ever have trouble following us?

This past weekend was a terrific celebration of Pentecost, the anniversary of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the Church of Jesus Christ. However, our guest speaker (who shall remain nameless, since this post is in no way a criticism of his ministry) sensed that he ‘lost’ us Sunday night and ‘never got us back’. I’ve already heard from at least 3 pastors who were present (not including me, and I’m guilty, too) who said they weren’t quite sure where he was going.

At any rate, it got me thinking about this whole area of communicating God’s truth to an audience, and I suspect our distinguished guest is not at all alone. Surely every preacher sometimes says some things that are hard to understand – if Peter and Paul are any indication here.

I know I’m sometimes guilty of trying to cover too much material in too little time. Probably there are times I’ve simply not communicated well, perhaps because I didn’t have a firm enough grasp on the truth myself – by that, I mean it’s one thing to ‘comprehend’ a principle in Scripture and pass it on verbally; it’s another thing altogether to have lived it out – and the easiest truths to pass on effectively are always the ones that we have incarnated.

Can you help me with some other suggestions? Surely you’ve sometimes had trouble following a preacher’s presentation – so can you put your finger on why? Your comments may keep it from happening so frequently at CLC, so help a brother out, please?

batteries recharged, ‘raring’ to go!

Chris and I took the last 3 days for a ‘first’: a working/planning/writing retreat, away from the office!

Just getting away, especially after our pace of late, was exactly what the doctor ordered. She managed to get her next book almost finished, and, more importantly, the creative juices are flowing again.

For me, it was an opportunity to prioritize some things for the future and think clearly without the distractions and interruptions of a normal day at the office.

And looking at Lake Michigan in the background wasn’t bad, either….

Our summer series is gonna be terrific – invite a friend today to join you this weekend for “More Than a Road Map” as we begin our Road Trip 4 God, Part 1.

Saturday night reflections…

Returned home early this morning from Pittsburgh – the homegoing celebration for Bishop Garlington’s mother was a terrific time, and for me, it was especially gratifying because of the genuine connections with the Reconciliation! Ministries folks. I don’t mention it often, but when Chris and I walked away from our former faith family about 14 years ago, we literally left behind virtually every relationship we had ever built in over 20 years of ministry. It wasn’t until this January that we joined another ministerial fellowship, and already I feel God has given us relationships that will bless our lives for years to come. Thanks Harold, John, Sanford, Vinnie, Donna, Yvonne, Joel, Mark, Martin, Lucell, and, of course, Bishop and Pastor Barbara, for making us feel like part of your family already!

That feeling was only further cemented tonight when Pastor Joel Brooks from Kalamazoo kicked-off our “Celebration of Pentecost” weekend. I can’t recall ever laughing so hard and so long in church, as Joel had us rolling in the aisles with his unique humor – while delivering ‘nuggets’ of practical wisdom and insight at the same time!

Sharing a meal together afterwards was a real joy, getting to know him and his wife Yvonne even better. God is good, and this is a great season for us!

on the road again, being a ‘good’ son

I left home early this morning to fly to Pittsburgh, PA for a special celebration tonight to mark the home-going of Valdese ‘Muttie’ Garlington, the mother of my pastor and spiritual father, Bishop Joseph Garlington. (My wife helped me figure it out: if Bishop is my ‘father’, then his mother must be my ‘grandmother’, and it’s only right for me to be here tonight.)

Making the trip from Midway with me was Pastor Mark Smith from Family and Faith Christian Church in Aurora. Mark & I just met this January at our First Love Conference, but he’s quickly becoming a great friend, and I’ve really enjoyed hanging with him already today. Life is better together! Our flight from Midway was delayed for over an hour, but swapping stories with Mark made it a fun time instead of a frustrating time.

I’ll be back early in the morning to prepare for this weekend and our Celebration of Pentecost with Joel Brooks & Tudor Bismark. I promise you, if you miss it, you’re really gonna miss it! It’s not too late to invite a friend – check this out and see you Saturday night at 6pm!

an interesting day; an interesting possibility

I spent the better part of my day today with a group of leaders from another congregation. Together we are exploring the possibility of ‘uniting’ our churches, so that they would become our third campus.

(We’re in the early stages of negotiating and exploring this future possibility, but already I’m thinking of the prophetic word we received in January that CLC is entering a time of acceleration!) I’m not sure I could handle it if things were happening any faster here now!

We’re definitely in an exciting season at CLC:

• last weekend we saw over 15 people baptized in the Holy Spirit, and we’re hearing wonderful testimonies of newfound joy and freedom in prayer through the working of the Spirit!
• Just today I received a wonderful email testimony of how God is working through our Shorewood campus food pantry (thanks, Julie!) and specifically how that outreach is impacting Hispanics (another prophetic word coming to pass!)
• this weekend is Pentecost weekend with guests Joel Brooks & Tudor Bismark (watch this for a preview) and don’t forget to invite a friend!
• The following week we’ll launch both our Summer weekend series, “Road Trip 4 God” AND our “Summer Splash” events each Thursday – I’m telling you, CLC is the place to be this summer!

even better: pictures than words

My friend sent me this link to a report by CBN – please take a few minutes to watch this, and then join me in praying for the Gospel outreach in Turkey. May it again be true as was said in the past: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church!”

Chris and I will be speaking at the annual conference for the pastor who appears in the report this September, and CLC is partnering with them in significant ways.

more prayers for Turkey

I just received news from a friend who served in Turkey with fresh reasons for us to pray: the pastor/Apostle that CLC is connected to in Ankara, a man who is perhaps the leading voice for Christians in that predominantly-Muslim nation, was recently criticized by the Prime Minister for his strong remarks regarding the recent murders of 3 Christian men in the city of Malatya.

Here’s the news I received just tonight:

Today (Wednesday, May 23) an interview with our friend and pastor, Ihsan, was on the front page of a national paper in Turkey; it was well done, mostly just quoting what Ihsan said, without giving it any negative spin. Here are the points he made:

• In Malatya someone has made a list of the believers and workers, including pictures of many, and it is being circulated hand to hand, the purpose being to encourage action against the believers. 15 of the 30 members of the church have left.
• Believers in Malatya say that as a result when they are recognized on the street, people look at them and make a throat-cutting motion, meaning, “you’re next!”
• One worker’s name, picture and address were published in a national paper, again an encouragement to act against him.
• The “secret” depostion of the leading murderer was illegally leaked to the press by the police (the papers told enquirers that the police had supplied it). In the report he accused the murdered believers of outrageous things, like being linked to terrorists, of running a prostitution ring to attract people to Christianity, of insulting Turkey and Islam, etc. He also named believers from other cities whom he had met; their names and addresses and in some case pictures were in the paper; this is a common way of encouraging people to act against the believers.
• In Ankara two men took pictures of the entrance to the Christian radio station; this is the first step in planning an attack on a place. Fortunately they were clearly photographed by the survailence camera and the footage has been given to the police.
• On the same day two men took pictures of the entrance to our bookstore; when questioned by our employee they claimed to be taking pictures of the floor beneath us!
• Police protection was requested by the radio station and other places in Ankara 4 weeks ago, but no reply yet; when questioned by a news reporter, the govenor’s office said they’d given an order long ago to the police to provide protection, but no action or word.
• A church in another city that had an arson attempt on it a couple of weeks ago had requested police protection and got it. But last Saturday night the guards were called away to other duties, and while they were gone windows were broken in the church and molotov cocktails were thrown at it, setting a car outside on fire.
• All this points to some authorities using the aftermath of the murders to harrass and incite attacks on believers. The goal, we believe is to destroy the church and drive workers away.

This morning my daily reading was in Matthew 5; verses 10-13 speak to the situation: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” It is no coincidence that this was my reading for the day. We need to be rejoicing in the privilege of suffering for the name of Christ. Pray that all the believers and workers will have this attitude, forgiving and rejoicing in each new wave of negative happenings. God has a sequel to each difficulty. Let’s also pray for protection for all and wisdom in how to proceed. Especially pray for protection for the bookstore.

Chris and I will be traveling to Ankara this September to speak at the annual conference for our friend and his network of churches, and we truly believe that Turkey is CLC’s next ‘assignment’ from the Lord – so please join us in lifting our brothers and sisters there before the Lord, for His favor & blessing.

saying goodbye…

Don’t you hate goodbyes? I know I do. But in just 15 days, all of us at CLC will have to say goodbye to some of my favorites, Sam & Heidi Stevens. Sam & Heidi served as our Community Outreach Pastors for the year of 2006, and, even before that, Sam had launched our Alpha Course outreach (that came pretty naturally, since he is the Chicago-area Director for Alpha USA!)

At any rate, early this year I approached Sam with a request that he leave his day job at Alpha to join our pastoral staff full-time, but instead he explained to me that the Lord had put a different call on his heart. He and Heidi and their family will be pioneering a brand-new church in the inner-city of Chicago, reaching out to some of the neediest people in all of Chicagoland. (In case you’re wondering, I immediately tried to convince him that could be our 3rd CLC campus, but he quickly explained why that wouldn’t work because of the other God-connections who actually approached him about starting this work). So I surrendered. Not happily, but I surrendered.

Probably no one expressed my feelings better than Pastor Mark Beeson in his blog about the departure of a trusted staff member from his church here. I really feel that way about Sam & Heidi – not only were they wonderful as co-workers here at CLC, but they have become true friends in the few years that we’ve been acquainted.

So it will be with many mixed emotions – sad to see them go, but excited for them in this new adventure with God – that we’ll say goodbye on Thursday, June 7 during the first of our “Summer Splash” events (be watching your mailbox for full details soon). Sam will be sharing a message from his heart and we’ll celebrate Communion together as a church family before sending them off with a special love-offering. Mark your calendar and help me say goodbye…as much as I don’t like it!

there just aren’t words to express…

There really aren’t. We’re finally back home with family, out of the tuxes & wedding dresses (and especially the unforgiving shoes!) and I’m just looking back on the past few hours and the first wedding of one of our children…and all I can think of is the rush of emotion I felt today.

I’ve said the words before on behalf of other wedding families – that the presence of the guests made a special day even more special – but I never understood it like I do now. When we called our elders & pastors on stage to pray over Brent & Sol, I was just overwhelmed as I saw my children surrounded by people we have the privilege of serving with, people we love, people who are our friends – folks, hear me when I say it: this is what life is all about!

It’s not about the accumulation of stuff – the car or the house or any of the things that we so often work so hard for. Life is about relationships. It’s about being connected with others who will walk with you through bad times and good times, through funerals and weddings.

Chris and I are proud parents today. We’re thankful to see our children entering into their own destiny as adults. But most of all, we’re thankful for the people we get to do life with at CLC. Little did we know, 18 years ago when we moved to Tinley Park with our 4-year-old son, 11-year-old daughter, & 12-year-old son, how rich our lives would become in this place. Thank YOU, Lord, for planting us here, and sending such great friends for us to serve You with. We can’t wait to see what the next chapter holds for us all!

a new name for me

No, I’m not taking on a new name because of my son’s wedding. But this morning one of our CLCers, Boris Satey, delivered some food from his restaurant to our house for the wedding party and family guests. He came back to me a few minutes later with his daughter Abigail in tow – she’s only 3 years old – to say that she had something to tell me. Of course, like all kids, she instead got very quiet, so Boris prompted her, “Do you know who this is?”. When she nodded yes, he said “What do you call him?” She smiled sweetly and said “God”!

After I got over the initial shock, Boris explained that when she was smaller and they were at church together, they would caution Abigail to be quiet, since they were at “God’s house” and evidently she decided since I was the guy up front, I must be Him!

My biggest laugh came a little later when he told me that recently they were at the Shorewood campus for service (where they now attend) and she leaned over and said, “Dad, I want to go back to the other church.” When he asked which church she meant, she said, “The one where God is”.

Out of the mouth of babes! I totally agree with Abigal – don’t you? I always want to go to the church where God is!

That’s what I love about CLC – HE really is here, working among us! Bring a friend this weekend to see what He’s gonna do next!

But don’t ever confuse me for Him!

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