Dion's blog

Call to St. Louis

Dion — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:10:38 +0000

It's been a crazy few months here at St. Matthew. Jason Scheler has ended his tenure here and awaits God's next step for him. We've had Rob Nelson join us as our new pastor and he's being used by God in big ways. In the last six months, I've had this series of calls, 4 in a six month time span. It really does seem that God is on the move, though we can't completely understand what He's doing yet.

In regard to this last call to St. John, I've really wrestled with God about this one and I've finally come to a peace about it, though God's answer has been extremely difficult to accept. God is leading me and my family to St. Louis. I've accepted the Call to St. John, Ellisville.

This discernment period has been one of walking by faith, not by sight. We are leaving not only a great church family but are leaving behind both sides of our natural families. This is definitely the hardest thing we've ever had to do, but we believe it is right. So we "walk" to St. Louis trusting in God's plans for us even though we are leaving much behind to follow His call (Mark 10:29-31).

My last weekend preaching will be the weekend of December 21st but allow me to say this now: The last four and a half years have been incredible! I am so grateful to God for allowing me to be a part of His work here. I've learned a lot, been refined, and have become deeply connected to you, God's people here. I will always remember and be thankful for these years! You have no idea how much so.

I also continue to believe that God has great plans for St. Matthew. There is a community out there who still needs us to be the Spirit-filled, mission focused, generous church God has called us to be. The good news is that God has brought gifted, passionate people to serve Him at St. Matthew. I have no doubt that He will work even more strongly in my absence to accomplish His work here. St. Matthew has always been His church, and He remains the leader. One of His human instruments is changing, but He's still here! Keep trusting Him. He's always good; He's always faithful!

Voting for Character

Dion — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:58:10 +0000

Before bringing a new person onto their team, leaders often evaluate the prospect by using "The Three Cs"

The Three Cs are:
1. Character
2. Competence
3. Chemistry

Most leaders will tell you that while all three are important, they are not equal. Competence can change over time with good coaching. Chemistry helps but isn't everything--you can learn to function with bad chemistry. When it comes to character though, it's all or nothing!

So far in this election year I've been really caught up in the issues, like a lot of us. I've fought hard (even on this blog) to try to get us to look at ALL the issues that God cares about and not just the ones that the media pundits or the campaign managers want us to care about.

But if I were voting on issues alone, frankly I think I'd be stuck. Both candidates speak of issues that I think that God cares about. I know that may seem crazy to some of you, but it's true. While John McCain says he supports laws that would protect the sanctity of life, Barack Obama says he supports initiatives that would protect "the least of these" (those who are often forgotten by we who are blessed enough to be part of the middle class). Then, on top of mere issues, there's the whole issue of approach. Just because a candidate says that he cares about an issue, his approach to dealing with it may cause you to rethink your support.

So yeah, if I voted only on issues I think I'd end up stuck in this election, finding both candidates standing for God's concerns (depending on the issue).

So that takes me to the "Three Cs" especially the most significant one, character. When it's all said and done, I believe that character is the most important trait to consider when electing a President. It certainly was important when God sent his prophet Samuel to find a new king for Israel. After looking at a strapping, handsome son of Jesse (named Eliab), Samuel thought he had seen the new king and was set to anoint him. But God told Samuel,
"Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

Unlike the LORD, we can't see completely into the heart, but we CAN see the fruit that comes OUT of a man's heart (Matthew 12:33-35). We're not anointing the king of a theocracy either, but character still matters.

The issues will change. What we believe to be important today could be taken totally out of play tomorrow. It happens with every presidency, the issues change as the circumstances of the world/country change. But my hope is that the person who sits in the Oval Office for the next four years, dealing with these issues as they come, will be a person of great (even Godly) character.

When I think of the candidates in light of character, even above and beyond competency and chemistry, my personal choice has become clearer. I hope you also think about the character of the candidates before Tuesday and make sure that before you vote, you've weighed and prayed over this part of your decision too.

An Integrated Faith

Dion — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:37:57 +0000

This weekend in our messages at St. Matthew, we preached about having an "integrated faith." That is, a faith that is not just a "hat" we wear on Sunday mornings for a while, but a faith that informs and transforms our very person. God's dream for us is that we'd BE people of on-fire, passionate faith and bring our faith into each of the roles we live out (each of the "hats" we wear).

After one of the services in which I was preaching, a woman came to me. She affirmed all that I was saying but also added that people need to hear more about the HOW... HOW does our faith in Christ become who we ARE (instead of something we do for a few hours a week)? What are the disciplines you can adapt to gradually let God have ALL of you?

I thought it was a great question. I have some ideas about it that I could share but I thought maybe it'd be more helpful if people could share things that have helped in their own faith journey with others.

So the gist is, PLEASE post a comment about some of the different ways that you've seen God become more fully integrated into your life. It's sharing so there are no wrong answers :) and you can make your post "anonymous" so you don't have to feel embarrassed. I hope I hear from you! This could be an important "next step" out of the message. Thanks.

Keeping Politics in Perspective: A Pastor's Concern

Dion — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:44:43 +0000

Years that we are called upon to elect a president always make me cringe. That's because election years seem to hold certain dangers for the Church that we fail to take seriously.

If you want to hear an episode of The Six Podcast that also addresses this issue go here.

One of these dangers is assuming that there is a political party out there that represents "Christian values". I assure you, that's not true. There may be a party who represents more of the concerns of God than the other, but the idea that a political party represents, in total, what God cares about is simply untrue. I can give you a list of ideas in each party's platform that are contrary to the values espoused in Scripture. There is no "Christian party" (thankfully too, history shows that's a dangerous thing). This is a danger we must avoid.

Another one of these dangers is that we as the church can easily lose focus on why we're here on earth. We're called to be Christian citizens, absolutely, but our primary concern in the world is the salvation of people through Jesus Christ. In that light, who ends up in the White House is somewhat irrelevant. I don't mean that it doesn't matter at all, but in relationship to the core of our mission as Christians and as the Church, it doesn't matter that much.

By that I mean, that our mission goes forward regardless. History has even shown that the Message of Christ best flourishes during times of persecution! The point is, as it relates to our mission, who is president doesn't matter that much. We will be able to serve Christ and to share his great love with people no matter what happens in an election.

Of course there ARE other important issues that may be decided by the next president that we should consider. Again I offer cautions here. We must not confuse "moral action" with salvation. If we become a more moral society, that is a good thing, but that doesn't equate with being a more "saved" society. The most moral societies in the world just might be the societies that are the least friendly to the Gospel. Also as it relates to a president helping us be more "godly" as a society, the last 30 years of presidential politics urges us to be cautious about assuming that any candidate will bring drastic reform to the issues we as Christians may hold up.

Next, I'd remind you that God cares about a lot more than protection of marriage and life issues. Those things are certainly important and should influence our voting, but please don't let politicians tell you what God cares about most (as if they know). They aren't objective, they won't give you the whole truth, they don't care that much about truth anyway, they want to get elected. God cares about a lot of things--widows, orphans, "aliens within our gates", the poor, the powerless, the oppressed, the exploited, etc. ALL of those things should influence our voting.

Last, politics are NEVER an excuse to be obnoxious. Love is held up by Christ himself as the preeminent Christian "value". If we become unloving, rude, or arrogant, then as the Apostle says, we are a "clanging gong or clashing cymbal". Election years do not give us the right to be unloving. We can do better than that. We can be very convicted about what is the most God-pleasing decision in elections, and yet we can remain very loving and humble while doing so. It's harder, but that's our calling.

In total, I want to urge us to be cautious about getting too enraptured by politics. Surely God expects us to be involved. I hope that we are researching, listening, reading, and above all praying and growing in understanding of God's Word and what he cares about--directly from his mouth rather than from a third party with a strong self-interest. I hope we also all show up and vote our biblically-informed consciences on Nov 4--it's our duty.

But along the way I pray that we don't lose our heads about this election. Barack Obama is not our Savior. John McCain isn't either. Christ is! And whoever sits in the White House in January of 2009 will still be under the authority of the High King, who makes kingdoms rise and fall at his own pleasure.

Meanwhile, we've got a higher calling that can not be set aside during an election year. It's too urgent! We've got the call to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them. This is FOREMOST for us. Let's keep that in perspective, even as we take seriously our responsibility to seek God and vote!

If you want to hear more about this, this week's episode of The Six Podcast addresses this in audio format. Have a listen by going here. Thanks for letting me share.

Note: This blog post isn't endorsed by anyone other than me, a pastor with ZERO political motive.

Faith in the Box

Dion — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:03:26 +0000

I'm reading through the book "Real Christianity" by William Wilberforce. In reading tonight, I came across this quote. I thought it was powerful. A quick set up for it though, Wilberforce was talking about how we create a "smaller framework" of our "larger" lives that we reserve for faith, religion, religious things, and religious activities. So here it is. Speaking of what will happen when we partition our lives he says,

Faith only operates within the smaller framework, while life is lived in the larger context. Only certain thoughts, time, resources and influences are under the jurisdiction of faith. The individual remains the master of the rest that falls outside this self constructed box. "Faith is for Sunday", such an individual thinks. "If I meet my religious obligations, I am free to live my life as I wish"...

When Christ is not free to possess more and more of who we are, the tendency over time is to take even what we have placed within the smaller framework and move it out into the larger context. We will actually regress spiritually instead of progressing in authentic spirituality.

It sounds simple but I think it's brilliant. Just ponder it and see if it sounds like what you try to do with God too. Of course, if you feel "moved" post a comment :)

For Your Listening Pleasure

Dion — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:06:29 +0000

A brand new episode of the The Six Podcast is ready for you!

To listen go to The Community Site or subscribe to The Six in the iTunes store.

Enjoy!

Focused Prayer

Dion — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:24:33 +0000

This last year at St. Matthew for National Day of Prayer, one of the things we did (in addition to 3 prayer services that day) was have prayer stations set up for private prayer time. At each station the pray-er was to focus on one specific type of prayer for several minutes before moving on to the next station and the next type of prayer. I was blown away by the effect of it on me.

There are different methods of doing this, the one I used is called ACTS, Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication (requests). Using a structure like this may feel artificial but I found it powerful. It's really difficult not to move straight to the supplication part and begin praying through my usual list of stuff to God. But I think that was the neat part of it.

Spending a large amount of time adoring/praising God is difficult, and yet by forcing myself to stay on this "topic" for a few minutes, I found a depth that I'd probably not encounter otherwise.

There are other "methods" for how to organize your prayers, I'd encourage you to try ANY of them to help give the various parts of prayer fuller expression. Prayer is such a beautiful thing, I think we barely scratch the surface. Let me know how it goes.

More Prayer Musings

Dion — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:04:50 +0000

I really had intended on giving more time to BLOGGING on prayer this summer while we journey through the Lord's Prayer in our weekend messages

Good thing there's forgiveness, huh?

But here's something that has kept coming up as it relates to prayer that I've been trying to keep in my prayer life.

leaving more time for silence

I realize that far too much of prayer is me talking to God. Talking, talking, talking... which is okay, God wants to hear me, he wants me to ask, it's healthy for me to point my need toward him rather than looking elsewhere, BUT if I never shut up long enough for God to speak back, then I'm missing a big opportunity that comes in prayer.

I believe that God will speak back to us. I really do, because I think I've experienced it. I think God can use his Spirit to search out the word that I've hidden away in my heart (Psalm 119:11) and bring it up at an opportune time for the situations I'm facing in life. I believe that God has a voice and the desire to give us direction when we ask him to. I don't think this means that God will speak something new EVERY TIME, sometimes he's already made clear what he wants of/for us, but sometimes he DOES speak. And in order to hear him, we need to learn to be quiet.

So pray this week, but don't say much. Try listening and see what happens.

A Pictorial Announcement

Dion — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:10:39 +0000

Authored by my 5 year old daughter, Ellie. Should speak for itself :)

(you may need to go here to see the full size version)

Prayer Musings

Dion — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:51:54 +0000

we're talking about prayer in worship right now in the hopes that we at St. Matt would deepen our prayer lives.

So I think that as I get back into the swing of blogging, I'm gonna share little tidbits about what God is doing in my prayer life. Maybe it will help you as you grow in your own prayer life too.

Disclaimer: I'm not claiming to be some prayer guru... I need to grow in this as much as anyone.

Recently I've been experimenting with kneeling while praying. I don't know if you've ever done that outside of a church setting. I used to watch people on TV kneel down beside their bed at bedtime to say their prayers. I always thought, "oh, c'mon, NO ONE does that!"

But one day while I was getting ready to pray at home I thought, "maybe I should kneel?" So I did. I found that I really like praying that way. Here's why.

1. I found that it helps me focus. Since I don't usually kneel in any other part of life, I find it easier to remember what it is that I'm doing.

2. It helps me remember I'm talking to God. While kneeling I can keep in mind that I'm actually coming before another being. It's not just me sitting in the chair thinking, I'm actually with someone else. Not just anyone either, but God!

3. It helps keep my requests more humble. Kneeling has a way of grounding you, shocking I know. I find myself approaching God with greater humility and even asking for different kinds of things from him than I would otherwise.

Anyway, as I'm writing this it's late and I'm tired, so I'll wrap this up, but maybe try to kneel sometime in the next week and come before God in prayer. If you do, let me know how it went. Peace.