What Is Missing Here?

I was reading Leonard Ravenhill's Revival Praying this morning when I was stopped by this quotation, "It is not God's plan that the world be merely evangelized ultimately.  It should be evangelized in every generation."  That quote by T.A. Hegre highlights the absolute absence of something within the church today.  The first century church carried the gospel to the entire known world within less than a century.  The Gospel went into the heart of Africa, Asia, and Europe.  From Ethiopia to Spain to India, the gospel covered the world.  Without mission boards, strategic planning, and financial resources the world was evangelized in a way that has never been duplicated.

Today we have all those other things.  We have resources, media, plans, and technology that the apostles could never have fathomed.  But we lack something.  What is missing in our efforts that have resulted more and more in a failing to reach the world in our subsequent generations?  I offer some basic but, I believe, profound answers to that question.

First we lack the power of the Holy Spirit.  I am not talking about a Pentecostal experience.  I was raised a Pentecostal and I have seen the shouting and the tongues.  I have been in services where men and women ran pews and fainted to the floor.  However, the result within their lives testified to the fact that while there was a mighty wind the Lord was not in it.  The New Testament reveals time and time again that the power of the Spirit affords two results.  The first is a changed life and the second is an empowered ministry in the life of the believer and the church.  Whether it is Peter on the Day of Pentecost or Paul in the city of Damascus, when the power of God was present lives where changed and the church was set ablaze.  We need men and women of God who are filled with the Spirit today.  The Bible commands that we are to be continually filled with the Spirit and that does not happen by accident.  We are to seek this filling of the Spirit in our lives everyday.

Secondly, we lack the proper priorities.  I am ashamed that environmentalist will give more for their misguided beliefs than we will give for our risen savior.  For the environmentalist, there is nothing in this life more important than preserving the environment.  This year we have witnessed the environmentalist work to kill an oil pipeline that could changed the entire economic state of our country, yet we continue to see those who claim to be followers of Christ unable to evanglize our neighborhoods.  Either the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important aspect of our living or it is not.  If it is not, then it is time to make a change.  We must live our lives as though the world is lost and that Hell is real.  We must live our lives as though our love for the savior is our greatest love.  We must live like the Gospel is the only hope for humanity because the truth of the matter is that it is.

Finally, we lack a lifestyle of prayer.  Samuel Chadwick stated "Brethern, the crying sin of the church is her laziness after God."  I cannot disagree.  We have placed our focus on organizational change, missional strategies, construction of buildings, and policitcal power rather than on a relationship with God.  The early church had no power, political influence, or financial security but they had much prayer resulting in relationship.  We have much of the former and little of the latter.  Consequently, they reached the world in less than a century and we are no closer to reaching the world with the Gospel today than we were in 1980.  Truthfully, we haven't even reached the United States yet with the Gospel.  I live in a state that has 64 communities without an evangelical gospel witness.  We must return to prayer that seeks after God for his will and his way for his glory.

I am twenty-nine years old.  I have been in vocational ministry since I was fifteen.  I have seen fads, strategies, and organizational alterations.  But I have not seen our world evangelized and I have not seen true revival.  I look at my newborn children and I pray that by the time they are my age, they will not share that same testimony with me.  I invite you to join me in seeking the filling of the Spirit for your life, getting our priorities in order, and returning to prayer as we seek God.

God's Blessings

Moving the Goalpost

This week Congress held hearings on the Obama administration's contraception requirement. As I have looked at the coverage, I am wondering "Who moved the goalpost?" People are upset because there were no women on the witness list to discuss women's health. I thought the hearing was about religious liberty and this administration's policies. I absolutely believe that women should be on a panel about women's health, but that was not this panel. This is a discussion on religious liberty. Let us not blur the lines. The Constitution restricts the government from making laws that prohibit the free exercise of religion. That is the matter of this discussion. Women's health is an important matter, but so is religious liberty. Freedom requires people to make choices. If a woman wishes to have coverage for contraception, then she can choose an employer that offers that coverage. The solution is not to require religious groups to violate their consciences. Let's keep the focus on the main thing. I do not pretend to have all the answers, but to reach a meaningful solution we must allow a full discussion of all the issues to take place. Pray for our leaders that they may have the Lord's wisdom in this and all their discussions.

Ministry From a Distance

As I sit in my wife's hospital room, I am struggling with the many different circumstances of ministry from a distance. I am seven hours away from my flock and I miss them greatly. I struggle with questions about how to encourage and help them in this time of personal struggle. I wrestle with how I can demonstrate to them the love and affection I feel for them from the other side of the moon.
I believe that many ministers struggle with these questions. How do we fulfill our calling when the circumstances of life have driven us away. Here are a few of my suggestions.
1. The telephone still works and people do like to hear from their pastor.
2. Notes and cards to thank and encourage others are always a way to express your care, concern, and thanks.
3. Pray for your people by name often and let them know that you are praying for them.
Nothing beats the personal contact that comes from ministry on the field, but my people have taught me quite a bit about ministry from a distance. As they have reached out to me, I have discovered how I can reach out and minister to them.