Now is the time…

by Lon on April 8, 2005

in Character

Since birthing our small group into three separate groups in January, the one that Yvonne and I lead hit 15 people last night! It’s absolutely amazing how God has wired us all to long for life in community and yearn for truth in our lives.

We continued our study through the Scriptures in James. Our encouraging verse for the night was “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishe” (James 4:14) We discussed how we devalue the time that God gives us. How from God’s perspective there are no unimportant moments in our life. Every moment must be treated as sacred. We all have dreams and visions, but the challenge is not letting the future cripple us and allowing the future to rob us of the God-ordained present moment that we do have.

Is it possible that some of us keep ourselves so busy with knowing more about what God’s will is in our lives – just to avoid doing what we already know is on God’s heart?

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It is finished…

by Lon on April 5, 2005

in Community,life,seminary

I’ve finally completed my last major paper. Here it is, on missiological ecclesiology. I have no idea what that really means either, but it sure sounds cool. I stumbled along two excellent books in my research. Spontaneous Expansion of the Church by Roland Allen (Which Alex McManus had also recommended reading) and Shaped by God’s Heart by Milfred Minatrea. Underneath all the boring systematic theology and research, the gist of the paper was arguing for the necessity of a missional church, anything less being unbiblical.

In other important news the pope passed away and I bought a playstation2. What a wretched person I am. I’m sure there’s enough commentary bombarding media and the web regarding the pope. But for the record, from the little that I do know of him, he rocked. His ecumenical push, continued boat-rocking in reforming the papacy, and humanitarian voice has been a blessing to this planet. We discussed in class last night, how he refused to relinquish the papacy, not out of pride, but to show the world an example of a life refusing to rest. That even in his frailty God could use him. This reminds me of when Augustine declared, “My heart will not rest until I rest in Thee’.

So the Lord led me to buy the ps2… yeah right. It was actually the completion of a long unfulfilled boyhood dream of owning a game system. Yvonne really wanted the “Karaoke Revolution” games, and that helped pushed the decision over. Now if only I could come up with a way to use this for ministry purposes…

Here’s a secret. I’ve never been a very special person. I was born as ordinary as it gets. Embarrassed even of the name that I was given. I lived with mediocrity by finding a way to be the best at it. But something changed along the way.

Today, I stand amazed at the things that I have accomplished, the risks that I have taken, and the dreams and passions that burn within me. They are a direct result of the love of God working through the people around me. Whatever hint of goodness and greatness that I’ve discovered within my soul is because people inspired it out of me. None of it was my own doing. I am so very thankful to the countless people who have prayed for me, encouraged me, and told me that ‘with God I could do it’, both people that have been close and those who have reached me from a distance. I’ve never lived a life deserving these gifts, wonders, and precious relationships, and now I find myself with them in abundance.

This morning I woke up with a single phrase echoing in my head. I’m awake! The Lord must want me to live today!

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Chasing lights in the dark

by Lon on March 18, 2005

in seminary

It’s been an incredible journey the last while, I haven’t had time to post. Which is great in a way, since for the most part we really should be more busy living than busy writing about living. Some amazing interactions the last week with different people, spoke at a workshop for Teen’s Conference, completed some long overdue goals, wrapping up an online class with Erwin and Alex McManus this week, and knee deep in papers again.

Some solid updates coming soon. I think God likes working in the dark…

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Faith…

by Lon on March 5, 2005

in Faith

This week our small group continued our journey through the scriptures, stopping over at James 2:14-26, the popular faith and works passage. What is amazing about James is the way he bluntly hammers out the truth, breaking out the type of faith that Jesus actually died for.

So often, faith is equated with an emotional experience. That if we just work up the emotional excitement and feel passionately about it, then we have faith. Or on the flipside we reduce what the scriptures mean by faith into merely being informed or believing the right stuff about God. Although our feelings and our understandings regarding God are highly affected by what faith is, they fall short of what God really intends by faith.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he replied that it was to love God and to love others. It wasn’t because Jesus couldn’t count and responded with two commandments, it was because he was conveying that that the two were dynamically inseparable. A faith in God must be translated into actions specifically in relationship to other people.

It’s a generalization, but I can tell what people believe by what I see. When confronted with statements like that, our souls cry out because we do not think people see all of who we really are. They do not understand the great intentions and the passions that are bubbling beneath the surface. The truth is that God only counts what we truly believe, by what emerges out of our lives as an expression of worship to him.

James thrusts what we casually express as faith to another echelon. Faith at its most base level is one that is rendered into action. When James says, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do” (James 2:18). He almost taunts us, challenging us that the reality of our faith only exists in our actions.

There are many things that I can profess that I have faith in, but if these invisible declarations are not translated into a visible reality they are worthless before a God who sees faith as inextricably tied to my actions. God does not call us to work for our salvation, but to “work out our salvation” (Philippians 2:12) through living out our faith.
Faith is trusting in a God who does not just deposit his Holy Spirit, that it may be internally housed within us, but that unleashes it to impact every realm of our lives.

Faith demands risk. We diminish faith to trusting in a God who is great and sitting on our hands, when faith must include trusting in a God who dares us to move and accomplish the great things that are on His heart. What do I really believe…?

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Lesser desires / a PhD in Erwin

by Lon on February 23, 2005

in Church planting,Culture,life

Our economy is driven by keeping the average person discontent. Marketers and advertisers are tasked with creating in us a dissastifaction for what we have, or at the very least, a nagging desire for what we do not need.

There are so many things that I want. I have longings that I could have sworn were there since the day I was born, and now simply piqued as I am validated by the purchases of others around me and as ‘reasonable’ prices dangle before me.

The sad truth is that much of these desires were put there by someone else. A stranger that has no idea who I am and sees me only as a contributor to their agenda. I feel violated just thinking about it. The genius is that the world that surrounds us crams these yearnings so deep into our hearts and minds that we think we came up with them ourselves.

How many of us have pursued things that we think might bring freedom only to have become enslaved by them? We have not only bought into the propaganda, we sponsor it from the deepest places within us.

In my moments of clarity, there is no price tag to what truly brings freedom. Beneath the layers of the things that we are told we want, there are even deeper passions in the fabric of our being, deposited by our Maker. Passions that we have spent our lives ignoring because they seemed too wonderful to ever be fulfilled. A burning in our souls that almost demands genuine love, meaning, and destiny to truly live this life as it was intended. I am discovering all of this in Jesus.

May we not settle for lesser desires. May we discover our God-given passions and a life worth living.

I once heard Erwin McManus talk about how he was speaking at a seminary and they introduced him as Dr. Erwin even though he didn’t have a degree. He felt that it was because the religious leaders could not tolerate having a less educated person teaching them about the ways of God.It appears that Erwin has started his own Doctoral program sponsored by Bethel Seminary. It’s a 3-year program on “Creating an Entrepreneurial Ethos, Developing the Art of Improvisation, and Discipling Innovation”. What else would you expect? Besides the personal mentoring, it also involves publishing a book as a cohort. Even more interesting, in the prospectus is Erwin’s list of resources and emerging churches that participants are to research.

Better get in before it becomes institutionalized.

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Back from Yurting…

by Lon on February 21, 2005

in Pictures,travel


I just figured out how to make a photoset in Flickr. A few more pictures here.

Also, many more pictures, from Ray, a much better photographer here

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Beautiful…

by Lon on February 18, 2005

in stories,travel

NiagaraFalls1

Niagara falls was beautiful… not so much the breath-taking waterfalls crashing down, but the excellent time away with even more excellent company.

This weekend we’re going yurting. I’ve never heard of it either. Leave it to crazy Canadians to trying to find creative ways to have fun in the winter.

Our new small group community met up last night, we’ve been slowing making our way through James. Discussing through the section on favoritism reminded me of a conviction that came to me during the Christmas holidays last year.

It’s something that happens often to all of us i’m sure. I was walking with family and passed an owner and their dog. We immediately gathered around the cute little animal and started playing with it, but I accidentally locked eyes with the owner. Right then, it shuddered through my soul, how my heart went out more to a dog then the human being right next to it. We subtly devalue people. We do it when we see babies all the time as well. Maybe because we’ve been hurt too often by big people, or we know that dogs and babies won’t judge us. But in fact, it’s we who’ve judged others.

Our judgements and assumptions of people are intricately tied to the way we treat them. I sometimes ignore people because I see them as less than that. Less than God’s wonderfully divine creation. Less than the broken image of God longing to be restored. Less than beautiful. Maybe we’d act differently if that was the only judgement we make as we encounter the world.

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Profiling…

by Lon on February 12, 2005

in Character,Leadership

subwayballet

I love this image, pulled off of leadershipvision - Despite being cramped on a moving train – not allowing circumstances in life to dictate the person you were designed to be and the impact that you can create.

I just finished taking The Gallup Organization‘s Strength’s Finder (You need to purchase one of their resources in order to get the code to take the test). My major themes are – Futuristic, Connectedness, Woo, Includer, and Ideation.

For Myers-Briggs Type Indicator I am an ENFP. I’ve taken at least a half-dozen spiritual gift tests (More tests, tests, and tests) over the years, my recurring gifts seem to be Encouragement, Pastor/Sheppard, Teaching… Administration is also somewhere in there for some reason, but I don’t believe it.

With all this though, nothing comes close to what I’ve learned about myself through my journey with God and life with my wife. This weekend I’m off to take my bride to Niagara Falls…

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