Blog series: Takes 1-2-Know-1: Dishing on Church Folk-We're perfect (or think we are).

Having been in church most of my life, I know a lot of "church" people.  I've been lucky though, because I've been able to have a wide array of experience in my life and part of that is knowing a lot of people who aren't "church" people.  It's amazing what people not in church think about church folk...most of it due to experience with a "church" folk who has somehow become representative for everyone.

From my experience, I thought I'd dish on some church folk and some common thoughts about them that ARE and AREN'T true.

MYTH #1:  Church people have it all worked out perfect with perfect lives (or they act like they do, but secretly, they don't).  It's funny that this is a common theme among folks.  Honestly, I've seen evidence to back the parenthetical part of this statement on more than one occasion, but a greater understanding of this myth let's you know it's not true.  I'll show you why it's ironically comical that this is a rep for people in church.

One...I've never met anyone on the Earth, that,in their right mind, in a totally honest moment, that thinks they are perfect...in the church or out.  I'm not sure that person exists.  I've seen arrogant people before, but usually, in my experience, that's really just subconscious/conscious overcompensation for weaknesses that they are really trying to hide or have yet to admit.

Two, one of the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity is that in the same way, ALL of us are imperfect and have NO chance to achieve it on our own.  The very fact that anyone walks into church and/or enters into a relationship with Christ is admitting that you are NOT perfect...that you are flawed.

This sparks a couple of other questions:

Why do some of them "act" like they are perfect?

- The easy answer is because they aren't.  Acting like you are, like anyone on the planet, is proof that you aren't perfect, because no one is.

Another reason is ignorance.  Some people still haven't learned what it means to admit your imperfections.  It means that you are always 100% flawed, but you are always trying to connect with a perfect God.  While God is moving us toward being complete or perfect one day, that's not done the moment you decide to follow Christ...some folks don't know what to do with that.

Another reason is insecurity.  It's not easy to admit your weaknesses to others, even though that's what the Bible asks us to do.  Some people mistakenly think that acting more "disgusted" or "appalled" at the acts that sin comes out as in a person's life, somehow makes them seem to be more right with God.  All that does is cause people to be moreActually, insecurity is fueled by pride.  We all want to look like we know what's going on and, true to form with our condition, we aren't...it causes some problems.

Another reason is misguided expectations.  Some people actually believe that when they enter a relationship with Christ that somewhere, somehow, they'll achieve this (pardon the expression) "Zen-like state" where nothing bothers them, nothing ever goes wrong, they never do anything wrong or make a mistake again and the sin nature that's part of of every person on the planet just goes away.  Not true.  Following Jesus' path is a way to deal with the effects of sin and because of Jesus' leadership and strength, we can have the power, the understanding and the awareness to choose a choice that isn't controlled by sin in our life, but to think that we will never struggle again is foolish.  For me, as I've grown in Christ and learned more about Him, I've actually found MORE things that I need Christ for, rather than less, and that's exactly how it's supposed to go as we grow in Him.

Another reason is that there is an enemy who wants us to fail.  The Bible tells us the Devil is alive and well and is trying to get us to be stupid and hurt others...like we aren't capable of doing it on our own because of our own problems.  He helps confuse people into thinking that if you are a Christ follower, then you hate sin, then you have to be perfect and hate people who aren't and then if you aren't a Christ follower, then you can't be one because you sin...it's flawed logic, but it's amazing how many people buy into it.

Basically in a nutshell, here's a Christian...an imperfect person who is resigning himself/herself to the fact that they can't make it on their own, but realizes that there really is a solution to making it through life and they've found Him.  His name is Jesus.  Now, they are trying to learn to live in that situation. 

There's a great song by Natalie Grant that says this and it kind of sums up this topic.  "There's no such thing as perfect people, there's no such thing as a perfect life, so come as you are, broken and scarred, lift up your heart and be amazed...and be changed by a perfect God."  The truth is that you've got to learn to exhibit grace to others, just as you receive it yourselves and that's how God planned for it to be.

This week, I'm going to try to deal with a few more dish on church folks subjects...hope this helps non-church folk understand church folk or maybe even, church folk understand themselves a little better.

So, how are you finishing off 2010?

So, how are you finishing off 2010? If you are like me, it's possibly like running 300 miles an hour and then slamming on the breaks, hitting a wall, somewhere around Dec. 26-Jan. 2. A lot of people I talk to seem to be like that. There’s a lot of stress in the season these days. One really has to wonder how it came to that, because “stress” was about the last thing that God really wanted for us to associate with the birth of His Son. It was quite the opposite actually.

In the Bible, the prophecies that talk about Jesus’ coming tell us things like “God is right here with us”, describing His power and might and endless capability to handle situations and this world…and then it wraps all that up in words like “Everlasting Father”, denoting how this magnificent God views us all. One of the most interesting themes that is thrown out the Old Testament is the theme of “comfort” in Isaiah 40. Prophecy in the Bible usually has an effect for the people of that time, an alluding aspect to a future event and an over-arching principle for all of mankind. In Isaiah 40, the Israelites are just getting back in God’s good graces, so to speak, because they are being delivered from a country’s oppression that has been due to their lack of respect and obedience to God. Isaiah 40 starts off with “comfort, comfort my people” and then it goes on to link this prophecy with the life of Christ in the New Testament. We begin to understand that one of the big things about Jesus’ coming is that we are comforted in knowing that the Master Planner of the Universe is actively working over us with the care of a Father and has sent His valuable Son to rescue us. In a lot of ways, Jesus’ coming was meant to reduce the amount of stress in our lives, limiting us to one main concern, a relationship with Jesus as the source of our comfort.

God’s gift of Christ was supposed to streamline our cares in this world to our relationship with Him. We were supposed to see that God would provide, care for, protect and direct us by giving us access to limitless wisdom and knowledge that is found in the relationship with Jesus.

You see, What we’ve created is far from a simple gathering of a few shepherds with the family. This event was meant to take the pressure off and relax us…but somehow, we’ve found a way to turn it into one of the most stressful times of the year. Sometimes, I have to wonder if somewhere, when Christmas starts again, God just looks at our overstated plans and just, figuratively, shakes His head…and maybe chuckles a little.

It's all in who you know

For years, I've heard this phrase and it's made me bristle. It implies that you can't get ahead in this world on your own merit, it's always about the person in power that you know that can get you to the right place.

I HATE that... I want to make it on my own merit on things, that's why I hate it... That, and I'm one of those guys who have never really known anyone to hook me up. :-) Just kidding.

This week, we'll be talking about the next one of "The 6" here at Bay West Church which states that one of our values at Bay West is that we lead people to cultivate relationships with God's purposes in mind. When I was studying for this talk, I began to see that the statement I hate may be more a part of my life than I ever suspected...and that may be okay. Oh yeah, it's easy for the preacher to take the high road, capitalize the "Who" and say the "Who" is God, but that's too obvious...and while that would be the greatest value statement I could make, it would hardly be the end of this subject in the life of a Christ follower.

Hopefully, I can shed some light in the immensity of this one of the 6 that just really gets lumped into eating meetings and parties...but it's much, much more than this. If you are in West Palm Bay, or you just want to drive a little bit, feel free to stop on by. See you Sunday, 10am, Heritage High School.

another Thursday night...

There's some great things going on for Bay West Church...

We have us a Children's Leader...Bevan Brennan, a Melbournite and her husband Jason will be joining us in this endeavor. Katye and I had a great dinner with them tonight and feel very positive about them being part of the team.

They've been married 3 years, and they'll be coming around so look for them and get to know them...good folks. Jenny, David and I have met with them to interview them and it's a good deal. You might remember Bevan, because she was a music intern here a few years ago.

Keep praying, because I meet with a prospective Worship Leader tomorrow night AND I had an awesome lunch with a guy today who I've asked to be a part of our worship planning team...GREAT creative mind, we freakin' click....

Feeling good about stuff...met the Community Center Coordinator for the Ted Whitlock Community Center at Palm Bay Regional Park the other day...Rob Medina...GREAT guy, great guy! Talked with him about distributing some promotional water, if we donated it for his different classes and stuff and he was all for it...he's a believer and sincerely loves Jesus. Great contact....btw, thanks again to Larry and Doug for maintaining such a great rep in this area, that definitely helped out the cause here!

Another story of how God just works stuff out here...Jeff Cooke, one of the guys on the Launch Team, was at the prayer time Wednesday night (DON'T MISS THAT) and I was talking about taking water down to the Community Center next week...then I remembered...I'm in Fort Myers all next week at this mandatory training from the FBC (pray for my attitude about that, I don't like being made to go somewhere when I feel I've go so much work to do here), so I can't deliver the water when it comes on Thursday...Jeff pipes up and he's a Landscape Tech with the county in Palm Bay, lives right near the Park, has a truck and says "no prob", he knows Rob, so, done deal...water is right on schedule to be delivered. See how God works...solving problems I didn't previously even know were problems.

There's loads of stuff like this that makes me hopeful...I can't plan this stuff, it just happens. There's big stories and small stories (like just meeting up with Cliff the other day, the guy who runs the Cricket Club down at the Park and then Rob setting me up with a contact for a future community service project...HUGE! to Truth Advertising finding a string to pull to get our mailer out with a short turnaround - thanks Geoff) You just can't buy this stuff...not to mention the money that's been raised in THIS economy to make this happen....you just can't deny that God has something planned. I'm not sure what it is...maybe three of us sitting in that big school in learning about Jesus...but we'll see.

Anyway, here's to more successes in faith as we follow God to try to help bring Jesus to West Palm Bay...adding to the Palm Bay Churches.

New name is out there!

This morning, we announced that the name recommended by the naming team for our new campus in West Palm Bay is going to be Bay West Church, a campus of First Baptist Church of Melbourne. We hope and pray that God is able to use us to introduce people to a relationship to Jesus as a one of the churches in Palm Bay, Florida.

Stay tuned for more info, as this starts to heat up into our launch on September 13, 2009.

In the beginning...

In the beginning...well, let's don't be that dramatic. It's a new day for us at FBCM and for me personally, as we are planning and working and scheming to start a new campus of FBCM in Palm Bay. We're currently exploring the option of meeting at Heritage High School on the west end of Malabar road...and I mean the WEST end...on the end, way out there...

Believe you me, that I have asked God on more that one occasion if this was what He REALLY wanted. I mean, up until a month ago, we were going down a dirt road (yes, a dirt, unpaved road) to start a church. It's not an easy project beyond that either...there were 9 church starts, of which FBC was at least a part supporter, and this will be the 10th...and it's just us.

We are considering the name Bay West Church. This name will be the external name, while internal communication will call it Bay West Church or the Bay West Campus of FBC Melbourne. It's a little scary, but it's a lot of fun...it's exciting to put together details which may help further the cause of Christ in Palm Bay...it's scary. The economy is bad, yet we will be taking on an ENORMOUS investment and in 2010, we'll be adding 10% (about 225,000 dollars) to our budget. GOD, you must come through, because the truth is that this is something we cannot accomplish on our own.