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Lent is forty days long because forty days is a traditional number of discipline, devotion, and preparation in the Bible. Moses stayed on the Mountain of God forty days (Exodus 24:18 and 34:28), the spies were in the land of Canna for forty days (Numbers 13:25), Elijah traveled forty days before he reached the cave where he had his vision (1 Kings 19:8), Nineveh was given forty days to repent (Jonah 3:4), and most importantly, prior to undertaking his ministry, Jesus spent forty days in wilderness praying and fasting (Matthew 4:2). Since Lent is a period of prayer and fasting, it is fitting for Christians to imitate their Lord with a forty day period. Christ used a forty day period of prayer and fasting to prepare for his ministry which culminated in his death and resurrection. Ash Wednesday is the official start of the Season of Lent. A season for penance, reflection and fasting in order to prepare ourselves for Christ's Resurrection and for our Redemption. Ashes are a symbol of p...

I've always been a Keith Green fan so last week I finally picked up his biography "No Compromise" written by his wife. It's a must read for any Christian. It's convicting, encouraging, and challenging. If you've never heard Keith's music, imagine Boston meets Journey meets Chicago with a holy twist. His ministry was only 6 years long ('76-'82) before his death at the age of 28 in a plane crash but he packed more into those few short years then most Christians do in a lifetime of 100 years.

This past Sunday we had several people join our church. A lot of people don't see the big deal in "joining" a church They ask, "Why is it important to become a "member" of a Church?" My friend Neil emailed me a great answer to that question. 1. A Biblical Reason: Christ is committed to the church. "...Christ loved the church and he gave His life for it." (Eph 5:25) Notice how the importance of the church is emphasized in these verses: Ephesians 2:19-22, Ephesians 3:6 , Romans 12:4-13 , Colossians 3:12-17 2. A Cultural Reason: It is a testimony to our society. We live in an age where very few want to be committed to anything...a job...a marriage...our country. This attitude has even produced a generation of "church shoppers and hoppers". Membership swims against the current of America's "consumer religion". It is an unselfish decision. Commitment always builds character. It sends a strong message to our society. 3. A Pr...

First some quick observations from the 2009 Winter Jam stop in Greensboro, NC - By volunteering with WBFJ, God spared me from having to witness "Pure NRG" again. - Taking people's money at the door can be dangerous. I'm glad that security lady was at my side to protect me. - Thank God for caution tape. - Thank God for caution tape part 2: front row seats are awesome!! - I need to get Paige on "So you think you can dance". - When will New Song change their name to Old Song? - Having never heard or seen "Family Force Five" I was very impressed, even if I didn't understand a word the guy said. - Brandon Heath was OK, but was he two Grammy nominations good? - Toby Mac may be one of the best "performers" in the Christian music industry. - We need more aggressive church van drivers in the world. And now for my final thoughts (AKA Mike's annual Winter Jam Rant) I've made it no secret over the past few years that I have come to loath ...

My pastor sent me the following article this week. We both thought it really hit home. Maybe you will too. The Zoo Effect by Larry Doyle Last summer, my wife and I, along with one of our sons, his wife, and our three grandchildren, took the Amtrak to Washington, D.C. Among the sights we enjoyed that week, was the National Zoo. As we walked around that amazing place, taking in the strange sights, sounds, and sometimes smells, we were impressed with the incredible variety of the different animal species. Each one was unique, and everything about them, down to the shape of their bodies, was designed for a purpose - a purpose usually connected to their survival in the wild. Leave it to me to think of something really weird. I was struck with the fact that in spite of their differences, all of the animals in the zoo had one thing in common - something they share with each other regardless of their species or origin. They were not designed to live in a zoo. The environment in the zoo is not ...

Having a worship service in our church fellowship hall has it's advantages. For someone like me who likes to keep mixing things up by moving around the chairs each week it can be fun. At other times it can be a bit of a pain having to set up and tear down week-in and week-out. This past week I set up in a hurry at the end of a 3rd-5th grade lock-in I attended and was not in much of a mood to be very creative. So I set them up in a traditional 2 sides, 8 rows, 8 chairs in each row, style. On Sunday morning I was at the front of our stage when I commented to two of our band members that I had accidentally set the chairs up to far from the stage and there was a huge gap where normally it's a much shorter space. I jokingly made the comment, "Well I guess it's just more space for people to come pray." You see although our church is filled with some very spiritual people who are amazing prayer warriors, having mobs of folks around the alter isn't really a common sit...

A few years ago I wrote a blog examining the churches role in reaching introverts and extroverts. It still gets quite a few hits and I even received a very nice email yesterday referencing it. So I thought it may be worth a revisit. Here is an updated version: I have often read and heard it said that a church will draw people who are most like that particular church's pastor or that the church's congregation take on the personality of their pastor. Before you guys start freaking out and going to see a counselor let me explain. I am an introvert by nature. It completely drains me to do what I do in Sunday mornings, afternoons, and any other time we have a church event that I am in charge of. I've always felt like church and church events were designed for extroverts and this has bothered me a lot over the years mainly because it made me feel like I was less spiritual for not wanting to sing or for not always feeling "like shouting Jesus name from the roof tops." It...

I've been listening to the new Charlie Hall CD, "The Bright Sadness" pretty much non-stop. My three favorite songs from the CD have been put on youtube by the band. I thought I'd pass them along... "My Brightness" "Mystery" "Hookers and Robbers"

Not to keep the DNC prayer controversies rolling, but... On the closing night pastor Joel Hunter of Northland Church in Florida gave the closing benediction. I honestly didn't hear the prayer live or had ever heard of the guy before this controversy. At the end of his prayer he pauses and says, "Now, I interrupt this prayer for a closing instruction: because we are gathered in a country that continues to welcome people of all faiths, let us personalize this prayer by closing according to our own tradition. On the count of three, end your prayer as you would usually do…one, two, three __________ (“in Jesus name”) AMEN!" Here is the video of it: And here is are Joel's comments on his church blog to explain his prayer: Open Letter From Dr. Joel C. Hunter—Benediction Prayer There are several things to remember when praying in a public setting: 1. Prayer is not a speech with a hidden agenda; it is a direct request to God for help. Therefore, it demeans prayer to use it to ...

I finished reading the new Mike Yaconelli book, "Getting fired for the glory of God" last week. It's a collection of articles he wrote before his death in 2003. The following has always been a favorite of mine and I was glad it was included in the book. A Freedom Story by Mike Yaconelli In his book, The Easy Yoke, Doug Webster retells a great Wil Willimon story about a young, idealistic college student who ended up in one of the worst-looking housing projects in Philadelphia. A brand-new Christian, this wide-eyed urban missionary didn’t have a clue how to evangelize in the middle of the city. Frightened and anxious to share his new faith, the young man approached a very large, intimidating tenement house. Cautiously making his way through the dark, cluttered hallways, he walked up a flight of stairs and heard a baby crying. The baby was inside one of the apartments. He knocked on the door and was met by a woman holding a naked baby. She was smoking, and she was not in the...

Have you ever been invited to someones house that you really didn't know? Maybe a co-worker, someone from church, or one of your kid's friends parents? What happens when the experience isn't exactly the what you hoped it would be. The meal that was prepared was less then edible. The decor was a bit dated. The conversation was lacking. Basically at the end of the night you couldn't wait to get out of that home. What do you do? Most people would just put on a happy face, thank the family for being such a welcoming host and opening their home to you, and drive away with thoughts of never returning. But what if you choose to do the opposite? What if you complained about the meal all through dinner? What if you pointed out each and every decorating flaw though-out the house? And what if you spent the entire night explaining to the host how much better their life could be if they would just makeover their home to look just like yours? I've heard the argument for a long ti...

Monday night Donald Miller had the opportunity to perform the closing benediction at the DNC. The video above is of that benediction (the sound goes dead for about 3 seconds mid way through but it was the best copy I could find) I for one found the benediction to be as close to perfect as I could have hoped. Don was honest, real, and came across very sincere in his prayer. The problem is that instead of celebrating the fact that a prominent Christian speaker and author like Donald Miller was asked to be there and share the message of Christ with millions of people worldwide, we again have another circumstance of friendly fire. Todd Friel, the host of "The Way of the Master", spends several minutes being his typical loud-mouthed windbag self as he tore Donald and his prayer apart on his Tuesday radio show. Todd is what is wrong with Christianity. His obnoxious rants are enough to make any follower of Christ ashamed to be called a "Christian". He and everyone like him...

After spending much of my full time ministry life in the United Methodist Church, I found this article very interesting. It's written by Mary Jacobs and she nails the fact that most UMCers are scared to death to mention the "S" word (Satan) or the "D" word (Devil). Jesus stood up to him. Plenty of Christians talk about him. And some blame all sorts of evil on him. But likely you won’t hear his name tossed around much in a United Methodist Church. Could it be... Satan? “For the most part, you don’t hear mainline Protestants talking about Satan, the devil or the demonic,” said Jaime Clark-Soles, associate professor of New Testament at Perkins School of Theology. “I think we’ve handed that kind of language over to the fundamentalists.” Though Methodism founder John Wesley talked about Satan in his sermons, the United Methodist Church has no official doctrine on the devil or the demonic. Few Methodist ministers in the U.S., it seems, preach about Satan as a personal...

This past spring I took a group of 15 college students to the Passion ’08 conference in Atlanta, GA. While there, my students felt an indescribable burden for college students not just in our area or country but also all over the world. As we returned home we focused our prayers on what God’s leading was for our group. Through much prayer and discussion we felt God was leading our group to Mexico City. Mexico City has over 100 college campuses but only 45 have some type of Christian influence. We made a few phone calls and ended up connected with Campus Crusade. Now Beth, myself, and 10 other college / young adults are heading to Mexico City. We’ll spend the first three days assisting Campus Crusade with planting seeds on the 55+ campus that currently have no way to hear the amazing message of Jesus and the final three days assisting Louie Giglio and Passion with the Mexico City Passion Conference where over 20,000 Mexican college students are expected to attend. I am writing you becau...

There's a Baptist church across the street from the entrance to my neighborhood that has finally pushed me over the edge. I will try to keep the name hidden so I won't embarrass them . Will just call them GWBC. GWBC has done a long list of things that have infuriated me. So much so that there has been a many of mornings as I drive past it I ask God why he hasn't rained down fire from the sky to destroy yet one more "church" that makes Him look bad. Example one: When their previous pastor was there (a friend of mine) they asked him to resign because they weren't set up to handle his "special needs" sons. Do you know what their "special needs" were? They were BLACK! He and his wife had adopted two African-American boys and his white church couldn't handle it. Example two: GWBC was having a "trunk or treat" last Halloween. The parking lot was full of visitors going car to car to collect candy. (A very progressive outreach for t...

It has taken me a couple of weeks to even begin to put into words my experience during our student ministries annual mission trip. And even now I'm reduced to short sound bite highlights as this was one of those, "you had to be there" kind of experiences. This summer we served for a week with Youth works ( http://www.youthworks.com/ ) in Atlanta, Ga. I've decided to break this walk down memory lane into three parts: The Good, The Ugly, and The Beautiful. The Good 1) The places we served were all absolutely amazing - http://www.samhouse.org/ (aka Cafe 458) - http://www.thefrazercenter.org/ - Set Free (daycare for needy kids) - Bethlehem Senior Center http://www.wesleycenters.org/seniorcenter.asp - Atlanta Community Food bank http://www.acfb.org/ 2) Our youth and adults were all pushed way out of their comfort zones 3) We faced more adversity on this mission trip then any other I have ever been on 4) The bonding that took place between our youth will be a part of their...

I spent last week at Merriwood Christian Camp www.campmerriwood.net serving as camp pastor for a group of 70 rising 7th-9th graders. I've been sending students to Camp Merriwood for over ten years and I've the privilege to serve has camp pastor for the last six. The "tough" thing about this gig is having to give 9 sermons in 4 1/2 days. Some years I've been able to recycle (with a few tweaks) some of my youth sermons from our youth worship services throughout the year. But this time I went in fresh with 9 brand new messages / worship experiences. The easy part of the week is the down time I get just to hang out with the students, take part in their activities, and build relationships. The other bonus for me is that although I'm still "working", it also serves as a bit of a sabbatical as I'm pretty much away from all things "real world". I had my cell phone but I left the laptop at home and only checked my voice mails once a day. It was...

My buddy Mike shared a quiz with me that asked the question - What's your theological world view? Below are the results from my "test". You scored as a Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavily by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Emergent/Postmodern 68% Classical Liberal 54% Charismatic/Pentecostal 46% Fundamentalist 39% Neo orthodox 39% Reformed Evangelical 29% Roman Catholic 29% Modern Liberal 7% I guess you can take the kid out of the Methodist but you can't take the Methodist out of the kid. Here is the link if you want to give it a try: http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=43870

From now until Wednesday, Nooma is offering a free preview of their newest video on facebook. You can check it out here: NOOMA's Videos: NOOMA Shells 020 Rob Bell Facebook

My friend Sam sent this to me. I think it's something good to ponder on... "Is it a Ministry or Just a Job?" If you are doing it because no one else will, it's a job. If you are doing it to serve the Lord, it's a ministry. If you are doing it just well enough to get by, it's a job. If you are doing it to the best of your ability, it's a ministry. If you will do it only so long as it doesn't interfere with other activities, it's a job. If you are committed to staying with it, even when it means letting go of other things, it's a ministry. If you quit because no one praised you or thanked you, it was a job. If you stay with it even when no one seems to notice, it's a ministry. If you do it because someone else says it needs to be done, it's a job. If you do it because you are convinced it needs to be done, it's a ministry. It is hard to get excited about a job. It is almost impossible not to get excited about a ministry. People may sa...