Voices in my head

I've found in my journey as a follower of Jesus that when God is trying to teach me something or bring my focus to a subject, I often find that subject popping up consistently and finding it's outlet through many different voices and avenues.

In recent days the theme for me seems to be poverty, wealth, and our cultures' (me, more than I like to admit) general obsession with stuff. I pray often that Ridge Church will be a generous church. It sounds good to celebrate and talk about but it only works if you actually have generous people. To have generous people you have to be lead by generous leaders. Generosity doesn't permeate any organizational culture accidentally, and I would venture to say it doesn't permeate any organizational culture quickly.

Here are a few of recent voices in my head that all seem to be addressing the same idea:

• David Platt, the pastor of Brookhills church, made this statement: "God measures the integrity of our faith by our concern for the poor" Is he right? Is that true? Honestly, I don't know for sure, but I have been thinking about it ever since I heard him say it.
• Dallas Willard, in the classic "The Spirit of the Disciplines" responds to the false idea embraced by followers of Jesus probably in every generation, that cling to the idea that being poor is closely connected with being spiritual. I love what he says "Being poor is one of the poorest ways to help the poor...if giving is good, having is also good."
• God's Word: "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." Proverbs 14:31
  

My conclusion so far: Put it all together and I think followers of Jesus should make piles of money, and be incredibly generous to those in need. But don't be deceived. If you aren't generous when your pile of money is just a meager scraping by, or a pile of pennies, then you will not be generous when/if you ever have an abundance or over abundance. It doesn't really work that way. Jesus said it this way, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with little will also be dishonest with much."---A church's generosity to it's "neighbors" will never exceed the generosity of it's individuals.

The real question isn't what will we do when we win the lottery (I don't play--so don't post a comment scolding me:-), or when we get the raise, or close the deal, or when the economy stabilizes? The real question is what are we doing with what we have currently? At least with this subject, NOW is an indicator of LATER. I recently read this statistic and cringed "The average American Christian releases less than 1% of their funds for the cause of Christ." If Jesus words are true, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also..." then the above quote/statistic may fall short of telling us where the hearts of people are, but it is abundantly clear where their hearts are not--the cause of Christ! Make no mistake, giving is a very spiritual issue. Truthfully, it's more about us than it is the recipient. AND, I hope the voices inside my head become a singular echoing voice inside yours!

Welcome to the White House

Picture is blurry but you get the idea. And yes, that is a white house replica on our stage! It was a great kick off to our new series: "Letters to the Next President." I'm surrounded by some very creative and very hard working people that continue to pull off some stuff that is pretty amazing. It was a longer day than usual at Ridge Church. We followed up the first part of our new series with a "Group Link" to form new small groups. What a great day.

One thought from my time in the Scriptures today that is for [ALL of US] in the midst of some pretty unsettling economic days. If we began to line up our lives with the principles of God's Word....well I will leave up to you as intelligent readers to figure out how you can apply this to your job, your home, your world:

2 Timothy 6:17 "Command those who are rich [yes even the least wealthy among us are rich according to the worlds standards--Sorry, this word is not an out for you!] in this present world not to be arrogant or to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."

I'm making a prediciton

Okay, I have a prediction to make. I predict that there will be many conversations on Monday morning that start something like this "You won't believe what my church did yesterday..." OR Look at what the greeter at my church handed me at the door on the way into church" OR You won't believe what was in the parking lot or in the foyer or on the stage at my church yesterday!

People will be talking. That's my prediction. Now it's up to you whether you will hear it second hand or experience it first hand. Join us for part one of our brand new series called "Letters to the Next President." Here is the series promo:

Worst Parent in the world?

I receive emails and hear stories pretty often from parents about their children's experience in Upstreet or Waumba Land at Ridge Church. Both are pretty amazing environments that make it great for families. This email was different though. It chronicles the journey of one family in a week they didn't attend church. I asked permission to share it with you, so here it is. Hilarious!:

"Okay, we are now OFFICIALLY the worst parents in the world… my girls get us up at 7:30 on Sunday (in full Easter dress regalia) and start worrying that we’re going to miss church. I explained to them that I had to go to work, and that Daddy was going to have to work from home, too, and that we’d have to go next week. They literally started crying and ran downstairs and set up church… I’m not kidding. They went and found every cross picture or figure in the house they could find and put them all over the living room. Then they got my music stand and I came downstairs to my oldest daughter reading her children’s bible to her sister. Then, they sat at the piano and “played” music and sang for praise and worship. And, the finale, my oldest comes up to me with a box and says, “where’s your offering, Mommy? You know it’s all God’s money, anyway.”

How funny is that? Future Ridge host team volunteers in the making! See you all Sunday.

Dance my friend--break it down!

If you've ever laughed at a child and accidentally encouraged them, by your laughter, to repeat whatever you laughed about--then you will understand this video. I know that somewhere behind this dancing dude is a laughing parent! (watch his facial expression)

This was one of my illustrations Sunday at Ridge Church. To listen to the message that goes along with it GO HERE. We are having a great time at Ridge Church right now. These are exciting days. Don't miss the first installment this Sunday of our brand new series: Letters to the Next President. This is definitely a hot topic right now!

Everybody is identified

I was in high school when for the first time I began to understand that Christianity was about a relationship with Jesus and not just rituals and lists of spiritual "to-do's". My life was shaped in so many ways during those days. I didn't even recognize how much spiritual formation was happening in me. Hind sight is 20/20. Now I can see that in a very organic way, almost unintentionally, I landed in a very safe and honestly a very biblical community of people. Our relationships were very real and it became the seed bed for crazy spiritual growth and maturing for me. In that un-official community of Jesus' followers, we challenged each other to make good decisions. We prayed together. I started learning about worship during those days and have never stopped learning or worshipping. We studied God's Word and tried to figure it out. We laughed a lot, and disagreed a lot. We talked through life's issues together...and again, we grew a lot.


Fast-forward...well....a very long time we'll say (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Now I've been a follower of Jesus for awhile and now I am leading this church start up called Ridge Church. My team and I, now have the opportunity to intentionally re-create for people in Charlotte, what I experienced unintentionally at the start of my spiritual journey. It's incredibly exciting.


In short, our best attempt to re-create that experience of biblical community for as many people as possible is called a community group. In fact you can get in a group at our upcoming group link if you are interested. And even if I don't know you personally, I still know that you need what these groups have to offer. Those groups need you too! If it sounds interesting, come hear more about it this week in part 4 of "Everybody." See you there.

Why can't I sleep?

I read John 5:16 recently and ever since then it's been spinning around in my head, relentlessly reminding me of something that I NEED to remember. It's a simple truth but would [and will] alter everything if we can embrace it. Jesus said, "My Father is always at his work...". THAT'S it---that is the phrase that sent me spinning. At first glance this isn't very profound is it? But think about it--It is because of the fact that OUR Heavenly Father is ALWAYS at work, that we can rest, that we can be at peace, that we can be confident, that we don't have to worry, that we can exhale when life gets crazy. Today, in this very moment, my and your heavenly Father is at his work. Combine that with the fact that He cared about us enough to send his Son to die for us and it becomes deeply personal and comforting. Today, rest, because your Heavenly Father is at work behind the scenes. You can rest because he doesn't!

**I will be wrapping up our "Everybody" series at Ridge Church this weekend as we talk about how in the church "Everyone is 'identified'." See you there at 11am.