Tension

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:11:01 -0500

“Christian apologetics is not like living in a castle with a drawbridge up and occasionally tossing a stone over the walls. It is not being based on a citadel mentality — sitting inside and saying, ‘You cannot reach me here.’ If the Christian adopts this attitude, either in theory or in practice, his contacts with those who have accepted twenty[first]-century thought will stop.” (Francis Schaeffer - The God Who Is There)

Many of us have heard a representation of Schaeffer’s challenge as seen above. The question is, do we really get what the Christian life is meant to be marked by in todays world? How many have sought to make Christianity “relevant” to their generation and failed hopelessly. Either you get a culturally abandoned, sterilized church living inside the proverbial “Christian Ghetto” enjoying the pleasures of impotence. Or you arrive at the liberalized church with the evident failures in the “seeker friendly movement” and the Emergent Church, both of which have attempted to redefine everything about the Christian message to the core of even the most foundational Christian doctrines. Yet here lies the challenge to the believer of each and every generation since Christ: Learn how to take the Gospel and then clearly articulate its message to the present generation in a clear, and unadulterated way, so as to allow its truths to pierce hearts while remaining faithful to the core and fundamental message. Yes, this is the goal of the Christian life. Right?

Christian apologetics is no different. We all know the passages. “Always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have (I Peter 3:15), “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God… (II Cor. 10:5).” “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… (Romans 1:16).” These are our verses, right? The ones we stand on, fight for, and proclaim with white knuckles to the bitter end. As Jude 3 says, “to contend for the faith” as Christ’s ambassadors. So how do we do this? How can we learn this generation, live in this world and present the gospel in a powerful, clear and effective way, without watering down the message? How can we walk in integrity within this onus to preach the gospel clearly to the world, defend its truths diligently, all without compromising the core message so as to be in the world, but not of it. All of this stirs me. It stirs me because I know that this is the point of tension in the Christian life. Defining the line of contending for the faith, living in the “real world,” presenting the gospel in a clear and efficacious way, while maintaining our own dignity and holiness as Christ’s sons and daughters. As I read Schaeffer’s thoughts throughout his writing I see someone who has wrestled with this point of tension and sought to define, with great care and articulation, the importance for us to develop young, Christian minds into strong, intentional, wise and able ones capable of effectively fulfilling this great commission in each and every generation.

I say this to point out one very profound idea, which Schaeffer eloquently states in his book, The God Who Is There. We must be teaching our children (I would say both biological and spiritual children) to be effective missionaries to their generation. Schaeffer goes on a small tirade against the church’s failures towards its education and preparation of each subsequent Christian generation for “ministry”. He does this honorably, but does bring a direct challenge. The poignancy is seen profoundly in Appendix B (The God Who Is There), where he says, “I have felt torn to bits for those overseas who have been educated in mission schools and then sent out naked into the twentieth-century world (pg. 191 - F. S. Complete Works).” This is exactly what I see. We are rearing babies who only know the proverbial tit and are unable to survive in the “real world!” How much effort we put into rearing Christian children (both biologically and spiritually) capable to truly withstand the conditions of the world today? In some ways we may just teach conformity to the “Christian lifestyle” and less true, pure doctrine and foundations that will both equip us to contend for our faith and ensure that the core, fundamental doctrines are reaching hearts. The reality is that no one in any culture wants to be a hypocrite. It’s fine to try and teach children what is expected of a regenerated life - that is, a desire for holiness in both conduct and motive. But how easily do we pass by the truth of the gospel and begin teaching what is required for conformity’s sake and fail to preach and teach the truth and see the realities of the gospel that actually have the power to transform us (by the Holy Spirit). By simply being prescriptive with the Christian ideals I believe we might be failing to get the depth needed fed into these “young hearts”. Schaeffer goes on about this challenging us to take the instruction of our children seriously; I call worthy of heeding.

So, we must prepare our children to properly and adequately to contend for the faith in the midst of this real world with its real question. The reality, as Schaeffer articulates, is if we don’t do this we are sending our children out into this hostile world naked; intellectually and spiritually. This is especially well articulated with Schaeffer’s allusion to things such as, obstinate, six-literal-day-creationism and other dogmas, which have been defended in-depth and passionately so, without ever delving deeper to ask questions. “Can I prove this?” or, “Does the Scripture actually say this, or have I merely inferred this?” As Schaeffer said so well, “The general preaching and teaching in the… evangelical church should not be of such a nature as to confuse, hurt or undernourish them… We should ask ourselves the question, ‘Is the material of such a nature that it could be extended by eighteen years of honest study without it proving false?’ (pg. 192).” Here, again, is the tension. How can we train up a generation of believers with the potency and effectivity able to stand strong in the midst of the large questions and heavy stones heaved at the Christian worldview and actually withstand them? With that, I want to say that we, as Christians have a great and grave responsibility to teach and instruct our spiritual offspring well. This, as I have mentioned and now define, is the great tension of Christian life. To allow our core beliefs and theology to make the journey across the bridge of theoreticals and into the realm of reality.

This is the great need of our day and it is my hope that we, as believers might accept this challenge and charge ahead in the bold effort to effectively build up and prepare spiritual offspring to take the Gospel to the next generation. No longer might we be content to allow our prescriptivism to be simply passed on each subsequent generation. “Christians do this, and don’t do this” ad infinitum. No! Rather, we would meet anew the challenges this generation has raised up against the Christian worldview and see the truths of the Gospel and the Christian worldview come from theory to practice; from mere ideas to actions and watch the world change with real, Christ founded transformation. This is our challenge ⎯ the challenge to train up each generation as effective representatives of Christ. Let us be a generation that would walk in this calling with true conviction. Let us no longer be satisfied with teaching prescriptive conformity. Nobody want to be a hypocrite. Your kids will gladly “act” like a Christian. Lets actually teach the nuts and bolts; the meat and potatoes, and see a generation rocked to their core as they stand in a hostile world equipped to defend and preach the Word of God with boldness, love and true compassion. As John Wesley said so eloquently, “Light yourself on fire and let the world watch you burn."

Island to Asia

Thu, 9 Jun 2011 16:18:59 -0400

It’s unbelievable that Summer is here. Months have passed by like days during some of the longest and busiest days of my life in Maui. I’ve loved it all, sure. But it has seemed like I merely blinked and lost years of my life; okay, not really. I have also lived and enjoyed some of the greatest times in Maui since this past January as I’ve continued to serve with YWAM Maui. I’ve bonded with staff, volunteers and students from our schools and not only enjoyed it, I have seen God rock lives, change hearts, save some, and reform so many others more into His image and likeness. This is part of Maui’s craziness as people come here and not only get radically challenged and changed, but also see the Lord use their lives and time here and in the nations to do amazing things through them.

So, this is what life has been here in Maui. A rush of things; I, sometimes forgetting to do the most mundane as I try to juggle far to much, though still being able to smell the roses and enjoy every minute as it whizzes past my senses. Now, at a bit of a transition, I am heading on for more of this adventure to see the Lord send me again to Asia. This is my sixth time going to this particular nation; each time growing more love for that place and using the relationships and foundations laid through past trips to be multiplied. As normal, I am leaving this all quite vague. Most of you receive me newsletters and updates, but I would like to take this chance to say that I am eternally grateful for all of the incredible words, prayers and the financial support from all of you whom have persistently given - seeing these project come to fruition because of your generosity.

Many blessings from Maui and you will again hear from me on my website in September when I return stateside. A quick future plans update: I am returning to Maui on September 10 and working with our School of Biblical Foundations and Missions (in Maui) during the Fall and planning to enjoy Christmas again (second year in a row) with my family in Virginia.

Aloha, Gracias & Xie xie

B

Exploration

Wed, 2 Feb 2011 00:07:53 -0500

Part of the joy of my time here in Maui as staff has been in the simplicity of good old fashioned FUN in the outdoors. I write this simply to reiterate that I have loved the past several years working as staff with YWAM Maui. It was a solid year abroad before coming back this January and in many ways I imagined that things would seem much different. I am blessed to see that God is so faithful in bringing me back for this season again with YWAM Maui and that I am finding my place again in this little community. As pictured above, I recently made a trip to the top of our volcano, Haleakala, for a hiking trip through the crater. It was a six hour hike and quite exhausting but I want to talk about a love of mine - to be in the outdoors - and to be here in Maui working with YWAM and seeing lives change forever. A reality of our purpose, as a mission, is that we exist to take the Gospel to the nations. But what I want to emphasize again is that part of being here and what I believe to be a passion of mine is to engage in this community with the DTS students, staff, mission builders and friends in the community, to take to the trail; to make our way into the wild and see the adventure of this island and watch friendship & trust abound.

So, the “ministry of fun” continues here in Maui as it has elsewhere to take to the adventurous things of this life, to engage in the relationships in our midst and to see the Lord use the community, fellowship and adventure to knit hearts together and allow discipleship, growth, encouragement and joy develop in our midst. I believe that we live in a generation that needs (or at least desperately wants) to trust before their can be any place to encourage growth, call out giftings, etc. So, this is a large part of my role here - simply to work in my position as just part of my role and the major one is growing in relationship with others seeing the position to encourage develop within the real things in life; the relationships that happen doing awesome things in this beautiful world in which we live.

For this, I am thankful. I have seen so much fruit out of these times and for this I feel so blessed and in this I am so content to continue serving here and seeing hearts change in the midst of it all.

Blessings.

Home For Christmas

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 10:02:06 -0500

I’ve enjoyed what seemed as a dream over these past few weeks; the first time home for Christmas since 2005 and I have been so blessed to enjoy this season with my incredible family. After enjoying Thanksgiving with in Virginia and then with my extended family in Pennsylvania I flew to Kauai for a week of teaching in their first DTS at this new location. I was honored to have the opportunity and enjoyed lecturing on a topic that has challenged my mind a lot over the last several years. This was the subject surround the opposing worldviews and philosophies against Christianity; worldviews, their basic tenets, and how being a Christ Follower has substantiated validity and livability in regards to this other religious philosophies. It was great being with these guys and girls as they finished up their lecture phase just a week after my time and went on to Asia for three months.

I returned to Virginia to get ready for the Christmas season, enjoying loads of eggnog, christmas cookies, christmas music and pretty much everything with the prefix “Christmas” in it’s name. What a glorious time it was and such a blessing to spend this time with my family. Rachel (my sister) and her husband Jason came down from Ohio to surprise my family and stay for Christmas, which was a joy to be involved in surprising them. We also had a fabulous Christmas party donned in outrageous Christmas sweaters, which can be seen in the photo. After enjoying tons of family time and having a normal Christmas day, we left the following day for Washington PA for grandma’s yearly Christmas bash. Another great time to be with family and seeing and spending time with people I love.

From Pennsylvania my parents, sisters and I hit the road (two days after Christmas) to drive to Colorado for New Years with Josh (my brother) and his wife Ashley in Colorado Springs. It was a 26 hour drive in total, though we broke it up a bit by staying for two days in Kansas City, Missouri for the OneThing Conference with IHOP (International House Of Prayer) for their yearly celebration leading up to the new year. It was my first time to visit “IHOP” and I was blessed to get to see what a 24/7 house of prayer looks like and how God is using places like IHOP in Kansas City to influence and inspire numerous houses devoted to prayer around the world. We were joined by 28,000 other young and old to listen to a lot of teaching and to corporately worship the Lord together with singing. I was personally challenged in this time there and excited all-the-more to continue learning more about this movement that seems to be essential in the propagation of the Gospel. More on this later...

Finally, yesterday, we completed our journey through the flat state of Kansas and all the way to Colorado Springs to the home of Josh and Ashley. I am excited to be here and also to see even more snow, which has transformed their little town into a magical, winter wonderland. I very excited to spend time with them before heading back to Maui on the 5th of January to jump right back into craziness of life. Our next DTS (which I’ll be working with) begins on January 8th so it will be a wild time beginning just three days after arriving.

Again, thank you for reading and a special thanks to all of you who have made time to spend with me. Thanks to all the Life Groups who welcomed me in to share about my work as well as the individuals and families who made time to catch up. I was blessed by this time home and really honored with the multitude that stands behind my in faithful prayer, diligent giving and endless friendship. Have a Happy New Year as we look, together, towards that things God with faithfully work out for his glory in the year to come.

The Refuge

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 18:42:35 -0400

While here in Cartagena I have been privilege to do some photography with the numerous ministries affiliated with YWAM (JUCUM) in the city. Recently, in one such opportunity, I went to “El Refugio” (The Refuge), a small center for under-privilege children from the extremely poor areas of the city who come and get biblical training and love from the incredible teachers there. These teachers are all volunteers that come to love these kids and instill hope into there seemingly bleak futures. I talked with one of the staff who mentioned that they recently starting working with the parents of these kids because they were seeing the parents undermining much of their work once the kids got home. What a work these guys are doing here. Investing into one of the hopeless to bring training, love, direction and reason to live to those who need it most. I am so encouraged to see the hearts of people whom God has given brilliant vision to and then how they pursue it and watch peoples lives change.

I spent about an hour with them and just saw the love of the staff and the joy of these students. They were so cute and joyful though I realize what hard lives they each have. May God bless this ministry at El Refugio.

The link below is to the corresponding photo album and further down is a link to a video the staff made for this project. Thanks for reading.

THE PHOTO ALBUM

VIDEO