdom is all over the world and transcends all cultures.  Having grown up in Texas, you could say that Tex-Mex really is a “national” or cultural reality for me.  But because the Kingdom of God is so big, there is really no one “national food” for Kingdom citizens.  But rather, it’s kind of a multi course banquet.  Now THAT smells good.  Fish Tacos anyone?