A Church Without A Mission

In the last few days I have been meeting with a local church working on my field project to be certified as an Intentional Interim Minister. I asked the church to choose which focus point they wanted me to do the field project on; 1. Heritage, 2. Mission, 3. Connections, 4. Leadership, and 5. Future.
To my surprise the church choose Mission. You asked, why was I surprised? Because it appeared to me the church did not have a Mission.

I met with the Pastor and we chatted about the church and it’s ministry and mission, my fear confirmed, they have no Mission. I met with the church board to clarify in my mind why they choose Mission. The board confirmed my fears, they have no Mission. However the board did say we need to do something about getting our church moving forward. I met with the committee chosen by the board to work with me on the field project, again my fears were confirmed, they have no Mission.

I’m scratching my head trying to figure this out. How do I do a study with a church on Mission when they have no Mission?

How would you describe a church without a Mission? Leave a comment, it will help me greatly….and stay tuned for more, I will let you know how this goes.

It's Tourney Time...but does it really matter?

March madness we call it. Thirty-two games this Thursday and Friday; sixteen more Saturday and Sunday. Buzzer beaters, upsets, tears, and joy; coaches, players and fans will experience it all.

I plan to take in the first and second round games at Greensboro. Hopefully the tar heels will go on to the sweet sixteen, final four and eventual '09 NCAA champions. Tyler, Ty, Danny, Wayne, Deon, and Bobby have been a lot of fun to watch the last 3-4 years. I want to see them one more time, because most of them probably will not be back next year. Tyler should break the NCAA all time scoring record this weekend.

But does it really matter? Yes, I will scream at the heels when they play stupid, enjoy their offensive runs, gloat and brag when they win (especially to Duke fans), but in the end it is just a entertaining game. In the end, at least for me and for most, it really doesn't matter.

There is a much bigger game we all are in. It is the game of life, and that is the one that really counts. In the game of life we all can win. We win through Jesus Christ our Lord, He died for everyone of us. Through Him we win eternally! That's what really counts!

But for fun........Go Heels!

Spiritual Lessons from The Radiology Room

I am currently on a 36 day journey to the Forsyth Regional Cancer Center in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Every morning, Mon-Fri. I have a radiation treatment. The treatments are to kill out a recurrence of cancer in the area where my cancerous prostate was removed a little over five years ago.
Being a curious person I asked, what is radiation? The National Cancer Institute says “Radiation therapy is the use of a certain type of energy (called ionizing radiation) to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation therapy injures or destroys cells in the area being treated (the “target tissue”) by damaging their genetic material, making it impossible for these cells to continue to grow and divide. Although radiation damages both cancer cells and normal cells, most normal cells can recover from the effects of radiation and function properly. The goal of radiation therapy is to damage as many cancer cells as possible, while limiting harm to nearby healthy tissue.” My radiologist called the radiation, “pockets of energy.” The pockets of energy are externally beamed into the treatment area.
Cancer cells are unhealthy cells that divide and multiply faster than normal healthy cells. Radiation destroys cells in the area being treated. The unhealthy cells, cancer cells, are unable to recover; the healthy cells recover. The desired outcome is for the radiation to kill out the cancer cells that would otherwise continue to divide and multiply.
Learning how radiation works in destroying cancer cells I thought of a spiritual parallel. All of us are born with a cancer called “sin”. Unless we are set free from sin it spreads in our life like a fast growing cancer, tearing down and destroying our life. There is a remedy! I Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” Jesus Christ is our radiologist through the Holy Spirit he beams into our sinful lives pockets of divine energy cleansing us from all sin.
Every morning I lay on the table surrendered to the radiation machine. The arms of the machine rotate around me beaming in pockets of radiation energy to destroy unhealthy cancer cells. Another spiritual parallel. Daily I must lay myself down surrendering my will to God's will. As I stay surrendered He perpetually beams in the divine energy of His Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 says, “...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” The greek word for power in Acts 1:8 literally means divine energy. My daily prayer is, “God I surrender myself to you, give me your divine energy.” His divine energy is the antidote for our sin. Set free from sin by God's power I can live a life free from sin's destruction. I can live a life bringing glory to God.

A Change Only God Can Make

We had our first significant snowfall for our area in the past 6-7 years last night. Shortly after dark last evening snow begin to fall. During the night 6 inches of snow fell. This morning we woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland. What a change from the day before! A fresh snowfall reminds me of only a change God can make. Man can't make this change only God can! Yesterday the ground was barren and empty. Today it is covered in winter beauty!

The same is true for us only God can change our lives into something beautiful. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! - 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV