church – Pastor Barry's Blog

Too Good To Be True…

Don’t we all long for the assurance that something we believe in is true? Don’t we wish we could look at something, read something, or hear something and believe it? Why are we such skeptics? Why do we question?

For instance, if we see a picture and it is too hard to believe, what do we say about it? We say it has been photo shopped. If we see a video and it is too hard to believe, what do we say about it? We say it has been digitally altered and edited.

We truly are at a point that we can’t believe our eyes. We are conditioned to believe something isn’t 100 percent real. It looks real. It feels real. It may even smell real. But we know it isn’t real. We are conditioned to doubt. We are conditioned to question.

Look at magic shows. We know someone really doesn’t saw a person in half. We know a magician doesn’t really make a tiger disappear. We know there is a trick; we know there is a gimmick. We just are seeing the whole picture. So we question, we wonder, we doubt.

Look at movies. We go to them to be entertained. To be drawn into a world that isn’t real. Take for instance the movie inception. That itself is a movie based on a premise that we don’t know the difference between what is real and what is just a dream being played out totally in our minds. The hero can tell….he just has to spin a top and if it falls….its real.

How about the movie Soul Surfer? The real Bethany Hamilton lost her arm in a shark attack. The actress in that movie (AnnaSophia Robb) had hers digitally removed in postproduction. Sure looks like she lost it. Sure looks like it has been removed. Even Lt. Dan lost both of his legs in Forest Gump but the last time I say a picture of Gary Sinise he had both of his.

Do you see what I am getting at? We are being conditioned to doubt, to question, to know that something isn’t real. We are training ourselves to know that there is some sort of gimmick. Don’t get me wrong…. it is good to question…. it is good to learn…. but it is sad when we doubt everything. It is sad when we truly believe in nothing. It is sad when we have no assurance.

So this brings me right back to my question. Don’t you really wish and long for something that seems to good to be true to actually be true?

The cross of Jesus Christ represents just that. It represents something that seems too good to be true, but isn’t! It represents grace – that free gift of something we don’t deserve. Grace that was given out of love, pure unconditional no strings attached love. Does that sound too good to be true? It isn’t because the cross is about love and we can believe it. It says, “Greater Love hath no man than the one who would lay is life down for another,” John 15:13.

Jesus says in John 8:30-32, “Then many who heard him say these things believed in him, ‘you are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teaching. And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.’“

If you believe the truth you will have two things….you will be free and you will be my disciples. To be free is to be released, liberated, or delivered from something. To be a disciple is to embrace and assist in spreading the teachings of another.

As we look at what the cross of Jesus Christ know that we can have assurance. We can have 100% trust that what we are hearing and reading from the Bible is NOT too good to be true.

The Cross says “Believe in ME!”

Until next time….

Pastor Barry

Tools and Tool Boxes…

As many of you know…and others should be able to figure out…I recently moved. This was no easy task. In fact it was rather difficult. But my family had some great help on both ends of the journey and we could not have done ANY of it by ourselves. Well – maybe – except that we would still be in the process more than we already are because you can put a lot of items into a house. While packing the stuff just kept appearing out of closets, cupboards, and who knows where.

Some things were hard to pack like the drum set for my WII Rock Band Game and other things were easy. Probably the easiest thing to pack was my tool chest. It was my grandfathers and it is mostly loaded with tools from him and my other grandpa.

Both men were “tinkerers” of sorts. One repaired televisions and organized every screw he ever came across into little glass baby food jars. He would mount the lids in such a fashion so that you could screw and unscrew the glass jar from a shelf above his workbench in order to access the contents. Really kinda cool! The other was a mechanic. Technically, he worked for the railroad and was a consultant in overhauling diesel engines. He could bring any engine back to life…no matter if it was a lawnmower, a Corvair that had been sitting in a shed for 40 years, or a huge ocean going container ship.

I have great memories of th0se guys…and when I open my tool chest…it is their hands I see…

But as I mentioned, that tool chest was easy to pack. Close the lid – lock the drawers – and wheel it outside. Unloading was just as easy! And I am glad it was. Because I needed stuff out of it. We needed to unpack boxes and put together beds and hang pictures and….well, you get the point. And the tools I needed were in that chest.

There are a lot of tools in there, which allow me to do a lot of things. There are your standard screw drivers, wrenches, and pliers – but there are also tools that are highly specific and do just one thing. Like the tool that pulls the wheel bearing out of the axel on your car….yeah…I have one of those. Doesn’t do me any good because I never paid attention when my dad and grandpa showed me how to use it. But I have one!

So the other night I sat putting together a bed and I was thinking about the tool I was using and then thinking about all the people that were helping us unpack. People from the church. Each one different. Each one with a different talent. Each one designed to do just the right thing. Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (NLT)

¹²The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. ¹³Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles,* some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.* ¹⁴Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. ¹⁵If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? ¹⁸But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. ¹⁹How strange a body would be if it had only one part! ²⁰Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. ²¹The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” ²²In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. ²³And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, ²⁴while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. ²⁵This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. ²⁷All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

Yep – the moral of this whole post is that we all have a job to do. We have all been designed by God to do something for the Kingdom! What did he design you to do?

Until Next Time…

Pastor Barry

Community…

Last summer I took a group of youth on a short-term mission trip. We had the opportunity to travel to El Paso, Texas and run some soccer camps. As I look back I have to laugh at this for two reasons: First – only a few of us had any experience with soccer and that was mainly with watching it on ESPN, and Second– we were holding camps in a community where children seem to be given soccer balls at birth. Yep – most if not all – of the kids we worked with probably learned to kick a soccer ball long before they learned to walk… Regardless, we had fun.

One of the things I noticed while there was how the families and the churches participated in community – they were WITH each other outside of their individual homes. It seemed that no matter where we were, there were big groups gathering together, something that just doesn’t happen where I am from. You just don’t see it here in the Pacific NW like I saw it there. You can call it cultural or whatever you want, but me, I will call it awesome.

Last night we got together as a church outside of the building and in a local park. It was great. Many families were there and we brought games, food, and just hung out. There was no agenda, no schedule, and no pressure to do anything but just be with each other. It was intentional and it was fun (except for the part where I failed miserably in the game of kick ball – I will blame it on my age). We scheduled it and made a point to gather together…

It got me thinking. What does it mean to be in community with someone? What does it mean to experience it? Do we throw around the word community too much? Has it lost its meaning? I would like to know your thoughts. What do you think?

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

Dangerous Church…

The other day I picked up a copy of Dangerous Church, a book written by a pastor in the same town where I minister. The author, John Bishop, is an unapologetic crusader for the Kingdom of God. I am glad to have been able to witness his life and ministry firsthand and to call him my friend. With that said, I want to tell you that I loved this book, and not just because a friend wrote it.

In Dangerous Church John Bishop is transparent, authentic, and inspiring. John gives you a heartfelt journey of his experience through his successes AND his failures. The challenges and insights, which he writes about, make you think twice about what it means to do ministry. If you are serious about doing Kingdom work, and Luke 9:23 tells us Kingdom work is serious, then this book is a must read.

After reading you will walk away with the truth that ONLY GOD can fuel a thriving ministry and that you have to be desperate for God!

“As we prepare to be released into our communities, we must intentionally cultivate a culture that is desperate to reach people for Jesus…To become a dangerous church, we as leaders must intentionally remind people of the truth about eternity and develop a culture that is desperate to reach the lost…Our churches will never have this sense of desperation to preach the gospel until we help them understand the reality of how short this life is and how our actions and decisions in this life affect eternity.” [excerpt from, Dangerous Church, pages 130 & 131]

I don’t know about you, but I’m desperate!

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

Easter Sunday (a.k.a. Picture Day)…

Yesterday was Easter – a busy day around our house! As a pastor, Sundays and the weekend are always busy, but when it’s Easter weekend the level of activity ramps up just that much more. You have to plan for Easter…

For example – just try and eat out after church on Easter without any reservations. You’ll find you are quickly relegated to the local Mexican Restaurant or your neighborhood McDonald’s. (Those are great places but definitely not what your wife would hope you would choose for Easter dinner.)

Easter morning arrives and we (the pastoral staff) have an awesome service planned. Today is the day that the “CEO’s” will be in church. And by “CEO” I mean the Christmas and Easter Only crowd – you know the ones you see in church only twice a year.

We know the crowds will be bigger and everyone wants the service and the day to be excellent – not just the pastors. All you have to do is watch the parade of people dressed to the nines with their new Sunday threads. This seams to be the day that new suits, hats, shoes, dresses, sweaters, and shirts make their debut. So much so that I have secretly taken to calling Easter by it’s other little known name – “Picture Day.”

It’s no different in my house. I know that it’s a special day because my daughters have new dresses, new shoes, and new accessories. Even the hot rollers have appeared on the bathroom counter just waiting for their role in this special occasion. In fact, I have to confess, I picked out (and wore) a tie for the day…

Everyone is dressed – the car is loaded – the camera is grabbed – and off we go!

This is where the picture day part comes in. Easter is a special day in the church. In fact it is THE day in the church. So it is natural that we do things extra special on this Sunday. The kids have a small program, the choir sings, baptisms are scheduled, eggs are hunted, brunch is served, and everyone is dressed to impress!

But as I sit here this Monday morning after Easter I am actually kind of disappointed. Not in my Easter experience – it was incredible and the service was amazing! But I sit disappointed because next week isn’t Easter. The cameras won’t be there….the “CEO’s” won’t be there….the fanfare won’t be there….

“Picture Day” has come and gone for another year. As a pastor this severely disappoints me! Why does it have to be that way? Why can’t we as a church strive to have every Sunday be “Picture Day?”

Let me challenge you….let’s take it a week at a time….let’s make this next year a year of 52 Sunday’s all being treated as “Picture Day’s.” The day that you roll out the very best to worship a risen Savior! The day that everything is excellent….

Now that would be cool!

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

“Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com”