Taking Pastor Appreciation Day to the next level

In honor of Pastor Appreciation Sunday, we house church-types would like to expand the the occasion to make it bigger and better than ever before! Now we can wish everyone a Happy ...

   Pastor Appreciation Day
   Server Appreciation Day
   Teacher Appreciation Day
   Exhorter Appreciation Day
   Giver Appreciation Day
   Administrator Appreciation Day
   Healer Appreciation Day
   Helper Appreciation Day
   Tongues Speaker Appreciation Day
   Tongues Interpreter Appreciation Day
   Preacher Appreciation Day
   Prophet Appreciation Day
   Elder Appreciation Day
   Deacon Appreciation Day
   Presbyter Appreciation Day
   Singer Appreciation Day

#BetterTogether

(In all seriousness: If you bear the burden of preparing several lessons per week, evangelizing the lost, administering finances, counseling the hurting, overseeing worship programs, and coordinating compassionate ministries, we hope your congregation gives you the respect you deserve for taking on all that work yourself. We also believe that respect comes from your flock using their God-given gifts to assist the same work you're doing to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to your community and worldwide. Take some of that load off your shoulders, for crying out loud! One Sunday and a pancake breakfast ain't gonna do it.)

Romans 12:6-8; I Corinthians 12:8-10, 28; Ephesians 4:11; I Timothy 3; Titus 3; I Peter 4:11 (did we miss one? Leave a reply in the comments below).

'If they ... have not love, do not listen ...'

It was actually Tertius, but ok.  ("Saint Paul Writing His Epistles" by Valentin de Boulogne, c. 1820.)

There's an old saying often attributed to John Wesley (bonus points if anyone can find the actual quote):

"And even if they come to you with sound teaching and persuasive words, and have not love, do not listen, do not listen, do not listen!"

In other words, if even the best preacher, teacher, or evangelist makes his case persuasively and consistently, and provides chapter and verse for all his claims, yet fails to exhibit any care for those around him (discounting any personality quirks, genuine shyness, rushed schedules, etc.) then it's best to take what they have to say with a grain of salt (I John 2:15). If you don't understand what it means to love, then "the greatest of these" (I Cor. 13:13) is missing from even the most convincing message of faith and hope.

'A little lower than the angels'

Michael the Archangel statue, St. Michael's Church (building), Hamburg. (I wonder if the HOA would allow this in the front yard?)

Subject: God's majesty
Target passage: Psalm 8
Date: Sept. 27, 2015

Psalm 8 was the perfect follow-up to our read-throughs of the fraternal twin epistles of Jude and II Peter.

In this sandwich of praise (vv. 1 and 9) David establishes well the wide-reaching magnitude of God. It extols his majesty. It asks the ages-old question "What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?" (V. 4).

Messy-anic Christianity

Charlie after homemade pizza night.

Thank God for family!

Since today was my stepson Will's birthday, we were honored by a visit by his grandparents, who blessed us by staying around for church.

It must have been quite a contrast for them today, as they were unable to meet with their usual congregation, Austin Baptist Church, which has hundreds of members in far West Austin. Alex, Will's grandfather, is a Deacon. The church is only seven years old, and is already busting out the seams and raising funds for a building extension.

The irony was not lost on me: Church for them today was eight people (we had three sick and at home today), no nursery, a baby crawling to and fro, and grandma playing Legos at the table with Will within earshot of the "service." Getting up to chase after 20-month-old Charlie was common, and once I was interrupted by a singing elephant. I think I heard Tickle Me Elmo join in our singing, briefly.

Organic church easy to start but hard to find

                                                               "Nothing yet, sir."

Cringeworthy criticisms and shoot-from-the-hip speculations aside, it's amazing what you can find if you take the time to peruse the collective wisdom from the comments section of a thoughtful article.

In this case, I found a few nuggets of wisdom on a 2012 blog post questioning if organic house church is, by and large, a myth. After two years of back-and-forth in the comments, the author became perturbed by the exchange (please, I've had Facebook comment wars longer than this!) but props to him for keeping the dialogue intact. Below are some highlights that I think summarize the "searching for house church" experience better than most published items I've read.

House churches 'more satisfying'

A 2007 article by house church sympathizer George Barna carried the curious headline, "House churches are more satisfying to attenders than are conventional churches."

It's a bold claim, but one backed up by a survey of 2,008 respondents, some of which I'll share below. For more see the link from the Barna Group.

In my prior, short brushes with house churches, the main complaint I received from my institutional church brothers and sisters was how such churches are perceived to be glorified home bible studies -- that without educational programs, staged worship, and stricter discipline, house churchers would burn out or become bored with the weekly routine. This now-famous survey, however, paints a more realistic picture of what I've observed.

The simple church down the street

I was able to finally visit the other house church in our neighborhood this morning. Actually, they might prefer to be called a simple church.

Surprisingly, it was a block up the same street today. Affiliated with my former denomination, no less. And one I had learned of at an organic church conference previously, but had no idea was meeting within earshot of my home for the last few years.

Jesus is coming back! (Soon ... right?)

Subject: God's timing
Target passage: II Peter 3
Date: Sept. 20, 2015

"... Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.'" (vv. 3-4)

Would it be wrong for me to say to any such detractors, carpers, picadors, quibblers, and any variety of athesits and agnostics, "Good question?"

When, pray tell, is Jesus coming back?

Cracks in the Windshield

My wife is concerned about a crack in her Jeep's windshield. I am now, too, but that hasn't always been the case in the life of the crack. As usual, her intuition was better than mine!

It started last year as a small line near the inspection sticker. I wasn't even sure it was a crack. It's now past the passenger-side wiper. And while the glass is in no danger of sending shards flying at her while driving (safety glass), there is an inevitability that one day the windshield will no longer be in one, solid piece.

The fissure now catches the glare of the sun in a way that impedes our vision at times and poses a hazard in the Central Texas sun (yes, I really should get this fixed soon!).

That's how it is with false teachers. Their errors start small, arguable, and insignificant, and perhaps easily corrected. But over time the error widens to full-scale theological deviation from the Gospel and risk for anyone getting their vision through that teacher.

As an anecdote in last Sunday's discussion, I noted a situation where a fitness program developed into a denomination that rejected Jesus as God.

How to avoid false teachers (or, better, how to avoid becoming one!)

Subject: False teachers
Date: Sept. 6, 2015
Target passage: II Peter 2:1-10

For as many false prophets as there have been throughout Christian history there is surely a greater number of motives that drove these men and women from truth to something that ... well, doesn't quite match up to truth.

In this particular chapter, Peter narrows down the criteria. He warns the churches he wrote in Asia Minor against "licentiousness" (an attitude that we have a free license to sin, vv. 2 and 10), greed (v. 3), and a disdain for authority (vv. 1 and 10).

Stop here before you point an accusatory finger at a money-grabbing televangelist, a cult leader, or an overbearing coach you had in high school: aren't we all guilty of these things?