Teaching Two Workshops and Speaking in Green Lake, Wisconsin

(Green Lake Conference Center, Wisconsin)

Linda and I travel to our annual HSRM Conference tomorrow. The conference begins Sunday night and runs through Thursday night.

Our special speakers are Mike Hutchings and Larry Sparks.

I will teach two workshops:

- How I Respond to Same-Sex Marriage

- Leading the Presence-Driven Church

I'll also speak Thursday night, June 27, on "Revival and the Ignition of Desire."

For conference information go to hsrm.org.

***
My three books are:

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God

Encounters with the Holy Spirit (co-edited with Janice Trigg)

After a break I'll continue writing Transformation: How God Changes the Human Heart.

Then: Technology and Spiritual Formation.

Then, the Lord willing, Linda and I will write our book on Relationships.

On Incompetent Business Model Churches

Detroit

In my church we have a team of five who oversee our finances. They all have gifts and wisdom in this area. They are fiscally conservative, which I like. 

They put together a proposed budget, sometimes including a proposal from our Elders. They may become aware of a need, and insert it into the proposed budget. 

They are one of our discerning teams. They provide me with reports on budget spending every quarter. 

They are not responsible for making decisions about the direction of our church, although they may discern direction.

Thank God, I don't attend their meetings. They are more than capable of overseeing our finances. More capable, in several ways, than I am.

How grateful I am for them, their commitment, their excellence! I view them as a Discerning Team.

I don't like calling them a "committee." That's a business model term, and we don't do church by a business model. But many churches use business models and have "committees."

Now brace yourself, because I am going to quote A.W. Tozer. Consider this interesting, possible food for discernment. Tozer writes:

"God in His condescending love and kindness often sends a Moses, or maybe a Joshua or an Isaiah, or in latter times a Luther or Wesley to show us that the work of the Lord is not progressing. Times are bad in the kingdom and getting worse. The tendency is to settle into a rut, and we must get out of it...
Someone says, “Let’s form a committee to consider it.” The Baptist preacher Dr. Vance Havner says, “A committee is a company of the incompetent chosen by the unwilling to do the unnecessary.” Perhaps he stated that a little too radically." (Tozer, Rut, Rot, or Revival: The Problem of Change and Breaking Out of the Status Quo, Kindle Locations 174-176)

Perhaps.

And yet...   I suspect many of my pastoral colleagues, who have inherited Business Model Churches, will agree.

Tozer admits a committee may, under certain circumstances, be helpful. But when times are bad and the church is in a spiritual rut, let's form a committee?

***
My book on leadership is Leading the Presence-Driven Church. 

The alternative to the Business Model Church is the Discerning Community. See Ruth Haley Barton, Pursuing God's Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups.

Encounters with the Holy Spirit - Book Now Available!

This book is a collection of essays on the Holy Spirit from Christian leaders who are active in Holy Spirit Renewal Ministries. It is the story of a conference that became a family. The chapters present a biblical and theological understanding of the Holy Spirit, with stories of experiencing and encountering the Spirit. 

Like both wings of an airplane are needed to get off the ground and soar, soaring with God's Spirit requires good thinking about the Spirit and encounters and experiences with the Spirit. We believe you will discover both in this collection of essays. You will gain deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit's ways.

We pray this will culminate in a life of greater experience with God. May the Holy Spirit encourage, strengthen, illuminate, and empower you as you read this book!

Edited by myself and Janice Trigg, with chapters by Annie Dieselberg, Clay Ford, Ross Lieuallan, John Grove, Teri Nyberg, Lee Spitzer, Ed Owens, Pam Wantz, and Norelle Lutke.

You can buy the book HERE - $11.95.

Kindle edition coming soon!

Cover art by Nicole Griffith.

The Christian Roots of Atheistic Morality

(Church in Detroit)

When an atheist calls religion "evil" or "immoral" they are, mostly unknowingly, drawing upon Christian morality. This is because, if there were no God, nothing is intrinsically evil or immoral. (Many intellectual atheists affirm this. Hence, they resort to utilitarianism, or emotivism.)

Jürgen Habermas, arguably the greatest philosopher of our time (at least tied for #1), is not a Christian. But note what he says about morality. Habermas writes:

"Christianity has functioned for the normative self-understanding of modernity as more than a mere precursor or a catalyst. Egalitarian universalism, from which sprang the ideas of freedom and social solidarity, of an autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, of the individual morality of conscience, human rights, and democracy, is the direct heir to the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of continual critical appropriation and reinterpretation. To this day, there is no alternative to it. And in the light of the current challenges of a postnational constellation, we continue to draw on the substance of this heritage. Everything else is just idle postmodern talk." (Jürgen Habermas, Time of Transitions, pp. 150–51.)

In Good God: The Theistic Foundations of Morality, philosophers David Baggett and Jerry Walls write: 

"A picture of reality in which all life is no more than a product of blind naturalistic forces and fortuitous collocations of molecules is fundamentally less adequate to underwrite morality than a personal universe created and sustained by a perfectly loving God. Traditionally conceived moral obligations, while residing comfortably in a theistic universe, are incongruous in a purely naturalistic world."

Atheist J.L. Mackie agreed. For him, "without God it's unlikely that morality, given its odd features, is true." Mackie wrote: "Moral properties constitute so odd a cluster of properties and relations that they are most unlikely to have arisen in the course of events without an all-powerful god to create them."

Indeed.

What If Your Earthly Father Isn't Physically, Emotionally, or Spiritually Available to You?

(Nairobi, Kenya)

This morning at Redeemer I will speak on The Two Things Every Father Must Give to Their Children.

I realize no fathers are perfect, self included. I also know there are fathers who were void of Christ and, consciously and unconsciously, worked against what God wanted for their children.

And, sadly, some fathers abused their children, sexually and emotionally.

What if you had a father who did not demonstrate love to you? Or abandoned you? Or who as not there? Or who died when you were young? What if your father did not follow Jesus? Are you left to miss out on a father's blessing and love?

I think not.

If this is you, please order and read The Blessing: Giving the Gift of Unconditional Love and Acceptance, by John Townsend and Gary Smalley, especially Part 3, "When the Blessing Doesn't Happen." Here you will see that God the Father's love and blessing are available to you and your children.

And, if you are a father, and are at Redeemer this morning, will you join me and other dads in committing to do the two things every father must do for their children?

For My Redeemer Family (6/15/19)

Hello Redeemer Family!

Here are some things I want to share with you.

FATHER'S DAY AT REDEEMER - Sunday, June 16. I'll preach on "The Two Things Every Father Must Do for Their Children."

VERTICAL MARRIAGE: Linda and I are encouraging our marital couples to purchase and read Vertical Marriage: The One Secret that will Change your Marriage, by Dave and Ann Wilson. Then, Linda and I will host a picnic at our house on Sunday, July 14, 6 PM. Bring a dish to pass. I'll do hamburgers on the grill. After eating together, we'll have sharing on the book - what we learned from it. Bring your lawn chairs. PLEASE LET US KNOW IN ADVANCE IF YOU CAN MAKE THIS for our food planning.

ENCOUNTERS WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT:  Today my book appeared on amazon.com. I've co-edited the book with Janice Trigg. Chapters are on the nature of the Holy Spirit and experiences and encounters with the Holy Spirit, with chapters by Annie Dieselberg, Clay Ford, Ross Lieuallan, John Grove, Teri Nyberg, Lee Spitzer, Ed Owens, Pam Wantz, and Norelle Lutke.

You can buy the book HERE- $11.95.

Kindle edition coming soon!

STEVE AND WENDY BACKLUND at Redeemer Sept. 20-22. It's going to be great!

Linda and I are so thankful for all of you - blessings!

PJ

Freed From a Variety of Fears

(Vessel, in New York City)

I still fear too often.

Last week I was teaching at Faith Bible Seminary in Flushing, New York City. I sent the students out to pray, using Psalm 23 as their meditative focus.

I went to a park two blocks away from where class was held. I sat on an old wooden bench that overlooked a school playground. Kids were having recess. I was impressed at how they played and ran and interacted. They were having so much fun! A few of the kids were hanging around a young male teacher. You could see the teacher's influence on the kids. All this, I noted, was happening without being connected to social media.

I have memorized Psalm 23. I closed my eyes and said it in my mind, for the ten thousandth time. I came to this:

Even though I walk through 

the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for You are with me.

I will fear no evil. I'm not there yet.

I began an extended meditation on the subject of fear. In my journal I wrote these interpretations of the Psalm.

I will fear no evil.

Which entails:

I will fear no actual evil. 

I will fear no possible evil.

I will be free from catastrophizing.

I will fear no unlikely evil.

I will fear no threat of evil.

I will fear no imaginary evil.

I will fear no horrendous evil.

I will not fear not having something to fear.

The following conditional statement applies:

When the Lord is fully my shepherd, 

experientially, 

I break ties with a universe of multifaceted fears.

My Favorite Conference - Join Me!

THIS is my favorite conference. Join me this summer! Attend my two workshops  and dialogue with me: 1) Leading the  Presence-Driven Church 2) How I address the LGBTQ issue Take Your Faith to New Heights

Holy Spirit Conference 2019 LOVE.TRUTH.POWER

Long days and busy schedules can make life stressful at times. The best way to de-stress? Getting into the presence of the Lord and abiding in Him. A close second? Go to the Holy Spirit Conference, June 23-27, and recharge in a fresh encounter in God's LOVE.TRUTH.POWER Get ready! Register today!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Tell your family, friends, pastor and church leaders! Downloadable flyer pdf

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How to Hear God's Voice

Glasses, in Glen Arbor, Michigan

When I was teaching at Faith Bible Seminary in NYC this past week more than one person told me they had difficulties in hearing the voice of God. How can we grow in hearing from God?

Here are my thoughts.

Don't try to hear from God. Don't work hard at this. Hearing doesn't come by striving.

Instead, focus on living an abiding-in-Christ life. In a life of continual abiding, which includes having a praying life (i.e., you actually pray for extended periods of time), my expectation is that you will begin to hear God's voice, spoken to you. 

Simply spend much time with God. When God speaks to you, write it down.

Saturate yourself in the Scriptures. Read the Word, and meditate on it. Memorize portions of it. Scripture memorization is a way of meditating on the Word. While meditating, when God speaks to you, write it down.

Hang around people who do these two things. I learn much from being in community with brothers and sisters who have praying lives, and who immerse themselves in the biblical story. When God speaks to me through them, I write it down.

Finally, use this as a devotional guide for a year - Hearing God Through the Year: A 365-Day Devotional, by Dallas Willard. Dallas shows us how to recognize the voice of God and act on it.

***
See also my book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

A Quiet Heart, Wherever We Are

Linda, Greg and Audrey Woo, and I climbed "Vessel" (8 stories) in New York City.

I assigned the students in my class at Faith Bible Seminary to pray one hour a day for the next seven days. Using Psalm 23 as their meditative focus. 

One of the students emailed me today and shared that it was a challenge to pray when the noise of the big city was in the background.

This reminded me of when I taught a class on praying in Singapore. Many of the students, including me, found a place outdoors and prayed. Singapore is a very active city! 

I wrote the student back and said: It is possible to have such a quiet heart that even the noise of the city will not interrupt it. This is the heart-stillness God desires to produce in us. Then we will hear God speaking to us wherever we are.