I've moved to:
620 Christopher St.
Warrensburg MO 64093.

My Problem

I haven't been sleeping well the past few days. And I doubt it's because I moved to a new place. That could be part of the reason, but mostly I think it is the stew of diverse thoughts brewing in my head. My mind has been restless; I picture the dam-ming of a powerful river that does not want to be dammed. The flood is bent on being free; bent on causing damage to its limiting agents. (I know that analogy fails at several points, mainly the likening of my intellect to a 'powerful river') It is probably more like a trickle.

They say that anger stored up can kill. I say that the Truth stored up would burn you and eat you alive. What do I mean by that? My problem is this: Jesus and His life and His kindness and His Gospel and His offer of salvation and His Kingdom and His Father, the entire thing we sum up (very uneffectually) as Christianity is killing me. In a good way. Jesus is my consuming conflagration. I am learning that there is nothing better than dying to my self. Nothing better than proclaiming His Kingdom. Nothing better than loving Him and worshiping Him and glorifying Him.

My problem again, is that it's stored up. Someone else needs to know. Someone else needs to hear. It is the wonderful news. It is the very best news. That is why I am grateful for the church-planting opportunity in the Fall. I get to tell my friends about Jesus Christ! How absolutely exciting would that be?!?

Understand that I am not intending the following statements to be a bragging-fest. But this is my way of embracing a calling whole-heartedly, putting myself out there, and hopefully to live life worthy of being called a "little Christ". Besides, nothing this good should be embraced half-heartedly! Join me in prayer. Admonish me and correct me. And give me (much needed) grace.

I am a church-planter. I plant churches. I point students to Christ. And I teach them to point other students to Christ, who in turn, point more people to Christ.

Let me resolve, now then,
to be gentle
If ever my heart threatens to shrivel
from disdain or contempt or unholy wrath,
usher Yourself in cooling flood.

I wasn't joking when I said I needed to "be nice to everyone". That is especially hard for me because of my quickness of tongue. It was much worse before, though. My heart inclines to point out mistakes and rebuke another. I do it in the name of "honesty", but perhaps I need to be doing it out of love. As we live a missional life, the church is going to welcome many different people into its fold. That means many messy people and many different opinions. I was reminded this weekend that a church is there to help people feel that they belong to a community of imperfect people(us), believe in Christ, and then become like Christ. Not the other way around.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

The Bible Study Enjoyable

A bunch of us have been reading and discussing the book of Mark together for a few weeks now. They are mighty good times. Here's one question that surfaced from yesterday night's study(paraphrased):

I know works cannot save. But isn't accepting Christ sort of like a "work" too? Its something a person has to do, right? - Miss H.

If I remember reading somewhere correctly, accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is a fairly new thing. What I mean by that is this: the concept of "accepting Christ" and praying the "sinner's prayer" did not originate from the Scriptures. It is probably less than a few hundred years old and sounds maybe of Western origin. (Don't quote me on that for I'm not sure). But of this I'm sure; no one is saved by the "sinner's prayer." No one is saved by baptism either. Wait, actually I take that back - People are saved by baptism - the baptism of fire of the Holy Ghost, that is. So just imagine how weird it would be if Jesus was walking around asking people: "Will you accept me as Lord and Savior?" Instead, His ministry consisted of calling people to "follow Me" and to learn from Him. I am increasingly persuaded that our generation will begin to know and love Jesus not by "accepting Christ" but by hearing the Gospel, studying His life and obeying His Word. As people come into fellowship with the new "peculiar people", they can't help but be changed by love and truth.

Please please please do not get me wrong. I'm not bashing the "accepting Christ" concept or even that prayer. In fact, I was led to repentance through the vehicle of that particular prayer. It's so cool to actually be able to place a date on when our new lives with Jesus began, don't you think?

I think the question came about while discussing the various institutions churches have implemented on themselves, when the only institutions Jesus directly bestowed on the Church were the Apostolate and the Sacraments. Now we have things such as baby baptisms, rededications et cetera. But certainly not all church customs are bad. They are good. Very good. I only believe they are detrimental to the mission when people lose sight of its original purpose, thus degrading beautiful acts of worship into mere empty ritual.

A Saturday
Our very own lovable Forrest and Katie duo got married Saturday.

Marcus and Hannah are quite the remarkable couple. I have much respect for folks like them because you can sense a certain presence radiating from them. They seem to exude a very pleasant sort of light. This aura is unquestionably good and undeniably a symptom of a passionate love affair with Jesus Christ. I've had much luck bumping into people with similar (also unique) qualities. Folks who are bent on giving many uncolorful lives just a little more paint. Folks devoted to one another and also to making Jesus famous. Folks who blow away your cloud of complacent pride and gently show you that "there is much more to learn." I have no qualms stating a desire to emulate the Leongs(yes, my parents) and Snyders and Allens and Rodriguezs of my life. How encouraging and humbling at the same time. Who are your role models?

Chong Ji
So Tim is here and jet-lagged and I don't know what to do. Haha. He is safe and healthy and checked into his room and he can start unpacking already. Wish him luck.

BSU Devotional

The blog was a good experiment i think. The internet is such a helpful tool to foster meaningful conversation. Last year the vision for this blog was for it to be like a devotional. That doesn't mean that it would forever be a devotional. I want you to ask: should we re-think that blog? Is there a better use for an online BSU meeting place? what would be helpful to our cause of reaching the campus?

Also, I wonder if a Facebook group has taken over the conversation-function. [I'm so out of the loop].

What i liked about the devotional was that it was a safe place for men and women of our ministry to interact (we are using computers after all). Currently the only other corporate gathering where we are not "segregated" is the Well. Lifegroups are divided into mens and womens, and rightly so because men and women are created for different roles with unique strengths and struggles.

Launched

Yesterday we had our first campus church gathering at Houts. About 20 people showed up and it was quite encouraging to witness the earnestness of the church to serve and love the students. Carson and I are learning to let go, and not do all things by ourselves, I believe that's a good thing. Many ideas were discussed about how to show God's love in a practical way - OAs in Houts/Hosey who are working late nights will be getting a little surprise this week. I'm quite glad that 3 of our members will be given creative freedom on how to serve these few, it will make for good stories next Sunday as we meet again. We also want to be a church which commends creativity; for our God is Creator God, and we are made in His image.

Besides that, there is talk about having a "coffeehouse night" for 4th Hosey. Let's wait and see how that turns out. Also, to my [very] slight [dismay], our church will not be adopting the name Sweet Action Church. At least, not at the moment. Many are comfortable enough with the old-school Houts Church. Awesome. I'd rather us be known by our character, love and meekness, rather than a sweet action name.

Also, several points to improve on: namely, our bible discussion. Yesterday really showed my un-preparedness. Yes, no one's a bible scholar. No one holds a seminary degree yet. But I believe the Holy Spirit will open our minds and hearts to Scripture. I am confident the church will be fed through His grace. Secondly, we've got tons of wonderful women but not many men. With time and prayer and lotsa learning how to live like Jesus (the most manly man in history), I am confident also that we will begin to see more men in the fold.