Weekend reflections

It’s been an awfully long weekend for me, as after the final service in Tinley Park today my family took me to Hamada’s for a special Father’s Day lunch together.  Then we rushed home to quickly pack the car for a trip to my in-law’s in Madison Hts, MI (near Detroit), and the normal 4.5 hour trip took almost 5.5 hours because of road construction.  It’s almost midnight now, and I’m ready to hit the hay, but since my sabbatical starts tomorrow and I’m staying off email for the next 30 days, I wanted to get this done.

• I felt like apologising last night to the Saturday attenders, because the message just didn’t come out of my mouth like I thought was in my heart, so I didn’t sleep well and got up early to make some major changes before the first service today.
• Gotta say, I think it was worth it – the anointing I sensed and the response from the congregation today was the way I wanted to finish the “Margins” series – strong!
• I loved talking about Chik-Fil-A today – not only because I love the food, but because it’s such a great example of the sabbath principle.  If you want more info about that, read this.
• I was overwhelmed by the kind words from Pastor Doug and others, and by the generous gifts I received from CLCers – you honored me today, and I’m humbled by your display of love.  Thank you!
• I was also moved to thank God by your generosity – trying to get my whole family to Hawaii for Chad’s wedding is a challenge financially, and I was stressing a bit about all the expense.  Thanks for CLC today, I don’t have to stress anymore!
• Want some really neat news?  Two of the songs we sang in the worship set in Tinley Park this weekend were original compositions written by our very own Marcus & Monika Moore, Worship Directors for CLC-Shorewood!  Serious props to you both!
• More neat news: one of our Tinley Park CLCers told me today that she took the “90 Day Tithe Challenge” last weekend, and this week she received an $8,000 raise on her job!
• Just as neat news: our South Bend Campus Pastors reported a great day there, including this tidbit – one of their newest members, who have been under great financial stress refused to accept their offer of the “90-Day Tithe Challenge”, by saying – “Oh, no - we’re not doing this for 90 days.  We’ve determined that we’re going to give Jesus the first 10% of our income for the rest of our lives, regardless of what happens to our finances – even if we go deeper into debt as a result, we’re going to obey the Lord!”  -Don’t you just love their attitude?
• BEST tidbit of all: that last report came from the lips of someone who was brought up as an agnostic, and until just recently, never attended any church – but at CLC South Bend, has found real life!  Thank you, Jesus, and thank you CLCers, for enabling us to open our 3rd campus there, to already see lives changed as a result!

That’s it…I’m going to bed.  I just may renege on my sabbatical by continuing to post here from our travels…stay tuned just in case.

A tribute to my father (part 4)

No, I’m not back to write about yet another man who’s influenced me. 

Instead, I want to get to the heart of what this was all about in the first place: honor.

Father’s Day is the perfect time to talk about it, because of what God said here

From where I sit, that means it’s in my best interest to give honor to people that God brings into my life, starting with my earthly parents.  Maybe someday after our sabbatical I’ll teach about the whole principle of honor and how big it is to God and to our success, especially since it’s a forgotten principle in our American culture.

But for now, I just want to know: who should you honor today?  You can comment below, but I think it’s much more important that you contact them directly and give the honor to those individuals who have helped mold you.

I promise you this: it won’t only bless them; it will bring blessings to you, too!

What are you waiting for?  Who will you honor now?

A tribute to my father (part 3)

As I’ve said previously, Father’s Day seems like the appropriate time to pay some long-overdue honor to three men who have had major impact on my life.  In fact, the whole subject of honor is HUGE in Scripture and increasingly rare in our American culture, so it’s one I really need to visit occasionally as a pastor who wants to declare the whole counsel of God to our church family.  (You can read the first two tributes here and here)

My final tribute is to the man I now call my ‘father’, Bishop Joseph Garlington, whom I admired from afar for several years before first connecting with him in 1996 (when he dedicated the second building at CLC) and who became my pastor in January of 2007.

I don’t think I can adequately describe the love and admiration I feel for Bishop Garlington – I sometimes feel like a little boy when I’m around him, even though he’s not old enough to be my biological father and could only be considered an older brother – but to me, he’s truly my spiritual father.

I honor my Bishop, not only because he’s one of the most dynamic preachers on the planet (he is!), or because his singing can take you straight into the Holy of Holies (really!), or because he’s one of the funniest guys I’ve ever known (he’s that, too!).  (I found a great example of all of that here)

Instead, I give honor to my Bishop today because:

• he is sensitive to the Holy Spirit in ways unlike anyone I’ve ever known.  Bishop has taught me about those ‘thin places’ where it’s easy to step into the moving of the Spirit, and I so want to be like my dad in going there.  I’ve long valued the work of the Holy Spirit, but when I’m around Bishop, that sense is just heightened in incredible ways.
• he is not afraid to be human.  His self-deprecating humor not only disarms an audience, but it also teaches me that’s it’s ok to not take myself so seriously, and, like a lot of preachers, I sometimes need help with that.  His humanness makes him approachable and genuine, and that’s definitely the kind of leader that I aspire to be.
• he loves his wife.  Whenever I hear Bishop speak of Pastor Barbara, I can’t help but notice the obvious love and respect that he has for her, after all these years of marriage.  When I see him invite her to the stage to pray for him before he ministers, it tenderizes my heart and makes me want to be that kind of husband to Chris.
• he loves his family.  It didn’t take long to notice that his children are involved in his ministry, and that there’s a special relationship with his family that is missing in many pastor’s homes.  I’m learning from you, Bishop, and I want to enjoy my children and (future) grandchildren as I see you enjoy yours.
• he loves Jesus.  At the end of the day, ministry can be tough.  I’ve seen my share of ministers fall by the wayside – some done in by their own sins, others done in by people who mistreated them.  It’s easy to take our eyes off what’s most important, and more than one preacher has become bitter because of the difficulties of leading people.  But Bishop is teaching me by his example that we do all that we do because we love Jesus, not for any other reason.  And when I’m around him, I want to love Jesus more, too.

I could go on and on, but this is a blog, not a book.  I know that you’ll probably be enjoying some special times with your family today, laughing at some of the latest antics of your grandkids with their ‘Pop-Pops’.  You’ll no doubt receive calls and well-wishes from your Reconciliation family and other spiritual sons around the country.  But on this Father’s Day, I want to honor my Father – Bishop Garlington, I love you for all the reasons I’ve stated above, and I wanted you to know.  Happy Father’s Day!

A tribute to my father (part 2)

Father’s Day seems like the appropriate time to pay some long-overdue honor to three men who have had major impact on my life.  In fact, the whole subject of honor is HUGE in Scripture and increasingly rare in our American culture, so it’s one I really need to visit occasionally as a pastor who wants to declare the whole counsel of God to our church family.  You can read about the first one here

The second man came into my life when I was 14 years old, as the new pastor of the small Pentecostal church my family attended in Jonesboro, AR.  He quickly moved from being my pastor to becoming my spiritual father.  F.R. Reed was one of the most gifted men I’ve ever known, and our lives were deeply intertwined from 1967 until just about the time CLC began in 1990.  I regret that unfortunate circumstances caused us to drift apart, with only occasional conversations from 1990 until his untimely death in 2006.  Nevertheless, I want to give some long-overdue honor to the man who shaped so much of my ministry:

• Pastor Reed gave me a love for the Word.  He was an astute teacher, and I would sit mesmerized as he shared line-upon-line, precept-upon-precept from the Scriptures.  His intellect was incredible, and he seemed to have in insatiable appetite for knowledge.  His influence in my life to study and learn and value the Word of God is immeasurable.
• Pastor Reed gave me a heart for the things of the Spirit.  While he was an eloquent preacher who could move an audience almost like Bishop T.D. Jakes today, all of that was secondary to the work of the Holy Spirit.  That value was placed in me while I sat at the feet of Pastor Reed, and it still motivates everything we are at CLC today.
• Pastor Reed instilled in me a love for the local church.  His esteem for the church molded my theology so much that I could never have been content laboring in a parachurch ministry.  I’m sure he never knew Bill Hybels, but Pastor Reed could have said it first: “the local church is the hope of the world!”
• Finally, Pastor Reed loved me.  I never doubted that; I felt it when I was with him.  He officiated at my wedding to Chris; he dedicated each one of our three children; he preached our installation services at each church I pastored; he was just a part of my life, and I reveled in his love for me.  From that, I’ve learned to love people, and I have him to thank for that.

I was touched to learn in the years prior to his death that Pastor Reed didn’t criticize the decision I made to walk away from the legalisms of my original faith family, and to this day, I’m thankful for the heritage that he left me.  If you’re reading this from heaven today, Pastor Reed, I honor you for the multiple deposits you made in my life – Happy Father’s Day!

A tribute to my father (part 1)

Father’s Day seems like the appropriate time to pay some long-overdue honor to three men who have had major impact on my life.  In fact, the whole subject of honor is HUGE in Scripture and increasingly rare in our American culture, so it’s one I really need to visit occasionally as a pastor who wants to declare the whole counsel of God to our church family.

My biological father, Stanford McQuay has been gone for about 9 years.  He was deeply flawed, just like me (in fact, some of my biggest flaws I inherited from him).  But that’s no surprise, because there is no such thing as a perfect father, perfect leader, or perfect man.

I received many thing from my dad, but I especially honor him today for these:

• He was a man of initiative.  My dad came from abject poverty.  No one in his family had anything.  He himself had only an 8th-grade education.  But he pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, as the saying goes, and obtained a steady job as a truck driver.  He worked hard to provide for my family, and as a result, was the first in his ‘clan’ to buy a house and rise to middle-income status.  His daughter, my only sister, was first in the family to graduate from college.  Today she’s a successful CPA.  My oldest brother was a small business owner before retiring a year or two ago.  We learned from Dad the value of hard work.
• He was faithful to my mom.  They were married for almost 60 years, and I know enough now to know that there must have been opportunities for them to call it quits along the way.  But he persevered, and remained faithful to his wife until death, and I’m so glad he did.  I never had to experience the pain of divorce or break that generational pattern in my own marriage, because I learned from Dad the value and benefit of being with one woman for life.
• He went to church.  I’ve already told you he wasn’t perfect, and we ate a lot of ‘fried-preacher’ for lunch on Sundays through the years.  But my dad always went to church, and always took me as well. I still remember seeing him pray and read his Bible, and his example had an affect on me.  I learned the value of church attendance, even in bad times, from my dad.
• My dad always finished what he started.  One of my earliest memories is of a road trip he took just because of my desire to visit a historical battlefield, and when we learned mid-trip that the destination was over twice as far as we thought, despite the fact that he wasn’t financially prepared, he insisted on completing the trip.  One thing about my dad: he wasn’t a quitter.  I don’t ever want to be, either, because I learned from my dad the value of completing a task.

I’ve got a couple more “father’s” to honor, but I’ll save them for separate posts.  If you can see this from heaven, Happy Father’s Day, Dad!

Hot mama

One week from today my firstborn, Chad, will be married to Miss Dorothy Stamp, at Turtle Bay on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.  It’s been a long engagement and we’re all excited that the day is finally here.

My wife and daughter have both been hitting the gym faithfully for months, dropping pounds and inches as a result, so they both wanted to model their dresses for the occasion yesterday, and Jen looked as beautiful as I’ve ever seen her….won’t surprise me if she comes home engaged after the guys see her at the reception.

Then I saw my wife in her dress, and did a double-take…I was like, “wow, my wife is hot!”   She even promised me a dance at the reception!  (Maybe I’ll tell you about it later.  Or not.)

 

Ask the pastor

Someone asked about Matthew 5:31-32 and if it means that if my husband divorces me and I marry again that I and my new husband are committing adultery and therefore our marriage is a sin? What happens to the husband who divorced me in the first place? or does this only apply if you divorce outside of adultery. So if my husband and I divorce because he has been unfaithful (ADULTERY) and I decide not to stay in the marriage and I then marry again I am okay because it was under the law? One last question on that: even though permission is granted, if adultery is committed, to divorce are you being unjust to the marriage if you don’t try to work it out and forgive the adulterer?

Whew!  Not sure why I’m even trying to answer that one via the internet, because the whole issue of marriage and divorce is so COMPLEX that the only certainty is that my answer is sure to anger and offend somebody (probably lots of somebodies!).  Nonetheless, let me go ahead and give it a try:

1.  My understanding of 1Pet 4:17, at least in part, is that judgment begins with God’s house – meaning, what we did “B.C.” is all forgiven and forgotten once we come to Christ.  Therefore, if someone was divorced when they became a Christian, that’s behind us; we are new creatures in Christ at conversion and will only be judged for what happens after.

2.  If believers then marry and are later divorced, then I would expect Mt 5 does mean what it says.

3.  However, (and this is where it becomes so complex), we can never take one isolated Scripture to build a doctrine; the Bible fits together as a whole.  And the whole of Scripture certainly implies that divorce is permitted for more than just sexual unfaithfulness. (read this verse for just one example)

4.  For that reason, I believe that each situation is unique and requires much prayer and counsel.  While God hates divorce, it is only because HE hates the effects it has on the people involved (including children) and not because He hates the people getting divorced - nothing is further from the truth!

5.  All sin can be forgiven (well, except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, but that’s a rarity, in my opinion, and if you’re worried that you’ve committed it, that’s a good sign you haven’t ) and, as a pastor, my greater concern is ministering help and hope to people who have been damaged by divorce.  I especially like this article and I’m thankful to be a part of a church family that understands that all of us are broken, flawed people in need of healing.  In fact, I’m really excited about the fact that CLC now offers a recovery group specifically for people who are grieving the loss of loved ones through death or divorce – for more information about it, contact your Campus Pastor.

That’s all I’ve got time for today.  What’s your question?

My devo today

Ok.  I’m back with yesterday’s devotional reading that jumped out at me.  It’s found in Ephesians 1:13-14

Here’s what impressed me:

• As believers, we have been marked with God’s seal.  (In Bible times, much like a ‘Good Housekeeping seal of approval’ or “U.L. approved” today, rulers used an offical seal so everyone would know the origin/authority of the message.)  You have been marked/sealed by God!
• That seal is the promised Holy Spirit – just one more reason why every believer should be baptized in the Holy Spirit!
• AND, that seal of the Holy Spirit becomes a ‘deposit’ (the old KJV calls it the ‘earnest’ – like a down payment) to guarantee everything God has promised to you is on it’s way!

Have you been sealed?

My devo today

Sometimes it just jumps off the page at me, and it happened today in 2 different passages (I’m using the Bible reading plan we gave out at CLC in January, so I read some OT history, OT poetry, OT prophecy, NT Gospel and NT Epistle each day).

The first one is Luke 8:11-15 and what struck me is that each of the 4 kinds of soil (representing the heart of every person on earth – but also the kind of ‘heart’ we can have each time we hear the Word; i.e., sometimes my heart is ‘along the path’; sometimes it’s ‘among thorns’, etc.) each has a particular obstacle to overcome – even the good ground!  In order:

1. Along the path – the devil steals the Word
2. On the rock – it’s the testing that causes them to fall away
3. Among thorns – it’s life’s worries that choke the Word’s influence
4. Even the good soil still must produce by persevering

Where are YOU today?  Is the enemy stealing the Word?  Are various tests affecting your faith?  Are you choking with life’s worries?  Or are you just needing to persevere?

Regardless of what comes or goes, I intend to produce a good crop!

In case you’re wondering, I’ll save the second one for tomorrow….

Wish I’d said it first

Ever hear somebody say something that’s exactly what you were thinking?  Ever read something somebody wrote that was exactly what you’d been thinking?  Ever wish you’d said it first?

That’s exactly how I felt this morning when I read this

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