I’m writing this blog entry while my son and daughter-in-law are in town. That means I’ve got both of my children at home at the same time. That’s something that just doesn’t happen very often. In addition, my younger sister is here with her three children that I’m very close to. The whole experience has got me thinking about the great joy and the great responsibility that comes with being a parent.
I’ve never known any parent who didn’t want the best for their children. I’ve heard and read stories about neglectful parents and absentee parents but I’ve never known any personally. The parents I know love and nurture their children. And that’s where parenting can sometimes get difficult. I write that because in our efforts to give our children the life they (we) always wanted it’s sometimes hard to recognize the things that are best for them.
That point was driven home to me in an on-line article I read in Leadership journal. It was written by John Ortberg, one of my favorite authors. He wrote: Psychologist Jonathon Haidt had a hypothetical exercise: Imagine that you have a child, and for five minutes you're given a script of what will be that child's life. You get an eraser. You can edit it. You can take out whatever you want.
You read that your child will have a learning disability in grade school. Reading, which comes easily for some kids, will be laborious for yours.
In high school, your kid will make a great circle of friends; then one of them will die of cancer.
After high school this child will actually get into the college they wanted to attend. While there, there will be a car crash, and your child will lose a leg and go through a difficult depression.
A few years later, your child will get a great job—then lose that job in an economic downturn.
Your child will get married, but then go through the grief of separation.
You get this script for your child's life and have five minutes to edit it.
What would you erase?
Wouldn't you want to take out all the stuff that would cause them pain?
I am part of a generation of adults called "helicopter parents," because we're constantly trying to swoop into our kid's educational life, relational life, sports life, etc., to make sure no one is mistreating them, no one is disappointing them. We want them to experience one unobstructed success after another.
What should be the goal of our parenting…to give our children happy lives free from anything difficult or unpleasant; or to do our best to see that our children grow up to be the men and women that God wants them to be knowing that God uses difficulty and adversity to shape and mold? Is it better for our children to never learn the meaning of sacrifice or the benefit of doing something that they, at least initially, don’t want to do? Or is it in their best interest to experience what life is really like by learning that life is not perfect, no one gets their way all the time, and children don’t always know what’s best for them?
Sometimes I fear that in our efforts to give our children everything they/we want we fail to give them what they need. One of the most troubling statistics that I have read in recent years is the high percentage of young people who drop out of the church between the ages of 18-22. Thom Rainer writes a lot about this in his book Essential Church. He writes that more than two-thirds of church going young adults between the ages of 18-22 drop out of church. He then gives a “Top Ten Reasons” list for the dropout.
1. Simply wanted a break from church.
2. Church members seemed judgmental or hypocritical.
3. Moved to college and stopped attending church.
4. Work responsibilities prevented me from attending.
5. Moved too far away from the church to continue attending.
6. Became too busy though still wanted to attend.
7. Didn’t feel connected to the people in my church.
8. Disagreed with the church’s stance on political or social issues.
9. Chose to spend more time with friends outside the church.
10. Was only going to please others.
I’m a big fan of Thom Rainer and I’m sure that he did a lot of research in compiling his “top ten” list. I wonder though, if there’s not something missing. If it were me, I would add one more thing. We’ll just call it number 11.
11. Never really taught the importance.
Proverbs 3:1-6 says, My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. (NIV)
Jesus cares,
Pastor Chris
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Praying for America
I’m not an alarmist, and I don’t ever want to be guilty of trying to frighten anyone unnecessarily, but sometimes I look around at the reality of how far our country has gone from her Christian roots, and it troubles me. It troubles me, in part, because it makes me wonder what the future holds.
If you take the time to do the research you find that the average lifespan of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about two hundred years. During that span, each of these nations progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; and from dependence back into bondage. 1
It’s hard not to read that and ask, “At what point is America in this cycle?” Here’s what popular blogger La Shawn Barber wrote in an article titled “America on the Decline.”
“In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, author Edward Gibbon discusses several reasons for the great civilizations demise, including the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home and the decay of religion. America compares to the Roman Empire in secular and religious ways. Regardless of its ultimate legacy, America is a civilization on the decline. A couple of centuries from now (or sooner) someone will lament the loss of a once-great civilization that brought prosperity to the world and tried to make it safe for democracy. The glory that was the United States will lay in ruins, brought down not by terrorists but its own debauchery and complacency.” 2
Now, I don’t know if Barber is correct in her assertions, but I do fear she’s on the right track. In 1947 forward-looking sociologist Dr. Carle Zimmerman wrote a text called Family and Civilization. He identified eleven “symptoms of final decay,” observable in the fall of both the Greek and Roman civilizations. Here’s the list…see if any are identifiable in America today.
If you take the time to do the research you find that the average lifespan of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about two hundred years. During that span, each of these nations progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; and from dependence back into bondage. 1
It’s hard not to read that and ask, “At what point is America in this cycle?” Here’s what popular blogger La Shawn Barber wrote in an article titled “America on the Decline.”
“In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, author Edward Gibbon discusses several reasons for the great civilizations demise, including the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home and the decay of religion. America compares to the Roman Empire in secular and religious ways. Regardless of its ultimate legacy, America is a civilization on the decline. A couple of centuries from now (or sooner) someone will lament the loss of a once-great civilization that brought prosperity to the world and tried to make it safe for democracy. The glory that was the United States will lay in ruins, brought down not by terrorists but its own debauchery and complacency.” 2
Now, I don’t know if Barber is correct in her assertions, but I do fear she’s on the right track. In 1947 forward-looking sociologist Dr. Carle Zimmerman wrote a text called Family and Civilization. He identified eleven “symptoms of final decay,” observable in the fall of both the Greek and Roman civilizations. Here’s the list…see if any are identifiable in America today.
- No fault divorce
- Increased disrespect for parenthood and parents
- Meaningless marriage rites/ceremonies
- Defamation of past national heroes
- Acceptance of alternative marriage forms
- Widespread attitudes of feminism, narcissism, hedonism
- Propagation of antifamily sentiment
- Acceptance of most forms of adultery
- Rebellious children
- Increased juvenile delinquency
- Common acceptance of all forms of sexual perversion 3
- What in the World is Going On (David Jeremiah)
- America on the Decline (La Shawn Barber)
- Family and Civilization (Carle C. Zimmerman)
Friday, July 17, 2009
Church Camp
This past Tuesday Sandy and I drove out to Camp Allendale to visit our kids and volunteers who are enjoying a week of church camp. Chris Franklin, our Children’s Pastor, has done a tremendous job creating enthusiasm and support for Allendale. When he first came to Mount Pleasant we had around 20 kids going to camp. This week we’ve got 120 campers and the enthusiasm continues to grow.
I know one of the reasons why Chris is such a big supporter of church camp is because he went to camp when he was a kid. I can appreciate that because I had the same experience. Every summer I would get on the old church bus at Osage Hills Christian Church and head off to Sunset Bible Camp at Greenleaf State Park. Now Sunset Bible Camp was nothing like Camp Allendale. In fact, if you’ve never been to Allendale I’d recommend you find a way to visit. I’ve never seen a church camp with better facilities. But Sunset Bible Camp will always be important to me because I can still remember the day my Youth Minister sat on the side of my bunk during rest period and explained the gospel to me. Later that week I went forward and made a confession of faith and the following Sunday I was baptized in my home church.
One of the sad things I have noticed over the years is that the interest and emphasis in church camp has declined as so many other options have become available to our kids. There are sports camps, cheerleading camps, band camps, choir camps, art camps, academic camps, and on and on. And while I don’t want to be misunderstood…I certainly don’t think there’s anything wrong these kinds of camps…I do sometimes wonder if we’ve lost a sense of priority when it comes to our children’s schedules. The only kind of camp my kids ever attended was church camp. And Sandy and I both talked about the memories we have of being at camp with them. Those are precious memories to us.
Sometimes in our desire to see that our children get to have every benefit available to them we can lose sight of the most important benefits. I’m talking about eternal benefits. I can’t write this from personal experience but I really doubt that a sports camp or a band camp can change someone’s life for all eternity. But church camp can. It did for me. And even though I’m 51 years old I still remember memorizing all the books of the Bible when I was at camp.
Proverbs 22:6 is a Bible verse that gets used a lot when it comes to our children. It says, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (NIV) There’s a lot involved in that word “train.” We seem to understand that when it comes to school and sports and all other kinds of extra-curricular activities but sometimes fall short when it comes to spiritual things. My hope and prayer is that God would help us to continue to build the kind of Children’s Ministry that will help all of our parents make the right choices when it comes to their children…the kind of choices that have eternal consequences.
Jesus cares
Pastor Chris
I know one of the reasons why Chris is such a big supporter of church camp is because he went to camp when he was a kid. I can appreciate that because I had the same experience. Every summer I would get on the old church bus at Osage Hills Christian Church and head off to Sunset Bible Camp at Greenleaf State Park. Now Sunset Bible Camp was nothing like Camp Allendale. In fact, if you’ve never been to Allendale I’d recommend you find a way to visit. I’ve never seen a church camp with better facilities. But Sunset Bible Camp will always be important to me because I can still remember the day my Youth Minister sat on the side of my bunk during rest period and explained the gospel to me. Later that week I went forward and made a confession of faith and the following Sunday I was baptized in my home church.
One of the sad things I have noticed over the years is that the interest and emphasis in church camp has declined as so many other options have become available to our kids. There are sports camps, cheerleading camps, band camps, choir camps, art camps, academic camps, and on and on. And while I don’t want to be misunderstood…I certainly don’t think there’s anything wrong these kinds of camps…I do sometimes wonder if we’ve lost a sense of priority when it comes to our children’s schedules. The only kind of camp my kids ever attended was church camp. And Sandy and I both talked about the memories we have of being at camp with them. Those are precious memories to us.
Sometimes in our desire to see that our children get to have every benefit available to them we can lose sight of the most important benefits. I’m talking about eternal benefits. I can’t write this from personal experience but I really doubt that a sports camp or a band camp can change someone’s life for all eternity. But church camp can. It did for me. And even though I’m 51 years old I still remember memorizing all the books of the Bible when I was at camp.
Proverbs 22:6 is a Bible verse that gets used a lot when it comes to our children. It says, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (NIV) There’s a lot involved in that word “train.” We seem to understand that when it comes to school and sports and all other kinds of extra-curricular activities but sometimes fall short when it comes to spiritual things. My hope and prayer is that God would help us to continue to build the kind of Children’s Ministry that will help all of our parents make the right choices when it comes to their children…the kind of choices that have eternal consequences.
Jesus cares
Pastor Chris
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Multigenerational Worship
I’ve been thinking lately about what it means to have a multi-generational church. And please understand that when I use the term “multi-generational church” I’m talking about having a variety of ages worshipping together in our weekend services. Right now, we offer programming for children through the 4th grade for all of our services, and we include programming for 5th and 6th graders on Sunday mornings at 9:00. Children who are in the 7th grade and above worship together with their families.
From time-to-time I have conversations with people who wonder why we don’t offer programming for 7th and 8th graders or even a separate worship service geared specifically for teenagers like in times past. At the same time, we have parents with children for whom we provide programming who choose to bring them into the main services for a variety of reasons. So what’s the right answer?
I don’t claim to have all the answers or to always be right on every issue, but let me just tell you what I believe about all of this: I believe in the value of multi-generational worship. I believe that there needs to be a place for families to worship together, and I believe that someone who is in the 7th grade and up is not too young to come to the main service. (I actually believe 5th and 6th grade is not too young to come into the main service, either). What happens when families worship together? I can think of a number of things. First, worshipping together creates a living legacy of faith and faithfulness. What impact do you think it has on your children to see you sing, and pray, and study God’s Word? What impact will it have on your children to take the Lord’s Supper alongside you and see how meaningful it is in your life? What kind of memories do you think this will create? Worshipping together as a family can create a living legacy of faith and faithfulness. Second, worshipping together provides opportunities to talk about matters of faith. In Deuteronomy 6, God instructs His people to take His commands and place them upon their hearts. He goes on to tell them to impress them on their children by talking about them when they are sitting at home, walking down the road, when they lie down and when they get up. Worshipping together as a family can provide the specific subject matter for these kinds of conversations. I’m not foolish or arrogant enough to believe that someone who is 12 or 13 is going to listen to and understand every single thing that I say from the pulpit, but I know that they will listen to and understand at least some of the things I say. And let’s not forget that the communication of God’s Word to anyone is more about the Holy Spirit than it is the preacher. Third, worshipping together creates unity in the church. I have serious concerns about what the long-term results are of developing age specific worship venues for every age in the church. Where will end? Today’s teens are tomorrow’s young adult; today’s young adults are tomorrow’s young parents; today’s young parents are tomorrow’s empty-nesters, etc. My concern is that making it your goal to program for every age has the potential to fracture the church and breed spiritual selfishness and immaturity. That might sound like an overreaction, but I’ve seen it happen. There are a lot of things that seem like a good idea in the moment but the long-term ramifications are not what we hoped for.
These are the things that I have been thinking about lately. I understand that not everyone will agree with me, and that’s okay. I don’t even mind if you share your disagreement with me (try to be kind…we all have the same ultimate goal).
Jesus cares,
Pastor Chris
One last thing…thanks for the positive way you responded to my offering appeal after the Memorial Day weekend. Our Memorial Day weekend offering was less than half of what it normally is. The next two weekend offerings were very strong. What a great church family!
From time-to-time I have conversations with people who wonder why we don’t offer programming for 7th and 8th graders or even a separate worship service geared specifically for teenagers like in times past. At the same time, we have parents with children for whom we provide programming who choose to bring them into the main services for a variety of reasons. So what’s the right answer?
I don’t claim to have all the answers or to always be right on every issue, but let me just tell you what I believe about all of this: I believe in the value of multi-generational worship. I believe that there needs to be a place for families to worship together, and I believe that someone who is in the 7th grade and up is not too young to come to the main service. (I actually believe 5th and 6th grade is not too young to come into the main service, either). What happens when families worship together? I can think of a number of things. First, worshipping together creates a living legacy of faith and faithfulness. What impact do you think it has on your children to see you sing, and pray, and study God’s Word? What impact will it have on your children to take the Lord’s Supper alongside you and see how meaningful it is in your life? What kind of memories do you think this will create? Worshipping together as a family can create a living legacy of faith and faithfulness. Second, worshipping together provides opportunities to talk about matters of faith. In Deuteronomy 6, God instructs His people to take His commands and place them upon their hearts. He goes on to tell them to impress them on their children by talking about them when they are sitting at home, walking down the road, when they lie down and when they get up. Worshipping together as a family can provide the specific subject matter for these kinds of conversations. I’m not foolish or arrogant enough to believe that someone who is 12 or 13 is going to listen to and understand every single thing that I say from the pulpit, but I know that they will listen to and understand at least some of the things I say. And let’s not forget that the communication of God’s Word to anyone is more about the Holy Spirit than it is the preacher. Third, worshipping together creates unity in the church. I have serious concerns about what the long-term results are of developing age specific worship venues for every age in the church. Where will end? Today’s teens are tomorrow’s young adult; today’s young adults are tomorrow’s young parents; today’s young parents are tomorrow’s empty-nesters, etc. My concern is that making it your goal to program for every age has the potential to fracture the church and breed spiritual selfishness and immaturity. That might sound like an overreaction, but I’ve seen it happen. There are a lot of things that seem like a good idea in the moment but the long-term ramifications are not what we hoped for.
These are the things that I have been thinking about lately. I understand that not everyone will agree with me, and that’s okay. I don’t even mind if you share your disagreement with me (try to be kind…we all have the same ultimate goal).
Jesus cares,
Pastor Chris
One last thing…thanks for the positive way you responded to my offering appeal after the Memorial Day weekend. Our Memorial Day weekend offering was less than half of what it normally is. The next two weekend offerings were very strong. What a great church family!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Video Blog
Pastor Chris and Worship & Arts Pastor Brian Tabor introduce week 2 of "Change You Can Believe In."
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Celebration
This past weekend we had a tremendous Easter celebration here at Mount Pleasant. I want to thank everyone who worked so hard to make sure we were able to accommodate what turned out to be a record crowd of 4,398. We had five services—three live and two video simulcasts in the Student Ministries Center and still had to use overflow space in the YAC on Sunday morning at 9:00 and 10:45. I’m told that everything went well in the Student Ministries Center and that while the venue itself was a little more casual, those attending were able to engage in and enjoy the worship experience.
I know that I am a little biased, and I apologize if this sounds too boastful, but I don’t think you could have gone anywhere and heard better music than what we had in our services from start to finish. It was powerful! Not just because of the quality, but because it so perfectly captured the heart of everything connected to the Easter story—both the passion of the crucifixion and the celebration of the resurrection. And on a purely personal note, I was so moved each time my daughter Tricia sang that I had to work hard to compose myself for the message. The words of that song and the video images of the crucifixion were very compelling. I hope the entire service blessed you as much as it did me.Normally we would take Monday as a day to recover from a big Easter weekend but not this year as we “hit the ground running” in preparation for this week’s 125th Anniversary Celebration. On Friday, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. our local TBN affiliate [WCLJ-TV42] will air a special Praise the Lord program focused on Mount Pleasant (We taped the program on Wednesday). Later that evening we will host a sold-out concert featuring Christian recording artists Philips, Craig, and Dean. I hope you won’t let anything keep you from being a part of this special weekend service where we honor the past, celebrate the present, and dream about the future of Mount Pleasant.
Finally, I’m very excited about the new sermon series that will begin April 25-26. A Searching Heart, a sermon series answering life’s toughest questions, will take us verse-by-verse through the Old Testament book of Habakkuk and give us a biblical foundation for dealing with difficult questions that often become stumbling blocks to our faith.
I’m very excited about the many good things God is doing in and through the ministry of Mount Pleasant Christian Church!
Jesus cares,
Pastor Chris
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