Godgrown

Updates from March, 2006 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Mark 7:47 pm on March 28, 2006 Permalink | Reply  

  ACU’s SOULforce 

  Some words on Soulforce, from our very own ACU president Royce Money:

  "From the arrival of the group late on Sunday afternoon until their departure from campus last night, they were amazed that we treated them with courtesy and respect.  One example that kept coming up in the conversations was the fact that we asked them their names and asked them to put their names on a name tag.  Several people remarked to me that no one on the previous six stops ever bothered to ask their name, much less asked them to wear a name tag.  It seems that they did not know what to do when people treated them kindly."

  "Several arrived sick with upper respiratory problems.  Wayne Barnard arranged for them to see our physician, Dr. Tony Rector on Monday morning.  They were amazed and kept talking about it all day."

  "The tone was set for the whole visit on Sunday evening, when some of our faculty, staff and students had dinner with them.  Several commented that no one on the trip so far had ever eaten with them."

  One of the atheist women commented to one of our people, "I may have to re-think my opposition to Christianity, because I have never met Christians like you.  Every Christian I have met before hated me."  

  "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you LOVE one another."  –Jesus
  May I suggest that we must not only love one another, but we must also learn to love those who are diametrically opposed to us?   

  
   

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  Mark 1:35 pm on March 27, 2006 Permalink | Reply  

  Memories from a Past Life 

  Last night was my final night as a paid minister on staff at a
  "traditional church".  Starting today, I am
  "unemployed" and no longer working for a religious institution. 
  This seems like career suicide, seeing as how I have NO marketable skills at
  all (unless you need an ancient Greek translator). 

  This has not only been a big transition job-wise, but also life-wise. 
  The first Sunday after my birth, I was "going to church". 
  Putting on the little suits and ties (clip-on of course), heading to Sunday
  School for an hour to learn with my peers, and then spend another hour with the
  church at large, week after week experiencing "worship services" of
  all kinds. As I move away from the event of Sunday mornings, I can't help but
  think about the impact it has had on my life.  Here are just a few random
  memories:

  - Getting up late every Sunday and remembering that I hadn't done my
  Sunday School "homework".  Usually I would sit in the back of
  the van on the way to church filling it out while Mom and my little brother
  would work on his together.  

  - Bible Hang-man every Wednesday night.  Teacher after teacher drilling
  facts and memory verses deep into the inner recesses of my brain.  Felt
  and dry erase boards were the source of creativity (along with the storage
  closet filled with "fun" toys like plungers and toilet paper when the
  teacher was not present.)

  - Being isolated to the hallway when I acted up.

  - Hackeysack and tag in the front lawn of the church.  Women gathered
  together in the foyer and men standing outside by their cars, both deep in
  conversation while kids poke around the baptistry, exploring its holy spaces
  and magical reflections.

  - As a teenager, attending churches other than my own for the first time was
  eye-opening.  Transforming, emotive worship.  Smoke machines and
  electric guitars were new to me.  Cool spiritual retreats with my friends
  was truly the first time I've given an entire weekend to thinking about my
  spiritual state.  

  - I bought a huge study bible and plan on my own initiative to read through
  the entire thing, cover to cover.  This is a confluence of my
  "facts" learned through my childhood as I understand a God of grace
  and truth.  

  - As a college student, I look for the most powerful worship time and strong
  teaching (best goods and services), most unified body of Christ (or the biggest
  church). 

  - Attend a college class of 150 students.  Continually try to plug into
  ministries to find the same "ownership of faith" I felt as a young
  man in my tiny church of 70 back home.  Never really found my place, but
  was content with my "placing memebership" one Sunday. 

  - Weekly met and developed relationships with the poor in a neighborhood nearby
  the church.  My first missional act done locally.  Probably the most
  profound, transforming ministry experiences of my life so far. 

  - As a minister, living in the "fishbowl" was tougher than I
  thought.  Now my thoughts could represent the thoughts of an entire
  congregation.  Fun to take ownership of my faith and the faith of a
  congregation, although also very humbling.  

  - Mowing the church lawn and raking gravel.  Service to the Lord?

  So many random memories. 
  It’s powerful to see how God works over the span of many years (I think
  I’m just getting to the point where I’m old enough to say something like
  that!).  While I celebrate the old, I do
  not embrace it.  I leave my past where it
  is, and strive for the future, to continually listen for God’s voice – the only
  thing that keeps me truly alive.

   

  
   
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  Mark 11:45 pm on March 24, 2006 Permalink | Reply  

  Proximity 

  I’ve been thinking a lot about “Community Wells” this week.  While I’m still learning exactly what this term means, I’m becoming more and more aware of these wells all around me.  Small pockets of people meet in specific locations and do specific activities together, and form relationships through those activities.  Anything from standing in line at the BMV to getting fresh at a local dance joint; people are always in proximity with one another.

   

  Where are the proximity spaces…the community wells, that I am a part of?  Each morning I see the same people at a local gym, mostly communicating through grunts and snorts, but occasionally an important conversation comes up about life, family and faith.  I subscribe to the ACU library’s catacombs.  You’ll usually bump into some regulars in the library, and stand around a copying machine with a cup of coffee in hand.  I meet each Friday for breakfast at B.O.B.S..  Surrounded by homeless, often the only thing we have in common to talk about while waiting in line is the line itself…and the weather.  By proxy (in marriage) I attend art shows and events in town, and I learn to lean on my knuckles and make strange comments about art I have no vocabulary for.  I meet with a group of bluegrass fanatics and make great music together.

   

  These groups are where I find life happening for me and others right now.  As a missionary sent from God, I’m called to find those pockets of life, and NOT infuse God into the mix.  I can’t you see – God’s been a part of that community WAY before me.  His connection not only into the individual lives of each of those in the group, but within the group itself it manifested in amazing ways…if I just enter into the community as a learner, looking for his work.  This is called “provenience” – he goes before us and works in lives well before we have a chance to impact a community at all.

   

  Doesn’t this take the stress off evangelism?  Knowing God has already been raising people up to hear his Good News means we don’t have to do all the hard work!  We simple cast the seed – as far and as wide as we can.  His faithfulness will continue for all time, we simply have the opportunity to look for him.  It all starts around a humble well, and it ends at the cross.

   

  Where are the community wells in your life?  And how can we begin to look for signs of God in the midst of these communities?