Willow Creek, Homosexuality, and the Future of Evangelical Response

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I guess it always pays to be on time from coming back at lunch at The Summit.  We missed a huge announcement yesterday from Bill Hybels on the withdrawal of Howard Shultz from the schedule of the Summit because of an online petition claiming Willow Creek is “anti-gay.” I felt like Hybel’s response was one of the best responses I have heard in a long time concerning homosexuality and the Church.

Patrick Lencioni was amazing as a last minute fill in talking about being vulnerable in leadership.  He broke out principles from his latest book called “Getting Naked.” Looks like a great book for sure!

Here is Hybel’s graceful announcement/response to the last couple of weeks.  Total class act!

[tentblogger-youtube MFhSfr13Y6o]

I really liked what Ed Stetzer wrote on his blog concerning the announcement.  Here is a portion:

Much could be said here, but let me briefly suggest five principles to consider about the issue of homosexuality and evangelical churches:

  1. The issue is not going away and you cannot ignore it or seek to downplay your views.
  2. The culture sees this as a “justice” issue– Christians discriminating on the basis of immutable characteristics.
  3. Though it is easy to make the case (in the church) that homosexual practice is incompatible with scripture, it will be exceedingly difficult case to make in today’s culture.
  4. Building bridges and showing grace and love is needed, lacking, and essential when dealing with people with different views and values.
  5. At the end of the day, all evangelicals (including centrist evangelicals like those at Willow Creek) will still have to deal with an issue that the world perceives as narrow and bigoted.

Pray for Willow as they are in the media this week– that they will make much of Jesus, will continue to stay true to the scriptures, and will show grace in the process.

Ed Stetzer – Willow Creek, Homosexuality, and the Future of Evangelical Response.

The Journey Begins

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We have received and accepted the call today to be the new senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Belle Glade, Florida! We are very excited for the future and very grateful to Jesus for bringing us through a very difficult 14-16 months.

We feel like it is a perfect fit for us in a whole lot of ways. First, God had us both grow up in First Baptist Church in Springfield, MO and I served in two other Read more

Where The Streets Have No Name-Joplin Tornado

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A lot of things have happened since my last post, for sure. We have moved in with Jenny’s parents, been on a major week-long job interview in Florida (stepping toward a major burning bush in our lives), and the boys have started summer school here in Springfield.  Needless to say, I haven’t been able to keep up with my blog.

The end of the world was to be at 6:00 p.m. on May 21st. It didn’t happen as Camper predicted, but the world was definitely changed for many people in Joplin and Duenwig, MO in less than 24 hours from his prediction. We were in our bathroom with our weather radio on when the storm went through Joplin. The storm track was about 10 miles to the south of us in Carthage. We had big chunks of debris in our yard following the storm.

I was able to go over and help out some on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday following the tornado. Words can’t describe the destruction that happened. There was also an indescribable force at work following the storm…the Church…busy helping rescue, recover, and restore. The amazing thing is that it the entire body of Christ irregardless of denomination–Convoy of Hope (Assemblies of God), Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, Samaritan’s Purse, and the list goes on and on.

At Forest Park Baptist Church, there has been over ten thousand volunteers come through to help with Disaster Relief, all funneled through the great ministry of Samaritan’s Purse. Forest Park turned their “bus barn” into an amazing place called “Mission Joplin” that is basically a store without cash registers for people to come and receive help. I talked to a former colleague of mine yesterday that tells story after story after story of God’s hand through the entire process. They have had a major outpouring of money and donations that they have had to ask people to stop sending donated goods because they were simply overwhelmed and didn’t have anywhere for them to store the donations. Amazing what happens when people rally around a cause.

My prayer is that in the next two to three months, the Church will continue to be there to help people in the recovery process. I have several friends that are have major trouble dealing with their insurance company over both their cars as well as their house.  There is also a great difficulty in finding suitable rental houses as well as the sheer amount of debris to remove. Plus, as always, when the government gets involved, there are always a lot of red tape and hoops to jump through to get help.

If you have opportunity, you need to donate to the cause to a reputable organization. Several of those which I have total confidence in are Forest Park Baptist Church (donate here), Convoy of Hope (donate here), or Samaritan’s Purse (donate here.) You can also come and volunteer with each of these groups as well. You can also dial 211 on any touch tone phone to talk with the coordinated relief effort . They can help you find the best place for you to serve. There is also a official site for the recovery at rebuildjoplin.org. It is a very helpful site with two main options at the home page, “I have been affected and I have a need” or “I want to give to meet a need.” Check it out and get involved. While we are waiting on our next assignment (more details later) we are planning on going down to help volunteer.

Here is an amazing video of the storm and destruction. As you watch it, please pray for Joplin and Duenwig.

[tentblogger-youtube nXjiWaQBXjs]

6:00 pm

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Well, it is well after 6:00 p.m. in most all time zones and Judgment Day has seemed to have come and gone with much less hoopla than the lead-up to the actual hour. It really is extremely sad to see people who will so quickly, blindly follow a false prophet such as Mr. Camper. It really does, however, make me desire to study and know better the Bible I read so as to “be ready to give an answer for the hope I have.” (1 Peter 3:15)

There is a really good post from Scot McKnight from Jesus Creed about the coming and going of 6 p.m. I really appreciate men like Dr. McKnight that have given their lives to the accurate study and teaching of God’s Word.

You also need to check out my friend, John Hill’s comments on this day…particularly the etymology of the word “Rapture.” Good stuff.

May we all live like tomorrow is “the Day”–without need for predictions…just as Jesus taught us.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

6pm | Jesus Creed.

The American Church’s Dirtiest Little Secret

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Check out this amazing post by David Foster on “The American Church’s Dirtiest Little Secret”…

The real dirty little secret in the American church is that we regularly, relentlessly, and without mercy beat-up, chew-up and spit-out our leaders.

I have to say that I have experienced every one of the five characteristics Foster lines out.

1. We starve them
2. We have outrageously unreasonable expectations of our leaders.
3. We strip them of power.
4. We let pretend leaders bully them.
5. We leave them in financial peril.

I really appreciate a ministry veteran who sticks out his neck to help change the system. That has been my prayer all these years when I have been in the middle of being “beat-up, chewed-up, and spit-out”– that I would be able to help the next generation of leaders behind me. Read more

Mark Beeson: Is Heresy Dead?

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Seems that Mark Beeson, Senior Pastor at Granger Community Church has been taking more shots about the methods they use to reach lost people with the Orthodox Gospel of Jesus Christ. He says,

I had another guy poke me in the eye because of the creative methods we use to present the orthodox Good News of the Gospel story. Well, he didn’t actually poke me in the eye, but that’s just because I’m quick as a mongoose.

I wish such folks were as concerned about “presenting” the orthodox Gospel as they are about “how” presentations are done.

I think that this argument against using creative methods to reach people far from God is really silly…but it is also dangerous too. When the Church stops looking outward to reach outsiders, then we cease being the Church Jesus created in the first place.  There have been these kinds of arguments forever, I suppose. For example, the early church, in Acts 15, said that you needed to have a surgery to be a true follower of Jesus Christ! And it wasn’t a minor surgery at that, fellas! Just a very short time after Jesus walked the earth, the early followers began to teach unorthodox ideas and came under sharp debate with Paul and Barnabas.

I love where the conversation and debate leads to finally…James, the half-brother of Jesus speaks up to put the debate to rest. He says, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” (Acts 15:19) Awesome! Read more

Walk Toward The Bush

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I have been thinking a lot lately about “how do I find God’s will?” This is nothing new, really. However, it has been kicked into high gear over the last year or so as we have been searching and praying for our next place of ministry service.

I am reminded of the story of Moses’ call experience in Exodus 3. He was out on the backside of the desert, simply doing his job (and running from God as well!), and this bush is on fire, but isn’t being consumed. Read more

Secret Church Simulcast TONIGHT

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I am really excited about the Simulcast tonight of Secret Church taught by David Platt. Jenny and I are headed over to the BSU at MSSU to study “The Crucifixion, Salvation, and the Glory of God” tonight. Here is a sneak preview of the topic. The title of the video is “Good Friday,” written and performed by Chris Brooks.  Good stuff indeed.

Soundtrack

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Student Weekend at FBC Oronogo–Saturday Night I preached on the Disciple’s Identity: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” out of Colossians 1:27. The students had been out all day serving at Ronald McDonald House and Watered Gardens; which is really cool to see them getting out into their community to serve. Again, the worship time was really sweet.

I am reminded when I am at these kind of worship experiences of the “soundtrack” of our lives. Read more

Student Weekend at FBC Oronogo–Friday Night

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Theme: Identity: Who are you?

I preached on the Disciple’s Identity: You are “in Christ” out of Matthew 11:25-30 on being “yoked” with Christ. It was a really good night with a great group of people. What I love about my friend, Steve Snider’s leadership for the weekend is that he wanted to it be for both students and their parents as well. They are really trying to partner with the parents and families, not just minister to the students only. It is a very D6 kind of thing going on…very cool. Read more