unChristian Launch

I get excited about every series we do.

Some more than others, I must admit.

unChristian is one of those.

It's based on the provocative book of the same name. We'll spend the next several weeks taking a close look at the image problem that Christianity and Christians have with new generations of Americans.

They look at the church and describe us with words like "hypocritical," "judgmental," "antihomosexual," "sheltered."

They see the way Christians act as having very little in common with the Christ we claim.

In short, in the eyes of much of our culture, Christian faith seems . . . unChristian.

We won't be defensive. We won't blame others. We'll be honest and sober and reflective. We'll allow "them" to teach "us" to be better Christians. To be Christian Christians.

This week: What Christians Are Famous For.

Sunday. 8:30. 10. 11:30.

Voices Carry

Not too long ago, Rolling Stone magazine had a cover story on the "100 Greatest Singers Of All Time."

I won't get near to one hundred, but I thought I'd share some of my favorite voices of all time. And all these below are in addition to four of my favorite, those voices that belong to people on our staff -- April Geiger, Chris Macedo, Rebecca Grayson, and John Pavlovitz.

Here goes:

Randy Meisner, the Eagles. OK, it's only for one song, "Take It To The Limit". But the falsetto at the end never fails to make me shudder. My first "favorite song ever" -- and I still like it a lot.

Caleb Followill, Kings Of Leon. Man, this guy can sing. He combines urgency, passion, and spiritual angst better than anyone I've heard in a long, long time. "Use Somebody" is a masterful track.

Natalie Mains, the Dixie Chicks. When she launches in to the receiving-death-threats part of "Not Ready To Make Nice" it makes me want to join whatever revolution she's singing about.

Bono, U2. I'd have to be a fool not to put him on this list. I used to think U2 was all about guitar -- the Edge could make sounds on songs like "Where The Streets Have No Name" that I've never heard anywhere else. But without Bono's full, soaring vocals those anthems would be, well, not very anthemic. I love how on the new "Magnificent" he declares, "I was born to sing for you." Yes indeed.

Steve Winwood, Spencer Davis Band, Traffic, solo. So nice and smooth. I've wanted to do "Higher Love" in church forever, but I'm the only one who does! Still a great song with some gorgeous vocals.

Don Henley, Eagles, solo. His voice is much better on the solo work than with the Eagles. While Boys Of Summer is my favorite Henley song -- and my most enduring "favorite song ever" -- his voice was at its best on The End Of The Innocence. At the same time grainy and silky.

Those are mine. Yours?

Why These People Are Smiling

From the left, that's Heidi Starnes, the Chair of our Church Council, Don Ligon, the Vice Chair of the Council, Carol Hardison, the Executive Director of Crisis Assistance Ministries, Ron Dozier, our Pastor of Missions & Community Impact, and me.


So why are we all smiling?

Well, the Good Shepherd people are smiling because it really is more blessed to give than to receive.

And Carol Hardison is smiling because it's not so bad to receive, either.

We were able to deliver our check for $40,500 to Crisis Assistance on Tuesday. That represents a tithe of the people's pledge (just over $400,000) towards the Without Limit capital campaign in support of our Corner Campus expansion.

We wrote that check first as a confirmation of Proverbs 3:9: "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops."

A couple of things to know about this gift from the people of the church to the people of city: 1) when we walked into CA headquarters yesterday, there were 186 families waiting for help -- help ranging from rent to clothing to utilities; 2) last week, one of CA's sponsoring churches had to drop their support because of low funds at that congregation. So the Good Shepherd gift came at just the right time. Some would call it God's time.

Rent. Utilities. Dignity. That's what Crisis Assistance is about. I am privileged to be part of a church whose generosity helps to make such a thing possible.

Corner Campus

Driving down South Tryon Street, some of you might have seen this banner high up on what used to be a Hollywood Video store.

And now that space is our Corner Campus.

We're going to be able to upfit it nicely, and transform an abandoned DVD rental unit into a sacred youth space.

Why?

Because the people of Good Shepherd came through so well in the Without Limit 2.0 campaign.

A special one-year, over-and-above giving emphasis that will allow us to become a without limit kind of church.

313 households pledged $410,000 on top of what they already give to God through the church.

The best part?

Because we are tithing the campaign pledge, today we get to deliver a $41,000 check to Charlotte's Crisis Assistance Ministry, whose three-pronged focus is rent, utilities, dignity.

That's a "big thing" for a church and a city in the middle of a recession.

Healer

So Without Limit 2.0 comes to a close this Sunday.

We'll look at healing.

An expression of the Holy Spirit that has been abused, mis-used, hi-jacked for profit.

An expression of the Holy Spirit that is a source of confidence and hope for scores of people.

Two things at the same time.

We'll get to the root of it.

We'll actually do some of what we talk about.

And by the way, we've got good news to share about the results of last week's Without Limit 2.0 pledge Sunday. We're blessed.

So what series comes next? Beginning May 31st?

It's unexpected. It's uncomfortable. It's unsettling.

It's unChristian.

And One More . . .

This one is a bit more uplifing than the last two days, even if it comes in a somber context . . .

But it's this.

People who are in grief want to talk about the person who has died. The want to speak the person's name. They want to share memories. They want to laugh about the funny things the person said and did and believed.

In pastoral ministry, one of the most important things you can say is, "Tell me about . . . "

I suppose this is on my mind because I've had two funerals in the space of three days.

I take funerals seriously as a pastor and we take them seriously as a church. We make sure that our musicians are spot on and that the visuals are inspiring and that the family feels cared for.

My goal in a funeral message is two-fold: 1) to give expression to some truths about the person who has just died; to articulate what people in grief are feeling but don't have the words to say in the moment; and 2) to give permission to family and friends to grieve. People sometimes feel that grieving is a lack of faith in their loved one's eternal salvation; nothing could be further from the truth. Grief is simply an acknowledgment that there was deep love for the person now gone. We give people permission to own that and feel that.

Lesson learned and, I pray, lesson lived.

Another Lesson Learned

I've learned something else in these almost-twenty-years.

It's this.

If someone shows up in your church and wraps themselves in a cloak of "spiritual maturity," be wary.

In other words, if they are just a little too eager to speak of their own knowledge of Scripture, passion for theology, and general spiritual depth, it's probably wise to keep some distance -- at least for a little while.

Why?

Think about it. If people really are spiritually mature, would they ever have to tell you about it?

Isn't humility such a hallmark of spirituality that the most spiritually mature folks would be among the last to think of themselves that way, much less verbalize it?

I pray that we can grow people around here out of self-identified maturity and into God-honoring humility.

A Lesson Learned

This July, I will begin my 20th year of full-time ministry.

Over that time, I've learned many, many lessons. Some of them with great joy. Others with great pain.

So I share one with you today. This one is especially for pastors and church leaders. It's this.

Any time someone new shows up in your church, showers you with flattery as a pastor/teacher and offers comments about how their previous minister let them down or couldn't preach or made them mad, it means one thing:

You're next on the list.

So don't be puffed up. Be careful.

Sovereignty & Money

John Piper said it this way:

"He (Jesus) said more about money than he did about heaven and hell because where your treasure is there will your heart be also. So why do we have money? Money is God's idea, what's it for? Here's the reason we have money: we have money to use it in such a way that we show that money is not our God, but God is our God. That's why we have money. Money is given to us to use it in such a way to show the world that money is not our treasure but Christ is our treasure. That's why we have money."

Brilliant.

Like most remarks that are that good, I look at it and think, "Man, I wish I could have said it like that."

So God gave you money so that you might use it in a way that demonstrates money is not your God but God is your God.

How about it?

Without Limit Celebration

We've had 2,000 car deodorizers.

We've had 600 hot dogs and two sumo wrestlers.

We've had video after video after video.

And now we'll have celebration.

It's our commitment time for Without Limit 2.0 and what it means for our Corner Campus.

To get ready, read I Chronicles 29:5-16.

And we'll throw a party.

Sunday. 8:30. 10:00. 11:30.

The Criticism Loop

Awhile back, I was listening to a teaching program on a Christian radio station.

The teachers on the air spent quite a bit of time criticizing 1) Wesleyans; 2) Charismatics; and 3) Contemporary preachers.

3-for-3!

So I got my dander up. I was ready to send an e-mail to the station. I was preparing to "out" the program in a blog. I was ready to devote time and energy criticizing other Christian leaders for criticizing other Christian leaders.

Got that? I would criticize them for daring to criticize me.

But then how would I be any different? I wouldn't, of course. The moment you go public with your negativity about the negativity of others . . . you become what you complain about.

So I'll try to close that criticism loop the best I can.

Unless I just opened it.

Charlotte's Best

In an unbiased survey of my own mind, here are some of "Charlotte's best":

For Charlotte's best steak, click here.

Charlotte's best tennis teacher, click here.

Charlotte's best independent school, click here.

Charlotte's best place to buy a brand new used car, click here.

Charlotte's best example of a truly integrated church, click here.

Charlotte's best shopping center, click here.

Charlotte's best fried green tomatoes, click here.

Charlotte's best mainline church pulpiteer, click here.

Charlotte's best photographer, click here.

Charlotte's best video producer guy, click here.

Charlotte's best newspaper columnist, click here.

Charlotte's best bookstore, click here.

Charlotte's best tuna fish sandwich, click here.

Charlotte's best seminary campus, click here.

Wisdom From Barclay

William, not Charles.

William Barclay is the author of the Daily Study Bible, a classic collection of New Testament commentaries. Though he writes from the perspective of mid-20th century neo-orthodoxy, his reflections on biblical passages often have singular insight.

So it was yesterday as I was studying up on Matthew 23 in preparation for a message I'll give on June 7. Here's what Barclay says that caught my attention:

"The gravest danger which any teacher or preacher encounters is that he should erect his own prejudices into universal principles and substitute his own ideas for the truth of God."

Making personal prejudices into universal principles. Man. I'm no doubt guilty of that.

Does my prejudice for Wesleyan-Arminian free will and my prejudice against Calvinism lead me to underemphasize the sovereignty of God? Probably.

Does my prejudice for modern worship style and my prejudice against traditional Methodist liturgy lead me to neglect some of the treasures of the faith? Certainly.

Does my prejudice for charismatic expression and my prejudice against cessationist theology lead me to bypass a more measured approach to what the Holy Spirit is doing today? Perhaps.

Does my prejudice for amillenialism and my prejudice against dispensationalsim lead my to overlook what Scripture says about a unique role for Israel in God's future? Sometimes.

Those of us who preach, teach, and lead should ask these questions of ourselves with great frequency.

Thanks to Mr. Barclay, today is one of those days.

Holy Spirit Distribution System

We showed this in the middle of my message yesterday as a way of illustrating how God gives us the Holy Spirit:



As you might imagine, it was well received.

Yet another reason why this is a fun place to work.

Without Limit People

OK, we've had some good videos as part of Without Limit 2.0.

For example, there's this one:



But there's one coming up this Sunday that you absolutely, positively will not want to miss.

I can't tell you what it's about.

I can't tell you who stars in it.

You'll just have to see it.

It's a Without Limit kind of video, for sure.

The subject this week? People. Sunday. Mother's Day. 8:30. 10:00. 11:30.

The Dinosaur In The Methodist Room

I have been in Methodist-preacher-gatherings in which the subject of our denomination's stand on homosexuality was the elephant in the room -- a topic which, for the sake of holding on to the congenial vibe in the meeting, no one wanted to address.

Yet this week, I recognize that we Methodists have another issue that's not an elephant in the room but a dinosaur. You see, elephants are at least still alive and viable and active. Dinosaurs, of course, are extinct -- species that could only survive in another era.

We have just such a species in the Methodist system -- something that was designed for and could only survive in another era.

Our dinosaur? The itineracy.

It's on my mind because last Sunday all the new appointments in the Western North Carolina Conference went "public." Throughout our Conference, 15-20% of churches will be receiving new pastors and, obviously, pastors will be sent to new churches. The new assignments will begin on July 1.

Why is our system such a dinosaur?

• It was designed for a world that no longer exists. The process of moving pastors frequently from church to church to church worked when people traveled by horse and buggy and when individual Methodist churches were pretty much indistinguishable from one another. It does not work when people travel by car and when individual congregations within the same denomination are vastly different.


• In earlier generations there was not such a direct link between pastoral longevity and congregational health. Today there is -- with relatively few exceptions, the largest and strongest churches inside Methodism and outside of it have senior pastors with long tenures.


• In the 21st Century, local pastors are not interchangeable parts, easily moved from one church to another. For example, there are many churches in our Conference for whom I would be a terrible match; by the same token, there are some UM pastors who would not fit at a church like Good Shepherd.
• The best advice I ever received in seminary was this: "Don't always try to get a promotion by going to your next appointment. Instead, grow the church you serve into your next appointment." I have tried to live by that. So Good Shepherd is not the same church it was in 1999. And I am definitely not the same pastor I was then. So I have changed appointments by not changing appointments. It hasn't been easy or perfect or smooth, but I believe it has been in the long-term interests of the church.

Grow the church you serve into your "next appointment." Maybe that's one way for dinosaurs to live after all.

The Concert We Missed . . . And Some We Haven't

This past Saturday night, we had tickets to see Bruce Springsteen up in Greensboro.

It was all set up to be perfect: the tickets were given to us, I wasn't preaching on Sunday so I could stay out a bit later than usual on Saturday, and we like Springsteen a lot.

But then Saturday got away from us. Flat tire, First Serve at the church, and the realization that we hadn't spent any time with our daughter who had just returned home after her sophomore year at college. The thought of two hours up and two hours back became daunting. So we stayed in.

Yet it got me thinking of some concerts we haven't missed over the last 25 years or so. In no particular order, here are some highlights:

Bruce Springsteen, Lexington, KY, 1988. While waiting in line to buy tickets, we won the lottery system they had in place. So we got front row center seats! He started with "Tunnel Of Love" and the highlight was a passionate version of "She's The One" -- a song I wasn't even familiar with before that night.

Don Henley, Philadelphia, PA, 1985. This was the first of five times I've seen Henley in concert. I kept waiting for him to do "Hotel California", was convinced he wouldn't, and then celebrated as he did it as the closing encore. He also did "The Boys Of Summer," my favorite song ever.

John Mellencamp, Charlotte, 1999. We had just moved to Good Shepherd and somehow got tickets to Verizon for this show. At the time, I didn't even like Mellencamp very much. Now I do. The concert is the reason why.

Jars Of Clay, Rock Hill, 1997. They played at Winthrop's basketball stadium. I couldn't find anyone to go with me, so I took my son Riley, who was five at the time. Even then he loved music. But, as five year olds do, he fell asleep in my lap. Holding on tight to him as Jars did a raucous version "Flood" remains one of my favorite parenting memories of all time.

Rolling Stones, Charlotte, 2005. This was the first event ever in the new Bobcats Arena in uptown Charlotte. I went with Riley -- who this time was 13 and most assuredly did not fall asleep in my lap. Highlights: "Miss You," a song I never liked on vinyl or CD very much but had a new punch that night; "Shattered," always a great track; and "Brown Sugar" which in spite of the subject matter has the most engaging riff ever. Lowlights: they didn't do "Gimme Shelter" which is far and away my favorite Stones anthem.

How To Give Away 600 Hot Dogs

So on Sunday night we had our Party On The Corner.

It was a way of introducing the people of the church and community to our new Corner Campus -- the space that used to be the Hollywood Video store across the street from the church.

We've signed a five year lease on the space, and we'll use it for our Big House student ministry and as a site for venue worship. The expansion is all part of us becoming a Without Limit church made up of without limit people.

We had a lot of people come out for the party. They came out for the inflatables, the sumo wrestling (no, I didn't try it) and for the food. We ran through 600 hot dogs in no time.

But I also think people came out because they are excited to see what God might do in a new space as we push beyond limitations and boundaries.

Inconvenient

Think it was convenient for Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees to follow a God he'd never seen and establish a people who didn't yet exist?

Think it was convenient for Moses to lead the children of Israel -- with all their murmuring & complaining -- out of slavery and into freedom?

Think it was convenient for Nehemiah to build a wall around a broken city in only 52 days?

Think it was convenient for Jesus to spend 40 days in the desert?

Think it was convenient for Paul to go through shipwreck, torture, and isolation all for the sake of the gospel?

The Holy Spirit has a way of propelling people into the most unlikely of scenarios and into the most inconvenient of situations.

That's what we'll look at in Week Three of Without Limit 2.0.

Sunday. 8:30. 10:00. 11:30.