A Time To Remember

I was working in my yard a few weeks ago and needed some parts for my drip irrigation system.  A local WalMart is just a couple of miles away so I headed over there the night before to purchase the parts and some other items.  I stepped into their large garden center and noticed they had trimmed their selections down to a bare minimum.  To make room for Christmas decorations!

My middle name is NOT Ebenezer.  I love the beauty of this season, even living in a place where many "snowbirds" run around in shorts and tee shirts all winter.  But give me a break.  I found none of my needed parts.  They obviously were back in storage somewhere so the store could sell those decorations.  I had to go out early the next morning and purchase the irrigation parts at a store which specializes in them. I should have started there in the first place.

A couple of years ago, I began to think about the original Christmas.  I tried to separate my thoughts from the cluttered, commercialized version of our current day and go back 2,000 years.  What must it have been like for the very real people whose lives were intersected by angels and thus became the cast of the drama which stands at the center of history?  What did they feel?  What did the unfolding mystery mean to them?  I tried to enter their lives with a story that helps me think about the impact of The Birth as they may have experienced it.

I have called my story Christmas At Innermost.  I hope you will join me this Sunday as it begins...

A Mighty, Rushing Wind

The clear, hot skies of morning surrendered to growing afternoon darkness yesterday. Clouds that had begun boiling up over the mountains east of us gradually covered the heavens. I paid little attention until suddenly...SUDDENLY...a raging torrent of air began to rattle the windows of our office.

Most likely a microburst (they are common here) that lasted maybe a minute. Then someone came to my office door to announce what had happened near the entry to our auditorium.

"The wind blows where it wants to and you hear the sound of it, but you don't know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit." (John 3:8 New Century Version)

In recent times I am seeing it over and over. The wind of God's Spirit blows into the life of a Christ-follower and changes everything. Old norms are turned upside-down and God (not religion, not rules) makes everything new. I never cease being amazed at the power of it.

Raise The Bar

I lifted my arm in a wave as I passed two women on the jogging path at a local park. "I wonder if they noticed how relaxed I am as I zoom past them," I wondered with a bit of pride. I was in fairly good shape and felt great as I glided along. Just after I went around them, I turned on a gravel road to exit the back side of the park and make my way to a canal bank on the way home.

There, blocking vehicle access from the road to the park, was a chain stretched out about a foot above the ground. "I'll just hop over that," I said to myself while taking long strides, "and head down the road. Almost home!"

SPLAT!

The next thing I knew, I was picking myself up from the gravel, road rash on hands, knees and one shoulder. I was still wondering about the people I passed just moments before. "I'm sure they are really impressed now!" I was also hearing a voice in my head say, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Some lesson!

Obviously I'm not the one to talk about today's subject. How can I speak about raising the bar if I can't even jump it when it's ridiculously low? Well, I hope I'm in a little better shape to speak of it as a value we hold at Stone Ridge Church. I'll be careful as I talk about it, though. I remember the thing about pride, destruction and falling.

Our church has sought ways to communicate to people, "Come as you are!" But we try to show the goodness of God not to leave us like we are. Many of us sought God because our lives were a mess. Following Jesus is far more than simply changing our eternal location; it's changing the way we live our lives every day. Most of us, if we are honest, desperately need God to make some changes in us.

Raising the spiritual bar is not God's way of increasing the requirements we must meet to experience His forgiveness. It is, however, a lifetime of spiritual stretching exercises that God Himself often orchestrates to conform us to the image of Christ (Romans 12:2). Inch by spiritual inch, He keeps developing our character, helping us live like the new creation He designed us to be.

Here's the problem and it's the reason we specifically stated "Raise the Bar" as a Stone Ridge value. Far too many churches get stuck in spiritual ruts. Communities that were once vibrant and growing have settled into the spiritual doldrums.

One reason, I believe, is that the requirements for spiritual leaders aren't much different than the requirements for church membership. A few outward signs of commitment (like attending, giving and serving) are enough to be a spiritual leader. No one stops to see if the character of Jesus is being formed in them. No one asks that Biblical requirements for leaders, listed in books like 1 Timothy and Titus, be present for one to lead.

If the leaders don't have spiritual passion, no wonder the church spends most of its time wounded on the gravel road rather than racing along a God-designed spiritual journey.

Don't Stay Where You Are

I knew him when he was in his middle years. The challenges of a growing family, the responsibilities of a high-demand job and the extra load of a side business seemed to occupy his time. His involvement in church was hit and miss, though I could sense that he had an earlier season when his heart burned bright with hope and vision of reaching his community with the love of Christ.

The metaphor of a siding off a major rail line comes to mind. At one time this man had obviously been going down the track with great joy, but the worries and cares of life (along, perhaps, with the deceitfulness of riches) had captured his attention and he chose to dwell on the siding.

The siding can be fine for very short stays. It's where we can be repaired so we can get back on the rail and into fully serving our purpose. But there is something insidious, even diabolical, about the siding as a permanent stop in our spiritual lives.

The ugliness of the siding was seen clearly by the time I knew the man. As he watched the trains of spiritual life roll past him, he used his considerable influence to discourage others around him from getting back on track. His long tenure in the place where he lived had given him the ear of many who, like him, had taken a respite along the side rail. Like him, they lingered there until they considered the siding the normal place for spiritual travelers and voiced their disdain for any and all who dared stay on the main tracks and move past them.

Tragically, the man I have described was real. Sadly I tell you that I believe his heart once burned with desire to keep moving as he followed Christ. With a broken heart, I tell you that I watched him slow (and sometimes stop) the spiritual progress of an entire church.

Unfortunately, he was also an Everyman of sorts. He represents a bloated and ever-growing number of people who have left their first love for an empty life on the side. The siding is deceptive; make sure it doesn't fool you.

"Don't Stay Where You Are." It's our second value at Stone Ridge Church.

An Open Letter To Wesley King of the Willow Creek Association

Dear Wesley,

"It's about the church, capital 'C', not small 'c'." Those were your words at the very beginning of our conversation over nine months ago. The decision to become a "Host Site" took weeks of prayer and discussion among our Team, but I think that statement hooked me from the very beginning.

You didn't know it at the time, but I could remember a season when the Church in our region was working together extensively. Over a number of years we gradually drew apart. Without doubt, some have tried various ways to open the communication lines again, but I have noticed our churches throughout this area have been more like grain silos than like a continuous tapestry of varicolored fields. During this time, some of the churches (including ours) have grown. A few new churches have started and are making an impact. But overall, we became strangers to each other...

...until last week!

Bill Hybels began the 2010 Global Leadership Summit with thoughts about The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Having the Guts to Respond. It would be understatement to say that our journey from that opening conversation with you to the last Summit session was a veritable chain of "whispers." For instance, you opened the door to the possibility that we could find ways to involve the Hispanic community, both here and across the Mexican border, ten miles away. That one idea made it possible for approximately 25 people to attend the Summit.

Another "whisper" occurred when I sat down for coffee with a pastor whom I have known for years, but we had little real connection. This Lutheran brother was immediately gripped by what the Summit could mean in his portion of the faith community. His church signed on as an Assisting Church and he worked hard to reach some congregations we would never have reached otherwise. I wish you could have been in his church's conference room one morning when four of us sat down for a brief conversation and prayer. Hearing him pray for our community touched me in a deep way and has kindled what I believe will be a long-term bond as we face the future.

One way God whispered was through the many conversations I had with a variety of pastors about the Summit. Virtually every one of them has recently been burdened with the deep needs of our region and the impossibility that any of our churches can face them alone. Pastor after pastor, some who were unable to attend the Summit, said, "We want to find ways to work together with the other churches. Please tell us when we can meet with others."

During the lunch break at the Summit on Thursday, people sat around tables and began discussing some of the deepest needs in our region. They started forging relationships to see how we can work together. Just one example of the power of this was when a young mom in our church spoke about a pilot initiative we are beginning which will place adults in a local elementary school to encourage/mentor/tutor young students. She still needs a few helpers for this pilot project and was asked by a staff pastor at the local Episcopal church if some of his people might help. "Yes!" was her reply. In return, she (a classroom teacher herself) agreed to train others from his church so they can take the ministry other places.

Whispers from God, Wesley, over and over again. The last one I will mention was more like a shout to me. The final session had just concluded and I turned around. Pastor Raul, who shepherds two Hispanic mission churches we support, came up to me with tears in his eyes. In broken English, he said, "Thank you for doing this for us." We embraced and I emotionally acknowledged his gratitude. I thought he was about to walk away when he grabbed me in a bear hug again. This time he started sobbing. "Thank you for helping us!" he choked out.

During the break before the final Summit session, I was approached by pastor after pastor and leader after leader saying, "Thank you for doing this! Thank you for investing in us!" I echo those words to you, my friend. Thank you for investing in our church. Thank you for taking a chance on us. On behalf of all the churches that participated, we are eternally grateful!

Sincerely,

Sam Norris

Come As You Are

He had patrolled the blood-soaked streets of Mogadishu and endured the harsh desert of Iraq, but it was the pain of events back home that brought him to the brink of hopelessness.

I received a call one morning from a guy in our church; a call from someone who never called. "I have a friend," he said. "He's going through some pretty rough stuff and isn't sure he can go on with life. Can you see him?" I just happened to have an opening that morning, something that can be quite rare in my schedule. "Can he come right away?" I asked.

The man walked in, eyes downcast and shoulders slumped. He spoke of his despair and his longing to know that Someone could offer him hope. At least a sliver.

That man, who today is a leader in our church, was a living picture of our first value at Stone Ridge: Come as you are!

To contrast, I saw a family walk into one of our recent services. Parents and two or three kids, who looked to be in their young teens. As I noticed the relatively conservative clothes they wore (girls in dresses and boy in sport shirt and slacks) along with the somewhat stiff way they walked, I thought, "Uh-oh. They may be in for a surprise." Our Ignite worship band was leading that morning; the same band that leads Ignite for teens on Saturday nights. Let's just say that they aren't "traditional." The young man who leads them used to be in a touring band and has body art all the way down one arm. He passionately loves Jesus, but he ain't, er, traditional. At the end of the service, I noticed that the family quietly left and I don't think they have been back.

Please don't get me wrong; I have a deep level of compassion and respect for the family I just described, but they struck me as people whose whole view of attending church is different than ours. We seek to embody the value "Come As You Are." For most of us, the button-down, spit-shined version of ourselves is a person we like to be, but we would admit that looking good is in many ways just a veneer. In other words, our lives are marred by schisms, struggles and stresses that take their toll on us. Nearly every day.

Unfortunately, many of us took the admonition to "give your best to God" to mean, "Act like everything is great even though it isn't." In an era when our culture regularly grinds people up and spits them out, we have learned to walk into church with what I call our "plastic Jesus smile" on our faces. Most of us desperately need healing, but we act like we're the people who have it all together.

Stone Ridge isn't like that. I have dubbed my office as a "free-cry zone." We have boxes of tissues sitting at various places all over our campus and they are not primarily for allergy season. Jesus called the weary and those carrying a heavy burden to come to him. He said that He was here to rescue the downtrodden. One day He told the religious leaders that it is the sick who need a physician; they saw themselves as having it all together and He couldn't help them.

At our church we urge you, "Come As You Are!" It's the first step to becoming someone different.

Leadership Summit, August 5-6

Stone Ridge!

Global Leadership Summit is August 5-6 on our campus. Without doubt, those two days will be some of the most encouraging and stretching you will experience this year. If you serve at Stone Ridge, please sign up! The cost is $75. If you need help with part or all of it, please contact office@stoneridgechurch.com about a scholarship. Many other churches from the region will be here and we are praying that this will be but the beginning of a great movement of God here in Yuma.

What is Global Leadership Summit? Watch this...

July 19th is the last day for us to turn in names of participants before the Summit begins. Why not contact us at the church office today and sign up!