On November 14, 1960, Federal Marshalls escorted Ruby Bridges to her first day at her new school.  Bridges faced hostile crowds as the first black child to attend a previously all-white William Franz Elementary in New Orleans.  She was only 6 years old and had been told by her mother that she was going to be attending a new school that day and ‘had better behave.’  Little did she know that she would be bombarded with jeers and even death threats, and that she would end up being the sole child in her first grade class after other children were kept home by their parents. This she had to do because she was black.

Forty-eight years later — January 23, 2009 – Sasha Obama, a little 7 year old Black girl, is escorted to school by her mother and the United States Secret Service because Sasha’s daddy is now the 44th President of the United States of America.

Wow!  Irony or Providence?  or Both?

Some of you may know that I have an older brother who is in prison. Yet, being in prison has not dried up his creative juices. While in prison he has written two novels, as well as regularly writes on the blog I created for him at Banging It Out. I am always interested in his thoughts, and if the Lord is moving on his heart with the truth of the gospel. Along these lines, I sent him a copy of our book Experiencing the Truth. He has begun to read it and to my delight and amazement seems to be asking some interesting, even provocative questions. He read the question I raised in the introduction: “What is the hope for a Christianity today that is nothing more than men and women chasing one emotional high after the other?”

Here is his response:

Excellent. It is as though many seek out church to expunge previous highs – parties, as it were – from their record. But church, in effect, becomes its own party – an anti-party, if you will. And it is that good time – the jumping and the singing and dancing in the aisles, the eating and the socializing – that they seek to replace the old party with; only this time they party between the pews in the name of God. But are they any closer to God? I don’t think so; not without making the requisite sacrifices. I’m not talking about giving up the Saturday night intoxicants and their subsequent fornications. That is small potatoes. There is a bigger sacrifice that they are not (apparently) aware of; that they have not been asked to make because their leaders are either unaware of what that sacrifice is, or are afraid to ask it of their flock, (or of themselves). We are so soft, nowadays, and so afraid.

My brother’s words are compelling indeed. One can only pray that the Spirit is working to bring a profitable understanding of the gospel to his heart. In reading his words, I am reminded of our Lord’s words in Luke 14:28-33:

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

I have read some great articles on church planting.  I have been exposed to some good books as well.  I have listened to people lecture and come away encouraged by the possibility and discouraged by the enormity of the task.  And then I did the most educational activity of them all, I became a church planter.  Whoa!  As helpful as the books, articles, and lectures can be, nothing compares to the educational value of getting your hands dirty and feet wet with the work of church planting.  Of all the valuable lessons I have learned and am learning, the number one (absolutely #1!) priority of church planting is this:  Pray to God for Good, Faithful, Available, and Teachable People. 

Money is good to have.  We all know that it takes financial resources to accomplish so many things in the ministry.  Also, meeting space is great to have.  A church plant needs to meet frequently and as it grows the need for space becomes more and more a premium.  Clear direction and vision are important.  If you don’t know where you are going, you will most assuredly get there.  All of these are good and important, but I have learned as I have been living in God’s Church Planting 101 that Faithful People trumps everything else. 

Today I am thankful for the wonderful, encouraging, servant-minded, evangelistic, hospitable, loving, prayful, grateful, and gracious people God has brought together to form the initial stages of our church.  We are a church plant – make no mistake about it.  We have concerns over finances (we need more and we need to discern how to faithful use the finances we have).  We need more meeting space.  Currently we are meeting on Saturdays at a local church, which has graciously opened up their chapel to us.  Yet our goal is Sunday worship and thus we are praying for Sunday meeting space.  However, even as we pray for finances and space, I am overwhelmed and overjoyed with the people God has brought together.   

If I pass Church Planting 101 it will be because I did not take the class by myself.  God graciously sent me good help, faithful and available co-laborers who desired to take the class as well.  Isn’t God good?!

One of the joys of leading a church plant is watching and praying as the leadership team begins to mesh together.  I have the awesome privilege of laboring alongside some faithful, available, and teachable brothers.  As God is revealing to us His will, I rejoice to know that He has brought men together who genuinely love the gospel and have a passion for it being shared and lived. 

Recently I came across a couple of good quotes (ht: what’s best next) on leadership.  The quotes have to do have to do with building and sustaining a team.  While the quotes are not directly from a spiritual source, we do know that all truth is God’s truth and thus, where we are able to learn through the common grace God has bestowed on unbelievers, we are eager to do so.  The quotes come from Patrick Lecioni’s book “The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive:

A group’s cohesiveness has far more impact on its success than its collective level of experience or knowledge. Teams filled with industry luminaries have been unable to compete with less experienced and relatively unknown teams that were able to create environments of trust and passion.   Cohesiveness at the executive level is the single greatest indicator of future success that any organization can achieve.

Lencioni offers these questions as well:  

1.  Are meetings compelling? Are the important issues being discussed? Lack of interest in meetings is a good indicator the team may be avoiding issues because they are uncomfortable with one another. “There is no excuse for having continually boring meetings” (149).

2.  Do team members engage in unguarded debate? Do they honestly confront one another? Even teams that get along well should be experiencing regular conflict and intense debate during these meetings.

3.  Do team members apologize if they get out of line? Do they ever get out of line?

4.  Do team members understand one another? “Members of cohesive teams know one another’s strengths and weaknesses and don’t hesitate to point them out” (150).

5.  Do team members avoid gossiping about one another?

As we continue our read through Words to Winners of Souls, here is another excellent quote concerning the life of the Christian in general and the minister in particular:

One who walks with God receives and imparts life whithersoever he goes; as it is written, out of him “shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38).  He is not mearly the world’s light but the world’s fountain, dispensing the water of life on every side and making the barren waste to blossom as the rose.  He waters the world’s wilderness as he moves along his peaceful course.  His life is blessed; his example is blessed; his intercourse is blessed; his words are blessed; his ministry is blessed!  Souls are saved, sinners are converted, and many are turned from their iniquity. 

As I watched the Inaugural Parade and the tens of thousands upon thousands of people who cheered for President and Mrs. Obama as they walked down the street, my mind turned to the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on the week of his passion.  I thought to myself:  be careful President Obama, today they holler “Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!”; tomorrow they can just as loudly shout, “Crucify! Crucify! Crucify!” 

At East Point Church, we have been talking about reading lately (and let the church say, “Amen!”)  This is a good thing and we hope to not only talk about it, but to build a culture where reading is prized and sober reflection upon and application of the truth is encouraged.  However, for some reading can be a daunting task.  Having not been exposed to Christians who take their understanding of Scripture seriously or having not been a big reader most of their life, for some reading good books can be intimidating.  Believe me, I understand.  I did not grow up a big reading.  I was a baller.  My free time was not spent in a book but on fields and courts.  So, a love for reading has been something I have had to develop since my college days.  I wish I could go back and reclaim those years and add a few more books to my life along with all those ball games.  But alas, I can’t.  Therefore, as we saw with Apostle Paul this pass weekend, “forgetting those things that are behind,…we press on” (Phil. 3:13-14).  

 Over the years, I have come to categorize my reading so that I am attempting to read at least three books all the time. Usually it is more, rarely is it less than three. The three categories in which I list my reading are: 1) Reading for Proclamation; 2) Reading for Sanctification; 3) Reading for Edification.

Before I briefly explain these categories let me give this brief caveat. These categories are not static. To read for proclamation will inevitably also be for sanctification and edification. And to read for sanctification is in many ways reading for edification and proclamation.  Also, each of these is undergirded by my reading of the Bible.  The Bible is the standard of truth by which I seek to measure the truthfulness of my other readings.  It fits into all categories.  

1. Reading for Proclamation. Here is the reading that is directly related to a present sermon or series preparation. Here I will find myself reading biblical commentaries as well as sermons and books on certain topics or issues within the text under consideration. For example, I am currently teaching through Philippians and thus I am weekly reading through commentaries on Philippians.

2. Reading for Sanctification. Here are the books that could be labeled as Continuing Education. To be ever growing in the knowledge and wisdom of God is often the result of reading good books. Here I find books to read because I want to read them and they grow me up, build me up in the holy faith. Currently I am reading, Horatious Bonar, Words to Winners of Souls; and Michael Horton, Christless Christianity. 

3. Reading for Edification. Here are books that appear to have no direct connection to my faith; I just enjoy certain categories of reading, namely history and biography. These books are for my own personal enjoyment, to debate with the author in my mind, and to expand my understanding of the world and myself.  I am currently slowly making my way through two books:  The Giants by John Stauffer, and Follow the Roar by Bob Smiley 

As you might have ascertained, this list is not static. I pray that all my reading would make me a better person, Christian, and preacher. Thus I pray that all my reading would ultimately be in the most important category of all: To glorify God (1Cor. 10:31).

So much for global warming!  Atlanta Georgia is freezing cold! I thought I moved away from Ol’ Man Winter, but he always seems to find me.

Bonar writes:

The one true goal or resting-place where doubt and weariness, the strings of a pricking conscience, and the longings of an unsatisfied soul would all be quieted, is Christ Himself.  Not the church, but Christ.  Not doctrine, but Christ.  Not forms, but Christ.  Not ceremonies, but Christ; Christ the God-man, giving His life for ours; sealing the everlasting covenant, and making peace for us through the blood of His cross; Christ the divine storehouse of all light and truth, “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3)….This, this alone is the vexed soul’s refuge, its rock to build on, its home to abide in till the great tempter be bound and every conflict ended in victory.   

14. Then the foundation for true reliance upon God is to know Him in Jesus Christ [John 17:3]?
That is true.

15. What then briefly is the substance of this knowledge?
It is contained in the Confession of Faith used by all Christians. It is commonly called the Apostles’ Creed, because it is a summary of the true faith which has always been held in Christ’s Church, and was derived from the pure doctrine of the Apostles.

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We are told in John 20:31 that John’s Gospel was “written so that [we] may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing [we] may have life in his name.”
While this is the explicit reason for John’s gospel, it could easily be the accurate commentary of the entire Scriptures. Jesus himself said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (Jn. 5:39-40). Friend, we must never let our knowledge of the Bible be an end of itself. The knowledge we have in the Scriptures must lead us to knowing Christ and in knowing him, trusting him for eternal life. We see this emphasis in the great confession of the church.

The most commonly held Christian confession is The Apostles’ Creed. The creed confesses the truth of the Triune God in a succinct 110 words. Yet, over half of the words (68 words) are given over to the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the redeeming and interceding Son of God. This is appropriate because God has so willed that if you would know and trust the triune God, you would know and trust Jesus as the Christ. If you have not done so before, consider looking again at the Scriptures and ask the question, “What has this to do with Christ?” “How does believing this particular Scripture bring me into a better understanding of Jesus and thus cause me to trust God all the more?” Believe it or not, this is the reason the Bible was given to you.