Was Jesus Rich?

Ok, I am going to have to take a short break from re-visiting Catalyst so I can address and article I found in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday. The article addresses what is commonly known as the "Prosperity Gospel". More specifically, the concept that Jesus and his deciples were very wealthy. I have very serious issues with this distorted view of the gospels. The first is that it is deceptive. I puts forth the idea that money and good credit and finicial security and given from God. I would have to say that a more accurate view is that God blesses us with the opprutunity to have finicial security. He blesses us by exposing us to the tools so that we may know and understand how to control our finances. God is not an investment. Our faith is not something we see monitary returns on like the stock market. This is a dangerous road, we need to have a childlike faith in God. A true faith that needs no return on investment. If we are faithful with the hopes that we may become wealthy, then we have fallen into the trap of putting money before God. Read the article for yourself. I am sure I will have more to say on this later.

Was Jesus rich?
Swanky messiah not far-fetched in Prosperity Gospel

By JOHN BLAKE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/22/06

Christians gather around the world each Christmas to sing about "poor baby Jesus" asleep in the manger with no crib for his bed.

But the Rev. Creflo Dollar looks inside that manger, and he doesn't see a poor baby at all.

He sees a baby born into wealth because the kings visiting him gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh. He sees a messiah with so much money that he needed an accountant to track it. He sees a savior who wore clothes so expensive that the Roman soldiers who crucified him gambled for them.

Dollar sees a rich Jesus.

"He was rich, he was whole, and I use those words interchangeably," says Dollar, senior pastor of World Changers Church International, a 23,000-member College Park church, which broadcasts its services on six continents.

Dollar is part of a growing number of preachers who say that the traditional image of Jesus as a poor, itinerant preacher who "had no place to lay his head" is wrong.

"Did Jesus have money? Well, the Bible was clear. Kings brought him gold," Dollar says. "Did Jesus have money? It's clear. He had a treasurer to keep up with it."

Yet many academic scholars say pastors like Dollar are inventing a rich Jesus for selfish reasons.

"You're giving people divine sanctification to be greedy," says Sondra Ely Wheeler, an ethicist at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. "You tell them what they want to hear: The reason you have a Mercedes is because God loves you."

People have argued over their perception of Jesus for centuries. They've debated his politics, his race and more recently, his relationship with Mary Magdalene.

The new battleground: his economic status, because of the popularity of pastors like Dollar.

Dollar preaches the Prosperity Gospel, where the basic tenet is God rewards the faithful with wealth, spiritual power and debt-free living. And he is joined by a host of other nationally known preachers:

• Bishop T.D. Jakes, one of the most popular televangelist in the United States, a best-selling author and star of MegaFest, one of the largest annual revivals in the country.

• Televangelist Oral Roberts, founder of Oral Roberts University.

• And Atlanta's own Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of the city's largest church, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, 25,000 strong.

Their teaching, once seen as a fringe theology championed by flamboyant characters like "Rev. Ike," a prosperity televangelist with a pompadour who once boasted during his heyday in the 1970s that his "garages runneth over," has now moved mainstream. In the 1970s and 1980s, the flamboyant Rev. Ike made millions by promising wealth to those who followed his unabashed emphasis on materialism.

Millions of people across the world watch prosperity preachers' broadcasts and attend their crusades.

But preaching the Prosperity Gospel presents a snag in logic to its proponents: If God wants people to be prosperous, why was Jesus poor?

Well, he wasn't, say many prosperity pastors. And although their claims appear to contradict 2,000 years of traditional Christianity, they say they can prove it through Scripture and history. They also invoke common sense: Jakes reportedly told a Dallas Observer reporter that Jesus had to be rich in order to support his disciples for three years.

'Supernatural provision'

Those who preach against a poor Jesus say they aren't trying to justify personal greed. Prosperity preachers like Dollar say their teaching isn't solely centered on money, but extends to other areas such as health and relationships. They say God will provide for the faithful in all areas of their life — just as he did for Jesus.

"When we are following God's will with all of our hearts, if it takes us to a place where we need God's supernatural provision to keep going, he will always provide it," says the Rev. Dennis Rouse of Victory World Church, a 5,000-member church in Gwinnett County.

And when it comes to Jesus, that's evident throughout his life, prosperity preachers say. How, for example, could Jesus have supported his mother when his father died early — unless he had ample money?

"It's historically inaccurate to say that Jesus was poor," says Bishop Johnathan Alvarado, senior pastor of Total Grace Christian Center in Decatur. Alvarado's church has 4,000 members who worship at two locations.

Alvarado also disputes the notion that Jesus was homeless — traditionally believed because of the passage in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Luke where Jesus tells a would-be follower that he has "no place to lay his head."

But Alvarado says Jesus was speaking metaphorically — the world was not his home. "How many carpenters do you know who haven't built themselves a house?" he says.

And Jesus and his followers lived "sacrificially" by helping the poor and not trusting in their riches, Alvarado said. "Sacrifice is contextual," he says. " I can afford a BMW or a Bentley, but I drive a Nissan. ... It's OK to have stuff so long as stuff doesn't have you."

Dollar doesn't drive a Nissan. He drives a Rolls-Royce.

But he also believes that stories about Jesus being prejudiced against the rich have been misinterpreted. For example, he views the tale of the wealthy young ruler that Jesus confronts in the Gospel of Luke through different eyes.

In that encounter, the Gospels say Jesus told the man that it is "harder for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Dollar says, however, Jesus wasn't saying wealth was a barrier to being accepted by God.

He says the "eye of the needle" was an ancient passageway entering Jerusalem that was so small that a camel had to drop to its knees to squeeze through. Jesus meant that a man who trusted in his riches would have similar difficulties adjusting to God's way of handling riches, Dollar says.

"This guy had an opportunity to love God with his possessions, but he couldn't do it because his possessions had him," Dollar says.

That same passage also proves that Jesus' disciples "were absolutely not poor," Dollar says. (The Gospels report that the disciples were astonished when Jesus told them about the perils of riches.) "If the disciples were poor, why would they get astonished?" Dollar says. "If they were poor, they should have jumped up and said, 'Whoopee, we're on our way.' "

'A lack of understanding'

However, if Jesus and his disciples weren't poor — because God had blessed them — what does that say about the millions of faithful Christians who live throughout the world in brutal poverty?

Is that due to a failure of their character?

When asked this, Dollar says: "Part of it may be, first of all, a lack of understanding. You cannot do better until you know better. I used to be broke and poor just like all of those other people. I had to first change the way I think."

Rick Hayes, a 14-year member of Dollar's church, agrees.

He says he was "homeless and hopeless" until he attended World Changers. He learned there that Jesus preached to the poor so they wouldn't be poor anymore. Today he is a medical supply salesman.

Hayes says he believes Jesus was rich because some biblical translations suggest Jesus — as a baby — was visited by a caravan of about 200 kings bearing gold, not three wise men. Jesus also needed wealth to pay travel expenses for his 12 disciples as they took the Gospel from city to city.

Hayes, quoting the ninth chapter of Ecclesiastes ("The words of a poor man are soon forgotten"), also says Jesus could not have attracted a devoted following if he was poor.

"Nobody is going to follow a broke man," Hayes says.

'By any means necessary'

Wheeler, the ethicist from Wesley seminary, sighs when she hears the arguments for Jesus being rich. She and other New Testament scholars say these pastors are distorting history and words and have no understanding of the socio-economic conditions of Jesus' time.

Wheeler, author of "Wealth as Peril and Obligation: The New Testament on Possessions" (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, $20), says most biblical scholars don't even want to dignify the debate with a response.

She says that Dollar's argument that Jesus started off wealthy because of the gold he received at birth is nonsense. Only one out of the four Gospels even mentions the gold he received from a king and that passage never gives the value of the gift.

"The notion that you would go from that to the assertion Jesus is wealthy passes credulity," she says. "You have to want to get there by any means necessary."

She also disputes Dollar's interpretation of Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler. Jesus was being literal when he said it was hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.

"What Jesus says is that it is rarer than teeth in chickens to find a person who can own many things and not be owned by them," she says.

Similarly, Obery M. Hendricks Jr., author of "The Politics of Jesus" (Doubleday, $26), scoffs at the contention that Jesus had enough money to support himself and his disciples for three years. Hendricks says the eighth chapter in the Gospel of Luke paints a different picture: Women, using their own meager means, covered the bills for Jesus and his disciples.

"If Jesus was rich, why would he need women to support him?" Hendricks asks.

Eric Meyers, a professor of archaeology at Duke University, says he has never heard a single reputable scholar argue for a rich Jesus.

"It's new to me," he says at the beginning of the conversation. But as he listens to a litany of arguments on why Jesus was rich, he breaks in: "Now you're getting me mad."

Meyers, who personally excavated the village of Nazareth where Jesus lived during a 19-year-period, says there is absolutely no evidence of an "eye of the needle" gate in Jerusalem.

And Meyers, editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaelogy in the Near East, says simply put, Jesus was poor — like virtually all the people around him.

"He didn't even have his own tomb," Meyers says. "He had to get it from a friend."

But Dollar says his interpretation of Jesus' ministry is just as valid as any scholar. His own prosperity is proof that God wants to bless his followers with financial and spiritual blessings — just as he did for baby Jesus.

"God didn't give the Bible just to theologians and scholars, he gave it to poor people," Dollar says. "He gave it to farmers, sheep-herders — we don't need somebody to help us misunderstand the Bible. If we just read the Book, things will begin to happen, and you'll see.

Catalyst Session 6 - Louie Giglio

Louie Giglio - Session 6

· God is sending us out to announce that the Kingdom of God is near, not that we have a cool church.

· Let’s change the conversation from “the church let me down” to “Here’s the way that God has empowered and inspired me to pick up the work of the church and carry it forward.”

· God’s plan will move forward. The truth is, we’re doing good, maybe we paint a horrible picture because we think we need it to motivate people.

· But what God is calling us to is a dangerous thing, and it needs dangerous. It’s not at all safe, If we embrace the voice of God’s Spirit, there are going to be some really difficult stories told.

· The disciples were God’s first-gen leaders, they heard the voice of the Spirit. They didn’t need to be told it was going to be dangerous, but they just headed into it.

· God is inviting you into the story – go for it.

· You don’t have to be sure if it is going to work - It’s okay if you might fail

· What idea is God calling you to that is bigger than you are?

· What is our life going to look life if we do this?
• God lovers – people who above all else are in love with God and moved by an intimate connection with Him
• Christ likers – Maturing into the character and likenesss of Christ in all we do - Those who are "like Christ."
• Culture pacers – you don’t have to be a preacher – what is in your heart that is a God-wired passion, and how can you run after it with everything you’ve got in the name of Jesus?
• Hell razers – The idea here is that we are to engage the spiritual forces with spiritual power and authority, bringing the Kingdom of God to darkened places.
• Inside traders – we take a risk because we are pretty darn sure about the income – we have an inkling that Jesus will ultimately determine what matters for eternity

I really dont have anything else to say that can follow up on Louie. Time and time again, Louie has inspired me to go into the world and be the church.

Catalyst Session 5 - Donald Miller Interviews Rick McKinley

Rick McKinley - Session 5

This was a very interesting session. I was really interesting to just see these two friends talk and interact. I think Rick really hit on a good point with repentance. We will never fully experience God's will for us until we truly spend time repenting for not wanting to follow Gods calling. Very powerful stuff.

§ God will meet you through your repentance.

§ I didn’t know that I didn’t deeply love people – I didn’t know that I couldn’t deeply love people.

§ It is important to have intimate relationships with people without an agenda.

§ Once we left the doors of the church we realized that God was in the streets.

§ We create our own Christian bowling alley in the church so we can bowl like the world but not be in the world.

§ I think that discipleship is meant to happen on the road.

§ I desperately cared if the church failed, but I was willing to risk that because I didn’t want to play church anymore. It’s not about things you’re doing - it’s about things you’re not doing. It’s when you get peoples’ hearts before God that they are transformed.

§ We have kind of done this thing in the western church where we don’t do discernment – the reality is the Holy Spirit will give you discernment.

§ Don’t create a list of rules – we want the culture to change their morality before they change their hearts so we can sit there and talk about Jesus

§ The primary identity of the church is that we are the sent spirit of God – one of the things that I recognized that was hard for me as a pastor was that these people were not my people and secondly, that the programs that you’re creating may have nothing to do with what God has created them for.

§ There are a lot of unique expressions that are created around mission.

§ We strengthen the family and the things that we like and we ignore the things that we don’t like – this is Darwinian.

§ The city of Portland likes Imago Dei. This is a city that doesn’t really like Christians, so why do they like the church? They know that the church doesn’t hate them.

§ We realized that the community around us thought that we didn’t like them. We were protecting the Gospel instead of proclaiming it. The Gospel is that God wants to bless his Creation. We came along side the city and culture and asked how can we help? How can we be a little city in an empire?

§ The lie that the enemy wants you to believe is that we get it right and the world doesn’t get it at all.

§ If you protect yourself from the culture, you lose your voice.

§ Rick, in terms of starting Imago, how would you encourage pastors’ in a singular way? What would you encourage them to think about?
Don’t look at problems – the reality is the church is the hope of the world. It is not the size or the methodology – it’s the people on a mission. When we get ourselves outside the doors, God is waiting there on the streets. God is in the streets waiting for the church to join Him, and we need to take our people there, and when we do I believe it will change the world.

Catalyst Session 4 - Gary Haugen

Gary Haugen - Session 4

Gary Haugen is the founder of the International Justice Mission. International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that rescues victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery, and oppression.

Founded in 1997, IJM began operations after a group of human rights professionals, lawyers and public officials launched an extensive study of the injustices witnessed by overseas missionaries and relief and development workers. This study, surveying more than 65 organizations and representing 40,000 overseas workers, uncovered a nearly unanimous awareness of abuses of power by police and other authorities in the communities where they served. Without the resources or expertise to confront the abuse and to bring rescue to the victims, these overseas workers required the assistance of trained public justice professionals.

When the poor are hungry, homeless or alienated, the Church has come to their aid by providing food, shelter and missionaries to meet the pressing needs. But when the poor have been oppressed, treated unjustly and suffered under the hand of someone more powerful, little was done on their behalf.

Accordingly, IJM was established to help fill this void, acting as an organization that stands in the gap for victims when they are left without an advocate. IJM staff members (human rights experts, attorneys and law enforcement professionals) receive case referrals from, and work in conjunction with, other non-governmental organizations and casework alliances abroad.

Gary's focus at Catalyst was the global sex slavery trade. In parts of the world children are being removed from their home and families and being sold into forced prostitution. Many times the local governments don't act due to red tape or corruption. The church, through IJM has taken the responsibility to bring these people to justice.

§ I work for the International Justice Mission. Sometimes you just need to go to the places of need, and bring the law on people’s behalf.

§ Global trade is rape for profit – there are one million children in bondage.

§ God is calling to exhilaration of joy through adventure. How do you gather people to go on the adventure? Paul said to prepare your mind for action. Have clarity about the world around you.

§ The hardest thing for people to believe in the world is that God is good. What is God’s plan for making this believable to suffering people? We are the plan. He doesn’t have another plan. You are the light of the world – let your light so shine among men that they will see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.

§ When we help people, they see the body of Christ show up and they can believe that God is good.

§ There are so many people in the world who are suffering because of the abuse and oppression of other people.

§ Injustice is a specific kind of sin – the abuse of power to take from others the good things that God intended for everyone – life, liberty, dignity, fruits of our love and labor – this is the sin of injustice.

§ A million children a year are taken into forced prostitution – how are they supposed to believe that God is good?

§ In the world of injustice there is a God of justice who wishes to bring rescue - Micah 6:9.

§ Jesus feeds the 5000 – the magnitude of the need and the lack of our resources allows Jesus to work. We just provide Him what we have and He works with the rest. Jesus does the miracle.

§ God is still in the business of transformation, and not only does he change lives, but He changes history.

§ Why in a world of so much suffering, hurt and need, have we been given so much?

§ My prayer is that God will rescue us from all things small. May God yet find us useful in what matters to Him.

Stop worrying about how and just do. Jesus does incredible feats, all we have to do is trust Him and give everything up to Him. I urge you, visit www.IJM.org, and find a way to get involved. Be the light of the world and help show people in need that God is good.

Catalyst Session 3 part two - Andy Stanley interviews John C. Maxwell

John Maxwell - Session 3

John C. Maxwell has always been a high point of Catalyst for me. I was not sure how it would come across with him being interviewed instead of being an actual speaker. Honestly, John was a high point of day one. And not because of what he started talking about. I found myself dissagreeing with his message about improving one's skill level. What touched me what his hearfelt plea for morallity and accountability. As leaders we need people to hold us accountable for our moral character. This alone made his session worthwhile.

In church world, how do you lean into your strengths?
As quickly as possible, begin to lean towards the things that you do very well. A lot of it is trial and error. When you equip people, you work with their strengths – when you counsel people you work with their weaknesses. Find something you do naturally that's a 6 or a 7 – don't if you are a five or less.

What if my job description just doesn't let me get there?
Let people complete you in the area of your weaknesses. One of the first things a leader has to understand is that we attract who we are, not who we want. Jesus the leader hand picked people with certain giftedness to help him spread the gospel. The greatest return for the kingdom is putting the best in the best and let it trickle down.

You can develop a persons' attitude and confidence and skill – how does this translate in the church?
Competence and skill level and giftedness and ability can only increase by about two numbers. Anything that is not a choice in life is only going to increase about two numbers; attitude is a choice. You develop great leaders by finding potentially great leaders.Martin Luther Kind, Mother Theresa, Ghandi – some of the people that have influenced others the most didn't have the top leadership position.

(now I want to make a few comments of my own here. Although I do agree that we should focus more on our strengths, I do not agree with John that we can only improve a limited amount. In the area of Spiritual Gifts, I fell that God can bless you at any moment with any gift and can do acts through you that you would never be capable of doing on your own.)

How do you avoid the minefield that comes with leadership?
People who fall morally have three things in common: no accountability, they aren't continually in the word of God, and they never thought that it would happen to them. I said, "I'm going to assume that it will happen to me, live the rest of my life as a coward." "Lead us not unto temptation;" pray that prayer everyday. Have an accountability partner. I had one who I requested ask me questions – the last question was, "have you lied about the previous questions?" Have prayer partners.

I dont really have much to add to what John Maxwell had to say in closing. Its just powerful on its own.

Catalyst Session 3 part one - Gabe Lyons interviews George Barna

George Barna - Session 3

Transformation happens mostly in the lives of children; however, churches put most of their resources into adult programs. We must prepare our children for a war and a battle against the enemy.

What is the thesis of Revolution?
There is a remnant of people changing the way that we are Christians and the way that we do church. These are "revolutionaries" who will do whatever it takes to make sure that 24/7 they are embodying Christ. They are having a hard time finding conventional support.God doesn't give a rip about methodologies; He cares about our hearts.

Could you describe where you see the church going?
Studies show that about two thirds of all Americans would express their faith through a conventional church environment. Others seek alternative experiences, such as through arts and media. The research is showing us that within the next twenty-five years only about a third of Americans will have their dominant Christian expression in a traditional church environment.

Should we be disheartened?
No. It's a great thing because the latent spiritual energy of Americans is trying to find a place for release and transformation. People aren't walking out on the church. God didn't call us to go to church, He called us to be the church.

What do you say to the local churches of today – on what basis are things working well?
This is the first challenging question: are people's lives being transformed? Where is the fruit? Who do you serve? Why do you serve?

What are the elements of having church outside of church?
To be the church. Revolutionaries get involved in evangelism by building relationships and having faith based conversations, not memorizing things to say.

How do you serve other people?
How do you manage God's resources? You own nothing – everything you have has been given to you by God. You are a portfolio investment for the kingdom.

How do you stay and build community?
What do you do with your family? God made the family to be the central church experience – worshipping, praying, and serving together. This is where it begins.

From all that you have learned, what is the one thing you would tell them [church leaders] to do and not do?
To do: really emphasize how it is that you are preparing each family unit to be the church. Really focus on the issue – what does transformation mean? What does it look like?

There are a lot of younger people – what should their priority be?
You have more tools than ever before – you must be thinking strategically at all times.

George Barna has hit the nail on the head. We are starting to see a movement towards non-conventional church. House churches are popping up everywhere. These people are the true revolutionaries of todays church. The hard question here is what are we doing 24/7 to embody Christ.

Catalyst Session 2 - Marcus Buckingham

Marcus Buckingham - Session 2

Marcus Buckingham studies the best teams and organizations to discover what makes them work, and then develops new teams with the same qualities.

§ Why do some organizations retain talent and some bleed talent?

§ All great teams have a great manager or a great boss running them.

§ You can join an organization for any reason, but you leave from poor management. People join organizations and then either physically or mentally quit their boss.

§ The job of a manager: to turn one person..s talent into performance. This is the chief responsibility of a manager.

§ Great managers speed up the reaction between the talent and the person and the goals of the team. Their starting point is always to get you into a place where you can turn talent into performance.

§ The best managers in the world have a natural ability to see very small increments of growth in someone else, and they get a kick out of it .. to see someone grow is their fuel.

§ People are always a work in progress .. not everyone can see this.

§ Great managers do not look at people and think, ..what can you get done?..

§ What makes great managers different from average ones? Great managers find out what is unique about a person and capitalize on it. This is the one thing you need to know about great managers.

§ Great managers don..t generalize.

§ All of this seems very crushingly obvious; however most organizations teach their managers the exact opposite: maintain a person..s strengths and work on their weaknesses.

§ The world believes that the way to succeed is to discover your flaws and work on them. We live in a remedial world .. where people think that if you study bad you get good; but instead you just get ..not bad...

§ When companies say that our people are our greatest assets, but what they mean is our people..s strengths are our greatest asset.

§ How much time per day do you spend using your strengths?

§ Data suggests that very few of us spend our time at work working with our strengths .. we have all been blessed with amazing talent, and it is so sad that so many people are not using them.

§ Many believe that as you grow your personality changes; not true. As you grow, you become more and more of who you are.

§ We are all blessed with unique contributions. The goal isn..t to change them, it is to channel them.

§ It is a myth that you should invest the most time into your weaknesses. Everyone has areas where we can grow and develop, but the areas where we can grow the most is in our strengths. What teams most need from you is identification of your strengths, and then volunteering them as often as possible.

§ The best teams are made up of sharp people with different strengths .. the team is well rounded because each individual isn..t.

§ It won..t be easy to stay on your strength path, and people with misguidingly try to take you off the path. You must stay clear-headed to know which doors to open and which doors to close.

§ Look in the mirror tomorrow and say what are my strengths and how can I volunteer them to the world?

I know that Marcus' session was not very spiritual in nature but it is still an extremely importiant lesson to those of us who find ourselves in positions of leadership within the church. Instead of employees, we have volunteers. As we all know too well, volunteers can be a rare resource and we are responsible for putting these people in positions where they can succeed. Every strong Christian leader in the world is powerless without an equally strong workforce behind them. It is our job as leaders to take care of them.

The Most High is Sovereign Over the Kingdoms of Men

Andy Stanley - Session 1

§ The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men, and he gives them to whoever he wishes.

§ Leadership is stewardship. It is temporary and can be taken away; we are always accountable.

§ God puts people in leadership.

§ People love to follow humble leaders.

§ There is a self-centeredness involved in leadership that is inherent .. the question is how do we deal with this? We deal with this by waking up every morning and say, ..the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and he gives them to whoever he wishes...

§ Many of us have worked with leaders that get arrogant, that started out great and that are Christians, but they get so arrogant and it hurts them.

§ Men and women get caught up in their own press release.

§ Three words:

Diligent .. If you are truly a leader called by God, and God put you where you are, then you are there because God wanted you there. That means you need to get up and lead with all of the diligence that you can because the sovereign God of the universe knows where you are and put you there. God has put you where he..s put you. You may not know the purpose, but you lead with all of your heart and with diligence for these reasons. This principle should liberate you.

Fearless .. if this is true, who do you need to be afraid of? If God has called you and gifted you and placed you, then who should you fear? This is why you get up everyday with this sense of clarity and think, ..I am not working for men, I am accountable and responsible to men, but God placed me here and that is who I work for...

Humility .. of all the leaders in the world, our hallmark should be humility .. we should reek with humility because we wake up every morning and realize that God put us in the place that we are in. You are where you are because in some sovereign way God placed you where you are and he can take this away any time .. this should liberate you and allow you to lead fearlessly.

§ John the Baptist, Jesus, King David; these leaders stepped out of the way because they knew God was in control.

§ Lead with all your heart, without fear, and with humility.


Wow, at the time I thought that this was not one of Andy's best sessions but as I read over it again I am impaceted by how powerful and true it really is. All too often we, as leaders, get caught up in ourselves and in our agenda. We forget (or never realize) that God has blessed us with our position and He will remove us at His leasure. To build on that, we are so often limited by our own fear that we are accountable to men. We work for God! When we are in tune with God's will and we lead with all of out heart, without fear, and with humility we allow God to do a mighty work through us.

Everyone, take a moment to reflect on how God has put you in your position and how may you lead others by God's will.

The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men, and he gives them to whoever he wishes!

Catalyst - 1 Week Later

Well today marks one week since the Catalyst Conference ended. And for the third year in a row the various speakers have given me enough to ponder until Catalyst rolls around next year. After having a week to really reflect on what everyone had to say, I have decided to post a few notes from the conference along with some of my own thoughs over the next few days. Feel free to comment as you wish.

One of My Rants on Christians Today

For lack of a better way to put it, Christians are really starting to piss me off. Now before you freak out and run away, let me explain myself. Turn on the radio, watch TBN, read large Christian blogs, or maybe even listen to what people are saying in your own church. What do you hear? Probably the same things I do. I hear hate. I know it's a harsh and bold statement but in all honesty it is true. All is see and hear anymore out of the mainstream church is a message of hate. It may be covered up and disguised with soft words and smiles but dont let that fool you. Homosexuals, Muslims, Rock Stars, Movie Stars, Democrats, what ever happened to Jesus' true message of love. Are we not called to love each other as we love ourselves? It is not our jobs to fix people, only God can do that. We are to love people. The last time I checked, pointing out what you consider to be the flaws of other people does not fall into the catagory of loving one another.

Have you ever really noticed how we tend to classify ourselves as Christians? We see other belivers doing things that we don't do and we immediatly consider ourselves to be better Christians than those people. Lately that has really been bothering me. We all fall short in God's eyes and not one of us is any better or more clean than another. So why do we continue to judge those around us and condemn them. It is no wonder that evangelical Christians are the 3rd most hated group of people in this country behind murders and pediphiles.

I know that in my heart I am guilty of this myself but I plead with you, put aside the worldly differences, stop hating and start truly loving. God will amaze you with what he can do through your true love.