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Creating a Contrast Culture

The Gospel Coalition had an interesting article yesterday titled ‘Create a Contrast Culture in Your Church‘. The article starts of with many people asking what program the church uses to produce the discipling, evangelizing, and hospitality that are easy to see. The answer is not a program, but rather that they offer tools to create a different culture of discipling, evangelizing and hospitality.

One of the phrases that most stuck out to me was: “Think about the local church as an embassy from the future.” I had never thought about that before. Christians on this side of heaven are preparing for a new heaven and a new earth where we will constantly be in God’s presence in a New Jerusalem. I think there has been some great work done on helping us appreciate that heaven will not be us sitting around on clouds playing harps, but instead a place where we will continue to do the things we love to do, but without pain and suffering, just like the Garden of Eden (see Randy Alcorn’s Heaven).

The article then lists 12 ways churches can create a culture that contrasts the culture of the world around them. One of the most important that I see in this list is number five:

Encourage church members to build their lives into one another’s. Yes, we want friendships outside of our churches. But Christians should also prioritize relationships within their churches, where they can leverage the same ministry of the Word in one another’s lives.

I think it’s far too easy to neglect the church family for your own family or for your own wants and desires. I think people have a far too narrow view of their relationships-the relationships they have with people who are believers will last for eternity. The phrase “blood is thicker than water” is true, but the reverse is true for the church body, “water is thicker than blood.” Those of us who have been baptized into the body have a new family that we need to invest our lives into and encourage them regularly, and even more as each day brings us closer to the day of Christ’s return.

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by mikethestrand on March 7, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on March 7, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/03/07/creating-a-contrast-culture/

One Family?

I just read this fantastic article titled ‘One Family Under God‘ at the Ligonier website. The article is challenging the assumption that churches should have a separate children’s church because we are called to be one body. This is something that I have felt at can often struggle with at the church I serve now, especially as I help out with the youth group ministry.

I think the most powerful point in the article is:

A church that ministers effectively to all age groups will keep the gospel alone as the foundation for church life and unity. Believers of all ages must be taught that our union with Christ, regardless of age, is what makes us one body. A tenyear- old Christian has more in common with an eighty-year-old Christian than with ten-year-old unbelievers. Where this is recognized and celebrated, real gospelcentered community thrives.

I’ve said this since I came to this church! We cannot have each different age group spending time only with that age group. I think this has changed the landscape of the church and has contributed to the decline of twenty somethings going to church. We are to be one body for a purpose-not fragmented pieces of a body spread throughout different locations.

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by mikethestrand on March 6, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships
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Posted by mikethestrand on March 6, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/03/06/one-family/

Zion – Hillsong United

One of the things about being a musician and leading the worship through music at a church is that many of the songs start to sound the same. There was a funny video put on youtube that is incredible true: How to Write a Worship Song in 5 Minutes or Less. All it takes is 4 chords and some popular “catch phrases” that people like to sing. Is this enough? As I’ve said before, I’m tired of Christians writing bad music, and the popular worship music that has been written recently has all started to sound the same. Yes, the words are good and I think many of the songs are very good songs, but I’ve been hoping and waiting for a little innovation. Enter: Hillsong United with their new CD Zion. This is the exact kind of worship CD I’ve been wanting to write!

I was first introduced to Hillsong United after my senior year of high school with the song “Mighty to Save” which I still do regularly at my church. I think Hillsong has tended to be on the front lines of worship music. We’ve gotten used to the music at church being: an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, piano, keyboard, bass, drums and a couple singers. I think Hillsong is starting to push back to that a little on this album. Someone on my facebook commented that it sounds like a mix of Passion Pit and Mumford & Sons. The Passion Pit comparison I can see, but not so much the Mumford & Sons one (side note: for a good Mumford & Sons comparison, listen to Rend Collective Experiment, another one of my recent favorite worship bands). Sure the guitars and pianos and drums are still there, but the main focus musically has been shifted to the electronics, which I think is a good change. In my first listening, my favorite songs are: Relentless, Oceans, Scandal of Grace, and Mercy Mercy. This CD is a must buy for those who are tired of hearing the same songs used for worship. Get the Deluxe Version too-the remixes are fun to listen to.

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by mikethestrand on March 1, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on March 1, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/03/01/zion-hillsong-united/

Blueberry Donuts – Caught Not Taught

I’ve been reading and hearing a lot lately about why students are leaving the church, and even last week wrote a blog on it. Yet as I’ve been doing more reflecting on it, I really think it gets back to the responsibility of the parents. No where in Scripture do I see church leaders being held responsible for what is going on in kids’ lives. Sure, James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” but I don’t see the teachers being held accountable for another persons sin, but I do see it being the parents responsibility for their children (Eph 6:1-4, Deut 6:6-9, Titus 2:4, Proverbs 22:6). Now I want to be careful to not cross into legalism here, and I think many times the phrase “it takes a village” to raise a child is very true. We need the church and the support of the people in the church to help raise children-parents need to be willing to admit they can’t do it on their own. Yet what I see throughout Scripture and in my own life is a very important phrase to remember in being a parent. What kids learn is often caught not taught.

This morning I went to the grocery store to buy some more creamer for my coffee. Every time I go to get creamer I grab a donut on my way. This donut it a blueberry donut, which is my favorite donut for one reason – that’s the exact kind of donut my dad always used to get when I was growing up. I remember there was a donut shop in La Crosse, Wisconsin that my dad would take me to (I don’t remember the name of it) and they had a blueberry donut that my dad apparently really liked and would get every time. Because of that, I would also get a blueberry donut, and they continue to be my favorite to this day. So parents: what are you teaching your kids today? Do they see someone who is following Christ with their whole life, or someone who just goes to church because it’s what they are expected to do? Children are a lot more observant than you might think so be careful: your actions speak a whole lot more than your words.

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by mikethestrand on February 28, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on February 28, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/02/28/blueberry-donuts-caught-not-taught/

Frozen By Indecision

I found an article this morning (thanks to Tim Challies who posts links to blogs every day) titled ‘Are You Worshiping the Idol of ‘Open Options.” It’s a fantastic article that says a lot of things that I’ve been saying for years! I have struggles with this issues throughout my life as well when trying to figure out which college to go to, who to date, what to major in, where I should work and a host of other questions. In the middle of these struggles, Kevin DeYoung wrote a book called Just Do Something that has become my go-to book on God’s will and making decisions. The title of the book is so helpful in determining the will of God in your life: just do something! Anything! God will continue to guide you! My Senior Pastor uses the picture of a car, it can’t change direction if it’s standing still.

I can think of many people my age who just refuse to make decisions and try to spiritualize it by saying, “I’m just waiting to figure out God’s will for my life.” I hate to say it, but by not doing anything you’re outside of God’s will! Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” And in 1 Thessalonians 4:2, Paul again says, “For this is the will of God, your holiness.” Stop and read that last word again. HOLINESS. If you are living in a Christian community, submitting to the leadership of the church, regularly learning and growing in the Word and continually being conformed into the image of Christ, then go make some decisions! Find a good spouse and get married and have some kids, take a job across the country that helps you provide for your family, grow up and move out on your own, make some mistakes and continue to be made more like Christ! Trust his faithfulness as you continue to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received.

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by mikethestrand on February 22, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on February 22, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/02/22/frozen-by-indecision/

Introverted Evangelists

Found this article titled ‘The Introverted Evangelist‘ yesterday and found it very insightful. On every personality test I’ve ever taken I’ve been an extrovert to the extreme! I love people, I love being around people and never like being alone. Talking to people is generally very easy for me and the instant I walk into a room I have new best friends. Because of this it is often hard for me to identify with introverts.

The main point I liked from the article was:

What is an evangelist anyways? An evangelist isn’t a personality type or a personality disorder, but an evangelist is one who brings good news, both in the proclamation with the mouth and their actions. If this is the case, where does it say that an evangelist is going to be an extrovert or introvert? What if God’s plan was for everyone to do the work of an evangelist? (2 Tim 4:5). Think of the power of the church if we empower both the extrovert and the introvert to be the representation of the good news in the way that God has made them? How many more people would be reached for the sake of Jesus?

We took the youth group to a Dare 2 Share conference a couple weeks ago that fell into the extrovert evangelism camp. During one afternoon we had to go to a mall and share the Gospel with a stranger. Many of the students weren’t very comfortable with this, especially the introverted ones. I don’t think trying to talk to strangers is always the best way to evangelize.

The church needs both introverts and extroverts to be the body. We are different and can and should use our gifts and personalities to God’s glory. I hope and pray I’m able to reach out and influence the introverts I know, but continue to encourage them to live out their mission to make disciples.

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by mikethestrand on February 21, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on February 21, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/02/21/introverted-evangelists/

Top 10 Reasons Our Kids Leave Church

Last week I did a blog titled ‘Resisting Being Cutting Edge‘ and included a link to another blog titled ‘Top 10 Reasons Our Kids Leave Church‘ Today I’m going to interact a little with that article. This article says the 10 reasons are:

10. The Church is “Relevant”

9. They never attended church to begin with

8. They get smart

7. You sent them out unarmed

6. You gave them hand me downs

5. Community

4. They found better feelings

3. They got tired of pretending

2. They know the truth

1. They don’t need it

It’s worth reading the explanations in the article, but the thing I don’t see on here is family upbringing. I think this is the key to all these other issues. We have professionals who take care of every need we have. There are teachers who are professional educators, doctors who are professional health care providers, shouldn’t we have professional Christians too? I hate to break it to you, but there is only one professional Christian who we can read about in the Bible. His name is Jesus. Ultimately we need to trust that God is going to work in the students lives as we do our best to instruct them, but I think it’s almost completely up to the parents. The parents are the ones who have the option of spending the most time with their kids, and the ones who the kids will most often imitate.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” This is not a universal truth, but it is a general trend. Ultimately children have their own minds and identities, but in the grace of God those who are raised in Bible believing and God fearing homes will grow to be the same. Parents need to start stepping up and setting an example for their children as they grow to be more Christ like in their lives. If the parents are nominal Christians the students will be that AT BEST, and most often will completely fall out of church.

The other issue I see with these top 10 reasons is that we NEED community in the church. We all have these spiritual blind spots and sin issues in our lives that we aren’t aware of until someone else points them out in our lives. Were it not for the church people would follow their own thinking and reasoning right into sin. Community may be a buzz word in the Christian circle today (just as “Gospel” is), but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t value it. The call to Christianity is a call to community. We need the body around us to support encourage and hold us accountable.

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by mikethestrand on February 20, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on February 20, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/02/20/top-10-reasons-our-kids-leave-church/

“Christian” Music

I so often struggle with “Christian” music. I grew up at a time where “good” Christians only listened to music by Christians, and one of the first CDs I ever got was ‘Jesus Freak’ by DC Talk. I still really enjoy that CD, and still regularly hear the title track on the radio…it came out in 1995. If I listen to non Christian radio I’ll hear the top tracks from today, yet the “most current” Christian radio station still plays songs from when I was 7. If that’s the best Christian music has to offer, we’re doing something wrong.

1 Corinthians 10:31 tells us that everything we do should be done to God’s glory, which means we should do the best we can for him. I think this applies to music as well! Christians should be on the forefront of musical trends and setting the example for others for how to do music well! Yet too often I see Christians copying whatever the latest trend is (Eminem gets popular, and we get KJ-52, Black Eyed Peas get big and we get Group 1 Crew). Granted, there are some people, like Lecrae, who are on the forefront of their musical genre and using it as an opportunity to spread hope, but overall we seem to be stuck in a rut musically.

This isn’t something I have a quick and easy fix for how we can get better music, and I’m still working through all the ramifications of this as well. But my overall sense is that Christians are greatly failing in so many areas to do things to the best of their ability. I’m honestly tired of the charts that compare “secular” artists to “Christian” artists – if the music is good, listen to it and use it as an opportunity to talk about different worldviews.

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by mikethestrand on February 18, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Blog, History, Life, Music
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Posted by mikethestrand on February 18, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/02/18/christian-music/

Putting Your Spouse First

I’m the kind of guy who likes to do research. Whenever I’m about to buy something, I read as many reviews as I can find, painstakingly pick one out, then read the manual from cover to cover before the item even gets to my door. This thinking permeates all areas of my life too so in preparation for marriage, I’ve read When Sinners Say I Do, The Meaning of Marriage, What Did You Expect, and various blogs as well as talking to everyone in the church I’ve seen to have a good marriage. I’ve been doing my research! Yet one thing I’ve already learned in my 24 years of life is that until this intellectual knowledge becomes practical knowledge that I’m living out, I know nothing! One of my best friends from high school got married in May of last year and as we have been talking through the course of his first year of marriage of just how difficult marriage is. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, quite the opposite in fact! The difficulties come from two sinful people coming together in an attempt to mirror the perfect relationship God has with us.

So in my studying and research on this matter I came across this blog today. What an accurate picture of what marriages today need!

My parents were intentional that having kids wasn’t going to stop them from doing the things they did before they had kids. Their object was to bring the kids into their marriage, not allow the kids to drown their marriage in a sea of tasks for the children. For this reason, our kid activities were pretty limited.

Whoa! How many parents actually do that today? And would doing this decrease the incredibly high divorce rate in America today? I think it would! As I’ve been talking to people who have been married for 20-30-40 years they have had this mindset, or else they wake up to it sometime in their marriage. Lewis B. Smeades in an article on Christianity Today way back in 1983 said:

My wife has lived with at least five different men since we were wed—and each of the five has been me. The connecting link with my old self has always been the memory of the name I took on back there: “I am he who will be there with you.” When we slough off that name, lose thatidentity, we can hardly find ourselves again. And the bonds that connect us to others will be frayed to breaking.

As we go through life our main focus should be, in this order: God, our spouse, our children and then anything else. I know it’s one thing for my to write about this on this side of marriage, but it’s a reminder I need to begin telling myself before I get married to carry in to my marriage. Through God’s grace, I will keep Him first, and then make my spouse my priority as we do our best to live out the Gospel in our lives.

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by mikethestrand on February 14, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on February 14, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/02/14/putting-your-spouse-first/

Resisting Being “Cutting Edge”

My dad sends me articles quite regularly, and one of the most recent ones was titled ‘Resisting the Urge to Do Cutting Edge Youth Ministry.’ It was a helpful article, and I read another one today called ‘Top 10 Reasons our Kids Leave Church‘ that I’ll interact with later this week.

I don’t think the ultimate goal of and youth pastor on pastor in general should be to be cutting edge and always staying relevant, but does having a faithful ministry and being cutting edge have to be mutually exclusive? I replied to my dad saying: “I agree – but then what does that look like practically? He says “I describe our strategy with a few participles: loving, teaching, proclaiming, worshiping, and praying.”

My follow up question is: how? I don’t think being “cutting edge” and following his “few participles” are mutually exclusive, you can still do things well and things that will reach a broad demographic and maybe even be cutting edge without sacrificing what God has called us to.”

I know within Christianity there is a tendency to run from one end of a spectrum to the other. For example, within the Evangelical Free Church, we were founded within the charismatic movement which is characterized by very emotive responses to pretty much everything and strongly encourages the use of all the gifts of the spirit talked about in the New Testament (tongues, prophecy, laying hands on, etc). Yet my experience with much of the EFCA today is a divorce from emotional and intellectual knowledge. These two things can’t be mutually exclusive, we need the intellectual knowledge, but it should lead to an emotional response of gratefulness.

So within the church today, I think our main focus needs to be on being faithful to the Gospel, but then practically we’re going to live that out in different ways depending on where we are in life, where we live, what we do and a host of other things. As of right now I am a 24 year old serving in a church with another pastor in his mid 30s and another pastor in his late 50s. We all talk differently, have different passions and different gifts. This doesn’t mean any of us is better or worse than the other, but together we can reach a much broader demographic than if we were trying to do ministry on our own. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re cutting edge, I’d say far from it, but we do try our best to do everything we do to the best of our ability and to the glory of God.

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by mikethestrand on February 13, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on February 13, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/02/13/resisting-being-cutting-edge/

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