So Much To Say, So Little Time

My brains about to explode. OK, I can hear all the comments 6 hours away (what brain, will probably be a small explosion etc.)

Today has been overwhelming. Ken Davis made us laugh til we cried this morning - his definition of humor, "A gentle way to acknowledge human frailty." he reminded pastors of our need to be "honest" with the gospel - in our relationships. I will have to work on that - I seem to battle with the desire to be liked too much - some people I need to be more honest with.

Part of the message needs to be directly related to a reminder that in regards to our culture people respond in one of 4 ways;

#1 - condemn it
We define ourselves as Christians by what we don't or won't do.

#2 - critique it
All we do is analyze - kind of like the paralysis of analysis

#3 - copy it
When all we do do is copy our culture, we then end up looking to our culture for what we need.

#4 - consume it
We've become culturally mainstream as Christians and the church and not necessarily culturally discerning.

None of these are going to change the world for the Kingdom's sake! All of those postures are reactionary. The biblical posture is to "cultivate"; keep something going that is already good and "create" ; by creating good culture - making good movies, good music, not always trailing behind the culture.

So what does this all mean for The Grove. I hope further discussion will clarify more.

Sorry for this random flow of thought - like I said too much to absorb - hope this has some meaning to your life. More later tonight or tomorrow.

Go Make Disciples

This was the second time I've had the privilege of hearing Voddie Baucham at Moody's Pastors Conference. He is a funny guy who goes straight to the point. He reminded us today that the Great Commission is simply this - Go Make Disciples! Yes we are to go into all the world and win souls and baptize them - but the primary thing is not to leave them there - it's to help them mature and fulfill their calling in Christ.

Voddie stated that God has provided a 3 legged stool to help us in the process.

Leg #1 - God has given us older, more mature believers in the faith as a tool to disciple us.

Leg #2 - God has given us Godly Elders as a disciple making tool.

Leg #3 - The Family - Godly families are a disciple making tool.

Actually Leg #3 is the primary disciple making tool. When you think about it, the church only gets children, and people for that matter, only a couple of hours a week. How many hours a week are we in our families?

The first of the year I challenged our Steering Committee members to begin to disciple at least one person in the Grove family. It's been quite a challenge for them to find someone who would be willing to put in the time to be mentored.

I guess we need to revisit this. I hope to develop this material into a message some day soon.

More insights tomorrow. Let me leave you with a couple questions:

What is your plan to mature in your faith?

Parents - what's your plan to mature your kids in their faith?