...all things new

Happy Birthday to the "Prophet of Mirth"

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Wed, 29 May 2013 16:25:00 +0000

On his birthday, I offer the Chesterton quote that continues to lift my soul. I still go to it again and again. From "Orthodoxy":

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Piper "..a happy flavor on what is often stereotyped as a dour theology"

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:59:00 +0000

Piper on the contribution of "Desiring God" on Christianity in America in the last 27 years.

Mitch Majeski & John Piper - Video 4 from waterbrook multnomah on Vimeo.

Piper to the "Young, Restless and Respectful"

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:20:00 +0000

"If respect could mark the Young, Restless and Reformed - respect and humility, it would go a long way in avoiding some unfortunate stereotypes."
Mitch Majeski & John Piper - Video 3 from waterbrook multnomah on Vimeo.

Piper: "The ministry is one of selective neglect."

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:17:00 +0000

Piper - Majeski - Pastor-to-Pastor - 2 from waterbrook multnomah on Vimeo.

Piper to "the coming generation"

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 21:43:00 +0000

We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. (Psalms 78:4)

For us, the (near) future is always uncertain. But uncertainty comes in shades. There may be a correlation but, at a time when the uncertain future has a darker hue, there seems to be a generational transition of leadership in the Christian church in America.

That sense is particularly poignant today. So this week, on the heels of his recent farewell to pastoral ministry at Bethlehem Baptist, I will post clips of an interview with John Piper from March of 2012. The conversation was framed as the passing of wisdom and lessons learned from one generation of pastor to the next. Each one adds some bright brush strokes to contrast that "darker hue."

Mitch Majeski & John Piper - Video 1 from waterbrook multnomah on Vimeo.

Our [Rest] is Rooted in Real History

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 19:00:00 +0000

(Originally posted on 4/12/09)
To start your Easter celebration, a few quick reminders of the historicity of the Resurrection. Jesus rose from the dead. It is a fact.

However, the Christian view of the resurrection, absolutely unprecedented in history, sprang up full-blown immediately after the death of Jesus. There was no process or development. His followers said that their beliefs did not come from debating and discussing. They were just telling others what they had seen themselves. No one has come up with any plausible alternative to this claim. Even if you propose the highly unlikely idea that one or two of Jesus' disciples did get the idea that he was raised from the dead on their own, they would never have gotten a movement of other Jews to believe it unless their were multiple, inexplicable, plausible, repeated encounters with Jesus.

The subsequent history of the church gets even more difficult to account for. How could a group of first-century Jews have come to worship a human being as divine? Eastern religions believe that God is an impersonal force that permeates all things. Therefore they can accept the idea that some human beings have more divine consciousness than others. Western religions believed that the various gods often took human guise. It was possible, therefore, that some human figure could really be Zeus or Hermes. Jews, however, believed in a single, transcendent, personal God. It was absolute blasphemy to propose that any human being should be worshipped. Yet hundreds of Jews began worshipping Jesus literally overnight. The hymn to Christ as God that Paul quotes in Philippians 2 is generally recognized to have been written just a few years after the crucifixion. What enormous event broke through all of that Jewish resistance? If they had seen him resurrected, that would account for it. What other historical answer can do so?

There is one more thing to keep in mind. As Pascal put it, "I [believe] those witnesses that get their throats cut." Virtually all the apostles and early Christian leaders died for their faith, and it is hard to believe that this kind of powerful self-sacrifice would be done to support a hoax.

It is not enough for the skeptic, then, to simply dismiss the Christian teaching about the resurrection of Jesus by saying, "It just couldn't have happened." He or she must face and answer all these historical questions: Why did Christianity emerge so rapidly, with such power? No other band of messianic followers in that era con concluded their leader was raised from the dead - why did this group do so? No group of Jews ever worshipped a human being as God. What led them to do it? Jews did not believe in divine men or individual resurrections. What changed their worldview virtually overnight? How do you account for the hundreds of eyewitnesses to the resurrection who lived on for decades and publicly maintain their testimony, eventually giving their lives for their belief?
- Tim Keller from "A Reason For God", Chapter 13, The Reality of the Resurrection

The early Christians did not invent the empty tomb and the meetings or sightings of the risen Jesus...Nobody was expecting this kind of thing; no kind of conversion experience would have invented it, no matter how guilty (or how forgiven) they felt, no matter how many hours they pored over the scriptures. To suggest otherwise is to stop doing history and enter into a fantasy world of our own.
- N.T. Wright

Resources:

The opening remarks of Dr. William Lane Craig on the Case for the Resurrection:

Further reading from Dr. Craig: Contemporary Scholarship and the Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by William Lane Craig

More thoughts from New Testament Scholar, N.T. Wright

HE IS RISEN INDEED! That changes everything. That makes all things new.

The Good Friday in parenting

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:51:00 +0000

Consider parenting. Children come into the world in a condition of complete dependence. They cannot operate as self-sufficient, independent agents unless their parents give up much of their own independence and freedom for years. If you don't allow your children to hinder your freedom in work and play at all, and if you only get to your children when it doesn't inconvenience you, your children will grow up physically only. In all sorts of other ways they will remain emotionally needy, troubled, and overdependent. The choice is clear. You can either sacrifice your freedom or theirs. It's them or you. To love your children well, you must decrease that they may increase. You must be willing to enter into the dependency they have so eventually they can experience the freedom and independence you have.

Timothy Keller, The Reason For God

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:13:00 +0000

For decades Nike marketers have defined the times by simply capturing the values that move us with a few, stark words and images. They are the "mirror mirror, on the wall."

America, we are Tiger.

We are all looking for rest...

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 01:26:00 +0000

“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

Blaise Pascal

The Guilt of Giglio: Seven Takeaways on the Conversation That Won't Go Away

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:59:00 +0000

On January 8, the White House announced that pastor Louie Giglio would give the benediction prayer at President Obama's inauguration. On January 9, the religious police at Think Progress and Huffington Post reported that a sermon by Giglio in 1999 that was "vehemently anti-gay" had been discovered. On January 10, Giglio, under intense fire, "withdrew" from delivering the benediction prayer as the White House issued an embarrassed apology for not doing their homework on this obvious bigot.

Rapid indictment. Speedy trial. Light-speed conviction. America, your justice is swift.

Since Honey Boo Boo has a better chance of being invited to deliver the inaugural benediction than I do, allow me to exercise the freedom afforded by my obscurity.

There are a few lessons to grab from the last 72 hours.

1. Saudi Arabia may have an official religious police force, but our civilian force is every bit as present. The sentences that fall are different, but they are not without a sting. Anyone who dares to lose step with the accepted dogma will face no small punishment.

2. There is nothing new under the Sun. Cain wanted to serve God his own way. The rebels at Babel sought transcendence by their own hands. The Pharisees created an extra-biblical system of self-righteousness. We still want to serve God in our own way. And all that means is that we want God to be the genie in our bottle. America is still pleased to have Him on the team, but He clearly needs a little help in understanding healthy human sexuality.

3. There is an apt Bulgarian proverb for our prominence-seeking, social-media-obsessed, hey-look-at-me culture: "The tall blade of grass gets cut down." If it is prominence you seek, you will face a pressure to conform with other blades of grass in as many ways as possible. This comes with the territory. If you have checked your convictions at the door for the sake of maintaining your Klout score, you know what I mean.

4. Our good deeds will be applauded but proclaiming the Gospel will not. Giglio's fine work in addressing the sex slave trade was commended. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem is that good deeds are not the first priority of the church called to the Great Commission.

The result of this environment is a temptation for the church to make good deeds a priority over proclamation. There are dire consequences downstream from this "inversion." If the church does not focus on making disciples through the faithful proclaiming of the biblical Gospel, no one will.

5. The Great Commission does not require disciples to biblically address homosexuality. Our culture does. Jesus wasn't communicating a universal requirement when he commanded the rich young ruler to sell all he had and give it to the poor. He was communicating an individual one. This was the one thing that impeded the young man's submission to God. It works the same in other cultures. I understand the voices that say, "The Gospel is not first about sexual orientation, so let's not get tangled in that debate." But in a culture that rejects God precisely on that point, no faithful herald can avoid it. You cannot call people to cling to the cross and say nothing about the thing clutched by their white knuckles.

6. As Al Mohler pointed out this morning, "If you are a Christian, get ready for the question you will now undoubtedly face." This conversation isn't going away. Giglio had purposely avoided the topic for 15 years and that was not enough distance.

Homosexuality is prohibited. Why? How do we know? What difference does it make? What does it have to do with salvation and eternity? How does the Gospel address this sin? Is it different than other sins? We must be clear about the answers to these questions. So clear that we rest in the truth and not in our ability to defend it.

7. Potential persecution is not an acceptable reason to avoid people. If we know and love the Gospel and have eternity in view, we cannot stand at a distance from the homosexual community and yell. The love of Christ will compel us to awkward conversations and challenging relationships.

These are the times that God has sovereignty called us to live in as ambassadors. May we brokenheartedly remain true to our call regardless of the temporary consequences.

Dig Deeper

The following articles and teachings may prove to be a help to you as you engage with Giglio’s story, its implications, and the broader homosexual question in general.

Online article: “Bullied on the President’s Stage” by Gabe Lyons

Online article: “As It Gets Worse, It Cannot Get Desperate” by Jared C. Wilson

Online article: “Louie Giglio and the New State Church” by Russell Moore

Teaching: “The Truth Project: The Social Reality” by John Meyer (March 2008)

Teaching: “Why Christians Have the Best Answer to the Question of Gay Marriage” by John Meyer (Faithwalkers 2012)

Teaching: “Sexual by Design: A Series of Lectures with Doug Wilson” by Doug Wilson (Canon Press, April 2012)

(Photo credit: Hillsong)

Altars, Fig Leaves and Your Next Promotion (or PR)

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:52:00 +0000

At that time Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings. (Joshua 8:30–31)

In his book Joshua and The Flow of Biblical History, Francis Schaeffer explains the significance of God's command to the Israelites to build "an altar of uncut stones" on Mount Ebal, a mountain on the north side of the valley of Shechem in the Promised Land. His explanation brings clarity our approach to life - which echos the very beginnings in Eden.

Two mountains border the valley of Shechem, Mount Gerizim to the south and Mount Ebal to the north. God declared these two mountains as symbols of His covenant with the Israelites. The lower mountain, Mount Gerizim, was the mountain of blessing. It represented the results of obedience to God. The higher mountain, Mount Ebal, was the mountain of cursing. It represented the curse that accompanied disobedience. Before his death, Moses gave instructions to the Israelites that when they came to this valley, they were to build an altar on Mount Ebal and offer sacrifices there.

Schaeffer explains:

It is significant that the altar was not built on Gerizim, the mountain of blessing, but on Ebal, the mountain from which was declared what would happen when the people sinned. This was a strong reminder to the people that they were not going to be perfect and that they would therefore need an altar. In this we should hear God saying, "You shouldn't sin. But when you do sin, I will give you a way to return to me, through the altar." So while the people were warned of what would occur when they sinned, they were also taught from the very beginning that there would be a way of return.

That way of return would be through an altar but an altar that did not bear the mark of human effort.

Again Schaeffer:

This special altar was not to have any works of man upon it. In this way, it was different from the brass altar that was commanded for the tabernacle. When God gave the Ten Commandments, he wanted the people to understand and never forget that an altar does not have value because of what people do to it. In other words, this was a complete negation of all humanism. God was teaching the people, "Build an altar at this crucial moment, and it has to be a special kind. Make it of earth and of stones taken right out of the field. Don't carve beautiful designs on them. Don't even square them. There is to be no human mark upon this altar."

No human marks. No fig leaves to cover our shame. No effort to make ourselves acceptable.

This is a foundational human motive, namely, to clean ourselves up. We do it with fitness, vocational/recreational achievement, parenting, and posing of all sorts. And throughout the Old Testament and the New, God is clear. "Knock it off. It's impossible for you to cover your shame and it shifts the attention to your effort and not my grace. In light of your shame, you must receive from me."

At the base of many conflicts and anxieties is this simple desire to look better while feeling the weight of our shame. The path to freedom begins at an altar that God has prepared to deal with our sin. Our shame has been removed on the Cross. This frees us from self-protection and self-promotion so that we might consider other's interests as more important than our own and truly become loving and generous people. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation.

Setting Out To Change An Evil World - M.L. Jones

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:55:00 +0000

According to the Bible the whole mind and outlook of the world is opposed to God; it is under the dominion of Satan and in the grip of the wicked one. Christian men and women must realise that they are living in a world like that; that because it is a world that is opposed to God, it will be doing everything it can to drag them down. It will try to fill their minds here with things that will try to satisfy them and thereby keep them from God and Christ. It is a world in which Christians have to fight for their souls; it is easier to go down than to keep straight. 'We are of God, and the whole world lieth in the wicked one.'

But we see that the Apostle avoids certain errors as he goes on to tell us how we must relate ourselves to that. He does not tell us to start by trying to reform and improve the world. That is of course the tragedy, that so often the Church has imagined that that is her function. That has been the great trouble during the past years, since about the middle of the Victorian period when the Church became a kind of institution; when the line between the Church and the world became so vague as to be almost non-existent, and people talked about 'Christianising' society. There is nothing of that in the New Testament.

On the other hand we are not to turn our backs upon the world in the sense that we are to go right out of it. We are not told to become hermits or anchorites. That also has been an error, and it is very interesting, as you take the long story of the Christian Church from the beginning until today, to find how constantly those two extremes have been very prevalent. There have been those who have set out as Christian social reformers, and then there were those who said that was wrong and that the only thing was to go right out of it. That is the basis of monasticism, and the tendency is perhaps to revive that in certain forms.

But the teaching of this letter [1 John], as indeed the teaching of the whole New Testament, avoids both these errors and extremes; it is not a programme of world improvement, nor is it a programme of world renunciation. No, it gives us a picture of this kind of position in which we find ourselves, with this opposing spiritual force, this spiritual power that is represented by the world. Our fight is with that, and we are taught in this epistle that we can conquer it, we can rise above it, and we can defeat it, in spite of everything that is so true of it. In spite of the dangers that beset us on all sides, we can triumph and prevail; we can be 'more than conquerors'. And that is summed up very perfectly in this verse which we are now considering.

Martyn Lloyd Jones, commenting on 1 John 5:19

What I find stimulating about Jones' commentary is the constant presence of this debate to change the world or leave it. To hold a true course through the unbiblical extremes we must be intensely biblical people and we must begin with a fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10) - with a sound sense of a holy God who came into a wicked world to deliver His people (Colossians 1:13).

Additional Resources
To Change The World - James Davidson Hunter
Dualism is Bad JuJu - a series of posts (see 5 - 19 in the linked list) by Doug Wilson in response to Hunter

Ministering to Spiritually Thirsty Men: Part 7 of "Pastor to Pastor" with John Piper

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:56:00 +0000

Proud of Summitview

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:10:00 +0000

Dads, wear the pants!

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:12:00 +0000

In this message, Mark Bowen (from Evergreen Community Church in Lakeville, MN) gives a compelling view of fatherhood from the life of John the Baptist. Specifically, Mark explains how these six characteristics of John's life are necessary to "turn the hearts of the children to their fathers."

1. John was poor in spirit. (Matthew 3:11 and 5:3) - His admission of moral bankruptcy was the foundation of his moral authority.

2. John obeyed by faith. (John 1:29-34) - This simply means that he obeyed God with incomplete information.

3. John had doubts and asked questions. (Matthew 11:33) - John found himself in prison because, in his trust of God, he was willing to be unpopular and when Jesus didn't follow his script, John took his resulting doubts directly to Christ.

4. John denied himself. (Matthew 3:1-2) - Interested in one the main ingredients in itching powder? Mark reveals it here.

5. John led courageously. (Mark 6:17-29) - He was willing to make the unpopular decisions and to be demonized because he was poor in spirit.

6. John fulfilled his limited role in the saving of civilization.

Mark's message woke me from a daze of confusion in my own fatherhood. It left me with a powerful new vocabulary and fresh vision for the big leagues of being a dad to which all other minor league experiences are only preparation. Watch it, I dare you. If it isn't one you hand out to all the dads you know, I'll give you your money back.

Mark Bowen - Main Session - 2011 GCC Pastors Conference from Great Commission Churches on Vimeo.

The Church in Culture: a helpful interview

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:28:00 +0000

Chandler, Horton, and Keller on the Church in Culture from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Hell - We are talking about real people here... (video) Francis Chan

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:54:00 +0000

HT: Z

G.O.S.P.E.L.

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:04:00 +0000

G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

(HT: My bro-in-law)

Your morality is your leader

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:14:00 +0000

We all have a morality. We all navigate by that morality. Choose wisely. Our morality can lead us in circles.

HT: Mockingbird

The Japanese Tsunami - A Summary of Video, News Articles, Opinion, Biblical Responses and Charitable Opportunities

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 03:27:00 +0000

It all happened while we watched and gasped. Never before has the world been exposed to such vivid and comprehensive footage of a disaster of this magnitude. The Japanese Tsunami is unique among all natural catastrophes in its power and exposure to the world. The images have been riveting but it is critical for us to remember they are indeed real. Real people were consumed. Real people were scrambling from those horrifying waters. Mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons spent their last moments in abject terror and were washed away in an instant. And because we watched it happen on computer and TV screens, it seems distant and unreal. And the pain and suffering will continue. Radiation leaks, homelessness, disease, mourning, rebuilding and the fear of recurrence - these will be the new normal in these coastal towns.

It is right for events like these to completely rock our sensibilities. It is right to mourn, normal to question, and good for us to respond in tangible ways. The following articles and links are provided for us to enter in to this tragedy in a way that is honest, human, charitable and hopeful.

In the end, comprehensive answers may elude us. But we can draw comfort from the God who holds our tears in a bottle (Ps. 56:8) and who was willfully crushed under the full weight of the world's sin and agony to deliver all of those who would trust Him into a place where tsunamis happen no more.

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:1–6)

From The Boston Globe's The Big Picture

News Stories - What happened?
Powerful quake, tsunami kills hundreds in Japan - An AP article summarizing the events
Updates and Video of Japanese Earthquake’s Aftermath The latest news updates from the New York Times
Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet, shifted Earth's axis From CNN
Stone In The Pond: Charting The Path Of The Tsunami - animation of the NOAA model
The Japanese Tsunami - The Big Picture
Japan Floods Nuclear Reactor Crippled by Quake in Effort to Avert Meltdown - from the New York Times
Nuclear Experts Explain Worst-Case Scenario at Fukushima Power Plant This is provides a solid explanation of the possible meltdown (HT: my buddy Doug Dale)
In Minamisanriku, Heartbreak as 9,500 Remain Missing - Time Magazine. This is a town of 17,000.

Human Reaction and Biblical Answers - What are we to think?
Sympathy for Japan, and Admiration by Nicholas Kristof
A Prayer for Japan by John Piper. Here is a moving excerpt from that prayer:

O God, we humble ourselves under your holy majesty and repent. In a moment—in the twinkling of an eye—we too could be swept away. We are not more deserving of firm ground than our fellowmen in Japan. We too are flesh. We have bodies and homes and cars and family and precious places. We know that if we were treated according to our sins, who could stand? All of it would be gone in a moment. So in this dark hour we turn against our sins, not against you.

And we cry for mercy for Japan. Mercy, Father. Not for what they or we deserve. But mercy.

Have you not encouraged us in this? Have we not heard a hundred times in your Word the riches of your kindness, forbearance, and patience? Do you not a thousand times withhold your judgments, leading your rebellious world toward repentance? Yes, Lord. For your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts.

From The Boston Globe's The Big Picture

NPR Interview w/ Piper regarding the 2004 Tsunami in the Indian Ocean This is a remarkably helpful piece and one I have gone to time and again when faced with the inevitable questions that accompany profound suffering.

Charities - How can we respond?
Crash Japan A dear friend of mine in Hamamatsu City and Makoto Fujimara both mentioned this organization as a great place for disaster relief donations.
UPDATE 3/17/11

Thursday, 17 March 2011
JAPAN DISASTER APPEAL

In the days following WWII General Douglas MacArthur appealed for 1000's of missionaries to come to help rebuild the devastated nation. Unfortunately only a fraction of that responded to the call. Today we are appealing once again for Christians to come help Japan rebuild. These are some of the things that CRASHJAPAN, a national network of churches, missions and ministries is prepared to facilitate in Northern Japan in response to the disaster.

1.2 Water Supplies
2.2 Bulk Food/Meals
3.1 Provide Shelter for Victims/Evacuees
3.2 Provide Shelter for Relief Workers/Volunteers
4.1 Medical Equipment and Supplies
4.2 Basic Medical Care or First Aid
4.3 Non-Prescription Medicines
5.1 Provide Clothing, Bedding, Blankets
6.2 Personal Hygiene Items
7.1 Trauma Counseling
7.2 Spiritual Support
8.1 Debris Removal and Cleanup
8.2 Construction and Repair
9.1 Transport / Shipping of Goods and Supplies
9.2 Point of Distribution / Final Delivery
9.3 Provide Storage Space, Warehouse Facility
9.4 Transportation of People
10.1 Web Development, Web Support
12.2 Fund Raising
12.3 Financial Management
12.4 Volunteer Management
12.5 Manage/Mobilize Volunteer Networks
13.5 Language Interpreters

If you are able to help in any of these areas - please contact us at 213-457-3154 in the US at 050-5534-5729
If you are able to donate funds please contact pnethercott@crashjapan.com
If you are able to send a volunteer team please contact bthompson@crashjapan.com
If you are able to send relief supplies please contact yhari@crashjapan.com

Churches Helping Churches - these folks have done an excellent job leveraging relationships between churches to mobilize relief efforts in Haiti and now they taking what they have learned to Japan.

World Vision - World Vision is assessing the role they might have in aiding victims and is planning to create child-friendly space for children to play as a first step.

American Red Cross From the website of the American Red Cross:

Since early Friday morning, we have been in close contact with our colleagues in the Pacific region to offer our support and learn more about the humanitarian needs. The Japanese Red Cross has indicated that it would accept financial support from the American Red Cross for its role providing first aid, emotional support and relief items to those displaced.

On Sunday, the American Red Cross will deploy a disaster management expert from its Washington, DC headquarters to Japan for a week-long mission. She will serve on a seven-person, international team focused on providing high-level support and advice to the Japanese Red Cross, which continues to lead the local earthquake and tsunami response.

You can donate $10 to the Red Cross by texting "redcross" to 90999 as well.

God have mercy.

How should we respond to the tragedy in Japan? from Summitview Community Church on Vimeo.

Prayer is good for us... and the world - Part 3

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 23:46:00 +0000

This is the third and final post in a series offered to reinforce the first emphasis in Summitview's 2011 Vision, namely, to grow in prayer as a church.

4) Pray for your neighborhood.
Aaron Ritter (my co-pastor) shared this great idea with me recently. He had a burden to know each of his neighbors by name and to pray for them consistently. So he printed out a map of the neighborhood and set out to meet them and put a name next to each address. Now he and his family have a map that they pray through once a week.

Our family isn’t nearly as organized as Mr. Ritter’s, but praying for our neighbors has definitely opened our eyes and softened our hearts to the folks we see every day. Our family is now strategizing about how to serve our neighbors and open up conversations about the Gospel.

There is something immediate and everyday that happens when we pray for the people across the street that doesn’t happen when we pray for lofty and faraway things (which we should pray for as well). We are more likely to unite our sweat with these prayers and see them answered. But this is critical: you will soon find it is not enough to know their names and pray for them – you must know them and that takes time. Busy families might legitimately ask; “When would we have time?” And the answer is, hopefully, sometime in this life (2 Cor. 5:16-21). Start with praying for them. Drop off some cookies. Have them over for dinner. Serve them. Your Spirit-soaked, broken heart will find the time.

5) Pray continually (1 Thes. 5:17).

“I will pray for you.”

Chances are you’ve said it and if you have said it, chances are you didn’t do it. It’s an occupational hazard for the pastor. It began to wear on my conscience and move me to ask some simple questions. Why do I need some formal, set-aside “prayer time” to present these requests to God? Do I believe in some formula that will enable God to get better reception of my prayer signal? As silly as it sounds when I spit it out, I think I do.

Unceasing prayer requires us to pray as life comes. A prayer queue often ends up being a prayer graveyard. We can pray when the need arises. Simply, honestly, right then and there, present your requests to God. He is looking for our dependence not our assistance in His hearing.

There is a positive spiritual momentum that develops with this habit. Our sensitivity to each moment and our desire for God’s interests in every situation begin to increase. It affects our hearts. This is important because the other reason I’m not faithful to pray for situations as they arise is my lack of boldness and concern to simply ask, “Can we pray right now?”

6) Pray with each other.

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. (Matthew 18:19–20)

I learned to pray at 5:45am on a hogsback overlooking Fort Collins in 1996. The crazies I had just jumped in with thought it would be a good idea to pray at this spot every day at 5:45am for 40 days (they read it in a book or something). Looking back, those crazies laid the foundation for my understanding of prayer.

Collective prayer exposes you to the impulses of God’s spirit in a variety of people. Hearing their passion and burdens awakens the heart in a way that private prayer just can’t. I recall a time when a dear friend and I were praying while hiking on the last day of a weekend backpacking trip. He was crying. His cracking voice was begging God to save his friend. It was simple, heartfelt and deeply convicting. Laziness or hesitation on that day would have stolen that life-changing moment.

There are obstacles. It’s always awkward to begin and our self-consciousness can be distracting. That never changes and it doesn’t mean that something is wrong. It simply means you are moving in a direction that is unnatural. Push through and you will find a “liveliness” and focus in praying together that may explain Jesus’ promise in Matthew 18:19-20.

A few thoughts that help keep my “many words” in check (Matthew 6:5-7):

I need to pay attention to my words. Is this how I normally communicate? Do I say things to buy time to think or to fill the void? Would I speak this way to a friend? It may mean my focus is more on impressing God or others than on honest communication.
Keep my prayers short. Long prayers may cause others to drift and lose focus.
“When you pray, rather let your heart be without words than your words without heart.” – John Bunyan
If I don’t have anything to pray, wait. I shouldn’t expect more from rushed prayer than from a rushed conversation with a friend. Prayer is not something to “get through” or “check off.” In fact, these approaches may relegate my prayers to nothing more than religion.

The Gospel begins with our utter dependence on God and, actually, it ends with our utter dependence on God. This means that the life of someone who believes this good news should be shot through with simple, dependent prayer. May it be so.

The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God; we should neither eat nor sleep, but eat to God and sleep to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory and praise. - Richard Sibbes

Additional Resources
Praying is good for us.... and for the world – Part 1
Praying is good for us.... and for the world – Part 2
Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions
The Weapon of Prayer E.M. Bounds

Prayer is good for us... and the world - Part 2

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:52:00 +0000

This is the second post in a series offered to reinforce the first emphasis in Summitview's 2011 Vision, namely, to grow in prayer as a church.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. (Jude 1:20–21)

Fundamentally, it's our pride that makes (biblical) prayer difficult. Prayer that builds our self-righteousness, seems to come easy and with many words (Luke 18:11-12). But dependent prayer, serious crying out to God, is opposed by an inertia called pride. So prayerlessness or poorly motivated and religious prayer can only change through genuine humility and repentance. Listen to Jesus' brother James:

You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. [4] You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? [6] But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” [7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:2-10)

Humility is the first order of business to mature in any area of life. Without humility, practical instruction actually becomes a road to self-exaltation (which is never mature). But humility is the safeguard that allows practical tips to be genuinely useful.

I guess I know my own tendencies and so I will speak for myself. I need to be careful with any list of practical suggestions. My heart is quick to grab them, implement them to the degree that (I determine) entitles me to expect some results or feel good about my effort. Practical tips to grow in prayer (which is fundamentally an expression of dependence on God!) can easily be twisted into an exercise in pride. So, while I believe these things can be helpful, I also believe we should proceed with caution and... humility.

(continuing the list from the last post)

3) Pray with your family.
Praying with your spouse
The idea is pretty simple. You can pray with your fig leaves on in every other context but not with your spouse. It may be one reason praying with your spouse is so difficult – it’s more honest. But that honesty can lead to more frank expression of your real needs to God. The resulting peace will beckon you back to honest prayer in times of anxiety.

Praying with your kids
As a pastor, I pray with a lot of people and, yet, nothing has done more for my soul than consistently praying with my kids. If you are a parent (especially a dad), commit to regular prayer with them and persevere. It will be awkward. They will get distracted. You will be tempted to think it is a waste and you will always try rush through it. Don’t give up. Gritty stick-to-it-ness, not eloquence or ease, wins the day.

Here’s how it reinforces your own prayer: there are little ears listening and you know it. There are certain things that I pray in front of my peers that don’t make sense in front of my kids. (Chances are those things don’t make sense in front of God either.) This forces me to communicate the simple essence of my plea and strips me of my pagan desire to be heard because of my many words (Matthew 6:7).

Praying with my kids has required me to seriously consider what I should expect in prayer as well. Kids will fearlessly bring every request to God. That’s good and bad. The freedom is good and the idolatry isn’t. There are times my childrens' vulnerability before God moves me to tears and, yet, I am terrified at how quickly God can be relegated to Santa Claus. In that crazy mix, I am motivated to pray biblically (or, say it another way, "according to God's will." - 1 John 5:14)

To that end, our family has been trying to keep four categories in mind as we pray. They have helped us build a "prayer vocabulary" that is more well-rounded and biblical than "God, I pray you would give me a pony." I remember them via the acronym A-C-T-S and my kids (especially when they were pre-reading age) remember them via pictures (you can grab a copy of our prayer guide here). Every time we pray, I'm reminded to lead my kids to pray through these categories:

Adoration (telling Jesus what you love about Him)
Confession (telling Jesus the truth about your sin)
Thanksgiving (thanking Jesus for all He has done for you)
Supplication (asking Jesus for help) with a focus on:

Personal character and love for Christ (Ephesians 3:14-19, Colossians 1:9-12).

Needs in the church.

Neighbors (more on this in the next post).

Sponsored children and missionaries.

People groups around the world. We have also used a world map and Operation World to pray through a variety of different people groups. This builds a heart for the world and brings perspective to the abundance our children enjoy.

When they begin to read, laminate the guide and you can begin to write things in each category to order your prayers for the evening (which you need to do with kids).

Parents, do you kids hear you pray? Do they hear you proclaiming God’s greatness back to Him? Do they hear your gratitude for the Cross? Your burden for the world? For their souls? For the souls of your neighbors? For the advance of the Gospel? For the good of the church? They should hear a burden for God’s interests in your prayer. They should see that you really believe that “the horse is made ready for battle, but victory belongs to the Lord” (Proverbs 21:31). This may impact their relationship with God more than anything else you do. It may just revolutionize your life as well.

Prayer is good for us... and the world - Part 1

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:54:00 +0000

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. (James 5:13) Any other response to our troubles is functional atheism. Because the Gospel begins with our utter dependence on God, a church that isn’t praying earnestly is really guilty of hypocrisy. A self-reliant church will, at best, glorify itself and, at worst, it will burn out.

Recognizing our constant drift toward self-reliance, the first emphasis in Summitview’s 2011 Vision is a greater dependence on God as evidenced in our prayer. Specifically, we want to grow in understanding prayer biblically and in praying together. But this emphasis on prayer is not about self-righteous, religious performance. Instead, it flows from our firm belief that God has a mission for the church that is purposely outside of her ability. By design, our cries for God's support are answered in ways that bring us joy (John 16:24) and reveal His greatness to the world (John 14:13 and 15:16). This is the purpose of our redemption:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9, emphasis added)

Our prayer then, in content and in God’s answer, is for our good and the good of the world.

Beyond Intent
Now nearly everyone agrees that prayer is good and, most believe, it should be a greater part of their lives. It’s what sets prayer apart from the other disciplines: inherently we know we need it and, inherently, our self-sufficiency makes it extremely difficult. To go beyond intent to intentional practice requires overcoming the great inertia of our pride.

The posts over the next couple of days are offered, not as a sure-fired prescription for that effort but, as possible means of grace in what Jude calls “building yourselves up in the most holy faith.”

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. (Jude 1:20–21)

1) Pray “according to God’s will.”
Being a good Father, God listens to all of our prayers and, being a good Father, He doesn’t answer every one (Luke 11:13). Developing a biblical understanding of what is actually according to God’s will (1 John 5:14) is a great aid in prayer. Many people have fatigued in their requests because they asked for things that God has never promised.

Here is a pretty thorough collection of New Testament passages on prayer.
A.W. Pink’s book “The Ability of God” is a fantastic resource on the prayers of Paul as well.
This message from Faithwalkers 2010 includes a section that addresses “praying for what we already have” in His promises.

2) Pray through a list.
There is a certain sense of futility in a big, unorganized mess. Our minds can be so cluttered with possible prayers that it can be overwhelming to even begin.

Start with a list. In the battle for our attention, the best weapons are often a pen and paper. Write down what comes to mind. You will see categories emerge within the list (family, work, neighbors, the city, the church, etc). Group your prayers in these categories and assign certain things from each category to each day of the week. This will give you a “well-rounded” list of things to pray every day. I have found that this kind of list allows me to stay on track and the categories themselves will remind me of time-specific things that I can pray for each day.

You can then take these daily lists and throw them on index cards or create a reoccurring appointment for each day in your electronic calendar (Google Cal, iCal, Outlook, etc) including your list in the “Notes” section of the appointment.

I generally work to refresh this list 3-4 times a year. This keeps me engaged and able to adjust to new needs and responsibilities.

(more to come in the next post)

Our heads need a hammer so our lives will be a nail

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:45:00 +0000

Feb 13, 2011: How Much More from Summitview Community Church on Vimeo.

God is familiar with the density of the human head and, at times, He remedies the situation with a rhetorical hammer. One such hammer is the "How Much More?" device used throughout the bible. The argument goes like this..."if we see this good result from these limited conditions, how much more should we expect a great result under better conditions."

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13)

"But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!" (Luke 12:28)

In Genesis 14, we begin to see Abram's distinctive life emerge from the soil of God's promises. His reckless love for Lot, his willing proclamation of God's ownership and his rejection of greedy and self-sufficient ways stand out like a redwood in Times Square. But, here is the kicker, he had less than we do. He heard mysterious promises and we've see their fulfillment. Abram knew God was up to something big and we know it was the redemption of His people through the slaughter of His Son. Abram witnessed God's faithfulness in his circumstances and we have seen it demonstrated on the Cross.

And, so, here comes the hammer... if Abram was motivated to such great love, worship and rejection of sin by these mysterious promises (Genesis 12:1-3), how much more should we be, knowing their fulfillment in Christ?

Thankfully this hammer, like all hammers, has a purpose greater than noise (or guilt). It's purpose is to drive a nail and that nail, it seems, is a life driven deep into the world proclaiming that, by God's grace, "things can be different."

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:14)

Additional Resources
Message Notes
Discussion Questions

The soul that feels "it's no use" needs Good News.

mmajeski@summitview.com (Mitch Majeski) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 23:52:00 +0000

Sin is a least five things.

First, it is common among every living person (Romans 5:12).

Second, we cannot be naive or overly "spiritual", it is attractive. I wouldn't exist if it wasn't. We do what we want to do and when we sin there is a part of us that wants it. Sin's promise of satisfaction is real and it delivers temporarily with horrible repercussions to our consciences, our faith and our loved ones.

Third, it is self-fueling. The tiny drop of pleasure provided by sin leaves us craving for more. Without an alternative, our thirsty souls will return for more. We trifle with this self-fueling to our own peril. Tolkien's Gollum aptly pictures the progressive implosion of our souls. Eventually, our attention will be adhered to the object of our sinful (read God-less) desire.

Fourth, it is, then, horrible. It strips a person of their dignity and it leads them to despise God and use others - the very opposite of the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40). Sin destroys. Idolatry destroys. Unbelief destroys. There is no avoiding the destruction of God's image when we sin. It is anti-God and His purposes. We tend to see only the vilest and fullest expressions of sin as horrible but that is a deceptive device of the devil. Every rape began with a rogue sinful idea. Every murder's root is an undercover bitterness.

Fifth, it is NOT the Christian's master. In Christ, we have been delivered from bondage to sin (Romans 6:6) to walk in "newness of life" (Romans 6:4). But, just as soon as the celebration of our freedom begins, we find that a battle still rages in our soul (Romans 7:14-20). Is this freedom real? How do we experience it? Peter gives us a glimpse in 2 Peter 1:3-4:

[3] His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Here Peter tells us that an intimate knowledge of the one who saved us and what he has promised us in salvation is God's means of deliverance.

This session of "How The Gospel Changes People" (Summitview's Leadership Training) entitled "How the Gospel Addresses Sin" unpacks this idea to provide hope for those who are tempted to feel that sin has won and there is no longer any use in trying to resist it (Jer. 2:23-25).

Additional Resources
Teaching Notes
"Kill or Be Killed" - a series of supplementary messages to "The Mortification of Sin" by John Owen
Leadership Training Resources from Summitview