Hope in Christ

The last month has been a long and slow road. I have had the opportunity to share with many people and churches about what we hope to do in Bakersfield. This is the exciting part of support raising. The not-so-exciting part is the waiting....and the waiting...and the waiting. During the last month or so we have had some "ups" and "downs". Currently, we need roughly $900/month to reach our support-raising goal. Given the climate of the economic status in our country, this is encouraging. Certainly, a pressing prayer request is that we would see this $900/month come in soon. 9 families committing to support us at $100/month would do it.

Yet in the midst of this process, I have learned to keep the "emotions" out of the support-raising efforts. There would be too many highs and too many lows to go through. Fortunately, our hope doesn't rest in $900/month. Putting our hope in Christ keeps in check our emotional stock.

Ephesians 2 is a very familiar chapter. Many people, from children in Sunday School classes to adults, memorize 2:8-9. While these verses are propositionally and substantially important, what I love about the second chapter of Ephesians is how Paul demonstrates our hopelessness without Christ and our hope in Christ. Taking the main thought from Ephesians 2:1-7 we see this emerge:

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins...but God...made us alive in Christ...so that he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace...in Christ Jesus."

We were dead, but God made us alive, in order to show us how rich his grace is in Christ! This is staggering! And it certainly puts support-raising into perspective. Our hope is not in what people and churches decide to commit. Our hope is in Christ. Through Christ, people are brought from death to life. Through Christ, ordinary men and women are sent out into the world. And through Christ, his church (and church plants!) will be fully equipped for its worship, witness and work. And it is all through Christ.

We want to get to Bakersfield soon. I would love to move in March and much has to happen between now and then to see that happen. But this one thing is certain, Christ is our hope.

Generosity

I recently had a visit to California to connect with some pastors and churches in our district and to discuss ministry in Bakersfield with Chad Vegas, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Bakersfield.  It was an especially fruitful trip.  We still have a ways to go in raising funds for our church planting efforts but the need was certainly made clear and there are some potential means of securing the remaining funds needed.  Please pray for wisdom and discernment for Laura and I as we consider these possibilities. 

Part of this trip was to attend our districts annual Pastor's Briefing. The purpose of the Pastor's Briefing is really three-fold.  First, the pastor's in our district are given updates on church mobilization and church planting within the district.  There is usually a focus on the overall health of the district and the opportunities the district has in church planting.  Second, the pastor's get a chance to get-a-way with their spouses to a beach location for a few days in January. That is the real sacrifice. Third, the Pastor's Briefing always has a challenge or theme for the pastors in the district.  This year the theme was on being generous.  (As a church planter in the process of raising funds, I didn't mind this theme at all.)

The prevailing challenge that I walked away with is this: we are to be wise stewards in order to be generous givers.  How often has your church had a stewardship campaign or class or seminar with the focus of getting your finances in order.  Probably more often then not.  The shortcoming with  focusing on stewardship only is that it leaves us with the conclusion that financial freedom is the end goal.  Yet, this is incomplete. Why are we to have financial security and freedom?  The compelling case was made that we have it in order to give it away.  Sam Crabtree, the executive pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis nuances this even further.  "We become what we behold, so we behold God to become like him."  Becoming a generous giver is leveraging "every gift, resource, and opportunity to honor God and advance his kingdom." This gives our stewardship purpose.  

It is one thing to talk about being generous; it is something entirely different to actually be generous.  This will require sacrifice and God-centeredness on our part in the way we manage and use our time, gifts, and resources.  John Piper has set the tone for Bethlehem Baptist Church.  Piper is of course a wildly popular author.  What many don't know is that he gives all his royalties away. According to Crabtree, Piper's contract directs the money to go straight to a foundation that distributes the money.  He never sees the checks.  

Wise stewardship in order to be generous givers. 

Resolved

I workout frequently. 3-5 times a week at a consistent time. I see the same people when I go workout.  It's January and that means everything is out of sync at the Y because of the Resolution Work-Out crowd.  For the next two, maybe three weeks my workout is longer. I have to wait longer for machines and equipment.  It's annoying...(yes, I know it is ridiculous that I am complaining about this)...to say the least. 

Yet, I know by the end of January or early February everything will be back to normal.  The Resolution Work-Out crowd is usually not in it for the long haul.  We often see our resolutions wither away like that.  The chocolate you want to avoid, the soda you want to stop drinking, the exercise you want to start...all of them seem so noble or healthy when we start them...fade to background in short order. Why don't they last? 

Take Jonathan Edwards for consideration.  When he was 18 years old he wrote out 70 resolutions that he would use as a spiritual compass the rest of his life.  He read them once a week.  Let me type that out again for emphasis: he read them once a week.  The key for Edwards and the detriment to so many who fail to keep their New Year's Resolutions is that Edwards kept them before him and many of us do not.  He was truly resolved. 

Our church planting efforts have a very big vision and very specific values and strategy.  All three features of our plans for church planting in Bakersfield are very important to us.  You could say we are resolved to keep them before us in all that we do.  As we get closer to reaching our financial mark and moving to Bakersfield, we want you to know that we are resolved for the long haul; to plant a church that helps plant more churches. 

To the glory of God and the good of his people.