Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

I was talking this morning to my friend Todd McGee who is the church planter for the Grove UMC church in West Mobile. Praise God they are running about 150 3 weeks into their launch! I’m grateful for what God is doing there. Todd is a great guy and we talk often and bounce ideas off each other. We get along great. He is a Methodist and I don’t know what I am. I serve at a SBC church but don’t know if I consider myself a Baptist. O well.

Todd told me something disturbing and funny at the same time. Jason Burns will relate to this! Todd sent out 3 mailers to homes in the area they are trying to reach. They are sharp post cards. There is nothing offensive or funny about them. They just invite people to the Grove. He has been getting nasty phone calls and emails from so called “Christians” asking to be taken off their mailing list. One Baptist deacon’s wife said she was distrubed that the Grove had moved into “their” field! Excuse me, if people aren’t going to their church they aren’t doing a good job reaching them. Jason and I both experienced our share of “CHURCH POLICE!” People who feel it is their God given right to check up on every other church! I have no patience for these people. They remind me of the critics that Jesus had. I don’t have enough time to worry with other churches. There are too many lost people in my community and probably in my church. Church Police need to look in the mirror and take the log out of their own eye.

We need more churches. God didn’t set up territories! We are not in competition with other churches, we are in competition with Satan! I believe we could have another church move next door to ours and we both would have a huge field to work in. We as followers of Jesus need to quit nit-pickin! We need to pray for other churches and retire the CHURCH POLICE!

God’s grace amazes me! I don’t deserve it. I feel like the Apostle Paul who said he was the worst of sinners. I use to rank sins based on how society or even worse the church ranks them. I kept score by wondering why some people who had checkered lives were being used so mightily by God. Why wasn’t he using me in the same way? I didn’t do all of the stuff they were doing? Of course I was on the outside an awesome Christian. I didn’t do any of the “BIG SINS!” But my sin was pride and judgmentalism.

I grew up in a Grace filled home. Probably because my dad came from an alcoholic home. He didn’t become a follower of Christ until he was a Senior in high school. He could relatate to dysfunctional people because he came from that background. My mom always showed grace to people too. I didn’t really understand fully why until last fall when she shared with me that she had been sexually abused as a child by a family member (not my grandfather). I think that is why they showed so much grace to others. Because God had been graceful to them.

For me it has been a jouney. I didn’t grow up in a dysfunctional home. I had so many blessings and I probably took them for granted. But then I started working in NON-GRACE environments.

The first was in college when I was in Campus Outreach. It is a great organization but there was not much grace. I was in a discipleship group and if you didn’t do your lesson you got a holy blessing out because of “accountability.” My senior year in college they had a prayer time at 5:00 AM and if you didn’t come you were a heathen. I didn’t know God was awake that early. There were other legalistic things that happened.

I had an opportunity to work for my home pastor. I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. He gave me my first opportunities to preach. His church was in one of the wealthiest communities in Atlanta and for the world actually. I jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, there was no grace! It was a hard 3 years. Becuase of our past relationship, he added job titles and responsiblities on me that were overwhelming. There was no way to win. I was Associate Pastor in Singles, Outreach, Missions, Recreation, etc… The rest of the staff noticed and felt bad for me. It was a very non-grace environment. It was our church and denom against the world. We were right and everyone else was wrong. There was no love and no grace given to the community. I left to start a church that was full of grace. Only to run into more non-grace filled people. Then I moved to Mobile to encounter even more.

I would rather err on the side of Grace than to be right and turn someone to satan. I believe in accountability but not telling them they are going to hell, but hey this is what you did wrong, I believe you can do it right! Praise is better than condemnation! Love is better than anger. Grace is better than being right!

Catalyst: “A substance, usually used in small amounts relative to the reactants, that modifies and increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed in the process.” “One that precipitates a process or event, especially without being involved in or changed by the consequences”

I love change. Not for change sake, but because I love seeing changed lives. I want to be a Catalyst! I want to be a change agent. I desire to make a difference in the world for Jesus! I want to be a part of something bigger than myself! How does one do this? I think that I have to be changed. I have been and still am changing. I’m a different person today than when I moved to Mobile. I am humbled! I’m broken. That is good. I can’t do things on my own. That is good. That is where God wants me to be.

Nothing pumps me up more than to see lives changed because of God. Too often churches try to be something I don’t think He wants. We add so many programs that we are too busy to build community. In a community, people care about each other. In a community, people know each other. I’ll be honest, I don’t know my neighbors well. I don’t know half the people in my church very well. This stinks!!!!! It is partly my fault. It is partly the system we have in church. What’s the point? What is the goal of our church? Matthew 28:18-20 says the goal is to make disciples. Most SBC churches make “converts.” We brag about baptisms and church membership. We have canned sales presentations called “FAITH” or “CWT” or “THE NET.” We put notches on our belts bragging about how we are right. We fight over the Bible and whether it is inerrent or infallible. When is the last time we (including me) fought for a person. When is the last time we cried because someone didn’t know Jesus? How many of these “converts” are growing in their faith? What is the goal? How do we know when we have won? I’m not saying I have all of the answers. To me we need to streamline our ministries. As I said yesterday we need to quit “DOING CHURCH” and BE THE CHURCH!

As much as we don’t want to admit it, we need community. We need to be around people. Not just people, people like me, everyone! Newborn babies who are not touched and have no interaction with people will die, literally! Humans who do not interact with others will die emotionally too! I love going to Starbucks because the people know me by name and have my coffee ready before I approach the register. (I don’t pay for half of my coffee because they love me) I know their names and ask about their lives. We complain about the awful Bob Dylan music and wonder when they will have an 80’s hair band set, Winger, Whitesnake, Journey, Boston, Foreinger, REO, etc… We talk about families and just hang out. I hang out with Todd and Dave from the Grove UMC. They are awesome guys who are trying to reach West Mobile for Christ. I hang out with a few Charismatic Church Pastors. I hang out with non-believers. It is a community!

Unfortunately in most SBC churches like the one I serve at, we are so busy, we don’t have time for people outside our church. How tragic. I barely know my neighbors because I’m hardly home. What kind of difference are our churches making if we are always doing things at the “church building?” I am for streamlining our ministries and allowing time for the “church” to be “a Church” not “DO” church!!!!!! I don’t have a lot of control here, but one day I will be a Catalyst for this type of ministry. We don’t read a lot about Jesus’ messages. A few but mostly we read about Him doing ministry among the people!

I have a vision for the “attik” to be a place where our students can bring their friends to a “GRACE FILLED” place and they can be themselves. If they dress in ways our prudes don’t like then who cares. If they let a few choice words slip out who cares. Lost people will act like lost people. I pray that my life and my ministry is one of community and grace.

I’m one who prides himself on doing things for himself. I guess it runs in the family because Jacob is starting to spread his wings that way too (over his hair!). It is hard for me to accept help when I think I can do it on my own. The past 2 years I have had to suck it up and accept help from others. When our church decided to cut our pay, it hurt and still does! But God has not abandoned us and neither have friends and family. God has met our needs in so many ways. It is humbling to accept help esp. $$ from others. But God blesses others with $$ and some of them feel led to help people in need. We have been fortunate in that way.

Today I stood in line over 5 hours to receive $$ from the Red Cross. It was not fun but I got to meet people I never would have met. Thanks so much to Ken Whitten (Dayspring) for thinking about me and bringing me a chicken sandwich, fries and a Coke! That was so kind of him. God has never abandoned us and for that I’m grateful.