Back to School: A Call to Prayer

A.W. Pink said, "It's true that (many) are praying for a worldwide revival.  But it would be more timely, and more scriptural, for prayer to be made to the Lord of the harvest, that He would raise up and thrust forth laborers who would fearlessly and faithfully preach those truths which are calculated to bring about a revival."

At CRCC, most of what we do (working towards "all") is "calculated to bring about a revival"...first in the individual, then in our homes, then in our churches, and prayerfully, in many in society.  One of the areas where we've been working very hard is discipling and educating children.  And it's working!  Many are seeing a revival in their relationships with their children right now, and we are so very grateful.  It's what we've praying for since 1997 when we started our church.

Today (Sept 4, 2012) as youth in our area get back to school, I'm compelled to offer a quick call to prayer.  Let me carefully say that how a child should be educated is VERY sensitive territory...maybe the MOST sensitive territory.  We know that 85-90% of Christian parents send their children to public schools.  And the reasons are manifold.  Some want to; many don't want to but have no other viable options, etc.  Satan has done a masterful job of destroying family structures and therefore limiting the options of many.  This breaks our hearts.  And of course to do otherwise has a massive economic impact...first in not taking advantage for the taxes paid to fund it...and then the double whammy of private school costs or home education costs.  All very real reasons.

With as much love as I can muster, I'll offer you some motivation for prayer.  The church in America is currently losing between 70-88% of children growing up in Christian homes by the time they are 19-20 years old (Baptist Research Council Study).  For the sake of argument, if you +/- that number 10-20 points, we've still got a nightmare on our hands.  Less than 5% of Christian youth have a biblical worldview (Nehemiah Institute).  Worldview is a function of who taught them (impartation) and the curriculum used (education).  So many make a profession of faith, but don't experience the power of the Gospel in their thinking.  What is education if not the training of the soulish realm?  On the other hand, and citing just one example, 94% of homeschoolers stay in the faith of their parents after their high school years and 93% stay in church (NHERI Study).  (This is not a post to argue for homeschooling.)  But you know what...even if we throw out all the stats...look around.  The Bible asks, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Ps 11:3)  What do you see?

Oh dear friends, I'm not trying to be mean or the bringer of bad news.  Really.  Just please pray for our students and children in schools everywhere today.  Pray against ungodly associations, teachings, and influences.  Pray that God would bring revival to this generation.  Pray that our eyes will open and we'll see.  Pray that we will understand.  Pray that our tone and tenor will be appropriate as we humbly try to disseminate this information and encourage thought and prayer in this area.  Pray that there is no human judgment, only divine conviction where needed in our lives.  Pray for me please...that if I'm misguided I can see that and repent.  But I am trying hard to see this rightly.  We've lost a generation and working on another.  Something BIG has to change.  It can't be another rock climbing wall or playstation room at church.  Something strategic and fundamental must be broken.  Maybe we should build everything on Scripture?

And pray that the hand of the Enemy will be stopped and that our beautiful children will be protected from humanism, paganism, atheism, agnostisicm, and anything that doesn't exalt the Name of Christ, no matter where they are.

Love yall.

(Deut 6:6-7; Ps 1:1-3; Prov 13:20, 22:6; Lk 6:39-40; 2 Cor 10:5; Col 2:8; 1 John 4:1-4)

Personal Discipline

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV) - Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. (25) Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. (26) So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. (27) But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Coming out of four weeks of rest, reflection, reading, prayer, and family time, I can say without a doubt that my biggest personal conviction and rebuke from the Lord is in this area: Personal Discipline.  (Sigh)

As glad as I am that the Lord "discplines those He loves" (Heb 12:6), it ain't fun.  I basicallly found out that the limiter on accomplishing what He has asked me to do is mostly a time management issue for me.  I know what to do...but it's the doing.....

Sooooo...after repenting and begging the Lord not to take away the grace I've been given in ministry because of my lack of diligence, I've recommitted to:

  1. Rise earlier and pray more.
  2. Spend significant time reading and writing and educating my children.
  3. Spend less time with novelties, media, golf, and my old nemesis...TV.  (Double sigh.  Even the wholesome/educational dvds we watch can be massive time wasters if not kept in moderation!)
  4. Spend more time in personal evangelism.
  5. Continue and improve upon my family worship leadership.
  6. Get in shape and eat better.
  7. Pray more about #6.  LOL.

I  hear you Lord....loud and clear.  Life is short.  Thank you for the refocus and thank you for not giving up on me.

Hey, any of you have any personal discipline stories or encouragement?  Anybody want to take up this challenge with me to be more productive for the Kingdom?

Preaching and Movement: A Confession and the Need for Transformational Teaching

 

There is an interesting phenomena in many church circles.  I hear it all the time.  A preacher goes to someone's church, and with great passion delivers the sermon.  Then I hear comments like:

  • He preached the house down!
  • He wrecked the church!
  • People were hanging on chandeliers!

Etc.  I admit to have aspired to to the same at times.  In fact, for many people, if a preacher doesn't do all the above, "he didn't preach." LOL! :)

But I have a confession.  I can't remember any of those sermons.  None.  Oh I might remember the title.  I might remember being encouraged and enthusiastic.  I might remember yelling "preach!"  But with difficulty, I admit that they rarely moved me.

Now don't get upset.  I love good old fashioned preaching at times. LOL.  But what I mean is I may have been moved emotionally for a moment and I may have been encouraged, but that's it.  When I think about the sermons that caused me to repent, caused me to understand doctrine and truth better, told me how to be a better husband, adjusted me to educate and disciple my children differently, pushed me to pray, evangelize (not just say amen and do nothing), made me get out of debt, convicted me of personal sin, inspired me to worship, and on and on, none of those sermons were "church wrecking" sermons.  Men of God simply presented the clear text (many times using lots of Scripture), explained it, helped me see the problem it addressed, and God moved me. 

The preaching/teaching was transformational, not just emotional.  I was "taught to observe" what the Lord commanded.  In fact, the sermons I have on my blackberry and listen to over and over are these type.  They present God's truth for the primary purpose of His glory.  They expose darkness.  They are convicting AND loving and they produce movement.

So going forward, I want to be a better transformational teacher.  The need for movement is dire in the Body of Christ.  There is a lot of Amening going on, but our marriages don't show it.  Our children don't show it.  Our money doesn't show it.  Our holiness and hatred of compromise doesn't show it.  And the culture doesn't show it.

Preaching and teaching should do more than encourage; it should soundly movitate God's people to do His will, and convict those who won't.  That's the kind of teacher I want to be.