When you name “your” ministry after “yourself”, who or what are you really promoting?
Growing Up
Might Jesus be saying it’s time to finally start growing up?
See A False Love.
Requiem of Abuse
Thru eyes of hollow darkness,
In the vastness of their stare,
The symmetry of life and death –
the knowledge –
It’s all there.
Whole and Complete
Mysticism, legalism and existentialism – oh my! How about becoming whole through Christ instead?
See Whole Health
Repentance
In the New Testament, repentance means to change the way that we think and act. Without the Lord, this would be impossible. However, when we bring, and then surrender, our thoughts, beliefs and actions to the Lord, He replaces them with peace, truth and hope. True repentance brings transformation.
I love to work in my garden. Have you ever dug a large hole in hard clay to plant a bush? I think repentance requires many of the same steps.
When I dig the hole, I expend a tremendous amount of energy. Being willing to openly expose my sins and faults to the Lord also requires much effort.
Sometimes my feet hurt from stomping down on the shovel as I try to break through the hard soil. Likewise, there have been times when my body, soul and spirit ache as I struggle and my heart can feel like heavy, solid clay.
Come to the Waters
Just some of many who gathered Saturday to celebrate new life!
On Saturday, over sixty people gathered for a mass baptism at our house, involving various fellowships and ministries relating together here in Virginia.
After we buried lots of old natures, and lifted lots of new believers up into that same resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead, we enjoyed a cookout and just hangin’ with each other.
Celebrating
Oscar and Nicole
This is the one year anniversary of a wedding I performed for Oscar and Nicole.
Marianne and I hosted the wedding in our home, and they are part of the fellowship that meets there.
I was very sick at the time, and had to have a stool beside me just in case I felt weak and needed to perform the ceremony sitting down. But I made it through on my own two feet and it was a great time of celebration!
This was a highlight of ministry for me. Oscar and Nicole mean a lot to Marianne and me, and are evidence of how God delights in redeeming lives.
Here’s more of the story…
~ Jim
Pendulums and Plumblines
The Christian Pundit published an interesting article, Young Evangelicals Are Getting High.
It claims that the trend among young people now is towards “high church”, including Catholicism and Anglicanism, where they can find “a holy Father who demands reverence, a Saviour who requires careful worship, and a Spirit who must be obeyed. They are looking for true, deep, intellectually robust spirituality…”
This a clear reaction against the recent fad of Christian existentialism – in all its many forms.
A Statement and Petition Against Sexual Abuse in the Church
A Public Statement Regarding Sexual Abuse in the Church
Part of the Statement – and a warning to “leaders” who continue to promote and affirm fellow “leaders” with a history of sexual exploitation just because they’re your friends and part of your mutual promotion network:
“To be told that wolves are devouring our lambs and fail to protect those lambs is to be a shepherd who sides with the wolves who hinder those same little ones from coming to Jesus. To fail to grasp the massive web of deception entangling an abuser and set him or her loose among the sheep is to be naïve about the very nature and power of sin. To be told a child is being or has been abused and to make excuses for failing to act is a diabolical misrepresentation of God. To know a woman is being raped or battered in hidden places and silence her or send her back is to align with those who live as enemies of our God. Protecting an institution or organization rather than a living, breathing lamb is to love ministry more than God and to value a human name or institution more than the peerless name of Jesus.”
Sign the Statement and Join Others in Taking a Stand
C.J. Mahaney and Sovereign Grace Ministries, Frank Viola and his fellow apostolic “workers”, Bill Gothard and ILBP, and on and on…
It’s time to take a stand.
We’ve seen the carnage – and the cover ups – up close.
We’ve had enough. We choose to speak out.
Join us in bearing witness against sexual predation and abuse by so-called leaders in the Body of Christ – and those who try to cover it up through lies, threats and intimidation.
Grace and Forgiveness
Christians seek God’s forgiveness – not to remove some block in His heart, but to release a block in our heart.
Civic Compassion
Crossroad Nugget
Tragically, some throw off the limitations of pastoral monopoly, only to fall prey to the tyranny of apostolic hierarchy. When will we ever learn?
Intentional Discipleship and Sound Doctrine
Among the fellowships relating together here in Virginia, we’re seeing a deep hunger for mature discipleship, in-depth training and sound doctrine.
That hunger was reinforced earlier this year, when Miguel Labrador visited several of those fellowships. Miguel, with his wife Claudia, has been a catalyst for the rapid spread of the gospel in Ecuador – where they’ve helped birth many generations of new believers and fellowships over a relatively short time.
Like us, they have a “go and sow” approach – where we go and sow the gospel in existing communities, thus allowing local fellowships, believers and leadership to emerge indigenously within those communities.
This stands in stark contrast to the more common “come and gather” approach, which urges people to organize around a single church with its central building, programs and pastor.
To Love and Be Loved
Today is our wedding anniversary.
Our marriage is a testimony to the greatest gift two people can give each other: The ability to love and be loved.
Integrity
It’s great to write books and blogs promoting the role of women in the church, finding “ekklesia”, and all sorts of other local church issues.
But the rubber meets the road when it comes to those with a history of using the church to sexually prey upon and exploit others.
It is hypocrisy to then defend and promote them, to discount the properly issued warnings of their own local church (see 1 Tim. 5:19-21), to ignore the evidence you personally have seen, and to stand quiet as they continue a campaign of cover up through threats and intimidation against anyone who dares bear witness against them.
When it really matters, do you put your values – and the things you write – over personal friendships and your network of mutual promotion?
It’s time to walk in integrity once again…
God wants leaders who’s public persona, words and values match their private lives.
~ Jim
Obedience
Obedience is like the tug of war game that my second grade students play every year on Field Day. Each team musters their forces together and strategically places the participants where they will be the most effective. Then, when the whistle blows, each side pulls with all of their might.
Often I find that my obedience to the Father’s plans is like that. I line up all of my reasons why I probably should not do what I feel the Father 
wants me to do; then, I try and justify my reasoning.
Fortunately, I am usually on the “losing” side of that tug of war because my heart’s desire is to be obedient and to do the will of my Father. However, my response is not always as instantaneous as I would like.
Repost: The Transformational Power of the Cross
The Transformational Power of the Cross
As we celebrate our freedoms this week in the United States, let’s not forget the fundamental power of the Cross to transform not only individuals, but whole cultures, societies, nations … and even history itself.
Unfortunately, however, there are Christian isolationists who deny God’s sovereignty over all of His creation – and the institutions He Himself has ordained for our good.
Finding Freedom in a Prison Cell
Finding Freedom in a Prison Cell, by Marty Friedman
This is a wonderful story of redemption. Marty Friedman came to the Lord in jail, and for two years was part of a fellowship we helped start in the housing unit where he lived. He became a leader in that fellowship, where he profoundly impacted many, many lives. Now that he’s out, I am privileged to call him my friend.
BTW, I’m not sure about that reference to me as his “Sunday pastor”.
Marty, we gotta talk about that… 🙂
Repentance and the Kingdom of God
A number of fellowships relating together here in Virginia have started a Sunday evening discipleship class, focusing on leadership development and laying a foundation of sound doctrine. Most of those attending have a desire to learn and grow in the Lord, so they in turn can help others.
Our initial topic is “Repentance and the Kingdom of God”.
Frank Viola: It’s Time to Come Clean
Frank Viola:
Numerous witnesses, who know you, have confirmed your history of using your position of leadership and influence to sexually groom and exploit young women.
Your own former church, who knew you, issued public warnings after you sexually exploited a teenager over many months, who was half your age and had been your high school student.
Your first wife, who knew you, divorced you for these and other reasons.
Mr. Viola: Those are “facts”, not “slander”.
Until you stop the sanctimonious blogs, cover up and deception – and openly confess and repent – you remain a danger to all.
Crossroad Nugget
It’s not so much the idea of “clergy” that’s the problem, but laity. After all, we’re each called to be ministers of God to one another and to a waiting world.
Grace at Work
The ongoing work of grace brings wholeness and freedom from hurts and bondage.
See Life or Reaction?
Confession
A wonderful blog by Carl Austin on confession.
“If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven;
if you do not forgive them,
they are not forgiven.”
John 20:23
Over the past couple years I have become increasingly convinced that, beyond corporate worship and edification, the primary function of “church” is that of being a healing community. Church as a healing community is a group where Christ’s Body is truly evident in varied spiritual gifts, emotional support, shared resources, prayer and confession. A church as a healing community is one of the places where the “loving others” of the great commandment is made manifest.
Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the sacramental duty of confession in the Body. I also suspect that confession is not an issue of much importance to most evangelicals. My background is both a bit Lutheran and a bit Roman Catholic, and I can recall one of my sanctimonious Lutheran sunday school teachers saying, “We don’t confess our sins to a priest, but directly to God.” The implication…
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Crossroad Nugget
Western jurisprudence has dumbed down liberty. It now means state-sanctioned vice, rather than individual freedom to pursue virtue.
True Church
Do we minister “to” the poor, despised, destitute and abandoned…
Or do we open our lives to each other, in mutual ministry one to another?
Do we have programs “for” the poor, despised, destitute and abandoned…
Or do we open our tables to each other, in mutual fellowship one with another?
Do we “go” to the poor, despised, destitute and abandoned…
Or do we hang with each other, in mutual friendship one for another?
Do we “fix” the poor, despised, destitute and abandoned…
Or do we need each other, in mutual humility one with another?
Crossroad Junction 