Going Small

I am the first person to admit that I tend to think big. I have always thought bigger was better, stronger, more better…to use a hick term from my childhood. I am having to rethink that notion now and it’s troubling.

Since we undertook to start Journey Fellowship Church almost seven years ago, we have organized some huge events. Neighborhood block parties, Halloween carnivals in front years, public movie showings, and Easter Eggstravaganza. We have seen as many as 800 people at a Journey event. Not bad for a church of less than 100.

But over the past few weeks, I have been forced to take a hard look at some things. I blame Haggai- a prophet in the Old Testament for some of it. I have been reading the 2 short chapters that make up his book in the Bible and the gist is clear- stop worrying about the big stuff and build the House of God.

As I have chewed on these thoughts the past few weeks, God started bringing people into my life with a similar message. He started reminding me of where His Kingdom has advanced in the ministry we call Journey Fellowship Church has not been in the big, epic event but the small, the diligent, and the focused. God began to draw my eyes to things like our faithful Women’s Bible Study, Man Night, Midrash at Louie’s Bar, Journey Student Ministries meeting in a Braum’s, and a football team made up of grade school boys.

I look at those small, seemingly insignificant things and I see life change. I see families and individuals changed and drawn nearer to God. I see men and women who would not give God a hearing now listening and being challenged not by our words but our lives. I see the strength of the small and the power of God working one life, one house at a time.

This is a real stretch for me. I struggle with the small. I excel at the big. Thankfully, my God is not dependent on my skill set but my willingness to be obedient to His calling. He is calling me, us, to go small.

I would covet your prayers in the coming days as we begin to preach and teach and reimagine what the church God has trusted to us will begin to look like and become. I am excited and expectant for the days ahead.

For His Glory…

A Thought Provoking Post From Dr. Moore

I do not know Dr. Moore but I have been reading his writings fairly regularly over the past 6 months. I would suggest clicking on the link below and taking a careful read. If you've ever wondered how your faith influences your daily decision making, this post is going to make your head spin. It is the ethics final that Dr. Moore is giving in his ethics class. Enjoy!

Moore to the Point by Russell D. Moore

6 Years in the Making

In just over one month, Journey Fellowship Church will celebrate it’s sixth anniversary. It was six years ago this coming Sunday that we revealed our plans to the world and began the process of leaving certainty and stepping out on faith. The past six years have been fun, scary, heartbreaking, uplifting, and all around crazy. In May, we will spend a few weeks remembering the heartbeat of who we are and what we are as a church.

On Sunday, May 2^nd we will tell the story of how the church came to be. There is a story behind the beginning of JFC, believe it or not and there are some verses that remind us of who we are and why we do what we do. I would encourage you to read Isaiah 61:1-4 in preparation for that Sunday.

Then on Sunday, May 9^th we are going to begin talking about our vision as a church. Those three words that you hear from us all the time- Jesus, Family, Community. Why is Jesus such a big deal at Journey Fellowship Church? Why does God call us to follow Jesus? This would be a great Sunday to bring a friend who does not know Jesus as their Savior, especially if they have questions about what Christians really believe about Jesus.

On May 16^th, we will talk about the Family. Why is family such a big deal to God and to the church? What can a family do that no other group of people can do? There is so much that has happened to families in America over the last 50 years. God is truly calling churches to return to the importance of the family and to partner with husbands and wives and children to build stronger families for the sake of the Kingdom.

On May 23^rd, we will talk about Community. We will talk about the community we live in and serve. We will talk about why community is so important and how God uniquely equips churches and individuals to have an impact on the communities He puts them in.

I am praying that through these four weeks, all of us, myself included, will gain a fresh sense of strength and purpose for the church God has called us to. We are together for a reason. We have lived for 6 years for a reason. We have a purpose and vision. Each of us is called to be a part of what God is doing here at Journey Fellowship Church. I pray that God will continue to move in your hearts and in the hearts of those who we are around so that men and women could be saved and the Kingdom could advance.

I love you guys and love being your pastor!

Ryan

What You Think About Jesus...

I read extensively both books and online and occasionally I come across something that is too good not to share. Many people more intelligent than I have written recently about the rise of "new atheism" and its most vocal adherents- Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Both men are intelligent and well spoken and both are strongly opposed to the spread of Christianity or religion in general.

What is interesting is an article I came across recently in Portland Monthly Magazine. The piece was an interview between Hitchens and Marilyn Sewell, who is the recently retired pastor of the First Unitarian Church of Portland. In the article, Reverend Sewell takes issue with Hitchens' lumping together all Christians in his book God is Not Great. Reverend Sewell describes herself as a "liberal Christian" and states that she denies the doctrine of the atonement (that Jesus died for our sins) and that she does not take the stories in the Bible literally. Hitchens' response to her statements is incredibly telling.

"I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian." (to read the entire article click here)

What is amazing is that in his study of Scripture to refute Christianity, Hitchens has stumbled onto a truth that Reverend Sewell has missed in all her years of serving in the church. When you do not believe what Scripture tells us about Jesus, you cannot be a Christian. Period.

We can argue for days about how all of the rest of it works out, but we cannot argue about one thing. The person and work of Jesus is not up for debate. Even a "new atheist" knows that.

What do you believe about Jesus? How is it affecting your life today?

Measuring Spiritual Growth Part 2

Okay so if awareness of sin is the first step n spiritual growth, what is step 2? Step 2 is realizing that we are helpless in our sin and are in need of a Savior. The spiritual condition of anyone who is apart from Jesus is not good. Some theologians use the term Total Depravity to describe this condition. In other words, incapable of doing ANYTHING to change their own spiritual condition. There are people who argue with this description, usually citing examples of people who are not followers of Christ, but are doing good things in their lives. I would argue in return, that Total Depravity has less to do with our day to day actions and more to do with the implications of those actions.

For example, a person who has not met the Savior feels guilty about their sin, and tries to do something, anything to make up for it. But there is nothing they can do to erase that sin and even their good works are tainted by selfishness- trying to make up for their sin- and further, denying their need for something outside of their lives to help them- in short, still their own God. If you really look at it, that is what we are trying to be apart from Jesus- our own god- with control over our lives and creating our version of heaven on earth.

In the middle of this struggle, God inserts Himself in the Person and Work of Jesus. We cannot undo our sins and God knows that. He has been aware of it from time eternal, and He has set in motion a plan to deal with it- a Savior. And He goes one step farther, realizing that in our condition we would never think of a Savior, He makes Him known to us. God reveals our need for a Savior from our sin and reveals to us that He is that Savior.

Ephesians 1 speaks of this reality so powerfully, especially in verse 9 where Paul writes that God "made known to us the mystery of His will." What is this mystery? The message of the Gospel, that Jesus came to save sinners.

That is the next movement in a journey to Spiritual Maturity- responding to God's revelation that you cannot save yourself from your sin and acknowledging that God has provided that Savior in Jesus. A person who is becoming spiritually mature realizes that their holiness and righteousness and standing before God are not dependent on them but on Christ and respond accordingly in humble repentance and awe that God would choose to save us from our sins.

Coolest Night of My Life....

I will be returning to the subject of spiritual maturity later this week, but something else now commands my thoughts and I think I've digested enough of it to write about it.

Sunday, October 18th I spent about 10 hours on my feet volunteering for One.org and rocking out to the band that has done more to minister to me than just about anyone in the course of my life...U2.

Now before any of you naysayers come popping in here to be critical just shut up and listen for a minute. They may not be your favorite band and they may not be model "Churchianity" Christians but they are men of faith and it is their faith that does not just appeal to me, but it challenges me.

I became acquainted with the 4 lads from Dublin in high school with a video on MTV. "Where the Streets Have No Name" was filmed in downtown LA without a permit. It caused a massive traffic jam and was in the process of being shut down when it was filmed. In fact, the uncut version of the video has a police officer saying over the radio "Shut the g--d---- thing down, now!" Which is right when the band began to sing.

But it was in college, that my love of these guys became so pronounced. The album The Joshua Tree and the live album Rattle and Hum were deeply coated with Scriptural references. They spoke of faith in a way that was not so blatant and obvious like the CCM of my high school days, but was subversive and lived out- Bono calls it "drawing our fish in the sand" in a Rolling Stone interview.

I never lost my enjoyment of their music, but the advent of the internet put a ton of info about U2 at my fingertips. These guys were not just singing an occasional song about faith. They were living it. Embedded in it. To the point that it seemed to affect others who were looking for faith in something but having trouble finding it...including purportedly their own bassist Adam Clayton and one of the Gallagher boys from Oasis.

And it is their faith that challenges me and makes me a mega-fan. Bono in particular speaks eloguently of Scripture's call to minister to the poor and the emphasis in the life of Christ in serving the downtrodden. His organizations DATA and One.org are committed to making these commands into a reality.

Then there are the songs- Where the Streets Have No Name has always been my favorite and will always be. It is the one song guaranteed to make any bad day better. Add to that I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and With or Without You. Then songs like Bad, October, Yahweh, Grace, Wake Up Dead Man, Ultraviolet, Beautiful Day, and City of Blinding Lights...and I could go on. Songs of faith and liberation and a celebration of life like no other.

So with all that history and emotion I spent the day at Owen Field volunteering for One and waiting for the show. At just after 9pm we hit the Pit and for the next 2 hours it was literally like time stopped. For me, it was the first time to be at a live U2 show and the energy was amazing. But what was most awesome, was it was not just about 4 guys on a stage, it was about something Bigger, Someone bigger. And people around me could tell. The Gospel was not preached and an invitation was not offered but there was Someone there. And it came in the hearts of the guys on stage. When Bono sang Magnificent, if you were listening, it was obvious who he was singing about. And when the song One came to a close and the opening strains of Amazing Grace were played, you knew that there was more to this show than a rock band and its fans.

All of this has been whirling around in my head for over a week now. For U2, this is daily life. They perform and record. And their lives point to something greater- a God they serve. What if our lives, our daily boring, non-rock star lives were pointed to something else. What if everything we did was committed to making someone else known? Thanks again guys for reminding me as you did almost 20 years ago, that my life with Jesus is not meant to be lived in a bubble.

Measuring Spiritual Growth Part 1

This topic is tough to write about. I have struggled for a long time with defining what spiritual growth really looks like. Every time I think I have my finger on it there is a slippery moment where I have to stop and evaluate...what just happened?

So that being said, here we go with part one. I think we can measure spiritual growth from the first moments of conversion with an awareness of and new reaction to sin. I meet lots of people who are aware of the effects of sin on a daily basis, but few who realize they are the problem, not their circumstances. Awareness of sin is a huge moment in any believer's life. The moment when we stop and realize...this is a problem that affects more than just me and my life. This has eternal consequences. And in that moment we see ourselves for who we really are- sinners.

I stayed away from that word for years. I could blame the books I was reading at the time, but that's really not the case. I was just bothered by the sound of the word. It sounded so condemning and judgmental. And it is. But it is also the truth. And like all hard truths it is important how it is communicated. It's one thing to point fingers at others and assume the posture of the self-righteous. It is a whole different thing to point the finger at yourself and join your fellow sinners in the mud and mire that we are all stuck in.

For a good example of this as a first step of spiritual growth look at Paul's conversion in Acts 9. The first thing Jesus does is make Paul aware of his sin. It is in this moment that Paul realizes what he is and that he is without hope apart from Jesus. For further evidence, look at 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Look at Paul's description of himself. Spiritual growth begins with recognizing sin.

Coming soon pt 2...