Comment Highlights for week of February 27, 2011
As I mentioned in the first post in this series, I want to highlight some of the comments that have been left on my blog posts during the past week. Hopefully, this will give more visibility to some of the reasons that I love blogging – dialog and interaction.
Steve from “From the Pew” left a very good comment on an older post called “Dangerous Sunday – The Day.” Here is part of Steve’s comment:
Another thing about Sunday I’ve noticed is that there is a further narrowing of the day to Sunday morning. Sunday evening services are often not considered Sunday gatherings. And with that, in my experience, the greatest emphasis is placed on the Sunday meeting with the traditional sermon-centered worship service. I’ve heard a number of pastors complain that people tell them that their Sunday school or their mid-week home group is their “church,†and they’re more likely to miss the “service†than the other times during the week because of the one-anothers that do or don’t occur in each. The pastors then enforce the idea that the Sunday worship service is the most important time of the entire week for the Christian. I’ve heard this many times.
Eric from “A Pilgrim’s Progress” left an excellent comment on my post “Crossing the Boundaries of the Local Church” (which was written in answer to a question posed by Eric):
When we get uncomfortable at the idea of going to other believers (even 100% of the way), it helps to remember what Christ did in the incarnation. He came all the way to us, no questions asked. Then He died. This example shows us that we may need to go all the way to other Christians even if it brings some pain in the journey. But in the end, as with the crucifixion and resurrection, the joy will outweigh the cost.
Also, if you haven’t read it yet, read Bobby’s (from “Deconstructing Neverland“) comment on the same post. Bobby is answering my request for specific ideas about how to cross local church boundaries in order to be united with other Christians.
One of my ideas is to contact some of the churches I pass on a regular basis, find out what they are doing in our community and when, then get my family involved. So far I have checked out a few of their websites for information on ministry, but according to the websites the only ministries they have cater to the membership through on site/age segregated programs. I’m hoping that a phone call or two will reveal something more promising.
I also have a time set to have coffee with a local church planter that has a small gathering that meets about ten minutes from my home, right in the heart of the city. The vision they put forth on the website looks promising. They propose being together in one another’s homes and in the city day to day and meeting together as a large group about once a month.
Finally, Jack commented on my post “Encourage one another daily“:
Even though I think I understand this, I am not there yet, but I stand convicted.
It takes sacrifice and totally reordering your life. Our culture doesn’t facilitate this type of lifestyle.
What will I do? With my travel schedule I tend to disconnect. I was gone 18 days in Feb. I make phone calls but not enough. When I get home I usually don’t feel like doing anything. It is a battle, but everyone has there circumstances and we have to adapt to those situations and not lose our focus.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to read what people comment next week!
Comment highlights for week of February 20, 2011
As I mentioned in the first post in this series, I want to highlight some of the comments that have been left on my blog posts during the past week. Hopefully, this will give more visibility to some of the reasons that I love blogging – dialog and interaction.
For example, Tim left this comment on my post “Embracing and idea“:
Yes, it is very easy to embrace an idea but not the reality. It is very easy to embrace the idea of Jesus and His kingdom but very challenging to embrace Jesus in deed by obeying His commands. The deceiver knows this subtle swap so he helps us set up structures to aid us in moving towards embracing ideas and largely ignoring substance. “Many will come in that day saying “Lord, Lord, did not we …. in your name… depart from me I never knew you.â€
Craig, from “Jeph and Craig’s Podversations“, left this comment on my post “Isn’t life ministry?” (By the way, in leaving this comment, Craig voiced the desires and concerns of many people who have contacted me.):
I am in a very similar situation as Wayne. I have a few months left in “ministry†so that i can pursue ministry. I realized a few years ago that ministry is a lifestyle, not an occupation. I’m currently pursuing other employment which I’m finding is quite difficult once you have gone to school for ministry. It doesn’t translate well into much else in our culture. I have faith that God will lead me into my next “ministry†soon enough.
Fred, from “On the Journey“, left a comment on my post “Messy Meetings” describing some of the messiness he has been facing lately:
At first, some of the parties involved were trying to deal with their hurt themselves, or not seeing how they hurt others. I’ve tried to be a peacemaker and emphasize that reconciliation was vital to the health of our body, but it didn’t look like things were moving that way. Things seem to have turned around the last few days. We were all together this morning, and there seems to be at least the beginnings of real reconciliation.
Randi from “Seeds in my Heart” also left a very good comment on the same post. Here is a small part of her comment:
Because we are human, WE can have moments where we don’t “like†each other and don’t “like†the situation we are in or “like†how things are going…. but God doesn’t have those moments because He is not bound by time. He sees His whole child, every moment of their life, beginning to end – good and bad… He is patient and He is sovereign. Our frustration is never His frustration. He knows the story and our detours don’t frustrate His work as Potter.
I actually think it’s beautiful to God when our messiness plays ‘out’ instead of only in. He has to see messiness ALL the time – because He sees our thoughts. We don’t even have any clue the messiness He sees. So if we’re worried about messiness – I guess we ought to figure out what we’re so stressed about. we all know the messy-ness is in – we should be so thankful when it comes “out†because we know authenticity is finally there!
There were also several good comments on my post “Apostles or Elders?” I will highlight this comment written by Mark from “Called Out In Kansas,” but if you haven’t read all the comments, I think it would be very beneficial:
I agree that the functions of an apostle can not be consigned to a pastor/teacher. However I disagree with Bartlett that apostleship is dead. Actually, in practice that gift would SEEM dead, thanks to the improper emphasis on pastoral gifts. In reality I believe the lack of that function on the body is one reason that the body of Christ is so weak, immature and anemic. If Christ gave 4 (or 5) gifts for the maturing of the body, why are not all of them active? One place in the NT states the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, but we do not see that today.
Comment highlights for week of Februrary 13, 2011
As I mentioned in the first post in this series, I want to highlight some of the comments that have been left on my blog posts during the past week. Hopefully, this will give more visibility to some of the reasons that I love blogging – dialog and interaction.
First, I want to highlight a dialog that happened last weekend between Hutch and Art (from “Church Task Force“). The dialog began with Hutch’s comment on my post “What surprises me…” Here is part of that comment (use the link to read all three comments):
Back in 2009 when things were toughest for us financially, I went to a local food bank supported by area churches and a ministry that Stacy and I have given to in the past in both financial gifts and clothing donations for their re-sale shop, to ask for some food and they turned me away without giving me any food. I did get a lecture from an old man about the car I drove and the clothing I was wearing and that if I got my financial house in order instead of spending my money on luxuries I would not have to scam local charities for food! My car is paid for, its not financed and its 5 years old, and my clothing is not extravagant and its paid for as well, we did not live above our means to buy these items. The downturn in the economy especially in my industry saw my income all but evaporate within a four month period. Stacy and I lived on our reserves that we had put away for just such an emergency and I did not go to a food pantry until we had depleted that fund near the end of 2009-we were really in need when I finally went to the food pantry.
I also appreciated this comment by Brian when he answered a question on my post “Requested: Ragamuffin Gospel“:
The Ragamuffin Gospel played a significant role in helping me to understand an event in my life in 1994.
During fall of ’94 I thought I lost my faith. I was studying and working at the University of Florida in Gainesville. I had been very involved in the Catholic Student Center there, but suddenly I didn’t know if I believed in God anymore. I could not honestly say in the depth of my heart if God even existed. It came as a huge shock to me.
After nearly a month of agonizing struggle with my rudderless, drifting soul I received a special Grace. Jesus touched my heart in an overwhelmingly powerful way. I once again knew He was real and I knew He was my Higher Power.
Last year, 2010, I read the Ragamuffin Gospel and by the end of the year I disovered that my dark night of the soul in 1994 was God’s way of stripping away all of my silly personal beliefs. It was a run through the desert. When Jesus reached back into my soul, I received a genuine Gift of Faith. I had to lose MY beliefs in order to receive Real Faith and since then, that Faith as reshaped and molded my new personal beliefs. That includes Brennan’s central theme of the radically crazy Love of a God who was willing to die so that sin would not prevent me from living in paradise with Him for eternity once I die.
Guy from “The M Blog” left this great comment on my post “Share his sufferings“:
This particular subject is a very important one that I just blogged on myself. Too many of us do not realize the full extent of what Jesus meant when he said that those who follow him must deny self, take up his cross, and follow him. There is a high price that is usually paid in being obedient to the One who gave his life for us.
And, given my love of sarcasm, how could I NOT point out Art’s comment on my post “Pastor / Church Codependency“:
Yes, I think a gradual approach is best.
While thousands of Pastors drop out from exhaustion and discouragement, and tens of thousands of Christians give up on church altogether.
Slow. You know, like we use to overcome other addictive practices that harm our (and those around us) ability to be more and more conformed to the image of Christ.
Perhaps start by reducing your porn addiction by 2% a week. Introduce other visual materials (let others begin to participate in their normal role), like a book or magazine or a blog. Maybe one subscription to a newspaper and one rss feed from a blog–they could use the income/traffic. You’d be off porn in a year! …
Comment highlights for week of February 6, 2011
As I mentioned in the first post in this series, I want to highlight some of the comments that have been left on my blog posts during the past week. Hopefully, this will give more visibility to some of the reasons that I love blogging – dialog and interaction.
First, I want to highlight this excellent comment from Frankie at “The Gathering Lakeside” on my post “Jesus will lead you to ‘the least’.” I’m not going to copy the entire comment, but here is part of it:
first is the Gathering Lakeside. It started with me and my Bible over a cup of coffee at the lake.. i guess three years ago or more..
now it is a small congregation of mostly homeles, with a few men and woman from different churches that have passed by while we were gathered.
we gather on Saturdays so it does not interfere with us attending wherever we go on Sunday mornings…
have just recently received a complaint from a city parks dept worker about church in the park. he complained there are no more beer cans to collect due to the homeless all getting sober…
Here is another very good comment from Art at “Church Task Force” on my post “Learning from a Martial Arts Camp.” Art is answering my question concerning the purpose of discipleship:
To be conformed to His image.
I believe this happens bit by bit as we follow Him (doing), and in following Him, we come to know Him (not merely “about Himâ€). Following Him will bring us into contact with other followers, and into contact with the lost.
“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.â€
For me, the classic line describing this “action bringing His leading†comes from a servant:
Gen 24:27 “…I being in the way, the LORD led me…â€
Tommy from “Christ en vous l’espérance de la gloire” (“Christ in you the hope of glory”) also left a good comment on my post “Colossians – Paul’s service for the gospel“:
it seems to me that Colossians 1:24 is a kind of “hot potatoe†for protestants/evangelicals (and I include myself in this)
I’m beginning to think that maybe Paul was saying more than “I am the servant of Godâ€, that actually he was truly believing that he was participating in Christ work.
That sounds very heretical and “catholic†to our “reformed†ears, but this is what is written. (and we could relate it to Jesus’ words in John 17: “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.â€)
Finally, and certainly not least, Rick from “Dry Creek Chronicles” left a series of good comments on my post “Dave Black’s essay on ‘The Lord’s Supper’.” Here’s the first. You can follow the conversation from there:
How do you see this fitting together with Paul’s response to the problem of “private suppers†(1 Cor 11), which was not to share all things, but for the hungry to eat at home before coming to the assembly?
Comment highlights for week of January 30, 2011
As I mentioned in the first post in this series, I want to highlight some of the comments that have been left on my blog posts during the past week. Hopefully, this will give more visibility to some of the reasons that I love blogging – dialog and interaction.
Craig from “Jeph and Craig’s Podversations” left (what I believe is) his first comment at my blog on an older post called “Summary – Should elders/pastors be paid a salary?“:
I know this is an old post but I am fascinated with Jewish custom, history, etc. as it pertains to my faith in Christ. Last year I came across a teaching in the Mishnah that prohibits rabbis from taking money for teaching the Torah:
“he who makes a profit from Torah has brought about his own destruction.†Avot 4:5
“Do not charge for teaching Torah. Accept no remuneration for it.†Derek Erutz Zuta 3:3
I discussed this in an article last summer http://jephandcraig.com/?p=432
Charles left a great comment on my post “Expectations for leaders.” The points that he brought up (which I agreed with) helped me explain my position more fully. Here is part of his comment:
But establishing an ethical standard from Scripture is not always an easy task and there is often a fair amount of difference of opinion even among godly and competent interpreters. Some issues are fairly easy (e.g., we ought not murder or steal) but what about watching an “R†rated movie or being a Republican or Democrat? Some would take fairly hard stands on these and other issues and conclude that this or that does not display consistent obedience or leading by the Spirit. This raises another issue, that is, your approach to following means that one must be spiritually mature to be able to recognize whom one should follow. The Scriptures a replete with examples that suggest that people are often not a good judge of who is worthy of following. I am not sure I have great answers but I suspect that following requires both accepting those who are recognized as leaders by the body and evaluating whether they are worthy of that recognition.
I can’t leave out this excellent comment (and example) from Randi at “Seeds in My Heart.” She left this comment on my post “Plant a church in his projects?“:
One of the ‘groups’ we are involved with – the Wilmington Homeless Ministry – means at a VFW on Sunday mornings for a church gathering and such. It started as a group meeting at the local park known for homeless/poor… but the city council put so much pressure to get the homeless out of the parks that the last 3 gatherings we had there, there were 2 to 5 cop cars waiting for us all – which scared all our friends away. but YES YES YES – the church should GO to the people – where they are. totally believe that! GO to them. Go amongst them in THEIR neighborhood. We have so many mission fields in our own country. We even were looking into a laundromat ministry after speaking with one of our new friends… but haven’t done anything yet… so for now we meet at the VFW and invite others to come and we sort of have adopted families… have an advocacy thing going on where we take others under our wings.
I’m looking forward to more great comments next week! Please join in the conversation.
Comment Highlights for week of January 23, 2011
As I mentioned in the first post in this series, I want to highlight some of the comments that have been left on my blog posts during the past week. Hopefully, this will give more visibility to some of the reasons that I love blogging – dialog and interaction.
Miguel from “Making Disciples” brings up a good point in his comment on my post “Simple Church and Global Missions.” He writes:
As a full time missionary in the Cloud Forest Region of Ecuador, I have only had the pleasure of working with one “house church†group. The hundreds of others that have come to help with the harvest have been from larger and more organized groups.
I have found that the reasons for that have predominately been philosophical rather than economical. I think it is changing now though.
Mike from “So I’m Color Blind” wrote what I think is his first comment on my blog last week on my post “They don’t know who they are.” Here is part of his comment:
First, God see us as holy…no matter what or how we see ourselves. If we saw that same aspect in everyone we met I can assure you that we would treat each other entirely differently than we do. Secondly, we do not understand and underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling within us. Once we get that…a lot changes with us.
Eric from “A Pilgrim’s Progress” asks a good question in his comment on my post “‘I love you’… See! That proves it.” He wrote:
[W]e know there is a direct connection between love and servanthood. There is also a connection between servanthood and leadership. So, do you see a connection between love and leadership?
Thanks for these and other great comments! Keep ’em coming!
Comment Highlights for week of January 16, 2011
Okay… try to follow this.
A few days ago, Dan at “The Ekklesia in Southern Maine” highlighting my blog as one of his top 10 favorites. (See his post “Top 10 of 2010: The Assembling of the Church“.)
While commenting on Dan’s post, Ed from “In a Mirror Dimly” told of another blogger who assembled a list of her favorite comments from 2010.
I thought this was a great way to highlight the awesome comments that are often left on this blog. But, instead of highlighting the best of the year, I thought I would highlight the best of the week. So, this is my first “Comment Highlight” post.
Here are the comments (or excerpts from comments) that I want to highlight from this past week:
Mark from “Called Out in Kansas” left the following comment on my post “A modern widow’s mite?” (which was written in response to another blog post):
The Lord has been gently leading me in this regard recently, as my wife and I work through some difficult financial times. We are learning to walk in our faith in regards to our material supply, and although it is part of my general makeup to give to others, sometimes things want to change when a squeeze is applied! I have lately slacked off on a monthly gift I was giving, because my own supply was so tight, and last month felt maybe I needed to not slack off. The Lord spoke to me then through either a scripture or blog post, I forget now which, and He spoke to me again through this post, so thank you! I am continually amazed how gentle and patient He is with us as we learn to walk in Him.
(Also, don’t miss Mark’s follow-up comment here.)
Art from “Church Task Force” left this comment excerpt (the comment should be a blog post of its own!) in response to my post “Implications of the Headship of Christ“:
…In the world, leadership is responsible for the actions and failures of their followers. This is a noble enough approach among men, and can have some humbling effects if approached in a humble way (the “how have I failed them and what must I fix in me†vs “how have they failed me and how shall I force them to do better?â€). It can also create dictatorial monsters in large and small organizations, who will stop at nothing to produce conformity to their way. Failures reflect badly on their person. Failures set back their agenda for glory. The responsible-powerful leader concept demonstrates our proclivity to pride and self-competence, to having power over others, a power unique to those who esteem themselves both greater and better than others.
But look at our Head, our King. His followers fail in so many ways they are uncountable. Could He enforce conformity? Yes. But instead, He seeks transformation. We fail utterly, horribly, willfully, and he meets us on the beach, invites us to breakfast (serving us), and encourages us again to feed (serve) others. He washes our feet, and invites us to do the same for others. He who alone has the authority to be Master and Lord becomes servant…
(Make sure to read the entire comment, if you haven’t already.)
Finally, Leighton from “GraceWorks.ca” left this comment excerpt on my post “Breaking it down“:
If we attempted to arrive a more New Testament understanding of church we more likely be talking about the nature of a specific group, its values, purpose and function. It would be more like describing a family. A family isn’t defined by how large it is or where it meets but by the nature of the relationships inside the group and how people relate to each other. The question shifts from what is a family to what is a dysfunction/functional or healthy/unhealthy family.
(Again, make sure you read the entire comment, if you haven’t.)
I’m looking forward to more great comments and interaction next week!