The Church

Whispers and Cigarettes

April 27, 2015 by Tony

Virginia Slims

I have vivid memories of hazy, summer afternoons at home. I can hear the drone of window A.C. units mixed with the muffled chatter of radios and television sets. I see, smell, and feel the smoke. Gray tendrils slip from the end of my mother’s Virginia Slim and creep into every corner of the room. Although I cannot feel it burning in my chest, I know in theory that it injures me.

I would give almost anything to have another afternoon with my Mother, even if she was smoking. My love for her always overrode my disdain for her bad habits, but I know those habits put her in the ground long before I was ready to see her buried.

Now that I am no longer accustomed to the daily haze of second-hand smoke, I can barely stand catching a whiff of the stuff. My nose burns and itches; my lungs become tight. I am physically offended, even though I’m not really bothered emotionally. While I was once desensitized, now I am immediately aware of its toxic nature.

The fight against second-hand smoke has largely been won. While church buildings were once one of the few places you could go to escape the haze, cigarettes have now been thoroughly demonized and pushed out of the public square. All government facilities, nearly all businesses, and the large majority of American homes are now smoke-free.

It would be great if we could say that the air we breathe is no longer harmful.Continue Reading

Building the Kingdom of Life

September 8, 2014 by Tony

Desire for Fulfillment

My son looks up at me with envy. He sees the joy in my eyes as I watch the bacon start to sizzle in the pan. He sees the smile on my lips as I push the crackling goodness around with a fork, attempting to avoid the occasional splatter of grease.

“I want to do it!”

But he’s not old enough, not observant enough. If I let him try, the resulting burns could land him in the ER.

My daughter gets frustrated when she picks up a ‘grown-up book’ with its blocks of text and lack of picture-clues.

“How come I can’t read it?!”

She’s just not there yet. She’s too young.

My children have strong desires to do good things, but they can’t fulfill them. Not yet. There are years of development between where they are now and where they wish to be. Their loud frustrations bring them no closer.

“When will I be grow’d up?” my son asks mournfully. “Will it be a long, long time?”

It would be nice if time were the only factor keeping him from responsible adulthood. He has much work to do. Very little of it will be glamorous.Continue Reading

For the Church 2014

August 29, 2014 by Tony

An All-New Midwestern

As I walked through the halls of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on Tuesday, I expected to overhear the common church-conference conversations.

“What did you think of Darrin Patrick’s statement on Mark Driscoll?” Of course people are talking about that.

“I don’t know if I agree with Himaya’s stance on discipleship.” Eloquently disagreeing with a speaker is practically a competitive sport at these things.

“So how many people have you baptized this year?” Asked purely to share in another’s joy, I’m sure.

What I didn’t think to expect were all the comments about Midwestern itself. The school’s push to reinvent itself seems to be working.

Cheering for Church Fights

June 10, 2014 by Tony

“Let’s Take This Outside”

When the Bus Ministry Leader asked the Head Deacon if he wanted to “take the vote out into the parking lot” at the church’s monthly business meeting, any illusions that I was attending a peaceful country church were shattered. Before this exchange, all I knew of our church centered around the preaching of the Gospel, and the care for the less fortunate. In a few short moments, the veneer of health and unity was stripped away and the deep, sinful dysfunction of the church was made evident.

Men I had thought cared only for the spread of the gospel, showed themselves to be most interested in the wielding of influence and power. It was my first church fight. I was a new Christian and barely 13 years old.

By God’s grace that business meeting was not the end of my walk with Christ, but I was damaged. It shaped the way I see relationships in the church, and has influenced my convictions on how the church should be governed (hint: preteens have no business in business meetings). Since then I’ve seen and heard even worse–shameful divisions that have no place in the household of God.

My father, who was baptized shortly after me, has a saying: “Baptists only love two things: fightin’ and eatin’.” He spoke plainly from experience. I can’t say that I blame him.

5 Ways a Church Becomes a Machine

June 5, 2014 by Tony

machine

Shallow, Impersonal, Uncaring

My church cares too much about how many people show up on Sunday. The pastors ask us to give money for their special projects, but don’t care to get to know us. Look at the volunteers, they’re automatons with fake smiles rushing around so that the church can churn out another rockin’ worship song, another shallow sermon, and another waste-of-time youth event. We do more and more and more, but we’re all still dead inside.

I hear these kinds of complaints a lot. I read one on Facebook in a post by a depressed college buddy. I hear another grumbled from a family member over the holidays. I hear the same whispered, through tears, by a friend at a small-group meeting. Sometimes, when I am feeling cynical about failures in ministry, these are my own words–though they are rarely said aloud.

Some churches are blasphemous, personality-driven machines–top-heavy organizations that grind through people in the name of building even larger organizations that grind through even larger amounts of people. Such churches leave battered and broken people in their wake. They deserve the scorn they generate. With other churches, things are not quite so clear-cut.

Continue Reading

How’s Jeff City Going?

May 28, 2014 by Tony

Jefferson City

A Common Question

Every Sunday, as I walk through the crowd at our church’s gathering, I’m often greeted with the same question: “How’s Jeff City going?” Late last year my family moved to the capital of Missouri and away from an awesome community of neighbors, friends, coworkers, and church-family. It was a huge transition for us–an unexpected move to an unexpected place. While we still make the drive to Columbia to worship with Karis Church once a week, increasing relational distance has been unavoidable.

Honestly, I feel a bit of angst when the question is asked. Though it’s been hard to watch fruitful relationships in Columbia whither, the choice to move was good for our family. I often answer the question with a knot in my stomach. I look into the eyes of someone I miss dearly and tell them how great it is to be away, and how we can’t wait until we begin worshiping on Sundays with our brothers and sisters in Jeff. Here are some of the reasons things are going so well.Continue Reading