Thoughts From Chris

I have spent the last several weeks writing reflections regarding things God revealed to me during my sabbatical in May and June.  Let me continue doing that.  I have been in full-time ministry now for nearly 15 years.  One thing I have always tried to pursue is involvement outside of the church (with various levels of success).  While I want to serve and be a blessing to those inside the body of Christ, I also want to do the same for those in our world.  There are times in ministry when I feel very isolated and insulated from the rest of the world.  In recent years, I have felt the compulsion to seek greater levels of intentionality to get out in the world. 

When your full-time career is ministry, over time it can begin to feel like an artificial setting.  When people go into full-time ministry later in life (after they have had secular careers), or when they have another job on the side, it keeps them fresh and they can better relate to the common person working in the world.   I have talked to many pastors about this, and most of them share these same thoughts.

Last year I subbed for Fort Wayne Community Schools a few days every month.  I really enjoyed it, and I think it was healthy for me, for the church, and for those I interacted with in the schools.  I think it was a win/win on many fronts. 

During my sabbatical, I had time to think and pray about this area of my life (confirming that doing something smaller on the side in the community is wise and healthy).  I also pursued another area similar to subbing but a little different – teaching in the college arena.  I pursued a specific opportunity at IPFW, and to my surprise, it fell into place.  Instead of subbing this year in FWCS, I will be teaching a freshman class at IPFW called, “Foundations for Success.” It is a class intended to teach life-skills to freshman and help them learn about what it means to be successful in college and what it means to be successful in their life long-term (similar to concepts found in “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”).

While I am very excited about this opportunity, the thing God showed me during my sabbatical is that one of the reasons I long for different experiences, outside my full-time ministry job, is because he has given me a passion to be involved in our community and has wired me to live outside of the box.  For some people, they love pursuing one thing in life and feel overwhelmed when they have too many irons in the fire.  For me, if I don’t have several irons in the fire, I feel claustrophobic and boxed-in (simply the way God wired me).  This does mean I need to be careful about pace of life and not getting spread-out too thin, but I am cognizant of this as well and will regularly re-evaluate my priorities.

As you pause and think about your life, the ways God has wired you and the passion he has given you to be a blessing to people in different contexts, what is God revealing to you?

Well, it started out as a dare at a Christmas party last year.  I was giving Craig Eakright a hard time about his latest pursuits of competitive running.  I said something like, “When you can do a triathlon, then you will be a real man.  When you are ready to step up, I’ll do it with you (never dreaming of course that it would ever happen).”  To make a long story short, he eventually agreed, I was hooked in, and then I started recruiting others to go on this suicide mission with us.

Last Saturday was the culmination of that dare.  I trained for four months, loved it, got in shape for the first time in my life since high school, and had a blast on Saturday morning competing.  For me, I think this is the beginning of many more.

A few noteables, however:

• it was a 400 meter swim, 9.5 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run (great for beginners)
• there were 332 participants
• 25 of us were from Grace Gathering (most of whom were rookies)
• the average time for all 332 was one hour, 12 minutes, and 37 seconds
• my time was one hour, 12 minutes, and 31 seconds (my six seconds to fame)
• Mike Trumbower from Grace finished in the top 100 at 1:05 (and he was a last minute sign-up)
• Jen Dyben did awesome on the swim (third best among women – thirteenth overall)

Congrats to all of you who took the plunge. I am already looking forward to next year.  I cannot tell you how much better I feel and how much my eating habits changed during the training as well.  I actually loved the training as much as the event. 

Now, if I could just get people to become Michigan Wolverine fans and Detroit Lions fans ….  I think then we would have something truly special!

During these last several posts I have been writing about the different ways God spoke to me during my sabbatical time away.  Today I will give a reflection in the ministry arena. 

One of the things I wanted to do during my time away is ask the question, “What are the primary gifts/abilities God has given me, and how can I be the best steward of those gifts during my next season of ministry?”  You would think after 14 years of full-time ministry that should be a no-brainer.  However, it is always good to take a step back, ask others, and re-evaluate.

In my job I wear a lot of hats.  I can do several things well, and there are several things I don’t do too well.  What has God most wired and gifted me to do in the church and in the world to advance his kingdom?

There are several passages in Scripture that give lists of ways God gifts his people to serve him.  Some gifts are serving gifts (mercy, encouragement, helps, etc.) and others are equipping gifts (helping other people use their gifts). There is a list of equipping gifts found in Ephesians 4:11 (teaching, prophetic, evangelistic, apostolic, pastoral).  Some may see this list as roles and positions, but I believe they are gifts, and so do many scholars that I respect.  I only see two positions or offices in the church: elder and deacon. Incidentally, that is why I don’t think there is such a thing as the office or position of pastor; rather, it is is a gift (but that is for a different discussion). 

Anyway, based on the feedback I have received from others, gift tests I have taken, and the confirmation of my own evaluation, I think my primary gift is in the apostolic arena within the equipping and leadership gifts.  Of course, there are no apostles today like there were in Jesus’ day.  Those were special and unique positions that will never be repeated.  The apostolic gifting, however, is one who is gifted as a pioneer, vision caster, and one who helps chart new ground for others.  Missionaries often have an apostolic gifting. 

Call me weird, but I like change, I like trying new endeavors, I am not afraid of failing or doing things in an unconventional way, I like leading people to go in uncharted territory.  God has given me the ability to see the big picture of a certain vision and know what steps are required to move in that direction.  I often see spiritual movements and large scale directions.  Every gift has its strengths and weaknesses, as does mine, but this is simply how God has wired me.

For the church to be healthy it needs all the gifts operating.  Regarding leadership, this means all the equipping gifts must be present in order to have balance.  We need leaders who are also gifted pastorally, who are gifted as teachers, who are gifted prophetically, and who are gifted evangelistically.   As Ephesians 4:12 says, this is how the body of Christ is built up and prepared to serve others. 

Imagine if you had a church where all the leaders were just one of these equipping gifts.  The church would not be balanced.  For me, I can function at times pastorally, as a teacher, prophetically, or evangelistically, but I am most effective when I do that within an apostolic framework (in other words when the church is moving in a certain visionary direction).  

I am not sure if all this makes sense or not.  It may not be easy to grasp, but God has really confirmed this in my personal and ministry life.  Clarifying how God has wired and gifted me is so freeing.  It helps me understand why there are certain things I really enjoy and certain things that are more work.  It also helps me understand what my greatest contribution to the body is and to make sure I am operating effectively in that capacity.

How about you?  Do you have clarity regarding the way God has wired and gifted you to advance his kingdom in his church and in this world?  Are you operating today within that gifting?  If not, what steps do you need to take to receive clarity and then to move in this direction?

May we all steward the gifts and abilities God has given us for his glory and his kingdom!  No gift is superior or inferior to others.  God uses every gift and every person to bring balance, health, and spiritual power. 

During my sabbatical in May and June of this year, God spoke to my heart in several ways (personal life, marriage life, ministry life).   Here is another sabbatical reflection from my personal life. 

As I reflect back on my 14 years of full-time ministry, I think I struggled with pride particularly the first several years.  It was not a pride that necessarily had a lot of outward manifestations, but it was probably more inward.  People would regularly complement me on the job I was doing and the way God was using me in the lives of others, and I often attributed it to my hard work and dedication.  In other words, I gave myself more credit than I deserved. 

I knew pride in my heart was one of the sins I struggled with, and so I prayed often for humility.

During my middle years of ministry, maybe years 6 through 10, God allowed me to experience some struggles in ministry that really brought brokenness.  Those difficult times brought a deep humility in me that I had never experienced in the past.  As I reflect on those difficult times today, I would not change one thing because of the way God used it for good in my life. 

The last few years of ministry, however, I think I have been so fearful of pride that I have swung the pendulum over too far the other way.  When a person is over-consumed with pursuing humility he is often highly self-critical, avoids and attempts to undermine any complements people might give him, he focuses on his shortcomings more than any spiritual progress he might be making, and he minimizes and almost denies the importance of his contribution to the body of Christ (using his gifts and passions for ministry).

I think I have felt all of these things in recent years.  I have minimized the importance of my role at Grace (at times questioning if it is even needed).  Whereas in the early years of ministry, after receiving a compliment I might think to myself, “Yeah, I am pretty good aren’t I?”  In the last few years, after receiving a compliment I would be more inclined to think, “Yeah right, it wasn’t that good, if you only knew how many areas I need to improve in my life.” 

What God showed me during my sabbatical is that self-deprecation is not humility.   I don’t need to devalue the gifts God has given me in his kingdom and that my role and influence are actually important.  Instead of believing that God has little use for me, maybe God wants to use me to influence far more people in the future than he has in the past.  If that was the case, would I be up for the challenge?  Can I swing the pendulum more toward the middle away from both extremes of pride on one side and false humility (self-deprecation) on the other side?  

Humility is not about thinking less of myself; humility, rather, is about thinking of myself less.  It is giving God the credit and the glory (never stealing it from him outwardly or inwardly), but also recognizing that he uses human vessels to accomplish his divine plans – even people like you and me.   This means that we have real worth in God’s eyes, and that he can and wants to use us – even though we are imperfect. 

What I am now pursuing in my life is a humble confidence in how God wants to use me.  I believe God wants me to increase my faith in how he might want to use me in the future.   This is not a prideful elevation of myself but a humble willingness to allow him to use me to influence one person or one million people for his kingdom (whatever he chooses). 

I am not there yet, but I am excited to see God give me a more balanced, healthy, and biblical perspective as I make myself more available to him with both genuine humility and expectant faith and confidence. 

During my time away on my sabbatical I had many people speak into my life, and I spent time trying to gain perspective on my future.  I feel I received insight into many different areas.  Let me give one of those insights in the personal realm.  I  have become aware that as I view my relationship with God, I predominantly see myself as a hard working servant of Christ.  I love progress and growth in life, and I am consistently striving to serve God in greater ways.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with being a hard-working servant of God.  In fact, we are all called to serve God.  I Peter 2:16 says,  “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.”

At the same time, it is also true that everyone who follows and worships Jesus in life is a son or daughter of God.  This isn’t just someone who is God’s servant, tending the garden as an employee; rather, this is someone who is a cherished son or daughter of the king. 

If you have ever seen the TV show “The Apprentice” you know that Donald Trump interviews and evaluates potential hires – people who will work for him and represent him (a coveted position to work for one of the richest men in the world). 

In the TV show, however, as he is interviewing these candidates, who is usually to his right and left?  His son and daughter.  Do they work for their dad?  Absolutely.  However, everyone knows those two are in a league all by themselves as they work alongside other employees.  They are family.

Romans 8:15-17 says, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

God is my dad, and Jesus is my brother.  I am in the family.

I don’t need to prove my love to my dad.  I don’t need to earn his love by my hard work.  He is not going to fire me and disown me if I mess up. 

The realization that I am not just a hard working servant of God but a cherished son of the king is something I don’t think I understand too well.  I think my imbalanced understanding of this has affected me and my perspective in life more than I realize.

I believe God wants to take me on a personal journey during this next season of my life and help me understand what it truly means to be his cherished son.  The thought that God would pat me on the back and say, “I am proud of you son,” is a foreign concept to me today.  I hope that as I understand his unconditional love and my position in Jesus, this will be something I believe on a regular basis as I serve and glorify my heavenly father. 

I have just returned from my two month sabbatical.  I have many things to share regarding what I learned.  Some of the things could have been predicted.  However, most of them would not have been (at least by me anyway).  I believe God spoke to me in several areas of my life, and I have categorized them into three different segments:  personal life, married life, and church life. 

There are far too many things for me to share in one post, therefore, I am planning to share them over the course of several posts. 

I guess, as an introduction, I would say that I was surprised by the fact that I needed some time away in order to hear from God in several key areas of my life.  If you were to ask me six months ago if I was burned out of ministry, I would have said, “no.”  Now that I am on this side of my sabbatical, I realize that I was at least partially burned out (and probably at some point would have been completely).   It has been a fast moving 14 years in my job.  Today, however, I sense renewal and greater amounts of passion for this next season.

Sometimes we need time away (maybe a day, a weekend, or even longer).  We need some time to disconnect from all the demands and allow God to give us perspective in areas that just cannot happen while in the daily grind.  This is what God has given me: perspective in areas I didn’t know I needed.

As I share these many reflections over the next few weeks, I want to be vulnerable and transparent.  Not everything God shared in my heart was easy, some of it was painful, some of it was joyful, but all of it was beneficial and rewarding.

As I open up in these areas of personal life, married life, and church life, I pray that you will be encouraged to seek rest in some kind of way, and ask God to reveal things to you about your life.  One of my prayers during my sabbatical that I said to God over and over again is a simple prayer that Samuel made before God revealed himself to him, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” (I Sam. 3:9)

I pray that you will find some time to get away and pray these same words as well.

“Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” 

I am currently on a research sabbatical May and June and will not be posting on my blog until I get back July 1.  I am interviewing leaders regionally and nationally regarding the direction Grace Gathering is heading in the future. 

I am also beginning the journey of writing my first book.  If you go down a couple of posts below you will notice that I narrowed my topic to four different subjects (with a summary of each).  I had over 50 people respond with their input, and it was incredibly helpful.  If you were one of them, thank you!

Here is an analysis of the feedback.  The following is the percentage of people who ranked each topic as number one:

35% The Goal is Jesus:  how Bible learning has hijacked Bible living

29% Giving the church back to the people:  how to decentralize with growth

20% Sexual Purity of the mind: why abstinence is inadequate

16% The Balanced Church: charting middle ground on dividing issues

I was surprised how close all four topics ranked in people’s minds.  This told me that all of them had some appeal.  This second analysis is even more telling, however.   The following percentages indicate how many people had the following topics ranked number one OR number two:

71% The Goal is Jesus:  how Bible learning has hijacked Bible living

55% Giving the church back to the people:  how to decentralize with growth

37% Sexual Purity of the mind: why abstinence is inadequate

27% The Balanced Church: charting middle ground on dividing issues

Of the four potential topics, I have made my decision.  I am leaving room for God to change that decision at any point in the process, but I am going with “The Goal is Jesus.”   I think the predominant reason why is because the other three feed off this one.   Centering our character and life-mission on Jesus is the foundation of our sexual purity, puts in perspective the role of doctrine and handling debatable issues, and it is what drives the need for church structure to empower the people. 

While I think the other three topics will probably still be independent books in the future, I will include some of the content of the other three in this book (as well as many other issues).  The thrust of the book might also be more holistic than what the current subtitle and overview suggest.  The idea that Bible learning has hijacked Bible living may be a chapter in the book rather than the main thesis. 

I am very excited about how God will lead this and the impact it can have both in my life and in the lives of others.  Distinguishing between the goal/end (becoming more like Jesus inwardly in character and outwardly in life-mission) from the means (Bible studies, sermons, church attendance, small groups, doctrinal beliefs, biblical worldview, etc.) is very confusing to many people.   Many of us (including our churches) are deceptively content and satisfied with our engagement with the “means,” even though we may never be drawing closer to the “end goal.”   I am praying that God’s Spirit will guide every thought and sentence as I write. 

Thank you for your prayers during these two months away.   I am praying for a balance of productivity and refreshment. 

God speaks to us today predominantly through his living word (the Bible).  The Scriptures are his love letter to us and God’s word has authority in our lives.  God also speaks to us in other ways besides the Bible.   He speaks to us through our circumstances, through our conscience, through dreams, through promptings in the heart, through creation, through the voices and actions of others around us to name a few.   God speaks to us when we open our Bibles and read his word.  God does not stop speaking to us, however, after we close our Bibles. He speaks to us in various ways all throughout our day.  The only question is are we listening or are we sensitive enough to discern the promptings of the Spirit in our lives.  

Over the last year God has challenged me to allow the Holy Spirit (the third person of the Godhead) a greater role in my life.  This means seeking to be more Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, sensitive to the Spirit’s promptings, and mindful that his Spirit is communicating to me throughout my day.  For me, my Christian life has been more about learning the principles of the Bible and then trying to live out biblical decisions.  It would certainly be wrong, unbiblical, and unwise to devalue that.  We need more people who are willing to flesh out the doctrine and life principles of the Bible.  

While nothing can or should replace rote obedience to Scripture, if we are not careful our Christian life can become a mechanical practice of using the Bible as simply a manual for life.  When this happens we can tend to simply look up answers and then go try to implement them without an intimate and dependent relationship with God.  God wants us living out his word by not only obeying his commands but also by living in the Spirit.   This requires an attitude of prayer throughout the day, living out biblical principles, listening to the promptings of the Spirit throughout the day, and following those promptings.  

For example, I felt God lay it upon my heart to call and encourage someone the other day.  Normally I would let that thought go by unfulfilled.  However, I followed through on that prompting and God blessed it tremendously.   God speaks to us and prompts us in different ways throughout our day, but are we listening?  I know I have a long way to go, but I am trying to grow in this area.  

Yesterday in our church service all eight of our elders/overseers took a few minutes each and shared what God placed on their heart about our church family and our future as they prayed for God’s promptings.  We shared a few general principles about listening to the Holy Spirit or engaging in what some call a prophetic ministry (discerning God speaking to us in ways other than the Bible).  Here they were:

Guiding Principles regarding impressions from God

1)      God can speak to us in many ways (e.g. circumstances, dreams, creation, conscience, through others, etc.)

2)      Impressions are always submissive to and never contradict Scripture

3)      Humility is required: “I am not sure, but I think God is saying to me …”

4)      Being led by the Spirit encourages greater sensitivity to impressions from God

None of the elders knew what each would say ahead of time.   I had some people say to me before Sunday, isn’t it dangerous to let 8 different leaders speak about the future of the church without having any idea what any of them might say?  From a human perspective that is incredibly risky and probably not too bright.  However, if all eight of them genuinely seek God and say only what God has prompted them to say, there is absolutely no risk.  

Often faith requires risk.  We had faith that God would speak to all eight, but if he didn’t, or if one of them wasn’t listening or simply wanted to use the time to get their own agenda through, it would be a disaster.  

Well, if you attended, or if you listened online afterward, you know that God blessed our faith and spoke to our church family in absolutely amazing ways.  I was blown away.  It was incredibly encouraging, challenging, and affirming.   

After the elders all spoke we communicated the truth that God doesn’t just speak to the leadership of the church, but he speaks to every follower of Christ who has the Holy Spirit living in him/her.   We then took some time and allowed everyone to share with someone sitting at their table or next to them what God has placed on their heart regarding our church family.  I would love to hear what some of those things were.  If you or someone around you shared something you would be willing to share with the rest of us, please post a comment here at the bottom of this blog.  

We would love to hear how God is speaking to many people in our body about the future of our church family and what God is doing and is going to do.  

Try this week to be more sensitive to the Spirit’s promptings and follow through on what you believe he lays on your heart to do or say as you relate to others around you.  

Many people have encouraged me over the years to pursue writing (something I have always loved doing), and while I have always had the desire to pursue a book, I have never had time.  During my sabbatical this May and June I am going to be doing some research on the future of Grace Gathering, and I have also decided to begin my first book. 

I have many interests and passions on a host of subjects. I have narrowed it down to four different topics.  I would like your help, if you would be willing to give it.  Out of the four, which do you think would be the most helpful and needed in the church today?

If you are willing to give me your input on which one I should write first, please rank them from one through four (one being your top choice – or you may recommend a combination).   Add any comments if you would like as well.  Go to the bottom of the post and click comments to give me your input.  I would greatly appreciate as much input as I could get. 

(Here are the four topics and their summaries in no particular order.  The titles are temporary.)

Giving the Church back to the People: how to decentralize with growth

Growing churches usually develop more ministries, hire more staff, seek greater levels of excellence in programming, become more complex organizationally, build larger budgets, and become more centralized as a body.  What if a church grew and needed less staff, offered fewer ministries, became simpler in organization, had less hierarchy, and became more decentralized over time?  What if the senior pastor didn’t become more like a CEO as the church became larger and rather his role was emphasized less or maybe even restructured with less visibility and power?   What if the emphasis of a growing church was less about the Sunday morning event and experience and more about the impact smaller, missional communities that met throughout city during the week were having? What if a church tried to do a few things well instead of trying to do everything, and thus, become spread too thin?  What if greater amounts of the church budget were given over to these smaller communities to use for local and international mission, rather than a few leaders directing and deciding where all the funds go? What if the Sunday morning gathering was simply a regional event where all the smaller communities and churches that met throughout the week came for further training, inspiration, teaching, vision casting, networking, and large group worship/celebration?  What if the ministry, the money, the vision, and the direction were taken out of the hands of the “professionals” and given back to the people?  Just imagine if the people, without any formal training, felt empowered and confident to go out and be the church!

The Balanced Church:  charting middle ground on dividing issues

There are many issues in today’s world and within Scripture that divide and polarize the church.  Should we mainly focus on the gospel of personal conversion or on the social gospel of meeting the needs of the disadvantaged and needy?  Should our faith be more intellectual or experiential?   Are some of the spiritual gifts in Scripture not operative today or should the church pursue all the gifts?  Should we welcome homosexuals and try to love them into the kingdom or should we separate from them and stand against them?  Should believers follow Jesus’ pattern of suffering and self-denial or expect earthly blessing and abundance?  Should the church be attracting unbelievers to services or should believers be going to where unbelievers live?  Does God have clear lines of gender distinction in church leadership or does God use men and women in various leadership roles?  To what extent should the church engage in spiritual warfare?  Does a centralized megachurch or a decentralized group of smaller communities have more influence for the kingdom?  Among these and other issues, many see a fork in the road between competing positions, and thus, argue and defend one position as more biblical than the other.  The balanced church, however, sees merit and at least hints of truth from each side and plows a path of synthesis and balance between the two. What would it look like if a community of believers avoided the watchdog mentality of defending a position against its polar opposite and instead tried to humbly learn from the other side?  Could a church, which preserves foundational historic doctrine, remain unified if it gave people freedom to believe opposing positions on many of these debatable issues?  Would the church be weaker or stronger because of it?  The balanced church believes there is middle ground within a biblical landscape that not only avoids dissension and friendly fire but is preferable and creates synergy and unity among differences.

Sexual Purity of the Mind:  why abstinence is inadequate

Much of the focus regarding sexual purity in the Christian community is on avoiding sexual behavior.  Avoiding sex or pregnancy outside of marriage, avoiding STD’s, protecting one’s virginity, avoiding pornography, staying sexually faithful to your spouse, are all alternative messages to the overall acceptance of sexual promiscuity in our society.  The main problem with the message of abstinence or any other message focused on avoiding certain behaviors is that it sets the bar too low.  Remaining a virgin until one gets married is a worthy desire, but it is an inadequate substitute for true, godly purity.  Married couples remaining sexually faithful to their spouse or avoiding pornography are good and right, but it does not equal purity.  Biblical purity is about a heart and thought life of purity – not simply the abstinence of various physical acts.   When Jesus talks about sexual purity he focuses most of his attention on issues of the heart and thought life.  We may avoid immoral actions but have an immoral heart and mind.  However, if we can gain victory and be sexually pure in our thought life, we will never commit any act of sexual impurity in our lives. Therefore, the battle ground for purity is in the mind and thought life not in the outward actions. This book will help you learn how to avoid rules/legalism and be Spirit-led, detect hints of immorality in the heart, know what to do when you are married and yet attracted to someone else, how to date and remain pure, the benefits of being vulnerable about your struggles instead of embarrassed, and treat others of the opposite gender with dignity and purity in the heart. Whether you are a teenager or in your sixties this book will help you strive toward the ultimate goal of sexual purity which is to be led by the Spirit in the deep recesses of your heart and mind. 

The Goal is Jesus: how Bible learning has hijacked Bible living

In the church today we have more Bible studies on the market than at any time in history.  We are saturated with Bible resources, of which many people are involved, but we have more carnal living within the church and little transformational living.  Our problem is not that we don’t do enough Bible studies, listen to enough sermons, or engage in enough Christian resources; our problem is that we don’t spend enough time and energy putting into practice what we have learned.   For many, we are simply addicted to the next Bible study or the next Christian book (before we even have time to apply what we just learned).  Learning the Bible is important (it is the only way we can decipher spiritual truth), but becoming like Jesus in our character and engaging in his mission are more important and are the ultimate goals of the Christian life.  The one is a means and the other is the end.  God has not given us the Bible so that we can be intellectually stimulated; he has given us the Bible so that we can be internally transformed by the way we live.  Sometimes we need to put our Bible studies and Christian books down, stop trying to “learn” more, and instead live out the radical life of following Jesus and become like him.  Often we deceive ourselves into thinking that learning equals growth.   This will require a shift in thinking by the church to get out of the holy huddle and into the lives of those in the community.  This is messier, not as safe, more unpredictable, and carries greater risk, but it was how Jesus lived, and it is who we need to become as his disciples.  It is time we stop exalting bible learning and begin exalting Bible living.

OK.  It is official.  I am now registered for something incredibly crazy.  I haven’t been on a bike since I was a teen, I have never run any kind of a race, and I cannot swim a lap in a pool without needing a break.

Why should that stop me, though. On August 8 I will swim .2 mile, bike 9.5 miles, and run 3 miles.   Since this is now 4 and a half months away, I probably should get started with a little training.  My goal is to start no later than April 1 (I know April fool’s day).  Guess who’s the fool?

From what I gathered this past Sunday, I think we are going to have maybe 30-40 people from Grace do this thing (many of whom who are like me and have never done anything like it).  I think it is going to be a blast.  I am looking forward to this forcing me to get in shape as well. 

For those interested, here is the website: www.hamiltonnorthchamber.com

You can register online.  Also, for novices like me here is Jill Eakright’s e-mail address:  jill@eakright.com.  Jill has participated in this particular one two or three times, and she is willing to answer basic questions people may have.  I know I had and have a lot of questions.

If you want to try something crazy, and get in shape while doing it, try this with us. 

If nothing else, it should be interesting. 

No flash photography or video within 100 of feet of me please.