Archive for March, 2005

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Published
by
Mike
on March 18, 2005
in General
. 28 Comments

Two stories of leadership from the best eldership I can imagine.

The first story was several years ago. Highland was looking at the possibility of moving to a new facility. One wealthy member, who reportedly had decided we should move out of this neighborhood, offered to pay a substantial part of the building project if we moved. But the elders decided that we are right where God wants us to be (yes, right in the middle of an area that is NOT growing, where there are no new restaurants, where businesses aren’t dying to move in, where office space isn’t at a premium). They knew that numerical growth would be easier in another, newer part of town. But they also knew that the church isn’t primarily about numerical growth (as experienced by most churches in America, where “growth” means moving to a new part of town, having the hottest worship, or offering the most services). Eventually that wealthy member left.

The second story is from 10 years ago. A few months after Megan died, I asked people on a Wednesday night to listen to a song from Wayne Watson called “Home Free” that had ministered to us during the early stages of our grief. I was speaking on God’s healing, and I love the line “at the ultimate healing we will be home free.” A couple days later all the elders got a note that I hadn’t seen or been told about. A VERY powerful member of our church (and a very good person) wrote them and insisted that I be fired. The implication was that he and his wife would leave if that didn’t happen. The elders met, prayed, and assured me that they were fully behind me. And again, eventually, this wonderful couple left. These were people this church loved — and still loves. (In a place like Abilene you have to understand that there is constant flow from congregation-to-congregation. If you held grudges against people who left, over a period of time you’d be mad at most people in town.)

I tell these stories not because I’m mad at these people. I’m not. But here’s the point: sometimes leadership means having to let people leave. It doesn’t mean you’re calloused; it doesn’t mean you don’t listen; it doesn’t mean you run over people and their feelings.

But on the other hand, isn’t it time to quit letting disgruntled, uncomfortable people chart the course? Aren’t there times when you have to receive criticism, try to negotiate the conflict, love, pray — and even then let someone go? Even when it’s painful? Even when it shows up on the weekly contribution? Even when people question your motives?

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Published
by
Mike
on March 17, 2005
in General
. 1 Comment

Last night, exactly two months after the wreck, when our small group of families–the children and their families who survived the accident–got together, we were all excited to hear good news from Cook’s Hospital about Jon Weston. We are obsessed in prayer with his recovery.

Later we gathered around to watch a recording of Brody Bourland’s funeral. People were right: the Highland auditorium (which seats 1800) was packed, with people spilling over into the atrium. I was so thankful for the healing, truthful words that Jim Hinkle (one of Highland’s youth ministers) and Rob Cunningham (one of our elders) spoke. It was such a helpless feeling to be unable to attend the funeral, but we were still in ICU at Cook’s at the time.

Here’s what Diane and I know: this grief doesn’t end after a couple months . . . or after a couple years. It stays with you, changing as the years roll by. But how do you ever really get past the loss of a child (or someone else dear to you)? This isn’t unhealthy; it’s the nature of loss. And it’s a traveling companion that makes you look forward to heaven.

Today, I share with you part of St. Patrick’s “Breastplate Prayer”:

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

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Published
by
Mike
on March 15, 2005
in General
. 10 Comments

The long sermon I preached in January on the ministry of women is now available online at this site. This is part of the Wineskins website that you have access to without a subscription.

This is probably important only to me, but the CD can also be ordered at this site, and none of the money will go to me. Any money made will support the Wineskins ministry.

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Published
by
Mike
on March 15, 2005
in General
. 10 Comments

Wise words from Henri Nouwen:

When suddenly you seem to lose all you thought you had gained, do not despair. Your healing is not a straight line. You must expect setbacks and regressions. Don’t say to yourself, “All is lost. I have to start all over again.” This is not true. What you have gained, you have gained.”

Sometimes little things build up and make you lose ground for a moment. Fatigue, a seemingly cold remark, someone’s inability to hear you, someone’s innocent forgetfulness, which feels like rejection — when all these come together, they can make you feel as if you are right back where you started. But try to think about it instead as being pulled off the road for a while. When you return to the road, you return to the place where you left it, not to where you started.

It is important not to dwell on the small moments when you feel pulled away from your progress. Try to return home, to the solid place within you, immediately. Otherwise, these moments start connecting with similar moments, and together they become powerful enough to pull you far away from the road. Try to remain alert to seemingly innocuous distractions. It is easier to return to the road when you are on the shoulder than when you are pulled all the way into a nearby swamp.

In everything, keep trusting that God is with you, that God has given you companions on the journey. Keep returning to the road to freedom.

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Published
by
Mike
on March 14, 2005
in General
. 4 Comments

Chris’s 8-week spring break ends today! Back to Lincoln Middle School in his wheelchair. One thing he really liked about home-schooling was that he could sleep in as late as he wanted, have breakfast when he prefers (around 10:00 . . . which is just 35 minutes before he has lunch at middle school), and then get busy on homework assignments. He was fortunate to have a wonderful teacher (Diane, who took off that time from teaching second grade).

Here’s a new blog you might want to check out. John Willis, an incredible Old Testament scholar and one of the best elders you’d ever meet in your life, has for years been e-mailing out a daily devotional. Starting yesterday he’s putting the devotional on this site.

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Published
by
Mike
on March 12, 2005
in General
. 10 Comments

We’ve been gone a couple days. Our “spring break” was a return visit to Cook’s. It was wonderful having a couple days to be with Jon Weston and his parents. That stupid infection will not leave the poor kid alone. Please join us in praying that it will go away quickly.

Yesterday morning I thought we were just dropping by JW’s room quickly to say good-bye. But he was having a really good day and there was a Monopoly game waiting for another player. Chris’s eyes lit up. Needless to say, we didn’t get back to Abilene very early.

My least favorite sign I saw on the trip: “VOTE THE BIBLE.” Ah yes, such a comforting world. But behind is such naivity about scripture, about interpretation, and politics, and about our culture. It assumes, after all, a Christian society and a Christian worldview.

My favorite sign was on the marquee at Pappadeux: “MAHI-MAHI: SO GOOD THEY NAMED IT TWICE.” I’m a seafood fanatic, so there are a lot of things I’d be willing to name twice.

I could eat fresh seafood every evening for the rest of my life. Raw oysters, grouper, crab, mahi-mahi, amberjack, seafood gumbo, red snapper, scallops, flounder, etc. And shrimp? Bubba was right (”Forest Gump”). You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sautee it. . . . shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich.

And as Bubba would say, that’s about it.

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Published
by
Mike
on March 9, 2005
in General
. 13 Comments

It’s past my bedtime. Well past.

But sleep won’t come easily tonight. I finally got to see “Hotel Rwanda” with Mark, Paul, Jack, and Bill. It’s not the kind of movie you walk away from and forget.

This genocide is recent history. It happened while we lived in Abilene. Nearly a million people were hacked to death in Rwanda while the world turned its eyes the other way. (As one journalist explained in the movie, people will see it on t.v., they’ll be upset, and then they’ll go on with their meals.)

Remember how so many churches rented out theaters to watch “The Passion of the Christ?” I wish we had done this with “Hotel.” And instead of encouraging people to read the latest tripe on the Christian distributors’ best-seller list, we ought to beg people to read Philip Gourevitch’s We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda.

Genocide is still happening in Africa–in Darfar (Sudan) and in the Congo. AIDS has ravaged whole populations of parents. Malaria and other diseases continue to take their toll. And starvation is a real possibility for nearly half the population of the continent.

So tonight is a night for prayer and for wondering what this means for my life.

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Published
by
Mike
on March 8, 2005
in General
. 10 Comments

Another age perspective.

When Diane and I moved to Searcy for me to become the preaching minister at the College Church, our oldest parent was 48. My current age.

Little did I know at the time just how young they really were!

One interesting thing about working/ministering in a university environment is that you are the only one aging. The students remain 18-22ish year after year.

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Published
by
Mike
on March 7, 2005
in General
. 27 Comments

We’re meeting this morning in Nashville to begin planning for the next Zoe conferences. Then Brandon will get busy selecting songs and putting together the next CD.

So many of our the songs we’re singing in Churches of Christ right now come from the arrangements on those Zoe CDs.

So . . . want to make a few suggestions to Brandon? (He’ll kill me. But, hey, I’m not making any promises.) What are some songs you wish could work their way into our worship assemblies?

Now . . . a complaint. Why aren’t there more songs being written today about mission, discipleship, and justice? Faith, as our brother James said, is worthless if it isn’t an acting faith. Some people have thought James was heretical here; I think he was just writing about faith as he’d learned it from Jesus. (Try reading the Sermon on the Mount again.)

I’m tired of “Shine, Jesus, Shine.” But at times it seems like there aren’t many other options when you’re wanting to sing about the call to follow the Way of Jesus — a way of justice, evangelism, and mercy. What songs are leading us to our identity as people who participate in the breaking in of the kingdom of God?

Any songwriters out there? Or any songwriting wannabees out there? Get with it! I love all the “praise songs” that have been written. They were certainly needed — especially for those of us who grew up on a steady diet of “To Canaan’s Land” songs. But it’s almost as if we’ve now equated “praise” and “worship.” There are so many other voices of worship besides praise: thanksgiving, lament, and confession come to mind.

Where are the new songs that lead us to the mystery of God like “Be Still My Soul” and “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”?

But mostly, we need more songs that speak of our new identity as the people of God –blessed by God to be a blessing to the world.

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Published
by
Mike
on March 6, 2005
in General
. 12 Comments

Thoughtful words about prayer from Ed Fudge:

A gracEmail subscriber writes: “Recently my dad died at age 62. A month later, my best friend died at age 37, leaving a widow and a three-year-old daughter. Many Christians in many places were praying for both men to survive and to be healed. It seems like God has an appointed day for our deaths. If so, what good does it do to pray?”

* * *

The question you raise is one of the oldest in recorded human history and also one of the most inexplicable. In a world where evil exists (and death is the ultimate earthly evil because it is both total and final so far as our present bodily existence is concerned), thoughtful people always ask “Why?” For people of faith, the moral question is more serious: “If God is both powerful and good, why does he allow evil?” Your religious questions then follow concerning prayer: “If God answers prayer, why is my prayer unanswered? If my prayer goes unanswered, why bother to pray?”

The biblical book of Job (the narrative of which probably fits chronologically somewhere among the Genesis stories) wrestles with these questions but does not provide any clear answers. Job is a godly man who prays every day for his children. Yet God specifically allows the Adversary to destroy Job’s children, his personal property and his physical and emotional health. Job’s theological friends insist that the solution is simple: God is just, Job has sinned and he is getting what he deserves. Job, who knows that he is pious if not perfect, defends his own innocence before his friends and before God himself and demands an explanation from God.

Eventually God responds to Job with an “Enough already!” and silences the devout questioner with a volley of divine questions that say in effect: “I am God and you are not!” Through it all Job hopes in God, asserting a personal faith that God will vindicate him even beyond death, which will never have the final word. This expression of faith brings the larger story full circle and proves the Adversary wrong who, in the prologue to the book, had alleged that Job would renounce all faith in God under the circumstances which then followed. Although the book of Job does not answer the questions that trouble us now, it provides a larger perspective in which we can trust God despite the present darkness.

The story of Jesus provides even more context for faith under fire. After publicly proclaiming Jesus to be his “beloved Son,” God proceeds to permit Jesus to suffer and die in horrible pain, apparent abandonment and public disgrace. Before the weekend is over, however, God changes forever the way his people view death itself by bringing Jesus back to life in a glorified body belonging to a new and eternal dimension. The faithful Father has vindicated his faithful Son and, by so doing, has demonstrated himself worthy of unwavering trust as the all-powerful and all-loving master over time and eternity. Why pray? Because God invites us to do so and, in ways and for reasons we cannot now comprehend, our prayers sometimes make a difference in what would otherwise happen. Like Job, we trust God in the dark. Because of Jesus, however, a blinding shaft of light has pierced through the darkness, illuminating a path of faith that finally leads to the visible presence of God.
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© 2005 by Edward Fudge. Unlimited permission to copy without altering text or profiteering is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice. For encouragement and spiritual food any time, visit our multimedia website at http://www.edwardfudge.com/ .