On Wednesday, November 12 the Northwest Baptist Convention messengers voted 335-112 to affirm a restructuring strategy that had been approved by the Executive board of the convention.

This essentially means the NWBC will be divided into 6 regions. 6 teams will develop strategies to do 2 things (1) Help existing churches to become healthier and (2) Start new churches that will reproduce themselves.

The most contentious aspect of the proposal appeared to be related to collegiate ministry. Dr. Bill Crews, Executive director for the convention, answered several pointed questions during the Q/A time the day before the vote and during the discussion and vote on Wednesday afternoon. I would encourage you to visit the NWBC web site for more information. Northwest Baptist Convention

I personally am in favor of the strategy. I have always been a big advocate of the local church. I believe all minstry was designed by Jesus to flow from the local church. My feeling is that a renewed focus on helping local churches fulfill the Great Commission is just what we need. The idea of having personnel closer to the churches is a good one. Although I understand the arguments from those who feel this will adversely affect collegiate minsitry and age specific ministries, I don't think that will be the case. Most of our campus ministers receive very little financial support from the convention as it is. Many of our best campus ministries are already connected solidly to local churches. Hopefully, this trend will continue. The possibility now exists to have 6 campus ministry regional leaders, 6 youth leaders, preschool and children's leaders etc. instead of just one at the state office. My feeling is that age group ministries will flourish as new and younger leaders are raised up to facilitate the work in a particular region.

Although this was certainly not a "slam dunk" I appreciated the way the discussion was conducted. People were cordial and kind, even if they disagreed with one another. Keith Evans, the President of the NWBC and moderator was extremely poised and self controlled in his role as the facilitator for the discussion. I look forward to some bright days ahead for the NWBC.

I went to the Trailblzaers home opener Friday night. It was an awesome game. The Rose Garden was rockin and the Blazers did not disappoint. I got home in time Saturday night to watch Texas Tech pull off an unbelievable victory over Texas, who had been the undefeated #1 team in the country. The fans rushed the field.

I love sports. I love the competition, the energy, the thrill of a great game. However, I have often wondered why we get so excited about a game and often are not so excited about worshiping the Almighty God in church. Maybe it is because we always know how church is going to go. Everything is fairly predictable - the order of service, the music, the message and of course the offering. I am not sure what I am suggesting. I am mainly just pondering. It seems like the opportunity to come into the presence of God with fellow believers each week ought to do more for us than it does. Anybody have some thoughts on this subject?

Here is the web site I mentioned Sunday that talks about the potential we have to impact the world through simply doing what God has commanded us to do when it comes to giving: Generous Giving

It seems to me the greatest obligation and opportunity leaders have is to develop other leaders. Do you consider yourself a leader? I do. In fact, I think anyone who influences someone else is a leader. A good question to ponder is, "who are we leading?" Another question might be, "how are we leading?"
In the next few months I will be sharing some new and exciting ideas for small groups at our church. Part of this new process will include a way that leaders can develop other leaders through small groups. If we develop other faithful followers of Christ, we will multiply our effectiveness in people's lives. I am excited about the journey and look forward to sharing more with you.

What if the church got serious about prayer? What if the church lived every day as if we were missionaries in a foreign country? What if the church planned all that it did for the “next person” ? What if the church got serious about impacting its community? What if the church got concerned about those who have never heard the gospel? What if the church dedicated itself to being faithful followers of Jesus Christ? What if each one of us understood, that we are the church?

If you read this blog, you know I write primarily about the local church. I am a pastor and it is my passion. I have no interest in blogging about trivia -how my day went, where we went for family vacation, who I think is the best choice to be our next president etc. What I do care about is the local church. I think the power of the local church is misunderstood by many. First, let me be clear - the Bible does speak of the church universal, but normally it is speaking of local churches.It is true that all Christians everywhere make up the body of Christ, but real life is lived out week by week in local congregations of believers.
Second, God has chosen local churches to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world today. If the church had always done this, there would be no need for welfare systems, parachurch ministries, or other community based social services. God's plan is for ministry to happen through the church. Notice I did not say "in the church" but through the church.
Third, everyone should be part of a local church. It is easy to sit back and take potshots at the church, it is much harder to live in a community of believers, none of whom are perfect. If someone does not like CrossPointe, then by all means find another church. I won't take it personally.
Fourth, I believe the future of our nations rests in the hands of the church. We may be a forgotten institution by many, but we hold the keys to national revival and renewal. Church people have to learn to get out of their holy huddles and engage people where they are at. Our light should shine brightest in the darkest places. The church has a history of letting people know what we are against. It is time to let the world know what we are for. We are for people - We are for salvation - We are for making this world a better place to live - We are for the kingdom of God.
I don't know why, but I felt like I just had to share that!

Church should always be about the next person. Some people get this and many don't. The majority of churches in America are plateaued and declining because they have the wrong target in mind. The church is the only organization that exists for those outside of themselves. When we think that we are the audience or that church is about our preferences and desires, we have missed the boat completely. My fear is that if we don't change, the church will become totally irrelavent for the people who need it the most.

What would you do to see your neighbor, spouse, best friend or work associate come to Christ? Would you be willing to give up your favorite style of music to do that? Would you be willing to adopt a different way of doing ministry to see that take place? Would you consider moving out of the Christian circles you typically find yourself in (holy huddles) to invest in the life of someone who does not know the first thing about Christ? Most people would say "yes," but then not do anything out of their comfort zones. It is too bad, because the world really needs what we have.

No one can deny that we live in a day of choices. Most people who look for a new church are used to having many choices. Shopping for a new local church is not necessarily a bad thing. Some shoppers are going to church for the first time or for the first time in a long time. Others are hoppers more than shoppers. They have left a church for any number of reasons and assume there is a better church out there for them. I really have never had a problem with people leaving our church. The only thing that bothers me is how people leave and why they leave. Typically people leave church for relational not religious reasons. In other words a conflict or a misunderstanding with someone has caused them to leave. Instead of addressing the issue, they look for greener pastures somewhere else. The Bible however is clear that relationships in Christ should work differently. We should go to to the one who offended us or sinned against us and attempt to reconcile. The majority of people who leave one church because someone offended them or hurt their feelings will leave the next church for the same reason.
In this age of consumerism, we need to reclaim the historical value of fellowship in Christ. People should learn to love one another, forgive one another, and determine to live together in Christian unity. If we won't do that, it is hard to claim that we really love God. 1 John 4:20 says, "anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." That verse is quite clear isn't it?
Someone may ask, when is it appropriate to leave a church? I think the answer to that is when the church has gone askew doctrinally, has decided to tolerate clearly unbiblical behavior or God clearly and convincingly tells you to go somewhere else. Other than that, we ought to approach church like we do our marriage vows - "for better for worse etc."

This is a loaded question! Some would say - only true believers can truly worship, so church should be for them. Others point out that the church is one great place to share Christ with people who are not yet following Him. It seems to me there are 3 kinds of churches: Seeker-driven - everything is done for the one who is not yet a believer. These churches are characterized by performances. Music is aimed at the unbeliever - many seeker-driven churches do secular music as well as contemporary Christian. There is not a lot of singing and people are not asked to stand, sing or sign anything. Seeker-sensitive churches work hard at making the seeker feel comfortable and yet still having church for the believers. Casual dress, provided Bibles, and powerpoint notes all make it easier for people to fit in. A third type of church is the seeker-ignorant church. These churches feel that church is not the place for seekers and don't care if they offend any that do happen to come. Evangelism happens outside the walls of the church in their world. My opinion is that we ought to do everything we can without compromising the message to win people to Christ. One way that happens is by focusing worship on God not the seeker, but being sensitive to helping him or her understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. What do you think?

Click on the link to read Corey's thoughts on our trip. He is more advanced than I am - his blog has pictures of our trip! click here

We had a great time helping Silver Star Elementary with their back to school night on Thursday. It was an encouragement to the staff at the school and a positive way for our church to be involved in our community. We are looking forward to furthering our friendship with the school and finding ways we can help meet practical needs they mave have.

My blog has been about books and bible studies lately. I want to step back from that and share a little about my trip to Fresno. The Northwest Baptist Convention and the North American Mission board provided money for 20 pastors to team up and go to larger churches in the west to learn how to lead our churches to the next level. I went to Fresno/Clovis with Corey Zanotti. Corey was a pastoral intern at Hope with me for awhile while he was attending seminary. He and his wife Jamie have adopted two beautiful kids (Kendra and Micah) from Africa. Corey is the pastor of Eastside Baptist in Springfield Oregon and has done a wonderful job in the five years that he has served there. I arrived in Fresno on Friday night and went out to eat (of course) at a really good Italian place called Lunas. I picked Corey up from the airport Saturday and we attended Clovis Hills Community Church (an SBC church of about 1200) on Saturday night, two non-SBC baptist churches on Sunday morning - (FBC Clovis and FBC Reedley) and then a new church plant called the Well on Sunday evening. The Well started as a college ministry in 2002 and has grown to over 2,000 meeting on 3 campuses with 5 different services. Each church was very different, but all the churches were extremely vision focused. All the pastors paid a price to lead by vision and not tradition or by giving in to the loudest, most influential lay people in the church. Each church had a clear mission statement and a laser focus on fulfilling that mandate in their churches. I'll talk more about specifics next time. I think we all can learn that God desires us to be serious about fulfilling His purposes in our lives and in our churches. I admire and appreciate those who seek to lead churches (many have said pastoring is like trying to herd cats!) with a clear focus and the courage to do what must be done in order to move the ministry forward. Seeing the courage of these leaders helped me see that I used to be that way a little more, but have mellowed out over the years and maybe I have not made the hard decisions that will help our church to be what God wants it to be. I am praying about that now.

Prayer is one of the hardest disciplines for most of us. I am not saying we don't pray; but deep, intimate consistent conversations with God seem to elude most of us. I often heard people say, "prayer is as natural as breathing." Although that may be true, it is a little more difficult for me. Like many of you, I pray on the run a lot. In the car, while mowing the yard, while I am working etc. However, I also try to have one quiet time of extended prayer each day. I often pray through the Lord's prayer, using each phrase as a guide to get me started with praying. Sometimes, I spend the whole prayer time just reflecting on who God is, what He has done in my life, and praising Him for His many attributes. Like Bible Study, set up a time and a place to pray each day. Make it an appointment. Work hard at letting nothing interfere with your prayer time. Keep a notebook to remind yourself of prayers to pray, praises, people etc. Prayer may be like breathing, but it is also a discipline we all need to work on. Since we have not seen God, we talk to Him by faith. It is not always easy, but is a great joy if you persist with seeking God.

What can you do to have an effective quiet time each day? Today, I want to share some ideas for Bible reading and the next post will deal with having a meaningful prayer time. I also want to invite you who are reading to share some of your best practices in these areas. 1. Read one chapter of the bible daily, using a different translation. The NIV is my preferred translation. I have been reading out of the New Living Translation this year. I used to try and read through the bible, but found that I was hurrying to read 3-4 chapters a day and if I missed (which I often did) I would be behind 8-9 chapters and get discouraged. Read one chapter very slowly and pick out one truth or life lesson from that chapter. 2. Consider using a study guide. Many people in our home group shared that they do better with daily bible reading when they have a workbook to work through. I enjoy Kay Arthur precept studies. I am not a big fan of fill-in-the-blank studies, but some people like these. 3. Use a journal - I am currently in California visiting some larger churches. All 4 of them provide simple journals with bible reading plans to encourage their members to read and record what they are learning. 4. Read as a guide to praying. Take what you learn from your reading and pray it back to God for yourself and others. 5. Read looking for a certain topic. One of my favorite studies was when I read through the New Testament looking for and writing down every verse about prayer. I have done the same things with words like grace, hope, joy, faith, and the mind. When you are finished you learn a lot about one specific topic.

I want to share with you my approach for having a daily time with God. I strive to have a daily quiet time and then to be aware of God's presence and activity throughout the day. I do not want to just do devotions and check them off a list. I want to experience God and hear from Him every day. For me, I need to see Quiet Time as a daily appointment with God. The first thing I do in the mornings at church is to go into our worship center to pray and read the Word. Devotions do not have to take a long time, but I try to focus on God and take time to listen to God. Jesus taught us to go into our rooms, and pray to our Father in private. Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to meet with the Father. Let me encourage you to begin practicing this discipline. Determine a time and place where you can have your quiet time. Put it on your calendar or have your cell phone alarm remind you. After several weeks this practice will become a habit in your life. Next time I will share some things you can do during this special time alone with your God.

We had a good discussion at our home group last night about quiet time or daily devotions. I asked everyone to share what their practice is. All of us admitted to struggling at times with our devotions. Everyone knows it is a good idea, but the application part of it is sometimes difficult. I want to begin sharing some thoughts about this in my blog. Today, I want to start by defining what a quiet time is and why it is an essential for believers. Quite time = a time to focus on God through scripture reading, meditation, prayer, singing, writing, or any other form of relating to God. The main two elements are reading the Bible and praying to God. Here are some good reasons to set aside time every time to pray and read God's Word: 1. 1 Peter 2:2 - like newborn babies, crave the pure spiritual milk (of the word) so you may grow up in your salvation - The Bible helps us grow spiritually. 2. Psalm 119:11 - when we hide God's word in our hearts, we will not sin against Him. This does not mean we will be sinless, but we will sin less and please God more. 3. Colossians 4:2 commands us to be devoted to prayer, being watchful and thankful. When we pray we humble ourselves before God and let Him be in charge of our lives. Find a way, every day to spend some time focused exclusively on God. When you read His word, He can speak to you. When you pray, you are speaking to Him. Clear communication is what every good relationship is all about.

I hope reading these thoughts on the book UnChristian has helped you desire to read the book and seriously think about it's value. Although I did not agree with everything in the book, I feel like it is a tremendously valuable resource for every believer to have. Much of our evangelism vocabulary makes it sound like witnessing is always aggressive - we win people to Christ, we share our faith, we tell others about Jesus. The truth is, many of the witnessing metaphors in the Bible are much less direct. A witness tells what he or she knows when asked. An ambassador delivers a message at the appropriate time. A fisherman is effective when the fish are biting. My fear is that we have turned evangelism into something most people cannot do. It is not our job to win people but simple to witness to them. We are never called to be pushy but to be prepared (see 2 Peter 3:15). Dr. Ashley made a good point in his last sermon at our church (see 7/27 message in the broadcast center of our web site). The early church enjoyed favor with the people. That favor or friendship with lost people gave them the freedom and credibilty to share Christ with them. If we see lost people as our enemies and look at them as projects, it is not surprising that they resist our efforts to share our faith with them. Jesus was greatly loved by outsiders (the Bible called Him a friend of sinners). By making those without Christ our enemies we have alienated them and nullified the effectivenss of our witness. Let me encourage you to take some of the pressure off of yourself. Seek to be a good neighbor, to do good works, to live unselfishly, to pray for those without Christ and be ready to share with them when the opportunity presents itself. Allow the Spirit of God to lead you. Be a good listener. Understand that people are not projects and they may never come to faith in Christ. Love them anyway. We need a great movement of God in the Pacific Northwest. Ask God to use you to make an impact in the lives of people for eternity. There is no more important business in this world than kingdom business. And all of us who are Christians are in the kingdom and need to be busy about attracting others to our Savior.

The fifth perception of young outsiders (adults under 40 years old who do not consider themselves Christians) is that the church and many Christians are too political. The issue is not that Christians and churches do not have a right to express their political opinions, but that we tend to use politics as a club to force our moral beliefs on others. The author points out 5 perceptions outsiders have of Christians when it comes to politics: (1) We rely too heavily on political inflence (2) We are too enamored with politics (3) We demonize those who hold opposing viewpoints (4) We lack respect for leaders who have different politcal viewpoints from our own (5) We are hypocritical when it comes to politics. For example, we cite statistics when they aid our case - "most Americans support school prayer" or "most Americans are against gay marriage" and yet we ignore other statistics that go against our viewpoints. For example - most Americans are pro-choice but we say - "the majority should not rule when it comes to moral issues." The perception is that Christians use politics and polls when it benefits us, but reject them when they go against our preconceived ideas. We quote the Bible on issues we tend to support - no gay marriage, no abortion but often keep silent about other biblical issues - helping the poor, being good stewards of the creation etc. In my opinion, politics cheapens the gospel. The church should be as apolitical as possible. I don't care whether someone is republican, democrat or independent; they all need Jesus. Politics should not be a barrier to helping someone find and follow Jesus. As Christians, we ought to be able to talk rationally about the issues and why we believe what we believe. Many Christians are extremely pro-life, but they have learned to listen and dialogue calmly with those who hold an opposing viewpoint. Most people have strong opinions about political issues. My challenge for Christians is to see the bigger picture. Souls are more important than votes. I am skeptical as to how much either of the two candidates running for president will change anyone's life; but I know the difference Jesus can make in someone's life. So, lets keep the main thing the main thing. I think Christians should be involved in the political process. It is part of being a good citizen. But our church is not going to promote a particular party or even specific issues. We will preach and teach on what the Bible says. It is funny to me, but every time there is an election, several people get mad at me. Some are convinced I am a republican and others that I am a democrat. I have never stated from the pulpit where I am at politically. I have never allowed candidates to speak at our church or even party specific literature to be displayed at our church. I think what we have to offer (Jesus) is far superior to anything we would gain by trying to be too political.

The book UnChristian deals with young people (20's and 30's) who are outside of the church and the Christian faith and their perceptions of Christians. We have to remember that this is a generation mostly removed from any kind of positive Christian influence in their homes or in society. We may disagree with the validity of their perceptions - we may want to argue and say "that is not true," or "that is not fair." However, it is better to understand them and figure out what God wants us to do with this understanding. Chapter 6 deals with the idea that Christians live sheltered lives. Wrapped up in that thought are four underlying beliefs young outsiders have of Christians: 1.Out of tune - only 1/5 of young outsiders believe Christianity helps people live a better and more fulfilling life. 2. Lacking spiritual vitality - most outsider see the Christian faith as a set of rules and regulations. 3. Insulated from thinking - that Christians stifle curiousity and generally are not overly engaged in thinking. 4. Living in their own world - That Christians tend to isolate themselves from non-Christians and have their own vocabulary. The author points out that we are not very engaging to outsiders. The only way we know how to engage them is to invite them to church. The author encourages us to learn how to engage the world. I like this statement from the book - "The conclusion I hope you draw is that a fragmented world requires different means of engagement. God has given each of us a role in bringing Jesus to the people and places around us. Christianity begins to shift its sheltered reputation, when Christ followers are engaged, informed, and on the leading edge, offering a sophisticated response to the issues people face."

91% of young outsiders consider Christians anti-homosexual. Christians may say we love the sinner but hate the sin, but when it comes to homosexuality, the perception is we hate the sinner as well. The Bible is clear that homosexual behavior is incompatible with God's will. In other words it is a sin. But so is pride, jealousy, lust, divorce, and materialism. For some reason, we don't have as much of a problem with these sins. What should we do? Do what Jesus would do. He was a friend of sinners. He called them to follow Him and experience the fullness of life only He can offer. We need to tone down the rhetoric. Bumper stickers that say "God hates fags" and "God created Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" do not help us to make evangelistic inroads into the homosexual community. Homosexual people are hurting people. They need Jesus. Most of them don't have a big problem with Jesus, but their experiences with Christians have not been pleasant. Do you know that only 1% of the American Christian population prays for gay people? We ought to pray more, listen more, love more, and let the reality of Christ flow through us more to everyone; even those who are involved in lifestyles we don't approve of. At least that is how I see it.

"A generation reared in a marketing-drenched world is quick to sniff out what they believe to be the underlying motivations and superficialities" of Christians sharing their faith. Only 1/3 of young outsiders believe Christians truly care for them. Christians for the most part (64%) assume outsiders see their efforts at evangelism as genuine. Street witnessing was seen by no one as a genuine approach. Mass marketing (bibles or videos in the mail for example) have a far greater negative impact on young outsiders than a positive impact. Younger people who are not Christians feel that Christians see them as "projects." When they are not interested in the gospel, Christians are not interested in them. We have the greatest message in human history and often it is presented as a cheap marketing gimmick. What can or should Christians do? Here are a few suggestions: 1 - Cultivate genuine relationships with outsiders - if they are not listening to the message, don't just turn up the volume. Learn to love them for who they are and pray for God to change them. 2 - Churches should focus on children and teenagers. The sad truth is less than 10% of adults become Christians as adults. 3 - Tone down the rhetoric a little bit. Instead, take time to get to know your neighbors and learn to listen to them. Christians are too often seen as mouthpieces who do not genuinely care for others. What a sad representation for Christ-followers. Let's learn to listen and love people and then we can earn the right to share Christ with them.

Chapter 3 of UnChristian deals with the biggest perception outsiders have of Christians - that we are hypocrites. 87% of young outsiders say that is true. Even 47% of young born-again church goers agree that this is true. We could decide to debate with the outsiders and proclaim that "everyone is a hypocrite" or get more personal and point out their individual hypocrisies, but I doubt that would be productive. Interestingly, the hypocrisy issue is not a big stumbling block to young outsiders. They see that image is everything in our society and accept hypocrisy as part of everyone's life. What troubles me is that there is little difference in many lifestyle areas between Christians and non-Christians. Christians are more likely to own a bible, to attend church regularly, and to classify themselves as born-again, but just as likely to live together before marriage, to gamble or to view pornography. Only 15% of outsiders feel the lifestyles of Christians are significantly different from others. Yet, Christians define lifestyle issues as the top priority of the Christian life (above evangelism, discipleship, relationships and service to others). In other words, what we say is most important is not how people see us living. That is the very definition of hypocrisy. I close with a quote that is in this chapter of UnChristian from Philip Yancey - "Having spent time around 'sinners' and purported saints, I have a hunch as to why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think he prefered their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him and sought to catch him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus" (What' So Amazing about Grace, pg. 249, 1997).

As I work through the book Un Christian I want to share some thoughts and ideas from the book with you. First, some definitions: Un Christian - not just the name of non believers, but also how nonbelievers see many Christians behaving. The idea is that Christians do not act like Christ, so they do not represent Him very well. Outsiders - the name the author has chosen to describe those who are not Christians = outside of the Christian faith Foundation - the author does not advocate watering down the gospel because outsiders are offended by Christians. "softening or reshaping the gospel is an utterly wrong response to the objections people raise." Instead, he wants Christians to be aware of how they are perceived and learn to listen and learn from those outside of the faith, so that we might reach them. Focus - the focus of the book is on young people - ages 16-29. There are 24 million Americans who are outsiders. Top 6 pereceptions of outsiders - see the link at the bottom, but here is a summary of the top 6 broad themes: 1. hypocritical 2. too focused on getting converts 3. antihomosexual 4. sheltered - old-fashioned, boring and out of touch 5. too political 6. judgmental The interesting thing about this list, is that young church going Christians feel the same way for the most part. For example, 91% of young outsiders consider Christians to be antihomosexual. 80% of Christian young people do too. We may not like or agree with their perceptions, but we must not ignore them. One argument many will raise is that the perceptions of outsiders do not matter. After all, we are told the world will hate us and many will be blinded to the truth and will not respond to the gospel. Young Outsiders feel the way they do about us because they grew up in a morally relativistic culture. They are media driven in a way that most people even 10 years older cannot comprehend and we all know the media does not represent Christians in a positive light. Add to this the fact that many of them have parents who are anti-christian, few friends who are believers, and have had just enough bad experiences and conversations with "know it all Christians" and it is easy to see how they feel the way they do about the faith. Kinnaman (the author) points out the real problem may lie with us. "When we recognize God's holiness but fail to articulate the other side of His character: grace. Jesus represents truth plus grace (John 1:14). Embracing truth without holding grace in tension leads to harsh legalism, just as grace without truth devolves into compromise.: Unchristian research

Our evangelism team leader, Clint Ashley gave many of us a book to read called Un Christian. I would encourage all believers to pick up a copy of the book (David Kinnamon, Baker Books, 2007) and read it over. The book is subtitled - what a new generation really thinks about Christianity. The impression we have given younger non-Christians is that we are known for what we are against - homosexuality, abortion etc. In addition, we are perceived to be judgmental and too political. My earlier post - Lord Save Us From your Followers had some interesting reaction both online and offline. It seems that many Christians don't care how the world perceives them. Their logic is - "it doesn't matter what the pagans believe - all that matters is what God says." The problem with this logic is that God never intended us to be known for what we are against, but rather what we are for. We are for "people." Remember, God so loved the world.. We are for helping people find Christ. If we have to back off our rhetoric to develop common ground with an unbeliever to lead them to Christ, then we ought to do that (see 1 corinthians 9:19-23). We are not compromising by doing that, but living wisely and intentionally - two things God says a lot about in His word. Christians have an image problem. The way to fix that is to start loving people, not fighting over peripherial issues and seeking to win people to Christ by loving them and helping them know the greatest message of all time. Once you read the book, please share your thoughts with me.

Here is my top 10 list for you: 10 - Sleeping in (until 7:30 am if I can make it that long) 9 - NFL games during football season 8 - Sunday afternoon backyard basketball games 7 - Home group on Sunday nights 6 - Getting a chai tea on the way to church 5 - Seeing the people of God who come to worship each week at CrossPointe 4 - Preaching and teaching God's word - line upon line and precept upon precept. 3 - The smiling faces of energetic children at church 2 - Going out for lunch (twice a month) 1 - Encountering a Holy God as part of a corporate body. Realizing that He is a God of relationship not of rules and He loves to receive not only the praise of our lips, but the obedience of our lives.

I went to see this documentary with some friends the other night See: www.lordsaveusthemovie.com We also showed this powerful video to our home group on Sunday night. I would encourage every Christian to see the film and think through its implications for ministry. The thought-provoking movie challenges Christians to listen more, to demonstrate love to people regardless of their viewpoints or lifestyles and to intentionally seek to serve people in the name of Christ. I would be interested in your reaction to the documentary once you have seen it.

I was at the Southern Baptist Convention this week and heard a gentleman talk about tangeant theologies. His point was that many of his generation (postmoderns) have emphasized concepts that are good things but not the main thing. He gave examples such as feeding the hungry, clothing people, global warming, fighting aids etc. Although these are good works, the man said they are not the main thing. The main thing is the preaching of the gospel. I agree with that, but... It seems to me there has always been an unneccessary fricton between the gospel and good works. Good works do not save us, but they do give evidence of salvation (Eph 2:8-10 and James 2). Not doing good works is a sure sign that one is not saved. Christians should be at the front of the line when it comes to helping those in need. That is not the social gospel as some assert, but simply being the hands and feet of Christ in a fallen world. I am thankful for the Disaster Relief Ministry of the SBC. It is unfortunate that the media often focuses on some controversial comment at the Annual Meeting rather than the love of Christ being demonstrated to those who need it most. Most people know what we are against, but not what we are for. We ought to continue doing good whenever and whereever we can,(Galatians 6:10) and seek the ultimate good for all people - the salvation of their souls.

I read a great devotional this morning from Oswald Sanders and his book - My Utmost for His Highest. He makes the point that often it is harder to walk with God during drudgery than difficulty. Often times we become complacent when life is sailing along. Yet we can lack energy, vision, and enthusiasm and slowly but surely we find ourselves struggling in our walk with God. The solution is to see every day as a new and exciting day; an opportunity to be used by God to make a difference in someone's life.

Did you know that over 425,000 Americans have died on the battle field in the last 100 years? How does their sacrifice impact you? I'd like to hear your thoughts and appreciation for those who have given their lives for our freedoms. In addition, I would like to open up the Pastor's Blog for you to share your appreciation for the price Jesus paid for us on the cross. Enjoy the weekend!

Ten people that I know of go to local elementary schools each week to volunteer as a lunch buddy, reader, or tutor. Several others volunteer for Loaves and Fishes. Many others see themselves as missionaries to their neighborhoods. Countless others have intentionally joined health clubs, volunteered to coach in little league, and struck up friendships at Starbucks in order to model and share the love of Christ. The church is an army. We have the opportunity to touch our community and impact our world. What a great privlige it is to be an ambassador for Christ!

I have been reading other people's blogs, but until we reworked our own web site, I never thought about doing my own. For those of you who may not know what a blog is, here is a dictionary definition: Blog = a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.

I was thinking today about recent conversations I have had with people. There seems to be a common denominator. People are talking a lot about their values and priorities. I thought a good way to start off my inaugural blog is with a list of things that matter most to me.

• Loving God
• Being a good husband and father
• Being a good neighbor
• Influencing people who know Christ to grow in Christ
• Sharing Christ with those who do not yet know Him
• Being a servant leader in my church
• Coaching youth sports
• Playing sports (or at least trying to)

What are your priorities? I'd love to hear from you.

In His Love,

Pastor Jim