To Blog Again...

Lately, I've been thinking about reviving this blog.  It's been a long time since I posted - okay, since 2011.  And then it was sporadic   Things got busy and I was placing effort and energy other places.  

Things are not any less hectic or can I say, eventful.  My days and weeks are filled with lots of things.  And I'm still maneuvering through all sorts of dreams and visions and promises.  Believing God and trusting Him for big and impacting things!  But now I'm having the urge to blog again.

So I'm throwing this out there.

I'd be blogging the things I'm learning about:

• Leadership in the church
• Leading teams
• Coaching
• Cross-cultural ministry
• Re-missioning people, churches and ministries
• World events - and maybe giving some of my insights 
• Application of Scripture
• Faith 
• Visioning 
• Healing 

I'd not be ranting and raving about:

• Politics
• Gun Control
• Healthcare
• Lindsey Lohan

So, what do you think?  Let me know.  We'd be sharing the journey.

Who’s the Boss?

Sometimes it seems that everybody wants to be the boss.
The Boss.  The the person in charge.  The visionary.  The guy who calls the shots.  The person who has the right to say, “My way or the Highway!”
Scary. 
So I came across this contrast of “bossiness” and “leadership.” 

The boss drives people; the leader coaches them.
The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will.
The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm.
The boss says 'I'; the leader says 'we.'
The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown.
The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how.
The boss says 'go'; the leader says 'let's go!'

H. Gordon Selfridge 1864-1947, American-British retail magnate

Why God Thinks He Can Use You

God is active in the earth today! And He wants to use everybody, everywhere to advance His Kingdom and do good! And God wants to use you!
WHY GOD WANTS TO USE YOU helps you understand both the "whys" and the "hows" of your usefulness in God's Big Mission!

So go ahead order your copy now amzn.to/ghatcher or www.bit.ly/whygodthinks

You know you want to!

Celebrate the Jesus Movement!!!

The Alternative Jesus: Psychedelic Christ

My friend Andrew Jones reminds me that 40 years ago this week, Time Magazine explored the phenomena known as the Jesus Movement.
It's amazing that it's been 40 years! And yep - as much as you could be in Valdosta GA - Phyllis and I along with some other great folks were right in the middle of it! Jesus was being exposed as the radical, loving, saving Lord that He is and the Holy Spirit was energizing and sending us out to make disciples, begin churches and live life in Jesus Name. 
40 years!

Simple Solid Faith

 

There’s a lot of chatter about Bible things.

Rob Bell comes out with a book that purportedly brings into question where there is a real hell. (Haven’t actually read the book, so I can’t say what he in fact said… but Bashir’s interview kinda nails it I think.)

And then Stephen Hawking - who makes no claim to being a follower of Jesus - has said last week that there is no heaven. (Sounds like we’re trapped in the lyrics of a John Lennon song. Sigh.) But actually Hawking is saying there is no God. Nothing new for Hawking. He’s been making anti-God noise since at least 1988.

And now on Saturday May 21^st, the destruction of planet earth is to begin with the Rapture of Jesus followers. A guy with money and influence is making noise about the destruction of the world and the catching away of Believers.

This all makes it extremely sticky for those of us who hold a high view of Scripture to keep our heads high and not look like a bunch of reactionary kooks. Or at least I find it difficult.  I hate being bunched together with a bunch of embarrassing people.

And my main reason of difficulty is that I see Rob Bell and Harold Camping as brothers; part of the big Church family. Maybe they’re like the loony uncle or loser can’t-get-it-together cousin that you’re embarrassed by or concerned for, but nonetheless members of the family so you don’t want to say anything disparaging about them. Hey! They’re family. In some weird and sad way so are Rob and Harold and their loud and obnoxious followers.

For me the heaven/hell issue is a no-brainer. Because I put my faith in the literal really-happened life-death-resurrection-ascension of Jesus of Nazareth and accept that He’s not a myth, but the actual incarnate born-of-a-virgin Son of God and Messiah, I’m good.  And for me it’s not about proof and Twenty-first century science trumping ancient texts.  It’s a faith thing. I was needy and I put my faith in the saving acts of Jesus the Messiah.  I’ve believed on a deep level that what the Bible says and the Creeds echo is true and worthy of my total devotion.

Simple. But complicated.

But then again when is faith not both simple and complicated in the same moment? Mark Twain said something like this, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t true.” But true faith is believing something that might not be provable in a time/space world with three dimensional limitations.

And true faith is as real as it can be. True faith is about spiritual things experienced in spiritual ways. Not very scientific, not very provable, but nonetheless very real.

And the Rapture/Doomsday scenario? I’m confident that this same Jesus that was taken up in the clouds will return in the same way. Someday, when we least expect it, but yet deeply long for it, Jesus shall return.

So, am I ready for Rapture, Heaven or Hell?  Well, yes.  I have placed my trust in the good news of Jesus that we find in the Gospels and was proclaimed by the Apostles and accepted by the early Church.  I’m not ashamed of it; I’ve bet my life on it!  I can say with the Apostle Paul, “Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”

My faith is simple but solid. I don’t have all the answers, but I’m confident with what I have.  And I love Jesus with a genuine devotion and passion.

There. I said it,

What Shakespeare Knew

 

There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224

The Awesome Responsibility: Thinking, Speaking, Acting in the Name of Jesus

 

Henri J.M. Nouwen (In the Name of Jesus, 1989 pp 65-68) says,

"…Most Christian leaders today raise psychological or sociological questions even though they frame them in scriptural terms. Real theological thinking, which is thinking with the mind of Christ, is hard to find in the practice of ministry. Without solid theological reflection, future leaders will be little more than pseudo-psychologists, pseudo-sociologists, pseudo-social workers. They will think of themselves as enablers, facilitators, role models, father or mother figures, big brothers or big sisters, and so on, and join the countless men and women who make a living by trying to help their fellow human beings to cope with the stresses and strains of everyday living.

"But that has little to do with Christian leadership because the Christian leader thinks, speaks, and acts in the name of Jesus, who came to free humanity from the power of death and open the way to eternal life. To be such a leader it is essential to be able to discern from moment to moment how God acts in human history. . .

". . . In short they have to say "no" to the secular world and proclaim in unambiguous terms that the incarnation of God's Word, through whom all things came into being, has made even the smallest even in human history into Kairos, that is an opportunity to be deeper led into the heart of Christ."