George Washington Worshiped Here

George Washington.

Thomas Jefferson.

James Monroe.

All Founding Fathers of our country.  All Presidents.  All worshipers at Bruton Parish Church.

My wife and stumbled into this 334-year-old church during a weekend visit to Colonial Williamsburg.  

This tiny chapel oozes colonial history.  Many of our Founding Fathers worshiped here in the days leading up to the American Revolution.  The bell that once rang to celebrate American independence still rings to call worshipers today.  Reverend Rowland Jones, who served as Bruton's first rector, was Martha Washington's great grandfather.

Bruton Parish Church has certainly seen hard times, but today boasts a membership of 2,000 that meets regularly in the old brick chapel.

As many of my friends continue to search for a new church home, Bruton Parish points me to the Ancient of Days.  The Great I Am.  The One who was and is and is to come.  Compared to our Eternal God, this centuries old church pales in comparison.

Washington worshiped here...and let's not forget WHOM he worshiped!

In Christ,

Jay

In this day of contemporary churches meeting in such places as schools, movie theaters and civic centers, there is something reassuring

119

Psalm 119.

The longest chapter in the Bible.  176 verses.  Considering the psalmist's focus on the power and importance of Scripture, it seems appropriate.  Check out verse 18...

Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in Your law.  

The topic probably tested the writer's thesaurus (did they have a thesaurus?).  When he speaks of God's Word, he uses terms like precepts, laws, commandments, judgments, statutes.

I was chewing on 119 this morning, when something hit me like a ton of bricks.  Three verses that spoke to the benefit of God's discipline in my life.  Let's face it, God's good discipline is NOT a real hot topic of sermons and Bible searches.  But here's what I belted me between the eyes this morning...

I used to wander off until You disciplined me; but now I closely follow Your word.  (Psalm 119:67)

The suffering You sent was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to Your principles.  (Psalm 119:71)

I know, O Lord, that Your decisions are fair; You disciplined me because I needed it.  (Psalm 119:75)

The point is crystal clear.  God DOES disciplines us...and He does it for a reason.  It is good for us.  It calls us back to His Word.  It's fair.  And we need it.

These verses remind me of Paul's words in 2 Corinthians...

For God can use sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek salvation.  We will never regret that kind of sorrow.  But sorrow without repentance is the kind that results in death.  (2 Corinthians 7:10)

When you get a moment, crack open Psalm 119.  You'll find some of the richest and deepest truth about truth anywhere in the Bible.

In Christ,

Jay  

Just as I Am

If you're a recovering Southern Baptist like me, "Just as I Am" conjures up images of emotional, yet interminable altar calls led by hellfire-and-brimstone evangelists.  I can testify to the night I gave my life to Jesus during a summer revival at the age of 12 as Charlotte Elliot's hymn groaned on the church organ.

But over the past week, "Just as I Am" has taken an entirely new meaning.  It's the title of Billy Graham's autobiography.  The book is massive (784 pages!).  But if any person has the material to carry a book of that length, it is certainly Rev. Graham.

The book sat on my shelf for almost ten years (it came out in 1997).  I made the decision to dive in last week.  I have absolutely no regrets.

Although I'm only 200 or so pages in, I would undoubtedly recommend it to anyone.  His stories of growing up on a North Carolina dairy farm are charming.  His call as an evangelist and subsequent education are insightful.  

But the book makes the jump to warp speed when Rev. Graham begins his 1949 Crusade in Los Angeles.  God's obvious hand on Graham's ministry is unmistakable.

Do yourself a favor and read "Just as I Am."  I'm not responsible for any Southern Baptist flashbacks!

In Christ,

Jay

The Search Begins...

Last Sunday was different. Last Sunday was difficult. For the first time in seven years, Deb and I were no longer members of Freedom River. For the first time in seven years, Deb and I were searching for a new church.

We decided to check out Triangle Community Church in Cary (www.tcc.org). We visited there back in 2001 when they were meeting at an elementary school. They’ve since moved into a beautiful new facility.

Honestly, I was fine until we started walking through the parking lot to the front door. Suddenly, I had huge empty feeling in my gut. At first I thought it was a bad bowl of cereal, but soon realized I wasn’t going to FRCC. As a result, I didn’t want to go.

But I did.

Despite the fact that the church is basically in our neighborhood, we didn’t know a soul. Once again, I felt very alone.

The band was excellent. But they didn’t play our songs. And they only played one song that we knew (“Better Is One Day”). And they didn’t play that one our way. Sheesh.

It was hard to get an idea of what their full service was like because they spent most of the hour baptizing folks. Young. Old. Middle aged. It was an excellent example of Christ’s work in their church right before our eyes.

In the end, I was glad to go. David wrote, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD’” (Psalm 122:1 NLT). Despite all of my loneliness, it was good to be with God’s people. We’ll definitely give TCC another shot in a few weeks. But there are other great churches to visit in the coming months.

I realize that it’s going to be hard for many of us to go anywhere other than FRCC. And I write all this to let you know that you’ll probably have some powerful feelings when you do go. That’s OK. It’s part of the process.

It would be very easy for some of us to punt this church thing…at least for a while. Let me encourage you NOT to do that. Keep in mind the powerful words of the writer of Hebrews: “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25 NLT).

Can’t wait to hear updates of where you guys have visited.

In Christ,
Jay

Catalyst...at Random

The folks at Catalyst go out of their way to create one of the most creative, off-the-hook, fun atmospheres you'll ever experience. Here's just a few of the things we saw, in no particular order...

The White Carpet.
Auburn's War Eagle.
A cylindrical Jumbotron.
A step team.
A "popper."
Trampoline basketball.
A pentecostal choir.
Cloggers.
A school bus.
A mariachi band.
An elephant.
A donkey.
A pig.
Jeff Foxworthy.
An African children's choir (performing "Sweet Home Alabama!").
Bagpipes.
Lanny Donoho's GHOTI t-shirt.
Acoustic, all-female led worship.
John Foreman of Switchfoot performing acoustically with a cello player.
Cornhole games.
A rap video featuring Andy Stanley and Franklin Graham.
Painting on stage.
Nerf rockets.
White streamers.
Ping pong balls.
A balloon drop.

I'm sure I left out something. Can't wait to see what they have up their sleeve next year.

In Christ,
Jay

Catalyst Day Two

Back to Gwinnett Arena for Catalyst Day Two.

Opening Speaker Tim Sanders built on the theme from his book Love is the Killer App. Sanders said that "good" is the new "great." He explained that by "good," he means the morally correct thing to do. He strongly encouraged Christ-followers to take Jesus' values to work. The result: "What you learn on Sunday makes you a rock star on Monday."

Sanders gave the example of Timberland employees doing post-Katrina relief work in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. When residents said what they needed most were shoes, a busload of Timberland sales people literally gave the shoes on their feet, right then and there.

Syndicated radio host Dave Ramsey shared his views of leadership and team unity. He explained that the 5 Main Enemies of Unity are...
1. Poor Communication
2. Gossip
3. Unresolved Disagreements
4. Lack of Shared Purpose
5. Sanctioned Incompetence
Ramsey closed his session with a discussion of the current financial crisis. He strongly encouraged us to relax and not be victims of fear-mongering.

Franklin Graham was on hand to accept the Catalyst Lifetime Achievement Award for his father, Billy Graham. The younger Graham passionately pleaded with the crowd to preach the Gospel. "When you preach the Gospel," he said, "there is Holy Spirit-filled power that penetrates the hearts of people." As president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse, Graham boldly stated that this ministry is a means to inject itself into the crises of the world and plant the flag of Jesus.

Author and thinker Ed Stetzer gave a brief but powerful demonstration of statistics regarding unchurched adults in America. First, he said that evangelical Christians often do a great disservice to polls and stats. It's been described as Christians behaving badly...with statistics. Stetzer shared a number of stats that point to the fact that unchurched adults between the ages of 20-29 are consistently more open to biblical Christianity than we realize.

Author Andy Crouch expounded on the theme of his book Culture Making. He said that for years Christians have...
-Condemned culture
-Critiqued culture
-Copied culture
-Consumed culture
None of this has any real impact on changing culture. He said what Christ-followers should do is...
-Cultivate culture (take something good and keep it good)
-Create culture (we are made in the image of THE Creator)

Pastor Matt Chandler was an incredible breath of fresh air. I've never really heard anybody quite like him before. Chandler is the lead pastor of the Village Church in the Dallas area. In his very brief time on stage, he told the story of a young man that accepted Jesus at his church who grew up in the Baptist church. It broke this pastor's heart to think that someone could spend their life in church and miss the Gospel of amazing grace.

Catalyst closed with North Point's Andy Stanley sharing what he called "Recent Random Thoughts on Leadership." He walked through five quotes that have made him stop in his tracks and re-think how he leads his church. They were...
1. "To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing." -Craig Groeschel
2. "The Next Generation product almost never comes from the previous generation." -Focus, Al Reis
3. "What do I believe is impossible to do in my field...but if it could be done would fundamentally change my business." -Future Edge/Paradigm Book, Joel Barker
4. "If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do? Why shouldn't we walk out the door, come back in, and do it ourselves?" -Only the Paranoid Survive, Andy Grove
5. "When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near." -Michael Hammer

Once again, Catalyst blew me away. With its speakers. With worship. With creativity.

In Christ,
Jay

Catalyst Day One

Well, a big "howdy" from the ATL (OK, actually it's Duluth, GA in Gwinnett County, but that's not nearly as hip and cool).

I'm here with 12-thousand of my closest friends for Catalyst, a two-day event for young leaders and fresh thinkers serving in ministry. Day One was AMAZING! Thought I would take a minute to give you a snap shot of what's going on.

Andy Stanley kicked things off with a powerful message on Moral Authority. Using Nehemiah 5:6-18, he said that there must be alignment between our creed and our deed. He emphasized that we must have Moral Authority in three areas...

1. Forgiveness
2. Family
3. Finances

(By the way, the parallels in this passage between what was going on in Jerusalem in 444 BC and Wall Street today were scary. Check it out.)

Sportscaster Ernie Johnson, Jr. interviewed William Paul Young, the author of the best-selling book The Shack. Young describes himself as the "accidental author." This book has been the target of a ton of criticism, especially from conservative Christian leaders and scholars. I must admit that I have my own doctrinal concerns and criticism about some of the things that Young said in the interview. But I probably ought to read it before saying more.

Next up was Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last. Collins is one of the most respected men in the area of leadership, in business or in the church. It's easy to see why. He said that the most important question a leader can ask is not "what" but "who." A leader must have the right people in place before moving forward.

Yesterday was my first opportunity to hear Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in the Charlotte, NC area. What an energizing and passionate speaker! He said that between God's Promise on our life and the Payoff, there's a very painful Process. Furtick urged us to stay faithful in the small things.

Brenda Salter McNeill is the author of A Credible Witness. She came in to shake things up. She said that God is all about Revolution. He's shaking us out of our comfort zone. Using Acts 1:8 and 2:1-12, she spoke about how the Holy Spirit rocked the disciples world. She urged us to pray, "Lord, shake upo my world by shaking me up."

I was very excited to hear Seth Godin, the top business and marketing blogger in the world. He's the author of The Dip, The Purple Cow and Tribes. This was his first presentation to a Christian group. He talked about Tribes, people gathered together with a common goal. He believes Tribes are the new key to reaching people.

Craig Groeschel of lifechurch.tv in Oklahoma City closed the first day with an extremely powerful message (that's two years in a row that God has used Groeschel to slam me in face with a spiritual 2x4). He talked about "finding It when you've lost It." "It" is that almost indescribable something of God. "It" is NOT a model or a system. To be an effective leader in the church, you must be overcome with "It." He said that to regain "It," a person must ask the Lord to "ruin me, heal me and stretch me."

Coming here on the heels of the closing of FRCC, I was in a very interesting place to hear this message. I feel that He used the last couple of months to break me...in a good way. Coming to Catalyst was part of that healing process.

Day Two on tap. Stay tuned!

In Christ,
Jay