Life-on accident or on purpose

Last night I taught Pastor Fred's Wednesday evening Bible study, he is out of state at a conference. I actually taught on the characteristics of a missional life out of Acts 2. That's not what I'm gonna write about today; even though it is an amazing topic! But what I found as I reviewed what I taught was my consistent use of the phrase, be intentional.

I have been a Christian for almost 10 years now and what I am continually realizing is that the Christian life, or at least one that matters, will never happen on accident. Living the life worthy of the calling to be a Christ follower requires a great deal of planning and intentionality. I will be taking a look at three areas that require our intentionality.

1.) Our Devotional life. On Sunday night Gwen, Eli, and myself joined a retired couple for dinner following evening worship. As we were leaving the gentlemen commented he had to get to bed, 4 am would come early. I asked why on earth he would wake up this early as a retired gentleman, he starts the day off with an hour of prayer and Bible study. What an example. As believers we have to schedule time sacrificially to spend time getting to know the heart of God better. Or it won't happened. This is difficult to start and even harder to maintain. But the life that Christ has called us to live requires intense time spent in prayer and Bible study will which require intentional planning on our part!

2.) Engaging the local church. First in regular attendance. There is a line of thought out there that you can get spiritually feed from para church organizations and services and that replaces church. These are not what Christ established in Peter's confession. These good organizations and ministries do not cut it. I have also heard that you can maintain a close relationship with Christ or be spiritual without church attendance. Is this possible? It maybe but I have never seen it work. Church attendance is a necessity in the life of every believer. Also we have to engage in the ministry of the local church. It is simply not enough to fill a pew, or even fill a pew and give. Every attender and believer needs to in some aspect be filling some empty role in their house of worship. Churches are most effective in fulfilling the great commission when the service by their members is maximized.

3.) Evangelism. As believers we have to be looking for oppritunitiesto share the gospel with un-believers. If you are waiting for the perfect opportunity to share the gospel chances are you will be waiting for a very long time. We have to be looking for opportunities in everyday conversations to turn the encounter towards the cross. If we are not intentional about creating gospel conversations then the message of Christ will cease to be shared, at least by us.

My thought are not complex, they pretty foundational. But as Christians we are called to have a kingdom impact. But this only happens when we plan to do so, never on accident.

A year ago Yesterday

There will be 364 days in 2009 that if you asked me what all happened a year ago on that day I would have no clue. But yesterday is the exception; Gwen, Eli, and myself celebrated Eli's 1st birthday. And by celebrating I mean we went to Subway for $5 foot longs; which had a whole lot more to do with Gwen and I wanting to eat. But none the less we have all survived the adventure of our first year as a three-some; which has been the most exciting year as a family!

Eli's godfather, my best friend from college, was recently through St. Louis for a day and we got to spend some time together. Over lunch he asked me how being a father had changed my life. And it has changed every aspect of how I approach life.

Most importantly being a dad has increased my responsibility to lead a life worth reproducing. What I have found to be increasing true is how much he, Eli, watches and replicates my every move. Making it incredibly important that I am intentional about living my life in the same manner that I want him to live his. But this is true for everybody, not just parents, leaders, or pastors.

In life the generation or age group before us has got hawk eyes on our life patterns. Grade schoolers look up to middle schoolers, who are admiring high schoolers, who are replicating the lives of college students, who are adopting the life patterns of their parents. This pattern is simply inescapable. Which leads us all to ask ourselves; would we want our current life to be fully and totally reproduced and repeated in the life of someone else? Someone is watching us and will do just that.

About a month ago Eli and I were at breakfast. We were next to a table of a father and his two adult sons. Before their server had even set their plates down they were pointing out all the things she had done wrong, lead by the elderly father. No doubt this was a learned behavior. The other night Eli and I were out shopping. We had left Aldi to go to Walmat, which is simply crossing one street going straight into another parking lot. I snapped Eli into his seat but did not bother to buckle my own seat belt. As we drove I realized I would never leave Eli unsecured even for the shortest distance, but I made a completely different decision for myself. Great example Dad.

So when it comes to faith issues, where it matters more than anything else, are we living the life we want to see others live? Naturally their will be holes in our lives, but are we being intentional about limiting them? Someone somewhere is watching you as an example on how to live their life; is your life what you want them to reproduce in theirs?

The Personal Invite

Over the past few weeks God has been driving home some important, yet very simple aspects of doing church and ministry. The main one is the power and influence of simply inviting another person to church or church events. My thoughts are not new or complex, they are actually quit the opposite. This is simply some of what God had been driving home with me over the past few weeks.

It is so important but so effective to simply invite an unchurched person to church or a church related event. Yet we all too often overlook this action. A good part of me is afraid that the simple invite will in time completely disappear if we don't begin to capitalize on its effectiveness. Those saying that inviting is too invasive, ineffective, or is now taboo will eventually win out.

Last night I attended The Source, which is the weekly gathering for the SIUE Campus Crusades. As I was driving up to campus last night I realized that the reason I was going is because one of their interns invited me to come; I had been planning to attend a different campus ministry last night but a simple invite to CRU quickly changed my plans. I bet this same process would have a similar affect on a lot of our unchurched friends.

Last Friday I was out to lunch with Gwen, Eli, and my parents. The server had been really friendly and open to conversation so as we were settling the bill I asked him if he attended church in the area. He said no, but asked a few question about where I did. We talked briefly and I left him a card, encouraged him to join us on Sunday, and asked him to call me if he had any questions. On the way back to the house my dad asked me if I thought he would ever make it down to Maryville? I said I didn't know but he was 100% more likely to come now that I have invited him. The stats are staggering. A person is far more likely to show up to church or an event after we have personally extended a very simple invitation come.