We Build Men Who Love God

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The title of this blog post is a value of Curwensville Alliance. We own it. If you want to know more about it, you can click here, where I speak of it in some detail.

Read any good books lately?

Several years ago — maybe 2005 — I invited some men to join me in growing our faith. At first, we met very early in the morning. If memory serves, some men of strong commitment met at 5:30 a.m. in the nearby truck stop. We moved from there to a few more local places. Currently, we meet at The Dutch Pantry.

Each week, the guys read a chapter of a pre-chosen book in advance, highlighting things that stand out and jotting down any thoughts or questions they might have about the content.

The group has varied in size from as many as 18 to as few as 3. It probably averages 8-10.

The agenda of our gatherings is simple.

  1. Order breakfast.
  2. Share stories from your past week.
  3. Pray and eat breakfast.
  4. Discuss what stood out in the book.
  5. Hang out until you have to go.
  6. Leave a good tip and pay for your meal.

As we began, many guys were reluctant to join.

“Pastor Steve, I like breakfast,
but I’ve not read a book
since I finished high school.
And back then, I hated it.”

I encouraged them to give it a try, and to their credit they did.

So, here, well over a decade later, a list of books we’ve read include.

  1. Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas
  2. Rumors of Another World: What on Earth Are We Missing?, Philip Yancey (I’m not sure we finished this one.)
  3. A Man’s Guide to the Spiritual Disciplines: 12 Habits to Strengthen Your Walk With Christ, Patrick Morley
  4. Uncommon, Tony Dungy
  5. For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women, Shaunti Feldhahn
  6. Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul, John Eldredge (We might have read this one twice.)
  7. The Love Dare, Stephen Kendrick
  8. Hero: Becoming the Man She Deserves, Fred Stoker
  9. Secondhand Jesus, Glenn Packiam
  10. A Traveler’s Guide to the Kingdom: Journeying Through the Christian Life, James Emery White
  11. No More Christian Nice Guy: When Being Nice–Instead of Good–Hurts Men, Women and Children, Paul Coughlin
  12. The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of Christian Faith, Timothy Keller
  13. The Resolution for Men, Alex Kendrick · Randy Alcorn · Stephen Kendrick
  14. Who Do You Think You Are: Finding Your True Identity in Christ, Mark Driscoll
  15. The Explicit Gospel, Matt Chandler
  16. The Me I Want to Be, John Ortberg
  17. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ with Bonus Content (Designed for Influence), Dallas Willard
  18. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, Timothy Keller
  19. Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There, Leonard Sweet
  20. Shaken: Discovering Your True Identity in the Midst of Life’s Storms, Tim Tebow
  21. Seven Men and the Secret of their Greatness, Eric Metaxes
  22. Seeking Allah,  Finding Jesus, Nabeel Qureshi
  23. The Tech-wise Family, Andy Crouch
  24. Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller
  25. The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer
  26. Stepping Up: A Call to Courageous Manhood, Dennis Rainey
  27. Shame Interrupted, Ed Welch
  28. Crazy Love, Francis Chan
  29. Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller
  30. Mere Christianity, CS Lewis

For a group of guys, many of whom said they don’t like reading, I think they are doing well.

What have you read lately?

You’re welcome to join us. Interest has grown so much that there are now two groups meeting. One Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. and one Tuesdays at 7 p.m. See me or Tim Smay for information.

-Pastor Steve

What Will Be Remembered

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On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Although FDR rightly described it as a day that would live in infamy, my mother, being 21 years of age, said to herself, “Ugh! War! Well, I will pay it no attention at all,” and set her mind to ignore it completely.

That worked for one day.glennandmarymilitarymarriage

On December 8, 1941, my father and mother met.

They fell in love and Dad was drafted to serve in the European Theater.

On December 12, 1942, just over a year later, they married.

The war Mom had resolved to ignore turned out to be the focus of her attention.

On October 16, 1944, Dad was wounded on the battlefield and had to be evacuated to England, and then returned home to the farm near Brookville, where he and mom lived a good life until he died in 2001.

It’s strange to imagine that one day people will regard these events in much the same way as I regard World War I or The War of 1812 — mere historic events, void of personal connection. It’s strange. Kind of sad. And a bit sobering.

We like to think that the memories of our loved ones will live on in the course of human history, but, as someone has rightly observed, our great-grandchildren will probably know nothing about us much beyond our names. Any knowledge beyond that will be merely trivial and quite impersonal. And choosing to ignore this reality is no more realistic than a 21-year-old choosing to ignore World War II.

But there is an event in human history that never fades and always remains personal. It’s the Advent of the Christ Child. This event — this divine life — is as personal to you and me as we want it to be. It can be as personal to us as it was to those who witnessed it firsthand, because what Jesus offers is a relationship with himself — the Risen King, the Living God.

On the wall of their home, Dad and Mom had a plaque that contained these words: Only one life; ’twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.

It’s good to recall days that live in infamy. It’s important to study human history. But here’s something I constantly remember — what lasts throughout eternity has Christ at the center.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable.
Always work enthusiastically for the Lord,
for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
1 Corinthians 15:58 (NLT).

“You Can’t Reboot Childhood” -Steiner-Adair

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screenshotIf you know me at all, you know I am not an “alarmist”. And if you know me at all, you know I enjoy technology. So this may seem an odd post, because it seems to be alarmist concerning technology.

While I was hunting today, I was listening to a podcast from thevilliagechurch.net, and heard them interviewing Catherine Steiner-Adair regarding her research for her book, The Big Disconnect. Steiner-Adair has some important things to say about the effect our use of technology has on our children — and our relationship with them. She also addresses when and where to permit children to engage technology.

The second portion of the podcast is about Thanksgiving. You can skip that, if you like, but if you interact with children, the first 39 minutes of this podcast may be important for you to hear.

And, yeah, I did not miss the irony of me using technology to alert you to a potential problem in the use of technology. 😉

The audio from the podcast is here.

Guard Your Heart Against Hatred

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I shared this Sunday morning in both services. I write it here for those who may have come in late or missed it. I share it because I love people — I love you. And as your pastor, I want to ask you to guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23). Guard it against hatred.

It’s always interesting to me to see how things coincide.

For example, in recent days some in the media (both commercial and social) have reported on Christians who were angry with Starbucks for using Christmas colors on their cups, but not mentioning Christmas. From some of the reports, one would think that Christians were taking to the streets by the thousands, outraged over this atrocity. This was not the case. I am sure there were a few Christians who felt angry about this, but as a friend of mine posted:

i have 1484 Facebook friends, more than 1300 of them are Christians and 0 of them have posted about how offended they are about red cups. #NotOurFight

As a Christian, I find myself troubled, not by the fact that Starbucks doesn’t proclaim Messiah’s birth. What I find troubling is being stereotyped as having the same views as a minority group of Christians.

My Baptist friends felt this intensely when that whack-o, Fred Phelps and his family took the name Baptist into the headlines with his hate-speech concerning homosexuality. Every Christian I know was outraged by Phelps abuse of Christianity. Baptists were, rightly so, all the more outraged that he used their name.

Most of us resist being mischaracterized.

Every group, from the media, to religious types, to irreligious atheists, to fishermen, to Americans, to Asians, to athletes, to redheads, to blondes, to teens, to senior citizens has members who do not represent the whole of the group. This is a problem that comes with being in a society. Perhaps a greater problem is when society chooses to judge every member of any group by the behavior of the few.

I heard a statistic recently regarding the number of people in the United States claiming to be Muslim compared to the number of mosques in the United States. The point was that the vast majority of Muslims in the States could not go to the mosque even if they wanted to, simply because there is not enough room for them. The vast majority are, evidently like “Christians” here and there — nominal. If you don’t care enough to go to your own house of worship, you’re probably not radical regarding your faith.

Yet, just as some in the media (commercial and social) mischaracterizes Christians concerning the color of Starbucks cups, based on the action of a few, they mischaracterize all Muslims as being evil, based on the despicable actions of a minority.

That’s not right.

Being labeled as a nut-job because some in your tribe are mad at Starbucks is pretty trivial. Being labeled as a terrorist because some in your tribe are so — that would be alarming.

Bearers of the Good News of Christ have spent vast resources on helping all people find forgiveness and honor in the work of Jesus on the cross. Gracious people have given money. Others have given time. Some have given a lifetime of service. Some are giving right now, on the field. Some have given their lives. They have done this because they understand that the phrase, “the world” in John 3:16 means “the world”. And, according to some sources, their investment is paying off. Lives are being changed and people who it seemed would never open their hearts to Jesus are doing so at a level not seen in our lifetime. But I have heard these workers say that their work is made more difficult when believers speak words of hatred toward their audience. Hatred builds walls. Walls close off opportunities to share the way of eternal life.

Closing our hearts and closing our doors and closing our minds is counter-productive to both the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-39) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).

Christians need to stop treating others the way some in the media (commercial and social) treat us.

You don’t have to agree. Sharper people than you and me have opinions that differ, one from the other.

But as your pastor who loves you I say this: You have to guard your heart. Hatred isn’t healthy for you.

About that One Who Pushes You

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Take a moment and think of someone who was part of your life who was also hard on you, personally. Maybe it was a parent — always riding you about your laziness. Or maybe it was a teacher — always nagging you concerning your academic performance. Or maybe it was a good friend who was always on your case about something in your life where you weren’t doing as well as you could have done.

Do you have that person in your mind? Good. Let’s call him Chauncey.

Now consider this question: Why was Chauncey so hard on you? Did Chauncey hate you? Probably not. Was it because Chauncey wanted to ridicule you? I doubt it. Was Chauncey generally obnoxious? Not really.

Here’s what I have noticed about myself: I am generally the most frustrated with the people in whom I see the greatest potential. If I see little potential in someone, I have small expectations of them. If I see great potential in someone, and I see time passing by without them pursuing their potential, I become disturbed — for their sake. And the degree of anger I feel concerning this shortcoming in their life will correspond with the depth of my love for them.

In chapter five of his excellent book, The Reason for God, Tim Keller considers the question, How can a loving God be an angry God? As he addresses this, Keller points out that when you have love, you are bound to have anger against anything that injures what you love. Keller quotes Becky Pippert, who writes, Anger isn’t the opposite of love. Hate is, and the final form of hate is indifference. I get that, because it is generally those that I love the most and wish the best for with whom I become the most frustrated.

This helps explain why some say, “I feel more acceptance from my drinking buddies than I feel from the people I go to church with.” Sometimes this is a matter of projection — the speaker is projecting a disposition onto his church family that most of them do not own. Other times it’s a matter of “Christians” being overly-critical. That happens.

But there’s a third explanation: Maybe his drinking buddies don’t really want the best for him or the best of him. Maybe they want nothing more from him than for him to be a good old boy. In contrast, maybe his brothers and sisters in Christ want the best for him and the best of him. And when he fails to pursue that very thing, the friends who love him most let him know.

Could this be the explanation for the behavior of Chauncey — the person that pressures you toward better things?

And whether it is the explanation or not, how would your life be different if you were to see those who press for the best for you and in you as an ally?