How deep the Father’s love!

Annie got sick at school this morning and showed up at my office door before 9am. Since I was in the middle of something, and there wasn’t an immediate urgency, I had her lay in one of my office chairs and wait till I could take her home. As she dozed I watched her, and thought how much I loved her; and I was reminded how much HE loves me.

Annie is 9, and she’s beautiful, fun-loving, witty, talented and a joy to be around. But I don’t love her for any of those things. I love her because she’s my daughter. My love for her is unconditional. My love for her has no bounds and no end. She couldn’t MAKE me stop loving her. And yet, for all that, my love for Annie is limited to the imperfection of this shell (this “jar of clay” 2 Corinthians 4:7) I’m living in. It doesn’t even scratch the surface of a greater love; God’s love; the love of the Father that I am the recipient of. A love that you too are the recipient of…

He loves me because He created me. He loves me because He has re-created me. He loves me in spite of my imperfections. He loves me because He’s my Father. He loves me because I’m His child. He loves me because HE IS LOVE. That is His nature; that’s what He does; that’s WHO HE IS. His love is unconditional. His love is eternal. His love is redemptive. He love us unchanging. I love Annie a little (though it’s as much as I have the capacity to love); He loves me a lot! And while I am encouraged by this truth, I really didn’t write it for me I wrote it for you! Because you need to be reminded today that you are loved.

Annie is right at home in coming to me. She feels secure, comfortable, loved. She has settled down and is feeling right at home in my presence. She has just fallen asleep. Today I choose to rest in the Father’s love for me, and I’d like to encourage you to do the same.

Hurry

I was reading this evening from John Ortberg’s book, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, and got caught up in a chapter talking about ‘hurry’. It is convicting to me and I thought I’d allow you to share in my guilt. Here are a few quotes.

“Hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart.”

Those who have hurry sickness “are haunted by the fear that there are just not enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done. We will read faster, talk faster, and when listening, nod faster to encourage the talker to accelerate. We will find ourselves chafing whenever we have to wait.”

The lives of the hurry-sick people lack simplicity.

Hurry results in what Lewis Grant calls sunset fatigue, which is when we are just too tired, or too drained, or too preoccupied to love the people to whom we have made the deepest promises. And,

• You find yourself rushing even when there’s no reason to;
• There is an underlying tension that causes sharp words or sibling quarrels;
• You set up mock races (“OK kids, let’s see who can take a bath fastest”) that are really about your own need to get through it;
• You sense a loss of gratitude and wonder.

Ortberg’s conclusion is that those afflicted with hurry sickness must learn to slow down, seek solitude, and quiet their soul. He urges us to “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives.”

A Letter to the Parkway House of Prayer family

There are seven things I want to share with you on this Monday afternoon.

1. It’s GREAT to be back on track after the Holiday season! The church was full (not once but twice) yesterday, there was tons of energy and a great atmosphere in both services!
2. Worship was fantastic. Pastor Dan and the worship team truly led us in worship! The highlight for me was the song Days of Elijah, especially that part “There’s not God like Jehovah!” Wow. Inspiring!
3. Launched Small Groups ministry with a dozen or so really good groups! The Connecting Point event in the gym was a great tool for facilitating folks who really want to get involved in a small group. Can’t wait to see how these groups take shape, and how our congregation comes together in relationship and spiritual development! If you missed out signing up, call the church office, or go online, and let us know. I promise, we’ll get YOU connected.
4. The first in the new series Prayer, it changes EVERYTHING was well received. From Jesus’ instruction on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, here are the main points for review. Prayer is:
   • Relationship – “Our Father in heaven.”
   • Reverence – “Hallowed be Your name.”
   • Realignment – “Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done.”
   • Petition – “Give us this day our daily bread.”
   • Penitence – “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive.”
   • Power – “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Your is the Kingdom and the Power and the glory forever, amen.”
5. The application of prayer is this. It must be:
   • Regular – Not how much, but how often.
   • Intentional – If you don’t thoroughly intend to pray you will NOT pray.
   • Specific – God is not glorified in generalities. If you need something specific, ask for it!
6. Great, worshipful concert last night with Richard Kiser put the finishing touch on the weekend! Man, that guy is good! And we are so blessed that he is using his gift as a guitarist to spread the gospel.
7. Very excited about what’s ahead. Not promising this is going to be an easy year, but I definitely believe it’s going to be a great one!

Pray the Bible Through

With my new message series on prayer beginning this weekend the subject is obviously on my mind. And, it was while reading today (and praying) that an old idea came to me in a fresh new way. If you don’t mind I would like share it with you, and pass along a suggestion. Instead of simply reading through the Bible this year (you’ve probably already gotten started with the new year), why not pray through it? Specifically, why not look for the promises that are present in Scripture, and pray them back to God?

That thought regarding the promises is compliments of Mark Batterson, in his most recent book called The Circle Maker. He mentions the fact that there are more than three thousand promises in the Bible, and I couldn’t help but consider that as I read this morning. With the new awareness I had new vision, and I began to see promises that I hadn’t really noticed as such. As if on instinct I began to breathe prayers to the Lord on the basis of those promises. For example, Psalm 2 contains the promise that all who take refuge in Him are blessed. “Lord, I want to be blessed, please help me to take refuge in You.” And in Joel I read “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”

These are only examples, and not the best examples I’m sure. But here’s my point: with the idea of God’s promises in mind I more readily noticed them, and reflexively prayed they would be fulfilled for me, for us. I wonder what might happen if collectively we see God’s promises in the Bible as our very own, and seize them in our prayers?

Read the Bible, yes. But don’t just read it. Pray it!

The Importance of a Leadership Team

In case you don’t know by now I don’t like to work alone. For too many years I experienced the frustration of solo ministry, and I don’t intend to ever go back. Here at Parkway I am blessed to have a dedicated and spiritual team of lay leaders who are willing to help lift the ministry load. I met with them just tonight. I was reminded again why their participation is so important.

1. Ownership. The owner cares more than the employee. This means more people take responsibility for seeing the need and getting the job done.
2. Interest. Outcomes matter more because more people are invested. Thus, there is a degree of accountability that you can’t experience when you’re doing ministry alone.
3. Ideas. Teamwork breeds creativity. I love getting together with our leadership team, addressing a problem, and seeing the ideas generated by our mutual concern and the diverse gifts and experience we bring.
4. Prayer support. More people care, and because they are spiritual, more people pray! If concerted effort is more productive, concerted prayer is even more so! I am certain that God responds to our unified, heart-felt, ernest prayers.
5. Celebration. It’s a bit ridiculous trying to give YOURSELF a high-five. Achievement is always more satisfying when experienced as a group effort. We work together. We pray together. We rejoice together.

The Gift

Think for a moment about the most memorable gift you’ve ever received. Got it? Now, is that memorable in a good way or a bad way? If good, why is that particular gift so special? Likely it has something to do with who it’s from. Or the fact that you wanted it so badly. Or the sacrifice that was made to provide it. Whatever the case for you, it is generally true that the most meaningful gifts are those the giver went to great expense (either in money or personal sacrifice) to provide. They represent things we would not or could not do for ourselves. They are given (and received) out of deep, abiding love. They ultimately enrich our lives. This weekend I will be sharing the second message in the Christmas Series – The GIFT. A number of things have come together for me related to this message that I believe are an indication of what God wants to do through it. I hope you’ll plan to be here. God has something for all of us!

Spread the Word

Ok. I’m going to break it down for you, then I need your help to spread the word.

Our LIVE, drive-thru nativity is just two days away. This is something anticipated by our congregation and community each Christmas, and this year it will be bigger and better than ever. I love the event for a lot of reasons, but there is ONE THING that stands above the rest in energizing me for this weekend.

That ONE THING is just this: more than 200 people are coming together for the specific purpose of sharing the joy and message of Christmas

• in a unique and creative way.
• with as many individuals and families as we possibly can.
• to interrupt their normal, stressful, hurried, holiday routine.
• and express God’s love and the real meaning of this Season!

I’ll get to preach to about 700 on Sunday morning, and I’m looking forward to it. But how cool is it that you guys get to ‘preach’ to thousands in our community before then! Don’t miss this point – the Live Nativity is about sharing Jesus with our community. Yea, they’ll get cookies and hot cocoa, and the experience will be a good one. But greater than the experience is the reality that they’re getting the MESSAGE of Christmas in unique form. Let’s bathe this event in prayer, asking God to open hearts and allow us to plant seeds that will bear fruit in the lives of people in our community this Christmas!

Can’t wait to see you there!

Discipleship

The discussion in Staff Meeting yesterday was lively, a bit tense at times, and ultimately productive. I shared with the team the things that have been on my heart as it relates to our task and the fulfillment of a mission, and asked for their help. The goal was to bring clarity and simplicity so as to be able to communicate and evaluate effectively.

Here’s where we landed. Parkway House of Prayer succeeds in it’s mission ONLY as we are “leading people to become fully-devoted followers of Jesus Christ.” Everything is about discipleship. We’re not focusing on our financial statement, the number of those attending corporate worship, ‘decisions for Christ’, or the appeal of our ministries and programs. Those things can and will be factored in, but none of them stands alone as an adequate indicator of our success. The questions are these: how many among us are truly following Christ? And, are they following Him more closely today than yesterday? This year more than last?

There are a number of things we will look at in order to evaluate success. There are some exciting things to look for as a product of our success. I’ll share them in the days ahead.

Living and Dying

We talk a lot about the way a Christian should live – necessarily so. But perhaps we do so to the neglect of the another truth – the way a Christian must die. As I see it, if we die as we ought we will have no trouble living as we ought.

Consider these Scriptures:

John 12:24-25 – ²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Luke 9:23 – And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Galatians 5:24 - And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Romans 6:4 – We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Colossians 3:3 – For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

2011 Kids Christmas Program

Here’s just a snippet from this mornings Christmas program at Parkway. It was an amazing morning. Great crowd, lots of energy, the kids were fantastic, and the message of their program was superb. To top it off, many of the tags from the Christmas tree were taken signifying your desire to invest in others. Thanks!

Less is More

I’ve been thinking about our church this morning, and considering ways we can be most effective in what we’ve been called to do. Like you, I don’t have more time to do, and yet so much more needs still to be done. That makes the need for intentionality even greater. Here are a few things I’ve come up with:

1. KNOW what it is we’ve been called to do! If we don’t thoroughly understand our mission, we’re surely not going to get it done.
2. Simplify that mission to its irreducible core.
3. State the mission in a memorable way, and bring it into EVERY ministry conversation.
4. Evaluate our ministry activity in light of the mission.
5. Tie every ministry objective to the overall mission of our church. If we can’t make the connection, we eliminate the activity.
6. Ultimately, it’s not about what we’re doing as much as what we’re getting done!

More will follow…

Dear Parkway Family

I’m back!

It has been so long since I’ve blogged that I’ve almost forgotten how. These last two months have been a whirlwind and somehow filling this space didn’t make my list of priorities. My intention is to change that in the next few weeks, to get back in the habit of sharing news and information with you – sometimes just thinking out loud. I hope you’ll check in from time to time and view my ramblings.

Here are a few things you should know (and maybe one that doesn’t matter as much):

1. This past weekend I started a new message series called The Gift. With the Christmas Season upon us it’s important that we communicate REAL meaning and significance at this time of year. The message Sunday focused on God’s indescribable love as a motivating force behind the Gift. Seven people responded to an invitation to accept God’s unconditional love for themselves! May this be the greatest Christmas season those seven have ever known! I will share the next message in the series on December 11th, as we examine the COST of the Gift.
2. On Sunday, December 4th, (that’s just a few days from now) Parkway Kids Ministry shares it’s annual Christmas program. It’s called The Great Christmas Giveaway, and you’re not going to want to miss this fantastic production. The past couple of days have been filled with stage design and preparation (I’ve included a pic to give you a better idea), and I can promise a bunch of kids and adults have worked really hard to make this a wonderful weekend. Invite someone (they’ll come!), and plan to join us at either 8:30am or 11am this Sunday!
3. Next weekend is Parkway’s Drive-Thru Nativity. Wow! If there is one thing we missed when our family was in Idaho for four years it was the drive-thru nativity. Not only is this already my favorite time of the year, the live nativity brings all the festivities (friends, conversation, caroling, hot-cocoa and cookies) of the Season, and the Christmas message, together in one grand event. It happens three nights – Friday, Saturday, Sunday (December 9-11), beginning at 6pm each evening. Tell your friends. Come join us. And, if you’d like the opportunity to serve our community in this way, contact Michelle Johnson in the church office to sign up.
4. There are a lot of needs in our church and community, and over the next couple of weekends we’re going to be giving everyone a chance to participate in meeting those needs. Two Christmas Trees will be loaded with names and information of individuals, with a list of what YOU can provide this Christmas Season. Take advantage of this opportunity to give – it’s what Christmas is all about! If you can’t get there and pick an item for yourself, contact the church office (540.982.0115), and ask how you can contribute.
5. Our family is just finishing up another move. Hopefully this is our last one for a long long time. We’re settling in a home that is just three miles from the church, but still very much in the country! Thanks for all who have prayed that God would open the right doors. He has, and we are grateful!

Men’s Bible Study

One of the most enjoyable and satisfying things I do takes place on Friday’s around 2:30pm. It started with just me and Scott, but has grown to include two other men who meet with us for an hour of Bible study and conversation. This week we reflected on the Holiness of God and were challenged to not only stand in awe of Him, but also to see to it that our lives are lived to His glory.

Why is this time so meaningful? Several reasons:

• Because good things always happen in small groups like this one.
• Because it gives me a chance to know these men better and them to know me.
• Because I learn best when I teach.
• Because someone taking the time to come to my office (prepared) in order to learn and grow in their relationship with Christ indicates they are on track to becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ.
• Because I am seeing consistent growth and development and that’s what this is all about.

If you want to get in on this study, or one like it, contact the church office and let us know.

Technology

I left my cellphone at home this morning. Actually it’s probably an insult to refer to an IPhone as a cellphone. This machine not only sends and receives calls, it has my calendar, allows email correspondence, and text messaging, gives me access to all of my computer documents and really anything else I can retrieve from my laptop. To NOT have it should have been devastating. Actually, it was liberating. Other than a couple of phone calls I received on Pastor Ray’s phone, I was freed from the distraction.

This takes me back to something I thought of the other day. I was sitting in my office scrolling through the latest Twitter Feed to see what others were saying. One tweet in particular pushed me over the edge. It read, “I’m up early to catch a flight from San Francisco to Nashville. What are you doing up at 4am?” Now I admit that last could be interesting and might elicit some good response. But really? Who gets up at 4 o’clock in the morning and thinks to grab their phone or computer and tell the world something so ridiculously unimportant? In my opinion this is technology gone bad. A simple rhyme came to mind that sort of sums it up for me:

The digital age is all the rage, but it’s less like freedom and more like a cage.

It’s not far from reality to imagine phones and computers, Facebook and twitter, holding us hostage by their constant demand for our attention. Through of the calls and messages we are working (or distracted) when we should be relaxing or connecting face-to-face with the most important people in our lives. Through Facebook and Twitter, instead of living our lives, we are projecting an image of ourselves by broadcasting little snippets here and there. No one gets the whole picture – that would be too much – but we’ll allow them to read the best part of what we do, or how we think, or what we say. I say that’s bondage, and once again, in my estimation, technology gone bad!

When it’s used to our advantage, and it enhances our lives, technology is good. However, if it is squeezing the life out of us one phone call — or email or text message or tweet or Facebook post — at a time, technology is bad.

Which is it for you?

Another Letter to the Parkway Family

September 28, 2011

Dear Church Family:

Greetings! I can hardly believe September is nearly gone and that Julia, the kids and I have been back at Parkway almost two months. We are more delighted than ever to be here, and sincerely appreciate the warm welcome of our church family. I can report that Pastor Jeff is doing well in his travels for RENEWANATION, and God is blessing this transition and confirming His direction in fresh, new ways. There are many things for which to be grateful!

I am writing because there are 6 very important things I want to tell you!

#1 – First, we are in the final week of our most recent message series called Live Like You Were Dying. This month, as a church family, we’ve been asking ourselves the question, “if I only had 30 days to live, what would I do differently.” Not only have we been reminded of our own mortality, we have been challenged to Speak Sweeter, Love Deeper, and Give Forgiveness. There have been incredible testimonies of changed behavior and attitudes. God has used the series remarkably! If you’ve missed the messages you can listen online at parkwayhouseofprayer.org, or call the church office and order CD’s.

#2 – On Sunday I will be sharing the final message in the LLYWD series, a message called Embrace Eternity. One out of every one dies. Intuitively we know we’re included in that statistic, and yet sometimes we fail to live like it. The question we will be faced with this weekend is this – “am I living for time or for eternity?” I want to encourage you to be here at 8:30 or 11am Sunday, and try your best to bring someone with you.

#3 – The third thing is this: for the past two months we’ve been planning a huge Community Block Party. This is an intentional effort to reach directly into our community and share God’s love in a tangible way, and we’re hosting it this Saturday, October 1st – from 11am to 3pm, at 3230 King St. We will be giving away FREE FOOD and DRINKS, and our campus will be covered with Jump Houses, Pony Rides, Face Painting, an Electronic Bull Ride, and tons more fun and family friendly stuff. The weather is going to be perfect, so please come and bring your family to the Block Party on Saturday!

#4 – In early 2012 we plan to officially launch our Small Group ministry here at Parkway. As many of you do not understand what that is all about, I will be sharing my vision for Small Groups in a Sunday morning message on October 9th. This is one of the most important steps the Parkway House of Prayer family is going to be taking over the next few months, and I would love to see you take that step with us. We’ve reserved a seat for you, October 9th. I hope you won’t miss this service.

Two more things and I’m done.

#5 – Number five has to do with the next message series I will begin on Sunday morning, October 16th. Awhile back I was reading from the book of Psalms, the New Living Translation, and came across this verse: You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. (Ps. 58:6) The Lord brought me back to that a few weeks later and I felt drawn to preach a message series addressing the pain, and disappointment, and sorrow that every one of us has to face – perhaps you are dealing with it intensely at this very moment. I am calling the series, Your Tears in His Bottle, and I am inviting you to come for the encouragement and strength you will receive from the Lord during this five-week series.

#6 – Finally, I want to affirm a very important point – you are a critical part of the Parkway House of Prayer family! We need you. We love you. And if you’ve not been here in awhile, we miss you! You’re a piece of this puzzle and without you we’re incomplete. So whatever your reasons for being away, I trust they are quickly resolved so you can return to where you belong — to your church family that both offers what you need and needs what you offer! I can’t wait to see you this weekend!

Anticipating,

Pastor Dave