I am a disciple of Jesus, husband, and father. I currently live in Kharkov, Ukraine.
Trip to Budapest
Early yesterday morning, David and I got on the six hour express train to Kiev to begin our week long journey to get new Ukrainian visas (this is a yearly process). After our arrival in Kiev, we took the taxi to the airport and grabbed a quick bite to eat. Our flight plan was to take us through Prague and the on to Budapest. Unfortunately, we arrived late in Prague, so they rerouted us to Berlin, then on to Budapest. So we didn't arrive late at night, making the whole trip about 17 hours.
This morning we took a taxi across town to a mall to get David a picture for his application. We got there an hour before anything opened, so we decided to head to the Ukrainian Embassy and turn in all the paper work and ask if we could just bring the picture later. We couldn't find any taxis on the road, so we just decided to walk. The problem turned out the be that the embassy is at the top of a VERY large hill. So it took a lot of time to get to the Embassy, but we did finally arrive.
Once inside, their was no line and the lady was quite nice (she complimented my Russian!). She sent us back down the hill to the mall (where we began our trip) to pay for the visas at the bank. We decided to take a bus this time down the hill. Once at the mall I paid for the visas and David got his picture made. We took a taxi back up the hill and the lady told us our visas would be ready Friday morning. Friday morning! That is just two day processing and the cost was only about $100. That is just amazing.
So afterwards, we headed back to the mall to get our cell phones activated and eat lunch. We ate at a really good Mexican food place that gave HUGE portions. This city seems to love restaurants; they seem to be all over the place.
The biggest difficulty so far is converting the money in our head. The exchange rate is like 180 Hungarian Forint to 1 to USD. It is hard to know how much we are paying for things.
Well I just thought I would share a bit about our trip. Thanks for listening!
Comments [2]
Organic Leadership - Chapter 4 Notes
I want to remind anybody that might be reading my notes, that these are just notes. I have not included my personal thoughts on the subjects being discussed. Maybe I'll do that at the very end.
Cole,Neil. Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You Are. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009.
Chapter 4 - Still in the Dark Ages: Contributing to Ignorance in the Name of Scholarship
First, I will share a story that Cole uses to introduce this chapter. He talks about a time when he was talking with a veteran pastor and seminary professor (both are the same person) about the way the seminary students are evaluated for ordination as pastors. This man said that their needs to be a panel of professional pastors and seminary professors that will scrutinize each candidate. Cole suggested that the church appoint leaders to do this, rather than a committee that doesn't evan know the candidate. I will quote the rest of the story:
"He was not in favor of this because he felt that average churchgoers, without a theological education, would not have the astuteness to evaluate a candidate properly.
I asked the man how many years he had been pastor of the same church, and he answered proudly, 'Twenty years now.'
After a slight pause I said, "So you have been teaching the same people every week for twenty years (over a thousand sermons), and they do not know enough of the Bible to discern sound doctrine? What's wrong with your teaching?
There was stunned silence, and he looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
I asked, 'If twenty years is not enough, how many more years of your teaching do you think it would take before they would be abel to to tell the difference between good teaching and bad?'
More silence followed.
I continued, 'Would you call that good preaching if over twenty years your listeners are still unable to discern good teaching? Is that what qualifies you to scrutinize the ability of others to teach? Maybe we all need to reevaluate what good teaching truly is.'"
Six Ways Leaders Mistakenly Keep Christians in the Dark
1. It's All Greek to Me: Preaching from the Original Language - Cole is not opposed to using text in the original language in our study, or even occasionally in preaching. He is opposed to the practice of using it all the time, for the purpose of shedding new insights into the Bible that is not made cl
ear in the English translations. "Often this practice hides what the pastors truly want: increased authority as a teacher" (pg. 78).
2. Heresy Hunters: Publicly Denouncing Other Bible Teachers - He is talking about leaders who publicly ridicule those with whom they disagree with. "The challenge is that the average Christian listening to these heresy hunters can easily feel intimidated and begin to believe he or she could also easily misinterpret Scripture and be susceptible to humiliation. Because of this, many stop thinking on their own and depend entirely on their pastor to tell them what to think" (pg. 79).
3. Gatekeepers for God: Protecting God's Word from His People - "While the heresy hunters feel they must protect God's people from false teaching, the gatekeepers believe their mission is to protect God's Word from abuse by his people" (pg. 79). The idea is that people will fall into heresy if they just read the Bible on their own without the educated teacher their to tell them how to properly interpret scripture.
4. Truth Translators: Depending on Scholarly Notes - We live in a world where we have access to unlimited sources of Biblical scholarship. This is a good thing, but the problem is that many have become dependent upon using these extra-biblical sources that they cannot study the Bible without them. We need someone else to interpret scripture for us.
5. Bottle-Fed Babies: Feeding the Flock - Many Christian rely upon someone else (usually the preacher on Sunday morning) to feed them spiritually. A common excuse people give when they decide to leave a particular congregation is that they never felt fed by the pastor's teaching. Shepherds lead the sheep to grass, but they don't stuff it into their mouths. The sheep are responsible for feeding themselves. If the sheep can't feed themselves, then the pastor gives them milk. We eat meat only when we consume God's Word for ourselves. "Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil" (Heb. 5:14).
"Could it be that in our desire to prevent false teaching, we have in reality dulled the senses of God's people and kept them immature? In this case they are more susceptible to bad teaching because they do not "have their senses trained to discern good and evil." The solution is not more teaching on deeper subjects but getting the saints habitually reading God's word! Of course, we risk that, as they read on their own, they may make some mistakes, but that indeed is how they learn to discern right from wrong, as opposed to simply taking their leader's word for it" (pg 82).
6. The Junk Food Diet: Daily Devotional Readings - Many Christians have a daily devotional time, but not in God's word. There is no substitute for God's word.
"Jesus tells us plainly that the seed of God's kingdom is the Word of God (Mark 4:14). There is no substitute for God's Word planted in the good soil of an open heart. You cannot grow God's kingdom by planting a seed substitute" (pg. 84).
Comments [1]
Organic Leadership - Chapter 3
I'm not really going to outline this chapter since it was a bit longer. I'm just going to try and do a brief summary.
Chapter 3 - Pharisaism Today: Protecting the Powerful
The major point of this chapter is to expose ways in which Christian leadership has held the church hostage. This will actually be the main point of this and the next chapter. The one he discusses in this chapter is that Christian leadership has promoted spiritual practices with presumed biblical authority when in actuality they do not have any biblical support.
Mark 7:6-9, 13 - He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!
13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
Indulgences Today?
Cole discusses that he believes churches are still in the practice of selling indulgences today (see link if you are not familiar with this practice). Churches offer people a way of getting out of hell, and in return the church expects weekly meetings along with weekly contributions. If a church does not meet one week, then they will be missing money that they need to make the budget. This in turn leads the church to over-stress the importance of the Sunday gathering, making it a law that all faithful Christians must attend. He even gives an example of two people committing suicide in a church building before a Sunday morning service. While the police were investigating and the coroners office taking away the bodies, the leaders of the church were hanging a sign on the yellow crime scene tape that said, "Church Service Will Go On As Usual."
Along with this, he calls the trend to be consumeristic in our church meetings a form of selling indulgences. Examples are of churches paying people to attend, having a raffle drawing and the winner wins a new car, etc. He says that many leaders complain of the consumeristic mindset of the members, but the leaders are the ones who have trained them to be this way. "When we try and 'sell' our worship and programs to the largest crows possible, we will attract and reinforce a consumer mind-set" (pg. 61). Since so much focus is given to the Sunday assembly, church growth is no longer about how many people are saved because of the preaching of the gospel, but about how many people attend the Sunday assembly.
The Most Important Thing
The main emphasis of this chapter is in this section. Why is the Sunday assembly so important? Cole encourages the readers to read through the New Testament again, with fresh eyes, and find where the New Testament commands us to gather on Sundays for a worship service like we have them today. "In the New Testament the pattern of church life was not a once-a-week worship service but it was a spiritual family, gathering regularly to live life together under the common headship of Jesus Christ with everyone fully participating" (pg. 62). Cole suggests that the one-another passages found in the NT are commands of how the church is supposed to live life together. These one-another passages are not fulfilled in our Sunday worship assemblies.
Four Tough Questions
1. Does God need it? - Do we believe we must have a service every week because God needs it?
2. Do we need it? - Do we feel we must have services every week because if we do not, we Christians will start to fall away from God? He calls this "weak in faith and anemic."
3. Is this what the church is? - The power of Christ's kingdom is not found in buildings or religious ceremonies. It is found in a transformed heart.
4. Do we need the money? - Do we feel the need to perpetuate worship services because if we do away with them, many pastors and worship leaders will be out of work?
I will end with the warning Cole gave at the end of the chapter. Beware of being a Pharisee and making traditions equal (or more important) than biblical commands. Look at how Paul handled the Galatian Christians and the Corinthian Christians. He was much harsher with the Galatians who were turning to legalism, than with the Corinthians who were putting up with a son sleeping with his fathers wife. Legalism is deadly.
There is a lot more to this chapter, but you will have to read it yourself to get the rest!
Comments [0]
Canaan and Max
While looking around on the computer the other day, I came across some pictures that I don't think have been posted. I will wait for Lucy to post most of them, but I did want to go ahead and post one, out of the many great ones.
Hope you enjoy.
Comments [1]
Organic Leadership Chapter 2 Notes
Chapter 2: “Slaves are Made in Such Ways: The Corruption of Christian Leadership” The title of this chapter comes from a scene in the movie Braveheart.
- 1 John 2:15-17 - “The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.”
- These three temptations have been Satan’s tool since the beginning in the garden of Eden.
- The fruit that was forbidden was delicious (lust of the flesh).
- The forbidden fruit was a delight to the eyes (lust of the eyes).
- Finally, it would make one wise (boastful pride of life).
- These were the same temptations Satan used with Jesus in the wilderness.
- Command these stones to become bread (lust of the flesh)
- I will give you all the kingdoms of the world (lust of the eyes)
- Throw yourself from the top of the temple (boastful pride of life)
- These three temptations have been Satan’s tool since the beginning in the garden of Eden.
Satan’s Strategy
|
All that is in the world (1 Jn. 2:16) |
All that is in the world (1 Jn. 2:16) |
All that is in the world (1 Jn. 2:16) |
|
“The lust of the flesh” |
“The tree was good for food” |
“Command that these stones become bread” |
|
“The lust of the eyes” |
“It was a delight to the eyes” |
“Showed Him all the kingdoms of the world” |
|
“The boastful pride of life” |
“The tree was desirable to make one wise” |
“Throw yourself down...His angels will bear you up” |
Seven Comparisons of the First and Last Adam
|
|
Adam |
Jesus |
|
Both were approached in weakness. |
Gen. 3:1 |
Matt. 4:2-3 |
|
Both were tempted to doubt God’s Word. |
Gen. 3:1-4 |
Matt. 4:3 |
|
Both were sinless. |
Gen. 2:25 |
Matt. 3:17 |
|
Both were tempted with ... |
|
|
|
the lust of the flesh |
Gen. 3:6 |
Matt. 4:3 |
|
the lust of the eyes |
Gen. 3:6 |
Matt. 4:8-9 |
|
the boastful pride of life |
Gen. 3:6 |
Matt. 4:5- 6 |
|
Both were enticed to eat something. |
Gen. 3:5-6 |
Matt. 4:3 |
|
Both were surrounded by animals. |
Gen. 2:19 |
Mark 1:13 |
|
Both represented all of mankind. |
Rom. 5:12 |
Rom. 5:19 |
Eight Contrasts of the First and Last Adam
|
Adam |
Jesus |
|
In the garden of paradise. |
In a desert wilderness. |
|
Fully fed and satisfied. |
Hungry |
|
With a companion. |
Alone |
|
With no precedent for sin. |
With only the precedent of sin. |
|
Surrounded by tame animals. |
Surrounded by wild animals. |
|
Didn’t expect Satan. |
Did expect Satan. |
|
Angels were hostile. |
Angels were helpful. |
|
Failed the test. |
Passed the test. |
- Three Paths to Corruption for the Christian Leader
- The Pursuit of Power
- Cole gives the example of him usually getting upgrades on flights because he travels so much. The more he gets the upgrade, the more he feels entitled to it. Then if the airline doesn’t give him the upgrade, then he throws a fit because he thinks he deserves it.
- “Inside all of us is a God-given desire to be loved, admired, and respected. Constantly Satan is enticing us to meet our God-given needs in less than honorable ways. One of those ways is the pursuit of power, and Satan has long used this lure to draw Christian leaders into biting on his bait and being hooked by him” (pg. 48).
- The more Christian leaders move “up the ladder” of so called success, the more they begin to feel entitled to influence and fame that comes with the success.
- Fame has a cost. It pulls us away from where we are effective. There become little or no accountability due to frequent trips to speak or preach at events.
- Jesus did draw crowds, but he invested his life in the few “who would turn the world upside down” (pg. 49).
- “There is a grave danger to fame. Everyone knows who you are but no one really knows you” (pg. 49).
- The Pursuit of Possessions
- Cole gives the example of using his Mac laptop while waiting for a call on his iPhone. “This desire for new stuff is another longing that is never satisfied” (pg. 49). “Like Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, we want our Turkish delight and are willing to sell off all that is precious to gain it” (pg. 50).
- “What does the man who has everything want? The answer: more” (pg. 50).
- Matt. 6:21 - “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
- The Pursuit of Pleasure
- We all have a God-given need for pleasure. Satan lies to us and tempts us into thinking that God cannot meet those needs, which leads us to taking matters into our own hand.
- Satan knows our weaknesses. We are most often vulnerable when we are feeling disappointed about our current endeavors.
- “A moment of sin is all it takes to be trapped into a lifelong prison sentence” (pg. 51).
- In churches we usually have the mindset that the leaders are above the rest of the people and are to be the example for Godly living. The church expects the leaders to be better than the rest of the members. “This causes the leader to believe foolishly that there are spiritual reasons for not being open about one’s weaknesses. This isolation often leads to a lack of accountability and relational transparency, which makes the leader even more vulnerable” (pg. 51).
- What the leader needs:
- Regular rest
- Open accountability in a trusted relationship
- The recognition that the weight of the church’s success is not on his or her shoulders.
- “Weeds -- the lust for pleasure, for possessions, and for power -- are not simply harmless realities we all live with; they are sinister and insidious traps that will kill us if we grow complacent and allow them to take root in our life. These weeds threaten organic leadership by sucking the life out of the emerging leader and choking all his or her fruit” (pg. 54).
- The Pursuit of Power
Comments [1]
Organic Leadership Notes - Chapter 1
Section One: "The Counterfeit Kingdom of Outside In" Chapter One: "On Being Institutionalized: Depending on the Walls That Imprison You"
Comments [1]
LTG Card in Russian
(download)
Here is a Life Transformation Group card in the Russian language for anybody Russian speakers that might like one. I got this at: www.simplechurch.com.ua.
Comments [3]
Comments [0]