Intentional, but not crazy, about maintaining our focus (12/21/10)

It is easy to lose sight of the fact that we are called to lead people to redemption and not lead culture to redemption.  I am appalled at what I see on tv and movies as even commercials have inappropriate words and the content of almost every program points away from what I believe God intended the world to be.  I have come to the realization, however, that changing the flood of culture may be a lost cause (perhaps that's blasphemy, I'm open to that).  As I read the Bible it seems that one day evil is going to overrun the earth before the Lord redeems His followers and eventually reclaims creation, so if these are the last days, then perhaps that is what I am seeing take place.

I do know that it is easier to rail against "culture" and "society" than it is to share the gospel with an individual or lead a family devotion, and that that is where we are really losing the battle if it is being lost.

I am reminded of all of this as I see the all out blitz of holiday adds painting the vivid picture of "the holiday season" as a time to give and receive gifts.  Giving and receiving gifts is a wonderful tradition, but we have to guard against the forces of culture influencing our thinking and making Christmas only about that.  It is elementary, but how much time and energy do we spend on shopping verses how much we spend on worshipping and remembering Jesus.  That is not to say that it is all about a math formula which condemns you if it there are 10 parts shopping to 1 part worship, but it is a question of our hearts.  What percentage of our hearts are consumed by the various forces pulling at them?

Please find time this week to read the Christmas story with your family, and to mention Jesus as often as possible in the midst of everything that you are doing.

Also, please be sure to post something on Twitter or Facebook for Share the Bible day.  This is a campaign sponsored by youversion.com which offers free Bible apps for every mobile device, and will help us point people to the Bible on Christmas Day.  Click here for more information http://www.youversion.com/share-the-bible/

Share the Bible Day on December 25

Obviously (at least I hope), I am a big advocate of reading the Bible.  I believe that the Bible is the Word of God which He inspired to be written for us.  It contains the answers to all of our problems, and lights the way to everything that is going to bring us joy and make us whole.

I believe just reading the Bible is therapeutic, and you can gain wisdom for specific situations, peace in your heart and mind, and grow spiritually just from reading it regularly.  The Bible can also be used like an aspirin for acute problems if you read it in the face of specific pain or needs.

I hope that everyone with a Twitter account or Facebook will help spread the word about Share the Bible day December 25 sponsored by YouVersion.com.  YouVersion.com is a site associated with LifeChurch.TV which offers free Bible apps for any mobile device (Blackberry, Android, PC, iPhone, etc).  The app is really top quality and enables users to read the Bible anywhere, removing one of the barriers to regular Bible reading.  So Tweet or post a FB status update on Christmas Day telling everyone about YouVersion and why you love reading the Bible!

December is here!

Yesterday was our first snow day with school closed, so I cancelled my appointments and spent the day alternating between playing with the kids and reading.  It was good to spend time with the kids, and to spend time with Timothy Keller's Counterfeit Gods, which is, so far, a tremendous book. The snow also affected us Sunday, and many of our FCC family were absent. 

The message Sunday was entitled The Journey: Part 1: Lift Your Eyes, and in a nutshell it had to do with the heart of exploration that called the wise men to search for Jesus in Matthew chapter 2:1-12.  It is amazing to think that they were so observant to the sky that one star appearing could motivate them to make such a long and costly journey.  We are reminded to "lift our eyes" from the routine of our daily life and see that God is working in plan in us and through us.  We should check ourselves to be sure that we are as observant to "the still small voice" as the wise men were to the sky.

The long, costly journey of the wise men was for the sole purpose of worshipping.  They followed the star to Jesus, offered their gifts, and then they returned home.  There was no hupla or party, just worship.  How often do we worship?  What does our worship look like?  Does our worship truely reflect the awesomeness of God and the amazing number of things that He has done in our lives (James 1:17)?

If you would like a PDF of the message notes, let me know, and I'll email you a copy. jlowe@faithcommunitywv.org

November 28, 2010

My goal is to blog every week, but I took last week off for Thanksgiving as I tried to unplug for the week and basically recover from the last two months.  I strongly believe in Sabbath (in fact this blog was almost entirely devoted to the subject of Sabbath), and I had missed a couple of weeks due to the busy church calendar.  Honduras, Veteran's Day, Monvee Launch, and Church Anniversary all back-to-back = busy.  Anyway, bottom line on Sabbath means unplugging body and mind one day out of every seven, and while it will not send you to Hell to ignore this practice, it is wise to observe it.

Reflecting on service yesterday, I think that I didn't do the best job communicating what I felt lead to share.  I hate that feeling because I think of all the effort that goes into setting the stage for the message time.  Sound guys and people coming out to listen are at the top of the list.  The bottom line was that I believe God wants our relationships to be fulfilling and not only about responsibilities, especially our relationship with Him.  I believe that He wants to help make our relationships great sources of joy and strength, as opposed to obligations, and I hope that truth emerged.

Looking forward to getting into December and the Christmas season this week.  Beckley Christmas parade this Saturday is always fun, and I really enjoy our fellowship gatherings like the Christmas gathering on December 12.  Our Christmas message series is going to be entitled The Journey and we are going to talk about all the road trips associated with the Christmas story - kind of ironic for me this year since this will be the first year in a long time that we will not be traveling!

Monday, November 15 - Monvee Launch



Albert (Steve) ready for surgery with Dr. Mel



Yesterday (Sunday) was a great day!  It was a full day, but a good day.  It is funny to think how much work goes into everything, and I am always humbled when some crazy idea of mine (like having a skit with a bed, exercise bike, fast food, and a tv) makes so much work for so many people.  Steve did a great job with it, and I think it really helped to visualize the message.  What an easy analogy to make as we have all wanted to be in better physical shape and then been distracted by “life.”  And we have all wanted to be more connected with God and either got distracted or not known where to begin.

Preparation for yesterday was a struggle from the perspective of trying to introduce Monvee without making it seem like the center of the day.   I always want Jesus to be the center of the day, but I wanted to communicate the value that I think that Monvee can bring to our church.  I really believe that the impact on our community that we are looking for will come through personal discipleship – private decisions made in line with Jesus’ teachings in the face of the types of sacrifices that are always present when doing things Jesus’ way.

The vision the Lord has given me for our church rarely finds expression in my mind as a picture of a large, energized gathering, but instead is hundreds of pictures of individuals who have made godly decisions living out the blessings of those decisions.  This leads to revival because our lives become testimonies of God’s truth and grace, leading people around us who do not know God to inquire of us and find Him through our “answer for the hope that is in us.” (1 Peter 3:15)

I think Monvee can be a tool to help us on the path toward making that vision a reality.  If you missed yesterday here is a video that can introduce Monvee to you.  The video features a previous version of Monvee, so the screens will look a little different if you get the Faith Community version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c7_-w1Hoz0&feature=related 

Note:

Pray for the Transformed Vessels widow’s conference this week.  Debbie Neal and her team have done a great job putting together the event, and I know it will be a blessing for the ladies.

Remember the church work day at 299 Grey Flats Rd this Saturday (11-20-10) from 8am-Noon with breakfast provided.

Next Sunday is the one year anniversary of the church, and we have some fun things planned, so try to make it if you can.

If you did get a Monvee pack yesterday and have any questions, email me at jlowe@faithcommunitywv.org.  One thing to note is that the address for your login is http://beta.monvee.com/, there is no “www.”

Honduras 2010

This is going to be long, but the trip was really amazing!

I’m a little embarrassed to say that when the planning for this trip began I thought about changing things up and going somewhere else this year.  God is good, however, and He quickly redirected me back to my first love, Honduras.  It was our fourth annual trip to the same area, and we found that our returning year after year has become a sign to the people that we really care for them.  And more importantly that God really cares about them.

We raised money many different ways, but the fireworks tent around July 4 and the Pink Flamingos really stand out in my mind.  I remember all too well Linda McLean and Nellie Rose trying to hold the fireworks tent down in the lightening storm that threatened to wash or blow it away, and Michelle spending hours trying to get those flamingos in people’s yards without them seeing her.  God really provided financially, just as He always does.

After last year’s difficulties in the airport I was shocked this time as we strolled through every airport we entered.  There were always enough people to help us, no ticket problems, no security check point blues, and all of our flights were on time.  It was so easy that it made me nervous, but in the end I think that God used the ease of the travel this time as a sign to me that things could go according to plan sometimes – that may sound funny, but I was growing a little cynical.

When we arrived on Saturday, October 23, we put our things away and then got to work.  The guys began to sort bags of food for the distribution on the next day (Sunday) at Pastor Carlos’ church.  Each bag had a bag with two scoops of beans, a bag with two scoops of rice, four small bags of flour and a tube of lard (they received the lard as a blessing from God, I was surprised too!).  We assembled 90 bags.

While we were assembling the bags, the ladies were tearing into the 1000lbs plus of ministry supplies that we had brought in our luggage.  Patty Glover is really amazing, and between her and Michelle, there were all kinds of things to be given away to bless people everywhere we went.

Sunday morning we attended Pastor Carlos’ church.  It was really a wonderful experience.  I met Carlos three years before, not long after he had been released from prison.  While in prison he had become the prison pastor, and now he was out and pastoring his own church with his amazing wife Naomi.  The service was wonderful!  Pastor Carlos’ daughter lead worship in Spanish (it was very very loud, I like loud, but this was loud), then our team lead a couple of songs in English (at an appropriate level), then our team did a drama set to the Spanish version of I can only imagine.  The drama concluded with two people (Angie and Caylon) who had turned their backs on God and are denied entry into heaven.  Angie screamed “no” as the gates to heaven are closed and she did so with the same loud anointing that was on Pastor Carlos’ daughter – scared everyone to death!  But it was effective, as we found out later that a woman rededicated her heart to the Lord in response to the drama!

Pastor Carlos shared a message on having spiritual eyes, and it was really good.  It was great to get to hear him preach as Jose translated for him.  Then after the message we brought in the bags of food that we had prepared and gave one bag to each of the 40 families represented.  . Pastor Carlos shared with me that 90% of the community are employed by the banana crop farms and that two weeks prior to us coming to Honduras 70% of the banana trees were destroyed by heavy rains and flooding leaving 80% unemployed. That particular Sunday many families did not have much to eat and three families in particular had absolutely nothing to eat until the members of the church came by with the baskets. We were able to buy food and bless 90 families for $700.00

Pastor Carlos had everyone take their bags home then return to the church to distribute the other 50 bags in the community and invite people to church.  He told us later that there was a great response as his people who had been timid to share the gospel were willing to do it because they had a bag of food to “break the ice,” and 3 families committed to attend church the next week.  Carlos genuinely viewed it as a great success!

We were able to leave money behind to help Pastor Carlos and his family, as well as an offering for the church.  He later told us that the amounts that we gave him were exactly double what he needed for a pressing need that he had personally and in the church.  What a testimony about the provision of God!  The need for the church was to pay for a meal for 120 ladies that were coming the next Sunday for their first ladies conference.  It was exciting to think that we could cover that expense for them and contribute to those ladies having a wonderful experience growing in the Lord.



The hospital at the beginning of the week



Sunday night we prepared for ministry on Monday by scooping out the hospital where we would be doing construction and praying over it, then we returned to the room and prepared supplies for our trip the next afternoon to the teen girl’s orphanage.

Monday morning I was sick, so after I helped acquire the wood that we would need I returned to the hotel room and slept.  It was humbling to bring the team that far and then to abandon them to work on the very first morning!







Our hugger taking a break to pose with Keith

 Monday afternoon we went to the teen girl’s orphanage and met with the approximately 140 girls there.  Many placed there because they had been abused and others with mental or physical handicaps there because they were abandoned.  One of the girls liked to give very hard bear hugs and everyone got one.  She really liked Tim Taylor though and he got several.  Tim is not a “toucher” so the faces he made while getting crushed by these hugs were too funny for words.

The girls really enjoyed the games we played with them and responded well to the message that Jose and I shared with them about the humiliation of Jesus with about 6 of them coming forward for prayer.  Then we distributed the gift bags, and they really enjoyed those as well!

In the early morning hours on Tuesday my fever broke which I apparently had been carrying for a day or so, and waking up Tuesday morning I felt a whole lot better.

Tuesday was a good day of work on the hospital in the morning, then a great lunch at Pastor Julio and Luz’s house – she cooked for us every day for lunch and it was very good!  The spaghetti on Thursday will always remain one of my all time favorite meals anywhere mission trip or not.

 

Tuesday afternoon we went to the teen boy’s juvenile detention center.  There were approximately 130 boys there between 11 and17.  Some of them were carry overs from other orphanages that don’t handle older kids, but most were gang members who were first time offenders.  Mike Gizinski and I shared the scripture with them, and 5 came forward for prayer.  It was a real victory for them to come forward because you could feel the pressure on them on to do it.  Then we played some games with them, and then watched them play soccer.  They were all amazing soccer players, kicking the ball to one another so hard and really able to play.  It was humbling to watch them play on a cement pad in bare feet, but they don’t know any different and of course they didn’t complain.

Wednesday we worked on the hospital again in the morning with our main work being to supply mud for the block layers, clean up the excess mud as the block layers work, bend and place rebar, and build scaffolding.  Don Lawrence and Henry Plumley also framed and poured the staircase for the second floor.  A huge accomplishment in four days with the materials that they had to work with.  We paid the 9 block layers for the week and left money for them to work for two more weeks after we left.

Wednesday evening we went to the San Pedro Sula prison.  Getting in was a little different this time as the frisked every member of the team, and believe me when I tell you that there is no way I could have gotten anything past the guy who frisked me…awkward.

The prison service is always amazing, and this time was no different.  They really enjoy worshipping the Lord, singing and waving flags, and generally having a great time.  Our team lead a couple of worship songs in Spanish and performed the drama again which were both received very well.  They did such a great job!

Jose translated again as I spoke sharing with them the humiliation of Jesus (Phil. 2:5-8) and His desire to heal their bodies.  Someone counted 70 people that came forward for prayer, and the Holy Spirit was certainly present as Jose and I made our way through them praying.  In every ear I said the name of Jesus Christ because I was so impressed that God was going to heal them and that I was going to be gone and I wanted them to look to Jesus alone as the One who had made them whole.  The prison was a real highlight.

Thursday we got up early and headed to the hospital with the primary goal of getting the steps poured.  It made for a long day, but it was really exciting to get the steps done.  After the legendary spaghetti lunch, we headed in the afternoon to the children’s orphanage.  There were 78 kids and 20 infants there and it is always humbling to see the way those kids live.  The facility is hard to describe because in many ways it is nice, but how the kids are forced to live is horrible.  Around 20 of them in rooms with bars on the windows and these cheap, foam mattresses.  I didn’t go back into the infant room this year because I am still haunted by images from my last trip, although several of our team did go in again.  The thought in my head was how these kids were just like my kids only they were here in this place living this horrible reality and my kids were blessed to be in the US with parents that love them.  I don’t understand all the dynamics on a macro-spiritual level, but I just know that I am thankful and that my kids should be too.  And I was glad to do the things that we were able to do to help the orphanage and to bless those kids a little bit.  Just hope something sticks in their minds and they know that someone, somewhere cares about them.

During the course of the week we felt called to minister to the guards and staff at the hotel where we were staying.  We bought them bags of food similar to what we distributed earlier in the week.  (We feed 10 families for a week for $39.)  And the guards shared with us that a lot of missionary groups have come and gone, but no one had ever taken time to speak to them or share with them.  We learned that many of them would go without eating 2 or 3 days at a time because of trying to support their families, and one female guard shared her story with us and really captured the collective heart of the team.  Her husband was killed 2 years ago and she was raising 5 children between the ages of 5 and 13 alone.  She worked double shifts many days which meant 20 hour days, and often went without eating.  She told us that she used to attend church, and even sang in church, but that she had drifted away from God.  We blessed her with food, money, and things for her children.  She told us she knew that God had sent us to her, and that this was a crossroad in her life.  It was really amazing.

We prayed for a female guard and blessed her with a $40.00 dollar offering, the following day she shared with us that her daughter had been sick with an eye infection for two weeks but she did not have the money to take her to the doctor; she told us that she was able to take her daughter to the doctor, buy the antibiotics and medications and buy food for exactly $40.00.

An elderly guard that had been working at the hotel for years told us, with tears in his eyes, that “many people come to the hotel, many groups come through (including other missionaries) but that we had been the only ones to ever notice them or bless them with food or anything at all. He also shared with us that we had blessed the hotel “with business” since our arrival.

When we arrived the hotel was pretty empty due to the economy and lack of business, the week prior to our arrival the hotel had laid off 28 employees.  The day after our arrival it was nearly full with many “surprise and last minute” reservations. Many hotel employees (waitress, mini market clerk, guards) shared with us that we had blessed the hotel with business since the moment we arrived and that they had received reservations to almost 95% capacity for the following 2 – 3 weeks.

Due to the fact that the bus broke down on the way to the beach on Friday afternoon and we had to come back to the hotel to fellowship and eat our pre-cooked meal.  We were able to share our food and feed every employee in the hotel on Friday night; many employees told us late on Friday night (with tears in their eyes) that they had been working all day and that had been the only meal they had had all day and that many of them did not have money to eat that night. All night Friday and Saturday morning many employees came to us to thank us for the blessing of “a plate of food.”

Monday through Friday we had devotions lead by team members.  Many of them stepped out of their comfort zone to stand in front of the group and share, but each morning a different person brought a good Word from the Lord for the day.  It was so clear as we were there how much we needed to hear the Word of the Lord in the morning to have spiritual strength for the day, I hope we can carry that lesson back into our busy lives at home.

Even at this length, this is a small summary of all that God did through us during our 8 days in Honduras.  As always I return humbled by the many blessings of God in my life, and awestruck by His willingness to work through someone like me.  I’m really glad to serve such a wonderful God.  He is good to us.