hate or mean-spiritedness

I am sorry it has taken me so long to begin blogging again.  Many things I want to share, but Richard Rohr's devotion today hit the spot for me.  Take a look:

Question of the Day:   Do I allow hate or mean-spiritedness to control my life?

Fear is almost always behind hate. Sometimes it looks like taking necessary control, but control freaks are usually afraid of losing something. It is almost always fear that justifies hatred, but a fear that is hardly ever recognized as such.

For fear to survive, it must look like reason, prudence, common sense, justice, or even religion. It always works. What better way to veil vengeance than to call it justice? What better way to cover greed than to call it responsible stewardship? What better way to cover arrogance than call it Biblical obedience? Only people who have moved beyond ego and controlling all outcomes, only those practiced at letting go, see fear for the imposter that it is. To be trapped inside of your small self is always to be afraid.

There is an intrinsic connection between fear, hatred and violence. Fear always needs a hiding place, and one of the best is supposed morality or truth-speaking. Then, you can hate with impunity, and even grandiosity, or validation from the Scriptures. Then you can be hateful and not feel the least guilty about it, but in fact feel morally superior.

Thanks Richard Rohr.

God be with you on the Journey!
Kevin

Ten Things Anyone Who Joins in a Twenty-First Century Missional Church Should Not Expect

by David Fitch

1. Should not expect to regularly come to church for just one hour, get what you need for your own personal growth and development, and your kids' needs, and then leave til next Sunday. Expect mission to change your life. Expect, however, a richer life than you could have ever imagined.

2. Should not expect that Jesus will fit in with every consumerist capitalist assumption, lifestyle, schedule or accoutrement you may have adopted before coming here. Expect to be freed from a lot of crap you will find out you never needed.

3. Should not expect to be anonymous, unknown or be able to disappear in this church body. Expect to be known and loved, supported in a glorious journey.

4. Should not expect production style excellence all the time on Sunday morning worship gatherings. Expect organic, simple and authentic beauty.

5. Should not expect a raucous "lights out" you program that entertains the teenagers, puts on a show that gets the kids "pumped up," all without parental involvement. Instead as the years go by, with our children as part of our life, worship and mission (and when the light shows dim and the cool youth pastor with the spiked hair burns out) expect our youth to have an authentic relationship with God thru Christ that carries them through a lifetime of journey with God.

6. Should not expect to always "feel good," or ecstatic on Sunday mornings. Expect that there will ALSO be times of confession, lament, self-examination and just plain silence.

7. Should not expect a lot of sermons that promise you God will prosper you with "the life you've always wanted" if you will just believe Him and step out on faith and give some more money for a bigger sanctuary. Expect sustenance for the journey.

8. Should not expect rapid growth whereby we grow this church 10 to a thousand in three years. Expect slower organic inefficient growth that engages people's lives where they are at and sees troubled people who would have nothing to do with the gospel marvelously saved.

9. Should not expect all the meetings to happen in a church building. Expect a lot of the gatherings will be in homes, or sites of mission.

10. Should not expect arguments over style of music, color of carpet, or even doctrinal outlier issues like dispensationalism. Expect mission to drive the conversation.

O and by the way ... should not expect that community comes to you. I am sorry but true community in Christ will take some "effort" and a reshuffling of priorities for both you and your kids. Yes I know you want people to come to you and reach out to you and you are hurting and busy. But assuming you are a follower of Christ (this message is not meant for strangers to the gospel) you must learn that the answer to all those things is to enter into the practices of "being the body" in Christ, including sitting, eating, sharing, and praying together.

David Fitch is a professor at Northern Seminary, a co-pastor/church planter at Life on the Vine, and the author of The Great Giveaway

Prayer at City Council

   For someone who believes as strongly in separation of church and state as I do, praying at the Chesapeake City Council Tuesday night was a bit of an odd thing any way.  But, then I heard a group of pastors were going to protest the "new invocation policy."  I had received this new policy on a letter outlining the procedures for that evening.  The policy did not seem too restrictive to me.  Then I got nervous.  "Am I not seeing everything here?" I kept asking myself.  I even talked to Holly Holman at the Baptist Joint Committee to make sure I was thinking correctly.  She advised me to be a "good guest."  My wife said for me to "just do it."
  The Deputy Clerk Sandy Esry, Mayor Krasnoff, Alderman Bettie Ritter and others were very gracious hosts.  There were a number of pastors there, which made me a bit nervous.  Then I remembered it was on TV - real nervous.  Everything went fine - short and sweet makes a good public prayer.
  In my nervous preparation, I came across a sermon by George W. Truett on the BJC website.  This sermon was given on May 16, 1920 on the steps of the US Capitol in Washington DC.  I had heard it discussed before, but one paragraph caught my eye again:
"Baptists have one consistent record concerning liberty throughout all their long and eventful history.  They have never been a party to oppression of conscience.  They have forever been the unwavering champions of liberty, both religious and civil.  Their contention now, is, and has been, and please God, must ever be, that it is the natural and fundamental and indefeasible right of every human being to worship God or not, according to the dictates of his conscience, and, as long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others, he is to be held accountable alone to God for all religious beliefs and practices.  Our contention is not for mere toleration, but for absolute liberty.  There isa a wide difference between toleration and liberty.  Toleration implies that somebody falsely claims the right to tolerate.  Toleration is a concession, while liberty is a right.  Toleration is a matter of expediency, while liberty is a matter of principle.  Toleration is a gift from man, while liberty is a gift from God.  It is the consistent and instistent contention of our Baptist people, always and everywhere, that religion must be forever voluntary and uncoerced, and that it is not the prerogative of any power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, to compel men to conform to any religious creed or form of worship, or to pay taxes for the support of a religious organization to which they do not believe.  God wants free worshippers and no other kind."
Now, if we would have really lived this idea of liberty as consistently as Truett said, our country would be a different place.  Let us not stop trying to live it out today!
God be with you in the Journey!
Kevin

Oh my! What a day!

I am amazed.  The profile knew to change my age to 43 today!  Here I am experiencing my first Virginia Nor'easter on my birthday.  What a great gift.  For my friends in the Midwest who might be like me and need a definition, a Nor'easter is a storm that blows from the Northeast and rains a lot.  That doesn't seem like much of a big deal, until you realize that all of this wind and the direction it is blowing causes tidal flooding, then you add inches of rain on top of that and you get more flooding.  Schools are closed and everything.  BUT 3 guys still showed up for prayer time this morning at 5:30 AM!!!!!  How awesome is that?!!!!!
Thanks for the birthday wishes at the meal and at services last night.  When you get this old, you want to stop counting, but I really feel good about being 43.  I hope you all have a great day.

God be with you in the Journey!
Kevin

Blessed by Others

I have been thinking about how very thankful I am that God has placed so many people around me to help me in my walk.  He touches me often through my wife, daughters, parents, other family and many friends and acquaintances.  I am utterly amazed.  Just chatting with friends (in person or via email, text or phone) or even when a preschooler asks me, "Pastor Kevin, what does God look like?" I experience Him fresh and new.  Sitting down and reading books and devotionals are a blessing too.  Thank you, God, for how you help deepen my walk with You through so many people!

Here is a sampling of a devotion that blessed me today by Richard Rohr: 
"Don't waste the next years of your life being against anybody, anything, any group, any supposed sin, or any institution.  Just go ahead and do it better yourself.  It's so common sense when you hear it.  As Mohandas Gandhi put it, 'Be the change you hope to see in the world.' And the church!"

God be with you on the Journey!
Kevin

Is your church indispensable in your community?

"The question that church leaders need to ask is not, 'How can we get more people to come to church?' We've been asking that question since the numbers starting turning down in the 1970's. All our solutions together haven't turned the tide of declining church attendance.
Throw in all the mega churches, all the church-growth seminars, all the church marketing, the millions spent on programs and the kitchen sink, and the result is the same: people continue to stay away from church in droves."

In an article written for Ethics Daily.com, (click here to read it) Chuck Warnock, pastor of Chatham Baptist Church in Chatham, Virginia, discusses the challenge to make our churches indispensable to our communities. He brings up some good questions which each church will have to answer through their own work with God.
I first saw the article on an email from my friend, Keith Herron. I thought it might make for a good read. I hope you enjoy it.

God be with you on the Journey!
Kevin

Parking lot on 60 Minutes

Because of meetings, I didn't get to see it live, but the parking lot of Centerville Baptist Church was on the CBS News show 60 Minutes this past Sunday. View the 60 minutes story at http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5362297n . It is a story about coal ash and its harmful effects. For anyone that doesn't know, there is a golf course that was built just down the road and they used coal ash to help add hills and contour to the land because it is very flat here. The coal ash has leached harmful chemicals into the water supply and almost all of the houses south and east of the golf course are on wells. The city of Chesapeake put a water distribution station in the parking lot of the church and Leslie Stahl did some interviews here back in August.

As we think about our Christian walk along side this kind of tragedy, I hope we can learn that God's creation is not just something we can use up, consume as we want. We are the stewards and we need to do that job careully and with an attitude of worship. When we don't, it has grave consequences for us all.

I am glad we are able to host the water distribution station, I just wish we could do more.

God be with you on the Journey!
Kevin