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The past few Sunday’s I have been preaching from Colossians 1:15-23, likely an early devotional hymn about Christ used by Christ-followers during the Apostle Paul’s itinerant ministry. As I have looked at this passage I have been convicted by my own lack of spiritual depth. This past Sunday I was trying to express how the reconciliation achieved by Christ at the cross is more than just an individual, personal issue. Paul wrote, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col 1:19-20).

ALL THINGS… the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus begins the process of bringing the created order which prior to sin’s entrance into the world God had declared “very good” (Genesis 1:31). All that is going on in the world around us is part of God’s plan to bring His creation back to its original purpose of displaying His glory.

Because of God’s act of reconciliation in Jesus Christ we have confidence and courage to face the uncertain and unstable time in which we live.

Yes, my confidence in rooted in the truth of what God has provided me through the cross, but even more, I can trust God because in the cross this world though it seems out of control and headed for collapse-will ultimately be brought back to God’s purpose as an awesome display of His glory!

Monday I spent most of the day listening to several presentations regarding the future of the local county commissions on children and families. The state commission is slated to cease existence on June 30, 2012, by legislation passed and signed by the governor this past session. No one is clear as to what this will mean for the local commissions. What is clear is that the governor has  made a pledge to aim state resources at ensuring that all children in the state of Oregon will be ‘ready to read’ by the time they enter first grade and that all children will be reading at grade level  by third grade. Those are huge promises.

I agree with the governor’s direction, but there are several assumptions that need to be questioned. First, not every child is at the same place developmentally at the age they begin first grade (or even by the time they have reached third grade).

Second, there appears to be an underlying assumption that the state has the responsibility to determine goals and objectives for children. My work as pastor and my work with Healthy Families of America/Healthy Start of Douglas County has made me aware of the reality that some parents are poorly equipped to help their children. But does that mean it is the state’s role to set the direction?

A third assumption is that our public school system as currently constructed is capable of  achieving these goals. I have been involved in public education since the early 1990’s and wonder if the system is truly able to accomplish such a task. So far the evidence is sketchy at best.

Fourth, there are a myriad of state agencies (as well as federal programs) all claiming to have the best interest of children and families at the core of their mission. Over the past ten years I have been deeply involved in community action partnering with some of these organizations. There seems to be a tendency for organizations to become entrenched in their own culture and to believe that they and they alone have the best solution to whatever the problem might be.

I wish I had solutions (I do have opinions!). An unasked question at most of the meetings I attend and most of the discussion of which I am part is this: Exactly what is the role of government? Where does the responsibility of the parent end and the responsibility of the school/government begin? Maybe an even more important question: when did churches abdicate their responsibility to walk alongside parents in raising their children?

So far my best advice is to get engaged in the process. Attend meetings, ask questions, send emails, make phone calls, read and study the reports that are being produced. Then, take out God’s Word and read, pray, and meditate seeking to understand God’s purposes and plan.

I had the privilege of riding to Salem and back today as a passenger to attend a meeting. As the driver and I visited along the way (we are both believers) I watched the traffic and the scenery. I don’t get to travel as a passenger very often. Honestly, I’d rather drive…although the driver was a careful driver.

Going north the traffic is light until Eugene (about 70 miles north of us on I-5). Then from Eugene to Salem, (about 50 miles) the traffic is steady and unrelenting. I couldn’t help but wonder where people were going. Were they commuters travelling to work (it was early Monday morning). A few out-of-state license plates suggested that people were travelling of vacation, perhaps they had visited family in the area, or maybe, they just wanted to drive in Oregon? After a four-hour meeting the driver and I traveled south from Salem back to Roseburg. Different cars but the same question. Where was everyone headed?

Indeed, where am I headed? As a follower of Jesus Christ I claim to be headed for heaven (some have suggested that my driving may hasten that destination). As a husband I want to be a better support for my wife, as a father I want to be a better parent to my adult children (and I include my son’s spouse as one of my kids). I want to be a better son to my parents – and of course my mother-in-law, and I want to be a better brother and uncle to the rest of my family. As a pastor I want to lead my church to more closely follow the Lord and be a more effective witness to God’s presence and power. As a community leader I want to help create a community free from addictions, free from the powerful pull of hopelessness and the degradation of sin.

Maybe as people pass me by they wonder, where is he headed? How do I live more transparently that others might see more clearly the direction I am headed?

Steve

The past thirty years have seen a huge shift in the way we think about families and what families need to thrive instead of just survive. A few examples of some of the challenges will suffice:

Living wage jobs are hard to find, and employers who need workers struggle to find people with the necessary skills.

Affordable housing is available, yet the costs of getting into housing (first and last month’s rent, cleaning deposits, and the fact that rental owners can afford to be selective) often make finding adequate housing difficult if not impossible.

Over 5o% of students enrolled in public schools qualify for free and reduced lunches and the distribution of food boxes continues to climb.

Douglas County is home to a significant proportion of older adults 65 and older (21.0% compared to the state proportion of  just under 14%). (These figures are from a recently released report, 2011 Community Needs Assessment, produced by the United Community Action Network).

One of the biggest challenges is trying to understand what a family unit looks like. When I was a child most families looked like my family of origin a stay at home mom, a dad with a good, family wage job, and a couple of children living at home. When my children were younger, it was much more common to find their friends living with one parent or the other as a result of divorce or separation. An increasing number of children are living with grandparents because parents cannot find jobs or adequate housing. At our church the number of children who attend our Sunday services varies each week as children are bounced between custodial and non-custodial parents for weekend visitation rights.

Another challenge is simply trying to define what families need. Of course, food, housing, clothing are basic needs for all families. But what resources are needed for parents to engage their children in healthy discussion about school and friends and the challenges of growing up? What resources are needed to assist parents with transportation? Living in a rural community where health care is concentrated in a town 9 miles northeast of where I live, there are families who go without basic health care because there are no funds for transportation.

Finally, does the church truly offer a message of hope in Christ that can sustain families in the midst of health and economic crises? Are our messages (the ones we preacher’s proclaim and the message our programs and systems demonstrate) geared towards pointing people to Jesus? Or, as I asked in my Sunday message last week, are we simply imitating what we have seen others do and claim that is sufficient for following Jesus?

The needs are huge. The challenges are overwhelming, but I believe God would have us look with eyes of compassion on the crowds and their needs; that God would have us touch them at the point of their need; and that God will use our resources (however limited they may seem to us) and multiply them to bring people to Christ, in whom we have hope.

Steve

Yes, I know that the 5th of July is not the holiday. Yes, I watched fireworks last night with friends and family as we gathered in the parking lot of our church. To top off my celebration I scheduled an 8am dr’s appointment for the 5th of July. A short night, but I was bright and early for the dr’s visit (news—I am gaining weight…:( more discipline needed).

Anyway, back to the 5th of July. There are days in our past that we celebrate because of their significance (ie the 4th of July, birthday’s anniversary’s, and so on). These events are worth celebrating! But what is of significance is what happens the day after the event. Marriages are not made by the ceremony but by the day-to-day choices made in between the anniversary’s. Life is not about being born, it is about the day-to-day choices between the celebration of our birthday. What made America great was not the Declaration of Independence but the daily choices of ordinary men and women who sacrificed greatly to put into practice the words the Declaration contains. So, happy 5th of July!

    O people, the LORD has told you what is good, 
      and this is what he requires of you: 
    to do what is right, to love mercy, 
      and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8 (NLT).

Coalitions. Organizations. 501(c)3 non-profits. Collaborations. Foundations. Networks.

All are words that describe different types of groups that exist in almost every community. The differences between these groups are difficult to define at times.  The boundaries between these different groups are rather flexible.

Most of the groups listed previously came into being in order to create some kind of change either of  individuals or organizations. Changing the status quo, or defending against the change suggested by another group or individual, is the driving force of the life of these groups.

The most significant change, however, is usually not noticed on a large-scale, but on the level of the individual. And that is as it should be. Sometimes those of us who are immersed in social change groups forget that societies are comprised first and foremost of individuals.

To facilitate large-scale change the focus must be on changing the attitude and action of individuals. Organizations, systems, groups can only change as the individuals that make up the group change.

I know that these are not earth shattering insights and that others have made these observations more eloquently.  But, I need to be reminded that the changes I hope to make must be focused first and foremost on the individual level before we can expect social change.

I can still hear his words over thirty years later. I was a young (immature!)  youth pastor serving in a small church near the college I attended. I don’t remember anything else about the exchange except those words- “Without a personality change you will never serve as a pastor.” As I was scanning through my email this morning I stumbled across this link:

http://www.carlkingcreative.com/10-myths-about-introverts.

I have been an introvert as long as I can remember. Over the 30 years of ministry I have agonized over those words spoken to me. Can an introvert truly serve as a pastor? I hope you will check out the article I referenced.

DIFFERENT SUBJECT!

Are we asking the right questions?  Some time past Campus Crusade for Christ ran a nation wide campaign focused on three words: I Found It!  My favorite response – though I wholeheartedly agreed with the motivation for the campaign- was seen on a bumper sticker or poster (I can’t remember which): I never lost it! I wonder if the messages we proclaim, the messages we use to connect with people in our community actually connect to what is happening in their lives. Are we proclaiming a message no one wants to hear? Or are we sharing our message in ways that resonate with the past and not the present?

I haven’t ‘found it’ (i.e. the answer to my own question if we are asking the right questions), but I am on a mission to find an answer…

As an insider agitating for community change I have been privileged to work alongside a number of wonderful people. The longer I am involved in this never-ending process I realize that genuine change comes as people change not as systems change. In other words, what we often think of as community change is not about changing policy or statutes or laws, it is about helping people recognize that they themselves are the change that is needed.

Last weekend I attended a training on the 40 Developmental Assets, which is a framework for thinking about helping kids (and adults) have the resources they need to change. The Search Institute (www.search-institute.org) has been working for over 40 years on the premise that kids need certain internal and external assets in order to succeed. Instead of developing programs, Search Institute is focused on changing the way adults (teachers, parents, policy makers and so on) think about kids and creating the assets they need to succeed.

At the end of the day the change that needs to occur is individual change. As people change, their communities change. As communities change larger systems begin to change.

As a Christian my entire focus has been spiritual change- leading people to the gospel for the change that must occur if we are to discover what it means to be right with God and to live as God intended us to.

Addressing change, then, is the most important part of my task as a pastor, community member, parent, and the other roles I have been given. The challenge for me is simple, yet complex: trying to frame the necessity of change in the context of spiritual truth. And here is the rub. Many people I speak to are ‘spiritual’ but without any grounding in truth. How do I live out the gospel so that the undeniable and unchangeable truth of God is preeminent?

Indeed, that is the question and the answer, well, let’s just say it’s in development.

Trevin Wax, now an editor with Lifeway (our Southern Baptist publishing house) recently published a book, Counterfeit Gospels. It is well-worth reading (and I am almost finished). I am intrigued by his thesis that the gospel is built on three foundations: the story, that is to say the facts of the gospel; the announcement, i.e. the preaching and proclamation of the kingdom of God; and the community, i.e. the fellowship of faith. Since I haven’t finished the book I can’t effectively review the entire book, but what I have read has stimulated my thinking, and affected my preaching.

Nearing my 20th anniversary as pastor of this church, and nearing 30 years of pastoring small, mainly rural churches in the Northwest, I am deeply concerned about the model of ‘church’ that we seem to plan and model. I have been as guilty of others of promoting a way of doing church that is rooted in tradition rather than Scripture. Yet, trying to break out of that pattern is difficult. Though I grew up in a suburb of a large city, the church I attended was more like a rural church in that everyone seemed to know everyone else (and their business). The center of our social life was not the community but the church and never did the two meet (at least as best I can recall).So, I struggle with a 50 plus year old habit in my own life.

Now to the point: a recovery of a biblically true presentation of the gospel will change the way we do church. Instead of gathering to gossip and share information we should gather for mobilization into ministry. Instead of using our building to house the saints, we should utilize our building to facilitate community building and activities that offer platforms for proclaiming the gospel. Instead of centering our social lives around the activities of the church we should center our lives in our neighborhood and community and use the large gatherings not just to reinforce what we already believe, but to offer opportunities to explore how what we believe changes who we are and how we live in families, neighborhoods, and communities.

Just some thoughts for a Monday…!

As I write this it is Tuesday evening, April 12. Yesterday I met with a couple planning a wedding later this summer, taught an adult Bible Study, then drove to Salem and met with Rep. Wayne Kreiger, the Oregon State Representative for the district in which I live. Then I drove to Vancouver, WA to spend the night and prepare for a Finance Committee Meeting of the NWBC Executive Board.

This morning I chaired the meting of the Finance Committee- interesting times are ahead. Both primary revenue streams that have funded our cooperative work as a regional network of churches are decreasing. Yet, the needs and demands for ministry needs are increasing. How do we do more with less?

Then I drove back to Salem where I testified before a joint SubCommittee of the Oregon Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee. Tomorrow I will attend a hearing regarding some changes being proposed for the ORegon Commission on Children and Families. Then, after lunch I will attend part of the Coalition of Commission’s meeting.

Finally, I will drive home for our Wednesday evening activities. Then Friday Cindy and I leave for a quick overnight trip to Bandon where I will meet with the local non-profit board on which I serve for a strategic planning session all day Saturday.

No wonder I am tired. BUT, God has opened doors of ministry and opportunity that hopefully will lead to the advance of Kingdom work.

Needing your prayers…

Steve