theologer

I'm learning

2010-01-23T18:58:00.002-06:00

My prayer life alone wont sustain me. I've known time in the word alone doesn't sustain me, but this is sort of new for me. My prayer life has been really quite nice lately, but I'm not getting anything from my time in the word... I'm slowly starving... and it's rough.

On another note my PhD was knocked down to an MA locally. Turns out there is a law... yea... a law... that says a foreigners cannot do an MA and PhD tied together unless the course of study is medicine. Seeing as how I'm studying Christianity turns out I cant do it. I was pretty bummed. But you win some you lose some. An MA is still a degree, although it puts me about 4 years further from being able to teach....

The necessity of prayer in ministry.

2010-01-01T04:30:00.001-06:00

I'm increasingly convinced that the secret to ministry is prayer and
evangelism. But primarily prayer trumping all things because in prayer
we are seeking the Lord and seeking his heart. We will be doing
evangelism amongst other things and our ministry will begin to look
more and more like God. We will daily be reminded of our dependence on
him and that is success in ministry dependance on God in all things.

The devil and failing at what he does.

2009-12-29T18:05:00.000-06:00

"The devil has had so little success in persecution, that if I did not
know that he and his children, according to this verse, could not but
persecute, I should think he would count it his strength to sit
still." - George Whitefield

Awesome.

p.s. the reference here is to the fall and the devil being bound to
strike at the heel of the seed.

you can read more of this sermon here:
http://hardwords.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/the-seed-of-the-woman-and-the-seed-of-the-serpent-the-promise-of-christ/
(although the full text isn't at that link).

Light is sweet (Ecc. 11:7)

2009-11-29T06:52:00.002-06:00

"Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun." - Ecclesiastes 11:7

My wife says this should be my life verse. I'm obsessed with sunlight for my mental stability. Unfortunately we live in one of the grayest places on earth. Although we did just get permission next summer, and it's a mental stability move to a place with sunlight. It'll be good for the family.

Anyhow, it's true. It's pleasant for the eyes to be reminded of the light that is a mere shadow of what will light the world to come. The sun is brilliant, but when we depend for light on the Son instead we will be blown away. And there won't be gray places anymore. I'm also pretty certain we wont have to make mental stability moves.

The spirit praying through us (Romans 8:26)

2009-11-22T06:38:00.001-06:00

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." - Romans 8:26

Say what you will.

I read 'tongues'.

Remember? We are dust. (Psalm 103:14)

2009-11-19T07:00:00.003-06:00

"For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust." - Psalm 103:14

Do you remember this?

Man how easy I forget. I begin to think I'm stone as in a statue, as in Mt. Rushmore, that will last until the world ends and leave a mark on humanity... until the world ends. But I am but dust. I will not remain on this earth forever. I will outlast this earth and Mt. Rushmore. You will too. Remember the quote about how we will outlast the greatest civilizations in history. We will outlast the earth a thousand years, and then another thousand, until our lives on earth were but a brief glimpse. A passing memory compared to the eternity we've lived and yet to live.

But for now? But dust.

Don't forget you frame. Your creator does not. If you forget your frame you forget that you were not made for this world and you will start to live for it instead of the Kingdom in which you belong.

But whatever you do. The Lord will have patience. He remembers you are but dust.

Dead forums

2009-11-19T06:52:00.003-06:00

It's been forever since anyone visited theologer forums. Until a few days ago... someone hit it on Nov 6 and even posted.
Craziness.

I just would like to say for the record that I still love the idea and wish it didn't die. I went and looked at it again and would have loved for it to have lasted, but alas.

If anyone has a more active website and would like to transfer the forum to their subdomain let me know... but no pressure. Others have voted to let it die, so I understand.

Babby

2009-11-14T07:04:00.002-06:00

Yea I know that's not how you spell it, but I love how many people online spell baby this way.

I'm pretty stoked. I have two little girls now. A week ago Tuesday my wife gave birth to a beautiful gigantic 10 pound 10 ounce baby (4.83 kilos for your weirdos). I love it... but I am tired.

Her hips are slightly dislocated and we're going to be spending a good amount of time with doctors over the next six weeks or so to get them corrected. But better a fixable hip condition than an irreparable heart problem or something. Praise God for children, I never fail to be amazed at how much capacity I have for love.

Thank the Lord.

I'd post pictures, but given the anonymous nature of my web presence I think it a poor choice. Sorry eh.

Spend time with Christ. Become like Him. Desire what He desires (Ephesians 4:15)

2009-11-14T06:52:00.003-06:00

"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ . . ." - Ephesians 4:15

I've been wrestling a lot lately with what is important in life. In my life I suppose I should say. God has called me to a few very specific things but I'm a very ambitious person with lots of hobbies and it's easy for me to get distracted. There is only one cure for my distraction.

Time with the Lord. So that I become more like the Lord. So my desires become more like His desires and the non-important fades away.

We are called to specific things in the Lord. I cannot be everything, I am called to my role, but it's only when I grow up into Christ that I become like him and begin to have my priorities right. I've been begging the Lord to bring me to Him so that I can remember what matters.

What's hard about it? A new baby. Two children under a year and half is hard work. Trying on my sleep patterns, which means trying on my waking times. Which unfortunately I allow to affect my quiet times. It's difficult to be as intentional as I need to be to have time with the Lord.

But think of all the people you are most like. Your parents, and perhaps your spouse, your best friends, etc... You're most like them because you spend the most time with them, you become like one another the more time you spend together. I know I will be more Christ like the more time I spend in His presence. It just takes being intentional. Ah... I'll keep you posted.

2 Timothy 2:2 as a basis for church planting

2009-11-01T08:49:00.004-06:00

"And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." - 2 Timothy 2:2

Raising up others to enable them to do what the Lord has called them to do. Entrusting faithful men with the work of the Lord.

This more and more feels like a calling. I want to teach at a seminary, but I more and more think preparing people to lead big churches is the wrong way to go. Are there seminaries teaching people to plant movements instead of mega-churches? I want in.

This is the verse often quoted by church planting movements. They follow this as a model of expansion instead of leaning more and more heavily on the vision of a single church leader. Please someone help me understand why so many people disagree with that...

Church Planting Movements

2009-10-26T10:14:00.002-05:00

Holy Crap, are any of you reading this?
This book is just getting me pumped about everything I'm doing, everything I've been thinking/hoping/praying for months. I haven't been this gripped by a book since Harry Potter.

iPhone Bible app

2009-10-19T09:58:00.000-05:00

How is there still no iPhone app that uses the sword project
repositories so we can have ESV and many many different languages.
It's bewildering to me that the iPhone can do everything better but
windows mobile still has e-Sword and we have nothing.

Drives me nutty.

You're a soldier, not a civilian (2 Timothy 2;4)

2009-10-19T06:53:00.003-05:00

"No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him." - 2 Timothy 2:4

I'm sure I've written about this before, probably almost two years ago now because this is a life verse for me. I read this section again today and was really chewing on it particularly because verse 7 says, "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." So I read this and the verses around it and then began to pray for understanding. Now having said that I don't want you to think that now I'm saying, "So this is the word of God," because I'm not. I'm merely going to tell you what I've been pondering since then.

First of all I remember reading this written more like this, "Therefore as a soldier of Christ do not be caught up in the affairs of this world, you are to please Christ your commanding officer." Okay I don't know why I remember this way, I cant find a translation that writes it this way but this is how I remember it. There are some subtle differences and some large, but the biggest is the difference between "the affairs of this world" and "civilian pursuits."

See if I'm not supposed to be concerned with anything in this world then I'd be so "So heavenly minded" that I was of "No earthly good." But that's not what we're called to be. God left me in the world and called me to be IN but not OF it. If I live my life only for heaven then I miss the opportunity I have here and now to bring redemption to all of creation.

So what does "civilian pursuits" mean? I think this is the things that the non-kingdom minded people are pursuing. That means money, fame, lust, (insert your idolatrous sin here). For me the biggest thing is fame. My civilian pursuit that I get caught up in is wanting to be known. I don't know why I have this longing as strongly as I do. I want to be published, or at least well known in the blog-o-sphere (which is sort of like being published by a loser). I don't know why but I begin to pursue this instead of pleasing my commanding officer.

As soon as life becomes about something other than the battle (namely ME), it falls apart. I can't take it, can't process it. I'm supposed to still be involved in this world in a practical way, but I'm supposed to be OF it. Pursuing the things the civilians are pursuing.

Because I am not a civilian. I am soldier of Christ. "I'm in the Lord's army. Yes sir!" My concern is winning the battles, focusing on the fight, with my eyes on the war which is already won. I have the privilege to fight, I don't want to be sidetracked and taken out of the battle because I forgot what the role of a soldier is.

Anyhow. These are my thoughts. Still a life verse, but now I have a different take on it.

haiku meme

2009-10-17T02:55:00.002-05:00

Seems like it's been forever since I was tagged in a meme (that I know of) so I thought I'd hop in. Seeing as how my other love is poetry (and by that I meanthe sieve and the sand) I'll jump right in.

First, here is the original post by Jeff.

weightless winds brush drops from
leaves of intricate design
screaming You're awesome

i feel bad tagging folk because i don't read hardly anyone else's blog these days... but don't think just do.

The Bible on being effective and fruitful (2 Peter 1:5-8)

2009-10-17T02:52:00.001-05:00

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. " - 2 Peter 1:5-8

You already have faith. Add to that virtue and knowledge. Self control is an interesting one though because it's you who is lacking the control. How can you who lacks control just go and control yourself?

The concept of self control is a joke outside of a higher-power and really our God. Because something outside of us has to give us the strength to control ourselves when we lack it.

Steadfastness - Standing firm. Being fixed, steady. Do you know why you live? Are you living for Christ and are you doing so steadily? Are you holding fast, firmly to God? Are you constant in your battle for the expansion of the Kingdom of God?

Godliness, brotherly affection, and love.

All of these could take days to talk through,

But if these qualities are yours and you're advancing them, increasing them, working on them, you will be effective. You will be fruitful.

Want to know how to succeed at what you do? The scripture tells us VERY clearly.

And don't forget that because godliness is in there by it's very nature you're not going to accomplish these things if you're doing something ungodly.

But take a minute to think about your life, your work, your ministry and your family. Which of these needs the most work?

Be in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fear like I don't fear. And giving it up to the Lord.

2009-10-13T06:20:00.004-05:00

I dislike airplanes, I think I've mentioned that. But there is one thing that stresses me out much more than any airport problem can. And that is my family having health issues.

We're in northern Thailand because we (like most people who live a third-world country in this part of the world) flea the country when we need to do something big medically, like have a baby. So we'll be here for two months. Well, Sunday night my wife and I went to church at an international fellowship here (we don't speak any thai so this is a good fit for the two months). My daughter was running and playing and came running toward me and then tripped. Except this trip was a little different, she went face down and didn't stand back up. I went over to look at her and she was seizing.

To say that fear that struck me was overwhelming would be an understatement. I don't process that well. And seeing my daughter do that was absolutely terrifying. Thankfully there was a doctor nearby who knew what to do. Apparently she was having a Febral Seizure. So once we were able to cool her off the seizure stopped (only about 2-3 minutes). Then it was off to a hospital and gripping fear for hours until we knew what had happened. Later just about the time we calmed down she seized again as her fever spiked again.

Take my word for it, if you have kids this is not something you want to see no matter how much the doctor tells you that it wont have lasting side effects.

My daughter is doing well now and she and my wife just went home from the hospital an hour ago or so. I'm waiting around for them to solve all our insurance issues and then pay the bill.

But in all of this I'm faced with something anew. Something I hate. And that is God asking me, "Do you trust me with your family? Will you stay here even if your family is not healthy?"

I want to say yes. I don't want to leave the mission field because of health issues. But that said, if this had happened while we were home in a place where I do not trust the doctors to know what to do anymore than the insects, I would have panicked even more, and I would begin to question God.

Again, that said, I wasn't at home when this happened. I was in a country where I trust the medical care. I was standing 25 feet from a doctor because I was at a church. If that's not the Lord's hand taking care of my family I don't know what is. But this is the hardest thing in the world for me to give up.

Would you be able to live and serve in a place with little to no medical care? Many people have lost family in the field. Is that a sacrifice you would be willing to make? I am still trying to answer this one myself. I hope I never have to.

Update: After discussing this with my wife it feels much less like God asking, "Would you be willing?" and much more like Him saying, "I've got you, and your family is in good hands with me."

Life priorities

2009-10-09T03:17:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm not clear enough on what my priorities are. So I wrote them out quickly to order them and remind myself what's important. It's encouraging to see the things that excite me.

Thoughts on "How To Find Time For… Everything!

2009-10-09T01:15:00.002-05:00

"How To Find Time For… Everything! - Smashing Magazine"

An interesting article on time management by Smashing Magazine. What's interesting about this is as a believer I have found that I have the most time when I'm walking closest with God. I think what it is is that I'm focused, I have extra energy (grace), and I don't burn out because I'm walking in the spirit.

I know it sounds a little cheesy, but this has been my experience. If I haven't been walking with the Lord my time starts to feel crunched more and more and pretty soon I don't feel like I have time for the Lord. But if I make the time, then all of a sudden I feel like I have much more than I should.

An interesting paradox.

Is anyone out there?

2009-10-08T06:43:00.003-05:00

I actually hoped to create a bit of a stir on my last post and there was basically a pin drop. I recognize I haven't been commenting on anyone's site in a while. Nor have I been posting regularly. I'm getting substantial traffic from google, but thats about it and I'm wondering. Is anyone reading this anymore? Or is everyone just coming via google searches and new content is all but a lost cause?

Just curious.

Leave your pulpit, start a podcast

2009-10-04T09:01:00.000-05:00

A plea for church movements instead of church heroes.

Today I sat and listened to a fantastic sermon on 2 Timothy at a church of about 500 or so in a city where I will be visiting for the next two months and thought to myself, "This is a waste of my time."

Because the truth is I can stay at home and listen to a podcast that will have just as great of teaching (although it was a fantastic sermon) and have about the same amount of people interaction as I got from going to this church.

Then the service was over and on the way out I was able to talk with one man for five minutes. It was a great conversation but I was easily as encouraged by my talk with him as I was with the whole hour and half stiff-formal-service.

Why have we taken church - a gathering of believers for fellowship and sharing - and turned it into a place for intense Christian education and awkward liturgy? We can't raise up people who feel equipped to lead a church because they cannot reproduce something that has taken an entire team of people to do. If our churches were lunch meetings, or even brunch meetings where shared wine, food, and dessert slowly over the course of a few hours while people shared, sang, and prayed it would be reproducible. In fact it would be so reproducible people would be excited about doing it themselves.

I'm not saying we should form our concept of church around what is easily copied. But I am saying a church was supposed to be something that WAS easily copied.

Your church service looks like this:

10:00 AM start
From the pulpit:

Opening 2 worship songs (10 minutes)
Announcements / Welcoming new people (5-10 minutes)
3-4 more worship songs (15 minutes)
Prayer (5 minutes)
Teaching (30-40 Minutes)
Benediction/Wrap up (5 minutes)

But what if your church service looked like this:

10:30 AM start
Around the table:

Catch up and eat snacks (20 minutes)
Eat and that week's appointed person share on what they've been learning or whatever verse has been assigned (15 minutes)
Discussion (15-20 minutes)
Wine and singing/prayer worship (15 minutes)
Desert, hang out, individual prayer time for those who need it (until people leave)

This sort of meeting would be manageable for just about any believer. Of course you would still want a leader whom you could trust to keep the discussion from veering into heresy. And you would encourage people to be learning outside of church and sharing what they're learning. Church would become a place for fellowship and growth rather than a one hour school lesson. It would be a place where friends gather rather than hundreds of strangers. And where you can find community when you need it, prayer when you're hurting, and it could be something you enjoy because you're encouraged by the body of Christ. And hey, on the drive home you could listen to the theologically/seminary trained guy's podcast.

I grow most when I see and share in the lives of other believers. I don't know the life of my pastor. I don't grow because of the relationships I have at church, they're for the most part shallow. I grow because of the relationships I have outside of church and the ability I have on days other than Sunday to go deep in those in relationships and talk about what God is doing in such people's lives. A great teaching on 2 Timothy is great for about two hours until I forget it. No matter how great of a sermon it was, it would be much better if I had a personal relationship with the speaker, and understood why these things were important to him, so I could understand why they should matter to me.

If you're doing this sort of church soon you could raise up a leader within your group who was capable of doing the same thing at his house. He would invite a few friends and you would give him some of your people to help start it. You could invite new friends and begin thinking again about who to raise up to split.

This would lead to movements rather than hero speakers who mass more and more people around them to hear a "perfectly formed 3 point sermon" or "Bible teaching that's not boring." I think our churches would look more like the early church (which isn't necessarily THE reason to do it, but I think they had some things right) and bringing a non-believer would be like inviting someone to a friend's house for lunch rather than an uncomfortable 1.5 hours of liturgy.

The hard thing about this is that most pastors are longing to be the best speaker they can be and have the best and biggest church around. No longer would this be the case. Soon you would be seeking to lead the pastors and then help them to lead the other pastors and you would have movements on your hands rather than one big church you could control. It is my opinion that this is the model we should be seeking.

If you are a gifted speaker, please by all means continue to try to reach a large audience, start a podcast. We need all the great teaching we can get so that we can share at church about what we've been hearing in your great podcast.

Thinking about missions theory

2009-10-04T00:19:00.003-05:00

I'm still in the field. Albeit on a nice 2 month furlough to have another baby. But still very far from my motherland in America. The longer I'm in the field and doing ministry the more I think about how much I would love to teach missions at a seminary level. I've been pursuing my MDiv (I'm a depressing less-than-half-way through) but still making progress and not having to leave the field, which is my passion still.

Whenever I think abut what I'd like to teach someday (you know in like 15 years when I finally finish a PhD) I keep going back to missions but getting stuck on the idea of teaching missions history - a topic I'm interested in but would hate teaching. I'm much more interested in the theory. But then I'm realizing that theory is a field in itself. And now my lips are watering.

I love that all day long my job is to think about furthering the Kingdom of God and figuring out how to do that practically. I love thinking about how to plant churches. How to raise up leaders. How to properly do evangelism. How to depend on the spirit. Where to stretch and let go and where to hold on. I love these things more than anything else I've studied... And I cant wait to teach it.

Anyone out there study missions theory. Have any good places for me to start? I just picked up "An Introduction to the Science of Missions" by J.H. Bavinck. And I'm stoked to see where I can get started.

rubbing shoulders with giants

2009-09-30T07:22:00.002-05:00

i've been friggin busy lately
pursuing two graduate degrees in two hemispheres as my "side job" and keeping ministry as my focus has kept me busy. joyfully busy as its all stuff I love... but so as to not neglect the family this blog has seen more neglect.

anyhow. i'm on furlough in a wonderful 2nd world country (yea i know those don't technically exist) nearby where we live. i'm staying in a place specifically designed for folks in my line of work to have babies and get some rest from the craziness. i'll be here for two months as my wife is due for baby number two in no time.

anyhow i'm meeting people who are in ministry in the most awful parts of the world and God is working. i love hearing these stories. our God is a powerful God. and he works among people who have never heard his name. who have difficulty pronouncing the word jesus or even anything similar to it. who cant read and write. who are still without electricity, running water etc...

God works. Jesus' name is being made known. and i'm getting to meet these people.

love it. it's so encouraging.

and if any of it was legal i would share it with you.

Whose glory do you love?

2009-09-09T01:48:00.000-05:00

John 12:43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Oh snap was this convicting today. I find um nearly incapable of doing anything fully for God's glory. My motives seem to be, at the very best, mixed.

Gaping leg wound.

2009-08-31T06:32:00.000-05:00

My wife and I were in the pharmacy yesterday at around 5pm when a man
walked in and sat down on the windowsill looking for some medicine for
a large gaping bloody wound on his leg. My wife pointed him out and
the ladys at the pharmacy simply told him they could no nothing for
him and left him alone.

I insisted he needed to go to a hospital but he explained he could not
afford it. We walked to the community hospital down the street at my
urging and they said they could no thing for him. I raised my voice
and finally got a doctor to help us find a taxi and point us in the
right direction. We then went a big hospital a few miles away. They
were also insistent that they could do nothing for him as they do not
have a center for skin or burns. So they sent us in an ambulance to
the main hospital downtown to get checked out.

Finally on arriving at the main hospital they seemed to know what to
do and put the man in a bed and at cleaned the wound a little bit
before the doctor who would know what to do could come down and take a
look. It turns out the man burned himself 9 days before but because he
had no money had done nothing about it. He is a widower and his son
lives in another town a long ways away and he has no contact with him.

Today I was told the wounds are third degree wounds and he will need a
skin graft. The hospital insists the cheapest they can do this is in
two operations for a total of $3,500. During that time he will need to
stay in the hospital for around a month which could be as much as
another $3,500 (as its around $150 per day to address his wounds
etc...).

He needs the operation ASAP for the skin graft. The doctor says the
longer they wait the more difficult it could be to do the operation
and have the new skin take.

I don't know how to process this. I cant process this. I don't have
the money to give $7000 away by tomorrow. I'm talking with some local
channels to try to bring the money together but I have no idea how
this is going to work. Please be praying. I'm overwhelmed and its not
like we can just not help the guy. And if we don't pay they will just
put him back out on the street. I don't want that to happen.

Pray for another that you may be healed (James 5:16)

2009-08-19T19:21:00.001-05:00

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another,
that you may be healed." - James 5:16

That you may be healed. I have a number of reformed friends who
frequently say things along the lines of "If I need prayer for healing
I go find a charismatic." But can't we confess our sins to one another
and pray with hope of healing no matter what we think?

Even most major non-charismatic types that I know accept an occasional
miraculous healing. But I read "May be healed." Not "Might be healed."
I think there is a certain amount of appropriate anticipation we lack.
Why cant we get together with our friends and when we pray expect that
God will show up, and if He doesn't in the way we expect or want, no
big deal.