Getting Un-Stuffed

Apparently, Its God’s Pie is still ringing in my ears.

This was Branson’s theme in June as he unpacked Jesus’ clear teaching on ownership. Everything belongs to God (Ps 24:1) and we, as Jesus followers, are to lay up treasures in heaven, not store them up for ourselves.

Admittedly, this has been a recurring theme in my life these past two years as I cleaned up my parent’s house. Two Great Depression-inspired pack rats on the loose for 177 combined years! Did I tell you about all the candy bars I found? Numerous closets in their home had unopened bags of Snickers and I was stupid enough to try one. (Maybe love of Snickers is genetic?) Trust me, don’t ever eat one that smells like moth balls!

Predictably, Mary Lou and I have been inspired by this life experience and have been emptying closets like crazy. In so doing, we have rediscovered treasures we have been storing up for no good reason and either throwing them away or, when appropriate, giving them to some one in need – bags of stuff that reveal that we have not been investing in the kingdom as well as we could have. We all have next steps of faith, don’t we.

This past Saturday was another parallel lesson as it relates to treasures. I was hanging out at the More Hope House where Covenant has been doing inspired ministry of late. What an interesting house from the 1890’s. Apparently, this house was at one time a Methodist seminary and now, once again, Methodists are growing in the Gospel at the same address. Anyway, as I was walking through the old home, I was stunned by the size of the bedroom closets. I am not talking 1950’s small; I am talking tiny. I would say somewhere in the vicinity of 15 inches deep, 6 feet high and 5 feet wide. There was virtually no space to store items, and, obviously, there is no attic in the home.

What a contrast. Today’s homes are 30% bigger than the 50’s, have huge walk-in closets and attics, and today’s storage industry is a 12-billion-dollar business. “Where you treasures are, there will your hearts be also”! Ok Jesus, I hear you.

So how do your closets look. Are they stuffed?

I am delighted that there is a Covenant team that is currently designing a process by which our closet and attic treasures can resource the needs of marginalized people in partnership with ministries like God’s Love. You will be hearing more in the days ahead!

Intentionally prioritizing His way,
Charlie

Blog tips #1: Commenting

Okay, so perhaps maybe you’re new to blogging, or at least reading one; or perhaps, you’re a seasoned pro. Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, I want to offer a few tips to maximizing your experience on this blog.

When you come to the homepage here, you’ll see the last several blog posts over the last couple of weeks. If you click on the title of the blog, or on the “Read Full Post…”, you will be taken to the full article post.

Directly under the title, you will see the timestamp of when the article was posted, and to the right of that, the number of comments. If you click on “Comments” at this point, you will be taken directly to the end of the article to the comments section where you can leave a comment.

This is a critical feature of the blog. We want you to not just read the articles, but engage them. Think about them. Ponder them. Be challenged by them. Grow. Learn. You get the picture. But we don’t want the journey to end right there. We want you to tell others how you felt, or how it challenged you, etc. This is a collective journey that we’re on, and your thoughts and comments can spur others on.

Now, if you choose to read the whole article first, at the bottom of the article are the comments others may have left. If there are none posted, then please feel free to be the first. Click inside the “Post a new comment” box to leave your comment. The default option is here is that you are “Posting as a Guest”. If so, you will also need to leave your Name, Email and, if you want, a website link (eg, facebook, linkedin, etc). You can also sign up for an IntenseDebate account by clicking “Sign Up”, or, if you have an OpenID, you can log in with that.

Now, here is a really cool feature of our commenting system. If you see someone’s comment and it really provokes a response in you, simply hit the “Reply” button directly beneath that person’s comment, and you can leave a comment in response to what they had to say! See below for an example.

Other than that, these are the basics of commenting on blogs. The only real catch: you have to actually leave a comment. We don’t want to have any boring blog posts, so by all means, engage it and read the comments from other viewers as well.

Amazed

I was talking to another staff member this week, and he told me that he had been reading the Gospel of Mark and had noticed that when people encountered Jesus, Mark says that they were astounded, bewildered and amazed. He remarked that he rarely sees people who are amazed at Jesus. We both admitted that we are rarely amazed.

That conversation reminded me of a Bible study I led several years ago with a group of my hometown buddies. I came back from college ministry with a burden for these guys’ souls, and I asked them if we could study the Bible together. We began to meet weekly and started by studying Mark. One of them, a guy named Andy, told me that he had gone to church all his life, but it wasn’t until this Bible study that he noticed that every chapter told about people who were amazed at Jesus. That discovery led him to make Jesus his Lord that summer.

One of my favorite old hymns begins with the words, “I stand amazed at the presence of Jesus the Nazarene…” I’ve sung that song many times, and so have many of you, but rarely has it been true of us. Imagine it. We’re in worship, in the presence of the true and living God, the risen Lord Jesus the Christ…and we’re not that impressed. We’re certainly not amazed.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be amazed!

I know that what Jesus is doing in people’s lives is amazing. He’s done some amazing things in my life and in yours! He is amazing! So, from now on at Covenant, we’re going after “amazing.” I want everything we do as a church to be a celebration of the evidence of Jesus’ amazing presence. We’re going to start telling stories of the amazing life-changing events that are taking place around us – in worship, on the Web site and in print. Our new mantra is going to be, “Tell me your story!”

A man in our church named Mike told me that the first time he came (several years ago), a guy got up and told how Jesus had changed his life. He realized after a few minutes that he knew that man and had known him to be a rather unsavory character. Mike immediately turned to his wife and told her that if Covenant and Jesus could change “that” guy, Covenant must be the church for them. That kind of change had to be supernatural and was truly amazing.

Our vision statement, “Intentionally Following Jesus…” has three dots at the end. Most people leave them out, but they are important. They represent the stories! They represent what happens when we intentionally follow Jesus. The dots are where it gets amazing!

So, tell us your stories of life-change. We want to celebrate and be amazed at Jesus! Reply below with your comments and stories!

Three reasons to love on Patrick

Patrick is the poster child for children’s and student ministries.

For years, Covenant adults have loved on him, and for good reason. Obviously, every kid needs love, but Patrick has needed extra doses. He has faced enormous challenges in his few years of living – a self-evident truth that ministry leaders could easily see. So every time he walked through the church doors these past 10+ years, ministry servants have affirmed his heart, soul and mind. Boy, what a difference it has made! Patrick is headed off to college with Jesus as the defining reason for His existence. I ought to get his autograph now before it’s too late!

But there are lots of Patricks in our ministries to children, students and adults, and Scripture details at least three motivations to be generous with your heart, time and resources:

One motivation is love.
We love others because God first loved us. We are grateful for all that He has done for us (Heb 12:28), and it compels us to make a difference in the lives of others. Our current sermon series, “Love Letter,” is guiding us through 1 John, which unpacks this theme in detail. The grace we have discovered compels us to action.

Another motivation is fear.
We invest our lives and resources in others because of our fear of God as Creator and Judge (Gen 2:17; Deut 28:58-67; Heb 10:30-31). Try this: use an online Bible search engine and call up all Bible references for “fear of the Lord.” Read and meditate on them and watch as the Holy Spirit prompts your heart. To further drive home this reality, strop reading this email and go read Matthew 25. Seriously. Go read it and then come back to this email.

[We'll wait]

Now, imagine your earthly life is over, and you are standing before God the Father. It is now time for His assessment of your life. Ok, I’m motivated now!

Don’t forget the motivation of reward.
You might think it would be selfish to be motivated by reward, but apparently God does not. He has established clear rewards for faithful obedience (Deut 28:2-9; Heb 11:6; Mt 6:19-21). In fact, the problem with most of us–including myself–is that we settle for pathetic, temporal pleasures—possessions and power—rather than the good stuff. We live for the cotton candy rewards of our human existence rather than an eternity in paradise. Down deep I know it’s stupid, but living for today is both tempting and very common.

From start to finish, the Scriptures place these three, powerful motivations before us and invite us to jump into kingdom living with both feet.

If you are motivated now, please call our children’s and student ministries staff today (355-0123) and ask them how you can be a part of a Patrick’s life; we have a bunch of them! It will make a world of difference not only for them, but also for you.

Intentionally following His lead,
Charlie

Animal Kingdom

Many people have taken a personality profile. My experience has been that almost everyone dreads the results because those tests usually identity us correctly! Really, we shouldn’t be scared to see ourselves in the unique ways God has made us.

One test that I think is particular helpful was developed by Christian writers Gary Smalley and John Trent. They base their explanations around four animal characteristics: lion, otter, golden retriever, and beaver. It’s amazing how revealing these descriptors are for us as individuals, but they are also how helpful for us in working together as teams of married people, co-workers, or teammates.

Lions are visionaries. They are practical and decisive. They work independently to drive ideas. They feel the need to lead. Of course, sometimes lions, in their attempt to lead, run ahead of their teammates or act independently of others.

(There are pros and cons to each personality type which is why it’s good to know your self, or your spouse, or your boss, or your teammates well.)

Otters are outgoing and friendly. They are fun to be around and influence others by their personality. At the same time, otters can be undisciplined and spend too much time having fun to accomplish the tasks at hand.

Golden Retrievers are steady and dependable. Often they are the peacemakers among us using diplomacy or humor to help the other animals get along. Unfortunately, they can also suffer from indecisiveness, fear and worry.

Beavers are disciplined workers. They love details and organization. At the same time they can also be critical of others who are not as disciplined as they are and who want to talk rather than work (Otters).

Most people could not be described completely by just one of these animal descriptions. For instance, I am a Lion/Otter. If I am in the room with all lions, I move quickly to being a people person. When I’m with a room full of otters, I have fun but am quickly frustrated that no one is in charge. Most of you could probably be described by two of these descriptors as well. One general rule: You cannot be both a lion and a golden retriever at the same time. They are opposites. So are otters and beavers. Interestingly otters tend to marry beavers because they need them!

God really knew what he was doing when he created people. The world has people with all four of these descriptions and every team, every family, every work group, and every ministry needs all four to make them work at maximum efficiency.

Our new ministry POD system at Covenant seeks to utilize the strengths of a team of people in ministry to compensate for weaknesses so that we can give our best for God’s kingdom! In the Creative Arts POD (worship arts, production, communications) we have 3 lions, 3 otters, 3 Golden Retrievers, and 4 beavers. It should be fun to learn how to work together!

At one ministry meeting this week, a “lion” said to me, “Please…let’s don’t hire anymore otters!” He was sharing his frustration over his teammates’ enthusiasm and fun-loving ministries. (Of course, if everyone was lion, no one would have fun!) The golden retriever in the room affirmed the lion and otters and….well, it was a planning meeting so there were no beavers in the room; they were all out working!

The fact that it takes all four animals to make a team is why Covenant affirms the biblical truth that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. We need everyone’s personality and gifts. They are necessary in the total picture of how the church works to fulfill its mission in the world.

See you at worship,
Branson