Tag: columns

When I was first beginning college in 1997, the modern praise and worship movement in the church was really beginning to first take off.
As a part of my church staff and a leader for the college group, I was part of a team that organized the Sunday evening worship services for the college and youth.
One of the key components we focused on each week was the message of the songs.
We weren’t concerned about they style or age of the song but rather the message.
I personally feel and I believe a large majority of my generation does as well, that if a song does lift up the name of Christ, then it is not we’ve lost the meaning of worship.
I don’t prefer a hymn or praise song because of its style or melody or the instruments used to play them (or lack there of), I prefer it because of its message.
You can’t deny the power of “How Great Though Art,” or its modern counterpart, “Shout to the Lord.”
If I come to church and sing about how hungry or thirsty I am I simply leave feeling hungry and thirsty. But if I come to church and sing about how wonderful, amazing and awe-inspiring our creator is, then I walk out of church ready to take on the world because I know He is there with me and I want more of Him.
I believe that many in my generation are seeing this more and more and I think our churches are missing the point.
Church services are geared and designed to attract the twentysomething crowd, yet they are putting the show before the substance.
We’re tired of the church as a whole offering up lyrically-empty songs and sermons that have no scriptural-meat to them, simply to cater to our generation and make people feel good about themselves.
A quick search through www.relevantmagazine.com, which caters to the twentysomething crowd shows that we want “that old-time religion” that has meat and substance behind it and don’t need the fancy show that many churches put on.
We want to know how to live our faith out in real and relevant ways.
We love the hymns and we love the praise songs and we love the church as long as it’s real and not simply going through the motions.
Several people in my Sunday school class have come to me expressing their frustration with people in the church, including themselves, simply being fake.
The following is excerpts from a Relevant article, “What makes the church relevant?” by Karen Huber.
“As I sat in the pew Sunday, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Well, maybe that was because there was so much going on visually. A power-point board scrolled the lyrics of the chorus. On the stage stood (well, actually swayed) a worship band which consisted of approximately 10 middle-aged men and women: one with a tambourine, another who whipped out a jazzy guitar solo, and the minister who sat at his piano with a boy-band microphone head-set urging us to get funky with the Spirit. Without ever opening a Bible, the service culminated in a sermon that pinpointed three simple rhyming biblical principles. On the most revered day of the week, I experienced the phenomenon commonly known as a “contemporary worship service” and I was embarrassed. The worst part was this was all done for my benefit – the typical twentysomething. Apparently, this was what my generation wanted.
“But this isn’t even about Generation X. Rather, it’s the need to make Jesus Christ, the Gospel and the Church relevant in today’s postmodern culture. But relevant for who?”
As we look at the future of the church, I pray that no matter what the style, whether its a hymn or contemporary — praise band or acapella — the message must always be put before the melody.
I pray that we will always put the substance before the delivery.
I pray that it will all bring us closer to Christ as we draw closer to each other and bring new people in. May we seek His face and may our face shine with His glory.
May people see us each Sunday and throughout the week and say as they did with Peter and John, “These men have been with Jesus.”

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July weekend.
And for those of you who had Monday off as well – I hate you.
Just kidding. No, seriously – I’m just kidding. Please don’t stop reading yet.
I enjoyed a great time on Saturday with a BBQ cooked for 15 people and eaten by only five.
I used to be really good at hosting and preparing parties and BBQ’s when I was in college.
But for some reason over the last year or so my planning has been a bit off.
I think I’ve discovered a problem that seems to be taking place in my generation and those that are following behind us – a reservation doesn’t mean what it used to.
And more importantly our word is no longer our bond.
Maybe I’m one of the few people of my generation who believe you should stay true to your commitments and true to your promises.
Maybe I’m one of the few people left who actually believe that if a person says they’ll show up or do something for me, they’ll actually do it.
Is it my trusting nature or just my ignorance?
I would love to put the blame on my parents’ generation — a generation who began a downward spiral in neglecting their commitments made at the wedding altar.
I would love to say we’re not responsible for our “me first” attitude.
But I think we’re all responsible for our own actions – no matter what your shrink might tell you.
On a brief side note, I’m still waiting to see someone come on Jerry Springer and tell the world, “I’m a screw up. My parents were great, my grandparents were great, my school was great, my life was great – I just messed it all up. I’m the only one to blame.”
Quit blaming everyone else for your mistakes.
Ok, sorry about that tangent. Back to the topic at hand.
We as a generation must start taking responsibility for our actions.
We must realize that sometimes saying “No” is better than saying “Yes” and then neglecting to fulfill our promise.
If you tell your boss you’ll get a task done, get it done.
If you tell you friend you’ll call, return the call.
If you tell your girlfriend or your wife you love her, mean it.
It seems so simple, yet for so many, including myself, it has become so hard to do, yet sticking by your word goes a long way.

Far better not to vow in the first place than to vow and not pay up. – Eccl. 5:5

Over the last few months I’ve come to believe something – the right is dumb.
Now before you start sending me hate mail, let me explain.
This isn’t a personal belief of mine; I believe it’s a belief of the misguided, far-left.
One of my favorite lines from the movie Spaceballs, and I think is rather fitting here is, “So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb.”
Maybe it’s because they don’t have any real comebacks, or maybe it’s a genuine belief that if you’re part of the right wing conspiracy, you’re just a dumb, ignorant American.
You haven’t experienced the world like they have.
Since I began writing my column last year, I’ve received several letters accusing me of being completely wrong in my religious and political beliefs.
Now while I don’t mind you disagreeing with me, I have to laugh and completely ignore any point you might be making when you resort to saying I’m just a poor uneducated soul.
Am I uneducated just because I have a belief system different than yours?
Am I uneducated because I grew up in the church, or because I grew up in public schools, or because I attended a Baptist university?
What is it that makes me uneducated?
When I was a kid, there were a few comebacks that were the end-all-to-end-all.
When the argument got to these points, you knew it was about time to throw down — mainly because both sides had run out of any logical arguments.
“Well you fight like a girl.”
“Yeah, well you’re stupid.”
Those are fighting words when you’re a kid.
Now I just laugh.
Texas Monthly’s headline article this month is entitled, “Texas vs. the world! Yes, they hate us. Should we care?”
If you haven’t seen it – go pick up a copy or visit texasmonthly.com.
In the article, author Mimi Swartz points out that the same conservative, qualities that the world loved in J.R. Ewing (and still do) are the same qualities they loath in the leader of the today’s conservative right, President George W. Bush.
This past spring a television series entitled “The Texas Season” was broadcast in Great Britain on BBC Competitor, Channel 4.
While the show largely made fun of Texans, it also made fun of the values many Texans hold true to their heart.
An episode entitled, “Texas Teenage Virgins” mocked a group of Lubbock teens trying to adhere to Bush’s faith-based abstinence program.
“Having demonstrated that Texans were ugly, sexually repressed and bigoted, all that remained for the producers was violent. ‘The Texas Solution’ explored crime and punishment during Bush’s gubernatorial years,” wrote Swartz.
The narrator said Texans were big on forgiveness but low on mercy as they examined the death penalty and punishment in Texas.
Now as I read this article and thought about how Texas and many members of the political-right are looked upon as uneducated or too conservative — it hit me — I’ve done the same thing.
When my viewpoint on an issues tends to agree with the left (yes – it does happen sometimes) I’m quick to accuse those disagreeing with my viewpoint as being uneducated or living in a bubble their entire life.
“They don’t know what the real world is like,” I say. “They’ll wake up one day and realize that the world isn’t as perfect or as easy as they think it is.”
It’s easy to call someone names or make fun of their upbringing or belief system.
It’s easy to say someone is ignorant without offering a better suggestion of your own. The hard part is to sit down and discuss the issues face to face.
Someone once said, “Democracy is simply keeping the conversation going.”
But I guess we all stoop to the lowest common denominator when we run out of arguments.

Last week members of the Southern Baptist Convention voted on a proposal calling for all Baptist parents to pull their children from public funded schools in favor of private religious schools or home schooling.
Thank God it was voted down.
I’ve been faced with this issue for a majority of my life.
I attended private school for two years before my parents wisely decided it would be best if my sister and I attended public school.
The private school I had attended was run by the non-denominational church we attended.
And the older I got, the more favoritism and partiality I saw given to the private school and its students.
Yet I think my mom, who has taught in public schools for 21 years, saw the favoritism turn into judgment more and more as the years progressed.
People in the church practically condemned public schools each week suggesting their school was the only choice for good Christian kids — as if somehow attending a public school made you less of a Christian.
My mom would sit in Sunday school and listen to her classmates condemn the public system that she worked for and she had sent all three of her children to.
“The public schools are a failure,” they said. “Christians need to attend a private school where they can learn scripture and Biblical principles. Good parents send their students to private schools.”
Sunday after Sunday we heard propaganda for the private school, including from the pulpit.
I recall three large trophies sitting on the altar in front of the pulpit one week.
The trophies were in recognition for the school choir’s achievements at a regional contest.
Store up your treasures in heaven or on the altar?
It’s your choice.
This attitude eventually led to my family’s decision to leave the church.
The church they now attend is very involved in the public system through its individual members, all striving to make a difference.I’m very pleased that not all churches and certainly not all Baptist churches hold this view of retreating and leaving the public system.
I attended college for three years at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and rarely saw this one sidedness at the Baptist school.
I also attend a Baptist church where the upper grades of a non-denominational private school are taught.
I’ve been very pleased that I’ve never heard any mention of the school at church other than occasional questions during the quarterly business meetings.
Yet retired Air Force General T.C. Pinckney of Alexdandria, Va., and attorney Bruce Shortt of Spring, Texas think all Baptists should pull their children from public schools.
In addition to Pinckney and Shortt’s proposition, a statement denouncing “government schools” as “officially Godless” had been proposed by the Baptist Convention earlier this year.
That too was voted down in exchange for a watered down statement that warned “against the cultural drift in our nation toward secularism.”
You want to know why public schools are Godless?
It’s because Christians have pulled God out of our public schools
Good meaning Christians are pulling their children out of public schools left and right.
Most Christians simply have no spine – that is unless they’ve gathered to protest the latest movie or are chewing out the umpire at a church league softball game (am I harping on that issue too much?)
At the sight of trouble or problems we run away and start a Christian alternative, just so we don’t have to face the realities of the world around us.
We have our own schools, our own music, our own television stations, our own newspapers and our own media outlets. These all have a place and serve a purpose, and I’m thankful for them.
Yet we Christians were called to go into the world — not create our own world inside a small Christian bubble.
We need to look at the examples of churches like Dr. Tony Evans’ church, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship (OCBF), in Dallas.
Evans and his congregation offer a private school yet they have also not neglected the public schools around them.
OCBF has been a leader in faith-based reform both in the public schools and the community.
OCBF members visit two to three schools each week in the Dallas Independent School District mentoring and tutoring the students.
They’re taking time to show those around them the love Christ showed to them.
If we as Christians pull our children and families out of the public schools, who will be left?
The Christian influence is rapidly diminishing in the schools and elsewhere, yet we all ready to throw stones at the sinners living in the world around us.
Christian teachers are leaving, Christian administrators are leaving and Christian students are leaving.
Who is left to be a God fearing example?
Yes, its true our public schools are not the God fearing entities the private schools are, but what more would you expect when those who care about God and fear Him are no longer there.
Sinners will sin – I know because I’m one of them.
And without a Christ-like example how will they know any better?
Christ never expected the world to come to him. He went to them.
Denton Bible Church Pastor Tommy Nelson says he makes it a point each morning to work out a “secular gym” because with his busy ministry schedule, that’s the only contact he typically has with unbelievers. What contact will we have when we evacuate the world in search of the Christian alternative?
Christ hung out with the prostitutes, the tax-collectors, the thieves and criminals — and He loved them all the same. Christ invited them into his inner circle rather than creating a Christian alternative.
They saw His love and accepted His message because He came to the point of their need, presented a message that was relevant to them and forgave them of their sins.
I believe that Christians who are afraid to be apart of the world and share Christ’s love with others are literally telling the rest of the world to go to hell.
Houston songwriter Seth Woods writes, “We read in the papers about the dealers and the rapers and the wars are being fought. We see those who are needy and give thanks to the banks that we’re not… We pass by the whores, the gays, the drunks in the doorways and we try to keep our eyes to the ground. We snicker at the lost and think man I’m so glad that I’m found.”
After all, someone had to tell me about Christ. Someone had to tell you about Christ. And someone needs to tell them about Christ. And how will we reach them if we never get to know them?

Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this–heart and soul–will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls, “Help, God!’ gets help.” But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That’s why Scripture exclaims, “A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God!” –Romans 10:11-15 MSG

Over the past few months I’ve been reading C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia” series.
As I read the “Horse and His Boy” this past weekend I was struck again by Lewis’ amazing use of symbolism and parallelism.
In Lewis’ third book of the series he writes about a young boy named Shasta — who decides to leave home and run away to the northern land of Narnia.
Along the way, like most journeys, troubles come.
But near the end of his journey, Shasta meets Aslan the Lion.
Aslan the Great Lion, the Son of the Emperor-over-the-sea, the King above all Kings of Narnia.
Aslan listens to Shasta’s story and then tells him he was with him every step of his journey.
Those troubles that Shasta encountered and he thought was unfortunate were the same things Aslan used to spur him on and help him to grow along the way.
After hearing this Aslan asks about his friend and why she encountered the trouble she had.
Aslan replies, “I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but their own.”
I think we can apply this quickly to our own lives.
I can think of many times I asked God, “Why did you do this for me and not them?”
We always want to know why God treats us differently than everyone else.
Yet each time God responds, “Child, I am telling you your story, not theirs. I tell no one any story but his own.”
I want to know who, what when and why — but God simply reminds me that He’s been there every step of the way and will continue to be there from now to eternity.
He also says, “Hey — calm down and quit worrying about everyone else. Their story is their story and your story is your story. I’ll complete each one how I see fit.”
Alan Levi writes in his song, “Things that make the story mine,”
“I’ve been working on a 42-year story, acting out a role that’s unrehearsed. Though some scenes have been sweet some others have been gory, I’m wiser now than at the very first. Between my once upon a time and my happy ever after, no stunt man steps on stage to take my falls. No one else can cry my tears or laugh my laughter. This part gets played by me or not at all… It’s those parts I’d change, those lines I’d cut, those scenes I’d refine, those things I’d remove are the things that make the story mine.”
Enjoy your story.
Enjoy the tears and the laughter.
Take it one scene at a time and make it the best story you can. And let everyone else worry about their own.