Finish

The start of 2010 signals the end (Lord willing!) of our seminary education and preparation. If we stay on target, I will finish my Masters of Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary this December. So Heather and I have chosen Finish Strong as our life theme for this year.

When we came to DTS in 2007, we had a number of goals. As students of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, we wanted to complete seminary without taking any student loans. God has provided over the last three years as Heather and I have paid over $30,000 in cash for tuition and books. As we enter the final stretch, our savings have run out and we need your help.

To finish seminary debt free, we need $6,000 for this final year. But we know what a difficult time it is for so many of our friends and family who have suffered because of the recent recession.

So our idea was this:

If 100 friends

gave $10 a month

for 6 months

Then we would have the $6,000 we need to finish strong! These funds will be used for DTS tuition and will allow me to take upper level courses in Preaching, Pastoral Ministry, Bible Exposition, and Hebrew. Graduating from seminary debt free will allow us to fully and freely pursue God's call wherever He sends us - without worrying about how to pay off student loans.

We will also give 10% of everything we receive to Compassion International's Global Food Crisis Fund - and together we can feed four hungry children for one full year!

So would you help us Finish Strong today? You can subscribe to give $10 a month.

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We also invite you to pray with us as we finish seminary and ask God what He wants us to do next. Its such an exciting time in our lives and we are thankful that you are a part of it!

We will keep you updated about our progress this year and let you know when we have reached our goal.

Thank you for praying for us and partnering with us to Finish Strong this year!

Globe

I have three weeks until my next class. So I picked up the 15 best books I could find on church leadership, trends, small group development, outreach, etc. I won't be bored but I will have proved my incurable dorkiness.

First book was "Sticky Church" by Larry Osborne. Its a book about how small groups can close a church's back door. He hits some models I prefer pretty hard but makes good arguments. Will be interesting to try to apply some of his perspective to the LifeGroup challenges we are facing at Legacy.

Second book was "The Monkey and the Fish" by Dave Gibbons. He writes about how globalization has changed the world and left the church behind. He challenges church growth people not to simply reach others like them but to really reach out to all of our neighbors in such a diverse and connected planet. He is offended by the many efforts to make church more comfortable for people at the expense of loving, serving and growing people. He calls us to causes that are worth giving our lives for. And I am left wondering. He is undoubtedly right as he describes what business leaders have known for at least a decade (see Tom Friedman's books "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" and "The World is Flat").

And here's the thing - as I'm reading this book, Heather and I experience the impact of globalization. At a church meeting, we heard about www.kiva.org, a website that allows people to give micro-loans to impoverished entrepreneurs around the world. We sat in our living room in suburban Dallas and viewed business opportunities in countries like Sierra Leone, Indonesia, India, and Nigeria. And with a click of a button, we could invest in these start-ups - thereby improving quality of life in a village thousands of miles from us.

I have a globe on my desk - a Christmas gift from my grandma. Its the size of a basketball. Apparently the globe in which God is calling us to serve and minister is not much bigger. So what does the church do? What is church in a world like this? What does it look like? How do I lead? How do I partner with people across the world? And so I wonder . . .

Endings

I'm a bit sentimental and I confess that I always hope the last class of the semester is special and memorable.  But I've always been let down as our seminary professors hold us five minutes over to rush through the last bit of information they want to share.  This semester ended differently though - in a way I hope to never forget.

My first last class was with Dr. Aubrey Malphurs and covered pastoral leadership.  It was a very relevant class with more practical information than most.  Five minutes before our class ended, he said this: "Men, I would like to pray for you as we finish up this class."  Now praying during class is not unusual at DTS - we open most of our classes with a word of prayer.  It was his next sentence that took me back.  "Would you take a knee?"  I have never bowed in prayer at DTS - honestly, I rarely bow in prayer ever, anywhere.  But Dr. Malphurs hit the floor and we all followed his mystically spiritual lead.  And he prayed for us - for our summer, for the future ministry God is calling us to.  He prayed and our posture helped focused my heart, mind, and spirit in a powerful way.  

But I still had more classes to go.  

The last last class of the day was a Bible Exposition class covering Hebrews - Revelation with Dr. Toussaint.  You have to understand that Dr. Toussaint just turned 81  in April and he has been teaching at DTS since the early 60s.  He loves the Lord in a deep, abiding, passionate manner and he knows his Bible.  I was really excited for the last day of his class because we were covering the end of Revelation - the end of the whole Bible.  Sadly, we were running behind in the class and I wasn't sure we were going to make it.  

But by God's grace we did.  We read Rev 22.21 out loud as a class: "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all."  Then Dr. Toussaint said, "That's it.  That is the end of the New Testament - that is the end of the Bible." All of us stared back in silence, absorbing the end of God's book.  Then this (tous)saint said, "now turn to Malachi 4."  I was leaning so far forward with expectation I almost broke the table.  I was so excited to see what was next - and I knew that Malachi 4 is the last chapter of the Old Testament.  The last verse of Malachi 4 reads, "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."  Dr. T told us that Jewish scribes often repeated the first part of the verse again at the end because they did not want their sacred book to end with a promise of God's judgment.  Now compare the endings of the Old and New testaments: one promises judgment while another offers grace.  Grace because we can never do anything to escape the judgment of holy, perfect God.  Grace because God is love and He desperately wants to be with us.  Grace because of who the Triune God really is.  Grace.  Grace.  Grace.  

And it is in that grace that we encounter the only One who can turn the hearts of fathers to children and redeem and restore what is broken.  It is in that grace that we encounter praying professors seeking God's will for our lives.  It is in that grace that we have a Book so perfect and complete that tells the great story in which we are now a part.  It is in that grace that we find a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth healing the sick and raising the dead as He exegetes God (John 1.18).  It is in that grace that we find the only One who can redeem us from the divine wrath our depravity deserves and demands.  It is the grace that led Jesus to the cross and leads us to new life now and forever.  

And so now we join John's prayer at the end of Revelation: "Come, Lord Jesus."  

And may "the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all."  

But

Last night we watched The Passion of the Christ. I stopped the movie as they were taking Jesus off of the cross. “This is as far in the story as the disciples went,” I explained to Heather and Mom. It left us without the assurance of victory and we instead went to bed confused, fatigued, and even a bit afraid. I hardly slept because there had been no closure. The vivid images of His scourging were a constant, haunting companion as Texas thunderstorms passed over our house. It is as close as I have ever felt to sharing in the experience of Jesus’ closest friends as they witness His horrific crucifixion.

BUT.

This is the most important word in Scripture. Luke 24.6 captures the words of the two male angels: He is not here, BUT He has been raised. Ephesians 2.1-4 tells us that we were dead in our trespasses and sins BUT God being rich in mercy made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him.

BUT.

This word of contrast invites us on the greatest journey of life - turning away from death, emptiness and evil to resurrection, fulfillment and purpose.

Thank You Jesus for the cross and thank You for the BUT of the empty tomb. Thank You for making us alive in You instead of leaving us dead in our evil and debt.

Thank You for replacing the confusion of Good Friday with the clarity of Easter Sunday.

I confess that Jesus is the Son of God, the final and perfect sacrifice, the Messiah, the Savior, the One who saves now (Hosanna), the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, our perfect high priest, the agent of creation, the giver of Life, the Word, the Beginning and the End.

And "till I see You face to face and grace amazing takes me home," please let me always trust and serve You.

Generations

There are certain phrases you don’t want to hear before boarding a plane. Waiting to board my flight to Baltimore this morning, I heard one: “We would like to invite all of our unaccompanied minors to board the plane first. All 39 of them.” As the rest of us processed the meaning of the announcement, there were collective groans and sighs. And I confess that I too was concerned about how this would impact the flight – until I saw these 39 students. All of them were wearing white polo shirts with the inaugural seal on them – heading to DC to witness a great moment in American history.

In an amazing scene, I saw a black girl dropped off at the gate by her mother and her grandmother. Mom and Gram were both wearing Obama’s Yes We Can! buttons. This girl’s grandmother was clearly born into a segregated nation and I suspect that she sat in the back of the bus and used the ‘colored’ restroom not so long ago. Yet her granddaughter will see with her own eyes a black man named Barack Hussein Obama become the President of the United States in just three days.

As these students witness our country turning the page on a very difficult eight years, as they observe the peaceful transfer of power from one party to another, as they see with their eyes the almost unbelievable scene of the first African-American president taking his historic oath of office, I wonder what fires may start burning deep within them. I wonder how this trip may change the trajectory of their lives as they grasp the hope and optimism of this moment.

And I celebrate – for the first time in a while – a deep, abiding pride in this people called America and in the path we have chosen. Not just for the sake of my family – but for the sake of these students and their future.

Change

This has been a year of change - for our country and for me.  Though I was raised in a Democrat household and was involved in anti-death penalty activism in high school, I became a conservative Republican soon after trusting Jesus in the eleventh grade.  I attended a banquet for a crisis pregnancy center and was deeply moved by the sanctity of life issue.  I left that event a pro-life conservative Christian who evaluated candidates one one issue alone - their stance on abortion.  

I served in the leadership of a county Republican party organization and ran for city council in my city on a a conservative platform.  I volunteered for George W. Bush's presidential campaign in both 2000 and 2004.  

But in 2005, I started having second thoughts.  

President Bush nominated Harriett Myers to serve on the US Supreme Court and it was not even clear that she was committed to review or overturn Roe v. Wade.  

The war in Iraq took an ugly turn as American troops started dying at an unthinkable rate.  

I started realizing that this President struggled to string together a coherent sentence.  

And earlier this year, I started reading.  Two books.  Failing America's Faithful by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Souled Out by E.J. Dionne.  Both offered a more liberal view (both politically and theologically) about the role of faith in politics.  Dionne specifically challenged the idea that conservative Republicans like George W. Bush were advancing the values of the Christian faith and presented clear evidence of Bush's attempt to manipulate values voters to win two elections.  Some of the things I read in these books made me very angry.  But my main take-away was that perhaps the teachings of Christ could apply to more issues than just abortion or gay marriage.    

Despite all of this, I supported Mike Huckabee during the Republican primaries.  As his campaign was winding down, another campaign was just beginning - Barack Obama's campaign to bring change we can believe in.  

I watched his speech the night he won the Iowa caucus - and got goosebumps even though I disagreed with much that he said.  

I continued to watch his campaign from a distance.  When he came to Dallas, I went to the rally. But I only clapped once (when he mentioned helping students pay for college) and I never once chanted "Yes We Can."  

When John McCain won the GOP nomination, I was concerned.  I have never trusted McCain or supported many of his policies. 

And as I reviewed all that I had observed and learned in the last number of years, I found a strange freedom to consider voting for a Democrat candidate for President.  

The more I listened to Barack Obama, the more I heard him communicate the frustration I have felt about our country in recent years.  His words and policies reawakened a hope and optimism in this country and in our people that had been dormant for many years under the Bush administration.  

And I started chanting "Yes We Can."  

When I shared this new conviction with friends from DTS, the response was surprising.  One student looked me straight in the eye and told me that he did not understand how a Christian could vote for Barack Obama.  Another said, somewhat jokingly, that my support for Obama just showed how far a Christian could fall.  

Against this background, I watched "Christian" conservatives pray that God would rain out Obama's historic, outside acceptance speech.  I watched the Pennsylvania Republican Party run ads in the last weekend of the election using Obama's relationship with Jeremiah Wright in a way that was clear fear mongering and race baiting.  I received emails from Christians castigating their fellow brother in Christ as a secret Muslim and spreading other nefarious lies easily disproved in a quick Google search.    

Then the election happened and we made history.  

But the church continued its self-centered, sulking behavior.  Most at DTS were silent.  Few people brought up the election.  One person asked a friend of mine who voted for McCain if I was rubbing salt in his wound.  I heard a handful of pastors and teachers begin talking about the persecution facing the church and warning against the rise of the Anti-Christ.  In the library at DTS, I heard this concession: "If the Apostle Paul could pray for Nero, then I guess I can pray for a President Barack Obama."  (In case you do not know, Nero was the Roman emperor who lit his gardens by burning Christians and entertained his people by sacrificing Christians to animals in the Colisseum.)    

And in the last three weeks, I have realized that the church has chosen to become just another special interest group clamoring for the attention of the powerful.  Its strategy to advance its concerns has been to partner almost exclusively with the Republican party and its platform.  In pursuing ends that are sometimes righteous, it has used means that rarely are.  

And I reject this type of politics and and this hypocrisy.  

So I am searching - myself, my story, my spiritual journey - to find my place in the body of Christ.  I am wondering how to engage the public square as an ambassador for Christ - the God who became flesh, spent time with the poor and powerless, healed the sick, and died at the hands of the powerful.  Thankfully, I am finding those within the body of Christ who have this same heartbeat and passion.  

And I anticipate the change God will continue working in me, in the church and in our country during this season . . . 

  

Whose?

I've loved politics since I was in the second grade.  And though my political understanding has evolved over time, I have always been a self-described Christian conservative.  Until recently. For a variety of reasons, I have slowly moved away from being the typical pro-life, pro-war, pro-gun, anti-tax Christian conservative that I used to be.  

For the first presidential election in my adulthood, I have felt the freedom - indeed, the urgency - to carefully examine both candidates and decide who to vote for.  As I've discussed the choices with many people, I have heard some very pointed, poisonous attacks about Barack Obama.  

A quick survey of my email reveals these types of comments:

Watch this video of Obama making fun of the Bible

Dr. James Dobson is praying that the Obama speech [at the Democratic convention held in an outdoor stadium] is rained out.  

Read Mrs. Obama's college thesis (scary stuff) 

Now, I am not here to address such attacks because Lithos is not the place to such a thing.  But I am deeply saddened as I watch fellow brothers and sisters in Christ spread fear and lies about a presidential nominee.  

Most of it does not strike me as, well, very Christlike.  

And here is what I realized talking on the phone with my mom tonight.  John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Association of Churches, often said this: "Everyone is someone's fool, whose fool are you?"  

I've been a fool for the Republican party.  I've been a fool for George W. Bush (twice).  And this year I have been very tempted to be a fool for Barack Obama.  

But tonight I have rejected that whole paradigm.  

I only want to be a fool for Jesus Christ, the Jewish carpenter from Nazareth.  I want His bumper sticker on my car, His pin on my lapel, His grace, love, and truth in my heart.  I don't want to trade one fallible, fallen president for another - I want to serve the President "who was, who is, and who is to come."  

I want to reject a politics that says I must attack or disdain those I disagree with.  I want to pray for my enemies and those who oppose me.  I want to trust that God is in charge of all the earth and has sovereignly chosen already the President of the United States for the next four years.  

This does not mean that I am abandoning my love of all things political. Or turning off Hardball, Countdown, The Situation Room, or AC360.  Or that I am staying home of Election Day.  But it does mean that I will pray for the grace and wisdom to approach these activities and my opinions differently, more like my King would.  

And I hope for the sake of the cross and the credibility of the church, more of my brothers and sisters will decide whose fool they are this contentious election year - and choose the radical carpenter peasant with the wounds forever in His loving hands.