Proud

I am so proud of the people who are part of our church plant!  I'm excited for the recent growth we are experiencing, too, but nothing warms my heart like the stories I have been hearing lately. 

We just finished-up a sermon series called The Amazing Race. It was all about being missional and gave strong incentive to go out and try it. Very successful!  There are a lot of stories to share from that experience, and I will someday get to many of them, but today is about the heart of one of our own- totally outside any call from the church- simply the tug of Christ on her heart. 

This Family member is raising her grandchild. We have an ever-increasing number of these kinds of families in our community.  I'm sure they are in yours too!  Lisa (name changed) works full-time and supports both her daughter and granddaughter, helps her invalid brother, and cares for her own mother. Time and money are in short supply, but there is overflowing love in her heart. 

Last Sunday Lisa brought her grandchild and some neighborhood girls to church. When they went home, she had the opportunity to meet one of the moms and visit with her. This young mom mentioned that she has been wanting to send her daughter to church and was glad she had liked worshipping with us. She was open to sending her regularly. 

Lisa went on to invite the young mom to come to church herself, but the young mom declined, stating that she had two young boys at home with autism.

Lisa let the mom know that they would be welcome, that we have people trained to work with children with special needs, but did not push. 

Then she came to me. 

She wasn't about to let this go. She came to me for ammunition and backup. She asked me (children's pastor) to visit the home with her. She wants to make this young mom feel safe to bring the kids to church- to show her God's love in action!

Lack of info makes it difficult to know what direction this will take. Lisa believes these boys to be toddlers or young preschoolers, and my connections in the school district tell me they are not receiving care there yet, but there is a team of trained people waiting to welcome this family into the fold 

The other part of Lisa's heart is that she wants to come beside this young mom and help her with housework. The little girl she had taken to church told her, as all children are wont to do, that their house stinks. Lisa is certain that it is because of the strain of her family life and that all she needs is some support. She is ready to mobilize a team to clean and care for this lady..

I am so proud of my friend- how open she is to hear God's calling and how eager she is to follow. I pray constantly that more and more of us who gather as Christians would allow God to speak to us like that- and that we would have the strength, love, and compassion to carry it out to completion!

I can't wait to watch and see how God works in this scenario. I have been able to see God begin to work in lives over the past decade and the stories are always amazing. This one promises to be just as exciting!

The Amazing Race

Well, it has been a busy, fun, and exciting few weeks!  We have seen some amazing results from our amazing challenges!  Teams have gone above and beyond in their attempts to earn points and experience this 'missional life'.

Now that we have experienced it, have we gotten a taste for it?  Will we be able to continue the momentum?  Now, we really packed a lot of missional activities into a month, and it isn't realistic to think that any family would continue at that pace, but have our eyes been opened?  Will we see more opportunities in the future?  Will we have the courage to follow-through on the opportunities we see in front of us?

Games are fun - Challenges are exciting, especially when there is a big prize at the end to work toward.  But the goal in RFamily Church's Amazing Race isn't about winning a trip to Branson - it is to spark a new attitude, to open eyes and hearts, to begin to see the people around us with a new perspective.

Every day, in just little ways, you can share God's love with those around you.  Let yourself open up to what God has in store for your day and follow Him where He leads.  The Race has just begun and it is going to be AMAZING!

The Camel and the Eye Hole

I love teaching children!

Ok, so I just love teaching in general, but I REALLY love teaching children.  There is an open-ness of their hearts that is unparalleled in any other age group.  It's what I always imagine Jesus was thinking when he told us that we need to receive the Kingdom of God like a child.

It is also fitting that tonight, when I noticed this difference between adults and children so profoundly, we learned about the Rich Young Ruler, which is the very next story in the book of Luke.

God had tonight's plans already completed, but hadn't shared them with me.  In fact, I started my night with the kids frantically thinking and searching.  But like I said, God had it all taken care of.

We began the evening with our normal routine of reviewing the story video and practicing the Bible Verse and The Point, then went to snack.  I had found a 'game' outline online to try and got it ready, but I was concerned about how it would work out.

The idea behind this game was to have one child 'purchase' various boxes with labels attached, then put them in a backpack and try to get through a tiny space while wearing the backpack, illustrating the Camel and Needle concept.  Well, I didn't have play money AND I wanted to involve all the kids AND I didn't want to wrap all those boxes, so I switched it up a little -

I have 'Tribes' in my class - my group is divided into 4 tribes, each with a tribe leader.  The tribes are small groups.  They always stay the same, and the leaders (older students) are encouraged to get to know more about the kids and really bond with them.  So, each tribe came back from snack to find 5 gold coins in their space. (I use these coins in a variety of ways - they are common items for us)  They were instructed to work as a group to choose 5 items from the room that they would like to purchase or take home with them.  I was concerned about what they would choose and whether it would fill my backpack enough.

I shouldn't have worried.

God took over at this point.

The first item brought to the front of the class was the new 5ft. wooden cross.  The second item was the green butterfly chair.  The third item was our 4ft carnival tiger.  It was going to work out just fine.....  :)

We filled the backpack to the point of barely zipping, then the kids took turns putting it on and attempting to crawl under the chair I was sitting in.  (Actually, my daughter and I were BOTH in the chair to keep it on the floor as they struggled to get through!)

 There were some close calls - two children almost made it through - determined little stinkers!  LOL

But my favorite part was when a girl made the connection to the story before I ever went there through our talk time!  She was so excited about the connection when she got it!

We settled back down and I emptied the backpack and asked if they thought they could put it on and get through this time - of course they could!

"Like the camel and the eye hole!" one young guy blurted.  Yep!  That's exactly it!

There's a camel in the eye-hole, dear Liza, dear Liza
There's a camel in the eye-hole, dear Liza, a camel! - yes, I really sang it!  :)


We talked and we talked.  They stayed close and engaged as they lounged around among all the items they had 'purchased' earlier.  We talked about the things we own.  We talked about toys and video games and tv.

Then we talked about friends and family.

I challenged the kids to identify one item that they use too much and they could put aside so they would have more time to work on their personal relationships.

I even went as far as to talk about how God will let them know what that item is the next time they play with it!  Then we talked about what it 'feels' like when we get a whisper from God - and the kids already knew what it felt like for them, because they had heard from God before!  :)


I am so excited to hear about their weeks this Sunday!  I have some kids who are on fire and I get so psyched hearing about their interactions with God!


But what about you?

What do you have in your life that is getting in the way of building a deeper relationship with those in you family, friends, and neighborhood?  What could YOU put away for a while so that you could detox from it for a while?

I know that God will talk to you about it just like I know He will talk to the kids.

Are you ready to hear what He has to say today?

Jungle Jill Is A Big Ol' Meanie!

Last night, to illustrate Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season, I put my Jungle kids through an emotional wringer.  We started our evening normally, then I had them all sit down and got serious.  I read Romans 3:23, ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God - then proceeded to tell them how they have been eternally separated from God with this sin and that I was going to brand them so that they never forgot.  I tied a piece of cloth around each wrist (note to self - make them longer next year) with the word SINNER written on them big and bold.  I tied them so they could not be slipped off and double knotted so they wouldn't untie.  I then went through each of the Ten Commandments and told them how they have broken almost every one of them, and really honed-in on some of the 'easier' ones that kids would recognize.  At the end I just dismissed them - I just stopped and waved them off and said, 'Go to snack - just go to snack - ' like I was writing them off, like I didn't care.  I didn't tell them how to fix it, how to make it better - I just sent them away.

They didn't know what to do.  They had endured the 'mean' part well and were, I think, looking forward to the part where I told them how to make it better, but I didn't.  I didn't fix it.  I didn't tell them how to fix it.  I just sent them away.  When they were all in the other room I shut the door and about died.  I broke character at last.  That was when my daughter, a seventh-grader who helps me with video and sound, turned on me incredulously - 'Wow, mom!  That was intense!' - so I know I did my job.  Even she got caught up in the moment and didn't recognize it as a teaching exercise.  So I encouraged her to go into the next room and watch what they had planned next.

In the next room, they were being guided through a lesson on baptism - both with water and with the Holy Spirit.  They learned that when we make Jesus the leader of their life (which we talk about every week) the Holy Spirit will cleanse us from our sins and then we show our church family what happened on the inside by being baptized with water in front of everyone so they can celebrate how God has made us a new, clean creation!  I had prepared a 'fat quarter' of beige cloth with 'SINNER' on it and written all sorts of sins children are familiar with all over it.  This cloth was dipped in water as the teacher talked and the words began to fade away. (she was interested in how the phrase 'IDOLOTRY - putting other things before God in our lives' was the last one to fade)  The cloth was clean.  Then each child was able to dip his/her bracelet into water and be cleansed of the sin I had marked them with.

 It was cleansing not only to their cloths, but also to their hearts.  As one child moved from my room to the snack lesson (his mother teaches it) he was crying, ran to her and clung to her and said, "I don't want to come back here any more!"  But after her lesson he felt much better and said he wasn't mad at me any more!  :)  It was intense.  We have spent the past two weeks touching on what Lent is and what it means and that it started with Ash Wednesday, but I believe I set the stage for a season of preparing for Easter in a way I have never attempted before.  God has lead me to do this with my group.  I believe there is some big growth He has in store for these kids during this season.

And I did wrap all this up at the end of the evening - we talked through the what and why of the lesson and then I showered them all with Valentine's Day gifts to let them know I love them very much.  It was a great night!  :)  And as hard as it was to be such a big meanie, if it means someone makes a step closer to understanding their need to make Jesus the leader of their life, then it was worth it...

Oh - and my teacher helper says she videotaped the whole thing, knowing what I was going to be doing.  Talk about a meanie!  That is one video I do NOT want to watch!

The Holy Level?

Today's 'Verse of the Day' really got my brain whizzing today:
     Leviticus 20:7-8
             "So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the LORD your God.  Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the LORD who makes you holy."  NLT
             "Set yourselves apart for a holy life.  LIVE a holy life, because I am God, your God.  Do what I tell you; LIVE the way I tell you.  I am the God who makes you holy."   MSG
             "Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.  Keep my decrees and follow them.  I am the LORD, who makes you holy."  NIV
             "Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I AM the Lord your God.  And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them; I AM the Lord who sanctifies you."  NKJV

Holy:  dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred: the Holy Bible | the holy month of Ramadan.• (of a person) devoted to the service of God: saints and holy men.

Here is where my heart is today:  If our walk with Christ is a journey, if we begin at zero and 'arrive' at 100, say, what do we do with people who are still at levels 1-10?  What do we, as a church, do with those who have just begun to be open to the Gospel, who have begun to let down their guard, who want to hear more, who have become Pursuers of God, but have not made that terrifying leap of faith?

Then, what do we do with those who have made that leap of faith, who are terrified beyond description about what they have just done, but at the same time so full of joy and peace that they cannot explain it, but are still learning what this new life is all about?

I grew up in the church.  I know how it works.  I know what is expected of me, what I need to hide from others to be accepted, and what I can share without fear of rejection.

But a person off the street, who could have any number of reasons for not believing, not knowing, or even actively working against the church does not have that experience.  They only know what the world knows.  They only know how the world works.  They have not seen or experienced how differently the life of the church is and can be.

So what do we do with these people?  They are crass.  They dress provocatively (because that is what dressing up in the world looks like).  They cuss.  They drink alcohol.  They smoke. They holler and scream at their kids.  They spend weekends away with boyfriends and girlfriends and are not married.  They are sinners.

Most of us who have grown past all of that, or who were raised not to go there in the first place and got to start our lives with Christ past that level, have worked past those outward, public, everyone can see them types of markers - the markers that keep us separated from the church populations.

Not that we have 'arrived' at some holy level of achievement.  We all are still being molded and shaped like a lump of clay.  God isn't done with you, yet.  He will continue to point out to you things that you do that He is not pleased with.
      John 16:12-15 says, "I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now.  But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is.  He won't draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.  He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you.  Everything the Father has is also mine.  That is why I've said, 'He takes from me and delivers to you.'"
     That is the job of the Holy Spirit.  He lets us hear from God at any time.  He lets us know what step to take next, what to say to whom and when.  He will speak through our voices and he will close our mouths.  But we have to let Him.  We have to learn to hear His voice, to test what we hear against known scripture and learn to weed out our own thought from among His whispers.  We have to learn to step out upon those whispers in faith and ignore our brain that will try to be 'logical' and 'sensible' and will try to fight against what others might think.  We have to acknowledge that salvation, baptism, sanctification, none of them - none of them zoom us from level 0-100.  We all start on some level and we all walk and climb and crawl and claw our way toward 100, but we don't reach it - not until our life on earth ends and we arrive in heaven or Jesus comes again.  Until then, there is always something that God wants us to learn and do in His name.

So once we remember that NONE of us have 'arrived' yet, we have to look around at all the others around us who are all over the place with 'levels' if you can grasp my concept there.  You might think of them as levels of holiness - how much of our lives have we dedicated to service for God.

As a body of Christ, we often expect all of the people in our church to automatically be at a certain 'level' to feel comfortable associating with them.  Let's call that level 25 just so we can all be on the same page.  So we all are at LEAST on level 25.  If we have gotten to 50, those are probably our leadership circle people.  And some of those older people may have acquired 75 - man!  THOSE are the SAINTS!

But we haven't dealt with the people who are below 25.  Maybe they aren't even CLOSE.  What do we do with them?  If they are actually attending church, they are probably already at at least 15, or 10 if it is just occasionally.  We can't have them teaching - that's not healthy or scriptural.  There is a whole list of things we CAN'T let them do - but what CAN they do?  What do we do with them?

Well, to be completely honest with ourselves, we don't let them do anything.  We don't have them over to our homes because they might corrupt our children - or someone might think WE are doing something wrong while they are over.  We don't invite them to Bible Study because our group is too far advanced.  And truly, most of our Bible Studies ARE too advanced.  We often have a 'new believers class' or a 'membership class' for a while, but until someone has grown to level 25 or near to it, we really don't want them around.  They are too dirty with sin.  God needs to clean them up more before we can be with them.  We wouldn't want our holy clothes to be soiled by their unholy life.

That sounds awful, I know, but stop and really hear that.  Think about it.  It's true!  I'm a part of it myself!  I am a church leader and I have done my share to help cultivate this way of life!  But God has been working on me.....  and I'm changing....

My heart hurts and I tear up at these thoughts!  I get angry at what the church looks like today!  God handed me a picture about a week ago and I've been agonizing over it ever since - we have BECOME exactly what Jesus fought against!  We ARE the Sanhedrin!  We ARE the Sadducees and Pharisees of Jesus's day.  We are the teachers of the law.  We are the leaders in the church.  AND WE ARE MISSING THE POINT!!!  Jesus didn't die on the cross so that we could hide out in our church buildings and lock the door against the evil in the world - that's not what Holy is all about!  He calls us to be Holy - to be different from the world, to live a life that shines so strongly with His love and His grace that people are drawn to us to learn how to shine also - He wants us out there, among the people He loves so deeply.  He wants each of us to allow ourselves to become part of the lives of those around us who do NOT know Him so that we can walk with them as they grow from levels 0-25, then to release them to do the same thing in their circle of influence.  Yes, we are to grow in His knowledge.  Yes, we are to teach our children how to follow Him, but we are to do that AND be out and among the lost.  How can the lost be found if nobody is looking for them?!?!

How many people are in your life who do NOT know the Lord?

If you have to think about that for very long, then I hope you have listened.  Lost people should be in your life and in your prayers.  It may only be one you are working with.  It may be a family.  It may be... well, it could be anything.  God wants to use you where you are.  He has placed you and built up people around you to reach.  Please listen to what He wants you to do.