I am back in the office today after two weeks of vacation! I feel refreshed and ready to get back on task. Although I arrived home Monday evening, I spent the past two mornings at University of St. Mary by the Lake (Mundelein Seminary) praying, studying, and preparing for the fall. Now I have to go through dozens of e-mails which piled up while I was gone!
I am beginning a second week of vacation today.Our family plans to spend the next few days together in central Illinois with my Mom and my brother, Kevin, and his family.For the last few days, Ben and Luke and I spent some time camping and back-packing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.We had a great time together enjoying God’s creation.It’s hard to describe in words the sight of a meadow blanketed with red Indian Paint Brush flowers, the fragrance of a Ponderosa pine tree, or the alpenglow on the mountain peaks at dusk.All of these aspects of God’s creation offer him praise.
Today I am beginning a couple of weeks of vacation.I would appreciate your prayers for a refreshing time for our family.Ben and Luke and I are planning on a few days of camping.Then, our whole family will spend some time with my Mom in central Illinois.My first day back in the office will be on Thursday, August 14.
Today I am in Columbus, Ohio with Rick Chalupnik attending the Xenos Summer Institute. Brett Gleason, our district’s church planting director, is with us, too. The Xenos Summer Institute is a conference for church leaders on being true to Scripture and true to our mission. The speakers we will hear today include Don Carson (from our church!) and Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I will also attend break-out sessions lead by Gerry Breshears, professor of theology at Western Seminary.
Where is God at work in your life? Forty-five guys spent some time discussing this question at the Men’s Cook-Out last Friday night. I encourage you to reflect on this question, too. Get in the habit of raising it in your LIFE group or in conversations over coffee with other church family members. Philippians 1:6 expresses confidence that he (God) who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Sometimes that work is visible and dramatic. More often, though, it is subtle and gradual and easy to miss. But God is at work in your life!
When you think about our church’s efforts to grow together in love, what is God stirring in your heart these days? I believe that God is at work in our church, moving us to deepen our commitment to loving Him, loving each other, and loving our neighbor. Let me explain how I see this happening in all three areas.
Tomorrow is Independence Day. As I think about my country on its 232nd birthday, I am aware of the need for balance and discernment. After all, I have dual citizenship. I am both a citizen of the United States of America and a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20). So how do the two relate, especially since my ultimate identity and destiny is connected to my citizenship in heaven? As a citizen of heaven, what am I to think about the American Revolution – the movement which culminated in the Declaration of Independence? Let me offer my perspective.
The following words from Deuteronomy 4:7 captured my attention this morning as I was reading Deuteronomy 4:What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? What strikes me is the way that God’s presence is tied to prayer.I have had the privilege this week of praying with several people in our church who are facing some tough stretches in their lives. What an encouragement to know that we have a God who is near us whenever we pray to him!
The kingdom of God is one of my favorite subjects to study in the Bible. What a future hope we have! But how incredible to realize that the kingdom of God has arrived in advance! We began exploring this subject last Sunday as we began a study of Jesus parables. These stories Jesus told were all about life in God’s kingdom.
It’s Thursday, but Sunday’s coming, and so are some new opportunities. One opportunity is to begin studying the stories that Jesus told. This summer, we’ll work through several of Jesus’ parables in the gospel of Matthew. These parables tell us about life in the kingdom of God. This Sunday, June 15, we’ll focus on “the parable of the soils” in Matthew 13:1-23. The title for my sermon is: “A Story for Fathers and Others who Wonder if Our Hope is Real.” As the sermon title suggests, this Sunday is Father’s Day – an opportunity for you to honor your Dad for the impact he made in your life.
Today we are exactly one month into our renewed efforts to grow together in love as a church!I look forward to hearing stories of how God works through the commitments that almost 200 of you made after last month’s dinner.For example, seventeen people made the commitment to sell a possession and give the proceeds to the poor through a compassion ministry.I wonder how God will use that effort to reach out in love?!
Our church is all about the gospel of Jesus Christ. At least it should be. This week, I’ve been reflecting on a recent article about the gospel by Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC. The article is titled “The Gospel In All Its Forms.” If you want to read it for yourself, you can access it for free online through the following link: http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/002/9.74.html
I’ve been thinking today about the incredible privileges we have as God’s people. 1 Peter 2:9 reminds us: You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful life. What an identity! What a calling!
I am attending a preaching retreat this week in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The participants are pastors from all over the United States. All of us graduated from the doctoral program in preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Haddon Robinson is our mentor, and he graciously offers this opportunity each year. This year, we’re studying the book of Deuteronomy together and thinking through how to preach it to our congregations.
Thanks to all of you who participated in the Growing Together in Love Dinner last Sunday night! The food, the mood, and the response was terrific. We had over 250 adults in attendance, and we received 184 “First Steps” response cards! If you chose to take your card home to give yourself more time to think and pray about how to respond, please turn it in this Sunday at our Welcome Center. If you misplaced your card, you can pick up an extra at the Welcome center. By the way, everyone who filled out a card will be contacted in the next two weeks. I’m reviewing each card personally and will pray for each respondent and for their ability to fulfill the commitments they made.
Welcome to May! I’m trying to “work” outside as much as possible on this beautiful day. Todd Ronne, our Board Chairman, and I just had lunch in Vernon Hills at On the Border’s outside patio. Earlier, I spent my morning prayer time outside, walking the neighborhoods surrounding our church facility while praying for the needs of our church. So if you saw me between 7:15 and 8:15 a.m. and wondered why I was wandering the streets of Libertyville, now you know! I was not lost!
I love the church. The church is the hope of the world because its head, Jesus Christ, is the hope of the world. In particular, I love our church, the local slice of Jesus’ church which we call the Evangelical Free Church of Libertyville. Yes, I’m well aware that the church has its problems. That includes ours, too. As Katie Galli points out in the most recent issue of Christianity Today, “the church can be bureaucratic, inefficient, and, at times, hopelessly outdated.” But I still love the church!
I am on vacation this week in Montana! Usually, we save most of our vacation time for the summer. But it worked out best to take a couple weeks this spring. My friend from Wheaton, Dave Goetz, and I have been fly-fishing here since Monday. Temperatures have been in the mid-60s. Tomorrow, Dave flies home, and then Priscilla and Luke will join me. We’ll return home on Tuesday, April 22. We figured that this would be a good time to use some frequent flyer miles and visit friends. Once Luke begins high school, it will be much harder to make trips like this together.
“Love is the lifeblood of this body, and therefore, the ultimate criterion for the assessment of the Church’s growth will be how far it is characterized by love.” Andrew Lincoln made this observation about the church in his comments on Ephesians 4:16. He’s right! When we evaluate the health of our church, we need to ask: Are we growing together in love for God? Are we growing together in love for each other? Are we growing in love for our neighbors?
What a beautiful day! The morning sun reminds me of the closing lines in the song of Deborah:
So may all your enemies perish, LORD!
But may all who love you be like the sun
when it rises in its strength. (Judges 5:31)
That’s my vision for our church as we resume our journey through the book of Judges. I pray that we will love God and experience sun-like strength in our lives. Our challenge, then, is: Love God, Live strong! This Sunday, I’m preaching from Judges 6:1-32 on “God’s Recovery Program.”
What a great celebration we had together last Sunday as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus! I’m still rejoicing in it and thinking about the difference which Christ’s resurrection makes for the world, for our church, and for my life. 1 Corinthians 15:58 continues to encourage me and challenge me. I realize that we can’t experience the same level of enthusiasm every Sunday that we experienced on Easter Sunday. But I pray that we can experience that same spirit of joy and hope and unity week after week.
I hope you are taking time this week – Holy Week! – to reflect on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Reading through Matthew 21-28 this week has helped me center my thoughts on Jesus’ mission. I’ve been blogging daily about the readings, and others from our church family have added their observations and questions. You can check this out by going to our web-site (www.lefc.com) and clicking on the yellow “One Week” tab in the upper right corner. This will take you to a screen where you can log-in to the blog. Note that the login is “LEFC,” and the password is “Matthew.” Even if you have not participated until now, you can join us by reading Matthew 26 tomorrow, Matthew 27 on Saturday, and Matthew 28 on Easter Sunday.
So much happened all in one week. Between Palm Sunday and Easter, Jesus entered Jerusalem as king, cleared the temple, cursed a fig tree, told stories about God’s kingdom, argued with religious leaders, celebrated Passover with his disciples, experienced betrayal and arrest, stood trial, received a death sentence, died by crucifixion, received an honorable burial, and was raised on the third day! It happened all in one week!
Today I’m going to meet with a group of leaders and pastors from the Great Lakes District to pray for our district and its churches. I’d like to share with you how I’ve been praying for our church and how I’m going to ask the participants at today’s meeting to pray for our church. I believe with all my heart that God wants to use us to advance His kingdom here in the north shore area and around the world. Will you join me in praying? Here are my requests:
So far, the highlight of this week has been attending our Hispanic congregation’s twelfth anniversary dinner on Sunday afternoon.Priscilla and I joined the Johnsons (Steve and Carol) and the Hoyles (Glenn and Linda) as representatives from our Anglo congregation.Attendance at the Hispanic worship service usually runs about 100, but there were over 150 people there on Sunday.I was so excited to see all the young families!Pastor Roberto and I will continue to explore ways for our Hispanic and Anglo congregations to interact together.
This morning’s chill felt colder than usual because I spent the last three days in 60-degree weather!I was in Charlotte, North Carolina to attend a gathering of senior pastors in EFCA churches with 500-1000 people.From Monday noon through Wednesday noon, we discussed the issues we’re facing and how we can more effectively carry out the mission God has given to the church.It was a great time!Steve Hudson from the EFCA national office facilitated the discussion.He invited three senior pastors from larger EFCA churches to participate.One of them, Jim Kallam, hosted the event at his church, the Church at Charlotte.I loved these three guys because they are shepherds at heart!
Winter snow highlights the beauty of God’s creation in a unique way. That’s evident from the photo taken by our own Marty Engel. Marty’s photo (below) appeared last week in the Chicago Sun-Times! I love the beautiful contrast between the red cardinals and the white snow. By the way, I’m not trying to deliver a subliminal message here by showing a picture of Cardinals instead of Cubs!
By now you’ve probably dug your way out of yesterday’s snow.I spent all of yesterday afternoon and evening clearing our driveway, clearing a neighbor’s driveway, and helping three people on our street get their vehicles ‘unstuck.’Believe it or not, I remember only four times in two decades of living in Montana when a foot of snow fell in one storm!
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about the privilege of living in community with other followers of Christ. Our church exists to build a loving community of Christ-followers to reach a culture in need of God’s presence. That’s our mission!
I can see the sun rising as I write today’s letter. It’s shining brightly through the distant trees and through the blinds in my office window. It reminds me of the closing line of Deborah’s Song in Judges 5: So may all your enemies perish, O LORD! But may they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength. That’s my prayer for our church family.
One of the challenges we face in carrying out our mission is religious pluralism. By now, you should be familiar with our church’s mission: To develop a loving community of Christ-followers to reach a culture in need of God’s presence. You should also be familiar with religious pluralism because this philosophy has a real problem with our mission. I’m grateful that two members of our congregation have written significant books which help us understand the challenge which religious pluralism presents.
Sometimes, church life seems too complex. Our church offers unending choices, challenges, and opportunities which relate to our mission. For example, there are fourteen ‘upcoming events’ in the next week listed on our church’s web-site. Also, the ‘ministries’ section lists twelve different ministries, and each one offers its own events and requires volunteer help. This is all good. It can also be complicated.
There’s something energizing about a new year!It’s a fresh start.It’s a new opportunity to raise the level of our commitment and service to Christ.I’m praying that 2008 will be a year in which our church makes significant gains for the kingdom of God to the glory of God!I’m praying that we will make solid progress in our mission – to build a loving community of Christ-followers to reach a culture in need of God’s presence.This requires a commitment to worship (loving God), to community (loving each other), and mission (loving our neighbor).
I hope you and your family had a merry Christmas!Our family did.We spent the first part of Christmas Day at my Mom’s house in Lacon, IL (about 25 miles north of Peoria) with my Mom and my brother, Dave, and his family from the Boston area.Then, we hurried through our Christmas dinner so we could drive to St.FrancisHospital in Peoria to spend the rest of Christmas Day with my brother, Kevin, and his wife, Ellen.Ellen was hospitalized last week after going into premature labor.We exchanged a few gifts between her contractions!
