Archive for June, 2009
Asking the tough questions
An increasing trend among my fellow pastors on facebook is the collaboration during message preparation. Often I’m the one asking for help with a text or thoughts on an illustration.
This week a friend posted a need for info on the topic of the “uniqueness of Jesus” in the context of faith. I offered my humble and probably insufficient words but as others add to it one has several thoughtful beginning points.
I wonder how many messages could be improved by use of other ideas, research, and viewpoints if we all took time each week to ask the tough questions?
I’ll be honest many times my in-depth study is frustrating as the more I study the more questions I have. Sometimes Sunday creeps up and I’m still mid-struggle and up to my ears in research without a clear victor.
That’s why you’ll hear me offer options and sometimes say, “I don’t know” – because the simple fact is as I approach the interpretive task many times the questions are haunting.
However I don’t see the message as a mountain-top experience – it’s just another step on the journey, another opportunity for us to talk about what it looks like to try to describe the undescribable.
Sometimes in my life I’ve been afraid to ask the tough questions – it seemed easier to just bury my head in the sand and pretend they didn’t exist. I’m sure I could have done much more good by authentically trying to answer those questions – even when the answers might never come.
Clive Staples Lewis once wrote, “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”
Are you ready to ask the tough questions? What if doing so meant “loosing” some things that you’d “bound”?
Friday is for Friends: disciplenowstuff.com
I am a big proponent of Open Source and free resources especially for church resources. When you begin to see the quality of materials being offered today for free or really inexpensive, you can see the potential a movement of resource sharing could have for the Kingdom.
A friend of mine (Michael Bailey) from OBU that is now a youth minister near Ft. Worth, has developed a website called disciplenowstuff.com where he is offering original DNOW materials for youth groups or other groups – some for free and others at an incredible value.
I’ve been out of youth ministry as a primary leader for several years now, but I would highly recommend taking a look at this material if you’re planning a DNOW or other retreat for youth. I know resources like this were always hard to come by and definitely not always user friendly. The guides I looked at help explain how to use the guides and are all well organized.
You can also see the disciplenowstuff.com facebook page here. Michael has put together the beginnings of some great resources and this will definitely be a page and ministry to track as he shares more of his DNOW materials online.
Friday is for Friends: Blue Door Ministries
I am so blessed to be friends with Chris and Dana Byers who are currently serving in missions work in London. Increasingly I have friends who are doing longer-term missions that are still shy of what you would traditionally think of as “career” missions.
Chris and Dana sold their house, cars, and most earthly possessions then moved their family (toddlers Blake & Mackenzie) to London on an experimental basis back in October of 2007. What was to be a trial six-month run has turned into a nearly 2 year work now in church planting and ministry revitalization for churches in the UK.
Chris and I were friends at Oklahoma Baptist that had fallen out of contact when we reconnected about two months before they were set to begin their new work. My church’s team in 2008 had an opportunity to worship with Chris and Dana’s church plant and it was a blessing to see God working in their midst.
Besides the obvious blessing of God in their ministry I might add that another element working in Chris’ favor is that he really did marry above himself and has an awesome partner in ministry, Dana. You can see their videos online, learn more about their work, and donate to further the ministry online at their website: http://www.bluedoor.tv/
I encourage you to check out their good work in London and read their blog to understand the interesting things God is doing as He works through those that will go be the workers in the harvest.
“And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” -Luke 10:2 ESV
The Song that’s still in you
Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
The final part is often attributed to Thoreau but does not appear in Walden – “and go to the grave with the song still in them.”
What song is still in you that’s yet to be written? What is it that’s keeping you from singing that song as loud and off-key as you can so that at least someone can hear the blessing of the song?
Maybe you’re like me and can’t carry a tune with a fork-lift. Perhaps you wonder what your great gift is, what business you could start, what realtionship could be like walking with the Lord.
Solomon noted in Ecclesiastes 9:7-11, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.”
The time is now for the new movies, the new music, new software, and new ideas that are in your mind. Now is the time to enroll in that new class, write that new book, finish that new program – now is the time to do whatever you do with all your might.
Don’t settle for a life of quiet desperation. Don’t go to the grave with the song still in you!
Connecting with Sujo John
I had the joy of being part of a tele-conference tonight with evangelist Sujo John. Sujo’s testimony and ministry of preaching God’s Word and story of creative redemption in the Grace of Jesus Christ is captivating and glorifying to God.
I have never been a big fan of the “tele-conference” idea – I’ve been part of several from tech/ministry related organizations and companies. I think every time I felt like the whole purpose was just to sell me a product or a higher level of service.
Tonight’s conference call was different. First, it was a sacrifice. I’m in the Arbuckle mountains of southern Oklahoma and our evening service began right about the time the call was scheduled for tonight. Second, it was prayer driven, God focused, and Kingdom inspired. Each part of the conversation which had folks on it from all across the U.S. was covered in prayer and honest concern for the proliferation of the Gospel.
Finally, it was unique. There was no sales pitch, no “5 easy steps” – it was an honest presentation of the amazing work Sujo is doing in countries many of us could only dream of even visiting. The audience he commands in these nations is impressive but the message he unabashedly shares with them and the lives changed he sees can only come from the blessing of God on someone’s life.
I get a big smile on my face every time I read an update about where Sujo’s been or a crusade he’s lead that saw Muslim background people come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Inside my chest a feeling wells up like we might actually win this battle when I hear of people who boldly proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior – the only final solution to humanity’s despair.
Take a moment to check out my friend Sujo John’s website – you will be blessed by his testimony and the continued blessing God has upon his ministry of taking grace to those who are desperately in need it.
About
Clark Frailey is a husband, father, and Lead Pastor of Coffee Creek Baptist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma.
clarkfrailey.com
