BLeach

Sunday Rewind

Yesterday was Barbecue and Baptism.  We also added baby dedication into the mix.  I love water baptism and baby dedication because both of them are a celebration of commitment.  Water baptism celebrates commitment to Christ.  Baby dedication celebrates the commitment of building a strong Christ-centered family.  So cool, especially in a city where too many people view commitment as a dirty word.

And it was great to combine baptism and baby dedication because it doubled the number of guests.  We ran out of seats by the end of worship.  Good complications:)

Scheduling our annual picnic on the same day turned out to be a great idea.  Alot of guests came down to the park giving us a nice opportunity to connect with them. 

The family that plays together stays together:)

Off and running today toward another packed week.  Thursday afternoon we head out for our two day team retreat where we'll pray, play and say goodbye to the interns.

Looks like summer has disappeared!

Thunder Canyon

When I was eight my family took a trip to Cedar Point.  Since Thunder Canyon had just opened that year, it was the ride that everyone was talking about.  It was the first water ride at Cedar Point to actually take you right under waterfalls.

You can imagine my disappointment when I got to Thunder Canyon only to find out that I was too short to get on the ride.  I cried.  And then I waited for over an hour until everyone else in our group was done.

My dad couldn't stand to see me so depressed, so he came up with a creative plan to redeem my day.  He took me to the kiddie park where they had a much smaller boat ride.  But it didn't have waterfalls.  So he waited at the corners for me with a large cup.  When I came around the turn he dipped the cup in the water, screamed "Thunder Canyon," and poured the water on my head. 

It turned out to be one of my favorite memories.

Last Friday I got to go back to Cedar Point and made sure to get a picture by mini Thunder Canyon.  It's a good reminder that God the Father specializes in redeeming bad experiences.

Attack of the Spam Robots

It seems like the internet has decided to crash all at once!  Where's Al Gore when you need him?

The Future AG blog has been locked all day.  The explanation that Blogger posted to the author page is that the blog has been targeted by the spam prevention robots.  I really hope it's not as serious as it sounds.  I've never been attacked by a spam robot before:)

After a steady stream of phone calls and emails asking what was wrong with future AG blog I decided to post an explanation on this blog, only to find that the whole Typepad application was down.  At that point I realized that I was being targeted by an entire spam squadron. 

Anyway, we are hoping the Future AG blog will be back up any minute.  We filed our response with Blogger this morning and are just waiting on them to manually reinstate the blog as spam-free.

Until then, remember this.  Nobody's perfect...not even Google.

UPDATE:

Blogger has been unable to give us any idea as to how long it will take them to unlock the site so we decided to move it over to Typepad.  Come on over and rejoin the conversation!

Systems Thinking

My job rarely leaves me bored, partly because of the various hats I get to wear.  Shepherding.  Counseling (not much thankfully:)  Teaching.  Real Estate.  Marketing.  Evangelist.  Missionary.  Theologian (poor man's).  Ahh, just typing it keeps me on my toes.

Over the next six months I'll be stepping into the role of architect.  I'm asking our leadership team to zoom out with me and study six systems in our church. 

I'm fascinated with the human body metaphor that Paul uses to describe the local church.  The human body is a collection of systems.  Think back to ninth grade biology.  Can you go back that far?  Remember the systems?  Circulatory.  Respiratory.  Nervous.  God designed the human body to be a strategic collection of systems.  When they work together well we experience health.

Local churches are also a collection of systems.  And I love how Nelson Searcy defines their importance.  Efficient systems Save You Stress, Time, Energy, and Money.

Interested?

We've identified six systems in our church that we want to study and tweak:

• Weekend Service System
• Evangelism System
• Assimilation System
• Small Groups System
• Stewardship System
• Leadership System

We're currently in the middle of conversation regarding our weekend service system.  I'll continue to blog through the process. 

In the meantime I'm starting to feel the weight of this verse.

Saturday Night Rewind

I really enjoyed gathering Saturday night with my good friend Norflette Shumake who pastors Solid Rock.  He organized an outstanding night of worship and prayer.  We gathered along with a few other pastors and churches to commemorate the anniversary of the Detroit race riots. 

Norflette moved the event outside to their parking lot at 7 Mile and Gratiot.  So cool to worship while the sun went down, and then to prophesy and pray over the future of the city.  I took some time to kneel and recommit myself to serving Metro Detroit.

40 Years Ago Today

Early Sunday morning on July 23, 1967, Detroit police officers raided an after-hours drinking club at the corner of 12th Street and Clairmount.  They expected to find two people inside.  Instead there were 82 people celebrating the return of two friends from the Vietnam War.  The police decided to arrest everyone, setting the stage for the most violent four days in Detroit history.

As soon as the last police car had left, a group of angry men who had witnessed the arrests broke the windows out of the clothing store next door.  Within a few hours a riot had broken out in the neighborhood and soon spread to other parts of the city.  Police couldn't stop the violence.  Willie Horton of the Tigers grew up near 12th and Clairmount.  After the Tiger's game he even drove into the center of the riot and stood on the hood of his car wearing his baseball uniform.  Still no luck.

By Monday night President Johnson sent Federal troops into the city but it wasn't until Friday that the fighting had stopped and Saturday that the troops were withdrawn. 

By July 29, 43 people had died and more than 7,000 people had been arrested.

The youngest victim was 4 year old Tonya Blanding.  She was accidentally killed by gunfire from a tank when her father lit a cigarette in their apartment.

Unfortunately the 1967 riots became the face of Detroit.  From film footage to the cover of Time Magazinie, Detroit became known as a city on fire.

There were different reasons for the riots.  One of the most pronounced was racism.  I really believe that our church is strategically positioned in Metro Detroit to bring healing to the sins of our city.  That starts with racism.  Roots of racism can be traced all the way back to Henry Ford's influence on Detroit.  It could be that racism is our original sin.

Detroit continues to suffer the legacy of the race riots by remaining one of the most segregated cities in the country.

Today is an opportunity for us to remember our city's wounds, pray for healing, and recommit ourselves to loving her back to health.

Future AG

I grew up in a church that is a part of the Assemblies of God fellowship.  I graduated from a Bible College that's a part of the Assemblies of God fellowship.  And I planted and pastor a church that is affiliated with the Assemblies of God fellowship.  I really love the AG and believe that our best days are ahead of us.

That's why I'm praying like crazy for our biannual meetings that will take place August 8-10 in Indianapolis.  Last week our General Superintendant, Thomas Trask, announced his resignation.  That leaves us with an important decision to make in a few weeks as to who will lead our fellowship into the future.

If you're young and involved with the AG I want to encourage you to engage in the decision that's about to be made.  Pray.  Dialogue.  And if you can, show up at General Council and vote.

I've joined with some friends in a positive conversation to talk about the issues that are important for our fellowship as we move forward.  I hope the FutureAG blog will encourage healthy dialogue and inspire faith-filled prayer.

Come on over and join the conversation!

A Tribute

RaeAnne began attending our youth ministry about a year ago.  God has been working overtime in her life, shaping her into a beautiful young woman of God.  So rewarding to see her spiritual growth these past few months.

She's also a talented artist.  Last Wednesday she gave me a pencil drawing portrait of Jesus.  Then, over the weekend, her cousin was killed by a land mine in Iraq.  Christopher Kube was an eighteen year old soldier who grew up about fifteen minutes from our church.

RaeAnne was here last night for our youth service.  She was understandably upset, yet strangely at peace.  Must be this new relationship with Jesus:)  And I actually had a little moment this morning in my office as I looked at her pencil drawing of our King.  So glad Jesus changes lives.  So glad I get to be a part of it.

I'm praying for RaeAnne's aunt today.  I'm praying that she finds out first hand that Jesus is more than a face drawn on a page.  He's alive.  And He's reaching His hands out to a hurting family right now.

Back to School

During the past few years I've been prayerfully investigating opportunities to begin working on a Master's Degree.  It looks like I've landed on a program.  In the fall I'll begin working on a graduate degree with AGTS.  They are partnering with Church Life Resources to provide a Master's in Church Leadership. 

There are several things that attracted me to this program.  Most importantly, my work for each class will be specifically geared toward my leadership at Church of the King.  For example, when we study small group ministry I'll write about the development of small group discipleship in our church.  And when we study evangelism strategies, I'll write about our developing philosophy at COTK. 

I'm also looking forward to building relationships with other lead pastors in the cohort.  I'll be working through the program with the same guys from start to finish. 

As the summer has progressed so has my vision for what Jesus wants to do in Metro Detroit.  I can feel my energy increasing every week for ministry in our church.  As I set my sights toward a the dream of serving our city I feel more and more the drive to grow as a leader and pastor.

The program is 16 months long.  It starts in September and finishes in December, 2008.  Two of the classes will actually take place on site at our church.  The other 14 will be out of town.  They are usually during the first week of the month, Tuesday through Friday. 

Beginning this fall I'm making some changes to my schedule to accomodate the classes.  I've decided to limit my out of town speaking commitments to the few that I've already scheduled.  I've also accepted my dad's offer to preach for me on the Sundays following a class.  He'll step right into the flow of our current series.  Having my dad speak will free me to focus on school during class weeks.

I'm sure I'll continue to process this journey via the blog.  And I can't wait to start getting student discounts at stores again:)

God's First Two Questions

The history of the world begins with two important questions by God.  God's first question was posed to Adam after his sin broke creation.  Where are you (Genesis 3.9)?  God asked the second question of Cain after he killed his younger brother Abel.  Where is your brother (Genesis 4.9)?

I think those two questions frame the two sides of an important tension between individual responsibility (where are you) and community responsibility (where is your brother). 

God's first question was timely because in Genesis 3 everyone was playing the blame game.  My wife made me eat the fruit!  The serpent made me eat the fruit!  I'm sure Satan would have joined in as well if there had been anyone left to blame.  But God held Adam accountable for his own choice.

God's second question was just as important because in Genesis 4 Cain turned on his own brother.  His response to God's question reveals an attitude that characterizes too many relationships in our individualistic culture.  Am I my brother's keeper?  Translation: How is that my concern?

I think both questions are important.

Some people argue only for individual responsibility.  They rely on self-exalting statements like this:

• I'm not responsible for you.  You're responsible for yourself.
• I worked for what I have.
• I pulled myself up by my bootstraps.

Other people argue only for community responsibility.  They're good at playing the victim and blaming other people for the consequences of their own choices.

All of us have to acknowledge personal responsibility.  I am responsible for my own choices.  But at the same time, I long to be a part of a community that accepts responsibility for one another.  What if we accepted responsibility for the poor in our city?  What if we accepted responsibility for the unsaved in our circles of friendship?  Most of all, what if we accepted responsibility for our brothers and sisters in our household of faith.

Am I my brother's keeper? 

Absolutely.

At least I think that would have been Jesus' answer.  Isn't that the ironic thing about the cross?  I deserved to die.  He was innocent.  Yet Jesus assumed responsibility for the consequences of my choices.  And maybe His example gives us some insight into the balance of this tension.

I can't pass off responsibility for my own choices.  But what I can do is accept responsibility for yours.

I know that sounds like a dangerous way to live.  But not if we did it together:)