I experienced something not to terribly long ago. I came across some pretty incredible talent. Actually, it was down right amazing. It was the kind of talent that when you see it, your mouth drops open. Wow. Then I experienced something that felt like I was punched in the gut. This talented person has not been able to use the talent they had been given.

Actually, this kind of thing happens all the time. Sometimes people above you don’t see the talent. Sometimes there isn’t an opportunity. That’s just the way of life.

Some of this is based on assumption, but what I understand about this situation is that this talented person’s gifts were known. But either because of pride or control, the talents were suppressed. That may be a little harsh. Maybe that wasn’t the case, but that is how it appeared.

Regardless, this is what I’ve unpacked:

• Lord, allow me to recognize gifts and talents of those serving with me
• Lord, never let my pride get in the way of letting someone else SHINE
• Lord, let me see my limitations and not be afraid to surround myself with others who are BETTER than me

That’s about it.

Here is a link to a web site my wife came across the other day. CAUTION! Don’t got there yet… let me prep you as you may not want to go there. Trust me!

My wife met someone recently who is a volunteer photographer for a foundation called "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep." I had no idea anything like this existed and it’s simply powerful. Perhaps there are photographers at your church who’d be willing to volunteer for something like this. I can think of few things more touching that this.

Here’s the deal. Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is a network of volunteer photographers who go to hospitals and homes to take pictures of children who have passed away shortly after birth or are are going to die due to a complication or illness. Most of these parents will only enjoy holding their child in their arms for minutes to days and these photographers provide beautiful memories that the parents can cherish forever. These aren’t morbid or disturbing photos, but beautiful and touching scenes.

I’ll caution you though, viewing these photos will absolutely rip your heart out. If you’re up to it, I do encourage you to visit the link, view the pictures and read the stories from these parents who lost their children. I’m not an overly emotional man, but I was fighting back the tears. Sara and I lost babies at 8 and 10 weeks. When we got pregnant with Titus, we were on pins and needles at every doctor visit. On the day of delivery, I was holding my breath. I really knew he was going to be healthy and strong, but true joy and relief came when I saw him suck in air and let out that beautiful little cry! How precious is life? Isn’t it a miracle? I think I’m going to go grab my little boy out of bed and give him a hugs and kisses!

Okay, I just came across a new pet peeve of mine. I was hanging out in the check-in area on Sunday and it was about 15 minutes after the service started and I mentioned something about shutting down check-in. Someone responded that it was too early and people here are on Gateway time. That was the second time I heard that since I’ve been here. The last time was a few weeks ago. I was sitting in morph (a new discipleship program) and the speaker said something about only having a handful of registrations a week before, but now there were more than 60 people participating. He said something about this being the Gateway Way. All this sounded familiar.

However, I put 2 and 2 together today. I got an email from a previous co-worker at Cross Timbers. She was talking about how registrations come in slow and at the last minute. She said, "You know how it is on CT time."

You know what?I think I can even remember back to my first full time position at a church in IN. I seem to remember talking about how people arrive at the last minute or sign up for stuff late.

So, this is my pet peeve. Based on my past experience, people are late and like to wait until the last minute. Sure, not everyone is like this, but enough are. I really don’t think it’s that unique, based on my experience. How about you? Have you experienced this with your ministry, or is everyone always on time? I think I’m going to start standing up for this. The next time someone says that this is "Gateway time" I’m going to boldly stand and say, "No. This isn’t Gateway time… it’s reality. People are late here just like they are at every other church in this country (and let me tell you, go down to a church in some other countries and they’ll give you some real examples of "late.")!"

Finished up the Dialogue with the World series here at Gateway. John Burke did a Q & A from the audience today. People would text questions to a specific number and John picked several as they were coming in to answer them. They were the tough "How could a loving God send people to Hell?" kind of questions that he was answering right on the spot. John’s really sharp.

They showed this video at the beginning of the service. Pay close attention… it’s the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time.

As I’ve said here, here and here, we’ve been discussing the Great Commission in our staff meeting.

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This is something I’ve always thought was interesting about The Great Commission. I always thought the end of verse 18 was a misprint. It seemed to me that it should say that all authority has been given to “you.” It seems like God is commanding us to go and make disciples, you would think that he would give us the authority to do it. Why would he say that authority has been giving to him? Why won’t he give me some of that authority.

I’m not Bible scholar. I didn’t exegete this passage. But I think I know why he didn’t give me the authority. Because it causes me to daily rely on him. When I try to minister on my own, I do it without his authority. The scripture is very clear. It’s not my words that bring a person to Christ, but it’s him that draws them to himself. I’m just a tool. Ha!

The end of verse 20 wraps it up nicely. He’s reminding us that he’ll be with us until the end. Why the heck do I need my own authority? I’ve got the guy with it all with me always. Perfect!

Lord Jesus, let me daily lean in on you. Let me operate through YOUR authority! Amen.

Technorati Tags: Authority, Great Commission

I forgot to mention this earlier in my this post. I wast talking about how on the day of Christ’s ascension there were some of the 11 disciples who doubted. It truly sounds crazy. How on earth could they doubt? But then I realize that I may not “doubt,” but I often live my life as one who doubts or even doesn’t believe. Seriously, if I truly had the fear of God in my life, why do I still sin so much?

Then I got thinking.

I’ve had relationships all through my life with people who don’t believe in God. I’m really not that good at debating with them. To be honest, I don’t really like it. I like them and their belief… or lack of belief doesn’t change the way I feel about them. I just don’t think I’ve got the words to sway their belief. Many times I’ve heard them say, “If there was convincing and irrefutable proof that God exists, I’d believe.” When hearing a statement like that, I’ve felt the pressure of putting together the irrefutable proof. However, being that faith is involved, there isn’t a silver bullet. There is evidence that God exists and some people are really good at presenting that proof in a very convincing way.

But today I realized something. This statement by non-believing friends is a load of garbage. Maybe it’s not a load of garbage, but it’s wishful thinking. There are scores of people from the pages of scripture who experienced God in a powerful way, yet turned away. Peter denied him. Some of the 11 doubted. Solomon (the wisest man to live) chased after other gods. Judas betrayed him.

Aren’t we just fickle?

Technorati Tags: Doubt

I took one class at college in hermeneutics. I actually really enjoyed the class. I knew that it wasn’t likely that I’d be using my new hermeneutical skills on a regular basis when preparing preschool lessons, but I saw great application for my own personal knowledge and development. One of the key skills taught in hermeneutics is studying the verse in context. When looking at a particular passage, we would have to outline in detail the entire chapter in addition to a less detailed outline of the entire book. The context of the book, the chapter and surrounding verses can have a profound impact on the passage being studied.

Like I said yesterday, we’ve been looking at The Great Commission in our staff meetings. Usually people quote this passage using only verse 19 or sometimes 19 and 20. It also isn’t’ unusual for people to begin their quote starting with verse 18.

However, keeping the rules of hermeneutics in play, the passage of “The Great Commission” actually begins in verse 16. I’ve read the book of Matthew at least dozens of times, but two weeks ago I noticed something I’ve never noticed before. It’s in verse 17. I’ll quote both 16 and 17.

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

Do you see it? What the heck? Who doubted? Was it Thomas again? There must have been someone else as well if it says that “some doubted.”

It amazes me. These 11 men saw miracles performed by this man. These 11 performed miracles in his name. They witnessed his brutal crucifixion. Then they witnessed his resurrection. And here we are several weeks later and some doubted??? I don’t get it.

I seem to recall that this isn’t a first time occurrence. How often did the Israelites complain against God after they saw him smite (I love using that word) the mighty nation of Egypt. Moses went up the mountain for a little while and his people turned toward worshiping idols in his absence. How does this happen?

Here’s what I’m coming to realize. We’re a stiff-necked people! If I had been one of the 11, I might have been a doubter. Maybe you would too. Don’t deny it, look what happened to Peter when he denied similar accusations. I’ve encountered grace so amazing and have experience the power and love of the God who created the universe, yet why don’t I love him more? Why do I find it so difficult to spend time with him? Why don’t I love others more? Does this put me in the same camp as the doubters? Maybe.

Just something to chew on today…

Technorati Tags: Great Commission, Doubt

I’m not exactly sure that “leaky” is a real word. But I think it’s a question we all have to ask ourselves. Actually, there are many questions that have to be established before asking this one.

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A similar thought as been thrown at me from many different directions this last month. This though involves vision. Steven Furtick in one of his audio blog talked about speaking vision so much your throat is hoarse. At Orange, Craig Jutila spoke about how without vision, people run wild (Craig does a great job helping people develop mission and vision to present to their organizations). Then just yesterday, I was confronted with a powerful example of vision working the way it is supposed to. Vision when it leaks down and saturates the organization.

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Ha! If you’ve ministered to kids for any time, you probably got a kick out of this title!

Last week I was listening to an audio blog post on Steven Furtick’s blog. The blog was about how to give effective invitations. It was a great message, regardless of your position. He shared his advice and experience in the wake of Easter where his church saw over 500 people come to Christ. Absolutely amazing! There were so many great points worth hearing.

One thing did stick out to me in particular. Pastor Steven talked about how it had been his tendency to make it difficult for a person to come to Christ in order to ensure that they authentically made the decision. Then one day he read the parable of the wheat and the tares (or weeds) in Matthew 13 and was convicted. He came to realize that it wasn’t his responsibility to determine the authenticity of their faith and remove the weeds, it was his responsibility to sow the seed. In the end, the wheat would be separated from the weed. He went on to say that he (Steven) will refuse to cast wheat tot he side because he thought it was a weed. “I’m not God… it’s not my job.”

I thought about this in the context of the children’s ministry. We’ve all had that one kid that got saved every single time there was an opportunity. There were some kids that I met with personally and baptized that would occasionally raise their hands. Sometimes I’d pull them aside and question them, explaining that you only had to do this once. Ha, I even had one 7 year old girl (it would be an understatement for me to call her a firecracker) who had gotten saved 400 times in one year. I had been working with her parents already on some behavior issues, manipulation and lying. Once I explained to her that she didn’t need to keep doing this. She looked at me with her “sad” eyes and said, “I didn’t mean it those other times.”

A few Easters ago we had a great response to an invitation in our kid’s church. The next week I shared this news in staff meeting. One person on staff responded, “Yeah, but how many of them really meant it. Some of those were probably repeats from Venture Quest (VBS).” Yeah, that didn’t go over so well for me. I didn’t make a big deal out of it, but that did bother me.

Yes, it does bother me that the same kid gets saved every week. Not that I care that they’re doing it again, but because I really want them to get it. I asked Jesus to be my Lord when I was 4. I think I did it 10 times that week. Why? I just wanted to be sure. I understand for some kids (if not most) it is a process. It’s not “too big” of a decision for them to understand; however, as they mature, they’ll also grow in their understanding.