The LITL Secret

Yesterday at PCC, we got to see four key elements that are key components of effectively sharing your faith.  They spell LITL: Location, Investment, Time and Lifestyle.  I won't rehash what I said - you can listen to the message by clicking here or watch the entire service by clicking here.

Today, I wanted to expand on a couple of things I didn't have time to fully explore.

Time.  The primary illustration I used yesterday was about James Nyangas, who digs wells for poverty stricken villages in Africa.  Putting your time into that kind of work really will give you a chance to share your faith in dramatic ways.  But you don't have to wait to go halfway around the world to invest time.

How does this practically work in every day life?  I'm glad you asked!

• You pass Bob in the hallway at work.  You know he's going through a hard time at home, mid-way through a bad divorce, and he's been struggling.  You have a full plate and a growing to-do list.  As you pass each other in the hallway, will you give Bob your precious time by asking, "How are you really doing?" knowing that he will take half an hour or more to tell you the same things he's already told you?  Deep down, you know that he really needs to talk a lot through this season in order to process what's happening with him and his life.  He needs a friend who's willing to listen patiently.  This is a moment that begs for your time investment.
• You are really good with kids, and you know they need help with coaches in the rec league.  Your own kids are no longer in that age group, but you also know that you have a chance to be a significant influence on parents and kids, and you suspect that will also open doors to share your faith.  This is a moment that begs for your time investment.
• You've heard about teenagers coming to PCC who come on their own, without a parent.  You've heard Angie talk about needing adults to invest some time into the lives of some teenagers, but you also know you have lots of other things you want to do.  This is a moment that begs for your time investment.
• So far, you've resisted all asks for you to open your home and host a small group.  While your neighbors have resisted your invitations to come to church, you have had several spiritual conversations with them and you suspect that they'd come to your home for burgers and a little spiritual conversation around a Small Group Bible study.  Still, you hate the thought of having to clean your house every week so folks can come over.  This is a moment that begs for your time investment.

There is an endless list of ways you can invest your TIME into people.  And if you are intentional about this, you WILL have chances to share your faith.  I am fully aware that none of us can say yes to every opportunity.  Yes, we should be selective.  But we cannot neglect to be faithful with giving time.  There is no other way to effectively share our faith.  

Invest your time in other people!

How and What To Share

Today, I talked about sharing your personal story of life change.  We used the text from John 9 about the blind man who couldn't answer all of the questions, but could bear witness to his experience, "I don't know a lotof things about Jesus, but I do know this: I was blind, but now I see."

Here is a brief outline of how you might learn to tell your story:

1. What my life was like before I met Jesus Christ?  You might talk about your circumstances, attitudes or things that were important to you.  Was there a 'substitute' for God in your life, like work, success, sex, money, drugs/alcohol, status or leisure?

2.  How I realized I needed Christ?  What were the markers or steps that led to your decision to follow Jesus? What was the defining thing (hurt, struggle, pain, problems, etc.) that was the impetus to your coming or being open to Him?

3.  How I committed my life to Christ?  What, specifically did you do to step across the line of faith?  What was the gist of the prayer you prayed (what did you say to God)?

4.  The difference it has made in my life.  This is where the rubber meets the road.  What benefits have you experienced or felt.  What problems have been resolved?  How has Jesus changed your life?**

I would highly recommend that you do the following:

1) Write out your story and learn to tell it.  Use the matrix above to help.

2) Choose one or 2 defining scriptures.  But whatever you do, don't just spit memorized Bible verses at people.  I'm talking about a text that moved you to your core when you needed God most.  For me, Romans 8:28 and Genesis 50:20 were it.  They teach that God can use ANYTHING in my life to bring good - even my horrible mistakes and terrible sin.  I know those texts and have them always in the front of my mind.

3) Practice telling your story to others in your small group.

4) Keep your eyes and ears open!  God wants to use your story - no matter what it is - to change the world!





**I borrowed and adapted this from Saddleback Community Church

I REALLY need YOUR help...

Right now, I'm traveling back to Powhatan after spending 2 days with some of our staff and leaders at The Highlands Fellowship in Abingdon. Highlands is an incredible model for PCC - a little farther down the road in terms of age, size and number of campuses, but not so far as to be out of reach for us. I could say a LOT about what we learned, but one key thing was this:

Their facilities were comfortable, well thought out, and COMPLETE. 

Most of our team were keenly aware of how much more comfortable, inviting and relaxing it felt to be in a finished facility. To date, though, even after being in it for over two years, PCC's building remains incomplete.

I decided that I needed to do all I could to finally finish it, and I'm asking you to join me! 

I'm giving back a week of my time off this summer and dedicating it to PCC for this project. If you can come and help for ANY time - a lot or a little - we can finally finish our building! Would you consider it? Maybe you would be willing to come in the evenings or on Saturday. Perhaps some folks will even take some vacations days from work to help. Whatever you are willing to give, it would make a difference! There is a LOT to do, but together, we can do it!

During these five days, we are going to install a MAJOR Landscape all across the front of the building - it has already been designed, the plants donated, and they've been ordered! We'll be finishing the cove base (trim along the floor). We'll be painting, finishing the doors throughout the building, and hanging fixtures we own, but haven't yet installed. We'll be doing wood trim (for those with those skills), landscaping, and a million different little touches that just need to be completed. I'm hoping a lot of people will help me get this done! We CAN finish!

No skill is required. But we do need some folks with specific skills (see list below).

Dates: Saturday, June 9. Monday through Thursday, June 11, 12, 13, 14.

Kinds of work to do: Painting, cove base, wood trim, landscaping, cleanup, hardscape project, parking lot work (tractor work), light construction, plumbing, small concrete project, grouting, fertilizing, planting plants, mulching, painting, painting, painting! The link to sign up for some helping is here.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give. I've been very encouraged by some 1-on-1 conversations with people who seem excited to help. Looking forward to seeing you there!

 Brian

Why the SHARE series is so important!

My claim is that the SHARE series we kicked of today is among the most important conversations we've ever had as a church.  I know there must be folks who are thinking, "This is definitely not for me!"  But hear me out.  (to see today's service, click here)

If you are a follower of Jesus, and if Jesus is who he says he is, than you don't have an option to ignore the subject.  By definition of being a follower, we decided that we would do whatever God tells us to do.  Being a light to the world and the salt of the earth is not a decision to be made.  Rather, it is part of the very DNA of every person who follows Jesus.

But we can do it in a way that is not threatening or aggressive or invasive.  Allowing Jesus to work through you to help change someone else's life is the single most amazing thing I've experienced, and I know many others who would echo the same sentiment.

Frequently, someone comes to me and asks advice about caring for someone in crisis or about sharing their faith journey.  One of my favorite things to tell people is, "You are a good pastor."  It always surprises them.  People don't usually think of themselves that way, but when you are the one who another is looking to for  spiritual advice, counsel or care, you ARE being a pastor to them.  They came to you because they knew you cared about them or because they recognized God's work in your life.

Don't miss the chance.  God wants to use YOU to dramatically change someone's world.  So, don't miss the next few Sundays.  Together, we'll discover the Bible's potent teaching that will give us the tools you need and equip you to be the light of someone's world.

See you next Sunday!

My Poor Tree and 3 Lessons Learned

 A few folks asked about my poor tree today.  (click here to watch the service) Here's the scoop:  I really am an idiot.  I used to do this for a living.  I owned my own business and I had over 1,000 customers who trusted the care of their turfgrass and ornamental landscape to me.  As a Certified Applicator, I was well trained and educated and I was good at it, frankly.

But I'm an idiot.  In case I haven't mentioned that.

I just got careless and I didn't bother to read the label well.  In my haste, I probably killed the tree.  Today is day 7.  On day 2, it was already looking bad, so I hosed it down and I SOAKED the roots, trying to flush out the chemical.  I did it again on day 4.  But it was all probably too late.

I really am sick over it.  But there are several lessons worth noting:

1) When we get in a hurry, we are more apt to make careless mistakes.  If I had simply taken an extra 5 minutes, I could have avoided a costly error.  How many times do I do dumb things or make easily avoidable mistakes because I am rushing?  More than I want to know.  I know I'm not alone in this: I need to slow down to measure what I do long enough to avoid careless errors.

2) When I first saw my mistake, I took immediate action.  That's a lesson worth noting, regardless of whether the tree lives or not.  My initial inclination was to go throw up and wallow in my pity.  I knew immediately that I had probably killed the tree.  But as long as there was a chance, I had to face up to my mistake and I had to take any potentially redemptive action available.  I can think of more than once in my life when I made a mistake worse because I avoided it, hid from it or tried to cover it up (or lie about it).  Most of the time, the sooner we honestly and openly deal with a mistake, the better the outcome and the more we can minimize the damage.  That's true emotionally, physically and spiritually.

3) Learn from the mistake.  Honestly, I do repeat mistakes.  How long it takes to repeat one is directly tied to how painful the consequence was.  In this case, I think I have a 10-year life on this lesson.  Maybe longer.  But the smartest thing to do is not make the same mistake again.  After all, there are plenty of other ways I can creatively mess something up!

Choosing Leaders: An interesting discovery

This week, I returned to the book of Acts for my devotional reading. I try to make it a habit in my life to read the Bible and spend some time with God every day. I wish I could tell you that I'm consistent and the epitome of discipline, but that would not be true. Still, I take this commitment seriously and know that if I'm not spending time with God, praying and listening and reading the Bible, then something in my life will not be right.

So, yesterday, I was in Acts. Chapter 1. I've read Acts many times. It's a fun read, action packed, lots of very exciting things going on. It's not hard reading. But there are a lot of questions that beg to be asked, and yesterday I saw one that I hadn't really asked before. You may even hear it posed in a message some weekend at PCC, but I thought I'd throw it out here.

The situation is that Judas Iscariot is dead. He was one of Jesus' 12 disciples, the one who betrayed Jesus, and he killed himself. Jesus has been crucified and resurrected, and the other 11 guys are trying to figure out what to do next. Peter quotes from the Psalmist "May another take his place of leadership." (Ps 109:8) and concludes that someone has to replace Judas.

And then, they do the oddest thing: They cast lots. Roll dice. Draw cards. Get out the Ouija board.

And nobody ever says anything about it! No one raises their hand and says, "Hey, this is a little weird. Shouldn't we just talk to the candidates and discern which one we feel like God would have us choose?"

Perhaps that's the problem: We use feelings and mix them up with God's voice. Perhaps the 'casting of lots' is a more objective way to hear from God. I mean, there is no emotion involved in drawing straws. The 'short straw' doesn't care if I like you, doesn't look at you, doesn't evaluate your accent or check out your car or your kids.

I'm not advocating that we return to a more 'fortune teller' style way of figuring out God's will. But I do think that the more I can remove my personal stuff from the discernment of what God wants would result in significantly better decisions in my life and leadership.

And I would submit the same is true for you, too.

Confession: What does it MEAN?

I talked on Sunday about the final ritual in our RITUAL series - Confession.  I argued that confession is our part of Easter - that true confession requires me being as honest about myself as I am about Jesus.

I think it's easier for us to talk about how great Jesus is.  He died for our sins.  He made the sacrifice.  He defeated death.  And it seems to me that we often see ourselves as...spectators.  Bystanders.  Jesus suffers...we watch.  Jesus dies...we observe.  Jesus rises from the dead...we celebrate.

But we have a part that is more than passive.  You might have been in church on the day I talked about the Ritual of Commitment when I said something like this, "Jesus did NOT die so that I WOULD be with him for all eternity.  He died for the CHANCE that I MIGHT be with him.  He didn't die so that I WOULD be saved, but for the CHANCE that I MIGHT be saved.  I still have to do my part."

Well, my part of the commitment is confession.  It's confession about who Jesus is (see Romans 10:9) and confession about who I am (see Romans 3:23).  I'm broken, lost, blind, sinful, tainted, afraid, a failure, corrupt...I could keep going, but you get the point.  All of those things apply to me, but they also apply to you.

So, Exactly HOW do I confess?

1) Sometimes, I need to confess to other people.  This happens in 2 ways:

• When I have wronged someone, I usually need to go to them, apologize, and attempt to make it right.  This is not always possible.  But when it is, we should do it.  Yes, there will be consequences.  But, remember, we walk in the light.  John 11:25 - followers of Jesus do not walk in darkness, but in the light of life.  For all to see.  We make a mistake - we admit it.  We own it.  Get it on the table and deal with it.
• Sometimes, I need to confess my sin to a friend or two, or to a small group of friends.  I've done this many times.  It just helps to unload a burden to them.  I find that Christ followers who really love me help me find the truth about myself more easily, offer grace and forgiveness more freely, and give me accountability more effectively. Good friends pray for me and with me, too.

2)  Always, I need to confess to God.  I don't really require my pastor, bishop, deacon or the Pope to intercede for me.  Romans 8:26-27 says that the Spirit of God will intercede for me even when my own words fail.  When I confess to God, I'm not telling Him something He doesn't already know.  It's not like God hears my confession and says, "No Kidding!  You didn't!  No way!"  Confession is not to inform God, it's to inform ME!  I believe that God cleanses and purifies and forgives at confession (1 John 1:9), and that he also speaks at confession.  We hear His voice and feel His presence and experience His healing.  You can confess your sin to God anytime, anywhere, and He will hear you.

One final note: true confession is 'repentant'.  Repentance is a churchy word that churches like PCC (and pastors like me) have thrown out, but it's a word that we ought to revive.  It means that you are not just speaking empty words, but that you sincerely accept that your action, thought, word - that whatever you did was wrong.  You honestly want to do it differently, better.  

Confession is not a license to keep doing what you want, but a statement of intent to do what God wants.

Confession should not be a 'dirty' word, reserved for only slimeballs and dirtbags with a conscious.  It's for everyone.  And we can confess without fear, because we know that "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."  (1John 1:9)