Final Word

By Derek |

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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This will be my last post on this blog.  I'll leave it up for comments, but it will be completely unavailable as of the New Year.  I'm still available on Twitter and Facebook (and iTunes).  I've no THANK YOU, dear reader, for journeying with me.  I am so enriched by your prayers, emails, comments, and encouragements.  God has used you to think deeply about Him; to talk with Him at greater length and in whole new ways.


I want to end with my life verse:  Jesus said, "Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful with a few things, behold I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share in your masters happiness."


At the end of the day, when all is said and done, we (believers) will be judged by our faithfulness.  If we take our potential and put it into the ground:  fiercely protective, defensive, and miserly, we will be cast out.  If we take our potential and are faithful to what He has given us, He will work miracles.  


The lives we have are small things, but they are significant things in the eyes of God.  We are created with purpose and meaning.  We are created uniquely and we are created with 
significance.  We are not mistakes.  We are not unplanned for or unimportant to God.  


Will we be faithful with this small life God has given?  Will we be faithful to whatever measure of potential - 5 talents, 10 talents, 1 talent - He has given?  When He returns, I pray we hear the words, "Well done."


I live for those words.


I know it's not about what we do, but also about who we are.  The beauty of the Christian experience is that Jesus settles the bit about our identity.  At that point, we get to focus on the task at hand.


Whatever your task - wherever in the world God has placed you - I want to encourage you to be faithful to Him.  Faithfulness isn't mere survival.  It's not about simply holding on to what you were given.  Rather, it's about investing what you were given - about doing what you know to do to the best of your unique ability.  He will always be faithful to you.  
God is faithful.  


So let me use this final sentence to encourage you:  invest your life well.

Curtain Call

By Derek | 0 comments

I want to thank all of you for standing with me through the years.  Thank you for your comments, your encouragement, your ideas, and your friendship.

Never, ever let anyone take your voice from you.  Your voice - your unique voice and perspective - is needed.  Our strength lies in our diversity as we are unified in Spirit and focus.  I have never held to the viewpoint that everyone has to agree in order to encourage/sharpen one another.  Just the opposite!  The world would be a boring place indeed if all we did was to echo and parrot each other.  Imagine how horrible it would be to be married to someone exactly like yourself!  I feel the same about my friends.  The best conversations through the years have come from folks who were fundamentally FOR each other (I got your back), but who have brought a different slant/different perspective to a set of circumstances or issues.

There is a wonderful passage of Scripture in the book of Titus:  

^2:11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. ¹²It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
 ¹⁵These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.  (NIV)


^3:1-2Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God's people should be bighearted and courteous.  (The Message)




At times, there have been rebukes.  Those needed to be heard and received.  At times there have been encouragement.  That encouragement was needed and needed to be received.


I want to end this blog with a reminder:


Love Goes.  Our love for God, for the world, and for our neighbor should always be demonstrated in us initiating service, kindness, faith, and hope...but the greatest of these is love.  May we always be known for our Love and may we always be the first to move where God is leading.


The Gospel Counts.  Jesus died for our sins.  He who knew no sin paid the price for all who have sinned.  He was obedient to death on a cross and then He rose from the grave.  Our focus isn't merely the cross, but an empty tomb!  Jesus said, 'Repent and believe'.  Paul said, "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."  John wrote: For God SO LOVED the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life".  The Gospel is simple, but profound.  It comes to us and it moves through us.


The Journey Is Worthwhile.  No one has "arrived".  We are all in process.  We don't know it all (and even what we know, we only know "in part" - we see through the looking glass).  So know that God is not through with you!  You and I are being molded, made, transformed...forged.  And don't forget that as painful as that process can be....it is still worth it.  I've been through many deaths and seen some tragic things that I can't fully explain.  But I know God is good and I know He is working out all things for the good of those who love Him.  His plans are to prosper and not to harm - so even the fire is worthwhile.  Even at the darkest point of the path, it is still worth it to stay on the path.  




But I want to end this blog with a Final Word.

Thank You, Jerry and Bobbie

By Derek | 0 comments

Before the cacophony of appreciation swells as the Rankin's tenure comes to an end, I am getting my public "thank you" out in the open early.  We were accepted into the IMB under the Rankin's leadership.  We came in already believing in "New Directions", and as newbies had no preconception of missionary life prior to that.  We loved the new emphasis on teams, on people groups, and on risk.  We envisioned moving overseas, forming a team and then investing our lives for the radical change of an area wherein germanic peoples weren't being effectively reached.  We went thinking we were going to Klagenfurt, Austria, but wound up under God's Sovereign hand in Vorarlberg, Austria (and eventually, in Zurich, Switzerland) after a wonderful experience in language school in Aschaffenburg, Germany.


We've been with the IMB through a multitude of veiled and not-so-veiled attacks on the Rankins.  Throughout, they were always gracious.  In fact, I used to get more upset (and vocal) than they about attacks on them.  Sometimes, I get I was busy trying to lop off a soldiers ear, while they were busy trying to heal.


There's no way that they would ever know 5000+ people, but I was always impressed that they made the attempt.  


Someone had to have the chutzpah to really stretch the IMB capacity for sending.  We didn't know the limits at that point for what the IMB was capable of in challenging SBC churches to be vested more than ever in global missions.  The Rankins were used (are still being used) by God to figure out were those borders were, and then to stretch them even farther.  


Many have died during their leadership.  Rather than use the deaths of missionaries as an excuse to shrink back into old ways organizationally, the Rankins helped keep things in perspective.  There were constant reminders that our lives are not ours to give, and we should honor those who gave their lives willingly.  That isn't an easy burden on leaders.  It would have been far easier to cave in to the myriad of pressures rather than continue to push for engagement.


Leadership has a price.  I've often wondered what the perseverance of that focus cost them personally.  I don't think anyone can imagine the tears or personal soul searching that must have taken place behind the scenes.  But they remain focused on God; on serving Him faithfully.  For that I have deep admiration.


The years through which the Rankins have led were tumultuous in society as a whole.  We entered into a new millennia (Y2K anyone?), organizations, churches, denominations, schools and society has been in transition - both from a worldview perspective and from a technological/connectivity perspective.  The Rankins have been determined to help the IMB retain its focus on the lost...regardless of time or place.  The Great Commission holds true irrespective of any time and point in history.  Every Christian, while purposed and inserted into their point in history by the Great Architect, remains true to their prime directive - namely, to follow God into all the world teaching, baptizing, and making disciples.  Of this reality we were/are consistently reminded.


Then there is the new world of terrorism and security issues.  Was that even on the radar prior to the Rankins?  If so, it wasn't nearly as prominent as propping up national Baptist Unions.


Have there been some wrinkles?  Sure.  Has everything gone perfectly?  No.  But has the IMB been led with vision, passion, grace, and integrity?  


Absolutely.


So, Jerry and Bobbie, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for you.  Thank you for choosing to lead, and in leading, to model commitment to God through choppy waters.  You will be missed, but you are also forever a part of the IMB tribe.

Imageo Dei

By Derek |

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

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What does it mean to be created in the image of God (Imageo Dei)?


This is a question pondered by everyone from Justin Martyr to Dr. N.T. Wright.  Some have postulated that it means we are tri-une (spirit, mind, body), others that it is the human capacity for creativity (in mold of our Creator) that sets us apart from creation.  Still others speculate it lies in our desire for Community, or Work, or even the notion of Existence.  (The latter, however, could be argued on the merit of God instilling in His creation that which would cause them to know Him.  It isn't necessarily a revelation of what it means to be created with His essence.)


I've stated in past blogs that I believe God as God is holy (set apart, or "other worldly"), and that His nature is Love.  For me, this is a large part of what John is communicating, and what Jesus communicated.  The difficulty has been in defining what Love looks like. Thankfully, John gives it a great definition as being essentially sacrificial.


Often, you've heard me repeat the phrases:  Track the motion.  Follow the motion.  Look at the movement.


For example, a church that talks about how friendly, outward-focused and will do anything to reach lost people....but has no lost people at all interested in who they are...has a serious identity problem.  How does one differentiate between what is said (or done) and reality?  Answer:  Track the motion.  The motion differentiates between talk and action (or better stated:  right action).


At the same time, we see over and over again in Scripture that God initiates, He serves, He sends, He loves to the point of death, He sends His Spirit, etc.  God has integrity.  If love is essentially outward motion; the willingness to view love as selfless orientation rather than self-orientation, then this makes sense.  That is not to say that God isn't content in Himself, or that that His Triune nature of community isn't content to glorify One another.  In fact, this makes more sense in a Triune God rather than a God who isn't Triune (bear in mind that this is a major, major differentiation between Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses or Muslims - the idea that God is not just One, but Three-in-One is a line of demarkation between the faiths).  Why does the Spirit move away from the Spirit toward the Son to glorify Him?  Why does the Son move away from the Son toward the Father?  Why does Jesus state in John that the Father moves toward the Son?  


Is it possible that Love in this holy-other definition is the essence of God?  If that is the case, then what does that say about humankind with respect to Imageo Dei?


Humanity was created not for self-focus, but for selfless-focus.  Isn't it interesting that God doesn't appear in Genesis as a Person in front of Whom Adam and Eve must bow, but instead chooses to come to them in the Garden in dialogue with them (He walked and talked with them)?  Surely this is an indication of God's incredible Love (if not His grace and mercy as well!).  What is man that we should have ever deserved that?  What does it say about God that He chose to do that?


So God creates us (it is VERY good), and imprints upon us the nature of outward motion - we are to name and care for our surroundings, we are to honor God's wishes (because we love Him, and love means choosing submission), we are to be focused upon the only non-Created thing of which we know:  God Himself!


At its heart, idolatry is self-worship.  By creating that which we choose to worship, we are actually worshipping the creators of that image - namely ourselves.  This self-orientation is precisely what happens at the Fall.  This is why we see God's imprint on our lives, but know that it is an aberration of that for which we were created.  The only way to connect back is through Jesus who helps us to live in a manner that isn't focused upon us!  This is why belief and repentance are necessary (remember:  Mark 1:  Jesus's call to the good news!).


Consider this notion from a different perspective:  what if God were fundamentally selfish?  Let's say that God's primary concern isn't anyone other than Himself.  He loves Himself.  He's interested in Himself.  Let's say that He is - in His very nature - self-oriented.


Track the motion.  


At the Fall, does humankind become more or less like their Creator?  When they become very interested in themselves, does that make them more or less like the One who created them?  I would argue that they become LESS like Him.  Yes, they have the "knowledge" of the Tree and they attempt to be like God, but that attempt falls so short of His glory that they are condemned to death.


Now, I realize that this has it's limitations.  For example, interest in Himself (self-interest) isn't merely the mono-theistic aspect of God, but also the Triune aspect of God.  Nonetheless, the basic concept applies.


Is it possible that the Sovereignty of God is worth trusting precisely because He is so loving?  His ways are not our ways, but we know He is working all things for the good of those who love Him.  Is it possible that the judgment of God works in this self-less framework?  Absolutely: self-motion and selfless-motion (inward v. outward) are intrinsically at odds with one another.  They are heading in opposite directions (again, which why we are called to repentance).  There is no compatibility whatsoever.  There can be parody (social service, for example), but that is why someone can actually DO lots of selfless things, without being intrinsically selfless. Their fundamental orientation is either to satiate a sense of self-worth or self-significance as it relates to the human race.  Self-oriented.  Again, the term REPENTANCE (literally, turn around) becomes significant in the light of tracking the motion.  In repentance, God does His greatest work of redemption.  In the Spirit working within our lives, we become more loving, more kind, more service-oriented, etc.  Is that US or is that HIM?  If it is HIM (which it is), then what nature of God gives us those types of attributes in abundance?  We are first accused of being "Christ-like" (Christian) when we purposely moved in mission toward others (look at Acts).


Far brighter minds than I have taken a hard look at what it means to be Imageo Dei.  Though many have come to different conclusions, I am often enriched by their perspectives.  I hope this particular perspective helps us all ask the questions:  Where/to Whom am I actually moving?  Where is He leading?  How can I continue to be transformed into His likeness?


Mission isn't a segment of the Christian experience.  Mission is God with us.


Do I believe that God has plans of which I cannot know or comprehend?  Absolutely.   Do I believe that He can use me or discard me; that He doesn't need me?  Absolutely.  


But still my God loves me to the point of the cross.  Still He came as a servant.  The man who could break my neck chooses to wash my feet.  The God who has me could easily enslave me.  Instead, He sends me His Spirit who is transforming me into a person that the lost can admire and the Father smiles at.  Nothing can take that away.  Is He looking at Himself (His Spirit)?  Of course! But I know I'm not chopped liver because He created me.  I know I must have some worth because He came for me.  I know I am alive because He is leading me.  I certainly hope He sees Himself in me.  


Because it is the Imageo Dei that binds me to Him.

A Word for the Pastors/Champions

By Derek |

Monday, November 2, 2009

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Interesting fact:  as it turns out, there are an average of 600 of you who read this blog regularly.  I've often wondered why there aren't more comments, but I suppose this is for a couple of reasons:  1)  it's really hard to editorialize on an editorial, and 2)  some of you have said that I'm speaking publicly what many of you say privately..and for which you fear retribution in some way.  I'm cool with that - so many of you have sent me emails and encouragement.  I'm aware of the size (though 600 was wayyy more than I thought) if only because your prayers remain meaningful to me.

In this post, I want to concentrate on ways that leaders often stop the very momentum they are trying to create by emphasizing the right thing at the wrong time.  I write this completely in the context of reaching lostness.  Too often, I hear the excuse that leaders are investing in others to reach lost folks, but those same Christians that leadership pours its time into are actually reading what is being modeled.  What often winds up communicated is:  "You should evangelize until you are mature like me when you can invest all your time in the saved."  But Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  It is still our pre-dominant calling and mission to "Go into all the world...".  At the same time, there are many, many good leaders who DO invest in lost people (and saved people), but can't seem to get their group to make the curve.  It's like bailing water on a ship you know is barely staying afloat...but you're not sure where the holes are because they keep switching.

choose vis a vie chosen
Many young leaders try to ground their folks on the "chosen" aspect initially.  Certainly, the notion that God chooses us is incredibly important to our spiritual growth.  But lost people and new believers need to first know that they can choose God.  They can invite Him in.  They can choose to follow Him.  They are not another "cog in the machine" (F. Schaeffer's words) or merely a pawn in a great game of chess between God and Satan.  Yes, later they will learn that they aren't nearly as significant as they think.  But most people don't struggle with feeling too significant initially.  They wrestle with not knowing how significant they actually are.

For the record:  We are significant enough to God that He sent His Son to die for us.  Even if we're a worm in comparison...we're a significant worm to Him.

Both are important.  But I would encourage young leaders to teach these in this order.  That I am small in the Universe is one thing to remember as I lean on Him.  That I am the one sheep that wanders off so the Good Shepherd comes for me is one thing to remember as I discover Him.

follow vis a vie fit
Many young leaders aren't looking for followship. Most look to bring people in and help them "fit" into their surroundings (kind of a Christianized version of being sucked into the Borg).  Yet, we are made to fit!  We are made to work together; to be in community with one another.

But the issue that needs to be settled first is followship.  Remember, this post is about teaching the right things at the wrong time.  There are many moments in the Christian life where we must stand alone, when no one else will stand up for God. Recently in California, 20 young men raped and beat a young 16 year-old girl for 2.5 hours.  That's a long time to be tortured.  There was a crowd of other young people who either watched or cheered.  When the crowd turns to evil, we have to teach people that ultimately they must stand for God - even if it is unpopular or if there is no community to be found.  Settle the "follow" issue, and the "fit" issue makes more sense.  Community becomes less of a monastic group and more of a tribe together on mission to be the instrument of God for transformation in the world.

timely vis a vie timeless
A timely God is one who does things right on time.  We view history in terms of thousands, hundreds, decades, or just a few years.  There is a semblance of aging, youth, etc.  A timeless God is one for whom everything is happening NOW.  God exists outside of time, so for Him there is no distance between Genesis and Revelation.  The beginning is NOW.  The end is NOW.

The latter is best for the lost or new believers initially.  There are a couple of reasons for this:  a) it explains a heckofalot when it comes to heaven, Abraham, God, eschatology, or God's insertion into time, b) it's a great segway to grace.  God is allowing us to live in an anomaly before bringing it all back to eternity.
The former is best for later on.  Get the timeless aspect of God down, and the timely aspect of God makes it easier to understand process (sanctification).

followship vis a vie knowledge
The lost will always believe you know more than them about the Bible - they just don't believe you know more about spirituality.  That's not a bad thing.  The definition of spiritual maturity isn't knowledge accumulation.  The Pharisees dedicated their lives to the study of Scripture; to zealousness; to "right/correct" living.  In doing so, they missed the point - which Jesus continually points out.  The idea is to follow in spite of not knowing (think of Hebrews and the hall of faith) everything.  A shepherd in India will probably not learn Greek, but he can still choose to follow Jesus with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength.  Spiritual maturity is the distance between God's call and our response.

Followship will lead to knowledge.  In the first 40-70 years, when there were none of the Scriptures in our New Testament, early believers were growing and being persecuted.  They were dying for Jesus - a new reality of living (kingdom living) - but we don't have a single record of a 3 point sermon in that timeframe.

Is knowledge important?  You bet.  We are responsible for what we know (and many Christians have either access or history with tons of knowledge made available).  At some point, it helps to know how to find the book of Hosea in your Bible.  But followship must precede knowledge.

Two more.

purpose vis a vie purposed
In the beginning you are trying to find for what you are living.  People are looking for something worth giving their lives toward.  The notion that we are "purposed" (read:  elected, but hey, I was in an alliterative mood) is important.  God chose me!  But I don't really even begin to appreciate that until the opposite side of salvation.  It's not until much later that I realize His choosing me doesn't alter me living to choose Him.  We take up our cross, and He holds us close.  To get these turned around often leads to apathy, not deeper understanding.  Worse, it can lead to fatalism - whatever will be, will be.  It is written.  I can do nothing.  I mean nothing.  (Essentially:  Christian fatalism).  There is a reason that Jesus did exactly this (and in this order) in his many conversations.

Again, both are important.  But this is about saying the right thing at the right time.  Otherwise, it's like saying, "I love you" right after you command your wife to cook your dinner (in the commanding tone).

Good luck with that.


holy = culture vis a vie holy = character
If you help a lost person to realize that holiness begins with character, they will ultimately examine their culture (just ask all the metalheads who got saved and trashed their albums early on in their walk).  Character change always leads to culture change.  Look at the Welsh revival where even the donkeys didn't recognize their Masters because they no longer cursed!

But culture does not always lead to character.  Try to emphasize a holy culture prior to a holy character and not only will you not change culture, but you will probably not help folks be open to character change as well.  Both are important (at some point it's good to address abortion, evolution, cursing, horror flicks, etc.).  But if you take on the former without first addressing the latter you'll get...

...well, the US as it is today.  We are wrestling with a Christian legacy (and protectionism) that no longer helps our children to be Christian in lost schools for fear of "culture" staining their lives.  The result?  They're still falling away.

But if the character is changed - then ultimately the person will choose what is good because it edifies the Spirit.

Just some advice from a guy who has been there before.  Counsel ALL of the Word, but choose match the When with the What.  Look at what Jesus teaches at the beginning vis a vie what He teaches once they've been following a while.  Look what it produced.

Proverbs 15:22:  Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

it was (18) years ago today, sgt. pepper told the band to play...

By Derek |

Monday, October 26, 2009

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18 years ago today....it was a Saturday.
18 years ago today....I was watching "Howard the Duck", separated from Melissa because I wasn't supposed to see the bride.
18 years ago today....my dad came back and told me it was time to start.
18 years ago today....I stood at the front of a simple church, decorated simply by us with no budget (I think the whole wedding, plus dress, cost us less than $2000).
18 years ago today....she walked down the aisle and I broke out into a huge grin.
18 years ago today....I had no concept of how good things could be.  I just knew I didn't want to be the one to screw it up.
18 years ago today....I gave us maybe 2 years before I thought we would train wreck.
18 years ago today....I didn't realize that we would never keep score what one person did vis a vie the other.
18 years ago today....I didn't realize that each year would be even sweeter than the year before.
18 years ago today....all we had were $200, a new job, one evening of honeymoon (at Lake Tahoe), and the next day stopped by to wish mom a Happy Birthday before we went to our apartment.  I had to work on Monday.
18 years ago today....I was blessed with the girl of my dreams and I barely knew it.

Today, I get to celebrate the fact:

that one look between two people can communicate volumes
that we still crack each other up
that she is still the most interesting person I know
that we have three wonderful children in this life together
that in spite of having no house to our name (for 8 years!) and all of our stuff is packed in a crate on the German/Swiss border - we still have a home.
that she is still patient with me.
that I finally figured out that the way the toilet paper rolls out (on top) is important to her
that she still wants me to succeed
that I still want her to succeed
that together we are far better than we are alone

that both of us still choose God - and it is He who makes us One.

So I'm blogging about this because...the world should still know how I feel about my girlfriend and wife.  Just as a young man tells all of his friends he's found "the one", so too, am I still telling all of my friends "she's still the one".

turning folks away

By Derek |

Sunday, October 25, 2009

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something to think about for all of those pastors out there:

how many pastors of churches running between 150-300 have multiple staff? add up the number of part-timers and full-timers (worship, secretaries, youth pastors, etc.). now run a percentage against the number of folks in your church. as churches grow, that number tends to drop (just because of sheer size), but if you are running 300 and you have a full-time staff of 6 (2 part-time secretaries, 4 staff: senior, youth, worship, education) PLUS you begin adding up all of the dual roles going to "feed the Body" - Sunday school teachers, media, tech, deacons, etc. - the question becomes how many of your church actually view their full-time role as reaching lost people? I'm not talking about an evangelism emphasis or revival or job or missions trip - I'm talking about folks who see their role as being light and salt in the community and whose #1 job is to reach their relationship networks. what percentage would you come up with (and if it is high, would that bother anyone)?

I'm just asking the question. The truth is that there is always a line of practicality with regard to churches. But everyone needs to model "the main thing". We don't live for ourselves and by extension, our own communities. We live for God - which means following Him wherever He goes. We KNOW. I repeat, we KNOW, that He is always moving outward to lost people. That is why He came. That is where we should follow.

Something to think about on this Sunday. "Church is God's gift of community to the world." That church (by nature) is on mission.

As an aside: leaders, you can't expect to train folks to do something you don't model. If you teach them to reach the world, but you model that it's perfectly acceptable to spend all your time training others to reach the world, then they will listen to the latter and the former will simply be rhetoric. This is why everyone says "Amen" to an evangelistic message and the community surrounding the church still goes lost. It's not for a lack of good intentions. It's just that the invisible language actually contradicts and/or informs what is spoken.