I delivered the same message to each campus beginning 3 weeks ago at Centreville. My focus was on “Leading by Example” and I referred to a Bible verse, which I realized was the wrong reference after the fact. The reference provided in each sermon was Numbers 22 when referencing Solomon’s sin, which he was apparently unaware of. I said that God despised the high places created for false gods and had commanded the Israelites to tear them down. I said that Solomon offered God his sacrifice on one of the high places. The correct reference is Numbers 33.52: “Drive out all the inhabitants in the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.” See 1 Kings 3.4.
Now if you want to read a good Old Testament story you really should read Numbers 22. It’s the story of Balaam’s donkey – a talking donkey no less.
We all know another word that refers to a donkey. Frankly this is kind of how I feel when I do these kinds of things. So please accept my apology if you were looking for the reference in Numbers 22. I hope you had a good laugh and accept that our mistakes can make a “donkey” out of all of us.
Creed Branson, Executive Minister
Read this if you get tired of the journey
John Wooden, Basketball's Coaching Legend once wrote:
It's the road to getting there is the very important part. The end in some ways, it's exhilarating in some ways, it's a let-down. It's the getting there.
I think Robert Louis Stevenson said, "It's better to travel hopefully than to arrive." Once you arrive, the journey is over in a sense. It's the journey that's the important thing. Yes. The fact that it is an accomplishment for which you've been working gives you a feeling, maybe the best feeling from a coaching point of view, when you just see the thrill it is giving the youngsters under your supervision.
My teams got to the National Championship ten times, the National Championship game, and we happened to win every one of those that we got there. Before the end of each game none of them were determined in the last seconds. We had them won within the last minute or so. And there would be a time-out. There was in every one. Each time, I told my players, "Now I'm very proud of you. You've had a great achievement. But now, when this is over, don't make a fool out of yourself. Let our alumni do that. Feel good. Cut the nets down if you want to, but don't get carried away. This is something for us to enjoy for the moment, and let's not get carried away. But it's been a great accomplishment and I'm very proud of you."
Brett Andrews, Lead Minister
Thinking Out Loud
Our life group hit on Acts 8 last night, but I wasn't there. Heading for the beach. Getting some of the R&R everyone says humans need from time to time. Looking forward to a little crab. Crabs probably looking a little less forward to it. We always enjoy the porpoises skimming along, aware of us, but not close enough to touch.
But, I digress. I was thinking, as I said, about the life group and how much I would be missing by not being there. So, I pretended I was going to be there and zeroed in on Acts 8.
Here's one thing that struck me. After Stephen's martyrdom, this huge persecution breaks out, and the Christians in Jerusalem have to beat feet. I talked about this last week. But I was struck that Philip heads to Samaria. It doesn't say whether he opted to go there on his own in the confusion or whether all the apostles and the elders got together and directed people to various places. But Samaria. Tough mission field, what with all the hatred between Jews and Samaritans. But Philip sees this revival break out. Was wondering whether he tapped into what could have been a growing number of believers there from Jesus' time with the Samaritan woman at the well. Dunno. Just thinking out loud.
And it made me wonder.
Why Samaria? Why Philip? Why does Philip have only one "L"?
And it made me remember.
Jesus had commanded His followers to preach in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and everywhere else. So, to be obedient, someone had to go to Samaria.
Philip was a Jew, alright, and the Samaritans would have viewed him with suspicion. However, he was not a Jew from Palestine, where the greatest animosity towards the Samaritans existed. As a Jew from outside Palestine, could he have bridged the gap easier because he would have had fewer barriers to climb over. Dunno if that's the case. Just thinking out loud.
Philip was already a bridge builder, a peacemaker. He was one of the seven overseers chosen back in Acts 6 to resolve disputes between Palestinian Jews and Jews who had come from outside Palestine. A good guy with proven skills who lived the life and had success in crossing cultural lines.
Philip went in the power of the Holy Spirit. Things happened that awed folks. And, he preached Christ and the kingdom of God.
And it made me convicted.
Am I faithful every day in sharing the good news in one of the locations Jesus commanded: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, everywhere else?
Am I building bridges? Making connections?
Are there people out there that I may be the absolutely best person in the whole world to share the gospel with because of my upbringing, life experiences, life's disasters, training, whatever? If not me, then who?
Is there a power of the Holy Spirit operating in my life sufficient to cause people to ask "What is the deal with you, man?" (Or, in Bible parlance "What is the reason for the hope that is in you?")
Am I really proclaiming Christ and the kingdom, or am I proclaiming something else that sounds good, but isn't, in the end, Christ?
And it made me determined.
I'm coming back in a few days with answers to the questions.
Feel free to join me, or, like the porpoises, sail on by without being touched.
Dwaine Darrah
McLean Campus Pastor
Wasting Time
Every 4th of July, my family spends a week together back home at Conneaut Lake. One of our favorite annual traditions is the neighborhood softball game.
It’s never the best played ball you’ll ever see, but we have a great time.
If you are like I am, you have lots of deadlines, important meetings, and demanding responsibilities that make you feel like any non-productive time is a waste of time. Last week as we spent time playing together with our extended family, I kept thinking of the question my wife, Laura, sometimes asks me: “Who will cry at your funeral?”
I’m not sure how many people I’ve ever ministered to will show up at my funeral. But, I’m confident the people in this picture will cry at mine.
Who will cry at your funeral? Need to play some softball soon?
Brett Andrews, Lead Minister
On That Day: A DocuDrama
Stephen and I have a lot in common. We grew up in the same town. Went to the same church growing up. Came to believe in the same Jesus. Saw the same miracles.
Died on the same day.
That day began like most others in Jerusalem. Job was going fine, had my health. I also was a new Christian. In fact, my whole family had come to know this Jesus guy and call him Lord. And He was changing us from the inside out in amazing ways. And the teaching. . ..AWESOME. Best sermons on the planet. The church was happening, man. We were seeing incredible things. Like, some days, thousands of my friends and neighbors became followers of Jesus. It was pretty sweet.
Well, mostly sweet. Up to that day. Should have seen it coming. Just wasn't looking. Man, they got Stephen the same way they got Jesus. Had some dudes invent lies about what he was saying, stirred up a mob, and just murdered him. Not cool at all. So, I think it's right that Stephen gets written up in the bible. What he laid on the religious leaders in his defense was for the ages.
Me? I don't make it through the day, either. I'm just a footnote, like everyone else who bought the farm on that day when all hell broke loose against the church.
I had a lot of questions, for sure. You would have, too. I mean, to stop breathing on that day was not in my five-year plan. I double-checked. Not there. There were still more people with whom I wanted to share the gospel, more things to learn, more changes to make, more tithes to give, more impact to have. Dying on that day? Just didn't seem to make a lot of sense. Why did this happen? Why would God allow it? Does He know what He's doing? Is He really in control? If not, can I trust Him?
Things happened so fast after Stephen's death that I didn't have a chance to get good answers to these questions. The mob just turned immediately on anyone who was a Christian. It looked like leaving town would be the only option, but we didn't have time to pack before they dragged us off.
So, here I am. Looking down on the earth I used to walk, trying to figure it out. I've got this incredible eternity to look forward to. Not particularly bitter. Just wanting to make sense of why I was at all. What purpose was there in my life down there, and what good did I accomplish? I was only a Christian for a couple of months. Seems like such a waste.
But sitting here, I'm reminded that Jesus told us we would be His witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but in Judea, in Samaria, and in the remotest parts of the earth. While I thought I'd leave Jerusalem someday and spread the gospel, seems God's idea was that I was to serve as the catalyst for others to make that journey. Wasn't easy to accommodate, but it seems I was supposed to die there in Jerusalem. It wasn't some fluke, an accident. My death forced those whose job was to move out and spread the gospel to get on with it.
Ok, I'm still pretty sure I would have written a different role for myself in this saga, but I'm getting it that God knows exactly what He's doing. I also got it just how much of my relationship with Jesus revolved around my expectations of what He'd do for me, how He'd make me happy, and how He'd give me this or that thing or experience, how He'd make me notable or great or something. You know, I thought my mindset was eternally focused, but in reality I had way too much stock in life down there. Maybe I'd have seen things more clearly if my life revolved less around my happiness and more around seeing how every situation was an opportunity to give Him glory.
So, for those of you still down there, maybe you're wondering about hard times, illnesses, disappointments, whatever. Maybe there's something bigger afoot. Are you looking for it? Maybe it's not going badly. Maybe it's just going godly. And, on that day--you know, when you get here--it'll be fun to compare notes.
Wanna read some more about this stuff, cull through Acts 1:1-8; Acts 6:1-8:4.
Dwaine Darrah
McLean Campus Pastor
What should you do next?
Instead of focusing on what's next , let's get back to what's first .
http://www.fastcompany.com/
Seeing growth
Sometimes growth is easily measured. Our son, Caleb, turned 13 last week. He played his last game of regular season baseball. Overnight, he’s shot up to be as tall as his 15 year old sister!
Other times, growth happens underground. The roots grow deeper, but tree appears the same. Logan, our youngest, played another season in AA league baseball. He’s at baseball camp this week. He’s having fun, but he’s celebrating no dramatic milestones this season.
Sometimes, God works as in Springtime—with lots of obvious, measurable growth. Sometimes, God works underground, and the growth is not so noticeable on the surface.
Brett Andrews, Lead Minister
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