Spiritual Ancestors

Have you ever asked yourself, "What could I possibly do that matters?" You are not alone. I have asked myself that question more than once. Let me introduce you to nine people who were ALL influenced by another person.

It all started with a guy from Boston.

His name...

EDWARD KIMBALL led a small group at his church when he met a challenging teenager. That seventeen-year-old young man was poorly educated and prone to outbursts of anger and profanity.

His name...

DWIGHT L. MOODY. He became the "greatest" evangelist of the nineteenth century. He was instrumental in the life-change experienced by a young man.

His name...

F.B. MEYER. He became a minister. He mentored a young man.

His name...

J.W. CHAPMAN. He became a pastor and evangelist. He also started an outreach to professional baseball players. There he influenced a young man.

His name...

BILLY SUNDAY. He became one of the greatest evangelists in the first two decades of the twentieth century. He influenced a young man who eventually came back to work with him.

His name...

MORDECAI HAM. He became a preacher. He was preaching when a teenager responded to the invitation "to give your life to Jesus Christ."

His name...

BILLY GRAHAM. He has influenced more people than any other preacher in history. He remains a trusted confidant to presidents and other key influencers. At one of his crusades, a 16-year-old boy responded to the gospel.

His name...

CLYDE CHILES. He answered God's call to the ministry and became an itinerant Southern Baptist evangelist. Preaching a revival at First Baptist Church in Farmington, MO in 1970, a 12-year-old boy walked the aisle and gave his life to Jesus.

His name...

JAY JENNINGS.

Do the best you can where you are, with what you have, for a purpose that is greater than yourself. You can be someone worthwhile. You can do something that matters.

Jason Young deserves most of the credit for the composition of this piece. He wrote this for Catalyst about the spiritual ancestors of Billy Graham. I simply continued the progression after researching my own story.

Do you know your spiritual ancestry?

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

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