Steve's Blog

My grandma passed away on Saturday, Feb. 25 @ about 10:00pm. She has certainly left a legacy of love, life & how to walk with Jesus. I was fortunate enough to see her on the day she went to be with the Lord. It was a good day for her, though she was weak. She talked to some family members on the phone, she laughed at a few jokes & she told us that she loved us. I will miss her greatly. I am very thankful that I was able to know her as long as I did, she has impacted my life greatly. I only ask God that I could live life the way she did - in love with Jesus and with people. When my "time is up" I want to be able to look back at a life well lived - like she can. I want to be able to say "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful." Thank you grandma for your example, I love you!

I believe so... maybe. If so, I am not necessarily saying that is a wrong thing, or a bad thing – it’s just a real thing. Think about it. The mood is set, you’re greeted at the door with a smile, the music is celebratory, the lights come down at the right moment to create the most significant impact possible – your life is changed! Every week. Every month. Every year. For the rest of your life. If church is in fact a fabricated place (and again, I'm not really saying it is or isn't), then do we produce people that have a fabricated faith? I think I am just saying that it is not nearly enough to think that a life can be changed because we created a setting that moves people. People are moved at rock concerts. People are moved at plays. People are moved watching a movie. But it seems like we have put all of our eggs in one basket. We put the majority of our money there. We spend the majority of our time preparing for it. The Big Event. Our one shot. The gathering. I am not saying it’s not important to do things well at this weekly collection of half-familiar faces. I just think the importance of it might need to be deemphasized a tad as the thing you gotta be at, the thing that’s going to change your life, the thing that answers all your questions (though you can’t really ask any). We say we value “market-place ministry.” We say we value the Monday – Saturday walk... but we keep putting all of our resources into making Sunday THEE DAY! “If we can just get them to church on Sunday...” I'm just asking questions. It seems as though there is a breakdown in the spiritual lives of people from Sunday and every other day of the week – so what can we do about it? Is it possible to make church more like the rest of our lives? How do we get Sunday into Monday? What would happen if we spent more of our time and money on Monday – Saturday? What would church look like if it wasn’t Sunday preoccupied? Is there something we can do to make the church more relevant – not stylistically relevant, but life-change relevant? Talk to me.

It seems to me that there is a lot of talk about the Gospel - the Gospel that was. Jesus did this and Jesus did that, Jesus believed this and Jesus believed that. It seems less true that people are living out the Gospel in their lives today. We know the historical facts, but we don't live in applied truth. When you look at statistics (i'm not really huge on statistics) you see that the lives of "believers" are virtually the same as the lives of "non-believers." So maybe we need to ask a question - How do we produce a people, disciple a generation, develop followers of Christ who truly become like him? I think it's important for leaders of the church to ask some hard questions about the way we do things. In discple-making, do we really produce who we are? If so, who are we? Are we servants, are we sacrificial, are we people of character, are we humble, are we Spirit-led, are we holy - what are we reproducing in the lives of the people God has entrusted to us? My aim should not be to preach the Gospel (though I will preach), but to live the Gospel. It is not good enough to just preach. It is not good enough to just know the Bible. It is not good enough to just have great programs, a cool band, and a good assimilation plan. We need models; not church structure, style, growth, relevent, success... models. We need individuals actualizing the Gospel. People that are followable. People that are like Christ. Maybe I need to add this - making disciples doesn't happen at church. We need to go "on the road" with people so that they can see the Gospel in action. Church is such a fabricated place. (This should be an entire conversation of it's own) How can we disciple people to live a godly life in the real world from a church building? Anyway, these are some of the thoughts I am having - what do you think?

Culver's or In-N-Out?