would the real church please stand up....

Lonnie LittleBird praying for our team on the Buffalo Jump. Thank you brother.


So, I realize that I did not post over the entire summer. The Site Director position really didn't allow much time do so, but here I am now. First just a couple of updates. I have accepted a position with YouthWorks! (www.youthworks.com) full-time. I am the new Area Director for part of the Southeast Region. This means I will be moving to Birmingham, Alabama and working out of our offices there. I will also be doing a great deal of travel to the sites I am responsible for. I can not tell you how excited I am for this opportunity to serve alongside people who are doing transformational ministry in such a profound way. Also, big congrats go to my former roommate and dear friend Dave...he popped the question to his girlfriend Kristina Friday, and surprisingly enough she accepted! Congrats friends. Now onto my thoughts for the day...
This morning, I was talking with a friend of mine about church, and he is struggling with some decisions. After chatting for a few minutes, we realized that the heart of the struggles come down to one thing which I myself have struggled with as well. The church he attends has really begun to do things with the corporate big business model and therefor has somewhat turned him off. It no longer seems to be about simply loving God and loving people. When talking about his other options, we began to realize how many churches have embraced a new philosophy and challenge to be and do the next big thing. Confession time. I have been a part of these churches, and in fact I have done a great deal in the past to foster this mentality. We always played this numbers game seeking to grow, and then providing a pretty lame justification; "every number has a soul." While that sounds real cute and kinda makes sense, the problem lies in the fact that we were concerned with the number first and then gave the number a soul. Seems to me God called us to concern ourselves with Himself and His people first and rejoice when those numbers grew. Think about Acts 2.

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The word number was used once and it was an afterthought!

I am so blessed to have found a church home in Mobile, that has extremely effective leadership. And by leadership, I dont mean the person that can grow the biggest church, do the biggest programs, or pay the most choir members and sunday school teachers. What I mean by effective leadership is this: willing to do whatever it takes to bring PEOPLE into the kingdom of God, invest in solid relationships that will help him and others grow, and not cower down to the world's standards of what the church should look like. The Grove has one agenda, LOVE GOD AND LOVE PEOPLE!

Looking back I don't know how I even made it to The Grove except by the grace of God. My friend told me today, that it had been so long since he had been in a church that was actually being the church, and I knowing a great deal about the town he lives in, could not even recommend one. So here is my question, WILL THE REAL CHURCH PLEASE STAND UP! There are people dying to be a part of something more than another club or corporation. There are people longing to love God and to love others. I saw many of you this summer at YouthWorks!, but now it is time to shine your light and let the whole world see. What would happen if we began turning things on its head. Now instead of buying billboards to up our giving and attendance, we buy billboards because PEOPLE are looking for JESUS! Now instead of creating a new "edgy" worship service because it will bring in a different demographic, how about we recognize that PEOPLE aren't looking for edgy, they are looking for JESUS, in whatever manner HE presents Himself. Do we really think Jesus needs as much help as we try to give him. He tells us to simply LOVE HIM AND LOVE OTHERS, and just let HIM do the rest. I believe as this begins to happen, the church will begin to shine like none other and people will be drawn to Jesus Christ and not our cute programs. Just Sayin'.

Lance

PS. I realize that all churches have their own struggles. These are simply my thoughts on how we can make those struggles about Jesus and people as opposed to places and things. As always, feel free to leave your comments and criticisms.

...high enough...

This feels so weird working on my blog again. It has been quite a while, and honestly, at this point I am not willing to say that I have missed it. Sometimes it feels like hard work. I made a commitment in the very beginning to be open, and vulnerable, and as transparent as possible, and that is not easy at all. But, here I am and here we go.

For those of you who do not realize yet, I am back in Lame Deer, Montana working for YouthWorks. I work with a great group of people that are excited about serving alongside me and I thank them for their commitment. I am realizing more and more how much of a privilege it is to be able to serve these friends here and work for such a phenomenal company. You know I have often found myself in places this past year where I was more concerned with money or what people think of me, than I was whole-heartedly serving Christ. When I come back here, I realize that stuff just isn't that important. I have been sleeping on an air mattress for the past two weeks now and have 10 more to go. We have been dealing with some frustrations that simply come with serving in missions sometimes and have 10 more weeks to go. We have been working and meeting from early in the morning to late at night and have 10 more weeks to go. And some how, I feel privileged and blessed in a beautiful way.

Sunday morning, Pastor Dean (from the church we are currently staying at), put a song on his iPod and the lyrics were profound to me. The song is Phil Wickham's "Cielo."

"Now I can't lift my hands high enough, can't lift my hands high enough, when I am reaching for you my God."

In my life, I have found myself reaching for so many things that I believe will make me happy. As I grow in discipleship, I am seeing that the most important thing to reach for is Christ. My prayer is that through this time in service to God and the people of the Cheyenne Reservation, I will reach higher than ever before, I will live louder than ever before, and that I will shine brighter than ever before, because none of those things can be overdone if I am doing them for my Savior. Just Sayin'. Thanks for continuing to join me on the journey friends.