Glorious Mud

Baptisms at Trailhead Church!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:50:00 +0000

Death. Burial. Resurrection.

That is what we celebrated in our baptisms this weekend at Trailhead Church: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. He paid the price - we reap the benefit. So we celebrate.

And that's the way God wants it - Jesus was our substitute. He died our death under our judgment. He was crushed under the weight of our guilt and shame. He was immersed in our death because of our sin.

And then he rose again. The payment was complete and a new morning of forgiveness and life had dawned.

And we celebrate.

To be clear, we don't celebrate our obedience or good fortune. That's in there - but what we really celebrate is Jesus himself. We celebrate his love, his grace, his forgiveness, his initiative with us, his mercy, his work. We celebrate his performance for us, not our performance for him. We rest in the peace of God because Jesus made peace with God for us. We don't just celebrate what he has done - we celebrate him.

And so we are baptized - not to earn his favor, but because he earned it for us. We go through the symbolic motions of dying and being buried by being immersed in water. As we come up out of the water, we symbolically rise again in his new life, dripping with his righteousness. Covered. Forgiven. Cleansed. The water is just a symbol - but what a powerful, grace-filled symbol. It is full of joy because it points us back to the reality of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.

This weekend we had five followers of Jesus scheduled to be baptized in obedience to his command. During the sermon, though, I invited anyone who had believed in Jesus but had not yet been baptized to celebrate with us - and jump in! We thought we had everything ready for people to respond spontaneously - the baptismal, towels, dry clothes, even underwear to be baptized in, but we weren't fully ready for the response we received. We ran out of clothes. We used every towel. And when it was all over, we ended up baptizing 17 followers of Jesus. It was awesome.

As a community, we had tears and laughter and freedom and joy - because we have Jesus.

In honor of Black Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:42:00 +0000

So, I haven't posted in like two years, so I thought I would throw this up. Whether you think Black Friday is an unsightly blemish on the pock-marked face of our culture's consumerism or you think it is our economy's Jack Bauer, ruthlessly showing up at the last moment to save the day, I hope you find this funny.

Honoring Jesus in an Election Year

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:27:00 +0000

Election years are ugly. That's not surprising since the political spin machines spend big $$$ to get us to vote for their side. They will appeal to whatever motivations their marketing researchers tell them will get the great apathetic mass of America to actually show up at the poles - so expect to see a lot of advertising focused on stirring up our fear, greed, and anger.

And based on what I have been seeing on the newsfeed on Facebook, we can expect this election year to be ugly just like all the rest. The rhetoric and mud-slinging is already starting among my friends. Some of these people I actually know and respect. Some I even enjoy their company. And that is why I am nervous. I can see the carnage coming.

So how can we, as followers of Jesus, honor Jesus in an election year? That is a tall order, but I would like to offer a few observations from Romans 14. This passage is obviously not about voting or the American political climate - but it is about how to deal with potentially divisive, emotionally charged personal and cultural differences. It is not about us - but it does apply to us.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
(Romans 14:5-9 ESV)

1. Develop strong opinions.

Let each man be fully persuaded in his own mind. In other words, study, think carefully, and develop strong opinions. Some people think the best way to avoid conflict is to simply avoid it - and what better way to avoid it than to hide behind apathy and a lack of engagement. Some will even try to spin this off as sort of spiritual virtue.

"Well, you know, I am only concerned about the Kingdom of God."

"It's all going to burn anyway, so I am just going to focus on what's really important."

"God's in control, so I just rest in that."

Translation: I am too lazy to study the topics and develop opinions. The political issues in front of us are important and we should be engaged and informed. We should develop strong opinions - even though that will result in our disagreeing with others.

2. Have strong opinions, but don't be defined by those opinions.

As a follower of Christ, you are not first a republican or democrat. You are not first a Tea Party-er or an Occupy-er. You are not first a economic or social conservative or progressive. You are first a follower of Jesus.

So, in the way you promote your opinions (whether verbally or online), you need to communicate in a way that honors Jesus first and promotes your ideas second. You need to communicate in a way that it is clear that you love the people you are talking to and talking about more than you love your opinions about them.

This means that character assassination and personal mud-slinging is out. It means that saying (or forwarding, retweeting, or sharing) things that misrepresent the people or positions of the opposing side (even if they are "funny") is out. It means that pointing our comments "at" someone instead of "to" them is out. It means acting like a megaphone for the political spin machines is out.

It means that we need to honor Jesus by engaging ideas instead of attacking people. It means that we love our enemies and treat those who disagree with us as humans created in the image of God (whether or not they know or acknowledge that God).

3. In it all, keep it all in perspective.

It is easy to get caught up in the hype and be motivated by the fear of election-year emotion. But when it is all said and done, we need to remember who we are and whose we are. We are followers of Jesus, broken, humble, forgiven, and full of hope because we are secure God because of Jesus. And we are God's - redeemed by his work for his glory.

If we live (which itself is a gift we can't take for granted), we live to follow and honor and love God first. If we die, we die in Christ. That means that whether we live or die, we are to live for his glory first because, by his work, we have been made his brother and co-heirs. He took our place in judgement so that we stand with him in his place of blessing. That single truth eclipses everything else for those who follow him.

If we get that, as much as we may dislike a politician, a political party, or a social movement, we will see through the eyes of grace. We see all of life from the perspective of one who had to be forgiven to be made whole. And all of this means that when we look around, we will see humans also in need of grace.

This is what the gospel does. It gives us a confidence that supersedes our opinions. We are loved, forgiven, empowered, and enriched because of Jesus. As a result, we can hold our opinions strongly and argue them forcefully, while not being defined by those opinions or by the success of our political party. We can disagree with others without rejecting and degrading their worth, dignity, or intelligence because Jesus didn't degrade ours. Instead he redeemed it.

So, how do we, as Christ-followers, honor God in this election year? We follow Christ.

The Urgency of our Mission

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 03:20:00 +0000

I have only been on a two float trips that I can remember. On both occasions, I floated past some sorry souls passed out on the river bank after having consumed too many jello shots. They were lying there getting fried in the sun and drooling as we floated past - laughing, splashing water on each other, and looking for the next rapid or cliff to jump off.

It struck me (deep thought time) you kind of have to be awake to enjoy the day.

Related thought (trust me, it will come together):

Darrin Patrick used an illustration once from his seminary days. He said that one of his professors told them that there was only one thing the church could do here that it would not be able to do in heaven. It will be able to worship, learn about God, grow in community and joy - but it won't be able to share the good news of God's grace with those who haven't yet believed.

That is a pretty sobering thought, even for a Calvinist. Most of us simply do not have the proper urgency about sharing Christ's love with those who don't know him. I am not talking about the kind of urgency that fosters drive-by evangelism (the kind of approach that shoots people with a few propositional truths because they are targets instead of people made in the image of God). We often do more harm that good with that stuff - but we should be urgently following Christ on his mission: to make disciples from the unbelieving population around us.

And that is going to require us to wake up and shake the apathy that so easily grips our hearts.

Take a look at Ephesians 5:15-21

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

The passage warns us that we, as followers of Christ, need to be wise. It then defines what it means by that: we need to realize the urgency of what God has called us to. That is a good warning. I mean it really is foolish of us to be followers of Christ and live like he didn’t actually rise from the dead.

In fact, that is the point behind the don't get drunk stuff. Obviously, we shouldn't drink in excess and get drunk, but that isn't the real point of the passage. The primary point is that we need to be controlled by the Spirit - the same way a drunk person is controlled by the alcohol. When you drink too much beer, your senses are dulled. You are stupefied (and probably acting stupidly). But when you are drunk with the Spirit, you are actually more awake, more spiritually aware.

You are awake to what God is doing around you and are sensitive to his leading.

This passage, then, isn't just a warning against drunkenness. It is a warning against whatever would put you to sleep spiritually. It is a warning against being so comfortable financially, socially, or personally that you tune out the Spirit's leading. It is a warning against being so religious that we stop following the God of our religion. It is a warning against whatever it is that puts us spiritually asleep.

Historically the church has become tremendously missional, focused, and growth-centered (awake!) in times of real suffering and persecution. Why? Because the suffering saint is reminded daily that his sainthood is as close as the brevity of life. Those who know persecution, loss, and death are reminded daily that life isn't ultimately about comfort, success, or pleasure here.

There is so much more to live for - but we need to be awake to see it.

And that is the trouble for us. Our prosperity, our comfort, our comfortable religion puts us to sleep. We are like the drunk asleep on the side of the river while God is moving down stream where the party is. We simply are not aware of what an incredible thing God is doing as he works out the redemptive power of his gospel through his church. We are not awake to the promptings of the Spirit to jump into the rush of the redemptive flow around us.

Let's wake up. Let's shake off the drowsy hangover of our comfort, power, and attempt at control. Let's jump in to the fast moving water of joining our God on mission and enjoy the ride.

Thoughts on the Church being the Church

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 13:06:00 +0000

So, a strange thought came to me in the shower the other day. Being a pastor is like being a Chinese buffet. Everyone shows up with different and specific expectations and everyone walks away disappointed.

This thought didn't come to me because I was feeling sorry for myself, because I'm not. I love what I do because of who I do it for (Jesus), and I have no internal need to meet everyone's expectations of me. My job is to please the one who loved me and called me to himself. (And, awesome thought, he is already pleased with me and will continue to be because I am covered with Christ, the delight of God!)

The thought actually came to me as I was thinking about how the church today has lost the experience of being the church. Our cultural Christianity has essentially taken all the “one another's” of scripture and robbed them of their community experience.

Like Colossians 3:16. It says

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Notice who is told to do the work of ministry here: the church.

We have lost a vision of the church edifying (building up) one another, encouraging one another, teaching one another, challenging and correcting one another, praying for one another, sacrificing for and giving to one another, leading one another to worship God and reach out to the outsider in love.

By and large, the church now sees the professional leadership of the church as the "one" and themselves as the "another." It is the pastor's job to teach us, the worship leader's job to give us a dynamic experience of worship, the mission pastor's job to create opportunities for service for us, the kid's pastor's job to teach our kids, the counseling pastor's job to help us overcome their hang ups from the past - and so on.

Obviously it is not my intent to undermine the importance of leadership in the local church. But is also not my intent to replicate our culture's consumeristic approach to church life.

Consumers show up, consume, critique, and then go home, like semi-interested teenagers at the family table eating what looks tasty and criticizing everything else and then leaving before the table gets cleaned up.

Is it my job as a pastor to teach truth? Absolutely

Is it my job to encourage people to praise God and worship him? Yes.

Is it my job to remind you how much you have to be thankful for in Jesus? Yes.

Is it (and can it be) only my job? No way

My job is to teach the church truth – but more importantly, it is my job to equip the church to live in it, and if I am doing my job well, our church should become less and less dependent on me.

Ephesians 4:11-16 (part of the passage for our sermon, Why am I here, at Trailhead Church this weekend) compares this whole thing to the process of growing a child into a mature man.

In the beginning the child is dependent and needy – you have to feed them and change them. You pretty much have to start there. When they learn that, you have to tell them how to treat others.

Don’t hit – don’t bite – share – be polite.

Then later you help them to become discerning and productive – pick good friends – only date people you think you might be able to marry - work before you play - clean up what you mess up. And, gradually, they need you less and less.

They never completely outgrow their love for you or their need for your influence in their lives (thank God - I love my kids too much to think that one day they will never need me). But they do become independent and autonomous. They do become mature men and women.

In the same way, while the church never outgrows its need for its leaders, a mature church will be continually producing new leaders. It's members will not just waiting for marching orders - they will be initiating gospel ministry around them continually. And it's a good thing too, because a healthy church is a reproducing church that will see a continual inflow of new (and somewhat messy) young believers.

If we have any hope of experiencing the power of the church, we need to stop putting our cultural, consumeristic, self-centered expectations on it. We need to stop coming to church like we do to a restaurant - showing up to consume what we like, criticize what we don't, and then going home and leaving the clean up to the professionals. We need to stop talking about the church as if we weren't the church.

Oh, and remember, your pastor isn't a Chinese buffet.

Blog published on Acts 29 Website: Called, Led, Blessed

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 01:00:00 +0000

A quick update - the blog I wrote a while back detailing my history with Acts 29 was published today on the Acts 29 website. Pretty cool!

You can check it out here:

http://www.acts29network.org/acts-29-blog/called-led-blessed/

Feel free to leave comments on it over there!

The Gospel, Faith, and Asking Jesus into Your Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:45:00 +0000

Kelly, our wonderful Trailhead Kids leader, sent me a link to a great blog over at Sojourn Church. It is titled "9 Reasons not to Ask Jesus into your Heart." You should read it because it is clear, succinct, and right.

I am not a fan of asking Jesus into your heart. I am not a fan of committing your life to Christ or making him Lord of your life or asking Jesus to be your friend, either. Strange thing for a pastor to say, right? Wrong.

After I became a believer and started working in a Christian high school, I came to see just how short those kinds of sayings fall from leading people to the real gospel. As a new believer (and a lover of all things English), I loved my job, most of the things about my school, and, of course, my students. One of the key frustrations I had, though, was that so many of my students claimed to follow Jesus but so few of them seemed to know him or love him.

So, about two months into the school year, I decided to have the students write essays on their relationship with God. I was amazed. Almost all of my students associated their salvation with an event where they "asked Jesus into their hearts" (or something very similar).

Even more amazingly, almost all of those same students claimed to have done it numerous times, usually connected to a yearly ritual they called the "camp fire" (I was a real newbie to the Christian world and had never been to a Christian youth camp).

When I asked them why they asked Jesus into their hearts - or committed their lives to Christ - so many times, they said their goal was to "do it for real" or "with all their heart" the second or third (or fourth) time. When I asked them to explain what they meant by "doing it with all their hearts," they would hem and ha, fumbling along, until they would usually come around to saying something like, "I just want to stop living like the world. I had slipped into my old way of life and I wanted to really live for Christ."

This sounds noble, but it was really quite stupid. I'm not saying those students were stupid - they were sincere and truly troubled by what they saw as a gap between their behavior and their profession. What I am saying is that the system that they were being sold was stupid - because it isn't the gospel.

The gospel is an incredible message of what God did for us in Jesus' death and resurrection. And it is insanely beautiful. He took my shame, my sin, and my place in judgement so that I could stand with him in the fullness of his blessing. He was covered with my shame so that I could be covered with his glory. He was crushed as my substitute in judgment so that I could stand as his brother in blessing.

The gospel is simply and profoundly a message of what God has done to gain our victory - a victory we could never win for ourselves. It is the good news delivered to us so that we might believe and be saved immediately and absolutely from the penalty, progressively from the power, and ultimately from the presence of our sin. The gospel is a message of good news to be believed about God's commitment to us. It is not a request for commitment from us.

The gospel says, Stop trusting your ability to work up to God and take hold of God, and instead start trusting in what God has done to take hold of you. What my students were hearing was, Don't you love Jesus and want to go to heaven? Well, you better start living like it if you want his blessing.

When I asked my students why Jesus had to die on the cross, they could all parrot, "for my sins." But if I pushed in a little and asked, why did he have to die? what did his death do? why is it important that he rose from the grave? what are you really trusting to make you right with God?

I got disturbing answers. Some, to be sure, when I dug in, would eventually get to the gospel, that Jesus was their substitute and that he completely satisfied God's justice for their sin. But many others simply could not give any explanation of the basics of why Jesus had to die, what his death did, or why the resurrection was essential.

When I really pushed them and they got a little tired of it, many would just say, "Look, I am doing my best. I think God understands."

This is why I get kind of ticked with the way Christians jack with the gospel. This is why I have such distaste for dumbed down (or just plain dumb) explanations of what Jesus did. My students were subtly misled to trust in their obedience to Christ instead of Christ's obedience for them. They were looking for security in what they had done to take hold of Christ instead of in what Christ had done to take hold of them.

And many of them simply did not get, let alone believe, the gospel. Some of the worst cases were students who were well-behaved and moral. They were the ones who often got praised and held up as examples to the other students. Some of them simply refused to hear the gospel because they had already said their prayer and had "gotten saved" and their moral lives proved it.

And yet, when I tried to talk to them about Jesus, their hearts were cold. Jesus said that those who were forgiven much would love much. These students loved little because they really didn't see themselves as bad and in need of much forgiveness. If I pushed into their failures, they became defensive and really kind of ugly. Sadly, many of them were really locked in to the suicide train of self-righteousness.

In the end, whether these kids grew in self-righteousness or beat themselves up because of their failures, the sad result was that many of them actually became inoculated against the real gospel. They either didn't think they needed it, or they thought they had already tried it and it just didn't work.

Scripture is clear: we are saved by faith in the person and work of Jesus. Our goal as those who share the good news of Jesus should not be to get people to do something with the truth - it should be to persuade them to believe the truth. And just because we can get someone to want heaven or forgiveness or a better life doesn't mean we have persuaded them to trust completely in the person and work of Jesus.

We don't need better salesmen. We need better messengers. We have been entrusted the greatest message ever given to mankind, and it carries its own power.

Human Slingshot Slip and Slide

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:40:00 +0000

I. Want. To. Do. This.

Human Slingshot Slip and Slide:

'via Blog this'

Fits & Starts | Listen to Flannery O’Connor read her short story,...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:49:00 +0000

Came across this today. I have been a fan of O'Connor since high school, but I have never heard her read her own stuff. This was gold. Nothing like her sweet Southern voice bringing the grandmother and the Misfit to life.

Fits & Starts | Listen to Flannery O’Connor read her short story,...:

'via Blog this'

Grace is Greater

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:27:00 +0000

If you are already wasting time on twitter and aren't following Paul Tripp (@paultripp), you need to fix that. He puts out a series of three tweets every morning and they encourage and challenge me daily.

This morning, these were his tweets:

Grace confronts you with what you don't have while it provides you with everything you need.

Grace calls you to submit and obey while it offers you freedom like you've never had before.

Grace calls you to fix your eyes on eternity while it lavishes spiritual blessings on you in the here and now.

So simple, but so easy to forget.

Acts 29 Boot Camps, Trailhead, and God's Surprising Plans

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:52:00 +0000

I was asked to write a blog for the Acts 29 website to help promote the upcoming boot camp in Chicago. By the way, it's on September 15 and 16, 2011, and you should consider going! You can get info here. Lauren and I will be there helping with leading, facilitating, and assessing and we would love to see you there. I guarantee you will be challenged with a lot to think about.

So, I wrote the blog - and I know the way these things go. It may or may not actually get published over at Acts 29, but I thought I would share it here. It was fun to take a little time and remind myself of God's blessings over the last 6 years!

So, here it is:

........

God’s plan has a way of making perfect sense in hindsight – even if it is completely unpredictable on the front side of things.

In 2005, I attended my first Acts 29 boot camp in Edwardsville, IL. I had never been to Edwardsville. I had only recently heard of Acts 29. I definitely wasn’t interested in church planting. I was 17 years into my career in education, working as a principal in St. Louis. I had no formal theological training and had no knowledge of or interest in the church-planting movement taking place around me.

I was only at the boot camp (I thought) because my family and I had started attending a new church called The Journey in St. Louis. I was there to make sure my new church wasn’t part of some strange cult.

I hoped I would show up, learn a few things, and then go back home comfortable that my questions had been answered. I guess two out of three isn’t bad. I showed up and I had most of my questions answered, but the answers made me feel anything but comfortable.

Each day, when Lauren, my wife, and I left the boot camp, we would talk for hours, processing what we had heard that day. We were already sold on the value of the local church, but we started really thinking about God’s plan to work redemption and restoration through church multiplication.

I still could not see myself as a guy who would go start a church, but God was clearly igniting a new passion in me for church planting. I went back to my school excited about The Journey, but with no plans for further involvement in Acts 29.

It shouldn’t be surprising that God seldom works his will according to our plans – but it usually is. In January of this year, I planted an Acts 29 church named Trailhead Church in - you guessed it – Edwardsville, IL.

A year after I started attending The Journey, I felt that God was leading me to leave my career in education to become the Journey’s Family Pastor. Then, two years after that, in 2008, the other elders asked me to pray about stepping into a failed church plant in Edwardsville to re-launch it as a video venue for the Journey.

My family and I prayed and I sought wise counsel from men who were now friends in the Acts 29 network in our area. It became clear that God was in this, so we put our house up for sale and we moved to Edwardsville.

The story didn’t end there, though. After two years, it became clear to me and the other elders at The Journey that God was equipping our campus to go independent. So I attended another Acts 29 boot camp (this time to be assessed as a church planter) and then in January of this year, we “grew up and moved out” and The Journey Metro East became Trailhead Church.

I look back on the whirlwind of the last 6 years with a crazy sense of wonder, deep gratitude and real joy. God upended our lives. He messed with our security. He changed our plans. And he poured out blessing on top of blessing as we simply followed and obeyed.

So, what has Acts 29 meant to me as I followed God to plant Trailhead Church? That is a hard question to answer adequately. From that first boot camp in 2005 until now, God has used the brotherhood of Acts 29 to encourage me, challenge my thinking, strengthen my faith, and equip me to follow God’s call on my life.

I showed up at that boot camp in 2005 guarded and skeptical, completely ignorant of the blessing God was getting ready to unleash in my life. Now, in retrospect, I am humbled and grateful for how God has used this brotherhood to surprise me again with his goodness.

Just Shut Yo Mouf Foo

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:11:00 +0000

Over the last two weeks at Trailhead Church, we have been studying Proverbs to see what it says about how we use our words. We used Proverbs 18:21 as our starting point.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
and those who love it will eat its fruits.
(Proverbs 18:21 ESV)

I broke the study into two weeks: Deadly Words and Words of Life. When I studied for these lessons, I wrote out all the verses in Proverbs dealing with our speech and I ended up with four pages of verses. That was way too much material to cover, even in two messages, so I am going to follow these messages up with a few additional thoughts over the next week or so.

The first is this: You want to be wise? Shut yo mouf, foo. (Or, in the King's English, Discontinue your incessant discharge of discourse, you dope).

The average american speaks a lot of words every day. Many of them, like the previous sentence, are completely useless, or worse, are dangerous and harmful.

The bottom line is that a wise person shuts up. A lot. Fools speak to hear the sound of their voices - the wise realize that life and death are in the power of the tongue, and speak words intentionally and responsibly.

Some Proverbs for your consideration:

Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;
he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
(Proverbs 13:3 ESV)

Whoever restrains his words has knowledge,
and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
(Proverbs 17:27 ESV)

When words are many, transgression is not lacking,
but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.
(Proverbs 10:19 ESV)

And of my favorites - if you don't have any wisdom to offer, offer the wisdom of your silence.

Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
(Proverbs 17:28 ESV)

This is What Community Looks Like

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:37:00 +0000

Lauren and I have been reading through Tim Chester's A Meal with Jesus. It has been a fascinating look at the role of food in the life of Jesus in the gospel of Luke. As Chester says, in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus seems to always be coming from a meal, eating a meal, or traveling to the next one. That sounds like my kind of ministry!

The picture above is our dining room table - and this is one of the primary places we build community. Sharing meals with others is a way to value them with practical service and love. Lauren wrote a blog about the the power of keeping that meal simple and practical. You should check it out.

Eating is a daily reminder that we need something outside of ourselves to sustain us. This is one of God's many ways to remind us that we are not autonomous - we are not independent, isolated beings. We were created by a God of community for community - with him and with each other. Sharing a meal with others is a simple and powerful way to do that.

Everyone gathered around the table - talking, eating, drinking, laughing, and even crying - sometimes everyone gathered around a single big conversation, sometimes in pairs and threes discussing things more intimately - this is a powerful image of the joy and life of community.

22 Thoughts on 22 Years of Marriage

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 04:50:00 +0000

1. Our marriage is older than we were when we got married.
2. One of my first "love letters" to Lauren contained this line: "We go together like a buzzard and death."
3. I realized this year - yes, only this year, after 22 years of marriage - that Lauren has the love language of "gifts."
4. Love will cost you everything - but it gives you more back.
5. I am horrible at celebrating things like birthdays and anniversaries.
6. When we were dating, I wouldn't tell Lauren that I loved her till I knew I wanted to marry her.
7. On the day I proposed to Lauren, she was planning to break up with me.
8. I have countless failings, none of which were even hinted at in Lauren's blog post - 22 reasons why I love my husband.
9. I am humbled and thankful to have a wife who chooses daily to see my strengths instead of focusing on my weaknesses.
10. Lauren is my best friend and God's greatest gift to me. I love and enjoy Lauren more today than ever.
11. I think marriage was designed to work this way - the more you work, the longer you invest, the more deeply you experience God's grace in the heart of it all - the more you get out of it.
12. My kids are incredibly different from each other - and each is a delight to my soul.
13. I am so freaking proud of my kids, I could bust. My greatest joy is that I can see the transforming work of God's grace in each of their lives.
14. Lauren makes the best salsa ever.
15. Lauren has always wanted 5 horses, 5 cows, and 5 chickens. Instead, I have made her live with 7 dogs, 5 cats, some fish, 3 guinea pigs, 2 snakes, 2 doves, 1 iguana, 1 rabbit, and 1 hamster. I am sure I missed a few more.
16. Lauren hates snakes. "Hates" is the right word. She also hates lizards. She doesn't like cats and is really only mildly tolerant of the dogs.
17. Lauren and I love San Diego and everything Northern California. We love the Ocean and the mountains. We love Ireland and Northern Ireland and got to visit there in 2008 for 10 days and returned three days before the public launch of The Journey: Metro East.
18. My favorite memory about all of those trips is simply being with Lauren while we were there.
19. Lauren and I didn't really get along our first year in college. We drove each other nuts. But when I became a believer, we started meeting at 6 am to pray (she was my only friend that would meet me before my first class). We started dating 6 months later.
20. This is how old we were when we got married.
21. Our first apartment was custom designed for a woman named Fee Fee who was 5' 1" tall - we are not 5' 1" tall. That is not the only weird thing about that apartment.
22. Lauren is beautiful and I love her. That's all there is to it.

The Failure of Religion, Politics, and Culture

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 23:10:00 +0000

So they took Jesus ... [and] they crucified him ... Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” ... written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.
(John 19:16-20 ESV)

I am thoroughly enjoying reading Tim Keller's King's Cross. In his chapter called The Turn, this sentence caught my attention, "In condemning Jesus, the world was condemning itself" (102). This got me thinking.

When Jesus was crucified, the inscription posted above Jesus head was meant to be ironic. We don't know why Pilate posted it - was it Pilate's way of trying to completely humiliate Jesus? Was it Pilate's tribute to Jesus, a man he knew was innocent but thought was insane? Was it a passive-aggressive dig at the Jewish leadership for cornering him into crucifying Jesus out of self-preservation - an act he otherwise didn't want to do? Who knows.

While we can't say why Pilate hung that sign, we can say that his action had meaning far beyond anything he anticipated. When he posted that inscription above Jesus, he did it in the three languages that dominated his world: Aramaic, the language of the Jewish religion; Greek, the language of the culture makers; and Latin, the language of the Roman political state.

The self-discipline and morality of religion, the advancement and achievement of human culture, and the power and influence of political power - three forces designed to advance human good and save us from ourselves - came together in unity to reject the claim of kingship from this lowly carpenter. The inscription stood above the condemned and crucified king as a declaration of rejected authority.

And, as Keller states, "In condemning Jesus, the world was condemning itself."

Humanity's best efforts to improve, mature, and protect itself are contained these three fields: religion, culture, and politics. And yet, all three have failed to save humanity from itself. We are as big of a mess as we have ever been.

But Jesus, in being rejected by all three, actually won us an acceptance with God that we were unable to gain for ourselves through our best efforts. As a perfect man, he wasn't just rejected by humans - he stepped into humanity's rejection of God and the judgment we then deserved from God. He stood in our place as our substitute and bore God's rejection for us.

When Jesus rose from the dead, he didn't just rise in his own victory. He rose in victory for all who would trust in him as their substitute. Beyond that, he didn't just rise to take those who would trust him to heaven and away from this earth. He rose to bring heaven back to earth - to re-establish his glory in the created order.

When this risen King brings his restoration project to completion, his glory will once again be evident in all human endeavors. And that means that there's hope - even for religion, culture, and politics.

Finally Finishing a little Homework

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:15:00 +0000

Last summer I started a fence project in our yard. It took a year, but it is now mission accomplished!

We had some unique challenges since we have an odd shaped yard. It's shaped like a baseball diamond sketched out by a drunk guy. And there is an easement running along the back, so we couldn't just go to the property line. Even so, we needed an area fenced for the dogs and our pool.

We considered building a privacy fence all the way around the yard - but didn't like that because it made the yard feel too closed in. It would also have looked pretty dorky because of the way our yard is shaped.

So Lauren came up with a great idea - fence off just less than half the yard with both privacy fence (along the back and front to keep the dogs from barking at people) and picket fencing facing the rest of our yard to open it up. She also liked the idea of building raised beds along the fence for her flowers and vegetable garden. It took me a little while to warm up to the idea, but when I finally saw what she was envisioning, I was sold. The only thing that I decided would make it better was an arbor to tie it all together.

This last week, I finally finished the construction. Yes, it took almost a year to finish. You know what they say - you can have it good, fast, and cheap - as long as you only pick two out of the three. Fast is usually the one I leave out - though occasionally I leave out both fast and good.

I still need to stain the fence - but that will have to wait till later in the summer. I enjoy working with my hands and Lauren's love language is "Acts of Service" - so this has been a win-win!

I sold my truck when I moved to Edwardsville, so I have had to learn how to adapt. The Honda Fit actually has an incredible amount of room - though I did get strange looks from other people in the parking lot each time I made a supply run.

Esther is a great helper, so I recruited her to help. She would say she became the site manager. The truth is somewhere in the middle

You never know what you will find when you start digging. We had to reroute the our downspout drainage system - it ran exactly through one of our fence-post holes!

I hadn't ever built a garden arbor before - thankfully Al Gore created a thing called the internet where you can find anything!

The dogs were a huge help during this process. Or maybe they were just good at being dogs.

And I finally found and hung the trellis pieces this month so Lauren's vines will have somewhere to go. Here is what it looks like now.

Best half-time dance

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:38:00 +0000

OK. This is funny. You're welcome.

Awesome Mascot Dance at Halftime - Watch more Funny Videos

When Shepherds Become Wolves

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:50:00 +0000

I wrote here a while back on the importance of protecting the church from wolves. My thinking was stirred on this subject again a couple weeks ago when I attended Scott Thomas' Gospel Coach training.

Scott compared the process of gospel coaching to the biblical mandate to shepherd the flock. To coach, then, is to know, lead, feed, and protect individual sheep in the flock. Since wolves are an ever-present danger to the sheep, we, as Christ's under-shepherds, must be always ready to use the staff to fight off these predators.

Scott led us to consider again Paul's warning to the Ephesian elders in his farewell address:

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. (Acts 20:28-30)

I have read this many times, but something grabbed my attention this time that I didn't see clearly before. Paul's first admonition isn't to protect the flock, but to pay careful attention to myself and the other leaders around me. Why? Because, Paul says, wolves will rise up "from among your own selves ... speaking twisted things, to draw away disciples after them."

This was a new thought to me. I have to pay careful attention to my own heart - not just because I am a candidate for burn out or because I might slip into performance-based ministry or into some familiar sin - but because I might become a wolf. While I am diligently protecting the flock from all those idiots "out there" who want to come in and steal influence away to themselves, I have the potential to become the chief danger to those whom I lead.

Pastor, you have the potential to become your people's greatest danger.

Sometimes we, the leaders in Christ's church, forget we are under-shepherds and try to steal God's glory for ourselves. We preach not to point people to Christ, but to gain an audience and hear applause. We lead not to spread the influence of Christ's kingdom, but to build our kingdom and expand our influence and to make our names great. Even as we open God's word we are thinking more about our words and how we can use the Bible to further our agenda.

Instead of being being faithful under-shepherds, leading the sheep to Jesus the Great Shepherd, we are in danger of using Jesus as a way to pridefully draw disciples away after ourselves. If I allow this pride to creep in, how long will it take before I start twisting God's word to my own agenda without even realizing it?

This is why I need to coach others in the gospel and why I need to be coached. This why I cannot afford to become isolated in leadership. This is why I can't look at guys who have done stupid things and lost their credibility to lead in God's church and think, What were they thinking? I know what they were thinking - and I am in danger of thinking the same thing.

I need to "pay careful attention" to my own heart. I need others around me who will help me and challenge me to do that - and I need to do it for them.

"Welcome to the Jungle" performed by 2Cellos

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 02:41:00 +0000

Wow.

We Need Something Better Than Accountability Groups

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:34:00 +0000

I was talking with one my leaders at church the other day about why we want to move away from traditional accountability groups specifically for our men (though we are doing the same for our women). We are moving to a gospel-centered Fight Club model instead.

Why?

Because in a street fight, the gospel-centered Fight Club will beat the traditional Accountability Group into submission every time. It is just better and more effective. Why?

First – accountability groups tend to be single-issue focused. Guys join accountability groups to help them because they look at porn or they spend too much money or they have problems controling their temper. The result is a group of guys who are all struggling (and failing) with the same thing in the same ways. This causes the guys involved to start looking at their struggle as an isolated unhealthy behavior instead of as a manefestation of a deeper heart issue.

Gospel-centered Fight Clubs, on the other hand, pool guys together as sinners who need to fight for holiness. One guy’s sin might be porn. Another guy’s sin might be laziness. Another guy might be struggling with cowardice in the work place. But there is a recognition that while our individual struggles might be different, the underlying cause of those struggles is not. We are each struggling to believe the gospel in a way that sets us free as God’s men.

Second – accountability groups focus on the sin instead of the sin under the sin. Since these groups are centered around a single problem behavior, they tend to become focused on behavior modification instead of on heart transformation. Success is measured in terms of eliminating (or reducing) the problem behavior.

Gospel-Centered Fight Clubs, though, aren’t about simply eliminating a behavior. They are about fighting for an inner transformation in line with holiness. Fight Clubs recognize it isn’t enough to simply stop looking at porn – we need to dig deeper to find out why a person is looking at it in the first place – and then finding out how the gospel speaks to that deeper need. The goal of the Fight Club is gospel transformation that leads to true freedom, not just the elmination of specific behaviors.

Third – accountability groups are notorious for being derailed by passivity, shame, and an unspoken agreement not to dig too deep. This doesn’t happen to every group, but it happens to a lot of them. Since everyone in the group is strugging with a similar problem behavior, the people involved can sometimes fall into a lack of engagement because of personal guilt. There comes to be an unspoken agreement: I won’t push too hard on this area for you – so don’t you do it for me.

Gsopel-Centered Fight Clubs, on the other hand, are less prone to this kind of derailment. Since the partcipants are dealing with different surface sins, there is less inclination to create a space for mutual hiding. Also, the goal is clearly stated as heart transformation, not just behavior elimination – so even if the behavior is “under control,” the group will cotinue pushing each other to a mature gospel identity.

Lastly – accountability groups, even when successful, tend to show limited long-term success. Just because a behavior is brought under control doesn’t mean the underlying issue that caused it will not either cause other problems or cause the problem behavior to return. We could catalogue countless stories of guys who went through a group, found a measure of freedom, only to fall back into the same sin patterns (often, even worse).

Gospel-Centered Fight Clubs have a greater potential to have sticking power in a person’s life because the goal is not behavior modificaiton – its character transformation. A person who learns how to identify the sin under the sin gets adept at real repentance. A person who experiences how the gospel addresses their heart cries for security, acceptance, comfort and influence will also experience genuine freedom from their sinful compensating behaviors.

Soul Rest

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:26:00 +0000

We live in a hurried and distracted world. We are overstimulated and bored. We are driven to do more, achieve more, schedule more, and yet feel more disconnected, more left out, and more guilty about what we can't be part of. As a culture, we know how to work hard, play hard, and escape even harder. But we don't know how to rest.

As a result, most of us are running dangerously close to complete melt down. We are frayed and coming undone. I think Weezer said it best (well, maybe not the best... but it will work) in their song Undone (better known as the sweater song). It's a silly little song - but look at the lyrics.

If you want to destroy my sweater
Hold this thread as I walk away
Watch me unravel, I'll soon be naked
Lying on the floor, lying on the floor, I've come undone.

How many of us are so frayed that if that one thread were pulled - we would be naked on the floor curled up in the fetal position. So we spend our time trying to patch our souls even as they are coming unraveled. But for all our managing - all our scheduling - all our little of escapes - all of our denial - we know we are running on a treadmill that is set just a little too fast. Eventually it will get to fast, we will, and get thrown across the room.

Here's the deal. We need rest, not more play or escape. We need to be refreshed and recreated, not just regurgitated to a new day. We need rest. Rest is as essential to our souls as air is to our lungs. We were built to need it. In fact, God built in a daily reminder of our need for rest at the end of every day - sleep is God's way of reminding us that we are finite beings in need of rest. We simply cannot function without it. And in the same way our bodies need sleep, our souls need Sabbath.

Sabbath is God's solution for our soul's need of rest. Sadly, many Christ-followers have ignored Sabbath. They see it as one of those things people did a long time ago and they see it now as an archaic idea that has no relationship to modern life.

Others have turned it into a legalistic duty. They make the same mistake as the first century Jews. They see it as relevant to today, but they undermine its power through their practice. They define it as a day off of work - something to be done to either earn God's favor or avoid his displeasure - and end up working (for God's favor) the whole time they are trying to rest. We need a better understanding of Sabbath.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that true Sabbath rest can only be found in God's finished work.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
(Hebrews 4:9-10 ESV)

After creating for six days, God rested on the seventh. He didn't rest because he was tired. He rested because he was satisfied. He was satisfied with his work and rested in the delight of his own glory and peaceful harmony with it.

On the cross, God worked again. This time, instead of working to create the world, he worked to redeem it. He worked on the cross and rested in the resurrection. He looked at his redemptive work and was satisfied and rested in it.

And this is why Sabbath rest cannot simply be about taking a day off. And this is also why no one who claims Christ as Lord can afford to miss Sabbath. Sabbath rest is gospel rest. Because God is satisfied with Jesus (our Substitute in judgment and our forerunner to glory) he is satisfied with us.

And here's the catch: for us to enter into Sabbath rest, we have to be satisfied in God. In fact, we need to delight in God. We need to rest in God's delight in us - we need to delight in God's rest for us in Christ. We need to stop striving to earn God's favor and start striving to identify every disbelieving tendency of our hearts that blocks us from resting in him.

This is true soul rest, when we cease our striving to make ourselves worthwhile before men or God and simply rest in God's declaration over us: you are right because I made you right. God looks at us as believers and rests in the finished work of Christ. When we look at God, we need to learn to delight in his satisfaction and rest in us. Only then will our souls know true Sabbath rest.

Incredible Fox

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:06:00 +0000

Worth a few minutes of your day. Enjoy.

Why Men MUST Fight

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 02:22:00 +0000

This last week, Trailhead Church in Edwardville had our first Fight Club big group meeting. We talked about why it is vital that we fight with each other for the right things. So, I am going to post the notes from that meeting here in case you were not able to join us. Read this and fight with us. (Special thanks to Darrin Patrick for writing his great book Church Planter and to John Bryson for posting his fight club material online!)

The Crisis of Manhood

Welcome – and good morning

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)

Trailhead’s vision is to create a culture that encourages manhood, not to start another men’s program. We don't need – one more thing to do.

We need a men’s culture – where men are expected to be men – where we have high standards for ourselves and for each other.

This is going to be a huge challenge because we are facing a crisis of manhood in our culture. This is not an overstatement – I am not sensationalizing this: we have a crisis of manhood.

Today – I want to outline the challenge in front of us – to give us a context for the crisis. Most guys only have a vague idea of what manhood is. And I think most guys secretly still question their own metal.

Am I a man? Do I have what it takes? If I stood in the company of real men, would be I accepted as a man?

Darrin Patrick calls this new breed of men, BANS – boy men – 20 and 30 somethings that have extend adolescence indefinitely. Modern culture not only tolerates it – it accepts it and even endorses it as positive.

The boy man sees his job as a necessary evil to continue his play – his true vocation is being a boy. ½ American males 18-34 play video games 3 hours a day (more than their younger male counterparts!). That is 21 hours a week – 44 hours a month – over 1100 hours a year. That's a part time job – a full week’s work of productivity a month – spent on what? Killing virtual aliens? Accumulating virtual achievements?

That is a tremendous amount of wasted productivity. Think about this: John Calvin started studying theology seriously when he was 14; he was 23 when his first commentary was published and 27 when the Institutes was published.

What if he lived today?

In addition to wasting time, BANS are screwed up sexually – they have the sexual drive of men but the commitment level of boys. The only thing BANS spend their money on as freely as video games is pornography. Instead of working hard to earn the respect of respectable women, BANS pretend to be men with their computers on and their pants off.

The average age of marriage is later than its ever been and more people are living together instead of getting married.

Men – corrupted by the fusion of porn and violence in our culture have become more abusive of women. One out of three women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime.

Think about that: 1 out of 3 of our daughters will be sexually assaulted.

America has the highest rape rate of countries that publish such stats – 4x greater than Germany / 13x higher than England / 20x greater than Japan

BAN's delayed commitment to marriage and career enable him to stayed focused exactly where he wants to look: on himself. He is a boy living a masturbatory life – its all about self – self-pleasure – self-fulfillment – self-advancement.

As a result, these guys are confused, angry, bored, and restless.

So, how did we get here?

Historically, there has been a progression that has undermined a healthy culture of father-son relationships. in the African-American culture, it started with slavery. Men were targeted for kidnap and removal from family – created a horrific culture of fatherlessness.

It hit the rest of the country with the industrial revolution. Before that men worked at home – they labored with their family to survive and thrive. Boys were apprenticed by their fathers and there was no such thing as a teen ager. You were either a boy or a man.

Boys became men who helped support their families and then stepped out to start their own. The Industrial revolution took men out of the homes – away from the farms – away from their families. Raising children became women’s work – men worked and came home and checked out in front of the TV.

Boys lives became dominated by women – women raised them, women taught them, women shaped their manhood. But it takes a man to teach a man how to be a man – and culturally we abandoned all rights of manhood. Think about it: We are one of few cultures that do not have a designated cultural process by which a boy becomes a man

So boys made their own rites of passage: first sexual conquest – or repeated sexual conquest; First dollar earned – never enough; First fight – then another and another.

Others – just felt left behind, and learned to avoid things that made them feel less than masculine. They became passive and lived in fear.

Then came the influence of feminism, because the fight went from equality to sameness. Culturally, there was a commitment to blur of the gender lines. And men already immersed in a woman’s world were subtly told that they should be androgynous in their identity.

There were numerous other influences – WW1 and WW2 and introduction of modern warfare – where men were no longer fighting at home with neighbors for protection of family and land. Instead they were shipped overseas to fight with men they did not know for ideas of freedom and liberty. I am not undermining my respect for our soldiers - just saying that war moved from an act of community to another isolated act that, in the end, actually separated them from community.

In addition, increased technological advances have taken the challenge out of survival. It became work to find work. So there was a cultural shift toward the accumulation of luxuries instead of survival.

This, eventually, led to culture of extended adolescence. Men now dominate things that don’t matter but have become useless in things that do.

This is why we started fight clubs

If our church is going to thrive – we need men to be men. And if men are going to be men – they need to be in a company of men who challenge them – encourage them. They men to call them on passivity. They men to encourage them to be bold – to dream – to fight the right fights.

Guys – we as a church community are fighting to make our sisters and wives strong. But most churches are filled with assertive women who drag along their men and tell them to sit still, be quiet, and not to make problems.

Dudes, we need to be men who lead, not follow. Our wives, our sisters, our daughters - need men who will be strong and lead themselves, their families, and their church well.

They need men who are worthy of respect and worthy to be called men of God.

We need men who are in the trenches – fighting for holiness – fighting to be men as God created us to be

So, if you are not in a fight club small group – get in one. Join the online group and find others who want to meet. You don't have to meet face to face - you can connect by phone or Google video chat. But it's too important to stay disconnected.

Our church - our families - our church - can't afford to stand by while our culture wallows in a crisis of real, godly masculinity.

The Pastor's Wife and Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:29:00 +0000

I know I haven't posted in a while... but I have been a little busy starting a church. I have one word to describe the last month and a half of labor: Joy. Seriously. I can't tell you how thick and rich and deep the experience of God's grace has been in it. I will post more about that soon.

But for now - Lauren posted some thoughts on her blog about being a pastor's wife that I want to share with you. You can find it here: Ground of my Own.

If you know me - you know that I am not your typical pastor (if there is such a thing, I guess). I have just kind of tripped through life and God has always directed my stumbling steps to take me where he wants me. Five years ago, I would have laughed at you if you had said I was going to be a pastor.

Well, Lauren never imagined that she would end up as a pastor's wife. The experience has been just as rich and encouraging for her as it has been for me - but she comes from a background where she kind of knew what she was getting into with the whole pastor's wife and family thing (sit on the front row, live under a magnifying glass, have everything together at all times) that so is so common to church culture ... so she is determined to keep it real.

So, read it.

Oh - and here is a link to our new church website if you haven't checked it out yet. It is capital B basic - and I am looking for a web guy to help us do it right... but it works for now! Trailhead Church Edwardsville

Acts 29 and Trailhead

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Mizel) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:50:00 +0000

The book of Acts has 28 chapters - and it is the history of the birth and spread of the early church. The book of Acts ends the only way it could - open-ended. Acts starts telling us a story that is still going on today - it is the story of God calling lost and broken people to himself to heal them and restore them to hope. It is the story of God building his church.

Acts 29 exists to equip and advance the cause of church planting. In order for Trailhead to become a member, I had to go through a series of steps (writing position papers, multiple conversations, and a formal interview of both Lauren and myself) in which my character, my calling, and my skill set were examined. In addition, our church's theology (what we believe about God) and our core missiology (how we live out our faith with those outside the church) were tested to see if they were sound and in line with the Bible.

This week, Trailhead formally became a member of the Acts 29 network of churches. I have a deep respect for the network and am deeply humbled and honored to be counted among them. Our profile has been posted on Acts 29 - check it out!