The American Church In Crisis

My friend, Bob Harrington, recommended this book to me. The American Church In Crisis by David Olson is a very important read.

Here are some of Olson's conclusions:

*77% of Americans do not have a consistent, life-giving connection with a local church.

*Large churches are the 2nd leading growth factor in the American church (new church plants are the leading growth factor).

*The higher the percentage of females in the membership of a church, the faster the church is likely to decline in attendance.

*For the American church to keep up with population growth, 2,900 additional new churches need to be started each year.

*The best way for pastors to leave a spiritual legacy that will last for generations is for their present church to plant new churches.

If you have any interest in the state of the church . . . I strongly recommend this one!

Creative prayer

We have probably all had experiences with prayer when we struggled to stay awake. Certainly part of that is simply that we routinely do not get enough sleep! However, there have been times when I'm in a group prayer setting listening to someone drone on to God that I wonder if God isn't having a challenging time staying awake.

Each month the Elders of RiverTree gather for a time of prayer. And each time the meeting rotates to a different home of one of the Elders. The host Elder is then responsible for the format of the evening's prayer gathering.

A few days ago we gathered at the home of Tom Patton. Tom put together one of the most creative times of prayer that I have ever experienced. When we arrived he announced that "We don't celebrate enough. Tonight we're going to offer up celebration prayers of thanksgiving." He then led us all outside his home.

Tom had placed eight six foot long PVC tubes with one end anchored firmly in the ground and the other end pointing toward the sky. He gave each of the eight Elders three bottle rockets and a book of matches. He then showed us how to place our rockets safely into the end of the "launchers."

We first thanked God for all He had done and is going to do through our Wreck The Roof life change initiative. We lit our rockets and watched as they flared into the night sky exploding far above our heads. We all yelled "Yeah God!" We ended by thanking God--one by one--for something that He has done in our lives. One Elder thanked God for his new grandchild. Another for his wife's return to good health. I thanked God for our new son, Elijah John. And then we lit the fuses. More "rocket prayers" shooting into the heavens.

I don't think I'll ever look at fireworks the same! Thank God for prayer . . . and for creativity.

What's your most creative experience with prayer?

Homerun Hotdog

I attended the Jackson Township Community Festival one evening this week with my family. As always, there were loads of interesting foods to eat. I indulged in a deep fried corn dog, greasy fries with lots of salt and dripping with vinegar and nachos loaded with jalapenos. Didn't sleep too well that night.

The strangest food that I ate was being given away at a free sample tent. Shearer's potato chips had set up a tent to give away cups full of their most recent potato chip flavors. The flavor that caught my eye was "Homerun Hotdog." My thinking went like this: I like hotdogs and I like potato chips . . . Sooo, these have to be good.

It was one of the worst things I have ever eaten. The chips, true to their name, DID taste like a hot dog. However, some things simply should not be mixed! It was a bit of a joke around their display--people were laughing and saying, "You've got to try these. They're horrible!"

Tried any bad foods lately?

Living with more

Father's Day weekend is always an amazing time at RiverTree. Rather than our attendance at our services "tanking," it actually climbs. We work hard to make everything "guy friendly." In fact, our front sign at the Portage Campus actually says throughout the week: Men actually like it here!

One of the things that we did this year for the first time was to incorporate the Junky Car Club. In the past we've had classic car shows (lots of fun and great for dad's and their kids to enjoy). But this year we asked members of the Junky Car Club to bring their vehicles and put them on display.

To be a member of the Junky Car Club your vehicle has to be paid off and you must be sponsoring a child through Compassion International. In other words, you have made a conscious decision to "live with less so that you can give more away." For more information check out http://www.junkycarclub.org/.

Throughout Father's Day weekend 34 more families joined the Junky Car Club and of course more Compassion children were sponsored.

Julie and I belong to the Junky Car Club. Our 2003 Saturn VUE was paid off this spring and we sponsor four Compassion children around the world.

While I was enjoying my time looking at the vehicles in the Junky Car Club and reading their bumber sticker, "Living with less to give more," I was struck with a thought. We should have another bumper sticker printed: LIVING WITH MORE SO I CAN GIVE LESS!

At the heart of every purchase I make I am making a choice. Is this purchase necessary? Sometimes it is. But sometimes it is simply a frivilous indulgence driven by slick marketing. Every purchase I make determines my ability to give more or to give less.

It's the choice we all face . . . Will we choose to live with less so that we can give more or will we choose to live with more so that we can give less?

*To sponsor a child, go to www.compassion.com.

Jail time

This week I spent two days in jail.

The first day was when I visited my friend Sean (not his real name) in the Stark County Jail. Sean has been arrested for numerous DUIs and most recently violated his parole by once again drinking. In other words . . . he deserves to be in jail. He doesn’t, however, deserve to be forgotten. God loves him and I love him.

The Stark County Jail was much higher security than I imagined. I wasn’t able to sit on a bunk in Sean’s cell and talk with him. I wasn’t able to sit across the table from him. I had to sit at a bank of phones and talk with him via a video monitor (not through a window).

I’m not allowed to take him a book to read—not even a Bible.

We talked for awhile, I prayed with him and then I told him I would be back to see him again.

When I was driving home I was struck by the fact that in some mysterious way I had just visited Jesus and that in an even more mysterious way I had become Jesus to him. (Matthew 25:31-46)

My second day doing time was at the Massillon City Jail. I went with our videography team to film some flash video and sermon trailers for our upcoming teaching series, The Rebel’s Guide.

We were scheduled to be alone in the cell block but unfortunately a SWAT team had made a bust just an hour before we arrived to shoot (poor choice of words). There were high risk prisoners in the house. As a result, the Police Captain took us into a cell and locked the doors behind us. SLAM went the heavy steel doors—just like you hear in the movies. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

The cell we filmed in had four very hard bunk beds, a public toilet (very public), and cold concrete floors. It was actually the perfect location to be reminded that the Apostle Paul spent the last few years of his life in a similar setting.

There was graffiti on the wall above one of the beds. In big bold letters someone had scribbled, “I want out . . . NOW!” Kind of interesting that, in contrast, while he spent time in a Roman jail, Paul chose to write letters about joy and the secret of contentment.

I hope that I never have to do more than visit in a jail. But if for some unforeseeable reason I get locked up like Paul I pray that I’ll be able to write letters of joy rather than scribble demands of release.

Oh, and I hope you’ll come and visit me.

Thriving

Our son, Elijah John, is thriving. Unfortunately, I'm not!

I had no idea the effects that sleep deprivation would have on my life. My creativity level has dropped dramatically. Julie and I try not to be short with each other or with Tabitha. I'm reading less. When I try to pray it ends up being an exercise in keeping my eyes open.

On the other hand . . .

I'm learning a lot about God's love for me. Having chosen to adopt a child at risk I realize the depth of God's love to adopt me--a child at risk.

Praying in the middle of the night for Elijah to grow up and be a man who is deeply in love with God helps me to review the priorities in my own life.

Learning to serve my family when I absolutely do not feel like serving probably has its upside.

Understanding the deep needs of children on the margins of society has awakened my heart to the heart of God.

Ummm, maybe I am thriving?