Sunday, June 28, 2009

Community FunFest





great day! lot's of gracious people serving the less served in Huber Heights. Always amazes me how just the right amount of people show up for these events. Several first time, many veterans. Kids, moms, dads, dogs all enjoyed a great day.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

God Space


My friend Doug Pollock's book God Space has already sold over 4200 copies not even out yet. Campus Crusade is giving the book to most of their leaders...USA, Canada, New Zealand ... I'm very encouraged. Doug is a thinker. Has shared the gospel in 39 countries. Is cutting edge. Is a provoker, thinker and a guy who won't settle for the norm. Understands people, has been there, done that and is still doin the stuff. He isn't jaded but faithful. If you have a buck or two purchase the book. It will do you good.

see Godsgps.com

buy the book at http://store.grouppublishing.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?item=1964185&section=14118

Monday, June 08, 2009

God Space...Be aware of God's leading.

the starting point for awareness is accepting the fact that you and I are not usually aware of others and their needs. Realizing we are unaware, can pull us toward those slight God prompts of awareness. Seems He is always aware.

Old book written many years ago about Practicing the Presence of Jesus by brother Lawrence. It was a good book that encouraged the reader to practice tuning into the presence of Jesus. This experiential exercise is stimulating for some, fearful for others. I tend to tune in ... in the morning usually a song in my heart, or I grab the guitar for audience of One...As a friend of mine says, 'Well Lord, I'm open for business today.'

So how do we hear God's voice His prompting.

Hebrews speaks about God speaking in 'many fashions and in many ways'...this is certainly true today.

Expectation is a key to faith. Believing that God will speak me in the moment is a learned daily exercise. He is alive, active, and current in my life, therefore He wants to communicate to me.

Usually, He wants to communicate to me about others. Impressions, things I notice. I've learned if I slow down on the inside when I act on an impression... I discover I've heard or not heard. It's learning to tune my receiver.

Today, in Good Will, I saw a guy I thought was my friend Darrel. So when I passed his back I slapped him on his back and said, 'Hey, Darrel what's up?' He turned around not the guy...I said sheepishly, sorry...His wife said, 'don't worry about it he's been Darrel all day.' It's learning to step out in faith.

James Ryle... Faith is the inevitable consequence of hearing God's voice.'

So hearing and acting on what I've thought I've heard is an experiment.

Impressions,
Thoughts
Double Takes
Pictures in our minds eye
A verse
Someone looking like someone we know
An article of clothing, jewelry, some one is wearing

Sometimes the above help me be aware. Sometimes I'm aware when I see someone in need.

Acting in faith is the God space connector.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Recycle your Faith



Brenda's label. A great one minute or so thought provoking clip.

Craig Spinks is creating small conversation starters for small groups, friends, individuals.
http://www.recycleyourfaith.com/2009/05/18/brendas-label/

Check it out...Part of Creating God Space is asking the right questions, at the right time, listening well and really caring.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Creating God Space Revisited


I'm realizing that creating God space where God things can happen is current.

Becoming a friendly opened hearted person is the first step into the equation. I've noticed that people who are open hearted, have a spirit that is different than the norm.

Open hearted people are attractive. Usually an open hearted person is more other focused than self focused and tend to have a more positive outlook in life. In a class setting I ask,
'What does friendly look like?'

Some answers:
Open faced
Makes eye connection

Inclusive
Supportive

Willing to listen

Doesn't pass judgement

Inviting
Inqusitive

Genuinly caring

Has a sense of humor
Good attitudes
Positive
Up
Believes the best

Not negative

Truthful
Fun to be around


What's friendly? Friendly means showing kindness to someone, as a friend would behave. Wikipedia

friend⋅ly

1. characteristic of or befitting a friend; showing friendship: a friendly greeting.
2. like a friend; kind; helpful: a little friendly advice.
3. favorably disposed; inclined to approve, help, or support.
4. not hostile or at variance; amicable: friendly natives.


–adverb
6. Also, friend⋅li⋅ly. in a friendly manner; like a friend.
–noun
7. a person who is in sympathetic relationship to oneself or one's side; one who shows no hostility.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME frendly, OE frēondlīc.
friend⋅li⋅ness, noun

1. companionable, neighborly. 2. kindly, amiable, cordial, genial, affectionate, kind-hearted. 3. benevolent, well-disposed, helpful, favorable; advantageous, propitious.

3. antagonistic.

I think being a friendly open hearted person is a doable practice. I often wonder what would happen if every follower of Jesus would seek to be a friendly open hearted person every day? How many conversations would be started? How many acts of kindness would be generated? How many hearts would open?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

B&B BBQ and Baptisms






We had a great weekend last weekend. Major milestones for us as a church. The ground breaking event was powerful, meaningful and full of hope for the future. BBQ downtown was also a great day.

People were Baptized after the service and just before the BBQ. Great to see people who have decided to press into walking with Jesus and choosing to follow Him into Baptism.

We closed off the parking lot(informed people 2 weeks out)... due to a lesson we learned last year...chaos...attempting to set tables between cars was crazy and having cars in the parking lot diminished the community feel we were seeking to create.

So we created space. Interestingly at 4am someone drove their truck right up to the front entrance of the church and left it there. A few of us moved the truck...
The community feel was established.

Our servers arrived, many just walked out of the building and asked what can I do to help?

Why BBQ? Last year a couple of guys asked, "Can we come to the urban church and give our best to the people of Dayton?" Answer. Absolutely! So, 6 teams came and stayed out all night in Downtown Dayton and cooked BBQ. This year there were 9 teams who gave up sleep, traveling from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Simply to show God's love in a practical way to the people of Dayton.

rainbow during BBQ

Result: Community Impact
bringing light, hope, and courage to a dark place.
  • 7 people Baptized. Largest non-holiday attendance in the church.
  • 500+ people served BBQ
  • St Vincent shelter served BBQ for the homeless
  • Dayton Street Team took BBQ out to the homeless camp
  • Robb and co took BBQ to the people of the Biltmore (low income housing in the center of Dayton)
  • Neighborhood is able to sense God's love and a sense of normality
Pictures by Cyndi Parsons.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Value of Serving Others

Intro: For me Jesus is central to my life. When He isn't I lose something...my outward focus. Some of the thinking below has been processing for many years, some conclusions concerning humility and servanthood have been consistent in theory and in practice. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed...I ponder, think and muse often. The below post is a random result of my pondering, and observation.

People matter to God and people should matter to us. God’s heart is revealed throughout the bible. He is an all nations God... Through you Abe all nations will be blessed.

Lk 15...

Shepherd...Lost Sheep
Woman...lost coin
Father...lost son

1. They all lost something that was precious.
2. They are worth searching for.
3. It’s party time. Retrieved they rejoiced. Which reflects the heart of God.

People are valuable to God and they should be valuable to us.

Sometimes we discover the method without discovering the heart or the values behind the method... without the value established within a leaders heart the method can just become a method.

Learn methods and miss the value. Catch the value and your methods may change. (How the value is outworked.)

A heart for people should emerge from our involvement with people. Our vision is to enable people to become involved in the process of reaching out.

Natural Church Development…Talks about church growth by sowing certain seeds within the life of a church. One key component to develop within the life of a church is Need Orientated Evangelism.

Defined: In your sphere of influence you begin to Discern hurts / wounds; Unmet needs; Unfulfilled desires; unanswered questions. Discerning a person’s spiritual address is really important.

Bill Hybels has written a book entitled Contagious Christian. Speaks to the need of relational evangelism…

Fact: the highest percentage of people come to Jesus come to Him out of their relationships with friends, or relatives or acquaintances.

Evangelism in it’s true sense is a process.
Plowing, Sowing, Watering and Harvest. 1Cor 3; John 4 Mark 4 parable of the sower. Parable of the four soils.

How long does it take for a person to come to Christ? a unique amount of time.

Our role is to connect others to the process, and creating opportunities for people to step into that process. Breaking down barriers and building bridges as we attempt to bring people to saving faith. Spiritual decisions are almost always a process.

Recent bumper sticker. Jesus save me from these Christians.

Christians are not very good at living a 'fruit of the Spirit life' before non-believers.

A group of bible scholars were discussing what is it that makes us stand out from other religions of the world.

…Grace… Yet if you interview non believers and ask what the word Christian means? I doubt you would receive the answer—a graceful, and compassionate person.

When action oriented compassion is absent, it’s a tell-tale sign that something’s spiritually amiss. Whether the problem is with the organization or the individual, uncaring Christianity does not attract inquirers into its fold. Bill Hybels.

our way of life should have the attitude of Christ…

I Jn 2:6
Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (NIV)

How did He walk? Check the gospels

Interesting to me that people far from God wanted to be around Jesus. They even invited Him to parties. He was full of compassion, mercy, full of grace,and truth. Yet, He was constantly accused of being a friend of sinners by the religious right. Matthew tax collector…despised by Jew and Greek alike. Yet Jesus saw something in him and went to his home for a Matthew’s party.

People we come into contact day by day in shops, restaurants, need to see grace and compassion in action.

We may be reborn spiritually, but we need to grow socially. A great need in this generation to develop social, common sense people skills…learning to be friendly open hearted. Smiling saying hello and thank you go a long way.

To be honest… rudeness, impatience and having a condescending attitude toward one another and the people of our world are not an example of the fruit of the spirit. I don’t care how long you’ve been a believer, or your standing, or position in the community of believers. Having bad attitudes are a symptom of religious pride…thinking we are somehow better than anyone else or that we are the elite.

Consider Jesus. What was his attitude? he was fully God yet fully man...see Phil 2...

Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost.(people who are away from God's presence) He came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.

Timothy, it is a trustworthy statement Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

The attitude of the apostles amaze me.

Peter, Cornelius house, I too am a man like you.
Paul understood where he came from. I believe this understanding, kept him tender toward the people he was trying to reach.

Mars hill...he did not bind up false spirits...he presented the Good News and encouraged the people, explaining the nature and character of God, he then encouraged them to turn toward the Living God.

'We are only servants, who have a stewardship committed to us.' He worked... so he would not be a burden to the people in his church community. He served them practically.

Peter...Elders...'don’t Lord it over'... As each as received a special gift use it in serving.

Humility and servant-hood was a continual theme for Jesus toward his disciples. Servant hood was an area the disciples continually struggled with.

James and John were militants who wanted to nuke a city on a mission trip

Luke 9:54-56
And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" 55 But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them."] And they went on to another village. (NAS)

It is not Godly to want to curse people or to pray against people in the name of the Lord(oxymoron)…it is not the Spirit of Christ—it is a different spirit. 'We don’t like the way you are doing things so we are going to pray against you. Our way is right, those who don't do they things the way we do them are wrong.' What’s the root? Certainly not grace, not humility and compassion. It's pride...pride smells... Always.

Be-attitudes....

Matt 5:44
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (NIV)

Luke 6:28
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.(NIV)

Luke 6:32-33
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. (NIV)

Luke 6:35-36
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (NIV)

What does all of this have to do with Evangelism. Everything! Serving our way into the heart of our community is not just a method but a value that reflects the heart of God.

J. Oswald Sanders Spiritual Leadership, “True greatness, true leadership, is achieved not by reducing men to one’s service but in giving oneself in selfless service to others.”

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline. “More than any other single way, the grace of humility is worked in our lives through the discipline of serving.”

Gene Wilkes Jesus on Leadership “Genuine service—an act initiated for the benefit of another hidden from an audience—will always lead to humility. “

God resists the proud of heart. God gives grace to the humble

What is humility?….it is the stark realization and acceptance of the fact that I am totally dependent upon God’s love, grace, forgiveness and mercy. He is my only hope. I once was lost but now I’m found. No room for spiritual pride. Every day I need His grace, I was connected to God by grace, I am connected to God by grace and I will be connected to God by grace.

Eph 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast. (NAS)

Paul asks us to consider, to remember, that at one time / you were. Why do we need to remember what we were? Who we were?... It makes us grateful for what He has made us in His Son. Remembering, softens our hearts toward the people of our world.

Kindness Outreach / Servant Evangelism...A method. Yes it is a method but it is more than a method. It is a life value that reflects a servant attitude expressed by action...that says...It is more blessed to give than to receive.

When we lose sight of the Grace of God we become ungraceful, un-thankful proud people. We become Holier than “them out there” and... forget our nudging others toward Jesus is the reason why we are Christians in the first place. Acts 1:8 We are blessed to be a blessing!

If we are rude and uncaring toward the people in our sphere of influence… I wonder just how Spirit filled we really are. In reality we could be a dead unfruitful tree.

Parables...Tree no fruit... curse it cut it down...Tree no fruit...dig in dung, give it 3 years if no fruit cut it down. Maybe it’s time we examine our fruit...

Steve Sjogren... Small things done with great love will change our world.

'The kindness I’m talking about are practical acts of mercy done by followers of Jesus who are inspired by the Holy Spirit to see others through the eyes of God.' steve sjogren

Paul writes it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. Rom 2:4


Kindness is not an apathetic response to sin, but a deliberate act to bring a person back to God Nelson’s Bible Dictionary

One of the hall-marks of a fruit bearing Christian is... Grace express by kindness.

Webster’s dictionary implies kindness as a spiritual root by defining kindness as having a sympathetic, helpful and forbearing nature.

Paul exhorts us to allow our forbearing spirit be known to all men. Phil 4:5 Forbearance is the ability to see and love people as God sees and loves them.

Remember the bumper sticker… Jesus save us from these Christians.

Our mandate: Redefine to our world who Jesus really is. How? By being a serving, a powerful and a graceful people as we proclaim the good news. These are the kind of people who stand out like lights in a world of un-grace.