Abysmal, or Improving?

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It can be said, I suppose, that the curse of the ministry is busyness. Some of it is what I call  administrivia. Some of it is the result of techno-preoccupation (I’m guilty). Some of it is the result of having way too many things on our plates. Some of it is due to the fact that we’ve done a poor job developing men … leaders … guys that are called and passionate to serve Christ’s bride along with us.

No matter what the cause, the greatest problem of busyness is prayerlessness. The poll numbers have been in for some time. We pastors are abysmal pray-ers, as a whole.

In my last post on Cross Connection Network, entitled “I’ve Got to Pray More,” I wrote on the subject of prayer, and the ways in which I was encouraged to pray more while at the reEngage Church Planting Conference.

Today, I’m at it again. I am serious about ramping up my prayer life. Since I wrote, I’ve seen some serious answers to prayer. But I’ve only improved slightly in my prayerfulness. My take is that the Father is pleased with any new effort in this regard. Like a father encouraging a son learning to ride a bike, our Father encouraged me with quick results. And I am encouraged.

(I wrote this blog on Saturday, November 3). Tomorrow morning I’m speaking at a church in the Bay area of CA. My message will be from Jesus’ parable of the unjust steward, the intent of which was to stimulate His disciples to always pray and not lose heart. I picked that passage because I need it. It was a selfish choice, admittedly. Hopefully, the result … in the long run … will benefit many.

Here are the notes from that message. It’s almost in manuscript form, so it’s fairly easy to follow. Check it out, if you so choose.

www.billholdridge.com/Luke/We Ought to Pray Always.pdf

“…that your fruit should remain” Another of His promises fulfilled!

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Do to an “off the rails” kind of week ministry-wise, I had an insufficient amount of time to work on my post for today.  So, I’m going to eat from the forbidden fruit that is a re-posting of something I wrote for a different blog.

Below is a post I wrote the other day as a follow up to a post that was a word of encouragement to missionaries that serve around the world with Shepherd’s Staff.

I pray you’re as encouraged reading these things as I was while I reflected on God’s grace and faithfulness in my own life and ministry.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

In my last post, I made an attempt to use the truths that Jesus spoke in this verse to encourage those of you who are serving as missionaries in various places around the world.

In this post I’d like to share how the Lord has used the truths of this verse in my own life at three specific times.

The first time was in January of 1987.  Our Missionary God had recently confirmed to my wife and I that He had set us apart to the work of planting a church in the second largest city in the Philippines, Cebu City.  In response to this call on our lives, we plunged into His word seeking principles and truths that would help us to obey the call and to proceed with confidence.

John 15:16 was the first and most foundational verse that He drove into the depths of our hearts and minds.  We knew that His desire was for us to take the truths of this verse as if He had spoken them directly to us.  He wanted us to know He had chosen us, not vice-versa.  That He appointed us to GO to Cebu City and to bear fruit there.  And as a church planter, the truth that I really zeroed in on–that the fruit that we bore would remain.

We headed for Cebu in September, 1987.  Five and a half years later, a small, but healthy church had been planted and the transition to a national pastor had officially taken place.

The second time was the day we actually flew away from Cebu.

At the end of our final full day as a missionary family in Cebu, we spent the night at the missionary guesthouse in the city that was operated by the Baptist General Conference (BGC).  The BGC guesthouse was a beautiful little oasis in the midst of a large, busy, over populated, and polluted city.

Everyone who stays overnight at the guesthouse comes together every morning for an American breakfast.  Before the prayer for the meal, the guesthouse director, (who happened to be a retired businessman from the Midwest), always reads from that day’s Daily Bread devotional and then prays for the meal.

Would you like to hazard a guess on what verse the Daily Bread focused on for that day’s devotion?

As soon as this brother began reading John 15:16, Helen and I looked at each other in awe.  We knew that He cared about the details of our lives, but we never expected He would reveal His care at that level of detail.

It was an unforgettable moment that will be etched in our hearts and minds for eternity.

When our family walked out of the guesthouse an hour later to depart for the airport we were greeted by Pastor Bong and many members of the church.  Needless to say, we were completely overwhelmed by His grace, His sovereignty, and His faithfulness to His promises that we had taken seriously.

The third time hasn’t actually taken place yet, but it is scheduled.

If my health holds up and no major unforeseen events happen, Helen and I will fly to Cebu City the first week of January to attend a special event on Sunday, January 13, 2013:

 The 25th anniversary of Calvary Chapel of Cebu City!!!

 Our Missionary God was serious when He spoke the truths of John 15:16 to us all those years ago.  He promised that the fruit we went over there to produce would remain, and He has been faithful to that promise.

He’s worthy of YOUR trust in Him and His promises.

 

 

 

 

Vision – Part 1

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Over the last several years I’ve given much thought to the subject of vision and have written a few times of it here on Cross Connection. Verses like Proverbs 29:18 regularly come to my mind — “Where there is no vision, the people perish” — and keep me cognizant of the fact that vision is important. It is however strange to me that discussion on the topic of vision seems, for some, to cause a problem. I’m not entirely sure what the problem is, but often when I speak on the subject, people (especially pastors) will, almost aggressively respond with things like, “Well, I’m not a visionary leader,” or “I’ve never seen a vision,” or my all-time favorite, “I haven’t had any visions since I became a Christian and stopped taking psychotropic drugs.” With that in mind let me begin by saying, I too have yet to “see a vision” and have never tried psychotropic drugs. Furthermore, I’m not sure I’d account myself as a “visionary leader.” But I do recognize the importance of vision, especially from Christian leaders and for Christian churches.

I greatly appreciate that the New Living Translation translates “vision” in Proverbs 29:18 as “divine guidance.” This translation sheds light on the fact that Christian leaders need to be led. Most Christian leaders (i.e. pastors) can accord with that. They fully recognize the need to be following the Lord in their leading of others, thus we seek the Lord for His guidance. His vision.

So as I’ve contemplated the question of vision I’ve concluded that there are five important aspects of vision that pastors and leaders should be aware of. Over the next several weeks I’ll be developing them here.

1. Receiving Vision

More than a few pastors have confessed to me “I am not a visionary leader.” I don’t necessarily believe them when they say so, because I am not convinced that they’d be leading if they weren’t. One of the problems is that we tend to look at those doing extraordinarily cutting edge things in ministry as the “visionaries” of the bunch. But I’d suggest that those leading edge pioneers are not the only ones, and that if we allow ourselves to think that only they are, then we will in some way fail to lay hold of the vision for which Christ has laid hold of us for. Well then how do we lay hold of, or receive the vision that God has for us? It’s actually easier than you might think.

In considering my personal ministry experience and the observations I’ve had of other’s, I’m more convinced than ever that divinely guided vision is as easy as a wish. In other words, vision begins as a desire. Thus, if you are to receive divinely guided vision you should delight yourself in the Lord. Yes, I’m referring to Psalm 37:4, in the sense that those who delight in the Lord will find their will (read, desire) subdued to God’s will. For, it is God who works in us to desire (Philippians 2:13).

This, I believe, is one of the “signs of life” for a Christian, new desires. Just as at physical birth a newborn baby experiences new desires it has never experienced before (to breath, to eat, etc.), a newborn babe in Christ does as well. This is almost instantaneous. How many times have we encountered new believers that say things like, “I just don’t want to do the things I use to want to do”? Why is that? Because the Spirit that dwells in us yearns jealously (James 4:5). His Spirit is bearing witness with our spirit that we are in fact newborn children of our Father in heaven. And as we delight ourselves in the Lord He imparts to us new desires (i.e. visions) to do things that we would not have other wise done.

Although it’s something of an aside, I think that it is important to highlight that there are a number of things that can aid in receiving vision. Since vision, in the context in which we’re speaking of it, is divine guidance, I believe that it is important (especially as a leader) to place yourself in the places in which God has told us that He will be. For your consideration I’ll give a few.

a. Jesus told us that He is with us when we are “going” on behalf of his name and kingdom.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.

– Matthew 28:19-20

b. God has revealed that He is present when His people praise Him.

But thou are holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

– Psalm 22:3

c. Jesus revealed that He is in the midst of those gather in His name (i.e. fellowship).

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

– Matthew 18:20

Now, the problem with visionary desires at the conception stage, they’re not always entirely clear. Just as there are times when we have a [carnal] desire to eat but cannot necessarily figure out just what it is that we’d like to eat. The specifics of the desire are indistinct and the details of the vision unclear, which leads us to where we’ll be heading next time with the second aspect of vision.

What in the Worldview….

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This article is an excerpt from my book Ahead of the Curve (published in 2011)

We need to put ourselves in the shoes of the non-believer. We need to think about how they see the world. We need to analyze how they interact with the world. Cross-cultural missionaries have been doing this for thousands of years. It is time, however, for us to apply the same skills here in the West to bridge the great divide within our culture. On any given Sunday, in most communities across America, there are vastly more people not going to church than there are in church. Fifty years ago, there was not as drastic a difference between the worldviews of the churchgoers and those of the non-churchgoers. But now there is a great divide, and in order to be effective, we must take the time to understand how the non-churchgoers think and feel. We have just seen what makes up a worldview. Now we will take some time and look at what has made the twentieth century what it is, the worldviews of modernity and postmodernity. My intention in this book is not to be exhaustive in any sense of the meaning, but will briefly sketch some of the defining contours of both modernity and postmodernity so that we can see what this emerging worldview actually is.

Modernity is often called the Post Medieval period. It runs roughly from 1400 until about the 1930s. Historians tend to break modernity into an early and a later period. The early modern period continues until about 1800. The modern era begins in the nineteenth century with the advent of industrialization. It is this latter period of modernity that has the most weight for us. It is what is commonly called the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment paradigm is also known as the “representation paradigm” in academic circles. Its goal is to see the world empirically. Reason has the upper hand. Proponents of modernity see the world as a mapping of what can be empirically understood.

Although the church seems currently obsessed with understanding postmodernism, I find it interesting to note that postmodernism began as an intellectual and cultural phenomenon in the 1920’s. That was almost a century ago! Postmodernity’s focus on social and political out workings has been the norm since the 1960’s. The church is behind the time. We are trying to understand something that is nearly a century old, yet we still don’t quite have a handle on it. Even the name by which we call the worldview, postmodernity, shows that we do not quite understand it. Think about the name of the first automobiles. They were called a horseless carriage. They didn’t know what it was, but they knew it wasn’t what they were used to. They had been used to horse drawn carriages and these new things did the same thing but without the horse. We call it postmodernism because we know that it is beyond modernism, but we do not quite know what it is still. This is more than a little disconcerting.

Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, gave a basic outline of Western intellectual history in this way: Pre-modern (or Medieval) thought posits that we can know things truly through both reason and revelation. Modern thought believed that we can only know things truly through reason but not through revelation. But postmodern thought believes that we cannot know things truly either through reason or revelation. This is what Gerry Grant Madison meant when he said Post Modernism leads to aporia or intellectual exhaustion. This is why postmodernity is typified by relativism (there is not truth as it is all relative) and pluralism (one understanding is no better than another).

Postmodernity’s great critique of modernism is that it left out the individual in understanding the world. The individual himself brings something to an understanding of the world. In many ways, this is why postmodern thought tends to be overly self-focused. Joe Queenan’s book, Balsamic Dreams: A Short but Self Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation, is masterful at showing how self-improvement and self-centeredness is the predominant ideology of the boomers. Postmodernity brought the self to the forefront of the discussion and obviously, the self enjoys the adulation. It has been commonly said that the postmodern worldview has three problems that must be overcome in order to do effective Christian evangelism.

You will notice that all three problems exist on individual and personal grounds. The problems are: the guilt problem, the truth problem and the meaning problem. There is a guilt problem because most postmodern people do not have guilt over their mistakes because of their truth problem. They essentially do not believe in truth. Like Pilate, they ask the question, “What is truth?” It is a rhetorical question that assumes there is no such thing as truth. The guilt problem stems from the truth problem, which stems from their meaning problem. Because truth is relative and unknowable, how can anyone know what something really means? You can see how pure postmodernism leads to intellectual exhaustion!

Two of the main consequences of postmodern thought are the fragmentation of authority and the commoditization of knowledge. Postmoderns see things in terms of power plays. All authority is seen as an oppressive hierarchy. Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud’s theories on this subject set the stage for what have now become readily accepted cultural beliefs. The whole situation is exacerbated by modern technology, which brings the world closer and makes it seem smaller. The Internet brings knowledge to us at a rapid pace. The postmodern person is used to having information from all over the world instantaneously accessible. This is a lethal combination. When distain for authority (and their truth claims) meet copious amounts of knowledge mixed with self-centeredness, the result is an inability to correctly assess meaning, truth or guilt.

Postmodernity, by and large, rejected on a grand scale, the empirical and rational claims of modernity. Postmodernists rejected truth and accumulated information. Postmoderns typify what the Bible speaks of when it says, “always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.” But as I look at the prevailing worldview of both the Northeast and the West Coast, I see something different than postmodernity. There is not the rejection of truth claims at all. But what is unique is that rather than rejecting what has come before, there is a prevailing sense that other viewpoints should be integrated into the worldview. Not just in an acknowledgment of viewpoints, but in the actual amalgamation of truths.

In the report from the After Post Modern Conference it says this:
General statements of “truth” and objectivity’ are permanently ambiguous––but this does not mean that truth and objectivity are lost. Rather they require more––they need a further contextual completion from what we are just then living, before we can choose among variants for an activity at hand. Instead of mere pluralism, we can create “complexes of multiple truths” involving a demanding and sophisticated steering of scientific research with multiple applications and resonance to local contexts.

It is these complexes of multiple truths that I see clearly on the coasts of our country. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. At this point, I am happy to introduce you to post-postmodernity. Let us give it a proper name. I would like you to meet the “Integral Worldview.”

Paying the Cost

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In my last post I introduced the idea of remaining vigilant in the process of growing in grace, and not doing the easier things of life and ministry as a means of avoiding the harder things, or next things, that need doing. I used the metaphor of caber tossing and triathlons as a means of expressing those things that come easier to me versus those things that I tend to avoid like the plague.

I said I would write in my next few posts about those things that can be very hard for many of us, so in this post I want to explore “paying the cost”. “WHAT?” I can hear the theological gears going into overdrive in response to a phrase like that. “Jesus paid the cost! What kind of craziness are you proclaiming here?” Before I lose you in your own theological tangent, follow me to Luke 14:25-35.

In this oft mentioned portion of the Gospels we read about “the cost of discipleship”. The standard sound byte we hear associated with this passage is “counting the cost”. I say, “wrong!” If we look closer at the passage we see that the metaphors Christ used involved both counting and paying a cost. That was the whole point, in fact. If you don’t count to see how much you have to invest in the endeavour before you begin then how can you pay what’s necessary to carry out and complete the task? When it comes to discipleship, we must not only count… but pay.

Before answering the call to foreign missions there was an admonition from others to “count the cost” in advance. I did so. I truly searched my heart, surmised certain scenarios and circumstances, imagined ill-fates, focused on hard realities and uncomfortable truths. I carefully considered the costs! And after much meditation and prayer concluded that we, as a family, understood the costs.

Some of the “costs” I had counted were in relation to my children (aged 9, 6, 4, and 11 months at the time). I counted the cost that I was separating my children from their grandparents who loved them dearly and loved to spoil them. I counted the cost that my children wouldn’t be able to see and play with their friends any more, that they wouldn’t have English-speaking kids all around them, making it much more difficult to make new friends and playmates. I counted the cost that my children would only be able to bring a couple of their toys with them in the move, and not get to enjoy cartoons or the latest instalment of “Ice Age” at the movie theatre. I counted the cost that they would have to eat very basic diets and be cautious of dangerous creatures. I counted the cost that my children might be unhappy, uncomfortable, and upset, that they would be exposed to life-threatening illnesses and in the worst case scenario even death. These were the costs I calculated in regards to my children.

But counting and paying are two different things!

These costs were easy enough to calculate, but very difficult for me to pay because I often struggle with viewing success as a father as heavily dependant upon my success at blessing my children with fun, toys, activities, friends, playmates, food they enjoy, and entertainment. Even though I know better, I’m honest enough to admit that I still have a hard time in this area. So for me this was, and is, a “hard thing”; a cost easy to count but painful to pay.

I thank God — truly, truly thank Him — that some of the costs that could have been required were not. We still have all of our children. In fact, we gained two along the way! I thank Him that some of the tolls on our road weren’t as high as they could have been. Though two of our youngest girls had a deadly strain of malaria on a couple of occasions and our oldest son contracted Tuberculosis while on an outreach to an extremely remote village, we all still have our overall health. But even now, as we have left the more physically threatening environs of East Africa and live in the more modern world of small-town Ireland, I still struggle to pay the cost of not being able to bless and spoil my kids! It sounds silly in comparison to the costs I was willing to pay in so many other areas. But as I said in my last post, different things are hard for different people. Not being able to afford to take my kids to McDonalds — or by them treats or snacks or toys or ice cream — is still a cost painful for me to pay.

Counting and paying are two different things.

I bring this up only as an example. Many times it’s easy to think we’re moving forward in sanctification and growth because we’ve become experts at counting the costs, talking about the costs, telling others about the costs, but we still avoid wilfully paying the cost the way a fat man avoids a triathlon (yes, I’m fat so I’m allowed to say that).

Shepherds… we can blog about how pastors or churches should do this or change that, telling others how important and necessary it is, and yet never really do it ourselves. We can teach about true discipleship and yet never make any true disciples. We can preach about holiness and yet never implement church discipline for fear of the potential financial implications involved. We can proclaim the importance of church planting and yet never implement a plan to plant a church. Scriptures tell us not to muzzle the ox that treads out the grain. Are you an ox that treads grain, doing the hard things and paying the cost of discipleship by the power of the Spirit? Or are you an ox that pontificates on the nature of grain and grain-treading?

Sheep… we can talk about how “the church” should do this or that or the other, but never be the ones to do it. We can agree with the pastor that we need to support local outreach and foreign missions more but never give a dime towards it. We can ask for prayer for our neighbours’ salvation but never share the good news with them. We can make a stand for righteousness come November, but not live and walk in the light of Christ’s righteousness in our thoughts, in our homes, and in the secret places of the heart year-round. Scriptures call us “the body” of Christ. Are we paying the cost of discipleship that the Spirit has empowered us to pay by moving according to the commands of the Head? Or are we spastic and undisciplined members of the body, moving on our own and even against the signals from the Head?

Counting and paying are two different things. But the Spirit gives us the ability to pay!

If I were going to actually enter a triathlon there would be MUCH to count as far as costs go (not many 6’3″ 340lb men in triathlons). I could talk about the triathlon and the costs involved in entering it. I could even sign the forms to enter, preach every Sunday about how good and necessary it is, and encourage others to enter as well. And doing all of that would probably make me a popular pastor. But it wouldn’t make me a healthy pastor… a true leader of God’s sheep… a disciple who does the hard things God calls him to by the Spirit of God, for the glory of God, and the good of the Kingdom of God.

Please pray for me, and consider yourself as well. May we as shepherds (and sheep, too) go beyond our mastery of counting and get to the often difficult duty of paying the cost of discipleship — a spiritual discipline made possible by the Spirit of God in us. Christ has laboured in this discipline before us, and bids us to be yolked to Him and join Him in the unexpected joy of slavery.

I’ve Got to Pray More

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Last week my wife and I drove down to Twin Peaks, CA for the Calvary Church Planting Network’s reEngage Conference. While we were only able to be there for two days, those days were well worth it.

All of the content and vibe of the conference was tremendous, but I want to share briefly about the impact Dave Earley’s message had on me personally. He spoke during the Tuesday evening session.

He talked about prayer. Here are some notable quotes that deeply encouraged me.

Speaking on the incredible success of the apostolic church, and the power they possessed: “We’ll never have Acts 2 until we have Acts 1.”

Referring to the urgency and necessity of prayer in spite of very busy pastoral schedules, he quoted C. H. Spurgeon: “Sometimes we think we’re too busy to pray. This is also a great mistake, for prayer is a saving of time.” In that regard, he also quoted Luther’s famous “I’m so busy I must spend the first three hours of my day in prayer” statement.

As he talked about the giants of the faith and the source of their successes: “If you want what they had you gotta do what they did.” In that context, he was talking about prayer and the prayer habits of the George Muellers, D.L. Moodys, and Hudson Taylors of the past.

Commenting on the ridiculousness of operating on our own strength and vision apart from the Lord, Dave asked: “How many of you think that God can do things bigger, better, and faster than you can?”

He talked about the three jobs of pastors … to pray, to teach, and to develop and release leaders.

In my own life, I have learned to pray well over the 39 years I’ve lived since I was baptized with the Holy Spirit in August of 1973. I have been shown—by the Lord Himself—how important prayer is to my walk with Him and to my calling and ministry. But I have to be honest and say that my prayer life has been anemic by comparison. I talk to the Lord every day, but have not been in the habit of daily getting on my knees for any real length of time … whether in worship, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession.

I was not condemned by Dave Earley’s message. Rather, I was encouraged as I was being rebuked and exhorted. I sensed the Holy Spirit Himself speaking to me during the message.

I want to change my priorities and habits in my latter years. It will be a battle, I know. The enemy will fight hard to gain control of the most effective means to marginalize and ruin his methods. But I must do this. I must pray. I get to pray. I/we are privileged to pray.

The last five days have seen growth and improvement. I am hopeful. And God is faithful and able.

ReEngage:12 | Ed Stetzer – Session 1

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Local church lessons from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. Part 2 of 2

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I’m fairly confident that most of the people who actually read this blog already know this, but I want to emphasize this well known truth right up front:  At some point, every analogy or illustration does break down, especially if it’s stretched too far in one or more of its specific components or even if it’s taken too far as a whole.  The similarities I’m about to draw between a U.S. Navy aircraft and the local church will not be an exception to this truth.

–Similar to an aircraft carrier that is guided by the captain of the ship, a local church, (especially a church within the Calvary Chapel group of churches), is guided by a Senior Pastor.  But neither the captain of the ship nor the Senior Pastor of a local church are ultimately in control.  They are both under the authority of their commander in chief.

–Similar to an aircraft carrier which exists primarily to accomplish a mission external to itself, a local church exists to fulfill the commission given to it by its Creator.  In the very first invitation He gave to His first 4 disciples, (Matt 4:19) Jesus included the reality that to “follow” Him had a purpose…to be made into a “fisher of men”.  In other words, He calls us to a relationship with Himself for a purpose larger than our own interests.  And before He ascended, He made clear how big the pond was that they were to now fish in, (Matt 28:18-20).  He commissioned them to GO and make disciples of every ethnic group that He Himself created and placed in various locations around the globe.

–Similar to the captain of an aircraft carrier, the Senior Pastor of a local church must ensure that those he leads play their specifically designed role alongside and in unison with every other member so that those who are called to be launched to far away places can accomplish the mission they’ve been called to carry out.  Although only a small percentage, (similar to an aircraft carrier) are called to go, it’s their going that gives meaning and purpose to everything done by everyone else.

–Similar to an aircraft carrier, whose success is not measured by well or how comfortable the lives of the crew are, a local church’s success is not measured by how well or how comfortable it’s members are, but by how equipped, effective, and engaged they are with other members of the crew to accomplish the mission and ensure that those that are launched to do the far away mission are equipped for success.

–Similar to an aircraft carrier, if a local church does not regularly keep the bigger mission in front of its members and launch those that are called to far away places, the members of the church will lose focus, begin thinking that the church exists primarily to meet their own needs, and then many of them will cease to serve and just become consumers of the religious “products” the church offers.

–Similar to an aircraft carrier, in addition to the ultimate mission of launching some of it’s own to far away places, the local church needs to be ready to engage the area right around where it sits.  Although every member should be “fishing for men” in their day to day lives, the church as a church, should also have a contingent of it’s members engaging the local community that it exists within.  And though this is crucial, even local outreach must be done with the global mission in mind that God has called every local church to be a part of.

The similarities could go on and on, but I think I’ve made my point.  Here are a few final thoughts:

1.  Every Senior Pastor needs to be confident that some of those in the church he is called to pastor ARE CALLED to be launched to far away places, and intentional about discovering them and equipping them.  To not discover who those people are would be like the captain of a carrier not bothering to figure out who the pilots and flight crew are.  It would clearly indicate that that captain doesn’t actually know why his ship was built and the ultimate mission it is assigned to accomplish.

2.  Although the analogy does break down here, how silly would it be for the captain of a carrier to actually go on missions regularly himself, but then ignore the fact that there are pilots already on board his ship that are called to and willing to die out there if necessary?

3.  We’ve already been told what God’s “end game” is, (Rev 5:9 7:9). Jesus said to GO and make disciples of all nations, the Jerusalem church leaders didn’t take that seriously, so God established a local church that would take it seriously–Anitoch (Acts 11:19) and then that church launched two of its own leaders (Acts 13:1-4).  It’s the local church that is the launchpad for those personally called to obey the commission to go the ends of the earth.  Participating in that ultimate purpose that God has given every local puts all of the inner workings of every local church into the proper perspective.

Finally, as I had the Thursday night NFL game on in the back round last night, (while I was reading), there was a great ad for the U.S. Navy.  The Navy’s slogan now is:

The U.S. Navy, a global force for good…..THEY AND THE BLUES BROTHERS HAVE STOLEN OUR LINES!

Contrary to what the Blues Brothers and the U.S. Navy say about themselves, it’s the local church that is “On a mission from God” and is the God-glorifying “Global force for man’s ultimate good!”