passion – Pastor Barry's Blog

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

Treasure Hunter…

Goonies is one of my all time favorite movies, after all what kid can’t identify with at least one of the characters. For those of you unfamiliar with the movie – Mikey, Brandon, Chunk, Mouth, Andy, Stef, and Data are a ragamuffin group who call themselves the “Goonies.” In short they find a pirate’s treasure map and ultimately…. (well I can’t really tell you because that would ruin the movie.)

This got me thinking. Who wouldn’t want to find a treasure map? Who hasn’t dreamed of stumbling upon untold riches? It’s the stuff stories and legends are made from. It’s contagious and infectious…just look around your city. How many times have you seen someone with a metal detector walking in a park or on a beach or in a vacant lot? Those people are looking for treasure!

I can’t tell you how many forts and secret hideouts I built as a kid. Each one was built around the premise of finding secret treasure. Occasionally I would find something – usually an old tool or a piece of wire or even a rock that looked like an arrowhead. Nothing ever very valuable – but it was the adventure that made it exciting.

The other day my wife and I were talking and she recommended that I read Proverbs 2. (On a side note – I have the best wife in the world!) So I started reading….

¹ My child,listen to what I say,
and treasure my commands.
² Tune your ears to wisdom,
and concentrate on understanding.
³ Cry out for insight,
and ask for understanding.
⁴ Search for them as you would for silver;
seek them like hidden treasures.
⁵ Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord,
and you will gain knowledge of God.
⁶ For the Lord grants wisdom!
From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Did you catch that? Read it again….

God calls us to be treasure hunters! He tells us to search for wisdom, insight, and understanding like you would hidden treasure! And the best part is that we will find what we are looking for!

It’s about passion. Treasure hunters hunt with passion. They go after something full force and totally sold out. I can’t think of a better way to follow God than as a TREASURE HUNTER!

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

Helpless but not hopeless…

One of the privileges I have as a pastor is being able to teach in small group settings. Yesterday, during one of these groups, we were discussing some of the insights found in the 8th Chapter of Luke. Specifically, we looked at a couple of stories where Jesus healed in response to faith – the woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding and the synagogue leader Jairus whose daughter lay dying.

Two different people. One man. One woman. One rich. One poor. One respected. One shunned. One powerful. One powerless. One approached Jesus from the front. One snuck up from behind. I think you get the picture. So there I am as a reader, imagining Jairus having his people clearing the crowd as he strides up to Jesus, while the woman is dodging and weaving and perhaps even crawling just so she could touch Jesus’ garment….

But, no matter their differences, one thing made them equal…. Their FAITH! Both had an unmistakeable hope that Jesus could help them if they could only get to Him and fall at His feet!

What an amazing posture….falling at the feet of Jesus. Here are two utterly helpless individuals doing absolutely the only thing (albeit best thing) remaining for them to do. Fall at the feet of Jesus. They were helpless but they were definitely not hopeless!

Where are you today? Do you feel helpless? The good news is that no matter who we are, no matter what hand life has dealt us, and no matter what we have done. Jesus is there to give us hope. The only thing we have to do is make our way to Him and fall at His feet…

Until next time…

Pastor Barry