one of the good guys

Kimball Matkins was the first person we ever talked to at York College. And his is the indelible impression which has caused many high school students to make the decision to attend a small Christian school in a small interstate town in Nebraska.... including our oldest daughter Caitlin. She played basketball for York her freshman season before transferring to Harding...

about a year and a half before we met him, Kimball learned that he had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, an ailment which kills 90% of its victims in the first 24 months...

He was training his replacement as Caitlin went through the enrollment process... and by that time, this former college athlete was wheel chair bound.

I cannot claim that I knew him well.... and I doubt he would remember me (though I am told he rarely forgot anyone's name once he met them).... but this gentle ambassador for a little school in Nebraska had huge impact on an incredibly large number of people.

If ours is to touch as many people as we can with Jesus' love, well, Kimball is a great man to model.

yesterday, Kimball went home...

to say that he will leave a hole is a vast understatement. People who knew him well will do a much better job of eulogizing him... I met him twice for a total of 35 minutes.

...and I will never forget him...

I think he had that affect on people.

tm

the organic movement

Been pondering and thinking a lot about the organic church movement... and my previous study had led me to the conclusion that 'organic' and 'institutional' were somehow incompatible... even opposite... or, at least, certainly mutually exclusive...

I have thought at times that one could not be a member of an institutional church AND an organic movement at the same time... I am rethinking that. I am no longer sure that is the case... as a matter of fact, if 'church' is about community, why would we limit our connectivity to others in any way?

It is obvious to me that we have perverted the idea of church to the point where most people necessarily think of the building they attend on Sunday morning when they think of what 'church' is....

That does not mean that an organized church is incongruous with the Biblical idea of church. But it would be hard to argue that 'organized religion' is not, in most cases, very different from what God intended it to be... and, in my opinion, in mostly bad ways.

But discovering or agreeing on that premise - that organized religion is largely a perversion of what God intended - is not NEARLY a grand enough 'place' to be...

If you have landed there... or at least have wondered if 'church' is all that it should be... then the question is 'what now'?

Do we completely turn away from organized religion? Do we run from the church of our youth? Do we pull back and not participate in anything 'church'?

Why would we do that? It's at least as ridiculous to turn your back completely on the idea of organized religion as it is to think that one can survive and thrive outside the Community God designed for us... right?

I encourage us all to pray about the matter... ask God to guide our hearts as we go... I also challenge us to study and refine our idea of 'church'.

Of this I am sure: our mission - spreading seed, making disciples, etc. - ONLY happens within the context of relationship.... think about that as you study and pray...


Blessings!

Mrs. Libby Baker - none better

Me and the rest of my First Day friends gathered in the living room of a very special person yesterday afternoon.

Libby Baker is ever the gracious hostess, and she was kind to let First Day sing in her living room with her and a few of her family members!

What a treat! just being in her presence, you feel how fellow seekers must have felt when they were around Lydia of New Testament fame... she is a treasure... and yesterday, for a few minutes, we had the honor and privilege to sit with her in her 'parlour' and just sing.

It was very very special. and I will never ever forget it!

Thank you, Miss Libby, for being the blessing you are to everyone. And thank you for welcoming us into your home... I'm still floating!


Blessings!

citizen soldiers or mercenaries

Ask most people about our system of government, and they will tell you we are a democracy...

actually we are not.

The United States of America can better be described as a representative republic... it involves 3 branches of government, one of which consists of two groups of representatives who are supposed to 'represent' their 'people'.

These 'citizen legislators' were never intended to become professionals but, for the most part, that is precisely what we have: professional politicians!

It is in some way akin to the citizen soldier / mercenary relationship... one fights for a Purpose and the other fights for money.

unfortunately, the church buildings which dot our landscape (and the Church they 'house') have inevitably mirrored society around them... and instead of the Church affecting Society, it has indeed worked in reverse: Society has affected the Church - and mightily!

Nowhere is this more obvious to me than in the 'professionalization' of the 'ministry'. We have schools which exist solely to create professional preachers... our churches search for the right men with the correct letters after their names.... and all of that necessarily creates a Clergy / laity system.

...this notion runs counter to Biblical teaching about spreading the Gospel and expanding the Kingdom's borders... and it has created the professional-evangelist-vs-'lay-minister' situation which is, in my opinion, poisoning the Church.

and while many will cite Paul's quoting of Deuteronomy 25 in his Corinthian letter in order to justify the professional preacher, I am not certain the 'preponderance of evidence' from the inspired Bible writings will lead us to believe that professional preachers are THE design for accomplishing our commission. Don't misunderstand: I am NOT against those who preach and mission and travel and teach being supported to do so... I believe we ought to pay them! and we ought to pay them a lot more than we typically do...

but it would seem to this somewhat-semi-serious student of the Bible that His Design tends more toward the roaring lamb than the professional evangelist.

Does that mean people should not aspire to Biblical knowledge? well, I guess that would depend on our motivation, right? I mean if we are pursuing knowledge solely for the sake of knowing... if we are craving Bible intelligence so we can score well on a test or win a debate..... if our reason for endless hours of study is to be the smartest guy in the room or the cleverest preacher... then that pursuit is folly because it so thoroughly misses the point!

If on the other hand we are pursuing knowledge so we can 'more perfectly discern His Will for us' or equip our brothers and sisters to 'go and make disciples', well that's a different story altogether... and in my circle of friends (several of whom are paid, located preachers), THAT's what seems to drive their hunger for knowledge... and that gives me peace. ...and to those who are actually 'training and equipping' their brothers and sisters to complete the mission... KUDOS!!!! that is an excellent and worthy use of your education, intelligence and talent!

But there are, I believe, countless others who miss the mission in their chase for knowledge. and, for my part, I got no respect nor use for smart people who don't grasp their role in the mission.

and, after all, which is a more effective tool for COMPLETING THE MISSION? A brilliantly smart, incredibly well-educated pulpit preacher who, by our clergy/laity design, has no connectivity with his parishioners?

OR

a passionate, compassionate saved sinner who influences his circle of friends to follow Jesus (all the while studying His Word)?

there's no comparison.

Understand this: NOBODY loves to hear a talented, Biblically educated preacher deliver a stem-winder more than me!

I'm just not sure that THAT is the BEST method for the mission at hand. and I am QUITE CERTAIN that it is not the only method...

I covet your thoughts, and offer this in as humble a spirit as I have in me.

God Bless!