Pantano Christian Church

As you receive this I am on vacation – yahoo!  We consistently take two weeks of family vacation each year – one week in winter to ski and snowboard and one week in the summer.  I can’t tell you how I look forward to and need these weeks.  In addition I schedule at least a week each year for study and as a personal retreat (I probably need more than one week). 

My greatest memories growing up are of our two week family vacation every August. It was not just the highlight of my summer, but of my whole year.  We were a lower income family.  We didn’t do fancy vacations.  But I’m so grateful for parents who made the commitment to go camping and driving to see our beautiful country.  

God knew we all need rest.  He knows we need breaks.  He never designed us to go and go and go.  There are two powerful teachings in the Bible that shape my commitment to taking retreats and vacations as well as a day off each week. 

The first teaching is the Sabbath.  God asked his people to work really hard for six days and then on the seventh day to rest.  There are several purposes of the Sabbath and they just happen to start with the letter “R” – rest, reflection, remembrance and re-commitment.  God knew we needed physical and mental rest.  God knew we easily forget our commitment to Him in our daily routine so we need a day to remember Him, reflect on Him and re-commit to Him. 

Of course the Jewish religious leaders went overboard to make too many burdensome rules about keeping the Sabbath (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown).  Modern Christians made the mistake of making a particular day (usually Sunday) as a legalistic Sabbath.  The day does not matter (see Paul in Colossians 2:16).  The principle does matter.  We need rest. 

The other teaching is the example of Jesus.  In the very first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, he records one of the very busy days of Jesus.  In Mark 1:33 it says the “whole town” gathered where Jesus was and there were many who needed healing.  The next morning, Jesus gets up early to go to a solitary place to pray.  He didn’t let the urgency and busyness of the moment distract him.  In Luke 5:16 it is recorded that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”  Jesus made time to retreat and refresh. 

Please make the commitment for a break, a vacation or a retreat.  Budget for this.  Make it a priority.  We don’t need extravagant or expensive vacations, but we need to get away.  Find what works for you.  

Together to make the world different, 

Glen

The word “biblical” gets used a lot. I’ve spent significant time thinking about what it means to be biblical. What does it mean for me, as an individual to be or not to be biblical? What does it mean for a church to be or not to be biblical? What at first seemed like a simple concept has turned out to be a much more complex idea. Here’s some of my thinking, which is not complete, about this.

To be biblical does not mean the Bible is more important than Jesus. The Bible points me to Jesus and God. So, to be biblical means that I rely on the Bible to better know and be connected with God through Jesus.

To be biblical does not mean primarily knowing about the Bible. It does not mean primarily having a particular view about the Bible. Being biblical means doing what the Bible says. It seems too easy to rely on knowing the Bible and missing the much more important aspect of obeying the Bible. It’s not just more of the Bible, but what I do with what I understand of the Bible.

In the last part of the Great Commission (Mt. 28:19), Jesus said: “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Jesus isn’t primarily concerned about teaching everything in the Bible, but in OBEYING everything. The emphasis is on obedience. It seems to me that to be biblical is, first and foremost, obeying what I know, not knowing everything. My greatest challenge in following Jesus is not that I don’t know or understand enough, it is that I don’t obey everything consistently.

Then Jesus tells a powerful story at the close of his most significant sermon called the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7:24 Jesus says: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” So at the end of this vital “sermon” he says we must “hear” and “put into practice.” So to be biblical appears to mean we both hear and obey – neither can be minimized.

So much of Jesus’ teaching is about producing fruit. I found eight references to producing fruit just in Matthew alone. Jesus is serious about us producing fruit. It seems to be biblical is to produce spiritual fruit and that’s the ultimate test.

More than anything, may we do what the Bible says and follow Jesus ever so closely. When I teach, I am not satisfied if folks just hear the Bible. I’m more passionate to help folks obey the Bible and produce fruit that honors God.

Our new series that begins June 9 & 10 is called “The Big Story – God’s Quest to Bless.” We’ll be exploring the theme of blessing and curse found from Genesis to Revelation. Our goal is to help each of us obey the Bible story and join God in his passion to bless others and reverse the curse.

Together to make the world different,

Glen

I’ve been preparing to teach this weekend on “Why Pray?” The preparation for this message has turned out to be a huge challenge. One of the advantages of preaching is that I often put a microscope on myself regarding what I’m speaking about. If I’m teaching about prayer, how’s my prayer life? Do I teach from a place of authenticity?

Thank you for allowing your leaders to be honest. Right now, my prayer life stinketh (that’s King James English). Why? It is not that I don’t know how. It is not that there is some huge sin in my life. It is not that I’m not confident in God. It isn’t a lack of faith. It isn’t because of bad motives. You might have noticed these are the usual reasons given for a person having a prayer life that stinketh.

My issue is that I’m too busy. My greatest challenge in life is to slow down and not just speak to God, but allow Him to speak to me. I must allow time for reflection. I need quiet and silence.

I know what motivates me. Action and results are huge motivators. That’s not all bad – I don’t know anybody who wants a lazy pastor. But the danger is that I can allow my motivation to be what drives my life. When I enter the zone of being driven, that’s when I’m in danger of all kinds of things. That’s when I can run ahead of God – never a good thing! We are all driven. The question is who or what is driving us?

I suspect that I’m not alone. I’ll bet most of us have become too busy to pray. Whether we run a business or run a household full of pre-schoolers – we are heavily influenced by a culture that encourages us to be busy. Our lives, our schedules, our to-do lists and days are full.

Bill Hybels wrote a book titled Too Busy Not to Pray, Slowing Down to be with God. We know it is important to pray. We know how to pray. May you and I come to the place where we realize we are so busy that we must pray. My preparation for a message on prayer has been God’s way to remind me that He longs for us to be together. My Father longs for time together that is not hurried or full of interruptions. May prayer not be duty but desire – desire to be with the One who loves me unconditionally and has more wisdom than my pea-brain can ever hold.

Together to make the world different,

Glen

This weekend our students will lead the weekend services. It will be great! We have one of the very best student ministries going that is led by godly and gifted youth leaders and coaches.

I often hear folks say that our youth is the future church. I understand what is meant by that. They mean we must invest in our youth as they will grow up and lead us. And that’s true.

But the great mistake churches make is that it has treated youth (and children) as not being the church YET! That was dispelled last weekend as our CHILDREN led us in worship. They led us so well!

Far too often we’ve seen youth ministry as keeping kids out of trouble, providing clean fun and making sure they accept Christ. All these are good and vital, of course. But what we’ve missed is that our students, especially now, need to be passionate and committed to doing something for Jesus. They want to make their world different. They don’t want to be the church of the future; they want to be the church now. The church is the body and presence of Christ in our world.

Our student ministry is serious about that. We see discipleship (learning to follow Jesus) in the context of having an active faith and serving. Our youth are praying for and bringing their friends to Jesus. They are serving in practical ways. They are looking for God’s leading to make a real difference.

You’ll see and hear some great stories this weekend. But please, let’s not fall into the trap of patronizing these kids as the “future church.” They are the church now and we need to encourage them to live faithfully, powerfully and radically for Jesus.

This week we’ll do something we rarely do – we’ll take two offerings. The first one early in our services will be our regular gifts and offerings to the church. The second offering will be at the end and it will be for our scholarship fund to help send children and students that have financial needs to summer camps.

Together to make the world different,

Glen

This has been a rough week – to say the least. Last weekend’s message has created a huge response with a wide range of emotions and thoughts. I’ve seen and heard intense pain, hurt, frustration and even confusion. I’ve heard from people deeply grateful to be a part of a church like ours. I’ve heard questions wondering if we’ve driven people from God and stories of people being drawn to God. I’ve experienced polar opposite responses – we are a diverse church. As I write this the web blog-comments has 135 comments (and more by the time you get this).

I have read every email and blog post, though I’ll admit at times I’m not sure I’m able to process or comprehend everything. I have met with and had very open, frank and unfiltered conversations with the Elders, Leadership Team, Teaching Team and with the entire staff. There has also been significant prayer with all of these groups. I have personally spent time fasting (some of which has honestly not been by choice), praying and reading God’s Word. I’m trying to listen well.

As I had previously posted on the web blog, Dave Drummond (Lead Elder) and I will be presenting the message this weekend in response to last weekend. The message was to be delivered by Roger Blumenthal titled: Is the Church Relevant?” Roger graciously gave up his teaching slot. It is a great message that we need to hear sometime. While I won’t use that title, my message in a very interesting way does address that question. My title will be “A Defining Moment.”

Last week’s message, I believe, has brought to a boil something that must have been simmering for a while. That’s why I believe this is a defining moment. I will, in the confines of a short message, attempt to address the issues at hand and maybe more importantly clarify who we are as a church and where we are going.

Most of you know me well. I’m not a spin doctor or “political” in my approach. I have committed to Jesus that I will seek to be open, honest and transparent within respectable limits as I lead. (You don’t want to know my every sin and I won’t burden you with that – that is my burden that I give to God.) I will do my best to address the core issues we face as a church.

And pray! Please continue to pray for our church and your leaders. Please come prayerfully this weekend.

Facing a defining moment together,

Glen