Unlikely

So when the Samaritans came to (Jesus) they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. And many believed because of His word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. --John 4:40-41

As I approached my Bible this morning, I must admit I was thinking almost as much about the upcoming "Homework Date" I had with one of my daughters in less than an hour as I was about having a quiet and spiritual experience. (Homework-- I am 42 years old and think I may dislike it as much as my kids.) When I looked at the passage for the day, I quickly thought to myself, "John Chapter 4... Samaritan woman... Got it. This should be quick. Maybe I could even fit in a second cup of coffee before we started drilling complex vs. compound sentence structures and gathering printable images for fifth grade writing journals." Then, as I started reading the passage, I saw things I'd never really paid attention to before:

He stayed there... no longer because of what you said... we have heard for ourselves...

Now, don't get me wrong; I love it when God takes obvious things and reveals Himself afresh, but honestly I wasn't expecting it this morning! I knew this wouldn't be a quick read, so I immediately jumped in, reading and journaling, still hoping somehow on the other side of this appointment with my Father that I might find a few extra minutes for another cup of joe.

"They asked Him to stay there, and He stayed two days..." Every time I've ever heard the passage preached, I've heard about the ongoing conflict between Samaritans and Jews; how they despised each other, and how Jesus' choice to traverse through Samaria would have been completely unacceptable for any self-respecting Jew. I knew that. I even knew about the societal implications of Jesus conversing with a woman... What I'd never done was to continue thinking beyond that point and to realize that once the woman shared her testimony, the people desired for Jesus to stay there... AND HE DID. I had always envisioned this story as a whirlwind, off-the-beaten-path sort of episode, but it wasn't that. Jesus, a Jew, willingly chose to spend time there... in that place... with those people... Why?

Perhaps it was because the people needed time to "connect the dots." Their initial response to Him was rooted in the testimony of the Samaritan woman, but only 2 days later their story had changed.

And many more believed because of His word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world..."

This created in me a new realization that a commitment to share the gospel might require an investment of both sacrifice and surrender. Maybe, in order to share the gospel with someone who needs to hear it, I will not only have to go through a distasteful place, but maybe even STAY there for a while until others can "hear for themselves."

These are the questions I am pondering today:

• What places/people/situations might I consider to be my own "Samaria"?
• Is God leading me there?
• Am I willing to go?
  

May we each answer these questions well.
Blessings,
jph

A Collision of Sorts

My office is a DISASTER. We are getting ready to relocate all administrative space across the street to the new annex, so I've been packing... and working... and packing. Whenever I find myself tired of what I'm doing, I stop and pack a box. It's really quite a mess; but I tell myself that it will only be like this for a couple of weeks.

So, earlier today, while enjoying one of my "packing breaks," I found a magazine on my desk, the May/June issue of COLLIDE. I don't subscribe to Collide magazine, nor had I ever heard of it, but the bold red title of the article that lay open caught my immediate interest:

MUSIC: Our Entertainment Worship Culture, by Daniel Darnell

For years I have been on a crusade to lead services that are more structured to involve congregants in actively worshipping God than to provide a means of entertainment, so you can imagine how quickly I might have grabbed the magazine to read it. However, not knowing the source of the article, nor the means by which it arrived in my very cluttered space, gave me a moment of pause. After a brief investigation I learned that it came from a colleague here at BVBC who thought it spoke well of our ongoing quest to craft intergenerational, stylistically-diverse worship experiences. So I dove in, head first, to see what I could learn. I soon found myself completely engulfed in the article. I emailed its author to receive permission to publish portions of it here, and he granted me permission to do so.

In his article, Darnell cites a strong case for the argument that churches throughout the country are not "producing worshipers... Rather we are producing a generation of spectators, religious onlookers lacking, in many cases, a true encounter with God, deprived of both the tangible sense of God's presence and the supernatural relationship their inmost spirits crave." (Sally Morgenthaler, from her book Worship Evangelism)

His premise is valid and the article is well written. The thing I like most about it, however, is that he doesn't simply outline the growing problem. He offers practical solutions to worship planners for staying above the fray in this slippery slope. He suggests that we:

Understand Worship—Unfortunately, many of us have an incomplete or skewed view of true worship. Worship extends far beyond music; it is our continuous response to God, in all that we do, because of who He is. A proper understanding of worship will shape how we lead our congregations.

Check Our Hearts—While our intentions in using entertainment in our services can be pure, we must constantly check our motives—we are all capable of placing our confidence in manmade things. As we incorporate music into our services, we should ask ourselves these questions:
• What purpose does this song serve in our time of worship?
• What does the song have to say about God and us?
• How is this song drawing people to the Lord?

Know Our Congregations—Every church is unique, so no one formula works for all churches. Just because a church in Seattle worships in a particular manner doesn’t mean it’s the right formula for our church. We must know what engages their minds, speaks to their souls, and enables them to participate in worship.

Pray—While this last point may sound cliché, it is of great importance. Leading our congregations in worship is not a minor task. Left to our own devices, our worship times can become about us. We must be in constant prayer, asking for the Lord’s guidance as we seek to serve and worship Him.

Darnell closes with the following observation:

The Fine Line
May we all examine our motives and hearts as we program our corporate worship services. May we never seek to entertain the ears of man, but rather engage their hearts and always strive to bring glory to our God. In the end, I pray that the Church would produce passionate worshippers of the Lord rather than mere spectators of passing entertainment.

While the article is aimed toward those who plan and lead worship, I would submit that every believer should run the same diagnostics listed above in preparing to attend/participate in a corporate worship experience.

Understand Worship - Worship is our response, both personally and corporately to God's revelation of Himself. It's not just the music!

Check Our Hearts - Am I prepared to hear a word from God as I approach Him in song, through the scriptures, or in my giving? Am I listening for the sound of His voice?

Know Our Congregation - As a member of the body of Christ, I have the amazing privilege to be a part of something bigger than myself. We are wonderfully diverse... Am I willing to acknowledge the value of our worship gatherings based on who God is and the truth expressed in the moment?

Pray - Ask God to reveal Himself in a new and fresh way, and to place in you the ability to respond as He desires... in worship.

I hope and pray that your experiences of worship at BVBC are ones that lead you into God's presence where you can be changed by His word. I count it an honor to worship alongside you each week.

Blessings,
jph

All italicized content is from the Article, Music: Our Entertainment Culture by Daniel Darnell. If you would like to read the entire article, an online version is available at:
http://www.collidemagazine.com/article/219/our-entertainment-worship-culture

A Sobering Statement

Throughout the summer I have been in and out of the office, and I must confess that has taken a toll on my blogging habits. Nonetheless, the trade-off has been in having wonderful times of travel with my family and great experiences with special friends.

While enjoying one final summer getaway last week (see photo at left) I read a great devotional by Dr. Charles Stanley. I've not stopped thinking about it since then and have mentioned it in several conversations over the last few days. I've tried to distill it into a single statement, but cannot choose any part of the article to omit. So, today I am giving you the whole entry, unedited, as food for thought. I pray you will find in it the same godly challenge that I have.

July 22, 2009
How to Handle Burdens
Psalm 55
David was overwhelmed with the weight of external pressures and internal anguish. Burdens come in a variety of emotional, spiritual, and physical forms, but they all feel heavy and cause weariness. Every one of us can identify with David's desire to "fly away and be at rest" (v. 6).
Some of the loads we carry are not part of God's plan for us. We lug around the guilt that lingers even after confession of sin and load our backpack with worry about the future. Then we top it off with a little bitterness and unforgiveness because life has not been fair. These burdens are not from the Lord, and He will not help you carry what He has told you to release. (emphasis added)

Other burdens, however, are entrusted to us by God. He gives us responsibilities which can weigh us down, and He sometimes allows relational difficulties that tear at our hearts. Persistent problems and trials drain our vitality and threaten to overwhelm us.
Every circumstance in life is lovingly sifted through the Lord's fingers before reaching us. (emphasis added) From His perspective, those things which are too heavy for us are opportunities for dependence upon Him. God never intends for any of us to carry a burden without Him. He says to give it to Him (v. 22) and promises to sustain us.

Casting your cares upon God means releasing them fully into His control. You will no longer be free to manage and manipulate the situation toward your desired outcome, but the freedom Christ offers will release you from the burden's oppressive weight. He'll sustain you with His peace as you trust Him.

People Watching

I've thought about several ways to begin this post:

I thought about telling how much Melinda and I enjoy going to the mall and observing the activity... people watching, as it were, when the objects of our attention are unaware of our gaze.

I considered telling about my "schizophrenic" iPod and the random songs it throws at me on occasion, one recent example being the 1984 hit "(I Always Feel Like) Somebody's Watching Me"

I even considered using the lyrics of a children's song to introduce my thoughts this morning...

...but none of those really seemed to work for me. You see, I received an email this morning that I knew was on its way. A friend of mine back in Texas died last night. His name was Theiss Jones, and he had an amazing influence on my life and ministry, though until recently, he never knew it. Theiss served as the Minister of Music at Temple's First Baptist Church for 30 years before his retirement a few years back.

In Baptist life, social circles tend to overlap frequently, so Theiss and I crossed paths on many occasions in the 12 years I served in that city. I observed in him a genuine love for God and a strong commitment to the people in his care. Theiss was the first Music Minister I'd ever met who had a pastor's heart. That affected me profoundly. His example challenged me as a young minister to pour my life into serving God's people... to prioritize my work around the opportunities God gives me to minister to others... to put more emphasis on building the kingdom than I do on building a music program. I'm a better servant of God because of his friendship.

The reason I choose to share this so publicly today is this: For many years he had no idea how he had changed me. I was watching, listening and learning, but only in the context of our relationship. There was never a formal venue in which I learned the things he taught me. We simply worked together on a few city-wide worship projects, sang together in a quartet formed from within the local Kiwanis Club, and shared an occasional cup of coffee. To my knowledge he was unaware that he was teaching me how to be a better Christ follower.

Several months ago, when I learned of his illness, I took some time to send him a letter explaining how much he had influenced me and expressing my gratitude for his example. Today I'm glad I had the chance to tell him those things. I've been blessed already by emails from others who are sharing about his influence in their lives. Theiss' successor at FBC sent the following note in a note this morning:

I received a copy of his funeral instructions this morning. The wonderfulworship planner that he is, he timed every element of his service and givenstrict instructions for the order. I had to chuckle at this. Then again,he was only doing what he had done for his entire life; plan worship.
My mind's eye can see it now, his greatest desire would be that Christ be lifted up at his memorial, and I know that his service plans will reflect that.

All of this causes me to wonder, however, if there are people who are watching me in the same ways I watched him. If they are, I don't need to know about it... but I wonder. And that faint curiosity in the back of my mind causes me to think about how I pour myself into others. Theiss' legacy is vast, but building that legacy was never his goal... it was the by-product of a life given to God. He was only serving in the places God put him. I'm honored to have called him a friend and to be a part of that legacy.


jph

Back in the Swing... Maybe

August 11, 1985...........................................December 29, 2008

Immediately following our BVBC Christmas Eve worship services, my family and I made a trip back home to Texas to see friends and relatives there. I made a conscious decision before going that I would not work while I was away. Now, understand, that's a very BIG deal for me, but I stuck to my guns and didn't write service orders, check voice mail, answer email... or write blog entries...

Now that I've been back in the office for a week, I realized that my last entry was 2 1/2 weeks before we left! AAARRRRRGGGGggggghhhhh! I'm sorry for being away from the blog for so long... Of course, any of you that follow Facebook might realize that I haven't even opened that for almost 2 weeks. So the fact that I'm getting to this point in my "To-Do" list means that I'm almost back to a manageable position in my work life.

With that preface, let me share that our time away was good. We spent several days with my mother, my brother and his family, then we went to spend a few days with Melinda's parents and siblings. For 2 days, there were 17 of us in my brother-in-law's house! We played games and visited, celebrated Christmas, rang in the new year, and ate more food than any one family should... all within the frame of about 60 hours!

But for me, there was one moment that was the high point of the trip:

When I was in junior high and high school, I didn't have alot of friends. I wasn't necessarily an outsider, but there just weren't a great number of people that I would spend time with. However, there were 2 students with whom I sang in choir, and for our last several years in school, if we weren't working at our respective jobs, we were together. We sang concerts together and even had a somewhat lucrative business of delivering singing telegrams. After graduation we all stayed in touch until time and distance got the better of our friendships. David went on to dance and sing in Broadway musicals, and Renay settled in the Nashville area, working on and off as a studio singer and raising a family before going back to school finish her degree in education.

About a year and a half ago, when I turned 40, I found myself reminiscing about life to this point. I found great fulfillment in the things God has allowed me to do in ministry. I celebrated the joy of a wonderful wife and children. I found surprisingly few regrets... one exception was the loss of contact with these friends. I made it a goal to reconnect with them and worked throughout the coming year to reestablish contact. Finding them took no small effort, and at one point I had conceded loss, only to find a few months later that the one friend I couldn't locate had been looking for me as well!

This year I had only one Christmas wish: Both of these friends were going to be in my hometown at the same time we were. I wanted to have our families visit and share a meal. I tried and tried to arrange it, but we couldn't seem to confirm arrival times and celebration plans with our various families. It just didn't appear that this thing was going to happen, so I resigned myself to seeing them individually as we had opportunity.

Finally, as we were packing our car to leave town for the next leg of our trip, God pulled the final strings together allowing the three of us, our spouses and children, and our high school choir teacher, a major influence in all our lives, to sit down for a 2 hour visit at the Busy Bee Cafe in our little hometown of Santa Fe, TX.

I still smile when I think about it... God has blessed my life in so many ways. My family and I have everything we need, we have a great church to serve and grow in, we have friends and loved ones who are integral to our lives, and then, as if that weren't enough, He gives me the only thing I wanted for Christmas in 2008. I'm grateful that He cares about the things we care about.

Blessings,
jph

While driving to work this morning I was thinking through my day and the things I knew I needed to accomplish. As is my custom, the radio was on, playing a local Christian station, and I was ignoring most of what was being said or sung. (When you work with music for a living, things like the radio take on a whole new role in life!)
Nonetheless, as I watched the road and ignored the radio, my ears perked up when I heard the DJ mention an Advent Poetry Blog. Many of you know that I LOVE Advent, but accessible and relevant resources for Advent aren't always easy to find. I reached over and turned up the radio in time to hear them mention that one of the members of Jars of Clay, a contemporary Christian recording group, had created a blogsite for the celebration of Advent. I went there today and looked it over and found some nice writings that focus on the season. I've subscribed to the RSS feed and plan to follow the site throughout the season as a part of my private times of worship. If you'd like to do the same, it is available at http://adventpoetry.blogspot.com
If you are unfamiliar with Advent, let me encourage you to give it some thought this year. Advent is the season of the church year that runs the 4 Sundays before Christmas. It is a time to reflect on the coming of Christ and a time to anticipate His coming again. For me it's one of the highlights of the year. You can find good information on the web about Advent... A quick Google search yielded 41,500,000 results! (Granted, not all of that is good information, but the first couple of hits were great sites!) Try these:
Wikipedia - Advent
The Voice
Advent Coloring Pages
Today I'm praying for you a special awareness of God's presence this Christmas season!
Blessings,
jph

Over and Over

Does God ever speak to you repeatedly?

No, really. REPEATEDLY.

In several ways and through several people I've been reminded recently that there are priorities in life that need to take precedence over other things.

While on the surface the concept doesn't sound so difficult, I guess there's something I'm missing, because it seems every time I've turned around for the last several weeks I have seen or heard someone or something that reminded me to consider the priorities of my life.

Now, I consider myself a pretty "together" kind of guy, so maybe I didn't give my answer the attention it deserved, but I did look at my calendar and say, "Yes, God, I'm listening... The things I'm doing indicate a desire to be effective at home and in the ministry. I've think I've got it!"

However, within a week or two, I was reminded again about the need to consider things in my life that are truly important. What gets the most of my attention and resource? So I look at my checkbook and debit receipts: "See Lord, I'm listening. I know it's not perfect, but I genuinely want the way I handle resources to reflect my love for you and my commitment to serve in the roles You have given me. I think we're good here."

Then, as recently as yesterday, I'm sitting in our general staff meeting when a colleague shares as part of our weekly devotion the story of an object lesson in which a speaker fills a jar, first with big rocks, then with gravel, then with sand and then with water. Each element represents something that requires our time or attention. It's not a story about how much you can get done, but rather it's a picture about ordering the things of life in such a way that the most important things get done first. I'd heard the story before. "Nothing new," I thought. But then it hit me... maybe I haven't been asking the right questions. I learned long ago, whenever God wants me to learn something He'll keep teaching it until I get the point.

"Okay, Lord, I'm starting over... Maybe this time I'll get it right"

And so, here I am today... re-starting a journey that I thought I'd already taken. As I ask myself the following questions I would encourage you to consider the same things about your own life. Be brutally honest and see what you learn about yourself. I assure you that I will. And as I work my way through the list of answers, I look forward to learning whatever it is God wants to show me about His will for my life and ministry.

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect." --Romans 12:1-2, ESV

I suspect I'm going to find that there are many more questions I've never asked myself, but my starting points are listed below. Whatever my journey turns out to be, I know that the most important thing in my life is to move forward in becoming the man He created me to be. I pray as you walk through this process in your own life that He'll show Himself to you clearly.

Here's where I begin...

• Who am I? Am I becoming the person God created me to be?
• Are the priorities I profess reflected on my calendar and in my checkbook?
• Where do I spend my time?
• Where do I spend my money?
• Where do I focus my attention?
• What is important to me?
• What would my wife say I hold as my greatest priority? What would my children say?
• How do I exhibit spiritual discipline in my life?
• Am I willing to take action to restructure my priorities according to the things God shows me through this process?

I'd be interested in your thoughts and the questions you are asking in your own journey with God. Feel free to share as the Lord leads.

Blessings,
jph

Because of my commitment to post regularly to my various blogs across the web (though not well-evidenced on XANGA, Blogspot or MySpace!), I am always on the lookout for topics of interest or lessons that God might be teaching me so that I might use as post topics. This week I encountered several things that I thought were worthy of note, but as I started formulating this entry, I whittled it down to one: faith. In a devotional reading a few days back, the writer quoted a modern paraphrase of Oswald Chambers with this:

“When God gives a vision and darkness follows, waiting on God will bring you into accordance with the vision He has given if you await His timing. Otherwise, you try to do away with the supernatural in God's undertakings. Never try to help God fulfill His word.”
--My Utmost for His Highest: An Updated Edition in Today's Language,
ed. by James Reimann (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers, 1992)
entry for January 19 (emphasis added)

I love that statement … We talk about waiting on God and trusting in Him. But what if it gets difficult? What do we do when we’ve been as faithful as we know to be, when we are willing to be completely obedient to whatever He asks of us, and yet He is silent? I’ve had that conversation with more than one ministry colleague just this past week, and, to be honest, I don’t have an easy answer.

It was helpful this morning, however, to read the following thought from popular financial columnist, Mary Hunt:

I'm learning a lot about myself these days, specifically that I'm one… who needs to know what's going to happen. I want to see everything that lies ahead… No matter who you are, what your circumstances, where you live and what you do, every morning each one of us must step out in faith, moving forward into the unknown to experience what life has for us.

Years ago, my husband and I were driving through California's Mojave Desert at night on our way across country. It was my turn to drive while he slept. What struck me in the black stillness of the night was that my headlights were not lighting the entire way. Those two beams of light lit up the area just in front of us, only about 50 feet. As I moved into that light, the light moved ahead just a little bit more, lighting the way to our destination, a little bit at a time… As we move through the days of our lives, we receive just the amount of insight we need for the next step. It's because of faith that we can step into the darkness of the future, knowing that the light will always go before us…

Whatever your circumstance, you have to move forward and into the darkness, knowing with certainty that God will give you just the amount of light you need for that next step. Then you take another step, and another, all the way into and through the darkness. That's called faith--stepping out into the darkness, knowing we will have just the amount of light we need for the step we're on.
--excerpts from The Everyday Cheapskate, October 1, 2008
(emphasis added)

“Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” –Hebrews 11:1

Olympic Madness

I read the following excerpt on a college classmate's blog last week:

Just so you know...that feeling of tiredness, irritability and the excessive need for caffeine actually has a name during the Olympic Games. It's called Olympic fatigue! So there ya go! Happy fatigue as I watch the women's finals in gymnastics at 11:45pm!

I laughed at the note because, for the first time ever, my family and I are actually engrossed in the Olympic Games. Anyone who knows me at all is keenly aware that I am not much of a sports enthusiast. (Pastor Derrick argued with me last week that the Summer Olympics weren't really sports anyway, because nobody can get hurt.)

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy any sporting event, if I'm there... I even play racquetball on occasion, but I've never been much for the sports scene. Other kids played football... I played piano. That's what makes this whole Olympic infatuation seem like some sort of "out-of body" experience for the redhead and me.

Nonetheless, I've genuinely enjoyed working my way through the recordings on our DVR, seeking out the greatest moments of the last couple of weeks. In fact, I realized that maybe I'd watched one too many medal ceremonies when this past Saturday evening at Starlight Theater I was momentarily stunned to hear a different arrangement of the national anthem than the one I'd been hearing on television so many times in the last several days.
So what's the reason I share all of this?

1. It's Monday morning and I needed a blog topic. ;-)

2. I wonder who else is finding the games to be a source of interest... Share some comments on your own Olympic thoughts... I'd love to hear them.

Blessings,
jph

Count your blessings
name them one by one;
Count your many blessings
see what God has done.
-Johnson Oatman, Jr. 1897

To be honest, though I've sung it literally hundreds of times, that old gospel song has never really been one of my favorites. So, why do we keep singing it? Because it helps us gain perspective. It's like the old saying, "You can't see the forest for all the trees..." Sometimes I find that God has been so actively at work that I must make a conscious effort to step back and see exactly what it is that He's been doing.

I love Philippians 4:8.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

Such has been my own experience for the last couple of weeks. July 22 marked the one year anniversary of the day I met the congregation at Blue Valley Baptist Church, and yesterday gives me a full year on the platform as BVBC's Pastor of Worship. In that time I've seen God do so many things in my own life and ministry that it serves me well to stop and think about them.

At home:
All of my girls have found Kansas to be a wonderful place to live. God has blessed us not only with a wonderful house to rent, but with good neighbors, great schools, close friends and many new experiences... things like having four distinct seasons (not something we had in Texas!). I've said often over the last year that while Melinda and I have been blessed with many wonderful opportunities in life, neither of us had ever really considered living outside of the Lone Star State. Who knew a group of died-in-the-wool Texans could make such a happy home in Kansas?!

At church:
I have to admit, I've never worked so hard in my life as I have since coming to Blue Valley, but I must add to that statement the fact that I've never seen God do the things He's doing here. The explosive growth of our church has presented challenges beyond my past experience, but God has been faithful to guide and instruct us in navigating the course He's marked. Many church members have shared with me over the last year that they had concerns about what corporate worship would look like under the direction of a new leader. Most of those people went on to say how blessed they are to see the growth in our ministry and the diversity of our worship experiences. Testimonies like these affirm that God is up to something good.

The days ahead bring the promise of even greater things. This fall we'll be adding another staff member to the bvbcWORSHIP Ministry, and that person will begin leading new facets of our program with the first priority being church orchestra. As has been the case for many years, the goal of our ministry is always to empower individuals to be effective worshippers and effective worship leaders. Broadening the ministry creates new places for people to serve. Perhaps you need to be serving with us. I'd count it an honor to visit with you about the opportunities you have in the bvbcWORSHIP Ministry and hope you'll consider how God might be calling you to participate.

I've learned that when God does things, they don't always look like what I might have expected. That's part of what makes it so much fun. I thank Him for the opportunity to serve here and I thank you, my church family, for making my first year in Kansas so full of great experiences.

Blessings,
jph

The Story of My Life

No cynicism implied, but I've been REALLY busy the last couple of days, uh weeks, uh... So this Mark Schultz song has been on my mind. It's from the album Stories and Songs (a GREAT album by the way!) Don't take the song too seriously, but I believe we can all relate!


Running Just to Catch Myself
I am driving
I am late for work
Spilling coffee down my whitest shirt
While I'm flossing and I'm changing lanes
Oh Yeah

Now I'm driving
Through the parking lot
Doing eighty, hey what the heck why not
Watch it lady, Cuz you’re in my spot once again,

It's early to work
And here's a surprise, I got a
McMuffin for just 99 cents today
I think they ran a special

CHORUS:
I can't stand still can I get a witness
Can you hear me, Anybody, Anybody
I think I am running just to catch myself

Maybe someday I could fly away
Go to Key Largo or Montego Bay
Sport my Speedo, maybe grab a tan
DREAM VACATION, WILD ELATION

Now I'm running
Straight into my boss
And he's angry, Oh and he calls me Ross
Which is funny, ‘cause that ain’t my name
And that’s lame

I'm still running
Running very late, For a meeting
Wait, that was yesterday
Guess I'm early for the one next week, Oh how sweet

I get on the ladder, I corporately climb
I wave at my life as it passes me by everyday
My name's not Ross!

CHORUS
I can't stand still can I get a witness
Can you hear me, Anybody, Anybody
I think I am running just to catch myself

Life in my cubicle’s discreet, Life in my cubicle is neat
I've got some pictures of my friends
Some sharpened pencils...where's my pen

Ten O'clock I'm in a meeting
Paper cut I think I'm bleeding
Check my hair it's still receding,
Hey what a life

Break for lunch, there's nothing better
Run outside and don my sweater
Like Fred Rogers let's be neighbors
I've lost my mind

I'm over worked, and underpaid, and unappreciated
It's just a perk of being of being middle class and educated

One... spinning circles in my chair
Two...win a game of solitaire
Three... And I ponder where my stapler's gone, till

Four O'clock and I stare at the door,
And I stare at my watch, then I stare at the door
I stand by my desk like I'm going to war
There's just one thing I'll be needing
Grab my paycheck as I'm leaving

Oh oh oh oh oh oh ohhhhhhh

Five O'clock it's time to go
There's crowds to fight and horns to blow
It's talking fast on my cell phone
Hey, watch out that’s reckless driving!

Five O'clock it's time to leave
Hit the couch and watch TV
Set the clock and go to sleep
It's 8 a.m. on Monday morning
Again and again
and again and again
and again

Driving around, nowhere to go
And so I hang with my lady,
Oh, and I chill with my bros
It's okay, in my Cabriolet

CHORUS
I can't stand still can I get a witness
Can you hear me, Anybody, Anybody
I think I am running just to catch myself

When I meet God, I will have a question
I just forgot the question
I think I am running just to catch myself

Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh

Scandalon

"The concept of the scandal of Christ is for most of us so unfamiliar that upon first hearing it we are conditioned to close our minds. Let me encourage you to go to the Scriptures, especially the Gospels, and see if this element doesn't exist on almost every page. Jesus must become for us not merely the provider of answers to our questions, but on an infinitely larger scale, when we are so broken that we don't even know what the question is...then He must become to us...THE ANSWER." - Michael Card

In 1985, Christian singer/songwriter Michael Card released an album entitled Scandalon. The quote above is taken from Card's website in reference to the album and the song by the same title.

The Gospel? Scandalous?

Really??!

Read these lyrics, taken from the song:

Along the path of life there lies a stubborn Scandalon

And all who come this way must be offended

To some He is a barrier, To others He's the way

For all should know the scandal of believing

He will be the truth that will offend them one and all

A stone that makes men stumbleAnd a rock that makes them fall

Many will be broken so that He can make them whole

And many will be crushed and lose their own soul
© 1985, Michael Card

I've known and liked that song for more than 2 decades now, and yet, today it carries new meaning for me. Following the events of Saturday's Shipping Cart Concert (see Derrick's Blog for details), I am reminded of the fact that many will not receive the gospel willingly.

Despite the early conclusion of our event, there is much to celebrate about the events of the past weekend:

Our choir "engaged" in a way that I've not observed since coming to BVBC, but that I always believed was possible... Their investment in this project was truly a sacrifice. They didn't merely sing, but rather they COMMUNICATED.

Our church members came out in scores to share the love of Christ in the community.

Our church learned a valuable lesson in why we need to continue finding ways to spread the Gospel in our community.

So, all in all I call it a success. For over an hour and a half, the gospel was proclaimed and the name of JESUS lifted up. In itself that's a great thing, but perhaps there's even a greater good that things happened as they did. Had all gone as we planned we would have missed out on an experience that will undoubtedly steel us to greater service for God.

I've never really thought myself to be the rebellious type, but maybe there is something lurking deep inside me seeking opportunities to scandalize the world for Christ. Hmmm... I think I like it....
jph

A Moment of Startling Clarity

When I was a kid we used to watch a television show called Diff'rent Strokes. It was about 2 poor brothers who, upon the death of their mother, were adopted by her employer, a wealthy widowed gentleman who lived with his daughter and housekeeper in a swanky New York apartment. Every once in a while, when taken by surprise, the younger brother, Arnold, would blast forth the phrase, "What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?!" It always made me laugh. Even now, there are moments, when people around my age toss that phrase out in conversation. (Okay, so we're not cool, but it still makes me chuckle.) The point of this story is simply to illustrate that sometimes we can be speaking or listening to one thing when, in fact, the point is something entirely different. Such was the case for me last Tuesday evening.

I listened as one of my daughters told about a chance she'd had to "witness" earlier in the day. The conversation piqued my interest, but the longer I listened I realized the the bulk of her story wasn't as much about her sharing the gospel with a lost friend as it was about sharing the exciting things that are happening in our church. As her narrative continued, she eventually reached the point where she explained to her classmate about why she trusted Christ and that this friend should consider the doing same. SCORE! That's where the victory is; in sharing Christ. I was proud of my daughter for her willingness to claim her faith and share it with someone whom she knew was lost. I encouraged her to keep sharing with this friend and to pray for her until she trusts Christ.

Nonetheless, I started thinking about how often I take an opportunity God gives me to share the gospel and use it not to declare the good news, but rather to talk about the ministry, the church or even the work God is doing in our community. Why do I do that?! The real message of the gospel isn't that Blue Valley Baptist Church is an exciting place to be, even though it is. It isn't that our worship ministry is growing steadily and taking great shape... The message of the gospel is that God sent Jesus to live, die and rise again in order to reclaim us from our lostness and to allow us to be reconciled to Him.

As one who loves language, I pride myself in choosing carefully the words and phrases I use to convey my thoughts, both verbally and in writing. This week God is reminding me that I need to put as much thought into the message I will share as I do in choosing the words I'll use to convey it.

Day of Visitation

Most people who know me "off the platform" know that I'm quick to acknowledge my own inabilities and weaknesses. I mean, I genuinely realize how much of my ministry is positively affected by the investments of others... Some of these investments have come through specific individuals; people like my high school choir teacher, who to this day is a close friend and is one of the most influential people in my life. There are many such people I could name, but once I start I don't know where I would stop. Sometimes however, the influences are less obvious. One such instance has come to light for me this week.

In a long turn of un-relatable events, I found myself speaking with the ministry office of Christian recording artist, Tim Sheppard, considering the possibility of bringing him to an event that I'm helping to coordinate in the winter of 2009. If you're not familiar with Tim's ministry, suffice it to say he is a prolific singer and songwriter and that my first introduction to his music was about 25 years ago. At the close of the conversation, his wife, Kelly, said she'd send me his new CD, Day of Visitation. I was excited about getting the disc, but didn't give it much thought until it arrived later in the week. I put the tracks on my iPod and started listening to them as soon as I got home that afternoon. It was so good to hear Tim's songs ringing through my SUV as I drove around town the next day and I very quickly found myself instinctively singing along with these songs I'd never heard before. After a day or so of listening, I was taking the girls to school, and after dropping the first two at their respective campuses, I was on my way to the last school of the morning. I told my daughter in the back seat, "Listen to this..." and I started playing my favorite song of the collection, I Hear the Lord Passing By. She asked who was singing and I found myself strangely moved as I started telling her who Tim was. I explained, "When I was about the age of your older sister, I first saw Tim in concert. He sat at the piano and played and sang... I remember wanting to be like him..." I paused, and during my silence, while I was grappling for words, she said, "So, he inspired you..."

That was it! EXACTLY! He inspired me... I hadn't thought about it like that, but it was a perfect summary of what I was feeling. Inspired. Then I looked at my life and at how I love to lead worship from the piano, and I was more than slightly affected seeing that God had not only used that concert experience from more than two decades ago to give shape to my ministry, but that He had used my 9 year-old daughter to help me connect the dots. I've thought about that conversation many times this week. One man whose influence helped chart my course in ministry never knew it... (Of course, for that matter, I didn't even realize it until my daughter helped me put the pieces together. It makes me wonder who I might be influencing...)

The key verse for the album comes from Job 10:12, "You have granted me life and favor, and Your visitation has preserved my spirit." (KJV)

The album, by the way, is wonderful. It includes 10 original worship songs that are as good as anything Tim has ever written, and the recordings demonstrate that his talents for singing and song writing have only improved over the last twenty years. On the album cover he tells the story of a pivotal day in his life and ministry... I don't want to ruin it for you, but rather, will encourage you to read his story at www.timsheppard.org . From that site you can link over and hear song clips on his MySpace page, www.myspace.com/timsheppardmusic.
My current favorite, as I mentioned above, is I Hear the Lord Passing By... It might just show up at Blue Valley in the not-too-distant future. Lyrics are below:

I hear the Lord passing by
This could be my day of visitation
Have mercy on me, Lord
Hear my cry of desperation
I hear the Lord passing by
My heart, my flesh
Yearn to be with You
Open my eyes to see Your glory
All the days of my life
I hear the Lord passing by
This could be my day of visitation
Have mercy on me, Lord
Hear my cry of desperation
Have mercy on me, Lord
From the depth of my affliction
I hear the Lord
I hear the Lord
I hear the Lord passing by
Words and Music by Tim Sheppard
© 2006 Tim Sheppard Music

Salt and Light... in BULK!

I was talking with a friend a couple of months ago, and enjoyed the chance to catch up on his life and ministry. To be honest, however, I had an ulterior motive. You see, he serves as Worship Pastor in a church significantly larger than ours and has been there from the time that church was less than half our current size. He grew with the church into the ministry that he leads today, and I hoped to glean from him some thoughts about going through the process of rapid church growth. There was no dishonesty on my part; he knew I wanted to "pick his brain." And while I did gather some great insight about how to cast vision and lead people in service to God, the best moment of the conversation wasn't about administration or leadership at all. It was about being the church. Catch that: BEING the church... His statement was this:

"If your church disappeared tomorrow from the face of the earth, would your community even know it was gone? You see, the barometer of effective ministry isn't how well you lead the people in your church; it's how well you relate to the people outside your church."

That statement has haunted me ever since. I've mentioned it in conversations with individuals and in rehearsals with groups... I've even included it as part of a presentation I'll be making this week at our Ministry Staff Retreat. The barometer of effective ministry has as much to do with being "salt and light" as it does about relating to the people in the pews.

That thought has been the driving force for a project that our Worship Ministry has undertaken:The Shopping Cart Concert Tour. With the goal of simply being Blue Valley Baptist Church in the community of Overland Park, our Adult and Student choirs have been working to coordinate an outreach event on Saturday, May 3, 2008. We've gained permission to spend the day, as a choir, at the Sam's Club located near 135th Street and Antioch Road. Our combined groups will be singing off and on between 10:30 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. and our congregation will be there to greet passersby with a smile, a handshake, and maybe even some cotton candy or popcorn! No confrontation... no aggressive evangelism tactics... we just want people to know that Blue Valley Baptist is here and that it is a place where they can find caring people who want to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Johnson County, Kansas. Our goal isn't lofty... it's simply to get outside the walls of the church and be a part of the day-to-day workings of the community. If you're free, I'd invite you to come be a part of the fun. We're anticipating a great time.

I'll have to confess, this project has lit a fire in me. Although it's not the first time I've led such an effort, it is the first time I've approached it with such an imperative motivation. You can bank on the fact that as long as God allows me to serve Him here at Blue Valley, events which place our church in the community to share the Gospel are the events that will garner the most of our collective attention, effort and resources. In a way it's a very basic response to Jesus words:

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Would you join me in prayer for God to do His work as we seek to share His love with the people in our community?

...A Veritable Plethora of Miscellany
(I conscripted that phrase from my friend, Carl.)

As I considered the things I'd write about in this week's blog, I couldn't settle on just one, so here are some snapshots (figuratively and literally) from the week.

Last week I had the opportunity to lead worship for three evenings at a revival in a neighboring Missouri town. It was a good experience with several moments of note:
For the first time ever, my family of 5 sang the special music in church. We offered Matt Redman's Blessed Be Your Name. Even the littlest one sang along and did a great job!

Another great opportunity that came from the revival was the chance to see old ministry friends and make new ones. In the center of the back row of the snapshot below snapshot is Steve, the Minister of Music at the church where I served last week. I had the opportunity to work with his choir on Sunday evening, and they were so excited that for at least one evening he was in the loft singing with them. This photo was taken at the choir members' request... Enjoy!
One other moment of note from the revival happened just before the last service. I'd been commuting each evening from home to the church and back... about an hour and 15 minutes each way. When I left the office on Tuesday I made a "charitable" run to Chick-Fil-A as it is the favored restaurant of all their church staff families. I carried dinner for 9 people with me and we all enjoyed a great visit before church started. About 15 minutes before worship, I went up to the sanctuary, donned my sportcoat and grabbed the binder I'd brought from the office. (As I was leading the singing from the piano each night, I'd prepare and bring my music with me daily.) You can imagine the sinking feeling in my stomach when I opened the folder to find not my music for that evening, but rather my notes and projects from that day's staff meeting! My MUSIC binder was on my desk back in OP... There was one fleeting thought of frustration, then a determination to address the issue at hand. I'd simply have to lead without it, which I did... God moved and we worshipped.

After being away from my family for so much of the week, we decided to make the most of the weekend. We spent Saturday morning together at the gym and then went to our local Robek's® to grab smoothies for lunch. While there, the little girls "auditioned" for part-time jobs behind the counter! Kirk let them push the mixer buttons on all our smoothies, which was a really big deal!

Finally, in case anyone is unaware, the KU Jayhawks have had quite a big weekend! Although I am unashamedly not a big sports enthusiast, I always enjoy rooting for hometown teams when they're doing something great. It appears I'm not alone in that. Indian Trail Junior High decided to get in on supporting the Jayhawks by encouraging their entire student body and staff to dress in KU colors on Friday. Even the redhead joined in the festivities... I don't think we're in Texas anymore!

This weekend, as is usual at our house, I asked my children to straighten their rooms. Now be aware, I'm not obsessive about tidiness, but I do have a certain appreciation for order. There's something very gratifying about having a clean desk in my office or knowing that all the laundry is neatly tucked in appropriate drawers, so I'm always on the lookout for an occasion to put things in order.

One of my children, however, seems to struggle more with this concept than her sisters. In fact, throughout this school year we have been working with her teacher to instill in our child some basic organizational skills... According to her teacher, my daughter suffers from "the Organizational Flu."

Knowing this, and knowing also that the pace of my life frequently causes my office areas, both home and work, to land in varying states of chaos, I decided it could be a great occasion to help my child learn some basic organizational skills like sorting and arranging. After all, each time my office gets away from me, I've devised a system to get it back in order within a day. So, after breakfast, she and I were headed upstairs to tackle a project that has been growing for months, her desk drawers.

Now I knew the drawers were in disarray, but the extent of the clutter was far beyond anything I had imagined. There were CDs with no case, cases with no CDs, half drawn picture pages, capless markers, Happy Meal(R) toys, etcetera ad infinitum. The only common denominator was that few, if any, of the things in her desk actually belonged there.

I took a cleansing breath and prepared for what lay ahead. I explained to my daughter what we were going to do: We would pour all three drawers in the middle of the floor and she would sort the pile into groups containing items of like kind. We made a pile for trash, a pile for coloring books and artwork, a pile for pencils and pens... You get the idea. The act of sorting was rather enlightening. I learned about stories she had in her mind but hadn't captured on the page, about pictures she wanted to create, about friends in Texas that she misses... In retrospect, I can see so many things I learned about my child through this experience. In the moment, however, I was more captured with the fact that we located 4 movies from our family DVD collection, more than 20 books from the church library and that we created 3 grocery sacks of garbage from the epic mess in her desk.

I'll admit that it wasn't much fun for either of us. (At one point I had to simply walk away and breathe.) But, now that her room is completely straight, with everything in its proper place, I can totally say it was worth it. I hope she feels the same. We've talked about why things grew so out of hand and how we might have avoided it, and I believe she understands that it would only take the slightest effort to keep things in their place. I don't expect this will be the turning point in her bout with clutter; goodness knows I'm still frequently setting aside parts of days so I can get things back in order, but I do believe she is grasping that small investments of time and effort pay off in other ways. You see, for the 3-4 hours we worked in her room, hthey both read books and watched a movie. She never once told me it wasn't fair, because she knows that in the same way privilege brings responsibility, responsibility breeds privilege. Profound, huh?

When I awoke on Saturday I had no intention of investing a half day in teaching my daughter to clean her room, but the investment of helping her figure out how to do it will undoubtedly reap rewards later. In the meantime, I need to find a way to reclaim the time I lost while working with her... I'd planned to use that day to clean my office!
-tik

Easter Weekend

People are so interesting... The things I think I know about people, generally speaking, are so often just slightly shy of reality!



For example, this past Friday evening we held a Tenebrae service at the church. BVBC has never, to my knowledge, had a Good Friday worship service, much less a Tenebrae, so I was skeptical about how people would attend and/or respond. There were some 200 people here that night, and I've heard numerous comments on how the Spirit moved in hearts through the experience. I don't know why that surprises me, as Tenebrae is always one of my favorite services of the year.



Then, on Easter Sunday, we had the privilege to see more than 900 people gather for worship as we celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus! We baptized, sang, heard the WORD proclaimed, and saw the unmistakable manifestation of God's presence. What a day! The surprise in all of this was the level of commitment I asked of the volunteers in our music ministry... my band and praise team were in the building at 7:00 AM on Sunday morning; our choir turned out in full force not once or twice, but FOUR times between Friday and Sunday; our congregation accepted the challenge to park in another location and shuttle to the church on school buses... and the list goes on.



Just when I think I have my finger on the pulse of people, they go out and do things more amazing than I'd expected!



This photo was taken Sunday morning at the end of our third service...

I'll admit it: I like to write... So, to that end, I maintain a few weblogs aside from the one here. One blog hits my theater friends in Dallas... one is for the church where I work now... another is where friends congregate from my former church... another is the place where I volunteer in an outside ministry. Sometimes I copy the same post to all the blogs for the simple purpose of having something new for people to read. Sometimes I write different posts for each.

Last week I received word that there had been a comment posted on one of my blogs. (I love it when people respond to my posts. I feel like a child getting mail in the mailbox!) At my first free moment I popped over to that blog page and read the note. The writer told me how she enjoyed seeing my family, how grown up my daughter looked in her costume, and how nice it was to be back in touch after many years. In all it was a really uplifting post, but with one problem; it was signed, Sophie.

I don't know anyone named Sophie.

My next thought was that many people use a pseudonym when blogging, so Sophie had to be someone I knew. I followed the links from her comment to her blog where I saw pictures of her children, "MotorBoat, Yellow Bird and Sasha." There were even photos of her and her husband, "Leopold." As I looked at the photos, I had to wonder, "Who IS this person?!" It was driving me nuts... As I read on through many of Sophie's posts, I called my redheaded sweetheart to come over and help me unravel the mystery. She looked at the picture and said, "I don't know who that is." The guessing game went on for almost an hour when I noticed a reply to one of her posts from someone that I knew. So I emailed "Polly" and asked her to help me solve the riddle.

It turns out that Sophie was a friend in college who happened to be from my hometown. We were a couple of years apart in school, so we never met until college, and, as she was a nursing student and I a music major, our paths only crossed outside the classroom. Nonetheless, knowing who she was meant that I could finally enjoy all the things I'd learned about her and her family while searching out her identity.

Once the puzzle was solved I started looking for something I could learn from the experience. Perhaps the first and most obvious lesson is that people change in 20 years! It was intriguing to think that I have likely changed so much that people who knew me 20 years ago probably wouldn't immediately recognize me. That's not the reason I shared the story, though. The reason I write is simple. God used this experience to remind me that there are many people go through life playing guessing games when it comes to Him. They see His work and don't immediately connect it to His hand. They experience His provision and don't realize that it's a result of His caring for them.

All of that being said, be encouraged. God isn't hiding from You. He is at work all around you and wants you to know that He is near. Look to Him and ask for His guidance. And when He answers, take a moment to worship Him.

"Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and wondrous things you do not know." --Jeremiah 33:3, HCSB

Odd Man Out

Have you ever been the "odd man out"?
This weekend my daughter and I were involved in a setting where we were the among the 30 some-odd new people in a setting where most of the 200 people gathered knew each other. It was uncomfortable at times... Mind you, we didn't feel slighted, just somewhat detached.
As we drove home last night I asked her about it, and I must admit that I was surprised at her response. She didn't have much to say about the people who overlooked her or about feeling left out. Rather, her response was quickly centered on the 3 specific people who, over the course of the project, reached out to her and included her whenever they were around. As she spoke, I realized how much those three teenage girls meant to my child... how they validated her as a part of the "community"... how they made her transition into the group a little less awkward.
As a father, I was touched that there were kids who went out of their way to be nice to my child. Then, in much the same way that I was trying to help my daughter "connect the dots" about what they had done for her, God showed me something new: I started thinking about all the new people coming to BVBC... I thought about what it must feel like for the new people who visit our church to come in amongst hundreds who already know each other and have well-established relationships.... how hard it could be to find your niche. To be honest, my family seemed to miss that hurdle in coming to BVBC, but joining a new church as staff is not the same as coming as a member.
Here's the bottom line: This whole experience made me mindful once again of what it feels like to be a newcomer in in a large established group. It reminded me how we have the opportunity to include others into the body every time we gather. It reminded me how special a single person can be when they help someone else bridge the gap. I can name for you the three children who made my daughter feel special over the last 8 - 10 weeks. I want to be that kind of person for someone else. How about you?