Uncategorized

Cultural Believers

0
3 years ago
by Jeff Calloway in

I had lunch today with Dan Jenkins, a young man who is a follower of Christ, but also one of the most insightful and intelligent young men I know. He was interviewing my for a paper he has to write for a college English Class he is taking for his studies to become a radiologist. Interestingly, his prof gave him for no reason a double-sided handout that lists contradictions in the Bible. Dan is writing his paper on the mission of the church and had some great questions for me regarding my views on the topic.

One of Dan's questions was, "What is the difference between a 'cultural believer' and an 'authentic believer'?" I had never thought of someone being a cultural believer. I have written here and have taught on what I call consumer Christians, but the term cultural believer is starting to germinate in my thought process. As I have thought about that terminology, it occurs to me that believers regardless of their country of residence should be cultural believers.  Believers who are culturally inept will not be able to create maximum impact with their lives. Dan's question  delved more into the thought of a believer who is influenced by the culture, not one influencing the culture.

I do believe that the church in America is filled "Christians" who let culture infiltrate their daily life in a negative way. This has most certainly happened within the walls of every church in our country, no church is exempt, regardless of how pure they think they are. These people are the ones who are focused on self. They say they are about community and koinonia, loving and serving the poor, putting the good of the kingdom before their own desires and wants, but they are not being truthful. They believe in the false notion that life revolves around self and you should have whatever you want and whatever you desire. They have lived out this "dream" growing up in their family, in grade school, in high school, in college, and in the workplace and thus, they believe that it should be so in the church. Culture does not drive or lead the church, Jesus Christ does. 

So, an authentic believer is a one who follows and lives out the teachings of Jesus, as well as one who lives in the culture, engages the culture, and sees culture as a pathway of sharing the gospel. The dichotomy is that the authentic believer must also be a cultural believer.

Birds Of A Feather…

0
3 years ago
by Jeff Calloway in

by Gary Lamb

Lead Pastor, Revolution Church

One thing I have learned and tried to instill on our staff is the importance of simply sitting back and observing. Very few things get past me. I can’t tell you how many times I have set in staff meeting and said that someone is leaving the church before the people even knew they were leaving.

One of the things I have taught them is just be observing new people to the church you can discover very quickly what type of people they are going to be.  When new people start attending your church it is like they have a radar that allows them to connect with people like themselves in not time at all.

For example:

  • If someone new comes to your church with a lot of marriage baggage, within two weeks they will find the others who in the church with marriage baggage
  • If someone new comes to your church who has been a troublemaker in another church, they will instantly find the troublemakers in your church
  • If someone comes to your church who has had their life radically changed, they flock to others who have had their life radically changed
  • If someone comes to your church buys into the vision and gets plugged in quickly, trust me they are hanging out with people who buy into the vision and are plugged in

People flock to people like themselves.  Church leaders, you can save yourself a lot of heartache with newcomers simply by observing who they connect with.

A New Baby In Our Lives

0
3 years ago
by Jeff Calloway in

N774481561_1699845_787


Landon Robert Avery was born on December 9th to Darin and Deborah Avery. Darin and Deborah are like our kids to us and since their parents are in Missouri and Tennessee, Julie and I get to serve as surrogate grandparents. Landon is an adorable little baby! He weighed in at 6lbs1oz and was 19" long.  We look forward to getting the opportunity to spoil Landon for practice when Sarah and Emily start having children and make us grandparents.

Welcome to the world Landon!

The Shack

1
3 years ago
by Jeff Calloway in

I have started reading The Shack, by Wm Paul Young. So far this book has sold over three million copies and is a wildly popular book among Christians.  The shack is a novel centered around Mackenzie Phillips and an event that happened in his family he terms The Great Sadness. I won't give details about the book except to say that the core theme seems to be (remember, I am half way through) how Christians look at their relationship with God. Most Christians look attheir relationship with God as mandatory, dutiful, master/servant, or a hierarcheal. Young paints the picture of our relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit similar to a relationship we would have with friends. You know, getting a cup of coffee, hanging out at the lake,star gazing, revealing our true innermost thoughts.

I will give a full review when I read the entire book. I will say, some of the portrayals are pushing orthodox theological and doctrinal teachings. This book will make many people feel uncomfortable.

Christmas Loneliness Part Two

0
3 years ago
by Jeff Calloway in

Charliebrowntree

This has been the most viewed on jeffcalloway.com and it is not just viewed during the Christmas season, but throughout the entire year. I wanted to re-post this one for people who may happen upon this blog and haven't read this.

Some of us are alone this Christmas and its so discouraging to be
alone. In the Charlie Brown Christmas special; Charlie Brown checks his
mailbox but there’s no Christmas cards for him. And he remarks, “I know
no one likes me but why do we have to have a holiday to emphasize it!”

Statistics tell us that Christmas time is a very lonely time of the
year for many people in America even though they are surrounded by
family and friends. But if you're lonely, what does God have to say to
you? He wants to say first, "I understand exactly how you feel." Jesus,
the Bible says, "was tempted in all points as we yet he sinned not." He
understood every human emotion. There were times when Jesus was lonely.
Even in the closing moments of His life when He went to the Garden of
Gethsemane to pray, knowing that the next day He would be crucified on
the cross, He takes His three best friends. Even Jesus had a need for
human companionship. He takes His three best friends — Peter, James,
John — and says, "Tarry with me a while, while I sweat this thing
out!" And they fell asleep on Him. Jesus comes back and says, "Can't
even you wait with Me an hour?" And He felt all alone.

How do you deal with loneliness? Normally we do the wrong things.
People will try all kinds of things to overcome their loneliness. Some
people will try being a workaholic. They think if they stay busy
they'll overcome their loneliness. They'll work and then fall in bed
late at night totally fatigued. They get up in the morning and they're
still lonely. Some people think they'll cure their loneliness through
things, materialism. They surround their life with beautiful objects –
nice clothes, nice cars, nice art objects, a beautiful home. But you
cannot purchase happiness. It doesn't last. I could put you on a desert
island and tell you that you could have every single thing that you
want — anything. Except people. How long would you be happy? Not very
long. Why do you think solitary confinement is the most devastating
form of punishment. We were made for each other. Some people will try
to overcome their loneliness by having an affair. Some people get
drunk, take drugs, go to bars. Some people do nothing. They just sit
around and have a pity party and say, "Poor me!" Loneliness will
paralyze you if you let it.

A lot of our loneliness is really a spiritual vacuum. We have a God
shaped vacuum in our lives and when we try to fill it with anything
else besides God it's like filling a round hole with a square peg. It
doesn't fit! But when you invite Christ into your life and ask His
Spirit to fill you, He puts His presence in you, a presence that will
never, never leave you. Some of you may be thinking, "Nobody loves me.
Nobody cares for me. Nobody even knows I exist." I know somebody who
does. His names is Jesus Christ.

The Conspiracy of Christmas

0
3 years ago
by Jeff Calloway in

If you missed yesterday's service. I want to recap my thoughts. We began a new series titled The Conspiracy of Christmas. I know, weird title! When people hear the word conspiracy they think of evil men gathered together in secret to plot an illegal or violent scheme. This is a long email, so bear with me.

The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love. So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a Savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists. And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas?

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again? I am going to ask you maybe for the first time in your life to enter the story of Christmas. I want to challenge you to have a different Christmas this year. We desire to not get caught up in all the Christmas rush and consumerism but to reflect on the coming of Jesus and how we can share His Gospel to the world in word and deed this season.

I am asking that you re-consider your spending and giving for Christmas. What if we redirected some of what we spend to help the poor, the lonely, the diseased? What kind of difference can we make? There will 3,900 children die today because of water borne disease. You can help make a difference in stopping this disaster. Americans spend 450 billion dollars each year on Christmas, but it would only take 10 billion dollars to solve the world's water problem by digging fresh water wells. Go to www.adventconspiracy.com for more details.

During December we want you to give to a special year end missions offering through Bridge Church. This offering will be used to help fund the digging of wells around the world, the support of 5,000 missionaries who share Jesus in over 110 countries, and funding for Bridge Church people going on mission trips in 2009. We are partnering with Living Water International to dig wells (http://www.water.cc/) and The International Mission Board to fund missionaries (http://www.imb.org).

Getting back to the conspiracy, what is this? The conspiracy is that we want followers of Jesus around America and the world to change their mind and change their spending when it comes to Christmas. I love Christmas! We have our lights up and our tree lit and are waiting for Christmas morning with anticipation. We want you to look at how you and your family can make Christmas a life changing event once again. Churches and followers of Jesus can make a change for the better. To listen to yesterday's sermon, go to www.thebridge4u.net to get the details.

Balance In Mentoring

0
3 years ago
by Jeff Calloway in

This week in Men's Fraternity we learned about mentoring in a man's life. One of the areas not covered was the balance of mentoring in your life.

No matter what the subject is, balance is the key to a healthy life.  Too much involvement in church or ministry activities without proper family time leaves one out of balance.  It is also true of mentoring.  Balance is healthy.  As a Christian, especially as a leader we need to take the necessary steps to ensure that we are making the most of our life.  We want to make sure that we are building it in such a way that pleases God.  To avoid building a life around hay, wood, and stubble and to receive praise from God as 1 Corinthians 3:12 and chapter 4:5 state, it is necessary to surround yourself with a relational network of accountability for growth and effective ministry.  A lack of a relational structure of accountability leads to isolation, which enhances the risk of failure.  Paul had this balanced approach in his life.  He had Gamaiel and Barnabas as mentors.  He had Timothy and Titus as well as others as mentorees and he had numerous peers as partners in the gospel.  Paul did not isolate himself while in ministry.  Until the end he surrounded himself with mentors, mentorees, and peers.  He wrote letters, made personal visits, and shared with each of them.  His network of accountability helped him maintain successful balance in relationships.

Whether you are a man or a woman you need peer relationships with high levels of trust and commitment for balance in your life.  As a leader or a pastor we need someone else on a peer level other than your spouse.  With a high degree of expectations in the pastorate many ministers often have thousands of acquaintances, but very few close friends with whom they can share openly and honestly with.  Sometimes this takes the form of a peer group of friends where sharing and accountability take place such as a men's prayer group or a couples bible study.  While this may be helpful the downside is that too many people or the wrong mix of people tends to inhibit the depth of sharing and accountability.  It is usually unable to reach the depth of a one on one relationship. 

Homework Answer

0
3 years ago
by Jeff Calloway in

Mommy works at Home Depot.  She was selling a shovel.

Always Check Your Kids Homework

2
3 years ago
by Jeff Calloway in

I am sure you have gotten the email that lists the cute or incriminating things that kids say. Honestly, kids do say the darndest things, but have you ever thought that kids draw the darndest things as well?

As you look at the drawing below, it looks very obvious what Mommy's occupation is or does it? Would you let your kid turn in this drawing visually describing your occupation? Just another  reason to check your kids homework, whether it's math, history, or science.

To find out what occupation Mommy is in, leave a comment and I will reply to you.  I will post the answer on November 23rd if ou can wait.

Mime-attachment

New MacBook

0
3 years ago
by Jeff Calloway in

Overview-hero20081014

I forgot to post that I got a new Macbook a couple of weeks ago. My previous Mac, a Powerbook G4 was getting slow for some of the software I use and only had an 80 gig HD in it. So, my daughter Emily is the owner of that model.

I really love the new MacBook. It is smaller, lighter and easier to use. My old PB was a 15" model and was heavy and bulky. The new Macbook has a 13.3" screen, is much thinner and has a 250 gig HD.  Nice laptop, I highly recommend.

Go to Top