Maxwell House Christian

Paul references the drink offering when he describes his Christian life. (The life he was given through the sacrifice of Christ for his sins. Ephesians 2:1-10) His reference was a reminder that his life was a continual offering being poured out to God.

With each morning and evening sin offering, a drink offering was poured out to God. (Exodus 29; Numbers 28). The only mention of the drink offering which did not accompany a sin offering is found in the account of Jacob's reconciliation with Esau in Genesis 35:14.

It would seem that the drink offering represents the joy as a complement to reconciliation. Paul poured out his life as a joyful complement to the reconciliation he found in Christ. As the old coffee commercial said, "Maxwell House coffee is good to the last drop." Paul's life, as an example to us, was good to the last drop also. There was no retirement mentality in Paul. His life, until the day Christ called him home, would be an offering of joy and thanksgiving for the reconciliation he found in Christ.

Monday School

Why is it that many Christians seem to be hypocritical in their lifestyles? Why is it so hard to live what we say we believe? Is what we learn from the Scriptures on Sunday not relevant or practical to use in life on Monday?

The bus ride to Monday School is very short. It boards in our head and travels only 18 inches to our heart. Barefoot Church is opening a Monday School for the next four weeks that will be in session to help Christ followers establish the habit of making Sunday's lesson a part of our lives.

Sunday's lessons are intended to be lived so that they can produce the fruits of Christian character, conduct, ministry and blessing. Want to get a degree in Christian living? Check out Monday School.

Monday School

It could be that our pastor struck on one of the biggest problems facing the church in America. We have been so influenced by the scientific atheism of our culture that we often divide the "spiritual" from the "secular". We are all about what we learned on Sunday, but then comes Monday and we play by a different rulebook.

This may explain the absence of light and salt in the American culture. We need to take what we learned in Sunday School and apply it in the classroom in Monday School. The classroom may change from the church building to a workplace, home, market or school, but the lessons continue to be the same: You shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.

I learned two things today because I decided to continue to apply what is being taught to me on Sunday: (Value Potential and a new understanding of "if you say so, Lord" from Luke 5:4-6.)

1. Since we learned about potential on Sunday, my mind was evaluating reaching my potential. As I prayed and began "looking for direction", I ran across an article that reminded me that discipline is the pathway to potential. I "heard" a clear challenge to my heart concerning my need to step up my discipline.

2. My mind has been spinning about all the stuff that could be done and should be done. I found a second lesson today that will shape the rest of my week. "Do well with what you have"

I have my assignments for the week. "Refocus on discipline" and "Eat what is on your plate before you ask for more."

What have you learned in Monday School as you apply what you learned on Sunday.

Paying Attention to the Roots

I know. It sure took me long enough to get back here and followup on my ramblings about "The Fruit of Ministry." I have been digging, praying, watching and pondering what matures Christians and attracts the lost to the gospel. (And I spend a lot more time on Twitter and Facebook.) Someday I'll have to tackle the effectiveness of blogging. I'm not even sure anyone benefits from these random blogs. Maybe a free frap at Starbucks for everyone who comments would reveal how many people this reaches.

Back to the topic of fruit. We would all agree that the fruit of ministry is new and mature Christ-followers. However, we often measure certain programs to evaluate the success of our efforts. Small groups is often one of those programs. But, I know churches where the percentage of participation in small groups is huge and yet the fruit (new converts and mature Christians) is minimal. I know other churches that are rocking the planet with new converts and excited mature Christian servants and yet have a very small percentage of their attendees engaged in organized small groups.

I am convinced that whenever we focus on anything other than true fruit (new converts and maturing Christians) as an evaluation of ministry, we begin to manipulate the plant rather than nurture it. I transplanted two dogwood trees last fall. I love dogwoods and would love to have them in my yard, but I also know that the odds of them making it through the transplant trauma are slim. I was about to declare them dead when my wife pointed out a couple green buds breaking out. I immediately drove in a fertilizer plant. I can't make my dogwoods grow but I can nurture them and trust that dogwoods know how to be dogwoods.

Do we have that same confidence in the church? Why do we get hung up trying to manipulate the plant rather than focusing on nurturing the roots?

What do we do at the root level? 1. Feed the plant (Peter, feed my sheep). Teach God's Word, biblical principles, and the unique ministry vision of your particular church. (Ours is Hospitality) Stay organic, watch out for filler and toxic additives. 2. Loosen the soil. Create an environment that encourages, equips and enables all Christians to be engaged at some level. Sometimes our organizational soil becomes so hard that it stifles root growth. 3. Provide adequate water. Encourage people regularly. Refresh them with encouraging words, special times, etc. Don't let the plant wither and become weary from lack of encouragement.

What do small groups look like in your church? How many people are engaged in volunteering and serving? HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE COME TO CHRIST SO FAR THIS YEAR? It's cool and natural to observe the plant with its leaves, branches, buds and stuff, but the real issue is whether it is producing fruit.

Remember the care we take at the root level becomes evident at the fruit level. Let the rest of the plant grow as it sees fit. Some plants are leafier, others have more branches, others are taller, but the purpose for the plant (church) is to bear fruit.

I'm thinking. What are you thinking?

Inspecting the Fruit of Ministry

I just had someone in my office discussing our small group ministry. The obvious questions were asked. How are they going? How are you training leaders? What do you mean when you say small groups may not be what you are striving for?

Yeah, I did say that. Risking a personal visit from Andy Stanley and other small group gurus, I am beginning to question the concept of organized groups with organized curriculum being the focused means of maturing Christians. There is a vast difference between doing life with other Christians and doing a small group with other Christians.

Before I go any further, let me clarify that I do believe small groups are a tool for maturing some Christians. Some people thrive in them and others see them as another night out in a contrived setting.

Back to my original statement: "Small groups may not be what we are striving for." We are looking for mature Christ followers.

It appears to me that serving with other Christians in a ministry team may have just as much influence on maturity as the traditional small group. I have also seen families and individuals "pal-up" and participate on the journey together in a way that matures them as individuals.

Sometimes we focus on parts of the plant and forget that the fruit, and all the parts, come from the root of the plant. The care we take at the root level is evident at the fruit level. The church is like a plant. Small groups, ministry teams, outreach teams, connected friendships & large group gatherings may be part of the plant (sort of like leaves, branches, buds, blooms, etc.), but the fruits of the plant are new and maturing Christ followers.

I think there are three things we do at the root level that will nurture the church and produce great, mature fruit. I'll discuss that in the next post. My questions today are: "Can we assume that a small group is where Christian maturity takes place and should we measure the fruit of the ministry by the health of our small groups?"

Maybe I am suffering from "sour grapes syndrome" because our small groups ministry is not textbook or significant when compared to the size of our church, or maybe God is showing me something.

Just Thinking. Appreciate your feedback.

Order in Organic Environments

The term "organic" has become a big part of our vocabulary in recent years. It can evoke many different images. Living, growing, natural, real and healthy are only a few of the adjectives that could describe organic.

I am all about organic because the opposite would be dead, artificial, forced or constrained. Organic stuff takes work, but not the kind of work that organized programs take. Organic must contain some sort of order, too. How do you create "organic" environments in ministry and manage the organic in such a way that it continues to have a life of its own, but still maintains direction and purpose. Wow! That sentence competes with the apostle Paul's run-on sentences.

You know what I mean. Organic growth needs a proper soil and environment. It also needs water, fertilizer (Remember you can burn something with too much of this stuff.) and care. We need a balance between form and freedom. My natural inclination to err on the form side rather than the freedom side, but my faith walk wants me to give more trust to God so He has freedom to do His stuff.

I believe the "body life" we all speak and write about may be right under our noses. Maybe we need to stop trying to organize, design and program what God wants to be a natural part of the DNA of His church. I want to pay more attention to the soil and the environment and less to trying to make the tree grow.

I haven't gotten my head totally around what the looks like, but progress is being made. I know the climate can not be harsh or polluted. The soil needs to be plowed and prepared. Consideration must be given concerning what you are planting. Some plants require more attention than others. God makes stuff grow.

I'd sooner work in God's field than labor in a church factory.

Just Thinking.

Contentment During a Recession

We are driven to have more. It began in the Garden of Eden. God gave everything to mankind except for one tree. Guess what. We had to have it all. This desire robs us from enjoying what we have, being thankful, and living content lives. Contentment doesn't come naturally. It is something we must learn. I am still trying to learn this lifestyle. Check it out!

Here are some things we can learn from this passage:
Learn to Relinquish
Be WILLING and ABLE to live on almost nothing. We are trying to figure out how little we need to live with. (We stopped our cable TV, Internet, and land-line phone.) It's actually becoming an enjoyable challenge.

Learn to Embrace.
Be able to receive blessings. STOP trying to explain why you have what you have (God sometimes chooses to bless us.) and STOP telling people how poor you are. Poverty is not a virtue, but contentment is.

Learn the Source of all you have.
Since contentment doesn't come naturally, it must be aquired super-naturally. WITH CHRIST I can be poor and content or I can manage a bunch of junk and be content.

Learn to Share.
Sharing is a "sweet smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God." God provides FOR you and God provides THROUGH you.

Learn to Trust.
The Scriptures say, "And this SAME God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."

I love the conclusion of the matter: "Now all GLORY TO GOD our Father forever and ever! Amen." Live to God's glory, in a recession or during prosperity, in good times and in bad times.

Something worth learning.

Thoughts on Suffering

I serve in an area of ministry where I continually counsel and console people who are facing difficult, painful, and overwhelming situations. I thought that maybe someone who reads my blogs (there has to be at least six or more people) might be interest in what the Lord has shown me.

James 1:2 - 12 has four important verbs in it that help me in times of suffering.

“Consider” What is God doing?

“Know” What do you know about God?

“Let” Allow God to do what He wants.

“Ask” Ask God what He wants you to do.

Sounds simple, but taking time to meditate and pray over these four verbs will do more than anxiety and panic.

Just some thoughts.

Why?

"Why" is an important question to ask. When the "why" is identified it serves as a motivational factor (yahoo for why we do it), a goal setting factor (what do we need to do, because of why we are doing it), and an evaluation factor (is why we are doing this being realized by what we are doing).

Yesterday Joan took down our Christmas tree. It has 1500 lights on it. (Horry Electric will notice a loss in draw on the power grid.) It is a tedious and time consuming job. Halfway through taking it down and packing up each part, she said, "Tell me again why we do this." (I am the wrong person to ask because I have no "why" for this one.)

We did come up with some "why's" that even helped me appreciate the inconvenience and clutter a tree produces. Our family gathers each year for Thanksgiving at our place. Our grandsons stay overnight and help put the tree up the next day. They love it. It is making memories and tradition that are important to our family. Joan loves the environment the tree produces. She can sit for hours just looking at the tree. (For me it is sort of like looking directly into the sun.) Once we discussed the "why" of the tree, we completed the task of putting it away and look forward to spending the day after Thanksgiving with our grandchildren.

Sometimes it is good to ask, "Why?" We are in the middle of asking that question at Barefoot Church right now. I anticipate that when we revisit why we do what we do that we will do it with more energy, excellence, excitement, and expectation.

Why do you do what you do?

Fishers of Men/Keepers of Aquariums

Fishers of men (evangelists) and Keepers of the Aquarium (pastors) seem to be the classifications of two activities of the church on planet earth. One activity is to go into all the world preaching the Gospel. (Fishing for men) The other activity is to teach believers everything that the Lord has instructed. (Feeding the Fish) We often call this two-fold challenge the Great Commission.

The "work of the ministry" is to seek and to offer salvation to those who are lost, but the responsibility of leadership is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. An ideal church functions with both these gifts. Stretching to reach the lost and committed to training believers.

Evangelism is the first work of the church. Check out a church that stopped doing "the first work". The second work is to equip the saints to do the first work. The church often complicates what God has made very simple.

Are you intentional about sharing the Gospel and fishing for men and women? Are you intentional about teaching others everything you know about God and how to become great fishermen?

I'm pretty passionate about packing the aquarium full of fish before the Lord arrives. That means we must prepare a lot of people to go fishing.

Just Thinking.

Techno Outreach

****** Parker wants to be contacted. Here is the info:

Name: ****** Parker

E-mail: *******_2000@yahoo.com

Comment: I am on your website and want to know more information.


This is just one of many people who are being pointed to Christ by Barefoot Church and are located way outside our physical borders of ministry. Technology has knocked down the borders of ministry outreach.

There is a swelling number of organizations realizing that the geographic or distance barriers that once defined the limit of their impact are gone. We see: Doctors Without Borders, Teachers Without Borders, Engineers Without Borders, Lawyers Without Borders (oh, boy), and a host of others. There's even Mothers Without Borders who address the global orphan crisis.

Thinking outside the box has taken on a whole new meaning as we leverage new technology to become a church with no borders. Old technology allowed us to broadcast the Gospel via radio. New technology enables us to minister to people and expand the Body of Christ as never before.

Thinking outside the box means more than being creative in our communication and local outreach. We have to begin to think globally (outside the borders) and become a church without borders.

Hey, want to experience a global community environment? Join us at Barefoot Church on Saturday nights at 6:00pm, Sundays at 9:00am and 11:00am and Tuesday nights at 7:30pm.

I'm focusing more and more on riding this wave in my ministry responsibilites here at Barefoot. I have changed this site's address to be easier to find and use. It is now found at: JimEvans.tv. Hey, I even have a MacBook on the way. (You've got to do what you've got to do.)

Remember, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. THINK GLOBAL. LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY.

Recruit and Train

I get very annoyed when I hear: "Churches like yours . . . (meaning churches where lots of people are coming to Christ, the music rocks, and the excitement is equivalent to the Super Bowl) . . . are very shallow in doctrine. I have to assume they mean that a large number of our people could not name all twelve tribes of Judah or quote the five tenets of Calvinism. This may be true, but in my experience as Care Ministry Pastor, I see people at their true life level. They are having dynamic life change and are exhibiting evidence of conversion that drives them to desire to know more and more about the God who loves them and gave them new life.

To set the record straight let me point out the environments we have intentionally designed for Christian growth. 1. We are very intentional about the main worship teaching. By intentional I mean that there are no less than 80 man hours put into every message. (much more most weeks) Every week people are challenged by God's Word in a way that impacts their daily lives.
2. We are very intentional about Community Groups. We have designed an environment that encourages people to do life together and seek to grow through fellowship and bible study. 3. We are very intentional about serving. We create environments that encourage and enable everyone in the church to serve. It is through serving that people grow, not merely through learning. 4. We are very intentional about encouraging our people to share their faith. We create an environment of invitation because you really haven't learned anything until you share it with someone else. Hundreds of people don't come to Christ unless hundreds of people are sharing Christ.

We are now adding an opportunity for our local and online people to attend an online Community Group called "Basic Training". Each Tuesday night at 7:30 we will be online, teaching bible study methods through Romans and Ephesians.

This Community Group has three purposes: 1. Excite people about God's Word and their need of it. 2. Excite people about doing life around God's Word with other people. (Thus feed into new Community Groups) 3. Declare the basis of our salvation (Romans) and what it means to be IN Christ. (Ephesians)

Basic Training is not a response to the accusation that "churches like ours" are shallow, but rather a demonstration that we do whatever we have to do to do what God instructs us to do. Basic Training is a response to all the new converts God has seen fit to give us. It is a way to channel people into the three environments of Barefoot Church: Worship/Community Groups/Service and Sharing.

Shallow? I think not. Maybe dynamic is a better word to describe "churches like ours."

Just thinking.

NEW!

"New" is a great word. I love to drive a new car. (It only happens when I rent one at an airport.) Someday, probably this year, I will have to get a new computer. I appreciate the one I have now, but am looking forward to some of the upgrades of a new one. (Probably fall prey to the Apple fad.)

On May 30th I will get a new family member when my daughter marries the guy who has been showing up at our house for the past couple years. I am glad that I have never had to get a new wife. Mine has stuck with me for 33 years. (Big reward in heaven for her.) We got married on New Year's Day in 1976. On our anniversary we are always focused on the new year ahead of us. More couples ought to live year by year, they soon mount up.

Today the word "new" got me a little more excited as I considered the new lives that the Lord gave many people at Barefoot Church over the past year. My new life in Christ never gets old. That is the cool thing about what God makes new. I can get a new car, but it will become old. As a matter of fact, every new thing I get in this life becomes old. But, when Christ gives new life, it is eternal and never becomes old. Someday we will be given a new heaven and new earth that will never become old. (The environmentalists will be out of work.)

Last year we did a lot of new stuff at Barefoot, but the only thing that we did that won't become old is introducing people to a new life in Christ. I am sure God will lead Clay to a lot of new things in 2009 also, but the one thing that will never get old is sharing the life giving, life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is a part of me that really gets excited about new stuff, (I know, that sounds very carnal, but you know it is true about you, too.) but the most exciting new thing ever is the new life God gives to those who put their trust in Christ. What new thing will you get excited about in 2009?

Hey, want to start out the new year with some Basic Training? Check us out on Tuesday nights at 7:30pm on the Internet.