Update to the 26 goals for 2011

January 12th- Jen stated that she was tired of her computer and wants me to sell it for her. She admitted that she may have trouble, but would transition to a Mac. I said I needed to accomplish one goal every two weeks. So far so good!

Also, instead of convincing Jen to lead us in a hymn every night we are going to have a hymn for every month that we teach Hudson and try to sing regularly together. We've taught him Great is Thy Faithfulness and Amazing Grace over the last two months (more so because they would calm Athan when we sang them). I get to pick the hymn for February...

Public Unity

Two weeks ago I finished Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. The book is written as a study of Christian Community and is a quick and easy read (its a little over 100 pages with size 14 font). One of the points that I particularly enjoyed was his emphasis on public worship.

He says, "Why do Christians sing when they are together? The reason is, quite simply, because in singing together it is possible for them to speak and pray the same Word at the same time; in other words, because here they can unite in the Word."

The church is united as One Body, yet this unity that we share is spiritual, unseen by the eye. We cannot see the unity we share, nor can the outside world. Only God truly knows who is united together in the body of Christ. Public worship is a way to visibly reveal this unity.

Think about it, as we gather on Sunday mornings what do we do? Someone prays, then reads the Bible, then we sing, then one person sings, then someone gets up and teaches, and finally that person prays and its over. In every activity one person is doing the act of worship while everyone else is passive, except one. When we sing! Bonhoeffer's point is that our spiritual unity is made known publicly only when we sing because during that time our voices are united together in praise to our God. One of the reasons its important to sing together is that when we lift our voices together it is a testimony of the unity we have found with those around us in Christ.

Bonhoeffer also saw communion as accomplishing the same purpose. In communion we all take the bread and wine together, the bread symbolizing the body of Christ, which is now the church, the wine representing the blood which was spilt for each of our sins. The act of communion not only symbolizes the unity we share in Christ, but literally does unite us.

Some may question the importance of coming to the service on Sundays. The reasoning may be that they don't "do much" or contribute to the service. Bonhoeffer's quote not only shows the importance of coming to the service, but of taking part in the worship through song and communion as a testimony to unbelievers, and as an encouragement to brothers and sisters in Christ of the unity we have found in Jesus alone.

26 Goals for 2011

I thought I'd start this year off right with setting 26 goals for the new year. As opposed to setting one big resolution that you either complete or fail, for example losing weight, I'm going to try a new philosophy of having 26 goals for the new year. With these numbers I should average accomplishing one every two weeks which really isn't too bad. That way at the end of the year its not an all or nothing, pass or fail situation, but rather its something where I can focus on the one's I did accomplish and re-think the one's I set that I failed to complete. Some are serious, some are not so much, some focus on my family, while others are individual goals. So here it is...

26. Teach Athan to say Momma before Daddy. The thinking here is this should earn me some points with Jen as what Dad selflessly teaches Momma before Daddy to his son:)

25. Survive another Lock-in. I'm getting older and get real grumpy after 3AM. Perhaps I should change this to "Have all the kids survive me during another lock-in".

24. Get my internet changed so I can get ESPN3. The cable company no longer gives us ESPN in black and white for free so I'm forced to explore other options.

23. Teach Matt Anson to ski well enough to not be a danger to himself or those around him. He's a great kid who has never skied before and I'm either going to teach him or die trying. Not really, but I love a good challenge on the slopes!

22. Give up Coke cold turkey for Lent. Harder than it sounds, did you see my bio?

21. Help Athan learn to walk before he turns 1 year. A sure sign of athletic greatness in his future.

20. Make an A in two of the three Greek classes I'll take this year. Easily the most difficult, perhaps impossible. I showed my Spanish 2 teacher though...

19. Convince Jen to lead us in a hymn at dinner regularly. Something we've done inconsistently and have agreed we should do more. The great part is Hudson loves to sing these old hymns with us.

18. Play a round of golf at Old Waverly with my dad and brothers. Dad can get us on no trouble, its just an issue of getting down there with my clubs at the same time that my brothers are there...

17. Get Athan to sleep through the night regularly. So very close. Sigh..

16. See a Water Buffalo in person.

15. Rid the yard of those pesky moles.

14. Convince Jen to get rid of her Dell and get a Mac for our home computer. Maybe the easiest on the list all I have to do is ask her to use the Dell daily and it will do the convincing with its stalling out and faulty operating system.

13. Memorize the book of Philemon. Its a great letter and it would be nice to knock out a whole book of the Bible "Book of Eli" style.

12. Tile something. Its my new favorite hobby that combines temptation to cuss and break something halfway through with a great amount of pride at the end of the job!

11. Take Jen to the Warren Theatre in Moore for a movie of her choice. I've got to kick up my "husband taking the reigns" on date night now that I have two kids and I've heard this is a really cool place to go.

10. Finish the Youth Ministry Curriculum at Countryside. So close...

9. Daily do 200 pushups. Its my first and only step at a regular workout.

8. See Cars 2 in the theatre with Hudson. Comes out in June.

7. Teach Job 1-2 in some capacity. Perhaps my favorite book in the Bible and a place we rarely here preached from.

6. Read Calvin's Institutes. I've read portions now its time to connect all of the dots and conquer that beast.

5. See the Packers play in person. They do play in Kansas City and if that didn't work I would count a preseason game.

4. Build up my Kindle Library. Shouldn't be difficult, most of the books I want are by dead guys which means I can get them extremely cheap. We're talking under $5 for everything Jonathan Edwards ever wrote.

3. Get a big idea for where certain parables and main passages are in the Gospel of Luke. I feel like I have much of the other three gospels down. For example if you asked me where Jesus washed the disciples feet, or fed the 5,000 in the Gospel of John, or what takes place in Matthew 20 or Mark 10 I could easily tell you with some level of comfort and authority. Luke I still need to think through...

2. Convince Hudson to have a Green Bay Packers Birthday party. The theory is that if I can convince him then he can work on his Mom.

1. Blog 52 times. Once a week shouldn't be too difficult, and I've already got one down, now only 51 to go!

Where's my allegiance?

There's a great New Testament theme that sadly we miss as a result of our Americanism. You see within the early church there was a great divide between the Jews and Gentiles. The Jews believed they were God's people and after the captivities and judgment that had taken place in the 8th and 6th centuries B.C. there was a strong sentiment among Jewish people in the 1st Century to strictly adhere to the Law, avoid peoples of other nations, and follow the traditions of their elders. And with those feelings came arrogance, resentment, and distrust towards those around them. When Jesus established the church this divide between Jew and Gentile seeped into it as well. In Acts 6 Hellenistic Jews are upset because their widows are being neglected. In Acts 8, a Samaritan village has a revival and receives the Holy Spirit amid Jewish skepticism. In Acts 10-11, a Gentile household receives the Lord and the Holy Spirit comes upon them as well. All the while there are Jewish Christians within the church unsure of what to think of these Gentiles coming to faith in Christ.

As Americans we can't possibly understand what the big deal is over this debate in the Early Church, nor the statements that we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3:28). So if we don't have a similar experience in terms of how we look at one another based on race or ethnicity is their a comparison?

Growing up I had teams I rooted for and teams I rooted against. Those teams changed as my dad got a new job or his friends moved to other schools or teams. I certainly have cheered passionately for and against teams throughout my years on this Earth. But I've been pondering something of late. Is it right for me to feel so strongly against them? Is it okay for me to be consumed with seeing them lose, to be angry when they beat my team, or feel slighted by God after they win again? This year with the Bedlam game I took the following approach; I went in optimistic, but realistic that this is Bedlam football we are talking about (I won't put down the overall series record for your sake and my own). At the end of the game I smiled and shrugged it off muttering the words OSU fans live by, "we'll get 'em next year," and went to bed. No hard feelings, no angry thoughts, or prayers to God about the game. The reality is in heaven I highly doubt the Bedlam series will be etched in gold, nor will the Packers-Cowboys World Championships comparison be on the walls of New Jerusalem. They won't because these things are temporary and won't matter. Sadly, I make them a bigger deal than they should be too often.

Now I'm not saying I won't cheer for or against a team anymore. I'll always cheer for Green Bay and against OU. What I'm saying is that Christians of all people should be able to keep a level head and proper perspective on sports, knowing that despite what may divide us, the One who unites is where our ultimate allegiance lies. If that is our ultimate destiny, should that not also be our aim while on this Earth as well, that we live in unity despite our differences because of the One who makes us new. This idea doesn't just work with our rooting interests, it also works well with our denominations. God desires unity in the midst of our diversity.

Perhaps that's what is so wonderful about Revelation 5 where it states, "for You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation," and what's wonderful about the passage is the promise; despite what you were and how you identified yourself and the divisions that existed prior to being identified in Christ, now those are gone and you are united with one another because greater is He which unites you, than that which divides you. Just so long as nobody yells Boomer I think we'll be okay!

Top 10 of 2010

Years ago I started making a top 10 list at the end of every year. Its a good time to reflect on the past few months and the ways that the Lord has worked to bring about His glory in our lives. Our society moves so quickly that I think there is a danger that we don't take enough time to simply think back on what we have been through before pushing on to the next project or year. In some cases it has been people, experiences, possessions, or even character development. This year we are going to add to this tradition by picking out a few memorial events, etc. and write them on these wooden blocks that Hudson got for his birthday. Its an idea that a friend from church used and we loved so that in the years to come we can remind Hudson and Athan of the great things God has done for us in the past, and encourage them to trust Him in the present and future. And all of that discussed as we are building a castle for their GI Joe's to raid! So here's the list;

• This past May we graduated a wonderful group of Seniors. Many of the students will always be very special to us as we spent countless hours together on Mission Trips, lock-ins, Ski Trips, and Bible studies. As I've spent the last six years in youth ministry I've realized that God so often uses our students to teach me more about Himself and my own faults in His eyes. These students were often the pawns God used in those lessons and I thank God for them. This group remained faithful to the Lord during their time in High School right up until the last Sunday that they could come to youth. Jen and I are excited to see where He leads them from here and are thankful for the part we've gotten to play in their development.
• This past August somehow I got the bright idea to go ahead and begin my Greek classes online! Three iphone apps, atleast two nervous breakdowns, and doing Greek paradigms in my sleep all accompanied this semester of New Testament Greek 101. As difficult as it has been (I probably averaged around 12 hours a week on that one class), it has been as rewarding as any class I've taken. Nothing is more fun than to be able to read our passage b as I'm following along in the Sunday morning service in my Greek New Testament, or identifying a perfect verb and knowing all that accompanies that tense. Seminary continues to be a blessing to my spiritual life.
• In July, Jen and I traveled up to Colorado for my brother David's wedding. We were unsure if we would be able to go because Athan was only three weeks old but we agreed it was an event we could not miss. On July 17th David and Lauren were married. Its such a wonderful blessing to see two followers of Christ, commit to love each other for their lifetime with the intention of serving the Lord no longer as individuals but now as a couple. I use them too often, but they are a modern day Priscilla and Aquila and we are so thankful for Lauren. We are thankful that she keeps David humble, and that we now see his teeth again when he smiles. God is good. And by the way, Athan hasn't slept well since that weekend!
• In June I led a crew of teens, college students, and adults to Del Rio, TX to work with a ministry called RAM and some local churches doing work along the border with Hispanics. Serving alongside my students is one of the great benefits of my job. I absolutely love watching them tirelessly consider the needs of others. Our students make it easy as they serve cheerfully and maintained great unity throughout the entirety of the trip. At the end of the trip our host, Rick, commented to one of our group members how unique our group was. They got along together, looked out for each other, and loved each other. What better testimony can our students have to the world around them?
• We arrived back from that trip on a Friday evening and on Monday morning Athan Lane Felker was born. The pregnancy was filled with ups and downs about his health, and trying to schedule an induction date around our busy summer schedule. In the end everything worked out and he is such a joy to Jen and I. After the loss of Eliot our fears were so real and flooded our minds for nine months and yet God has provided more than we could have hoped for. Athan is very different from Hudson as his sleeping patterns were and are still difficult, he's got dark hair, and is a big baby! For the most part he is happy while awake and pretty laid back. Our two bedroom house is crowded with clothes, toys, and cribs, but each evening as I go to bed I am humbled by God's goodness as I pray that, "He would bless Athan and keep him, that You would cause Your face to shine on Him."
• This fall I started meeting with a group of Junior High guys on Friday mornings at 7 at Chick-fil-A. After a time of Bible study and a tray of Chicken minis they pile in my car and I take them to school. It seems strange to enjoy waking up early, but this is my favorite time of the week, I mean we are combining God's Word and Chicken minis! Those are two of my favorite things! These guys are committing to something extra, not because its easy or without sacrifice, but because they want to grow closer to Christ and want to make a difference in their school, on their teams or in their band. Meeting with them energizes me and challenges me to do the same with neighbors, strangers or others I come into contact with.
• Every year around August I end up adding new leaders in the youth ministry. Some take on roles as a Sunday School teacher or Small group discussion leader. These youth leaders are always Godsent. Jen and I spend time talking about the holes we have and praying for God to provide the right person for those spots. We treasure their service and pray for their growth and for God's direction in their lives. This year our leaders have once again been a tremendous answer to prayer and we thank God for their willingness to reach out to the students and the passion they have to see these students walking with the Lord.
• Whenever you bring another child home its always interesting to see how the older sibling will respond. In my case I asked my parents when we were taking my younger brother David back to the hospital! I can honestly say I don't think a two year old could respond any better to a baby brother than Hudson has. He is so proud of Athan and wants people to know that Athan is his baby brother. He likes to hold him (with our help), and he has been agreeable to being quiet while Athan naps. There have been no feelings of resentment or jealousy. We pray most nights for their relationship to be strong through childhood, adolescence and adulthood and thank God for the way He has answered that prayer thus far. By the way, I did take a liking to David after that initial set back!
• I sometimes find myself comparing my job with that of a college football coach (it should be understandable since that's what my Dad has done for his entire life). In the same way that kids leave early or graduate while new kids come into the program, so in a youth ministry you have students who graduate or move away while others promote up to Middle School. As a result each year can be drastically different with a different dynamic based on the students in the ministry. This year the ministry has looked very different from this past May. We are much younger with the Junior High and Middle School groups being much larger than our High School (this past May our High School was just as big as our Junior High group). Its taken some getting used to again, but we have loved seeing these younger students having to get older and take more leadership positions within the ministry.
• Lastly, this past year God has really taught me how lacking I truly am. In many ways 2010 will be a year in which I have been humbled. I told a group the other day that while I was in college I used to think where I would be five years down the road and I always assumed I would have quit certain sins, mastered specific spiritual disciplines, and started others. What I've come to realize is that in many ways the life of faith can be a crawl. That may seem discouraging to some, but I've taken heart in knowing that my growth and sanctification is not based on me, it truly is a work of the Spirit in one's life. I'm thankful for the change He has made, and more than ever reliant upon His work to transform me ever more into the likeness of Christ.

Shining as Lights

For those who grew up in my generation, who were fans of Contemporary Christian music as a teen, I could probably start this quote off and you would be able to finish it,

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Him with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." The quote is by Brennan Manning and was placed on D.C. Talk's Jesus Freak album.

I've recently spent a great deal of time in Bible studies and in meetings with individuals talking about how we as Christians stand out as different or holy in this world. I've asked myself and others the question, "Is there any way we can avoid the conclusion that Manning makes that we as hypocritical Christians are the greatest reason people deny the existence of God? And honestly, is there anyway we can avoid being frauds in their eyes?"

Looking at history doesn't encourage my spirit about the possibilities of living holy and blameless in contrast to this world. In the Old Testament the people of Israel seem to live very similarly to the nations around them. The Patriarchs seem no different from their neighbors as they lie about the relationship to their wives (Genesis 12), steal birthrights (Genesis 27), murder a whole village (Genesis 34), or swindle a father-in-law (Genesis 30). Looking at the period of the kings, even under the good kings the nation usually still had the high places where they worshipped false gods (Josiah and Hezekiah appear to be different, but even under Solomon these high places were used by Israel, see I Kings 3). After the captivity Nehemiah pulls his beard out because the people are intermarrying with other nations and raising their children according to the customs of other religions (Nehemiah 13). In the New Testament the Corinthians are an absolute mess doctrinally and morally. The Thessalonians are guilty of sexual impurity (I Thess. 4), the Colossians and residents of Galatia have major doctrinal flaws they are wrestling with, and the churches mentioned in Revelation 2-3 each has major issues.

Even now the church struggles to be salt and light as we are commanded (Matthew 5:13-16). I was confronted with this issue this past week as the story came out about Auburn's quarterback, Cam Newton along with his father seeking $200,000 in exchange for him attending school. The problem is that his father is a pastor and by all indications was the one demanding the money and making the decisions. Sadly, whether this is true or not people will conclude that the father is a greedy fake no different than themselves and as a result will look down upon our Lord and His church.

All this to say, here's my response to Manning's quote and the questions I've been wrestling with the past few weeks.

• In many ways, there are those who are not Christians who are searching and seeking for evidence proving they are correct in their assessment that we are no different and that Christianity is a fraud. I don't think we can do anything to change their minds. So every time they see on the television about the pastor who cheated on his taxes, or the minivan with the Christian bumper sticker who cuts them off, it just provides more fuel to their assertions that we are no different. In that way Manning's quote is correct. As a result...
• We should be people who always have God's grace upon our lips. We are always ready to give an answer (1 Peter 3:15), and quick to declare that we are Christians not because we try to be, or because we agree to live by a set of rules, but simply by His grace. C.S. Lewis asserted that it was quite possible an unbeliever who was a moralist would actually live better than the Christian because the moralist believed his good behavior would someday merit some form of reward or arm-twisting before God whereas the Christian knows they are hopeless and lost if not for God's grace. Therefore they aren't saved because they do good, go to church, give their money to the poor, etc. but these are done expressing appreciation for what God has done for them. Our words have to be communicating that our deeds don't make us better before God than our neighbor, but simply are the revelation of our thanksgiving for what He has done for us. Tim Keller did a wonderful job of conveying this point in The Reason for God.
• Finally, we as Christians have got to see that in order to be salt and light we don't just have to avoid the "big sins." The one time in history that comes to mind when God's people were living transformed lives that made a difference on their culture was shortly after Pentecost. These believers were selling their possessions and sharing the proceeds with the poor, they were sacrificially loving one another. Consider Stephen's martyrdom and the effect it must have had on the Apostle Paul as this man is being stoned unfairly, but in the midst of such unfairness drops to his knees and prays that the Lord would forgive his murderers. The genuine love that these believers had for Jesus spilled over into love for one another and even for their enemies. Don't you know that's why many of the Jewish priests got saved (Acts 6:7)? Rather than focusing on not committing the big sins, I think we would do well to consider are we loving one another as Christ has loved us (John 13:34-35)? Are we speaking words of encouragement that are positive and true (Acts 11:23)? Are we forgiving even those who don't deserve it because Christ has forgiven us even when we didn't deserve it (Matthew 6:14)? Those sins of omission are often overlooked, yet sadly reflect so much the life of a transformed believer.

Manning may be correct in his assertions about the life of the believer, and that's why its essential that I speak of God's grace often as the only means by which I can come to God, and that I focus on loving others in the way I speak to them, as I forgive them, and interact with them because someone may make conclusions about Christ based on my behavior and I want my behavior to testify of His grace and the power of His Spirit working inside of me...

Tiling Observations on Sin

Tomorrow I will begin a home improvement project that I've put off for way too long. I'm going to tile the walls around the bathtub in our hallway bathroom. This is the third tiling project I've done and I must confess I actually enjoy the work! I've had dreams of tiling our entry way and doing a renovation of our other bathroom, but I know neither of those projects will happen in the immediate future. In my last project (the kitchen backsplash) I had some observations as I finished the project.

You see as I got to the end I noticed that one of the tiles that I had set moved slightly. It was just one corner that slid down just a hair. If you looked at it today you wouldn't notice, nor would you think it was a big deal, but it caused some problems as I set the other tiles around it. You see once that tile moves even slightly it effects every other tile around it. Its essential that these tiles remain square and if one of them moves and is no longer square the other tiles around it have difficulty being square as well.

I couldn't help but think about the effects of sin as I finished up the project. Our sin always has consequences and we're foolish if we don't see that we are not the only one's who feel or experience those consequences. Those close to us are effected by the consequences of our sin. Going all the way back to Adam, his sin effected every individual who has come after him. Abraham chose not to trust God's promise and to listen to Sarah and have a son through Hagar, for all time the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac will fight as a consequence of that bad decision. David is another example, where the sins mentioned within Scripture effected the lives of others (think of the lives that were lost because of David's sin of adultery with Bathsheba or when David was tempted to number Israel and the 70,000 who died from pestilence).

Here are some specific ways that others feel the consequences of our sin;

• They are led to commit the same sin. A good example would come from Galatians 2 where Peter shows racial partiality by refusing to sit with Gentile Christians when Jewish leaders were around. Barnabas saw Peter's example and rather than seeing it as sin, likely because of his respect for Peter, instead followed Peter into the sin himself. This is why Paul warns in Galatians 6:1 that only those who are spiritual should go to restore a person who is caught in sin because of the temptation they will experience to fall into that sin as well.
• They are treated differently because of your sin. Using the same story of Galatians 2, those Gentile Christians in Antioch were treated as 2nd class citizens by Peter and Barnabas. The text said that these men, who were leaders of the church, even apostles of Jesus, were refusing to sit next to a Gentile brother in Christ because they valued the favor of the Jew more than being impartial as God is. Often times I have teens ask why lust or anger is all that bad, saying, "Its not like it would hurt anyone if its just in my heart." Jesus' equates the two in Matthew 5 because the feelings in one's heart effect our perspectives, our words, and our deeds (Jesus later expounds on this point in Matt. 15:18-20). Anger is sin and when we engage in it the effects can harm other people as it will effect the way I treat those individuals and others as well.
• They experience a break in fellowship and unity. Sin always causes a breakdown in fellowship, not only between us and the Lord, but also between ourselves and fellow believers. In this case, Peter's partiality caused a major split within the church upon racial lines. It was an issue the church repeatedly dealt with in its infancy. Sadly, his sin caused division rather than promoting unity that Christ had prayed for (John 17). The Christian teen who gossips about a fellow believer breaks unity and loses fellowship with their brother or sister in Christ. The Christian husband who has an affair not only has a breakdown in fellowship with the Lord, but also with their wife, their children, and those brothers who have walked alongside them. The Christian who decides to forsake the assembling of the church not only loses fellowship with God, but with those that the Lord has placed in his/her life to exhort and encourage them.

Like those tiles that each relied and were effected upon one another so is the Christian. When one brother or sister sins we each feel the effects. Hopefully this causes us to consider just how essential it is for us to strive for holiness, knowing others are hurt when we reject the Spirit's leading to forsake temptation. Seeing sin for what it is should also cause us to realize just how far reaching our sin truly is and when we do we can't help but have a high view of sin and of the darkness, desperation, and hopelessness we were and are in. This correct view of our depravity should cause us to see God's grace as much more grand and live as expectant and longing children for the day when sin no longer will be in our presence and we will exist in perfect peace and holiness with the Lord forever.