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Truth and consequences

May 8, 2012 2:27 pm by Paul Jenkins in Church stuff, Culture, From Me to The G

Amendment One Church stuff From Me to The G

Not a very exciting title, is it? But it’s all I can think about while we wait around to see how the votes we cast at the polls today will be counted later tonight. I’ve watched the ads, the campaigns on social media outlets, and thought long and hard about whether or not we should be standing for or against, and when it’s all said and done, I really feel like this vote is about truth and consequences.

Give me a second to try and explain, and then you can pick the stones back up. I don’t feel like I’m a very good “political” preacher. There are lots of them out there that simply scream the truth the way they see it with a bull horn and a big ‘ol finger pointed squarely at you. They rant and rave and fill the air with such veracity that it makes everyone who hears them wonder if they have actually ever even met the Jesus that they yell so passionately about. Is every pastor (or Christian) that way? Of course not. But in politically charged moments like these, that stereotype is the one that comes to mind for many of us. We see the big Bible and the red face and find ourselves rejecting truth simply because we’ve been subjected to someone, somewhere who wasn’t afraid to share with anyone who would listen, even if they didn’t want to, their version of the truth.

But consequences? They don’t think a lot about that stuff. They just yell what you should do and leave you alone to figure out how to keep the truth from blowing your already broken life even further to smithereens beyond repair. And that, if I’m honest, makes me want to not be that guy. So when the truth seems so clear – and yet so easily misunderstood because it sounds so much like that guy – I feel the tension of saying the truth and yet loving the people whom the truth can hurt the most.

Amendment One has been that for me. Biblically and naturally, the truth seems clear – marriage is for a man and a woman – and yet the consequences are equally clear. A vote for the amendment can easily result in people that I feel called to serve choosing to vote me off as someone who is a bigot, racist, homophobe, or – worst of all – religious. The burden of the possible consequences has been so great that it was enough to make me consider carefully how I should vote concerning Amendment One (and I hope everyone did). The one realization that helped me the most as I debated? My life, my preferences, my passions are subject to the truth and not the other way around.

Truth can seem cold, hard, uncaring and biased, but that’s really only when it goes against what I want, hope or feel. It can seem unfair, but usually only when it goes against my sense of fairness. If I base my choices on possible consequences alone, then I will never make the call that might upset, hurt, or offend someone, and anyone who has ever led any group of people for any length of time knows how unrealistic that scenario is.

It would seem that the only other possibility is to swing so far to the “fair” side in order to not appear judgmental that we aren’t willing to stand for anything that might push others away. And yet we do that very thing everyday in life. We make judgement calls about which restaurant we’ll visit, which doctor will care for us or which church we will attend. How do we decide those things? We decide them based on what seems best to us, and we don’t typically consider the consequences. You choose this doctor and so the other doctor loses business. If loving means acceptance, then you’d have to find some way to see them both, or none at all. Choosing one implies hurting the other, and that’s a judgement call.

But that’s not the only other option, is it? There is another option that is remarkable in its simplicity and revolutionary in its potential. We could simply love each other. Not love based on acceptance without questions, or love based on adherence to religious requirements. Simply love based on the fact that God is love, and because that is His nature, He made a judgement call about all of us. He said that we were all walking in darkness and so He sent us a Light (John 3:19) in Jesus so that none of us would have to feel the shame and condemnation that comes from a life lived apart from Him.

God’s love – and His truth – makes a judgement call about our lives. He doesn’t stand by and say stuff like “to each his own” or “live and let live” or “you live your life and I’ll live mine.” No, His truth is so much greater than our sense of truth that He not only states it without a quivering lip, but also backed it up through the death of His Son in order to make it possible for each one of us to live lives based on truth more than just on consequences.

To those who may find themselves on the wrong side of the voting, you are loved more than you could ever know by Someone much higher than those who may have opposed you heatedly over the past few months, and He is more powerful than any consequences you may face as a result of the vote. And as the non-political pastor of a group of people bent on loving more than arguing, there’s always room for you at The Gathering. We’d be honored to walk with you on the journey.

The One Hour Runner training plan

May 5, 2012 7:59 am by Paul Jenkins in Resources, Running, Sports

Cool Running Couch-to-5K One Hour Runner Running Training plans

Back when I first started running in 2008, I followed 2 plans that really helped my out-of-shape body get into the rhythm of running. The first one was called “Couch to 5K” and it’s easily found on the web with a simple Google search. But the plan that followed C25K so naturally isn’t. Originally I found it on the web at Cool Running, but the plan no longer exists on their website, so I thought I’d throw the plan on The Blog Channel so that I don’t lose it in case I want to use it again and so others can use it to get started as a runner.

Basically, when you wrap up the C25K plan you’ll be ready to run a 5k or for 30 minutes without stopping. The One Hour Runner training plan takes you from running 30 minutes at a time to, you guessed it, one hour at a time. There’s no need to worry about pacing, just run what is comfortable for you. The “talk test” is a great way to judge whether or not you’re running too fast. If you have to talk in one word phrases – or can’t talk at all – you’re running too fast. You should be able to have a conversation while you’re running during this plan (if you run alone, prepare for some weird looks).

You’ll want to sandwich your training run between a brisk 5 minute warm up walk and a nice 5 minute cool down walk. It’s also a good idea to listen to your body. Some days (and weeks) are better than others, and there’s no rush to get through the plan. Customize, just keep moving forward! The 10 week plan is below.

	DAY 1	DAY 2	DAY 3	TOTAL
Week 1	30:00	30:00	30:00	1:30:00
Week 2	30:00	30:00	30:00	1:30:00
Week 3	30:00	30:00	30:00	1:30:00
Week 4	30:00	29:00	35:00	1:34:00
Week 5	30:00	32:00	38:00	1:40:00
Week 6	30:00	33:00	41:00	1:44:00
Week 7	30:00	34:00	45:00	1:49:00
Week 8	30:00	36:00	49:00	1:55:00
Week 9	30:00	38:00	54:00	2:02:00
Week 10	30:00	40:00	60:00	2:10:00

A prayer that will take your breath away

May 3, 2012 9:28 am by Paul Jenkins in Church planting, Church stuff, From Me to The G

Church stuff From Me to The G National Day of Prayer prayer The Lord's Prayer

There are times when I really try to take in all that is happening in front of my eyes, and it can get a bit hard to catch my breath. It seems that weekly I hear another story at The Gathering of a changed life, a healed body, another conversation that brought the hope of Jesus to someone who was hurting. It can feel a bit like lassoing a tornado, and I think that’s the way it’s supposed to be when we really start experiencing the prayer that Jesus prayed when He was teaching His disciples how to pray. A little back story may help here before we get to the point.

Basically the twelve men who had given everything up to make sure that they could be with Jesus anywhere at anytime had finally broken down and admitted that they really had no clue how to pray. Jesus, of course, wasn’t surprised by this at all, and so He taught them a great model of how to pray. It was such an epic prayer that it has been recited more than any other prayer in the history of praying, and no doubt you’ve recited it in a group or alone more than once. It’s The Lord’s Prayer, and you know something’s important when every letter in the title is capitalized, even the word “the.”

Of course, with repetition often comes a lack of recognition, and my guess is that we’ve missed a fairly important phrase right there in the middle of the prayer. Matthew 6:10 says that Jesus – right after telling God how holy He is and right before mentioning anything about physical needs – simply prayed “your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Think about that for just a minute. He didn’t pray about how great heaven was (and it is awesome, no doubt) or about how he hoped we could just all hang on and survive “down here” until we can finally get “up there.” He said, basically, “Help here mirror what’s happening there.” Jesus taught a bunch of non-prayers to pray for the stuff of heaven to invade the stuff of earth, and that – when you really stop to think about the implications -is enough o leave all of us breathless.

What is heaven like? Revelation 21:4 mentions a few things that won’t be there that we seem to have an abundance of down here: tears, death, mourning, crying pain. It is so easy to just accept the fact that we have to deal with all that stuff because we’re not in heaven yet, but what do we do with the famous “every word is capitalized” prayer that Jesus prayed? How do we mirror heaven in the middle of all the stuff that won’t be there? Maybe a key is found just one verse in front of the one we just read. Look at what Revelation 21:3 says:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

What makes heaven so much different than earth? 24/7, uninterrupted communion with God! ”He will be with them” and “he will dwell with them” are amazing promises of how His presence changes everything! Look, all of us have been sick at times, and even when the medicine didn’t help us feel better, we knew that if we could just get to mom, she could make it better. She didn’t necessarily do anything, but her presence brought a calm and a peace to the situation. Multiply that effect by about a bazillion and you’ve got an idea of what heaven will be like with the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We will be with Him in all His glory, in fact so much glory that lights will not be needed (Revelation 22:5)!

So how do we get the stuff of heaven down here? We allow Jesus to take over more and more in our lives (John 3:30). We invite His presence into every situation that we face. We make it our aim to be near God, and in turn we find ourselves bringing Him near men who are far from Him because they want to know the peace in their trials that you and I have come to know in ours.

Our prayer at The Gathering is simply this: God, in every way let the unfiltered presence of Jesus in heaven be seen in my life today here on earth. Our mission sums all that up: to be near God and near man and to make disciplers of everyone we can. We are never more like Jesus – who is called “God with us” – than when we are bringing the presence of heaven into the situations on earth. Carry that with you today, and when you bow your head to honor the National Day of Prayer, remember to ask God to bring heaven to earth through you. You’ll be amazed at the way things around you will start to change!

One Amazing Half of a Year

Apr 24, 2012 8:26 pm by Paul Jenkins in Church stuff, From Me to The G, The Gathering

Church stuff From Me to The G The Gathering

The Gathering logo Most of the time, we pastor types don’t like looking at data, but I’ve got to say that this past week as we put the finishing touches on the 2011 Annual Report for The Gathering, I found myself reading, worshiping, reading some more, and thanking God over and over for the awesome opportunity that we’ve been given to serve our city and our county.

I’m not going to comment about the report here, because you can just go to the site and read it for yourself, but I do want to say that from the very first meeting with 20 of us in a warm den that had less than sufficient seating until the end of the year celebrating Christmas with a handful of young men giving their hearts to Jesus, I have been overwhelmed by the willingness of God to allow each of us to be a part of His great plan. It is a phrase that has been overused, but I have to say that as I read it and thought back over the last 6 months of 2011, I couldn’t stop whispering to no one in particular how much I LOVE MY CHURCH!

2012 is going to be (and has already been) a year full of trying and learning and giving ourselves over fully to God’s plan for a local body that will intentionally and unashamedly share the great news of Jesus with the hurting in our region. More than likely there will be a move, a launch, and an undeniable presence of grace that takes place in The Gathering, and our job now is to do all we can to make sure that we are ready for the uncontainable growth that God wants to entrust us with.

Don’t let that phrase throw you, either. Uncontainable growth is so much more than numbers and becoming the “next great thing” in a county full of great men and women who have been praying for years to see God move. Uncontainable growth is exactly what it sounds like: a catch of souls for Jesus that no one church can contain. I believe that God has found us faithful with a little, and according to Scripture, that means that He can make us faithful with a lot (Luke 16:10).

Now is the time for each of us to get on our servant clothes and make ourselves ready to serve the hurting whom God will send us to. We will not sit back. We will not wait for them. We will not market in a way that places the burden of moving on those who are least able to move. We will go, and we will start where we are. Join an iOS Team. Determine in your heart to begin now, not later, and let’s see what God can do through us when we are available for 12 months, not just 6.

You all amaze me, but you glorify Him, and that makes both of us smile!

How planning and patience can save a limb – literally

Apr 18, 2012 11:12 am by Paul Jenkins in Church planting, Church stuff, From Me to The G, Leadership, News

Church stuff Dummies lose limbs in roller coaster test From Me to The G Leadership The Swarm

I heard about a roller coaster that opened this spring in the UK (that’s the country, not the NCAA Champs) called “The Swarm.” Boasting of speeds up to 62 mph, it is designed to take up to 28 screaming riders – with hands and legs dangling – on a “flight through apocalyptic devastation on Europe’s tallest winged roller coaster.” Throw in the 127-foot inverted drop and near-misses with walls and stuff and you’ve got the makings of a pretty good thrill ride.

Only one problem. 2 weeks before it was set to open, crash dummies came back with limbs missing. Ooops.

2 lessons can be learned from this that apply to The Gathering (or your church plant):

One: no matter how excited you might be about the great things you’re doing, a little patience can go a long way. Look, nobody likes to wait when it feels like you’re on the verge of something great, and none of us would be on the church planting ride if we didn’t sense that there was something great in store for our churches. But the worst thing we can do is move so quickly that we harm the body. None of us want the people who have jumped on this ride with us to come back without crucial parts of who they are because we were impatient and wanted what we want NOW. Back off, pray, and let time work for you, not against you.

Two: planning is a must. Inherent in planning are to things that we don’t get a thrill from: time and testing. We’ve already talked about the time, but let’s brush against it one more time with an eye to the Boston Marathon that just took place this past Monday. Having run 2 of those beasts (marathons, not the one in Boston – yet) I can tell you with absolute certainty that you cannot wake up on a Friday morning and decide to go run 26.2 miles the next day without having spent the necessary time working through a training plan. Most of them last 18-20 weeks. You can see how time and planning go hand in hand. The church you’re planting is worth the time it takes.

But what about testing? What if the engineers had decided to just “give it a go” and opened the ride without sending out anybody (dummy or real) on a test run? A lot of blood, a lot of legal headaches, a lot of pain. In short, one big mess. So work your plan, and then test the work to make sure it’s the best ride it can be. The people that get on board will be glad you did, and you’ll find that they enjoy the ride a lot more, too. In fact, they’ll probably bring friends back to ride with them.

What does it all mean for us at The Gathering? It means that there is a timing in this whole process that is 100% perfectly in line with God’s. It means that no matter how full our space gets, the last thing we should do is rush to find a solution without patience and planning. And best of all, it means that when we’ve done just that, the end result will be a ride worth taking again, and again, and again.

I LOVE MY CHURCH!!!