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By Andy, June 11, 2009 11:05 pm

It’s one of those words that in my prior church experience was perhaps not taken seriously enough.  What does it really mean to be “authentic” in the Christian context?

According to Merriam-Webster to be authentic is to be “not false or imitation : real, actual“.

Until recent years, I hadn’t really understood what that meant or how to do it.

And then I read Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. I read Mark Driscoll’s Confessions of a Reformission Rev. G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. And suddenly, I started to understand - I saw how each grappled with their faith, with Jesus, with their church, with how they perceived themselves and how they were perceived by others in the Christian community and I could relate to their issues.

However I still didn’t know how to do it myself. It was not something that I grew up learning how to do (nor, in retrospect, was that encouraged, but that would be the subject of a much lengthier post), and to be honest, I’m not sure that I knew that I needed to be able to do it in the first place.

Until…I came face-to-face with men in my local community who encouraged me to be real with them.  Perhaps encourage is the wrong word.  These men demanded it of me, and I demanded it of them.  More to the point - our faith demanded (and still demands) it.  If I am to grow in my walk in Jesus, I need to confront my own weaknesses and be held accountable by Him - and He does that through other folks.  With me, He has certainly done that in the company of the brothers I now keep.

In recent weeks I have seen many of my brothers be very real about their lives, the way I have been with them.   In each circumstance…

…we listened.

…we encouraged.

…we prayed.

It was real.

It was authentic.

It was Jesus meeting each of us at his moment of pain.

And it was very good.

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By Andy, June 9, 2009 5:40 am

…fasting is the secret key that unlocks heaven’s door and slams shut the gates of hell.

- Jentezen Franklin, “Fasting”

I have never refrained from anything for 40 days before.

I’ve never given up anything during the 40 days of Lent.

Never.

Have I fasted?

Yes…partial fasts, having gone vegetarian for a week, or the occasional workday fast wherein I’ve chosen not to eat during the working day.  I’ve also fasted from blogging as well - typically for a week at a time, and usually as part of a church-wide week of prayer and fasting.

But this time, I sensed the need to go longer…to fast from online social media like blogging, Facebook, and Twitter.  I saw the hold that this technology held on me when I began this fast, and I didn’t like what I saw about myself.  I also found myself drifting a bit in faith, and knew that by giving up online social media I would have more time to focus on my faith and my family.

I have to admit, it was a bit of a struggle the first week not blogging, not reading Facebook, not updating my Twitter feed.  I battled the need to always be in the know, or the need to come up with some really clever tweet or status update.  I did, however, find myself reading assorted resources about social media from both sides of the divide:  from those who believe that online social media is not real community to those who believe that it is a new form of community (I’ll discuss this in a future post).  I spent more time in the Bible and in prayer, tried to be more intentional about the time spent with my wife and kids, in addition to time spent with friends locally, and reading quite a bit more than I had.

So what did I discover?

1)  I was able to hear God’s voice in my life with greater clarity.  That doesn’t mean that I heard this booming voice from above, but rather I could sense an impression on my heart, confirmed typically by others unsuspecting of the answers to prayer that I had been seeking.

2)  One of the “impressions” I got was to spend more time with Hank.  While I have been spending time with him coaching baseball, I hadn’t spent a lot of one-on-one time with him.  I purchased and read “Raising a Modern Day Knight” at the suggestion of a fellow brother, and as a result, I now spend time with him each evening reading a chapter of the Bible (we’re reading Exodus together), discussing each chapter, discipling him in faith on his journey to manhood.

3)  I have spent the better part of the past 40 days reading, re-reading, and praying through Ephesians 5:21-33.  How can I love my wife sacrificially, the way Jesus loves His church?  Too often men stop reading after verse 22 - but the fact is that there are three times as many instructions for husbands (9 verses for husbands, 3 verses for wives) than there are for wives in that passage - so who’s got more work to do in their marriages?  I know I don’t always get this right, but I know that if I am to be the husband that God has called me to, this is how I am to love my wife.  And I want my son to one day love his wife sacrificially.

4)  For several weeks I had been meeting with 2 other men in my church for accountability early on Thursday mornings.  We shared our struggles and challenges, but as we talked, we got the sense that more men needed this kind of relationship.  So what began with 3 of us has now doubled in size (and may continue to grow in number) as men from our church come together every Thursday morning at a local coffeeshop to discuss the prior week’s sermon message and challenge each other to apply those principles in our lives.  The first time that newer faces came to our group, we saw instant transparency - clearly a confirmation that more men needed to be in these kind of relationships to become the men that Jesus has called us to be.

Those are but a few of the things that occurred while I was away - more to share in coming days and weeks.  In the meantime, one final and very cool thing to share - Hank’s baseball team, the team I coach - has advanced in the playoffs.  Big game tonight - winner moves on, losing team goes home!

It’s good to be back.  Thanks for your prayers.

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By Andy, September 16, 2007 11:47 pm

For the past three years, I can count on one hand the number of times my church’s sanctuary had more than 70 congregants on a Sunday morning.   I believe this morning’s service was the first time where we actually hit approximately 100 congregants in my time attending this church.

Of course, this was not just any Sunday service…it was the inaugural service of the new church I am now a part of.  And it was made abundantly clear this morning that God will not be deterred in building this church.  From the whoops and cheers at the top of the service when our pastor said, “Welcome to New Life Christian Fellowship” to the powerful single acoustic guitar-based worship and to the prayer team at the front corners of the sanctuary after the service, we knew that Jesus was letting us throw a party for Him - and we had fun.  Folks were clapping and dancing in the pews, arms were outstretched, tears of joy on our faces as the work that He has made us do to get to this point paid off in a joyous celebration.

What were once two smaller churches was now one larger, vibrant and exciting church, full of folks ready to Connect with God, Grow in Christ, and Serve through His Holy Spirit.  The folks who came early to be the Greeters actually had people to greet.  The setup of tables and chairs for the after-service refreshments was shared by a few.  The cleanup after was shared by others.  The prayer team had individuals to pray for.  The kids sang as loud (if not louder) than the adults.  And during the time of greeting mid-service, there were hugs and laughter.

We are slowly becoming the Acts 2 church.  The road has not been easy, the road continues on, but we know all will be well if we stay on this road with Him driving the car.

We have been given New Life.

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By Andy, September 13, 2007 9:09 pm

With the weekend around the corner, and with me carving out just enough time right now to put up a post before finishing up some work I brought home (self-imposed deadline on our draft budget for next year, since the senior management have extremely limited schedules next week), I thought I would share one of the things that God has led me to do in recent months.

You see, this weekend, my family and I are leaving our church and joining a new church.   But not in the traditional sense.

My existing church is merging with another church to form a new community of faith that will continue to worship in the same building, at the same time, on Sunday mornings.   Several months ago it became clear that God had called both of our churches to come together at some point in the future and create a new church.  As a small group of us from both churches came together, we prayed over, discussed, and planned the steps that would create New Life Christian Fellowship.  Our inaugural service is this coming Sunday.

It has been a long road for all of us involved in the process, and there is still much work ahead of us.  The church we called home these past 3 years has been a true blessing to us, because each member of my immediate family deepened in faith at this church.  God used this church home to stretch each of us and take us to places deep within that none of us thought we had.  He challenged us here, disciplined us, and loved us here.

But God has spoken, and has called for the rebuilding of this temple, so that He may use us to reach those who don’t yet know Him.

As the prophet Haggai wrote:  ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty.

I am excited about what God is going to do here.   To those of you with whom I’ve shared this adventure privately, thank you for your prayers, because I know that God heard them and carried us through this process.

Jesus is going to be in the house on Sunday.   You are all invited to the party.

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By Andy, August 31, 2007 7:33 am

For part one, start with Will’s post over here.

When I first read Will’s post, I obviously felt a great deal of sadness for him and his situation at his church. It is the church where I grew up with him, where I sang in the children’s choir and rang handbells and participated in youth group…it is the church that for many years was “home”. I reached out to Will offline, offering my own thoughts and prayers privately.

But tonight, I felt frustration as I reflected upon that post - not frustration at Will’s situation, but at my own. Frustrated that I am in a small church. Frustrated that I am one of the 20% doing 80% of the work. Frustrated that when I’ve talked about prayer, like I did a couple of days ago, it is about the positive and not about the difficulties in discerning God’s voice. Frustrated that when things go awry at work, or in volunteer work, or in church, that I find myself looking within at my own faults and wondering why others aren’t doing the same. Frustrated that I can’t seem to hear God’s voice right now.

A few days ago, coming off my vacation, I was brimming with confidence, rested, ready to tackle the assignments that God has for me. Tonight I feel beat down, questioning what I’ve been through this past year in particular. While it has been a period of significant spiritual growth for me, it has been a period of difficult pruning and refining - to the point that I’m really starting to get annoyed at anyone who tells me I’m being refined (and annoyed at myself when I tell someone else the same!)

I know the catchphrases. I know God puts us in situations that make us uncomfortable to prune and refine so that we will grow - it is ALL OVER Scripture from Genesis to Revelations, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it! I’m having a very difficult time being patient right now - I want to see the fruit of my labor NOW!

The fact is, God was very clear to me about where I am to be, and what I am to do. Of that, I have no doubt.

And to be fair, I certainly don’t feel “abused” the way Will has - no one has been upset with me, or yelled at me, or anything of the sort. But I share the frustration, because I feel like we only focus on the negative, that we only focus on our fears when in fact we need to make that leap of faith and trust that God will guide us.

I, too, am having difficulty making that leap of faith. But will someone else please step up and admit that too?

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By Andy, August 12, 2007 10:31 pm

24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may^[a] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:24-31 (NIV)

Yesterday morning I went to Sears with the kids since we needed to buy a new clothes dryer - our old one had just gone out on us on Friday, and given its age, it wasn’t worth fixing. We were at the store about 20 minutes after it had opened, and we walked right up to a salesman, knowing exactly the model I was going to buy, having researched it over at Consumer Reports.
Ten minutes later the deal was done, and a delivery scheduled for today - time to be determined later that evening when I would receive a confirmation on time and location.

Right at 6 pm I received the call, a two hour window between 10:15 and 12:15 pm.

My church meets at 11 am.

I couldn’t obtain another time without changing the day, and frankly, I wasn’t going to take a couple of hours of vacation time to wait for the delivery of a dryer. I figured I would likely miss church.

This morning, the dryer was delivered at 10:15 am.

I made it to church (although sans family, as my wife was sleeping from a night shift last night and the kids are out of town with their grandparents). Walking up the front entryway, I saw Jim, whom I had called last night to say I wasn’t going to make it, and I said, “God must have a message for me to hear today.”

The title of the message was “Turning Question Marks into Exclamation Marks”. The message was delivered by a guest speaker, Dr. Jim Higgs, since our pastor is away on vacation. The base scripture was John 20:24-31 ( quoted above).

Using Thomas’ story in the passage above, he spoke of the doubts in our faith - how we are like Thomas, questioning the truth and unable to make the leap of faith without seeing. He listed the doubts of others in Scripture, like Abram when told he would be the father of many nations…at his advanced age and without offspring at the time he was told…or the first two chapters of Habakkuk, a litany of doubts…or Psalm 73…

Dr. Higgs went on to discuss 3 things that we can do to move from doubt to faith.

We must first identify the source of our doubts. He listed four sources…

1) The Enemy, Satan - he deceives us like he does in Genesis 3.

2) Finding ourselves in unfavorable circumstances, like Gideon in Judges 6.

3) Having unconfessed sin - 1 John 1:9.

4) Having pride.

He encouraged us to “doubt your doubts”.

Second, he said that we need to check how we’re wired. What kind of person are you? Are you an optimist? A pessimist, like Thomas in John 14:5-6?

“Negative thinkers neutralize faith.”

Finally, he encouraged us to “aspire for noble faith.” In John 20:29, Jesus says, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Apostle Peter reiterates this in 1 Peter 1:8 - Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

Dr. Higgs closed out by saying that this message came out as a response to his concern for a friend of his who is experiencing doubts about faith - but he couldn’t help but feel that there were folks in our congregation experiencing those very same doubts.

I would be liar if I said that I didn’t undergo doubts from time to time, doubts about what God is doing in my life, or the role He wants me to have at church.

The other evening I watched Mark Batterson’s message at Granger Community Church, in which he said that the Enemy’s two primary tactics are Guilt and Fear.

With guilt, Batterson says, “If we are focused on what we did wrong in the past, there will be no emotional or spiritual energy left to think about where God is taking us in the future.”

With fear, he says, “The Enemy backs us down, so that instead of stepping out in faith, we are defined by the things that scare us.”

“The Enemy wants to remind us of our failures.”

We need to step out in faith. And doubt our doubts.

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By Andy, August 8, 2007 5:56 am

10 ‘If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved over the disaster I have inflicted on you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. 12 I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’

Jeremiah 42:10-12 (NIV)

Not too long ago I was experiencing a bit of confusion, praying for clarity as to what God would have me do next in His plans for my and my family’s involvement in His church. As I “randomly” opened the Bible, this was the first passage I read.

Reading through the passage it hit me that He has an ongoing role for me and my family; that no matter what curve balls the Enemy throws my way (read “the king of Babylon”), He will be with me every step of the way, through all the tests that come. I need to be patient, taking the leap of faith that He asks of the Israelites through Jeremiah, and know that all will be well.

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By Andy, July 30, 2007 6:02 am

It has been a long weekend, filled with joy, frustration, joy, frustration, and more joy. It began with a powerful prayer meeting at the home of a fellow believer, a joyful occasion in which we were able to submit ourselves to God’s love and allow Him to peer into the deepest recesses of our soul and extract the pain that we submitted to Him.

The power of His release was freeing, and this weight was lifted, bringing peace into each of our lives.

That was followed by a lengthy meeting at church on Saturday, the kind of meeting that we have seen in Scripture, particularly in the book of Acts, where issues are debated and the Body collectively works to discern God’s Will. There were moments of pure joy and peace, followed by moments of intense frustration, ending with more peace at the end.

Immediately thereafter, I was on my way to the ballpark with my daughter to watch the Giants take on the Marlins, but more importantly, to hang out in Barry’s house awaiting number Seven Fifty Five. Alas, it was not meant to be, but a father/daughter night at the the ballpark was the perfect way to end this Saturday, especially when it meant the hometown nine pulled out their fourth straight win.

Today was our weekly church service, which had moments of pure joy, but was followed with yet another meeting, in which there was once again moments of frustration, yet also moments of education, seeing the varying points of view showing the care and love that individual members have for this particular community of believers in Jesus.

The day ended, once again, in another house of baseball…this time San Jose Municipal Stadium, home of the single A San Jose Giants, the California League minor league affiliate of the aforementioned San Francisco Giants. I took 4 kids, my own and 2 of their friends, on this 45 minute sojourn south of our hometown to meet with Will and his family, sit in the inexpensive general admission seats, watching these minor league ballplayers play with intense passion, while watching various fans play games for prizes in between innings, or dancing to YMCA or doing the Chicken Dance.

The minor league nine won 2-1 in a quickly played game that lasted approximatlely 2 hours, with the Giants’ winning pitcher going the distance with 15 strikeouts.

The passion that we have as baseball fans came out in the top of the 9th, as the leadoff batter for the Lake Elsinore Storm hit a quick triple. The next batter struck out. The third batter of the inning was walked and stole second base. The next batter struck out.

I looked at the kids. They were clapping and heckling the next batter.

“Hey batta batta…hey batta batta…sa-wing batta!”

First pitch ball.

Second pitch…a strike.

Next pitch…a long foul ball.

The couple of thousand fans in the stands were yelling, standing up with the 2 strike count. Breaking pitch…swing…and a miss!

Giants win!

We high-fived each other. We didn’t know any of these kids, but it didn’t matter. Baseball had healed us tonight. Baseball allowed us to be kids, to see the passion of the kids entranced by the simplicity of the game. I was able to let go of any frustrations I may have held this weekend by drinking a soda, eating a hot dog, and watching kids watch baseball and play baseball-themed carnival games on the concourse outside the ballpark.

I was at peace again. And I felt joy.

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By Andy, July 23, 2007 4:04 am

One of my struggles with the notion of “church” in America is how “safe” our version of the Christian faith really is. Because we live in a country that gives us the freedom to worship any way we choose, we can go to church “safely”, knowing we will not be persecuted for walking into the front door of our churches, whether urban, suburban, or rural or anywhere in between. Believe me, I appreciate the comfort that comes with being able to worship freely here.

Yet does that comfort allow us to make greater issues of how we “do” church rather than whether we are reaching those who don’t know Christ?

Whereas Christians in China need to meet secretly just to worship, we argue over whether we prefer organ music or a praise band, or we argue whether something is being done the “Baptist” way or “Presbyterian” way or (insert your denomination) way. Does our “comfort” in being able to choose the way we worship ultimately give us too much time to focus on items of relative unimportance compared to the struggles that our brethren face elsewhere outside our borders?

Don’t get me wrong, we must discuss these things, prayerfully, in order that we discern how God would have us best minister to our local communities. But so often we miss the forest for the trees - we forget why we exist and not think about who we exist for and our (com)mission. We cling to and entrench ourselves in positions that provide us the greatest level of comfort in our churches.

We need to be willing to be placed in positions of discomfort in our Christian lives, both inside and outside the church - for that is how we will continue to grow in faith.

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By Andy, July 17, 2007 6:07 am

My mind has been racing in multiple directions these past few days, as there has been excitement with our church, excitement with our kids as they wrapped up four weeks of musical theater camp this weekend, and for me, excitement that I am just this close to finishing my remaining duties as PTO treasurer - handling final cleanup of paperwork this week prior to passing it on to the new treasurer next week.

Of course, in the midst of all this, I am reminded that I had volunteered last month to lead the Bible Study and discussion at our upcoming Men’s Breakfast this Saturday morning. Tonight, I spent a few minutes beginning to review the material for the lesson, realizing rather quickly that I will need to really spend sometime in prayer in preparation for this after reading the workbook that we are using to guide our study.

The topic?

Caring commitment.

The passages - Ephesisan 5:21-31, Philippians 2:5-8, and 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

Any thoughts you guys might want to share with me would be appreciated…but more importantly, I’d love your prayers as I spend sometime this week reviewing these passages and the material.