What is more important? part 5

Fellowship with the body of believers in the local church is crucial to the strength of the individual believer. When we come together, we strengthen and encourage one another. Fellowship has at its core the idea of "being there" for one another.

We are also stewards of assets that have been provided by the faithful giving of the members of our church family, and as such we have a responsibility to maintain them. Being good members of our neighborhood requires that we keep the appearance of our facilities attractive.



The problems arise when we elevate the relationships we share with our friends above the need to reach our world for Christ, or when we become so obsessed with our creature comforts that all of the tithe and offering is consumed in maintaining our own comfort.



Matthew tells us that if we will seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all of these "things" will be provided as well. But when we make maintenance and comfort of our existing members our first priority, we are placing the kingdom of God in second place. Then we just become a clubhouse instead of a house of God, and there is no guarantee of blessing on that.



Let's all keep our hearts sensitive to the needs of those who are not yet believers, and make sure that we are providing opportunities to disciple the children and youth of the church along with the new believers God is sending our way. We will be blessed beyond measure.

Props to Kayla!

Do you like the new heading on my blog? That sweet bit of artwork and creativity is compliments of Kayla, one of our awesome young people. She is studying all of that stuff that I will never understand and she felt like I needed some excitement in my blog appearance. Thanks, Kayla!!!!!!!!!

What is more important? part 4

The teachings of the New Testament present a clear picture of what God wants from His church. Christ told us that He came to "seek and to save that which is lost." (Lk. 19:10) Paul taught in 1Cor. 10:33 "For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved." The Great Commission to "go and make disciples of all nations," (Matt 28:19) was not authorization to establish another program when the funds were available. Rather, mission is the central purpose of the Church, and as such, should be the central purpose of the church. To be a church is to be on a mission. Our mission is to seek and save the lost and to make disciples of them. Our mission field is all nations, which includes the U.S., and it includes NW Oklahoma City. It even includes our Square Mile. Your mission field might be your workplace or the house next door. Your mission field may be the person who sleeps in the next room, or even next to you.

Does that mean that we should let our building crumble and ignore our friends? By no means. more on that, tomorrow.

Which is more important? part 3

We run into trouble in church sometimes when we have differences of opinions on the purpose of the church. Most people have the view that the worldwide Church (capital "c") has world evangelism as its goal. No believer will say that he is opposed to people getting saved. But when you talk to people about their local church (little "c"), the answers get fuzzier. We want new people in our church, but we love the people we already have, and look forward to seeing them at service times. We want to reach out to children who are from disadvantaged backgrounds, but we want to protect our own children from "those kids"and provide them a safe environment. We want to know that we have missionaries going to "the uttermost parts of the earth", but we also want our sanctuary to look nice and be comfortable. I have just enumerated 6 desires of a local church, and all of them are valid, but seemingly irreconcilable. What do we do about this? How do we decide which is more important?



More tomorrow.

Which is more important? pt. 2

When you are at work, is your performance evaluated by how nicely you have decorated your workspace, or how effectively you have performed the tasks to which you were hired to do? Obviously that is a stupid question; you know that your employer wants to see that you are being effective in acheiving your part of the overall goals of the organization. Whether you are evaluated by units produced, sales made, the accuracy of your work, or any other measurement, you are measured against a standard of effectiveness. If you exceed those standards, you are rewarded. If you lag behind those standards, you will be encouraged to raise your level of effectiveness. Pretty simple stuff. But what if there is confusion about the standard? You might think the standard is speed, when the evaluator is looking for accuracy. In that instance, the worker must change his way of thinking to come into compliance with his supervisor's standard. This kind of situation occurs many time in life, and it requires openness and a willingness to change. If the worker continues to work in the way he was working because he is more comfortable working that way, he will have many problems with his employer.

I think you already know where I am headed with this. More tomorrow.

Which is more important?

Which is more important- To be comfortable, or to be effective? No qualifying questions such as "at what?" are necessary. Being effective is always more important than being comfortable.

More tomorrow.

Thank you for being blessed!

In my role as business administrator for Lakeside, I see the individual contributions. I am blessed and humbled as I see and enter each check into the accounting system. The strength of our finances is due to the faithful giving of many people rather than the extravagant giving of just a few.
The act of giving is one of the guaranteed blessings listed in the Bible. We don't give because we like the pastor, because we enjoy the music, or because we enjoy seeing our friends. All of those are wonderful, but the reason for giving is because it is what believers do. And the more we give, the more we are blessed. I'm not one of those guys who give a guarantee of a "hundred fold return", but I do know that Luke 6:38 says, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." I also know that 2 Corinthians 9:6 tells us, "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously."
Keep up the good work, Lakeside, and you will see that "my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:19 NIV)

Bathroom Remodeling Dreams

My daughter Elizabeth had a dream about our bathroom renovation project at the church. She sent me this e-mail:



I had the craziest dream last night about the new Lakeside bathroom. I was visiting the church and had to go. Instead of remodeling the men's room, you had remodeled the women's room and simply switched the signs, giving the women the old men's room. You put two toilets in one stall and one toilet in the other, so everyone was waiting for the stall that had only one toilet. However, the door was only about two feet tall, so everyone could see you anyway. To "make things better" you had one of the men stand in there and tell knock knock jokes! It was bad.



It sounds like Elizabeth knows how I might do things if I were left alone.

Hoops Hysteria 2008

Larry Riggs is the big winner of the First Round Challenge of Hoops Hysteria 2008. He correctly picked 26 of 32 winners and will be receiving lunch at the place of his choice. The competition was very close- last place still chose 20 correct winners. I was fortunate that I made a late charge and pulled out of last place with a meaty 21 correct predictions.

Round 2 begins immediately and anyone can participate.
Get me this information-
Your prediction of the Final Four
Your prediction of the National Champion
The tiebreaker- Total combined points scored in the National Championship game.

You can get a form from me or you can e-mail me with your entry.
I must have your entry no later than Wednesday, March 26. Another lunch is up for grabs!

March Madness Part Deux

After the first day of NCAA tournament play, Kenny Hayes is the only undefeated constestant in our Hoops Hysteria contest. He is a perfect 16 for 16. I am pulling up the rear with 10 of 16. No one can accuse me of "fixing" the contest!

Doug Update

I went by the hospital this morning and saw Doug for just a minute. There is no significant change in his status They are still evaluating and testing to determine a course of action. He is in ICU. Please keep Doug and Kathy in your prayers.

One of our GUYS is down!

Guys- Remember to pray for Doug Kuck. He is in OU Medical Center. There has been some bleeding on his brain. He is alert and has full range of motion, but they are trying to decide what course of action to take. He's one of ours- don't forget to pray for Doug, Kathy, and Kaitley while he is recuperating.

Also, Jack Bjerk's wife Pat is in ICU at Mercy with what appears to be meningitis. Remember to pray for them. Jack is believing for complete healing and his faith is strong, but don't forget to lift them up in prayer. Jack is Matt Mathews' father in law.

It's March Madness, Baby!

Have you filled out your NCAA Tournament bracket yet? Who is going to win it all? Send me your 1st round picks before the first game begins on Thursday and we'll see who has the highest basketball IQ. One thing is for sure, we are in for some awesome do-or-die basketball action!

What Up With Baptism?

There were two things that Jesus ordained for the believer. These ordinances were water baptism and communion, or the Lord's Table, as it is also called. We practice communion regularly and it is beautiful, meaningful and richly symbolic. But we don't see baptisms all that often.

Baptism is ordained to be the public profession of faith that the new or rededicated believer makes. By submitting to baptism, the believer is symbolically burying his old self and then bursting forth into a new life. This is an exciting and celebratory event that complements the introspection of communion.

Baptism is a one-time event in the believer's life, because our conversion to God-follower is a one-time event. We don't keep being "born again", because once is enough. So, there is no need to profess publicly our new birth time after time. After our baptism, we grow and mature in our spiritual life just as we do in our physical life.

Communion, on the other hand, is a time of remembrance of the sacrifice that Christ made for all of us, so it is fitting that we remember it regularly.

Both ordinances are wonderful in their own way. Baptism is a "first step" for the new believer and an opportunity to celebrate for the body of believers. Communion is a holy time of reflection and appreciation for Christ and a time to remember how he gave himself for all believers.

I enjoy them both. Let's all encourage the new believers in our church body to take the next step of baptism and let's look forward to celebrating the Lord's Table on Easter evening.

The Miracle of Salvation

After yesterday's great AM worship experience, I got to thinking about what a miracle it is when someone asks Christ to be the Lord of his or her life. I grew up in church, so I have always heard the gospel. It was not a real stretch for me to accept Christ because my parents and most of the authority figures in my life were believers. But when I think of those who come to Christ without benefit of that sort of christian environment, it really is a miracle.
If someone grows up in a non-believing environment, he has to accept that a creator God that he has never seen sent his son to earth 2000 years ago to pay the price for transgressions that the nonbeliever is not sure are valid. Then he is to believe that the Son of God returned from death and resumed his place with God, and that by believing this, the nonbeliever can qualify for eternal life with God.
I don't have any arguments that are logical or persuasive enough to make anyone believe this. I can (and have to) tell someone this story. Only the Holy Spirit can make it make sense to the nonbeliever, and if He does, it means that the infinite creator God is focusing His attention on one guy at a specific time with the sole purpose of drawing the nonbeliever to Him.
And this happened 5 times in our service Sunday morning. Is there any word better suited to this than miraculous?

Pastor Darren's Car Accident

This morning at around 8:45am Pastor Darren was involved in a car accident. He has no visible injuries, but he did go to the emergency room to be checked out. The car is a total wreck. Apparently a truck ran a stop sign and crashed into the left rear door area of pastor's car, pushing it off the road at the intersection of Portland and Covell Road. Let's all pray for Pastor Darren because he will be sore from the force of the collision and we want to pray that no complications arise later. But we should not forget to give God praise that pastor was not seriously injured. I saw the car and it is a mess.

Secrets of the Vine

Tonight we had the 2nd installment of 8 in the study of Bruce Wilkinson's book, Secrets of the Vine. We defined what fruit produced in the life looks like. We decided that fruit was any good work that is produced with correct motive by any believer. It was divided into three processes which were private fruit, public fruit and personal fruit. This is a study that I am enjoying preparing for and presenting. I hope you can make it on Wednesday nights for this study.

Church For Guys

Okay, guys. Let your mind roam free. Suppose we were asked to start a church that was for men only. What would it look like? What would it sound like? How long would a service last and what would it involve? Would each guy get a remote to hold? Would we get to use tools? Would we get to paint our faces and wear outrageous t-shirts? What do you think? Let's get a fun discussion started. Get your friends in on this.

Fishwiches for Everyone! pt. 4

In the nearly 40 years that I have been at Lakeside, I have seen God provide in some amazing ways when we have been obedient to His call. But not once have we started a large God-inspired project with all of the money in the bank. We have always started in faith and God has always been faithful. The important thing is knowing that it is God who has called us in the new direction. I am convinced that when we as a congregation develop the heart that knows that the most important decisions are made in the prayer meeting and not in the business meeting, we will see breakthrough like we have never seen in the history of Lakeside. We will do great things for the Kingdom because God will place great challenges before us and we will be willing to risk all to accomplish them. But we will have to break out of our safe way of thinking. If we can see it, we have no need for faith.

I know that Pastor Darren has a great vision stirring in him for Lakeside and I have one as well. They can only happen when we as a congregation learn how to really reach out to God to hear His voice, understand His calling, adjust our plans to fall in line with His, and make our life-long goal to live out the plans He has laid out for us.

I am convinced that Lakeside will become that church. The only issue is when will we become that church. Let's make it soon! Fishwiches for Everyone!

Fishwiches for Everyone! pt. 3

The main principle of this story in my opinion is that God expects us to give in faith believing in him for the outcome. The boy gave his lunch, having no idea of the outcome. The disciples waded into the crowd with a ridiculously small amount of food and fed a multitude. They didn't pray in a truckload of food. They didn't wait for the food they had to grow into a mountain of food before they began distributing it. They simply did what Christ told them to do, and the need was more than met.

This is the same principle that was demonstrated when Elijah met the widow at Zarephath. She was looking for enough wood to cook the last bit of food she had, but Elijah asked her for it. She gave it up and as a result, she always had enough oil and flour for one more meal until the famine had passed. She never had a lot of oil or flour, but she always had plenty.

If we as believers could learn to hear God's voice and the direction He has for us, and then learn to trust him to complete what he begins in us, there is no limit to what God could do through us. If we could learn, as Henry Blackaby relates in his little book, What the Spirit is Saying to the Churches, that the important question is not "Can we afford it?" but "Is this what God is calling us to do?" We could do so much for the Kindom, we wouldn't be able to fathom it.

More, tomorrow.

Fishwiches for Everyone! pt. 2

I used to wonder why it was necessary to have so many leftovers. It seems that Jesus could have made it come out even, or even better, leave exactly as much as the little boy gave. But after being a student of people and their behavior for years, now, I think I know the answer. In a crowd of some 15,000 people or more, there were bound to be those who wouldn't eat. Maybe they were saying that they wouldn't take part in comandeering a little boy's lunch, or maybe they thought that there wouldn't be enough for all so they would wait. Maybe their taste didn't lean toward fish sandwiches. We know they were hungry because Jesus was concerned that they wouldn't make it home without a snack. Whatever their reason, they left the miracle meal more hungry than they were at the beginning. I believe the twelve baskets showed to all that anyone who failed to partake in this meal was not being humble. Rather it showed that they remained hungry in the presence of plenty. They had no one to blame but themselves for continuing to be hungry. It kind of makes them look stupid, doesn't it?

But today, many people live in spiritual hunger when there is plenty to satisfy all. And more times than not, we fail to trust God to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. We don't see beyond our own set of solutions to our problems. More on this tomorrow.

Fishwiches for everyone! Pt. 1

When we talk about Jesus feeding the 5000, we usually talk about the boy who gave up his lunch. It was good that he did, because this miracle wouldn't have happened without his willingness. It turned out good for him too, though, because instead of just a lunch, he ended up with more than he could eat.

But what I think about is that the scripture doesn't say anything about the appearance of the fish sandwich, it just said that when everyone was full, there was more food left than what they started with. I am going to assume that the bread and fish did not swell up to gargantuan proportions after Jesus blessed it, or surely that would have shown up in one of the four descriptions of the miracle.

What I have always wondered about is what went through the disciple's minds when they were told to go to the groups of 50 and to begin sharing their one-twelfths of a boy's lunch. When they began to break off a bit of bread, did the loaf miraculously stay the same size, did it grow, requiring more to be torn off to keep it the same size, or did every bite seem to be the last one, but some remained anyway?
I know that this is completely random, but I will talk more about this tomorrow.

Giving the church away Part 4

So where are we going with all of this? I envision a multi-generational church where everyone cuts everyone a little slack. The church always belongs to the next generation. If I never hear a song from my generation, or if I never experience the type of services that I enjoyed as a young person, my soul is anchored to the Rock. The next generation needs to be finding, singing and growing in the experiences of today to anchor their souls so that they can give the church away to the next generation. My generation needs to express love and concern for the young. We need to be helping the young with many practical expressions of wisdom and understanding without insisting on our preferences. The young generation needs to reach out to the older generation and give the gift of energy and excitement that is the special gift of the young.



My generation needs to continue to be faithful in giving tithes and offerings even when we are not totally comfortable in the worship service, because giving is not tied to performance, it is an act of worship. The young generation needs to learn how to give, now. The young will find that giving is not only financial. The gift of time and talents is an extremely valuable gift, and it is the one what will truly bring you into deep fellowship with the entire body of believers.



The church has always been one generation away from extinction, but I am confident that the hand-off is taking place and that our next generation will do things for the cause of Christ that we cannot even dream of today. I know that I am doing everything in my power to give the church away in great shape, so the next generation can do all that God is calling them to do.



Will you join me?

Giving away the church Part 3

Another reason for reluctance to give the church away is that young people change so much, so quickly. I am among the last and youngest of the baby boomers. My generation spans close to 20 years. Many identifying characteristics are common to me at 51 and those who are in their middle 60's. We had Woodstock and all of the assassinations of the 60's. We had Watergate and the Vietnam war. The World War II generation who gave us the church weren't a whole lot different than we were, except we were more skeptical of authority than they were.



But now, it seems that every 2 or 3 year period give birth to new generation, and I can't even keep the names of the generations straight. Boomers, busters, genX, generation Y or millenials, not to mention the dynamic of the modern vs. post-modern mindsets.



Technology increases at a pace that only the most tech-savvy young person can keep up with, and the middle agers feel increasingly marginalized by commercials, movies, and the guy who works at Best Buy.



So forgive us if we seem to be in cardiac arrest as we doggedly hold on to the few things over which we feel some level of control. We'll get there, we are giving the church to you, but don't look only for love and support from us, please offer us love and support. We are not your adversary. We are also entering a world that looks dark and scary, but for different reasons than the younger generations.

Giving away the church Part 2

The generation who gave away the church to me and my generation took a step of faith and did something that was completely unselfish. It is up to my generation to do the same. I understand the reluctance of those who are uncomfortable with the idea of giving away the church. There are several reasons for this discomfort.



First, we still feel contemporary. It is hard for us to imagine that the way we did church in the 70's and 80's won't connect with today's young people, because it affected us so deeply. It was so real, so fresh, so powerful, and so deep. I remember our youth choir singing upbeat, contemporary songs; one of them even had the word "groovy" in it. It was as though the gospel was written just for us and our lives were transformed by it. Even today, when I am going through a troubling time, many of the choruses and songs from that time are a "haven of rest" for me. (But not the song with "groovy" in it.)



I would ask the generation to whom the church is being given not to be too harsh when we have trouble believing that you don't care for our songs. But I willingly give them away if the songs of today will mean as much to you as my songs do to me. Sing them any way you want to as many times as you want to, just get them in your spirit so they can be there in future years as your "haven of rest".



Tomorrow I will continue.

Giving away the church

I made a statement while making announcements on Sunday that I want to expound upon. I said that children and youth ministry are among the most important ministries that we have. I then said that the church belongs to them, not us. Every generation since the first new testament church has faced the decision of whether to "freeze" the church as it is so we will feel confortable worshipping in it, or to "give it away" to the next generation so that the church will go on after our passing.

When I was a young adult, the middle aged leaders of the church willingly handed the creative direction of the church to those of my generation. We were given freedom to express ourselves in creative and non-traditional ways, and as a result, we had an incredible level of buy-in from those of my generation. Looking back and remembering some of the things we did, I know that some of what we did had to be uncomfortable for the Kenneth Reeds, A.C. Easons, Glen Officers, and Tommy Coys, among others, who were in leadership, but allowed our freedom. I know now what a tremendous gift they gave. They gave away a church, and as a result, it stayed vibrant even after their time of daily influence passed.

Tomorrow I will continue on this thread.