29. April 2008 by David Alexander.

Lord, 

• Please give me eyes for the field that I might see beyond the usual.
• Break my heart with compassion for the fields, may I cry anew for the peoples who don’t know you.
• Help me to understand the fields.Break my will that I might humbly lay my preferences aside and lead people to relate to you the way you have wired them to.
• Grant me wisdom to efficiently harvest with strategies pertinent to the field.
• Please Lord, send more laborers for the work is much and only a few are working. 

Posted in Missional Thoughts | 1 Comment »

29. April 2008 by David Alexander.

I am sitting at a demographic encounter. The speaker right now is telling us of the demise and prosperity of the churches within  New Orleans because of Katrina. Many churches in N ew Orleans, as well as the MS gulfcoast, were either completely destroyed or seriously incapacitated. A He has  spent some time showing us pictures of the damaged buildings and demolished buildings. One remark that immediately stood out to me was, “the church could not function after Katrina until certain Baptist Conventions and national churches came and helped them to rebuild and function again”.

Major question: can today’s church not function without a building?  Is a church not a church unless it has a building?  Does it not seem strange that we have celebrated rebuilt buildings more than rebuilt lives? Why is our stansdard of measurement how many people we can cram into the building rather than it being how many missionaries (Christ followers) we are sending out?

It could be argued that many of these churches were incapacitated even before Katrina came. When you see the lack of community impact, the growing rate of unchurched along the gulfcoast and in

  New Orleans before Katrina, it argues that Katrina did not incapacitate the church, it did the church a favor by pushing it out of its sanctuary and into the mission field. Like a mother bird does in pushing the young ones out of the nest to get them to fly, Katrina did the church a favor.   

Finally, the speaker is getting to the heart of success as he shows the meeting place of congregations that, because of the mission opportunities provided by Katrina, were able to continue with a strong community presence. Katrina opened ministry opportunities that they used as open doors to make disciples among those in the community. The post-Katrina congregation is stronger because the church functioned. It functioned through the storm, after the storm, and now even without a building. The rebuilt walls only serve to make the gathering of the church more convenient. But, a healthy congregation will function without regard to where. As one pastor very ably replied when asked where his church was, “What time is it now?”

Posted in Missional Thoughts | 1 Comment »

4. January 2008 by David Alexander.

I started spinning this morning. Let me define “spinning class” for you. It is the voluntary subjection of oneself to an amazonian trainer who leads you to do things for and hour on a stationary bicycle that I didn’t know either could or should be done. The motivation was a mixture of Christmas vacation gluttony and just a desire to cycle in the winter. I am still not sure what caused me to suffer more, my legs or having to get up at 4.30 this morning. The best part of the morning was the hot tub at 6.10am.

When I first read “take up your cross and follow me”, I did not see the whole scope of this verse as it relates to holistic discipleship. To love God with body(strength), soul, and mind is not an easy task.

Take the body for instance - I have the metabolism of a hippo, which I probably inherited from my native american grandmother, on a bone structure of a t-rex, which was inherited from my european great ancestry. Just yesterday someone told me that I carry my weight well. What they mean is that I am so tall, that the fat has more places to hide than those who are vertically challenged. So, if I am to love God with my body, either I need to be content to give God a WHOLE LOT OF LOVE, or spend quality time exercising and sacrificing hot juicy hamburgers for house salads with the dressing on the side. It doesn’t help that God has called me into a vocation as a desk jockey. So, this morning, there I was spinning at 5.15am.

Soul - this is the part that I don’t struggle with although one has to focus to keep it in balance. I am all about doing. But loving God with my soul is NOT just doing, its all about missional activity. On one extreme its about James 1.22 - being a doer of the Word, yet on the other extreme its has to do with 2 Timothy 2.2 - entrusting into others. So, with intentionality, I place myself in mentoring situations, as mentoree from some and mentor to others, as well as being engaged in the Missio - Dei (Mission of God). Loving God with my soul has become the joy of my life, and I have found it to be challenging, yet fun and fulfilling. Challenging is finding time to do it.

 Mind - this is where I have always struggled, not for lack of wanting, but for the time it takes to sit and be still and quiet. Studying to show myself approved unto God (2 Timothy 2.15) and being still (Psalm 46.10) are things that I desire to do, but find it very challenging to find time to do. So, this is also a cross for me. Daily, although it is coming easier now than before, I have to set aside time to be with my Father, to learn and to listen. Psalm 5.3 - In the morning, will I present my prayer unto Thee and will look up, is not quite yet a natural thing for me to do. Forcing myself to take up journaling has been a major help. So I press on.

I still struggle with being overcome by soul and body loving more than mind loving. But as Audio Adrenaline so well puts it - “…I get down, but He picks me up, I get down”. Surely that wages of sin is death (to body, soul, and mind) but the gift of God is eternal life (and that more abundantly) through Christ Jesus my Lord.

Get Down with God, and He will carry You and Lift You Up to where you have never been before.

Posted in Carpe Java | 1 Comment »

24. December 2007 by David Alexander.

A Bed In My Heart
                  by Martin Luther

 Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled
Within my heart,
that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.
My heart for very joy doth leap.
My lips no more can silence keep.

I too must sing, with joyful tongue,
That sweetest ancient cradle song,
Glory to God in highest Heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given,
While angels sing with pious mirth,
A glad New Year to all the earth.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »