Pure Church

I enjoy reading other people's lists of their favorite books, or favorite anythings for that matter. In fact, one of my favorite songs is "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things." I particularly like the

I'd love to hear Bobby McFerrin do "Favorite Things." Here's why:



McFerrin is simply an extraordinary talent. Check this out:



But I digress. Which really is a good word to describe my reading this year: digressed. I don't think I've had a particularly great reading year, though I've read some particularly great books. And here are a few I'd commend if you don't mind being uncool because your titles are a year or two behind (because let's face it, the "what we read this year list" hopelessly entraps us in a "I'm pretty smart because I can read new stuff fast" attitude). Okay, now I digress and I get snarky. Sorry.

So, a few of the books I really enjoyed this year, not because I'm smart but because by some miracle I love to read and someone loved me enough to teach me how:

What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng. Heart-rending is too weak a phrase to describe this book. It's an emotional and at times overwhelming look at "the Lost Boys" of Sudan's bloody civil war and genocide. Amazing use of flashback and Ralph Ellison's invisible man-styled narration. Here's a NY Times book review. And here's a link to the foundation named in honor of Valentino.



My Traitor's Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country, His Tribe, and His Conscience. My brother Michael Lawrence gave me a copy of this book following our trip to S. Africa this year. South Africa and it's people were amazing. A profound trip. And this is a profound book by a man, Rian Malan, descended from the architects of S. Africa's Apartheid regime. This is a look at the underbelly from an insider struggling with all the contradictions of "race," culture, politics and life. Could not put this one down, though you could feel the heaviness of horror on its pages.


The Kite Runner. Afghanistan before and after the Taliban revolution. War, love, immigration, culture. This novel has it all. When you do book blurbs or reviews, it's tough to stay away from cliches like "page turner." But this one was--a "page turner," not a cliche. Again, not for the faint of heart. but a gripping drama inspired by real life events and the people affected by them. This one has been made into a movie, which I've not seen. Don't want that "can't believe they left that part out" feeling you get when books are turned into movies.


D. Martyn Lloyd Jones (volume one and two). "The Doctor"--not J--but D. Martyn Lloyd Jones is one of my Christian heroes. He was one of the first authors I read as a new Christian, and I greatly admire his preaching. After first reading Lloyd-Jones some 14-15 years ago, I've finally gotten around to reading Iain Murray's two volume biography of Lloyd-Jones. In a word, fascinating. The first couple chapters were a little slow for me, but then the entire biography soared. So glad I read this.


Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion. Kevin and Ted are insightful and funny. When I the books opening chapter, I instantly thought of about a dozen people I wanted to give copies to. this is a helpful book encouraging love for and participation in the local church. Well worth the read!

JT posted this update from the Village Church on the pathology report that Matt and Lauren Chandler received yesterday:

Dear church,

In the first chapter of Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes that whatever imprisonments, beatings and trials he may have suffered, they all “serve to advance the gospel” of Jesus Christ. We implore you to keep the gospel of Christ as the main focus as we walk with Matt and Lauren through this trial.

On Tuesday, Dr. Barnett informed Matt and Lauren that the findings of the pathology report revealed a malignant brain tumor that was not encapsulated. The surgery to remove the tumor, the doctor said, was an extremely positive first step; however, because of the nature of the tumor, he was not able to remove all of it.

Matt, who is being released from the hospital today, is meeting with a neuro-oncologist this week to outline the next steps of the recovery process. There is a range of treatment possibilities but the exact course of action has not yet been determined. He will continue outpatient rehab.

The Lord is calling Matt and Lauren and The Village Church body to endure this trial. It will be a challenging road for Matt, his family and our church body. The gospel is our hope and the Lord is our strength. Matt and Lauren continue to find solace and hope in Christ. They weep facing this trial, but not as those without hope and perspective. The gospel clarifies their suffering and promises more of Christ through it all.

You have done a wonderful job respecting the family, and we ask that you continue to do this. They are processing all of this together and need you to give them precious space. Please do not visit them at their house unless personally invited by the Chandlers. The best way to serve the family is to continue to be faithful in prayer. Specifically, pray for the following:

• Wisdom for all the coming decisions
• Strength and peace to endure
• The kids’ (Audrey, Reid and Norah) hearts; pray the Lord is merciful as they process and that their little hearts do not grow embittered
• The Chandlers and The Village would suffer well because of the gospel and for the sake of Christ’s name

As you hurt and weep for the family, do not do it alone. Gather with your home group and with other believers in homes and pray together. This is a time to walk together with others and to endure this trial in community. If you wish, send cards and letters to Matt and Lauren at 2101 Justin Road, Flower Mound, TX 75028.

We will continue to keep you informed as new information is made available. Please be patient with the frequency of the updates. May God strengthen us all and may His glory shine brightly through this.

Please do pray for our brother, his family, and his church.

Yesterday he wrote on his Twitter account: “Path report is 2ndary at best…good report doesn’t mean much, bad report doesn’t mean anything…my days r numbered and nt by ths report.”

"Our best duties are so many splendid sins."
--George Whitefield

Read the excellent quotation on "the archaeology of repentance" over at Christ Is Deeper Still.

Every year the folks at DG put on an outstanding conference for pastors, featuring excellent teaching and joyful fellowship. Here's the trailer for this year's conference:

One Sunday morning, a priest wakes up and decides to go golfing. He calls his boss and says that he feels very sick, and won't be able to go to work.

Way up in heaven, Saint Peter sees all this and asks God, ''Are you really going to let him get away with this?''

''No, I guess not,'' says God.

The priest drives about five to six hours away, so he doesn't bump into anyone he knows. The golf course is empty when he gets there. So he takes his first swing, drives the ball 495 yards away and gets a hole in one.

Saint Peter watches in disbelief and asks, '' Why did you let him do that?''

To this God says, ''Who's he going to tell?''

Today I want to pick up our periodic series on "The Cost of Following Jesus." This is a series where we present a case study usually involving new converts to Christ who will face significant "costs" for following the Lord.

In our opening posts (here, here, and here), we considered the case of "Brad" and his long-time live-in girlfriend and three children. We considered the cost of Brad following Jesus and how the church should help him to pay that cost.

We've been thinking of Luke 14 as one foundation text for this series. There, the Lord says:

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

So, we're left to understand that those who turn from the broad path of the world to the narrow path of the Kingdom will need to count and pay the cost of following Jesus.

Scenario 2: Angela and Andy, Divorcees Wishing to Remarry


Today, I want to introduce a different scenario. Meet "Angela" and "Andy." They've been dating for about a year now. Both are professing Christians; they understand the gospel and give evidence of loving the Lord. They're in their early thirties and are active parts of two different local churches.

"Andy" is a member of your church. They've decided to marry and have come to you/your church seeking marriage counseling and to have the wedding there. As you speak with Andy you learn that both have been divorced. This will be their second marriage.

In Andy's case, his first wife had been unfaithful and they eventually divorced over the adultery. Andy and his first wife were professing Christians. In Angela's case, she had been unfaithful to her husband, leading to a divorce. At the time, neither Angela nor her husband were believers.

Andy's first wife has gone on to remarry and now lives with her second husband and four children across town. Angela's first husband has not remarried.

The Questions:

Can Angela and Andy remarry? If so, both of them, or one of them? Why or why not?

In your opinion, what are those costs in this situation? And how can you and your church help them bear those costs?

You don't have to be a pastor to answer these questions. I welcome your thoughts as a church member who might be called upon to help in a situation like this. The more the merrier!

Don't pretend you know the words to this song. You sing it just like this in the car on the way to work!

After some pressure from various groups, Warren has issued a video and print statement opposing the Ugandan bill that would legislate a death penalty for homosexuals in the country.



Warren gives five reasons for his opposition:

First, the potential law is unjust, extreme and un-Christian toward homosexuals, requiring the death penalty in some cases. If I am reading the proposed bill correctly, this law would also imprison anyone convicted of homosexual practice.

Second, the law would force pastors to report their pastoral conversations with homosexuals to authorities.

Third, it would have a chilling effect on your ministry to the hurting. As you know, in Africa, it is the churches that are bearing the primary burden of providing care for people infected with HIV/AIDS. If this bill passed, homosexuals who are HIV positive will be reluctant to seek or receive care, comfort and compassion from our churches out of fear of being reported. You and I know that the churches of Uganda are the truly caring communities where people receive hope and help, not condemnation.

Fourth, ALL life, no matter how humble or broken, whether unborn or dying, is precious to God. My wife, Kay, and I have devoted our lives and our ministry to saving the lives of people, including homosexuals, who are HIV positive. It would be inconsistent to save some lives and wish death on others. We’re not just pro-life. We are whole life.

Finally, the freedom to make moral choices and our right to free expression are gifts endowed by God. Uganda is a democratic country with remarkable and wise people, and in a democracy everyone has a right to speak up. For these reasons, I urge you, the pastors of Uganda, to speak out against the proposed law.

Our brother catches a lot of flack for a lot of things... but hanging an anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda of all places around his neck? Well, that's going a bit far it seems to me.

This guy doesn't think Warren is strong enough and goes too far with self promotion.

Here's Rachel Maddow's spin. You really don't want to be featured on her show.



But what do you think?

Margaret McSweeney guest posts over at Michael Hyatt's site and offers 12 leadership lessons from her father, Dr. Claude H. Rhea, Jr., whom she describes as "a strategic visionary, a 32-year colon cancer survivor, a member of the prestigious Royal Society of the Arts, an accomplished international lyric tenor who recorded five albums (one with the Concert Orchestra of London), a published author (including his autobiography, a cook book and two song books for children), a Dean of a Music School and a President of a College."

His lessons:

1. Creed.
   
2. Heed.
   
3. Read.
4. Knead.
   
5. Feed.
   
6. Seed.
   
7. Weed. (If you're in the Caribbean, California, or Oregon, it's not what you think :-))
   
8. Speed.
   
9. Greed.
   
10. Deed.
    
11. Exceed.
    
12. Need.
    

I liked the rhyme scheme, and the lessons are helpful, too. Read the entire brief post.

Last night wrapped up our choir's Christmas cantata at the church. Tonight, they sing at the men's prison and there is perhaps a couple other performances at other places around the island. It's been a full week for the choir, and the Lord has sustained and blessed them powerfully. You can see it in the joy of the people who've come to the cantata. It's been awesome. Here are a couple more pics (click the photo for bigger pic and better resolution):

Came across this well-written and helpful admonishment against that kind of "communication" that's almost always a hidden agenda that hurts or divides without ever taking ownership.

The Great A&W Incident, as it’s known around our house, baptized me into the murky waters of church ministry and the sideways, backhanded, upside-down channels we use to communicate with one another in the family. Before The Incident, I assumed we would all talk to each other. Not around each other.

What a naive dork I turned out to be.

It was a small thing, The Incident. But it fit into a larger pattern of crooked-line communication that one day, years later, helped break a church into a million tiny pieces.

Sadly, this kind of communication breaks a lot of relationships--churches, marriages, business partnerships--into a million tiny pieces. Read the entire piece here: "Is Anonymous Your First or Last Name?"

C. Michael Patton:

Friends (and especially young zealous husbands or soon to be husbands), don’t make the mistake of having your passion for ministry end your marriage. Your first ministry is your marriage. If you don’t get that, you are not qualified for ministry. In the spirit of Priscilla: Do you not think that God is powerful enough to call you both into ministry or do you think he only has enough power to call one of you? If so, then he is not a God worth your time anyway. In short, if God does not call your wife, he is not calling you. Period.

Read the entire piece.

This year, the Lord seems to be speaking to me these words over and over: "treasure and ponder." Last week, a brother sent me a devotional study with this as its theme. I'd been noodling on it a little bit and decided to share it at our seasonal performances this year. So, at the Christmas recital for our young children's program and our choir's annual cantata, I've been sharing brief gospel appeals based on Luke 2:19--"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."

Today, Challies linked to a prayer from Scotty Smith on this same text. Read the prayer here. It thought it was encouraging and convicting.

A couple weeks back, my deacon of finance commented over lunch: "How different do you think things would be if Christians treated Sunday as the first day of the week rather than the last?"

it was a great question. The question puts its finger on our entire approach to the Lord's Day. Far too often we approach Sunday as the day we rest from the week gone by rather than the day of first fruits, of beginning with the Lord and shaping our hearts and souls for the week ahead. When that happens, God gets the leftovers and the world gets the best part of us.

On Sunday nights, most of us will begin routines designed to help us get off to a good start for the week. We'll select the children's clothes for school. We'll perhaps pack lunches. Spouses will coordinate schedules, being sure important meetings and outings are highlighted. Thoughts will turn to work: tasks to get done, meetings to attend, and so on. In short, we prepare for the week now that Sunday is over.

How would it affect our souls and our weeks to simply back the preparation up one day so that Sunday is the first day of the week and the Saturday the night of our preparation for all that's ahead? What if we invested considerable energy planning to get off to a good start with the Lord and His people, and planning to give the leftovers to lesser lords? How would we benefit if we lived for the Lord's Day rather than living for the weekend? I think the effect would be noticeable and almost immediate.

Well, what do you know? This marks the 1000th post here at PureChurch!

When I started this blog, it was at my wife's suggestion. As always and with everything, she has been my biggest supporter and deepest partner in life. Even as she opens the blinds in the house this morning, I'm feeling deeply grateful to God for her and profoundly privileged to be her husband. The Lord is treating me better, far better, than I deserve.

And when I started this blog, I didn't think anyone would ever visit or comment. But many of you have, and I am grateful for you, for your thoughts and ideas, for the ways you either affirm or challenge my thinking, and for your being one means by which the Lord continues His work of sanctification in my life. Over these 1,000 posts, I've come to know many of you as friends and co-laborers in gospel fields. I've benefited from your prayers, and many of you have received mine as well. The blogging community has been a wonderful community to join. Thank you for making this a far, far more interesting blog than it would have been otherwise.

I didn't think I had much to say by post 100. Now that I'm at post 1,000 I think I have even less to say. We'll see how things progress, what the Lord gives us to discuss, and how He uses it all for His glory and our joy.

Grace and peace to you on this Lord's Day! May you be excited by the presence and power of Christ as you praise Him!

Thabiti

I've just seen these comments released by the White House. I've not read them all yet, but I appreciated the humble and forthright way the President acknowledge that more worthy recipients have received/deserved the award, and that he receives the award while the country continues in two wars.
Perhaps a few more thoughts when I've read the entire speech.

"America’s churches always reflect shifts in the broader culture...."

That line in Hana Rosin's article, "Did Christianity Cause the Crash?", nearly ripped my eyes out of the socket. "America's churches always reflect shifts in the broader culture."

I don't think Rosin meant this as an indictment. In the article, the sentence serves simply as a transition between paragraphs.

But how woefully true that statement is. And with the force of a sledgehammer, I'm reminded this morning that churches are supposed to be other-worldly. There is supposed to be a pilgrim's attitude and dress adorning the church, a sojourners longing for home with Jesus where righteousness reigns.

It's too easy to beat up on the church for being materialistic. The evidence is too plentiful. We've reached the point where writers like Rosin can even ask if a worldwide economic crash isn't in fact fueled by "Christian" materialism and greed. Rosin writes:

Many explanations have been offered for the housing bubble and subsequent crash: interest rates were too low; regulation failed; rising real-estate prices induced a sort of temporary insanity in America’s middle class. But there is one explanation that speaks to a lasting and fundamental shift in American culture—a shift in the American conception of divine Providence and its relationship to wealth.

Greg Forster over at The American takes issue with the link Rosin draws between Christianity and the economic crash. Blaming Christianity for the crash may be too simplistic, but there can be little doubt that "a shift in American (global?) conception of divine Providence and its relationship to wealth" has occurred. And with that shift comes a fundamental shift in our conception of God himself. No longer does God work in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. Now God works on Wall Street, or at least at my local bank, and his wonders are performed for my personal account and net worth. No longer is God ultimately interested in His own glory in the redemption of sinners, but for many God is mainly interested in me, my prosperity, and my ambitions. Any salvation is a means to prosperity now, in this life. And that has deeply affected the personal decision-making and emotional state of millions and millions of people in the States and worldwide.


A "personal relationship with Jesus" isn't much different than a "personal financial advisor" for many professing Christians. Sure, Jesus is more powerful than your commission-working certified financial advisor; but in the end, it's basically the same line of work.

Rosin describes the pervasiveness of prosperity theology in America's churches:

Among mainstream, nondenominational megachurches, where much of American religious life takes place, “prosperity is proliferating” rapidly, says Kate Bowler, a doctoral candidate at Duke University and an expert in the gospel. Few, if any, of these churches have prosperity in their title or mission statement, but Bowler has analyzed their sermons and teachings. Of the nation’s 12 largest churches, she says, three are prosperity—Osteen’s, which dwarfs all the other megachurches; Tommy Barnett’s, in Phoenix; and T. D. Jakes’s, in Dallas. In second-tier churches—those with about 5,000 members—the prosperity gospel dominates. Overall, Bowler classifies 50 of the largest 260 churches in the U.S. as prosperity. The doctrine has become popular with Americans of every background and ethnicity; overall, Pew found that 66 percent of all Pentecostals and 43 percent of “other Christians”—a category comprising roughly half of all respondents—believe that wealth will be granted to the faithful. It’s an upbeat theology, argues Barbara Ehrenreich in her new book, Bright-Sided, that has much in common with the kind of “positive thinking” that has come to dominate America’s boardrooms and, indeed, its entire culture.

And yet, the negative economic effects of this theology, according to Rosin, occurs among poorer African Americans and Latinos. Case in point, home foreclosures and risky loans:

Nationally, the prosperity gospel has spread exponentially among African American and Latino congregations. This is also the other distinct pattern of foreclosures. “Hyper-segregated” urban communities were the worst off, says Halperin. Reliable data on foreclosures by race are not publicly available, but mortgages are tracked by both race and loan type, and subprime loans have tended to correspond to foreclosures. During the boom, roughly 40 percent of all loans going to Latinos nationwide were subprime loans; Latinos and African Americans were 28 percent and 37 percent more likely, respectively, to receive a higher-rate subprime loan than whites.

In this sense, the effects of false theology on the church is a tale of two churches--one significantly more vulnerable than the other. Rosin's final lines captures where this vulnerability comes from:

Once, I asked Garay [the pastor featured in her story] how you would know for certain if God had told you to buy a house, and he answered like a roulette dealer. “Ten Christians will say that God told them to buy a house. In nine of the cases, it will go bad. The 10th one is the real Christian.” And the other nine? “For them, there’s always another house.”

Pastors who promise great riches as God's will for your life, only to fall back on Russian roulette explanations for failures, are a cancerous pox on the lives of so many people. They shrug, "there always another this or that," and drive out to the suburbs or exurbs in their long Benz. There will be another sheep to devour at the next big money revival meeting.

How can you tell the difference between a wolf in sheep's clothing and a sheep?

By what they eat.

Last night our choir had it's annual Christmas Cantata. It's no boast to say that their performance is outstanding every year. But last night was as moving and powerful a cantata as I've seen. The power in the voices and the lyrics was simply amazing.

I don't have any video or audio yet--perhaps someone will post some soon. But here's a pic from the Adams:

Read this over at Z, and decided to get back to my sermon for Sunday!

From Henry Cloud’s book The One-Life Solution: Reclaim Your Personal Life While Achieving Greater Professional Success:

The most effective people I know are people who have times when they give their entire focus to whatever they are working on — and there is no way they are going to stop what they are doing to see what just showed up in their in-box or on their BlackBerry. Certain blocks of time are guarded, and an e-mail or a phone call is not going to interrupt them or change the agenda.