It's Easy To Tear Things Down.

They tore down a church in Collinsville the day before yesterday. The day after Christmas. I'm not sure who "they" are, but they had huge bulldozers and cranes. I had seen the heavy equipment a few days before and thought I may be able to get some photos of the building going down. My wife had to be at work at 7:00 am and I went to Panera to have some coffee and work. I got back to the church at 10:00 am and it was gone, completely leveled except for the sign and a couple of wall portions.

All I could think of was how easy it is to destroy things.

I had the opportunity to help build a church in Odessa, Texas. We started with a big piece of land covered with mesquite trees and rocks and spent several years building a large building that still stands today. To think that this building was probably built by men and women who felt like they were doing the work of God and in just a blink (in comparison) that building was reduced to a pile of rubble.

Today I passed by and they were ripping up the foundation, tearing out the basement and even removing the parking lot. In a week it will be as if the church building had never existed at all in that location and in a few months there will probably be something else there.

It seems sad, to me, to see all of that effort erased in a matter of hours. At the same time, though, I know that the Church is not a physical location, but a body of believers that can never be destroyed by "them."

Every Parent's Dream

We bought our son a Nintendo DS and his response was every parent's dream! My wife actually teared up when we were watching the video. Priceless.

Conjunction Junction

I was a kid when this came out, I still remember most of the words.

Cool Meeting With Blake...

Had a cool meeting with Blake Hubbard today, it makes me excited about the future of the church!

Related Instances....

I woke up over and over last night. Every time I woke up this phrase was in my head, "Every related incident stems from the same root." I am praying about this because I really feel like it has some kind of significance. What do you think?

Snow Boys!

Here are some more pics of the boys enjoying the first snow of the season. Woo Hoo!

SNOW!!!

We’ve heard the rumors, and it finally hit. The boys are outside right now sledding and having a blast. Here’s a great picture of Jonathan and Brian. Benjamin is sick so he only got to go out for a little while. We’re supposed to get covered up some more tonight, we’ll see.

 

-Armando

Things that happen...

My friends Doug and Leah told me that they noticed I seemed down lately. I didn't realize it showed so much, but you know I never have been to good at masking things.

I had a long talk with my wife last night and I think I know what's bothering me.

This morning I got out and took the city bus and ended up walking in the cold. It was good. I needed to take some time and think about things. When I got home I sat down and did a time line of my life, from 1972 (when I was born) to right now. Just the major events, you know, and there it was, the reason I've been struggling is because most of the things that have happened in my life are things that happened to me or around me, things that were unplanned or out of my control, some of them were reactions to things that happened, but rarely has anything major happened in my life that I actually planned for and positioned myself to make it happen.

I feel like I am totally out of focus because I don't know where I am supposed to be looking. I know, I know, I'm supposed to know all of these things because I'm a leader. Well, I don't.

I sat back in my seat and realized that my life has been lived without a purpose. Of course I have the purpose of Christ, to reach the world and show people the love of God, but to say that I know where I am going or what I'll be doing in five years would really be a stretch.

It so easy to get lost in the everyday, you know. It's like when you walk fast, usually you have your head down because you're watching your feet to make sure you don't trip, but it's easy to lose sight of the big picture when your focus is too close.

I knew a guy that believed that we weren't supposed to plan tomorrow because of a scripture he read in the New Testament, he's in prison now. He's not in prison because he believed that you shouldn't plan, but because it's so easy to get the mindset that everything's about right now that he did stupid things not thinking about where it might lead.

I'll be 40 in less than five years and I don't plan on stumbling into that year and having to look up to see where I ended up. I plan on being where I am going to position myself to be, starting today. I'll keep you posted.

The Clear Danger of Spotless Christianity

I was sitting in the window seat of Starbucks when I saw him. People were walking on the downtown sidewalk, busy and preoccupied. They didn’t see him because he was small and insignificant. I couldn’t see the look in his eyes, but I was sure he was out for blood, his kind always are. He was right outside of the window, tapping on it, trying to make contact without arousing suspicion. He kept tapping the window, confused by his inability to connect, over and over, furiously, but nobody paid attention to him. I watched him until he finally left, following someone on the sidewalk, I knew there would be blood, with his kind there always is.

He was a mosquito. Sorry, I know that must seem so anticlimactic, but it makes a clear illustration. I had been sitting there in that Starbucks on a hot summer day, the elements and the street noise, the pollutants and the mosquitos were all held at bay by a clear, thin sheet of glass. The world was there, I could see it, but I was “safe” from it, sitting in my window seat thinking about Jesus. The thing that separated me from the world was invisible, like the kingdom of God. I started looking at the glass, not focusing through it, but focusing on it.

That was what Jesus came to do, to help man stop looking through the kingdom and start seeing it, right in front of their faces. He had contempt for the hierarchy that covered the kingdom in blue robes and gold shutters. That’s what we do. We cover the kingdom with fancy covers and scrub it squeaky clean on the inside, maybe that’s why people call clergy “men of the cloth.”

There is a movement abroad, though, to take the covers off of the kingdom, to make the kingdom clear to everyone, but I have to warn you about the danger of uncovering the kingdom and leaving it clean.

When I was in the fifth grade I lived in Odessa, Texas. That summer I took a road trip with the local Boy’s Club. We drove about two and a half hours north to Lubbock, Texas to go to a boxing match. It was great! Everyone was excited and we met the boxing champion, Sugar Ray Leonard. He even signed the back of my Boy’s Club member card.

We left there and on the way home we stopped in a little town called Seagraves at a Dairy Queen. I jumped out of the bus, racing the director to get inside. Neither of us saw the glass enclosure, it was so clean it was invisible. I never slowed down, not even a slight pause, and I hit the glass at full force. Just before I reached it I sensed it was there and threw my hands out. Both of my hands busted through the glass. I remember looking up, confused and scared. I yanked my hands back instinctively and eight feet of clean jagged shards of glass rained down on my face. The noise was incredible, the blood was terrifying, people were screaming. I had fallen backward and was covered in glass and blood. It was all over my face and both of my arms and hands were lacerated. I was in a state of shock. Both of my lips are scarred and I have a scar on my right forearm and just above my left elbow. They are there, permanently reminding me of the danger of invisible enclosures.

Jesus came proclaiming a kingdom but He didn’t allow it to be so clinical, so sterile and clean that people could look right through it. No, he smeared it with mud (literally in the blind man’s case) and blotched it with prostitutes and tax collectors and dead people and Romans and demoniacs. You can see glass, even clear glass, but only when it’s dirty. He wants the world to be able to see the kingdom, but the church has been so busy trying to rub out the spots that it’s still invisible. We seem to think that we have to represent the church as perfect, spotless with no messy smudges or smears. The Pharisees of Jesus day spent most of their time washing the window and never seeing the lost and broken humanity walking by and being pursued by the enemy. We’re still employed as Holy Window Washers, doing the same thing. We pay each other with knowing looks and airs of self righteousness as the holiness challenged common man walks by outside of the window. (That’s politically correct speak for low-down and dirty, good for nothing sinner.)

The danger is when the world tries to come to God, they come running, not slowing down, not even a slight pause and hit it at full force. They are wounded when it comes crashing down on them because they think everything is going to be perfect. Here in America they think they are going to get a fancy car and a big house and a perfect marriage and all of their blemishes and imperfections are going to clear up, and they don’t.

Their life keeps grinding on and they still get diagnosed with cancer and have to live with aids. We tell them that God will multiply their offering ten times and they give ten bucks and then go spend $90 on a new shirt and tie and get their electricity cut off. I’ve watched them walk around dazed at church, ran into them at Wal-Mart and seen the scars on their faces and arms and hands. They’re in a state of shock and it’s our fault. We’re trying to make the church transparent, but we can’t keep pretending everything is perfect once you give your life to God. We are promised abundant life, not abundant perfection. Life is life. Sometimes it’s incredibly good, sometimes it’s incredibly bad, sometimes it’s incredibly routine, but it’s life. The beauty isn’t perfection, it’s the blend of the invisible kingdom and flawed humanity.

I was sharing this with my friend, Lowery Stallings, and he made a great point. When the world comes crashing in and they’re wounded and lying on the floor covered in blood and glass, we don’t reach out to them, pick them up and hold them, or render aid. We stand there in our self righteousness, with our arms crossed or our hand on our hip and index finger in their face and berate them for breaking the window! “Hey, stupid, you must not have repented right or you would be able to see the invisible kingdom. Let me teach you some doctrine.”

That’s it, really. It’s kind of like the old story of the emperor’s clothes. In his story the swindlers convince the emperor that only the smart people can see the invisible cloth, in ours the swindlers say that only the “holy” people or the ones that give more in the offering or have the right denominational affiliation can see the invisible kingdom. YOU CAN’T SEE SOMETHING THAT’S INVISIBLE! That’s what invisible means. It doesn’t matter how smart or holy or righteous or indoctrinated you are.

On the sixth day of creation, God took dust and covered man’s invisible soul blended with His Spirit. When man sinned he was kicked out of the garden and Adam and Eve left the garden, dust without Spirit. Jesus came to bring the invisible kingdom back to the dust and on the day of Pentecost God finally reunited Spirit with dust. Religion is pretending that you can combine Living Water with dust and not get dirty.

Of course, God knows that in our self-righteousness, we have an aversion to the dirty. He knows that we use the kingdom as our insulator instead of making it a refuge for the hurting, so He has enacted plan A.2 (there’s no plan B, right?) You know what plan A.2 is?

Signs. Yup, signs.

You hang a big fluorescent green sign in the middle of a clean window and even though you still can’t see the glass, you know it must be there. There are some incredible moves of God in churches and sometimes it’s not because of the ministry staff, but in spite of it. When we rub out the blemishes and run off the dirty, God will post a sign on the kingdom for the sake of the people walking by. We thought it was all about us, huh? Tongues and miraculous signs, all of these things are done for the unbeliever to have something to believe in, because they can’t see the kingdom in us.

The kingdom of God will declare itself when the prostitute’s life is transformed and the demoniac is delivered and the drug addict is cleansed. Jesus said that His works declared His identity. He prayed that the kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. In other words, what He did among humanity, the healing and the serving, the restitution and reconciliation, these things were his proof of the kingdom, they were signs so we knew where the kingdom was. He came to bring the human element into the eternal kingdom and the eternal kingdom into the human element.

On a good day, when the kingdom is in the right position, the Light will reflect so brilliantly that you won’t be able to see past it. The only thing you’ll see, of course, is the reflection of the Son.

Squint, but don’t close your eyes, you might miss something.

The Benefit of the Doubt

It was really a question of motives, but it seemed more than that. Some friends of mine were not sure about what my motives were in a particular area. The situation probably dragged on further than it should have without communication between us. The important questions were left to assumption, and assumption, unfortunately, rarely ever visits long without doubt.

In the course of our conversations I was given the “benefit of the doubt” over three different things. When I found that out I didn’t feel like I had really benefited much. It was the slight chance that my motive might be right that kept me from being pronounced wrong. In a court proceeding you can only pronounce someone guilty without a shadow of a doubt, otherwise they are declared innocent or a mistrial is declared and the case must be heard again. I’m glad there was a glimmer of hope there, however faint, and we’re working everything out, but I wonder how many times we do the same thing to God.

We don’t see God or understand His motive sometimes, but we give Him the “benefit of the doubt.”

“I hope God has my best intentions in mind. I don’t like what I’m going through right now, but I doubt He would do anything to harm me, even though it seems like He hates me.”

We don’t focus on His goodness or His past record or promises, because we can only see through our own tainted perceptions. I’m suspect to failure and selfishness or I have been hurt by people or circumstances so I project them on Him and instead of receiving the “benefit of faith,” I shortchange myself by handing out the “benefit of doubt.”

It seems to me that the “benefit of the doubt” is a concept that works only in the vacuum created by a lack of relationship. The jurors are impartial because they lack a relationship with the defendant. Relationship nullifies the power of distance and therefore disqualifies the juror. If I give God the “benefit of the doubt” I have to do it at a distance, minus relationship. This leads me to a deeper understanding of the significance of faith in my life. Faith is not the absence of knowledge or sight. Faith is the “confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.” (dictionary.com)

When I give God the “benefit of the doubt” I change Him from capital “G” God to lower case “g” god, in my life because I declare Him unworthy of trust, therefore unacceptable as God. It doesn’t change Him, He’s immutable (or unchangeable) but it changes how capable I am of receiving from Him. Doubt is only dispelled by faith which only comes through communication. That’s why Paul wrote to the church in Rome and explained that faith only comes by “hearing the word of God.”

Communication, not blind acceptance, is the basis for faith. I was in a hotel lobby several years ago when I overheard a teenage girl asking her grandmother questions about sin and God and the Bible. The grandmother was obviously not knowledgeable about the Bible and gave several pat answers until out of frustration she said, “Why can’t you just take it by faith.” Of course, she really meant “blind acceptance” not “faith.” The girl was willing to, even trying to, accept something by faith, but hadn’t been given anything substantial to believe in.

Blind acceptance leads to “situational faith.” I’ll believe as long as the situation is favorable, because the lack of relationship keeps me in the dark when it comes to motives. So I operate in doubt, not in faith, and though I never pronounce God as guilty, I never really see Him as innocent or righteous or trustworthy, either, because I don’t know Him well enough to see beyond the situation.

The “benefit of faith” is like walking with a lamp on a pole I’m carrying out in front of me, understanding the heart and motive enough to see beyond the current situation, good or bad, and being able to keep moving. The “benefit of the doubt” is more like a stationary lamp post that casts light on a fixed and very limited area. I feel safe only when I hug the lamp post and stay away from the dark edges. So, really, I am not liberated by the light as much as I am afraid of the dark. Remember, doubt always shows up with assumptions, but fear is the “benefit” of doubt, and the opposite of faith, and without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Easter?

Ahh, springtime, flowers, green grass, budding trees and SNOW???



















We had a neighborhood egg hunt today. Get your basket, your gloves, parka and tobaggan! Woah, talk about cold. It was great though. We went to church this morning with our neighbors and then came home spent time with our neighborhood friends and then I bar-b-qued (yes with my jacket on) and we had a wonderful dinner, complete with fancy dinnerware and sparkling grape juice.

Here's a picture from this morning:

Jonathan is really getting tall (he is 0n an incline) and Benjamin and Brian are growing, too.

Happy Easter!

Training is not Educating.

What is your focus? As a Pastor or leader of any group it’s easy to focus on the middle (or average) of the group, this tendency is accentuated by the American mindset of “standardization”. We set up classes to assimilate newbies (hopefully there is some mechanism to engage these people) and get them into the mainstream of the organization through training. We then spend most of our time maintaining the middle with very little effort to educate people beyond the average. Where are you at as a leader? Do you spend most of your time and resources training or educating? Is there really a difference? Let’s look at these words:

Educate*:
1. To develop the innate capacities of, especially by schooling or instruction.
2. To provide with knowledge or training in a particular area or for a particular purpose: decided to educate herself in foreign languages; entered a seminary to be educated for the priesthood.
3. To provide with information; inform: a campaign that educated the public about the dangers of smoking. To bring to an understanding or acceptance: hoped to educate the voters to the need for increased spending on public schools.
4. To stimulate or develop the mental or moral growth of.

*educate. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.Retrieved March 22, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/educate Emphasis added.

Train**:

1. To develop or form the habits, thoughts, or behavior of (a child or other person) by discipline and instruction: to train an unruly boy.
2. To make proficient by instruction and practice, as in some art, profession, or work: to train soldiers.
3. To discipline and instruct (an animal), as in the performance of tasks or tricks.
4. To treat or manipulate so as to bring into some desired form, position, direction, etc.: to train one's hair to stay down.

**train. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1).Retrieved March 22, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/train Emphasis added.

Here’s the breakdown:
Many churches and organizations set up classes to train their people to be good members, but rarely do we see organizations that go to the level that they educate their people to be great Christians and/or leaders. To educate is to develop the innate capacities of, especially by schooling or instruction, to train is to develop or form the habits, thoughts, or behavior by discipline and instruction.

This system creates people who are typically “habitual conformists.” They conform to the system through modified behavioral habits. Jesus didn’t say, “You shall know the system and the system shall make you free.” He said you would know the truth, that’s an intellectual statement. I’ve heard so many people try to train their congregants specifically focusing on behavior modification, but remember, His kingdom is about motive as much as it is about action. Jesus spent very little time trying to modify the behavior of the people He lead, and most of His time educating them into greatness. He had the same scripture and traditions as the Pharisees but His focus was so radically different that with twelve men He revolutionized the world.

So, what is the remedy if you come to the realization that you spend most of your time training and very little time educating? First you have to realize that you will not effectively educate the masses. The shotgun method of teaching a large congregation is unavoidable. You have to shoot at the middle and hope the over spray is enough to effect both extremes (the completely ignorant and the scholarly). So don’t frustrate yourself trying to make this concept work in a congregational setting.

Instead examine your group. You have four categories:

1. The unconnected. These people need to become connected with your mission. They need to be evangelized into your group. For Christians that means they need to be born again, for business that means they need to be hired, for schools that means they need to become enrolled. Without this first step, the following is moot. We spend a lot of our time trying to reach this group and make them part of the next group.

2. The Newbie. This person is at the beginning stages and is typically ignorant of your core doctrines and/or mission goals. They also may have adverse tendencies and/or habits that will need to be replaced with new ones that fit your organization. (Spiritual, business, educational). This requires training, yes, behavior modification does have its place, but it is not the complete picture. In organizations that focus on training, these people will typically be the most enthusiastic members, however, once their behavior is successfully modified they become “habitual conformists” and “average out” they are hard to distinguish from the rest of the average group.

3. The Average. These people require maintenance to keep them focused and engaged. This is the base of your organization (the average is a quantity intermediate to a set of quantities, or the middle between extremes). We spend almost all of our time (justifiably so for most leaders since this is where the bulk of your return is: Church – offerings and tithes, Business – labor and production, School – tuition, funding and test scores) maintaining and growing the base. Think about this, though, these people are your base, but not necessarily your “core.”

4. The Core. In the “training” church your core is lost in the base. Since the focus is on the average group (or base) we are in maintenance mode which typically means we are re-evangelizing the strays and constantly retraining (modifying behavior) of people who lose focus and/or desire to stay connected to the mission or values of the organization. These people will either average out and lose their passion, become bitter (we typically call this burn out, but there is actually no Biblical basis for the burn out concept, really we become bitter because we are stuck in an average mentality with the desire to go further but a lack of education and/or empowerment to be able to move forward) or they will leave and become a part of an organization that they perceive is more “on their level.” I worked for an organization that was specifically focused on behavior modification. I saw dozens of great leaders being developed in that organization and yet there are only a handful of them that stayed. Most of them are still engaged in other organizations which are by and large focused on educating their people. They simply grew past the capacity displayed by the leadership of that organization. Perception is reality and these leaders perceived that the organization didn’t have the capacity to grow them further so they left. The organization certainly had the capacity but lacked the mindset.

The pastor or key leader typically feels like he or she must spend most of their face-time with the base in order to keep them loyal to themselves when, in fact, their most effective sessions will be focused on growing the Core. Really it depends on the focus of the organization. Are you trying to grow a big group of people or a group of big people? An educated Core is much more valuable than a loyal base of habitual conformists. If the leader will take the Core and in a closed session allow them to ask hard questions and engage in meaningful discussions while educating them in the principles behind the habits, values and goals of the organization, he will begin to multiply instead of maintain. The Core should have more face time than the base which may mean that some of the congregational training sessions be taught by some one other than the leader so he or she can educate the Core. That may mean a loss of control of the masses (which may be equated with a loss of personal loyalty) and for insecure leaders this is an almost insurmountable obstacle. If, however, the leader had a solid Core that was loyal to the mission and purpose of the organization, the base would still be hearing the leader by proxy and the base would begin to become loyal to the purpose and mission of the organization as opposed to an individual.

What was scarier for the Disciples, the crucifixion or the ascension? They thought Jesus was never coming back and it was over at the crucifixion. At the ascension, however, they knew He was coming back eventually and they were now in charge of perpetuating His passion. I would have been more scared at the ascension. They probably would have been petrified except for one thing. Before the crucifixion Christ trained them into a new mentality for a new covenant, but after the crucifixion he educated them on how it all fit together so they could move the kingdom forward without His physical presence. By doing this he multiplied the ministry through the Core, which is what we must do also if we are going to see the right kind of growth.

“That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”

They stopped short, sadness written across their faces.

Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.”

“What things?” Jesus asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.

“Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”

Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!

They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.”

Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread. And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!

“Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched.

Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things. And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. So they worshiped him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God.

Luke 24:13-50 NLT. Emphasis Added.

The last line of this passage of Scripture is the most significant. They were hiding at Peter’s house before. All of their behavioral modification (training) was not enough to sustain them minus the physical presence of Christ, but after the educational process, they were willing to risk their lives because they understood why on an intellectual level before they were even infused with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.

Please feel free to leave comments, ask questions and/or print this article to share with your organization. Email me with specific closed session questions.

Destination: Granite City...

Well, it's official. My family and I will be moving to Granite City to work with Pastor Fred Childs and an awesome youth team. We're extremely excited about the great possibilities in the GC! Granite City is a small suburb (on the Illinois side of the river) of St. Louis, MO.

Pastor Childs has been a great friend of ours for many years and his leadership and mentoring will definately be a great benefit to our ministry. The youth team and young people in Granite City are ready to do some tremendous things there. South Illinois University is in the area and we hope to make an impact on the campus.

I'll be commuting to and from GC starting next week (March 4) until sometime in June when we'll make the official move. Probably a Sunday to Wednesday thing so we can move the ministry forward and look for housing, etc. I'll still maintain my speaking schedule and am looking forward to speaking in other areas as well.

So, thanks to the Believers and Pastor Randy Hollis for a great two years. We're going to miss Louisville and the great friends we've made here. I'll keep you posted with the progress.

Move Forward.

-Armando

What If We Looked At Christianity Outside Of The American Religious Culture?

1. Our focus would not be on making good church members.

"There’s nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept."–Ansel Adams

The qualifications of a good church member are faithful event attendance and financial input to maintain the staff and facility. The qualifications of a Christian are to be born again and live, everyday, a life that follows the principles of Christ. The bottom line is you can be a good church member and not even be a Christian because the qualifications are not the same.

So much of what we do in American church culture is about perpetuating our own local “church plant” and “service event.” When we make the event and the facility the primary focus our people end up with the concept that “church” is just a segment of their life and use the allotted church service time as a weekly prescription to medicate their carnal symptoms. They become event driven, simply surviving from event to event, not living for Christ.

We should focus on helping people see the significance of Christ in their everyday life. Let me give you an analogy. Let’s say your child develops crooked teeth. There are a couple of different methods of correcting this problem, the event method and the process method.

The event method is to take the child, have him smile real big and hit him in the mouth with a 2 x 4 or other heavy object. There will definitely be a rearranging of teeth, but the chance is high that the teeth will not reattach straight. So, the next scheduled event will be another whack with the 2 x 4. Yes, change is made but it is unpredictable, ineffective and uncontrollable.

The process method is called braces. It’s a slow process of small changes that affect the teeth everyday until they are straight. The results are intentional, effective and measurable. Braces are still painful and the process can be long and frustrating and many times requires a life long retainer to help maintain the change, but it works!

Christianity that works is a process driven life that changes slowly everyday and is maintained by Biblical principles that are followed for the rest of our lives. Otherwise we live in a series of incredible life changing events that have no long-term effects.

The American church, if you can call it that, it is probably better to say the American religious culture, has set up a spectacular stage of glitz and glamorous events that produces superficiality in most of its congregants. It becomes so much about the show and not the go. Jesus Christ never chastised the people of Judea for their superficial knowledge of the Scripture and its true application. He pointed His finger repeatedly at the ones responsible for the lack of depth, the religious leaders of the day.

They had refined their pageantry to an art form and when they took to the streets with their faith it wasn't to reach out, but to show off. These men retalliated by killing Him in cold blood, parading Him through the streets, a part of their big show. They were content to let the world see them because they had lost their ability to show the world who God was.

The Church is not about events and facilities, it never has been, it's about people. People who need God and each other. People who are hungry and those who are well fed. People who are ignorant and those who are well versed. Jesus Christ never came to set up a corporation nor an international religious conglomerate. His focus has alway been about His kingdom and bringing men and women into it. It's not an American or British or African kingdom, it's not a Sunday morning Baptist or Pentecostal or Lutheran kingdom, it's an everyday Jesus Kingdom.

It's a process not an event.

This is multi-part series that I am developing for my new book, "Cardboard Astronauts." To find out more about the project simply send me an email.

December blurred by, 2006 blurred by for that matter! What an incredible year of happenings. In December I was in Texas for a week and then spoke at the Atlanta Youth Convention which was, in my opinion, very successful. Kudos to the AYC staff for a great event.

This year promises to be a year of impact. UnitedStatesYouth.com is beginning to come together, I'm writing my new book, "Cardboard Astronauts" and I'm turning in my passport application so I'll be ready for international work coming up.

Be praying for my family as we move forward this year in the plan that God has for us.

-Armando