A Time of Celebration

This past Sunday, we celebrated the day we had long been praying, planning and pining for--our first service in our newly renovated church home. After 5 years of ministry in Spring Hill, setting up and tearing down each week for church services in the Middle School, we finally have a place to call our own. And it sure felt good.

Of course, first and foremost, the glory and the credit for this great milestone goes to God. To the best of our ability, we have sought His will and followed His leadership as we have ministered in this community for half a decade. He has provided for us beyond our wildest imaginations. He has blessed us far more than we surely deserve.

We are also very grateful to the Board of Elders, men who love God and His church and who seek to be sensitive to the guidance of His Spirit. It is a challenge to find the balance between waiting upon the Lord and moving ahead when prompted by Him. But to a man, our Elders desire to be in the very center of His divine will. Our Elders possess a vision for this church and this community and refuse to allow the blessings of yesterday to suffice for this hour. It is an honor to labor shoulder to shoulder beside them.

And the Life Spring Church family has manifested an amazing degree of faith in God throughout this process. There is no doubt in my mind that many churches would have given up when facing obstacles such as those we faced throughout the process of negotiating, purchasing and renovating the property. But we kept our eyes on Jesus, and He showed His faithfulness through it all.

We have been able to do more with our budgeted construction funds that we anticipated, in large part because of the thousands of man-hours of labor on the part of our volunteers. Men, women and children involved in nearly every aspect of the renovations--from demolition to decorating--and whose sacrifices made possible the beautiful facilities we enjoy today.

The building is not finished (are they ever "finished"?), but it looks great. We've held our first service, and we are eagerly anticipating Grand Opening Weekend, with an Open House and Dedication Service on Saturday, November 5, and the Grand Opening Worship Service on November 6. We expect a large crowd, and this will be a great opportunity for us to share Jesus with our neighbors.

At the same time, we must avoid the temptation to view these events as the "Finish Line". We didn't buy and renovate this property merely to have a place to meet. Our efforts have been undertaken with the desire to see souls saved and lives changed for the glory of our Savior and God.

So let's enjoy the fruit of our labor even as we rededicate ourselves to doing all we can to promote God's Kingdom right here in our own backyard.

Half a Century

Today is the 50th anniversary of my birth. I appreciate the cards, calls, emails and Facebook posts, but I’ve never really understood what all the fuss is about. After all, I didn’t do anything except be born. But it is nice to hear from friends and family.

I must admit that despite my 50 years upon this planet, I don’t have much profound to share with you. But here are a few random thoughts clanging around in what passes for my mind these days.

1. I go to sleep earlier but don’t sleep as late as I used to.

2. I know more but remember less.

3. I prefer winter over summer, but I’d rather it just stay 70 degrees all the time.

4. I am not embarrassed to get my AARP card in the mail.

5. I have more memories than dreams, but thank God, I still have a few dreams.

6. Coke Zero is my soft drink of choice, even if sugar & calories didn’t matter.

7. I am more deeply in love with Kim today than on the day we married 22 years ago.

8. My faith is stronger and my convictions firmer than ever.

9. I miss old friends more than I used to.

10. I don’t mind Kacie asking me questions as much as I did when she was little, but now I have fewer answers.

I told you, there’s nothing profound here. But these are my thoughts. I figured I’d better share them while I could remember them.

Close Encounters of the Best Kind

In 1977, Steven Spielberg directed a popular science fiction movie entitled Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This movie starred Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary. Neary was an ordinary citizen who, after an encounter with a UFO, feels inexplicably drawn to an isolated area in rural Wyoming where he expects something spectacular to occur. At one point, Neary is questioned by the authorities as to why he has come to this area. Through the course of their conversation, Neary explains he’s seeking answers to some of the deeper mysteries of life.

Seeking answers through a close encounter. It might be crazy if you’re talking about aliens and space ships. But not when you’re seeking answers to life’s toughest questions through an encounter with the Son of God. They’re not close encounters of the third kind, but they are Close Encounters of the Best Kind.

On September 25th, I’ll begin a new series of sermons examining some of these close encounters. Encounters that changed people’s lives forever.

And the best news is that such encounters are not science fiction. They’re not merely entertaining stories. They are accurate accounts of real life events that happened nearly 2000 years ago.

More importantly, they help us to understand that a real, personal God wants to have such encounters with us still today. He wants to meet us where we are. But He doesn’t want to leave us there. He wants us to begin a journey with Him into eternity.

I hope you’ll join us for this new series. Come prepared to experience for yourself a Close Encounter of the Best Kind.

A Cloud of Witnesses

I have been reminded again recently of how much we are shaped by the people God places in our lives. Whether it is a long-time friend or people whom we know rather casually for a brief period, we are influenced in many ways by those with whom we "do life".

As I look back on my life, I am especially mindful of the people that God has placed there to give me a greater heart for Him. When I was growing up, my Dad wasn't a Christian, and my Mom didn't drive, so if I wanted to go to church, I had to hitch a ride from someone. That "someone" happened to be our Pastor, Bro. Bill "Hi" Johnson.

Every Sunday morning, Bro. Hi (as he was affectionately known) and his wife Janet would come by and pick up my Mom & me. They often picked up a widow lady and a never-married older woman as well, and the six of us would ride to church together. Then, of course, he had to drop us all off again after church. (Except for the time he left me at a church in Leavenworth after a revival service, but that's the subject for another blog.)

Even after Bro. Hi & Janet moved to a parsonage on the grounds of our new church building nearly 10 miles from us, they continued to make that drive, picking us (and anyone else who needed a ride) up on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights and Wednesday nights.

Until I became a pastor, I never truly appreciated the sacrifice that represented. On Sunday mornings, after I preach, I am exhausted. I am usually anxious to return home and crash for a while (or watch the Chiefs' crash, as the case may be). Yet for years, my former Pastor & his wife drove all over Kansas City, Kansas providing personal transportation.

Of course, picking me up for church was just one of many ways in which the Lord used Bro. Hi to shape my heart towards God. But if he hadn't been willing to make such sacrifices, I doubt that I would have been saved as a child, let alone a pastor of one of His churches today.

And there were so many others who spent time and showed interest in me. Sunday School teachers, neighbors, friends and others who in ways big and small have influenced my life in a Godly direction.

As I consider how others have been there for me, it humbles me to wonder whether I have been there for others in the same way. Am I willing to pause for a few minutes on a busy Sunday morning to talk with someone who needs a word of encouragement? Will I pick up the phone and take a few minutes to check on someone going through a rough patch? Will I go out of my way to reach out to those who just need someone to be there for them?

I am grateful to the Lord for those people who have been willing to invest a bit of themselves in me, from childhood through this very day. And I resolve to be more intentional about investing my time and energy in others--to pause from my daily pursuits just long enough that someone, young or old, may know that because God cares for them, I do, too.

Justice For All???

I need to begin this article with a disclaimer. I think Casey Anthony was guilty of killing her 2 year old daughter; I think the State of Florida presented sufficient evidence to prove it; and I am disgusted by the verdict of “Not Guilty”. I hope that members of the jury will come forward and explain how they could have arrived at their verdict, but I doubt that will make me feel much better.

I have always been intrigued with the practice of law. I worked one summer in the office of the Wyandotte County District Attorney, and found it utterly fascinating. I received my undergraduate degree from Washburn University, attending that particular school because I intended to go on to attend Washburn Law School. The Lord had other plans for me, but I still enjoy following trials like the Casey Anthony case.

I believe in our system of justice. I think trial by a jury of our peers is one of the most outstanding distinctions between American justice and that of most any other nation in the world. I believe that it is proper that the State has to meet a high burden of proof to convict a person of a crime. And I believe that a person found guilty should be punished to the full extent of the law. I wish it had happened in this case.

But it didn’t. For reasons that have yet to be explained and that will probably never be fully understood by most of us, 12 men and women adjudicated Casey Anthony “not guilty”. As is often explained by those in the media, “not guilty” is not the same thing as “innocent”. But it has the same effect, doesn’t it? Casey Anthony will soon be free. She will not pay a penalty imposed by her peers or our judicial system for an offense most of us believe she committed.

In an effort to find solace in the face of this seeming injustice, I have heard variations of this statement: “Well, she may have escaped this judgment, but one day she’ll meet a Judge who won’t let her get away with it.” In fact, some people seem almost gleeful by this prospect.

That troubles me.

I do believe that one day Casey Anthony will meet the Lord. She, like all of us, will one day give an account of her life. But as disappointed as I am in the failure of our system to render justice (or at least, what I perceive to be justice), I cannot take pleasure in the thought that “one day, she’ll get hers”. Because no matter what she has done—no matter the extent of her guilt—she deserves hell no more than I do. I am as sin-ridden and guilt-stained as she is.

When we take pleasure in the thought that one day “sinners” will get what’s coming to them, we show a woeful lack of understanding about our sinfulness. We think that Charles Manson or Ted Bundy or Casey Anthony is somehow more deserving of eternal punishment than we would be.

I believe that when I stand before the True and Living Judge, I will be adjudicated “not guilty”. Not because I haven’t sinned—I surely have—but because Jesus Christ paid my sin debt already, and I have put my faith and trust in Him. I am no more worthy of God’s grace & mercy than anyone else. And Jesus shed His precious blood for Casey’s sins as sure as He shed His blood for mine.

Scripture teaches us that it is not God’s will that any would perish, but that everyone—including people who take innocent lives—would come to repentance. He doesn’t want Casey Anthony to spend eternity separated from Him any more than He wants to be separated from you.

Let us not take pleasure or comfort in the thought that one day she’ll get what she deserves. Instead pray that God would impress upon her heart the need for repentance and forgiveness. That’s what we mean by Amazing Grace!

The Flag Still Waves

As we prepare to celebrate our nation's 235th birthday, I wanted to share a story with you.

Over the years, I've been privileged to preside at the funerals and memorial services for a number of military veterans. Such services are especially poignant, in my opinion, as we honor the lives of people who were willing to serve their country at great personal risk. Even though many of them lived for decades after their military service had ended, we remain indebted to them for their sacrifice.

One of the most meaningful moments of such services is when the flag which had draped the casket is folded with military precision and presented to the surviving members of the family. While that is a beautiful and touching ceremony, I sometimes wondered why the flag wasn't buried with the deceased. After all, it isn't uncommon to bury our loved ones with items of significance.

Well, recently I read a possible explanation for this. We don't bury the deceased with the flag, one person noted, because while the soldier has fallen, the flag still waves.

I don't know whether that definitively answers the question, but it's a good enough answer for me.

I am grateful for the men and women who give of themselves to keep us safe & free. And I am grateful that 235 years later, the flag still waves.

Harold Camping Was Right

By now, everyone knows that the heretical prophecy of California radio preacher Harold Camping concerning the rapture did not come true. The world did not end on May 21 as he promised (“The Bible guarantees it”, his billboards blared). This is no surprise to anyone who has even an elementary knowledge of the inspired Scriptures, for Jesus declared No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Matthew 24:36). So it would be foolish to believe that Harold Camping had been entrusted with knowledge that Jesus said no one but the Father would possess.

I am not as magnanimous as many of my Christian friends, who have been willing to give Camping a pass when it comes to this doctrinal error. They suggest that he was “mistaken” or “misguided”. In reality, it was far worse than a simple mistake. Camping ignored the clear teachings of Scripture that it is wrong to set dates or times for the return of Christ. Just before Jesus ascended back to Heaven, He told His church, It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. (Acts 1:7) The Apostle Paul encouraged believers at Thessalonica not to buy into the lies of false prophets that the Rapture had already occurred.

So Camping’s teachings do not represent a mere mistake, but he perverts Holy Scripture and corrupts the plain meaning of the text of the Bible. False prophets suffered mightily in Old Testament times, and God is no more tolerant of such blatant efforts to mislead His people today.

Having said all that, however, I must admit that Harold Camping was right about a few things, and we would do well to remember these truths.

First of all, he was right that Jesus is coming again. We do not know the date. We cannot predict the hour. We are not given as much as the year, the decade or the century. But on the authority of God’s precious Word, I know that Jesus will return. He promised, In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:2-3).

Camping was also right that the saved will be raptured. This is how it was explained to those confused believers at Thessalonica: According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17). Those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ will be “caught up” (or “raptured”) to meet Christ in the air.

A third fact that Camping got right was that sin will be judged. In Revelation 20:11-15, we are given a glimpse of that judgment day: Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Those who have rejected Christ and have chosen to pay for their own sins will do just that, and sin will be judged once and for all.

Unless he repents, Camping will pay a high price for promoting his heresy and bringing reproach upon the Word of God. But even in the midst of all that he got wrong, he did get a few things right.