Pop Goes the Church

About half way through the book it finally started to click.

I don't know if it was Stevens talking about being a missionary in Africa or using Pushing Daisies as an illustration but somewhere in there I just got it. 

A person could go to church for weeks sit in a pew (if any church other than 2nd Baptist still has pews) and leave saying, "this just isn't me."  We have created our own little Christian culture and the "outsiders" don't get it.  But, its impossible to go to church for weeks and put up a wall and say "this just isn't me" when what is being discussed is the very thing that was in your home thursday night.  When the church uses the songs, books, and movies that are already in a person's head there is an automatic connection made.  A person can sit in church and say "hey, they are just like me, but they have something more."  And that is where the power of the scripture comes in to take them past the TV show illustrations to an understanding that they matter to God.

WHY WAS I SO BLIND!?!?!

  God has called me to be a missionary.  I have read books, attended conferences, been to training meetings, and  researched different cultures.  I know that the first thing you have to do is learn the culture of a people group so you can identify the barriers that will arise between them and yourself.  Then you do whatever it takes to remove the barriers, and learn to use examples from their culture to make the gospel relevant to them.  So what was I thinking coming into my own country, setting up my own little world and expecting others to want in?  It should be the same approach here, learn the culture, break down the barriers, use everyday life to make scripture relevant.  I don't think most normal people have to go out and learn their own culture, but I guess I need to...I'm such a weirdo.  So wether I'm serving in Sudan or some po-dunk town in Missouri my approach to ministry will be the same. 

"The serving we are called to requires direct contact.  You can not wash the feet of a dirty world if you refuse to touch it."  -Erwin McManus  

How Will You Be Spent?

Ben Pilgreen- Second Baptist- Springfield, Mo

The reason Jesus served was because it was his nature(Phil 2:7)- He was a servant,

He did not serve in order to become a servant

John 13

Jesus washed the disciples' feet because they were dirty.  Its that simple.  What needs can you meet in a person's life today so that they can move on to communion with Jesus?

Jesus washed Judas' feet knowing that it wouldn't make a difference in the way Judas treated him in return.  What if practicing obedience is the only purpose for your service?  What if you don't get to see any growth and rewards?  Is service still your nature?

whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.  Matthew 20:26-28

Responsibility

" Don't try to avoid responsibility by saying you didn't know about it.  For God knows all hearts, and he sees you.  He keeps watch over your soul, and he knows you knew!  And he will judge all people according to what they have done."  Prov 24:12

Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know 
It's more than I can handle 
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones 
and I cannot let it go 

And when I'm weary and overwrought 
with so many battles left unfought 

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard 
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars 
And when the Saints go marching in 
I want to be one of them 

I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharaoh's court 
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord 

And when the Saints go marching in 
I want to be one of them 

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad 
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul 

I see the young missionary and the angry spear 
I see his family returning with no trace of fear 

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights 
I see the sisters standing by the dying man's side 

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor 
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door 

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road 
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

-When the Saints  by Sara Groves

What are we doing?!?!  There's a world that needs Christ, and we are his hands...we can not avoid the responsibility, we can not turn our head any longer...its time for the Church to open the doors and reach the streets...

Pop Goes the Church

"Frustration, confusion, and guilt can cripple those desperately trying to harmonize the Bible with their everyday lives.  They want to understand how the same God can speak to them through R-rated films such as The Shawshank Redemption or Braveheart while calling them to "flee from sexual immorality."

-Yep

speechless

I hate it when there is something you want to say so bad but you just can't find the words. I think thats what makes the trees grow taller, and the flowers smell stronger, its all they can do to praise a glorious King when there are no words to be said.

Pop goes the Church

  I have to admit I'm  glutton for tradition.  I grew up in a church that did not change one thing in the 15 years I was there, my cousins and I would start traditions (like eating thanksgiving dinner on the stairs) just for traditions sake, my high school friends and I go to a royals game at the beginning of every summer just because its tradition.  Periodically I'll attending the "early service" at whatever church I'm at just because its traditional.  Tradition is safe, it brings back happy memories, and I just feel like somehow it could bring me closer to being one with God because if the tradition has been around for hundreds of years then man, its gotta be good right?!  There is not push and pull, no scrambling to figure out how something new will work, no brain power needed. Its nice, but deadly.

  Tim Stevens in his book, Pop Goes the Church, poses the question "Would your community be any different if your church disappeared tomorrow?"  The funny thing is the church I grew up in did disappear one day, under the governmental act of Eminent Domain, nobody noticed.  The community is different today, it has an Olive Garden now.  

   Like Stevens, I must admit, I fell in love with the church before I fell in love with Jesus.  I was at the church anytime the doors were open, both Sunday services, food pantry saturdays, set up and clean up for all activities, lead youth council, mow the lawn, go door-to-door on visitation night, choir practice..."my love for the church grew more intense every day"...It was nice, but deadly.  Despite all the hours put in I still went through the typical stages of adolescence, making bad choices, mouthing off to my parents, and pushing the boundaries.

The church I've always known has been driven blindly and obsessively by one goal; to protect ourselves from the culture at all costs. "So rather than preparing our children to engage, discern, and make good choices, we put out hands over their eyes and our fingers in their ears. However, through the internet and news media, the culture was still able to invade our homes.  Unfortunately, our kids were ill prepared to deal with it."  And that's where I stand today, ill prepared.

I know that what this book speaks about is true, its how Jesus would live if he were alive today.  But I am honestly scared and dumbfounded.  I know that I can't go on living in the church bubble I've been in for 21 years.  But as I step out longing to engage a world of searching souls I feel that all I can do is sit down in the middle of the road and observe all that is going on around me.  I think I'm having culture shock in what's supposed to be my own culture.

Stevens says it is his goal for me to walk away from this book and struggle, talk, debate and struggle some more.  He's already achieved that and I'm only on chapter 2.  

"The community around you is dying without Jesus, and it is your God ordained duty to wrestle until you find the best way to reach them .  Once you do, don't apologize."

 "Many who call themselves Christians are like a giant black canopy over the sun keeping the world from seeing the light." 

"If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep getting what we have always gotten- and I am not satisfied with that."

God is Such a Romancer

I just couldn't stop smiling last night as I was driving into an awesome pink, purple and orange sunset, listening to great new songs, and smelling the fall corn fields.  I've never had a boyfriend, but I've had some amazingly great date nights.  And I always get loads of beautiful flowers every spring and fall.  When God created me He was thinking of the stars, He knew they would draw me in and make me lost in the majesty cause they remind me how huge He is.  And God always has the right words for the moment:

"Listen to me, O royal daughter,  take to heart what I say.  Forget your people and your homeland far away.  For your royal husband delights in your beauty; honor Him, for He is your Lord."  Psalm 45:10-11

"But forget all that- its nothing compared to what I'm going to do.  For I am about to do a brand-new thing.  See, I have already begun."  Isaiah 43:18-19

God is setting me free from my past, and doing a brand-new thing in me, and I can't help but fall for Him more every day...

"Simply stated simple minded love for You 
Has simply been completely complicated 
And I’m finding this daily drudgery is finally catching up to me 
It’s time for this abandon to make much of You and less of me"

- A Breath or Two    Jimmy Needham

Hurricane - Jimmy Needham

I have built a city here 
Half with pride and half with fear 
Just wanted a safer place to hide 
I don’t want to be safe tonight 

I need You like a hurricane 
Thunder crashing, wind and rain 
To tear my walls down 
I’m only Yours now 
I need you like a burning flame 
A wild fire untamed 
To burn these walls down 
I’m only Yours now

I am Yours and You are mine 
You know far better than I 
And if destruction’s what I need 
Then I’ll receive it Lord from Thee 

And it’s Your eye in the storm 
Watching over me 
And it’s Your eye in the storm 
Wanting only good for me 
And if You are the war 
Let me be the casualty 
‘Til I’m Yours alone 
I am only Yours 
I am Yours alone, Lord 

Thirsty

He will be your sure foundation, providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.  The fear of the Lord is key to this treasure.  Isaiah 33:6

The wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will become a lush and fertile forest.  Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field.  And this righteousness will bring peace.  Quietness and confidence will fill the land forever.  Isaiah 32:15-16

O, God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you...your unfailing love is better than life itself! Psalm 63:1&3

O, to have peace, quietness, confidence, wisdom and knowledge...

Fat Bank

I had this sweet job in the summers when I was in high school.  I would go paint, hang with friends, and listen to music from 7-3, five days a week.  I just figured out today that if I would have stuck with it, rather than choosing to do summer camps and mission trips, I would be making $420 a week next summer.  Thats CRAZY to me.  But hey, the Bible says that when we seek God's kingdom and His righteousness first then He's gonna take care of the rest(Matt 6:33).  And He totally has!!! I may not have a lot of cash, but I've everything I need plus some. God's so good :)

Cafeteria Christians

  I went to The Vine last night.  Its the college ministry of Second Baptist, and there was a really good sermon.  They used the illustration of being Cafeteria Christians...you see, at college you walk into the cafeteria and scope out all your choices, everything looks slightly questionable so you just take a little of the bar-b-que sundae(seriously served at MSU), the  3 day old chicken casserole, the macaroni pizza, corn, and salad.   You just pick at all of it getting some of the decent edible parts and then end up throwing over half of it away.  And thats totally how the majority of students treat the church through their college career.  A student can go to a different church every sunday and get a little CCH, some of the Vine, and a scoop of Chi Alpha throughout the week.  We can pick out the music from one service, the teaching from another, the small groups from another and just throw all the leftovers out the window.  But what kind of impact are we having on the Church, and what kind of impact is the Church having on us if we are only taking bits and pieces, losing the full value, and never sticking around long enough to give back?  The Church is not a building but a body of people, the Church is the bride of Christ...are we making the same kind of commitment to the marriage that Christ has made to us?

To Infinity and Beyond

I once had a coach who said, "you can't let your high school days be the climax of your life."  At that point I was 17 and had no clue what she was talking about.  Five years later, I get it.  The second half of my high school career rocked cause that's when I got baptized and started growing in my relationship with God.  Its also when I realized there was something bigger in my life than sports.  When I got baptized God changed everything, he changed my church, my friends, my goals, and my outlook on life.  There was a whirlwind of action in my life at that time and as I went off to college I would look back over the past few months and say "wow, that's so cool, look what God did!" I was living off the joys of the past.  I think God was using those first couple months to get me hooked, so I would know the greatness that can be found in a relationship with Christ.  Then He brought me down off the "mountain" a little bit and said lets get to work.  Now that He had me in his arms He needed to shape me into the creation He originally intended on.  He couldn't just leave me as the mess that the world had molded me into.  It's almost been 4 years since I graduated high school and I'm realizing that God is doing another huge work in me.  He's changing everything once again, but this time I can't settle with getting back to where I was on that mountain top with God.  He's gotta take me exceeding abundantly above  anything I can dream up.  (Eph 3:20)  Its so easy to let all the pressures of the world convince you to settle for the good times you've had.  But I want to encourage you to push on beyond where you've been, and start exploring new territory with Christ.

i LoVe SwImMiNg!

Its amazing what a little focus and an inhaler can do! I dropped 15 seconds on my 300 swim time today! It feels so good to have my mind, body and spirit all focused and growing!

The Body

 I grew up listening to a radio station that played Focus on the Family broadcasts.  According to those shows my family never did anything we were supposed to do.  Up until now I had always thought it meant I was a subpar Christian because I didn't have everything the "perfect little Christian" needed to live the perfect, everything is wonderful, "I love Jesus" life.  I really don't know why it took me so long to figure this out, but I just came to understand that my family's actions are totally separate from my relationship to God.  And God isn't looking down on me saying "now Crystal, you and your brother aren't best friends so I don't think I can use you as much as I'd like to."  God really does call people who don't have perfect lives, and he really does expect to use them for great things.  

1 Cor 12:27 says "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."  There are a lot of people who do "focus on the family" and I think you should, as parents, take time to invest in your children and your relationship with your spouse.  But, isn't the body a closer knit assemblage than a group of people?  A family can separate and each member can function on its own, but the hand cannot function without the arm nor the arm without the torso.  God is teaching me, at this time in my life to focus on the body.  He has always provided the relationships, encouragement and support that I have needed through my fellow Christians and its time for me to let go of what the radio says I need and start fully investing myself in the body.

?!?!?

Webster's dictionary states the definition of satisfy as "to be adequate."  What is a word that means beyond satisfied? That is what I need in my life, to go beyond satisfaction.  To be adequate falls short, it is defined as "being barely sufficient."  I need some major God power in my life and I don't want him to just satisfy me, I don't want Him to be barely sufficient.  I need God to be more than enough.

Things have really been falling into place lately in my life.  I am filled with ridiculous amounts of joy every time I think about the blessings God has been throwing my way...but there is still something missing... GOD, WHAT IS IT?!?!?

"Jesus Rocks!"

  I had a random trip to Silver Dollar City tonight, I like walking around in busy places by myself, for some reason it helps me think sometimes.  I love it when God starts connecting little things in my life because thats when I know I'm on the right path, on His path for me.  Like when I read a verse in my devo, then hear a song about it and then hear someone preach about it all in the same afternoon.  Or take the past few days for instance...I've been praying about my future and how I feel God leading me to youth ministry.  And all these random things keep happening like a chance to hang and chat with some cool high school chicks, some twitter conversations that give me lots of insight into what I'd be surrounded by everyday, and then these boys at SDCity.  For some reason I kept running into this group of christian boys who were probably 13ish.  They were acting all ridiculous, wearing their Bob the tomato and Dora hats and Jesus Rocks dog tags yelling at random people "hey, Jesus Rocks."  And it just made me smile, cause there is just something about youth that I love.  No matter how much drama you have to put up with, the laughter, love, energy, and moldability that comes with being a teen makes it all worth while.  Seeing those boys running around having a great time made me think of all the great trips to SDC, concerts, camps and retreats that I had with my youth group.  And it got me totally pumped to be able to open up doors for more teens to be able to have the same great experiences I did; the experiences that were more than just fun times but times of growth and being fed the Word.  I'm super under-qualified right now but God knows what he's doing so if He says "Go this way" I'm going.  I know it will be great.  

Note To Self

 Do not eat peach frozen yogurt and oreos as 6th meal. Ya feel like poo in the morning when you want to go swim.

All Things New

Just a little hint.  If you've ever had the problem of overeating and not being able to say no to junk food you need to do the 6 meal a day diet.  I was supper excited about being allowed to eat 6 times a day, but now I'm just starting to feel like "uhg, I have to eat again?"  Its funny how God uses something you'd never expect (like training for a triathlon) to heal the messed up areas of your life (like eating issues you've had for 4 years).  I love to watch Him work.

I am typing a blog while eating kashi cereal with soy milk...who is this girl and where did she come from?  I don't really know, but I think I like 'er.

I only wish my closest friends were not going through rough times right now, its so much more fun to celebrate great times with the multitudes!

You make all things new 
You make all things new 
You redeem and You transform 
You renew and You restore 
You make all things new 
You make all things new 
And forever we will watch and worship You 
You turn winter into spring 
You take every living thing 
And You breathe Your breath of life into it over and over again

-All Things New Steven Curtis Chapman

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. Psalm 29:2

Training

Ok, I know this is incredibly cheesy, but its true, I can't help it.  I feel like Akeelah, from Akeelah and the Bee.  Its about a girl who is training for the spelling bee and towards the end of the movie she finds herself training without a coach...so she thinks.  It turns out that all the random people in her life that she comes in contact with on a daily basis become her coaches.  The neighbors, her brothers friends, her mom, her best friend and others are all helping her study and cheering her on.  So, I'm training for this Tri and I don't really have a coach, but the Y's trainer is helping me plan and eat right, the lifeguard is helping me with technique, my best friend is helping me get a bike and encouraging me, and my roommate is my accountability to get up every tuesday and thursday morning.  Its cool how God provides.

P.S. my swim time dropped 5 seconds! SWEET!  5.55 is a really long time to stay focused, I can probably do better Thursday if my mind isn't all over the place!

Mulligan

   I left Chillicothe and came to school ready to start the semester 2 weeks ago.  I didn't get off to the greatest start because I was slightly overwhelmed by mass amounts of mold in my basement that had to be cleaned out.  Then classes started and I was quickly overwhelmed by the work load.  If the semester would have continued at the same mental state I was in it would have been a disaster! So I rewound this weekend.  I went back to Chillicothe, hung with some great high schoolers, and the coolest family I know, then made the drive back to Springfield.  This time its going to be different.  I will have a possitive outlook on my classes and be thankful for the opportunity to go to school.  I will not be overwhelmed by the work, but remember that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!  This semester is going to be great, I'm going to learn a lot. 

  

I love driving under the stars with the windows down just listening to the bugs making noise, or blaring Chris Tomlin and singing at the top of my lungs.  God and I had a great 3 1/2 hours to chill last night and it got me really pumped up for this semester.  Its going to be a time of fewer friends, more focus and more growth.  I'm excited to look back at the end of the semester and see what God has done!