The Radical Disciple: some neglected aspects of our calling

"We are neither to seek to preserve our holiness by escaping from the world nor to sacrifice our holiness by conforming to the world."

John Stott is one of my favorite Christian authors. The amount of wisdom that simply permeates the pages of his books continues to convict and encourage me.

I'm reading his latest (and probably last) book The Radical Disciple. While nothing so far has been new to hear, it's serving as a good reflection point for me to evaluate who I am in Christ.

These are the characteristics of radical disciples:

1. Nonconformity--escapism and conformism to the world are both forbidden.

2. Pluralism--can be done, but only with affirming the UNIQUENESS and FINALITY of Christ.

3. Materialism--the Church is too captivated with this secular trend; a preoccupation with material things can smother the spiritual life (Phil 4:11; 1 Tim 6:6; Job 1:21).

4. Ethical Relativism--this has permeated the Church with slipping moral standards (cohabitation, sex outside of marriage, etc). Are there any absolutes left?=causes confusion both inside and outside the Church. ONLY absolute is that JESUS IS LORD--this must remain our basis.

"We are not to be completely rigid in decision making but to seek sensitively to apply biblical principles in each situation."

5. Narcissism--this excessive, unbounded admiration of "self" is a result of the New Age movement which teaches that the solution to our problems is within, rather than with Jesus. This permeates the Church, too. Self-love is one of the signs of the last days? 2 Tim 3:2

A lot to reflect about...

Enemy's Camp

Well, I went to the enemy's camp and
I took back what he stole from me (x3)
I went to the enemy's camp and
I took back what he stole from me

You know
He's under my feet (x6)
Satan is under my feet

How should you feel?

I had two distinct things happen to me today where I decided to do the "right thing." These were both big decisions, one more so than the other.

After the second decision I said to Andy that I should feel better for doing the right thing, but I didn't. He wanted to know why I felt that doing the right thing was equated with feeling better about the situation.

The answer is that I don't know. I just think that doing the right thing should make you feel better but the more I reflect about it I don't think it does.

I guess it's just one of those things. I am glad that I did the right thing, though.

How does doing the right thing make you feel?

What's the meaning of life?

I had the privilege to preach to my people this morning and I asked them very clearly what their purpose in life is. Some of them are seeking and are trying to live the life that God wants for them while others are merely pretending. In such a spiritually tense environment we prayed for protection, for deliverance, and for a blessing from the LORD. He did all of those plus more. We were blessed from the beginning to the end of the service.

We've been really blessed this past week. I spent some time in great conversation around the dinner table with men who are growing in their recovery, in their character, and in their relationship with God. The conversation reinvigorated and encouraged me.

In Bible class on Monday night we didn't follow the lesson plan but instead had a heart-to-heart about what a relationship with God looks like. The 20 of us had a great discussion for the hour as I answered questions about the Bible and Jesus and listened to their feedback. It was a really blessed time. I couldn't wait to get home to tell Andy all about it but was a few minutes later getting home because the class went past the normal time.

This past Friday night we had a special group come and sing for our 133 men in addition to visitors. It was a great time. The Spirit sat so heavily on the chapel that we did two altar calls. Can you remember the last time you were in a meeting and the leader felt led to have a second altar call after the first one was finished? It was one of those times when the meeting did end the men just kind of sat there and didn't want to move. They were still basking in God's presence. What a blessing!

I prayed that night for some men, for myself, and to just worship. As I did I began to reallypray which was such a blessing for me. Anyone who knows me knows that when I truly pray I cry. I can't help it. It's just how it comes from my heart. I haven't cried while I've prayed for the past couple of months but I did that night and it was so refreshing.

We've had some difficult situations this past week, too. One of our trucks was in an accident, another man was injured and rushed to the hospital on the job, one man disappeared from work, etc, etc. While it's been difficult I've been encouraged. God is doing great things among us and as a result Satan is pushing harder but we persevere and claim the great promises of God.

I don't know what the meaning of life is for you, but I've find my purpose and got to live it out this past week. Thank you, LORD!

life moves too fast...

I don't know why but it's always amazing me how much life just keeps moving. Sometimes I just want to stand still and soak it all in. I spoke with a friend in Delaware today to wish him a happy birthday. We both agreed that life is moving too fast but neither of us could come up with a solution to slow it down--only to try and enjoy it.

Why does life have to move so fast? When I was younger I thought that life couldn't move fast enough...I wanted to move out, wanted to finish college, wanted to get married... and now that I have all that I want to slow down long enough to enjoy it.

In ministry I feel like I don't get to enjoy "my" people long enough. Every few months I'm tossed into a new full-time ministry (four places in two years) and with each I have a new group of people to build relationships with and to love...not a lot of time to stop and enjoy being with them it feels like...just time enough to enjoy being with them and reflect about them and miss them some time later on down the road.

The past few months have seen lots of changes in my personal growth and character. I dealt with a very difficult situation at work and it knocked me off my feet for a while. For about a month I simply existed. I didn't enjoy anything...simply went to work and came home and vegged out. I'm glad that's taken its course. Andy was super supportive and loving during the whole fiasco. I love him. I didn't blog during the whole time because I just didn't have anything to say.

Little did I know then was that I was so tired because I was PREGNANT! We are expecting our first child in mid-October (yay!). We are very excited (and I must admit--I'm a bit anxious, too). This all just goes to show that life keeps changing and moving SO fast.

We need to take time to figure out who we are and why we are. I know that I am a chosen child of God, called to a very specific ministry and committed to it more today than yesterday. I know that I love my husband and that outside of my personal relationship with God he is the stabilizer in my constantly changing world. I know that life isn't going to slow down just for me (although sometimes I do tend to think the world revolves around me :-) ) so I need to learn to enjoy what I have and how to cope with the never-ending change.

Growing church leaders

Gordon MacDonald was at our church this weekend and led us in a journey about the rapidly changing world in which we live.

Many of the things he said were truly profound. Each lecture session was followed with small group discussion time. There was a lot of healthy discussion among church members and overall I am encouraged by the weekend.

Our church has short tenure for its pastors. Dr. MacDonald says that a church will never really be able to grow with such short tenure (he says that you need at least five years). What he suggests instead is an intense discipleship model.

While he was pastor at Grace Chapel (the first time) he held a three hour meal and meeting at his house every Monday night with about 12-15 people. He made them commit to meeting together, no matter what, for about a year. At the end of the year that many leaders were trained to help grow the church and lead the church in spiritual vitality.

I listened to a leadership podcast recently where the pastor being interviewed said that he keeps a list on a 3x5 index card with the names of who he sees as future leaders. He then invests a majority of his time in them.

The concept is to invest in a small group of people and train them to lead the future of the church so that it can carry on without the pastor.

That's what Jesus did. It must be a good model.

So, now what do we do?

I've been avoiding the topic of health and wellness because I haven't felt motivated to exercise consistently lately. Usually I run or exercise to think. Lately I've been thinking a lot--just not exercising along with it.

Charity or social change: is charity wasting my time? When is social change in progress and achieved?

We had a group of young adults from other states come and visit the homeless guys under the bridges we minister to. I went around to all of the bridges yesterday to check on the guys (we've had bad weather lately) and to let them know that I'd be back around tomorrow with some visitors. We took them some food and did an assessment to see what they needed (firewood, more blankets, dry socks, etc).

We noticed that at least a few people were sleeping up against the church building where it's covered during the snow and ice this past week. These are new guys. Anyone who's been around for a little bit knows that under the bridge is warmer but sleeping against the building is safer.

We tried to get permission to open our gym as an emergency cold shelter in the early winter but were denied permission to do so. Dekalb county doesn't have ANY emergency shelters...this is a sore subject and a soap box so I need to stop before I begin. Even still, is opening the gym for a few nights charity or social change?

I love the guys dearly. I really do. I enjoy sitting with them, praying with them and telling them that they need to stop drinking. I ask hard questions and kneel with them at the altar when they come to church. It is certainly one of my favorite parts of ministry right now.

I am asking myself where the boundary lies between enabling them to be homeless and truly "helping" them (and who gets to define what true "help" is?). To those of us who are not homeless we think that they should want to stay in a shelter but most of them don't. We are able to help those who want to get off the street and want some help. The rest we feed, cloth, and love.

If they do want to stay in a shelter, and we can get them into one (Atlanta is notorious for not having nearly enough shelter for the amount of homeless the city has) they still need id, transportation to and from, and a place to go all day when they aren't allowed to be in the shelter. We can get them shelter for a night or two but then what? It's just two days later and nothing has changed.

Some guys have been under those bridges for 15 years or more. They are war vets, have disabilities and an array of other backgrounds. One guy is a love child from the Vietnam war. His dad was a soldier and his mom was Vietnamese. He was sent here to live with his father in 1984 and it didn't work out.

Some guys work full-time executive jobs and wear suits everyday. Other guys live in their cars and are estranged from loved ones--too embarrassed to let family know they need help.

We do have some success stories and praise God for Walker still being clean and sober and moving into his own apartment....for William reuniting with his wife....for Paul moving back home with family and being sober...for salvation for several...

I say often that I am not interested in charity but instead am interested in social change. Is loving these guys into the Kingdom really social change or is it just masking mere charity work? Was Jesus about charity or about social change? It's comforting for me to think that Jesus would be sitting under a smelly, dirty bridge chatting with the some men, but would he? He probably would be down at the creek under the bridge performing some miraculous sign and speaking to them in parables. Many of them need to be healed (in many ways) so maybe he would have walked around the neighborhood healing their infirmities. We always hold hands and pray in a circle when I go to visit and I always pray for the taste of alcohol to be taken away from them. Is that really social change? It's certainly relationship building, discipleship and love--but is it social change?

I'm stuck pondering what we should do. We really do what Matthew 25 instructs us to do but is it enough? What about radical change like it talks about in Luke 4, quoting Isaiah, "The Spirit of the LORD is upon me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor." Both passages talk about meeting every human need and we aim to do just that. We teach, preach, and visit in Dekalb County jail. We visit in the hospital, get them where they need to go, advocate for them, etc, etc. Is doing this social change?

Sometimes I guess I just feel stuck. My husband calls it my holy discontent. I want to do more but I don't know how or what to do. LORD, help me!

While a few homeless guys and I were waiting for the visiting group to arrive today it was pointed out to me that people were living on the church property. Now this isn't the first time. We had to ask everyone who was living in tent city on the church property to leave back in the summer because they were unruly. One time several church members saw a few guys sitting on the grass on lawn chairs drinking at 9:30 in the morning and making a mess while they were coming to Sunday school.

Today I visited a man's home. Right on the church property. He was out so we were intruding. He has basically two rooms set up. Everything is covered and shaded from the elements. One room has a full sized bed in it with all the fixings and the other room has a couch, two chairs and some other things. He has clothes placed neatly around and has a collection of little girl shoes, clothes and toys. I'm certain that most, if not all, of this stuff was lifted from our donation bin (I saw two of my things that I put in the bin). The ground is covered quite nicely with a large area rug. That small, tiny spot has become his home.

Now what do I do? He isn't disturbing anyone. He's a HUGE liability. He feels safe being so close to us (as I was later told). What he's doing is illegal--but so is him being in this country. He comes to our church. He works during the day. Is leaving him there charity, social change, or maintaining the status quo? Or is it something else entirely? What would Jesus do?

Call it holy discontent. Call it naivety. Call it passion. Call it whatever you want but what do we do? As God's people do we sit by and watch? Do we comfort ourselves by carrying out charity work and maintaining the status quo? Do we usher in social change?

LORD, I'm searching for answers and for YOUR vision. What would you do?