Fishing Revolution

Last night I attended a breakfast por la noche for NewSpring, a ministry that is empowering business development in the Spring Branch area of Houston. Jim Herrington (Mission Houston) was the host and in his remarks about missional living really got me thinking.

You’ve probably heard the proverb:

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

But what if you wanted to revolutionize the fishing industry?

Too many churches (both mainstream and non-traditional) have been fishing (Jesus said when we follow Him we become fishermen) for years (and years and years) with pretty much the same methods. We might update the equipment now and then or come up with really flashy fishing lures but for the most part we all been in the “how do we attract the fish” paradigm.

One of the shifts that has the potential to revolutionize the fishing industry is a movement from attracting the fish to living with the fish. It’s a shift from attractional to incarnational – which when you think about it is God’s move that we celebrate next month.

Revolutions require three things:

Leadership. Specifically, leadership that cares enough to be incarnational. Incarnational leaders invest all that they have to the revolution. It becomes the very air they breathe.

Partnership. We can’t sustain a revolution on our own. Partnerships between churches and schools and businesses and government is essential – and it can happen – it is happening.

Sacrifice. No revolution takes places without cost and a willingness to risk whatever it cost to sustain the revolution.

As I head into the Christmas season where we will be proclaiming that Christmas can still make a difference (revolutionize the world) I’m asking myself:

Is my leadership incarnational?
Who are my partners?
What sacrifices am I willing to risk?

To the glory of God!

Baby Shower Thank You

Mom always said to say “thank you” so here’s a big thank you to everyone who made our Baby Shower for Houston a great success. Together we blessed moms and babies with the love of Jesus and:

Diapers – 15,209 each
Wipes – 378 packages
Formula – 64
Pedialite - 2
Baby Wash – 19
Lotion – 12
Baby Powder – 7
Cotton Swabs – 2
Diaper Ointment – 13
Dry Cereal – 4
Empty bottles – 14
Sippy cups – 2
Pacifiers – 12
Jar food – 44
Gerber snacks – 6
Bottles of juice – 44
Blankets/Quilts – 23
Cloth Diapers - 12
Receiving Blankets – 24
Washcloth – 18
Burp cloth – 12
Bibs - 11
Comfort clothes - 3
Stuffed Animals – 49
Socks – 57 pairs
Underwear – 18
Onesies – 52
Outfits (two piece) – 8
Robe – 1
Hat & Mittens – 1 set
Baby book – 1
Picture frames – 2
Baby Bather – 1

Baby Shower for Houston

On any given night there are an estimated 1,500 homeless youth, ages 17-24, living on the streets of Houston. Within that population are young moms raising their children in this precarious environment.

Thankfully, there are ministries like Little Footprints.

The heart of Little Footprints is to reach the little ones of the streets of Houston through various means:

• Assisting the mother to become stable enough to raise her own children

• Placing her child/children in our Rescue Family Program through Loving Alternative, an adoption/foster agency

• Helping with practical needs such as diapers, wipes and formula, etc.

The goal of Little Footprints is: to love, bring acceptance to, give encouragement, and instill self worth and a sense of value into the street children, teaching them that they are special and that someone cares about them that they may become healthy citizens of society.

On Sunday morning, November 8 you have an opportunity to help Grace Presbyterian Church partner with Little Footprints to realize that goal. In our worship services we are throwing a Baby Shower for babies in need in Houston. We are inviting all who attend the shower to:

• Bring diapers, wipes or formula (or anything else a baby or young mom might need).

• Invite a friend to attend the “baby shower” with you.

Jesus welcomed the little children and on November 8 we get to show them all His love.

Share this opportunity with everyone you know!

Not Complacent

Last Friday an article in the Belief section of the Houston Chronicle ended with this assessment of the church in the United States:

…churches have become complacent and are no longer challenging themselves to do extraordinary things. churchgoers have a hard time seeing how their contribution to missions can affect the world or its problems.

One of the changes that seems to have happened to the church in the United States is that it has moved away from vision, it's not challenging itself to be great.

I suggested in the message on Sunday that it must break Jesus’ heart for someone to write that about His church. Yet we shouldn’t too quickly ignore the critique.

Instead it provides a great opportunity to demonstrate that:

We aren’t complacent.
We are engaging in extraordinary things.
We believe that with God’s help we really can affect the world and it’s problems.
We are committed to a vision to do even greater things (because Jesus promised that we would).

This Sunday, November 1, we will celebrate ways in which our Youth Ministries are living out what we believe as they share stories from last summer’s mission trips in both Sanctuary services. You DO NOT WANT TO MISS this Sunday.

The following Sunday, November 8, we will live out our Vision with a very special Baby Shower. Again this will be a Sunday you won’t want to miss.

As we look toward Christmas we will be focusing on the idea (inspired by the Advent Conspiracy) that Christmas and the church can [still] change the world. The next couple of Sunday’s are opportunities to celebrate and be a part of that change.

Join us and let’s show the world that we aren’t complacent – instead we are filled with compassion.

To the glory of God!

T Doug

It doesn't take all of us

I’m working on an upcoming message this morning and studying Judges 7 and had a thought I hadn’t really considered before:

It doesn’t take all of us.

One of the phrases many pastors (including me) use of a lot is along the lines of:

God is calling us to greater things in His kingdom and it’s going to take all of us working together.

The idea is to make everyone feel significant and included. The hope is to engage everyone to use their gifts. So we teach that we need all of us contributing – each piece of the puzzle working together. We tell our congregations and staffs – I’ve told congregations and staffs: It’s going to take all of us.

But it doesn’t.

That’s not to say that not everyone is significant. Everyone is. Each of us was “fearfully and wonderfully made.” And everyone has a gfit that can and should be used for God’s glory advancing His Kingdom. But that doesn’t mean it will always take all of us to accomplish the task or the vision God has placed before us.

Consider Judges 7.

Gideon (Jerub-Baal) had an army of 32,000 ready to attack the camp of Midian. If I were giving the pre-game speech I would have said something along the lines of:

“We can do this – even though Midian is undefeated in conference play, we can win this battle if we work together. We can do this – but it’s going to take all of us!”

But God says: “Send anyone who’s afraid home.” 22,000 leave.

New pre-game speech: “OK we are down 31% in numbers but those left are fearless and committed and ready for some action. We can do this but now it’s really going to take all of us!”

But again God says: “Not yet.” Then follows this odd selection process involving how we drink water from a stream. 300 make the cut.

32,000 down to 300 (that’s a 99% decrease) . By the way, the 300 then proceed to smash the Midian camp to pieces (with 31,700 home in their tents).

Could it be that it doesn’t take all of us of us after all?

Could it be that all that is really required is the right 300 and God?

Now I’m not suggesting that we began to tell people that we probably don’t 99% of you – not exactly a strategy for church growth – or more importantly reflective of what we believe.

But responding to God's call and vision doesn’t take all of us. It only takes those of us who are called and up to the task.

Just a thought.

When we "test God on this..."

This morning we issued a Kingdom Challenge based on God’s promise:

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Malachi 3:10

And that:

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

2 Corinthians 9: 6

The basic idea of the challenge is to test those promises over the next 10 weeks through increased giving to God’s kingdom work (either through Grace or anywhere else in the kingdom).

Just a few hours into the challenge I got a great email:

So I don't know if you are wanting us to tell you this stuff but... oh well, you're gonna hear it anyway...

This morning I found 7 dollars around the house and put them in my pocket with intention of using them on our Sunday lunch. But then you got up there and started talking about giving more, even 1% more and I felt the tug. So my husband and I signed the card and put it in the basket along with my 7 dollars, after which I realized that 5 of those dollars were a reimbursement from a "business purchase." We laughed about it and that was it.

I had planned to meet up with someone after Sunday School class to give her something she had ordered from me and when she handed me the check she told me that she thought I undercharged her and paid me a little extra. I didn't look at the check until later but when I did I realized that she had paid me 10 dollars more than I had asked. TWICE as much as I had "given up" (even then it took me a while to make the connection between the two...)

Before I had even left the church campus God had doubled my "investment" into his kingdom... I thought that was kinda cool.

Just thought you might get a kick out of that like I did.

God is faithful! I can’t wait to hear more stories in the weeks to come.

Staring into the Sun - God

Yesterday we began a series based on N.T. Wright’s Simply Christian, Staring into the Sun. This weekend we will dig deep into the Christian understanding of God.

Here’s what Wright says:

The point at present is that, since God is not an object within our world, or even an idea within our intellectual world, we can probe toward the center of the maze as much as we like but we shall never reach the center by our own efforts.

But suppose that God were to come bursting out of the center of the maze on his own initiative? That, after all, is what the great monotheistic traditions have said. To get our minds around the possibility we shall have to take a step sideways and consider more carefully what we are talking about. If God isn’t up in the sky, where is he?

N. T. Wright, Simply Christian

So what do you think, where is God?