Jesus’ take on freedom

Doesn’t everyone want to be free?

Over the last few weeks I have been repeatedly reminded of how precious freedom is. The anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s collapse reminded me. Talking with a friend who lives in an oppressive region of India reminded me. Reading about Christians who have been jailed for their faith reminded me. Talking with a person who was recently arrested reminded me.

As far as I can tell, everyone wants to be free. Read more »

Sacrificing to the Finish Line

“Just a half-mile to go; you can do it!”

That’s what I was saying to myself over and over again last Saturday morning. I was part of the Good Samaritan 5K and pushing hard as I approached the finish line. I had intentionally been running faster than my normal, 55-year old pace, and my whole body was feeling it. My heart was pounding, my stomach was turning and my brain was questioning this painful strategy. I briefly thought about slowing and coasting in, but people were cheering me on. I was able to finish with a sprint!

Three years ago, Covenant began a 3-year race called His Heart, Our Dream. It was a broad-based project endorsed by all core leaders and has been financially supported by many households. The primary goal was clear to us all: expand our facilities so that people we had not yet met would have a place to worship and discover Jesus’ redeeming love. Read more »

A Very Old Challenge

InTENtional for 10 is a brand new challenge from Covenant’s leadership: embrace ten of Jesus’ life disciplines for ten weeks. Sounds new and creative doesn’t it?

This kind of “try it, you’ll like it” strategy is actually as old as the Old Testament. Check out the book of Malachi for one such example. Read more »

Intentional for 10

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.” (Mt. 11:28; Message)

What a great invitation from Jesus; one that rings true in our crazy, confused and chaotic world. And His invitation continues: “Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.” (Mt. 11:29; Message)

Jesus’ life plan for us is anything but passive, casual or lackadaisical. In fact He demonstrates it right before our eyes; it’s a laser-focused, purposeful and highly intentional lifestyle that opens our hearts to His power and grace.

Interested in tasting more of the God life before year end?

The leadership of Covenant Church invites you to embrace ten (10) spiritual disciplines that Jesus practiced for ten (10) weeks—we are calling it InTENtional for Ten.

Accordingly, here are my top ten reasons why you should do this!

Read more »

Choosing Mary over Martha

No doubt about it, we live in a Martha world.

Martha was a woman who lived at the time of Jesus and had the good fortune to know him, first-hand. On one occasion, Jesus ate in her home, and it appears to have been one of the most stressful days of her life (Luke 10:38-42).

I totally relate to Martha. Wouldn’t you feel the same if the Son of God was coming for dinner? Don’t you want to make a good impression? The place needs to be swept; there is dog hair everywhere! The kids have left their things all around, and the whole house is a wreck. There isn’t enough food to feed all who are coming. How will it all get done in time?

Read more »

On his heels

“If anyone would come after me…” (Mark 8:34).

What would I have done if I had heard this live? If Jesus had looked directly at me and invited me to follow Him—“come after me”—I sure hope that I would have done so. What an amazing, real-time journey it would have been!

Think about it—if you or I had followed Jesus’ heels, where would it have taken us? Read more »

A Special Disciple Here This Week!

Bob Tuttle Jr…Bill Pannell…Don Cousins…Judy Skaff…Pastor Isidro.

In my lifetime, I have been blessed by getting to spend time with a handful of folks who have made profound contributions to the kingdom. Bob is a world renowned evangelist. Bill is a powerful spokesperson for Christian justice around the globe. Don is a great leader who has taught thousands. Judy is Bible teacher living in India who has helped spark a revival of prayer in that strategic country. And Pastor Isidro has been walking the talk in a way that is inspirational to me and many others.

For most of his life, Isidro Mejia Cordero has worked Read more »

Striving to be a kid again

If we could just be like our kids, what a difference it would make!

Did you catch the newspaper this week? Check out this article for all the details. The kids of Covenant and three other Greenville ministries raised the bar in dramatic fashion for us adults as they teamed together for a “One Body” week of ministry. Together, they worked collaboratively to be the hands and feet of Christ, and in so doing, broke through spiritual, racial and socio-economic barriers that have often constrained adult Christians in our city. Clearly, we adults can learn a lot from them about racial reconciliation. I also think they raised the bar for us in regards to what it means to trust Jesus.

Hanging out in their worship times reminded me of Jesus’ clear message: “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:17.

Unfortunately, as an adult, it is so easy to make our walk of faith complicated. Instead of receiving His kingdom principles and guidelines at face value like a child, we play games. We rationalize. We make excuses. We keep ourselves busy with work, recreation, chores and even church commitments in order to avoid submitting to Jesus’ authority and obeying His commands (John 14:15-17).

“Intentionally following Jesus…” is the vision that the adult leaders at Covenant have established as our destination; a description of what life will look like when we have fully realized Jesus’ lifestyle of worshipful living and humble service. The fact of the matter is that our kids are ahead of us, and we would do well to emulate their passion for Christ and His words.

So what is your next step of faith? What has Christ being calling you to do that you have been resisting? Be a kid; just do it!

Intentionally prioritizing His way,
Charlie

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

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