He gave us a list of things that we can be tempted in as we walk down the road to church planting (or anywhere in leadership for that matter):
Perform, Pretend, Control, Worry, Hate
Perform, Pretend, Control, Worry, Hate
bootcamp diary entry: Tuesday flight
I was wondering when one comes to grips with being identified with the idea that you now introduce yourself as a "church planter"? What in the world must that sound like to someone who is unchurched. Heck even the term unchurched is foreign to the unregenerate. Crap! Unregenerate? When was the last time you used any of these words in a sentence outside of church?
bootcamp diary entry: Tuesday Arrival at apartment
Really nice section of town. God provided a great location for us- within walking distance of our conference. We ate at a local pub and had awesome pizza and a beer- turns out we think it was a gay bar. Anyway, I was thinking over the day. Work, then a funeral, then vote, then pack, then fly here, then eat with my buds. God did some amazing things today. He powerfully forged ahead of my wife as we attended a very tense funeral. A time that I thought would fill her with fear and strangle her with inferior thoughts turned out to be wonderfully smooth. She summed it up on the way there, "if fear controls us then there's no room for Christ to control us". Pretty good day.
Some thoughts on our church planting trip:
bootcamp diary entry: Tuesday night flight
In the air now, somewhere over western PA, with two fellow church planters. How do I know they are going to be good planters? Well, one has their bible open to the first letter Paul wrote to the Thessalonians and the other is reading Community by Brad House. I am highlighting in The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller. I am wondering what God will do after we return. I guess I am concerned about this crazy notion that the God of creation actually needs our help to build His church. I find out tomorrow how this thing works from people who have already navigated through the struggles, sacrifices, and special blessings of starting a church.
"Glassboro looks a lot bigger when I look at is as a mission field." Post to TwitterThen a man with a limp started tripping down the escalator.
This post was written by John Gruber back in 2008. The truths still apply today, so we'd like to share them with you. Enjoy!I used to think there were only two certainties in life- death and taxes. While the one is inescapable the other is a constant drain on all the oppressed who are blessed with an income. There is however another definite constant that is unavoidable. It is undeniable and blatantly obvious. It goes on in us and around us everyday. It even happens while we are sleeping. It is change. I write this as a person who is changing and I am writing to you, a person who is different today than you were yesterday, last week, last month, last year.
"To say we do not change is to deny a fundamental truth of human existence." Post to Twitter
"So critical is our need to be changed into the image of Christ that God has a no-holds-barred approach in our sanctification process." Post to TwitterI think of the changes over the past several years in my own life. It seems that the most dark and troublesome times brought about the most deep and lasting change. Those things I feared greatly were used to strip me of the nuts and bolts that I thought life in Christ was all about. My journey began as my wife, Pat, regressed into depression- a depression so deep that our lives were turned inside out. What used to be safe and secure was stripped away. Confidences in finances, job security, physical health, family, friends, church, home, and worst of all, faith evaporated in a few horrific months. Feet that found safety on the firm ground of “normal” found a slippery slope that slid down to a dark, foreboding pit. Hope in God met squarely with hope in medicine. Faith in God looked face to face with reliance on self. There was no comfort, there was no relief, there was no joy, there was no light. Looking back, I still shutter at the shear horror of that time. I don’t wish it on anyone, in fact I would rather trade places with someone in the pit of depression. I can say this because I know that lasting change has at its very core in a God who changes what we call bad and arduous into something good and holy. So here I am, changed. Seeing in retrospect what was the only solution possible to mold and make Pat and me into children of the King that look more like Him and function in ways that bring Him glory. Those of you reading who know me, know that this child of the King isn’t perfect yet. I need more change, don’t I? Perhaps it will come slow and comfortably, perhaps it will come swiftly and painfully. There are no guarantees as to how God will grow us, but this one fact shows His great and abiding grace and power- He will change us and He will change us for our good and His eternal purposes. Isn’t that worth rejoicing over!