I’ve been a way for a while. I had to get away from the internet for a while to spend more time with the Lord. But he’s had me re-imaging and dreaming about things.
One of the things I’ve been thinking about a great deal is what it is to be missional. I’ve been thinking about places like Kenya, the Sudan and others. I want to see the Gospel preached. I also want to see people able to live and by that I don’t mean a day to day struggle for survival. Jesus said he came to give life and life more abundantly. I don’t believe people have to remain in poverty struggling for a bit to eat and some clean water to drink.
But at the same time I’m not sure that just going into a community and giving a water well will do it either. How do you build a community up so that you can have an infrastructure where people can actually build a better life. Obviously if they don’t have clean water or food, you start there. But what if that’s the starting point, then you look at a school, a clinic, some kind of way to get goods to market, some kind of goods to be crafted for market. What if you actually helped a community thrive.
Then what if you went to another nearby community and start doing the same for them. Then do the same in another nearby community. Could you create markets? Could you begin to increase ideas and expectations in an area - as well as hope. And what if the Gospel is preached?
I’m going out on a limb and announcing my start on this. By July 19 of next year I want to have a village identified to start working in. I also want to have $5000 put away for the first investment - say a water well. By the end of the year next year, I want that first project underway.
I’ve never done anything like this before. But I can keep dreaming of it - or step out and do something. I believe the Lord is wanting me to do the latter.
Saturday, May 30, Christians from the Dallas-Fort Worth area will show up in Lancaster Texas to help the elderly with their yard work.
I talk alot about missional living. I believe that every Christian is supposed to live in a missional context whether it is on the job, in the neigborhood or in the store.
Most people however, aren’t engaged. This is a a great opportunity for those in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to get involved in reaching out to help others in the name of Jesus Christ.
This is the first outreach scheduled in Lancaster. Another one is scheduled for June, which will be an outreach to help the poor with food, clothing and toys for children.
A follow up outreach is planned for sometime in October as well.
In the video (see link above) from the Leadership Network program, THE SHOW, Pastor Matt Carter of the Austin Stone Community Church in Austin Texas discusses their failure at developing community through small groups…and what they did about it.
Key point: When we focused on community, we got neither community or mission. When we focused on mission we got both community and mission.
Recently, I learned that the church used to attend, Cross Timbers Community Church in Argyle is undergoing some changes. I was excited when I heard the things that were happening. As one long time member told me, things are really changing.
Cross Timbers was a phenomonen. It started out on the second Sunday of January 2000 in a dance hall. Toby Slough, the pastor, and a man I have great love and respect for is a terrific communicator and preacher. Cross Timbers seemed to hit all the right buttons. Within a year Cross Timbers had more people attending than live in the community. It is now a church of between 4000 and 5000 people across three campuses.
Last summer Toby took a much needed sabbatical for about three months during summer. I’ve been told that it changed him and it appears to be changing Cross Timbers Community Church as well. Starting on Easter, Toby made it clear that the church was going to focus on loving people, giving to the poor and hurting and helping. So they began a series “SAY YES TO GOD.” Now, I tend to be skeptical of series as a way to really change a church. It’s a start, but it is only the starting point - but the church is putting some real effort behind it.
Easter weekend the church gave away all of it’s offerings. The Easter offering is the largest of the year. They gave a lot to agencies and non profits that serve the area like Christian Community Action. Then they took the remainder and gave gifts of $500 to families in the church and community that had needs.
The following week, Toby started trying to involve members of the church in the effort. Each family received $50 with the understanding that they would find someone in need to help. They had to give it away. They couldn’t send it to a non profit or agency. He wanted to introduce the church to the joy of giving. People are posting their stories about giving away the money here. Below is a sampling. Their are over two hundred stories posted and though I’m no longer a member of Cross Timbers Community Church, I couldn’t be more proud of them.
Here are some example stories. This one is from a man who hasn’t been following God. It’s a candid submission, but it shows the power involved in living out the Kingdom in demonstration:
Saying YES TO GOD! I visit CT as often as i can and when I do not I watch the videos, I have family that goes to CT. My story of waking up every morning and saying YES. My struggle is a very hard one for me and is very hard for me to write and share. I am a sinner at heart and know the path I should take and the battles I wage between good and evil everyday. I have committed adultery throughout my life and addicted to sex amongst other sins. I was raised in a christian church and left GOD when i was a teenager but in my 20’s i would read other religions and take pieces from them and apply them to my life while still going against GOD’S words. Everyday I feel bad for the things I have done and the things that have been done to me. But I realize since the series has been going on that GOD’S will for me is to completely say “YES” to him and leave the sins behind me. I can not have one foot in and one foot out anymore. I have seen the destruction that it has had on me, my family and my job. It was a blessing when my brother asked me to come to church on Easter. The gift was needed badly for I am out of a job now. I then turned around and sent some of it back to church so that it can help others that are in need like me. I do listen a lot to GOD but I tend to disobey him more often than others. Like Toby has said why are we afraid to say YES, it can only be better than what it is now to give my heart, my soul, and my tears to GOD. Bless Toby and CT members and most of all Thank You and Thank You GOD for waking me up. I pray my eyes stay open and never stray from your love and your word again. I know it is a battle everyday but with prayers anything can be accomplished. Help me to become a better person and live the life we are suppose to Lord. And even as I watch the cursor blink before my eyes I am still scared to press Submit.
Here’s another story of a lady who used the money to give out roses to single moms on Mother’s day and the impact it had on one person.
I had so many ways to give the $50 that we received two weeks ago. I had so many people that have been in need and I knew that anything amount would help them. I wanted to bless more people though. I thought that we as a family had made a decision to bless a specific family but I kept having this tug at my heart to do more.
I started thinking about Mothers Day and how many mothers feel so overwhelmed, feeling stretched beyond the limit and asking God if this is what Motherhood is all about. I thought about what a small gift would mean to me on this special day, devoted to the hard work that each mom does to take care of their children, with or without help.
After much thought, I decided that I should take the opportunity to recognize the moms at CT Argyle with a simple flower. Whatever the flower was, it would represent all that God gives us as moms. That He provides us with all the tools and all the love to get through every issue, every pain, laugh, tear that we shed as moms. I did my research finding out how many I could bless with my gift and decided to give a little more to buy roses for the Sea moms and our volunteers at Argyle on Sunday.
I couldn’t believe how perfectly God provided. I had enough roses to give out and I was able to give one to each mom who picked their child up in CT Argyle Sea and to all the mom volunteers. I had 5 left when I went home.
What made it all worth it was that after I gave a mom a rose, she said thank you so much, this will be the only flower I will get today but I am so thankful for it. Knowing that God could touch that one mom and let her know how much she is appreciated and loved made it worth passing them out.
A man from California blesses a shoe shiner.
I was in Texas on business from California and was fortunate enough to visit your church on the $50 give-a-way weekend. I was blown away by what took place that morning! I took the $50 and started praying about who God wanted to bless. A shoeshiner came right to my mind as I was praying. He had shined my shoes earlier in the week in Denton in the car dealership that I was working in. I had two weeks left of work at the dealership in Denton and I told God that if the shoeshiner showed up again that I would give him the $50. Well, I was down to the last day and was thinking that I would be giving the money to someone in California. However, about halfway through my last day in Denton, the shoeshiner showed up. He shined my shoes and then I told him that God had a gift for him. As I gave him the money, he started to cry. Right away I knew that I was giving the money to the right person. We spoke for a few minutes and I told him that God loved him and wants to take care of him. After a few more tears, we shook hands and said goodbye. Thank you Cross Timber for trusting God with your finances and for giving me the opportunity to bless someone! That attitude will travel with me back to California!!
This is a story from a Lady who’s husband had given up on church and is seeing his passion returning
We loved the idea of saying yes to God and crossing the street to help someone else. I just want to say that my husband is so touched by this whole idea. He had given up on churches but God has used this to inspire him. It is awesome seeing him like this!! He is on fire for Christ! So we decided to ask our son’s Kindergarten teacher if there was a family in need of financial assistance. She suggested a family. We put in an additional $50 and put it in a card for the teacher to give to the child. My husband was adamant about writing a little note in the card. His words were so beautiful and filled with the spirit.
I really believe God has led us to Cross Timbers, and we are so blessed!!
Some people joined together and added their own money as well …when people start giving their own money it really starts getting exciting.
We decided to match the $50 and asked God what He would have us do. After asking the Office Manager of our Mobile Home Park if she knew of any residents who would benefit from our outreach we discovered that she and her family attend the Cross Timbers Argyle Campus. Another family here in our park that we are friends with also contributed and now we are helping a single Dad to make repairs on his house.
On mother’s day, Toby did it again. He called all of the single moms up to the front. He and his wonderful wife Micah prayed for them. Then he gave each $100 to help. He told them if they didn’t really “need it” then use it to buy something for themselves that they normally wouldn’t
Since this has started, giving has increased substantially in the church. People will invest in the Kingdom of God if they see the church involved in God’s business.
UPDATE
This past Sunday, Cross Timbers baptised 294 new believers. Many came to faith as Toby moved the Church in this new direction.
Local media picked up on it. Channel 33 news first. Then CNN picked up on the story. They will be on a local news show on Tuesday the 19th. What’s sad is this is a story at all. This is the kind of thing the Church should be known for.
What kicked this off was when they were receiving the offering one Sunday, Toby told people if they didn’t have anything to give that was okay and if they needed something, they could take it from the offering basket as it passed. Interestingly, it was Cross Timber’s biggest offering ever.
For you church leaders and pastors out there:
1. This is God’s heart
2. People will give if they know and believe in what they are giving into.
3. Have Faith in God.
My Grandmother is a resident in a nursing home. I generally see her once a week. My mother visits her several times a week. She suffers from alzheimers, but most of the time she still recognizes us. I’ve been up to visit her several time on Sundays. Usually I go up, pick her up and take her to lunch. Usually when I get there, she’s sitting in the living area as they have church. A couple from Denton Bible Church comes out every Sunday. I’ve never really gotten the opportunity to talk to them, but they are faithful every Sunday.They have hymn books they’ve put together with large lettering. They sing a few hymns, pray, and the man delivers a short sermon. During all of this the folks don’t generally react very much. They may sing some. But you don’t know how much of the message they are getting. I was impressed that this couple would come out faithfully performing what seemed like a fairly thankless task week after week.
Last week, I went to visit my grandmother earlier and took her out to breakfast. As we got back to the nursing home, everyone was beginning to gather for church. It was about fifteen or twenty before eleven in the morning. I helped my grandmother to her favorite chair and sat down beside her.
Then I began to overhear things. “Do you think they’re coming today?” “They’ll be here, there’s still fifteen minutes before they are usually here.” “I hope they come.” “Is that them. Is that their car?” “Yea, that’s their car.”
These two wonderful servants of God walked in the room with big smiles. They went to each person in turn, giving them a hug, a kiss on the forehead or a handshake.”
I had to leave early in the day to prepare for the Lake Como outreach, but I wonder if they have any idea, how much they mean to these people, many of whom receive no visitors. I wonder if God has given them a glimpse into what they mean in these people’s lives. They are faithful. They show l
I can’t judge their hearts, but based on what I witnessed, I am pretty sure that God is smiling on these two wonderful servants.
I remember hearing a couple of months ago a woman as she lamented that there were several churches surrounding the nursing home where her dad was a resident. She says that there were no churches coming in to minister to the residents. They contacted every church in the area, none were interested. That brought up a couple of questions: Why didn’t she do it? Why wouldnt any of the other churches take up the mission? I don’t know the answer actually, but I have have a terrible feeling that a lot of people who think they have an “in” with God will be suprised when he says I was in the nursing home and you didn’t visit me.
Up until a year ago, I had spent a lot of time with people who are homeless. I led a Street church and we saw great things happen. People came to faith in Christ, people were baptised, people got jobs and people got off the streets. It was rewarding and exasperating all at the same time.
You can see some of my story here. I want to tell you the risks and dangers that also occur. My friend Ben who worked with me as part of the street church, decided to take John, one of the homeless guys under his wings. We had baptised John after he had confessed Jesus as his Lord, without any prompting from us. Ben went the extra mile with John.
We were able to get a job interview for John. We provided him with money for decent clothes. Ben and another friend Kelli took John for his interview. He got the job. There was the issue of some outstanding tickets he had. They helped get him around to get those taken care of as well.
Ben took John into his house, and helped him get to work and home. For a while it worked well. But as John became more prosperous and had money in his pockets, his interest in the spiritual began to wayne. He quit attending church gatherings. He started looking at stuff. He wanted a new stereo. He wanted an LCD TV. He quit having bible study and prayer times.
In the end he moved out on his own. He’s no longer in contact with anyone. The last contact we had was that he had to be taken to the hospital with chest pains. Ben and Kelli took him. To all appearances, he seemed to be having a reaction to some kind of drugs, though he wouldn’t admit it, (he changed his story four times). After that he pretty much decided not to have anything to do with Ben or Kelli.
Ben took a risk and put a lot of time, energy and finances in trying to reach and help John. Now he seems to feel burned, like what did it matter? Does it matter? Yes. It matters. It matters to God. What Ben did pleases God’s heart. Sometimes the things we do for people, our love, doesn’t always get returned. Sometimes it gets thrown back in our faces and it hurts. But God is still pleased with us. That’s what really matters in all of this.
I still believe John will follow the Lord. We pray that the Lord will draw him back and I hope it doesn’t take something hard like being back on the streets for that to happen. But I’m more concerned about his soul than I am about where he lives. What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul.
By the way, there is a new movie starting today that is based on a true story. It’s called the Soloist, and is about a journalist who befriends a musical prodigy who happens to be homeless. It looks like a great story. I hope it is and a lot of people check it out.
Gospel Poverty isn’t a term that is used much. We here a lot more about the Prosperity Gospel than we do Gospel Poverty, though the term has been around in Roman Catholicism for a while.
Gospel Poverty is not a vow to be poor. It is not destitution. It is the idea of living simply with few entanglements so that we can effectively serve God and the poor.
There are several areas included in Gospel Poverty
1. Stop wasting time. Less time on the computer or in front of the TV and more time loving the poor, serving them and serving Jesus.
2. Stop the information clutter. We often get caught up in “issues” of the moment. We need to be focused on the Kingdom of the moment. Listen to less “news” and listen to fewer “negative” people so that you can remain more focused and more positive.
3. Simplify the budget. What are needs and what are wants. Start dumping some of the wants so that more can be used for the real needs of the poor.
These are essentially the elements of Gospel Poverty from where I am right now. What do you think?
If you check out my gospel poverty site, you’ll find a video where I interview my friend Joseph Cartwright on Gospel Poverty. If you’re interested that’s a great place to start.
Joseph is hosting a conference on Gospel Poverty in July where yours truly will be one of the Speakers. It will be July 10-12 in Arlington Texas in the heart of the Dallas- Fort Worth Metroplex. If you are interested in that you can check out the information here or here.
November 12, 2009 
Posted in Uncategorized 
2 Comments » 
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I had so many ways to give the $50 that we received two weeks ago. I had so many people that have been in need and I knew that anything amount would help them. I wanted to bless more people though. I thought that we as a family had made a decision to bless a specific family but I kept having this tug at my heart to do more.
I started thinking about Mothers Day and how many mothers feel so overwhelmed, feeling stretched beyond the limit and asking God if this is what Motherhood is all about. I thought about what a small gift would mean to me on this special day, devoted to the hard work that each mom does to take care of their children, with or without help.
After much thought, I decided that I should take the opportunity to recognize the moms at CT Argyle with a simple flower. Whatever the flower was, it would represent all that God gives us as moms. That He provides us with all the tools and all the love to get through every issue, every pain, laugh, tear that we shed as moms. I did my research finding out how many I could bless with my gift and decided to give a little more to buy roses for the Sea moms and our volunteers at Argyle on Sunday.
I couldn’t believe how perfectly God provided. I had enough roses to give out and I was able to give one to each mom who picked their child up in CT Argyle Sea and to all the mom volunteers. I had 5 left when I went home.
What made it all worth it was that after I gave a mom a rose, she said thank you so much, this will be the only flower I will get today but I am so thankful for it. Knowing that God could touch that one mom and let her know how much she is appreciated and loved made it worth passing them out.
A man from California blesses a shoe shiner.
I was in Texas on business from California and was fortunate enough to visit your church on the $50 give-a-way weekend. I was blown away by what took place that morning! I took the $50 and started praying about who God wanted to bless. A shoeshiner came right to my mind as I was praying. He had shined my shoes earlier in the week in Denton in the car dealership that I was working in. I had two weeks left of work at the dealership in Denton and I told God that if the shoeshiner showed up again that I would give him the $50. Well, I was down to the last day and was thinking that I would be giving the money to someone in California. However, about halfway through my last day in Denton, the shoeshiner showed up. He shined my shoes and then I told him that God had a gift for him. As I gave him the money, he started to cry. Right away I knew that I was giving the money to the right person. We spoke for a few minutes and I told him that God loved him and wants to take care of him. After a few more tears, we shook hands and said goodbye. Thank you Cross Timber for trusting God with your finances and for giving me the opportunity to bless someone! That attitude will travel with me back to California!!
This is a story from a Lady who’s husband had given up on church and is seeing his passion returning
We loved the idea of saying yes to God and crossing the street to help someone else. I just want to say that my husband is so touched by this whole idea. He had given up on churches but God has used this to inspire him. It is awesome seeing him like this!! He is on fire for Christ! So we decided to ask our son’s Kindergarten teacher if there was a family in need of financial assistance. She suggested a family. We put in an additional $50 and put it in a card for the teacher to give to the child. My husband was adamant about writing a little note in the card. His words were so beautiful and filled with the spirit.
I really believe God has led us to Cross Timbers, and we are so blessed!!
Some people joined together and added their own money as well …when people start giving their own money it really starts getting exciting.
We decided to match the $50 and asked God what He would have us do. After asking the Office Manager of our Mobile Home Park if she knew of any residents who would benefit from our outreach we discovered that she and her family attend the Cross Timbers Argyle Campus. Another family here in our park that we are friends with also contributed and now we are helping a single Dad to make repairs on his house.