pinakidion.*

There are many words not found in the Bible, yet hold great meaning for Christians all over the world. The word Trinity is not in the Bible, yet most Christians believe in it. The word discipleship is not found in the Bible, yet it is a critical component to the maturity of a Christian. There are many more examples of this, but there is one more important word not found in the Bible, and that is the subject of this meditation.

Interdependence is not in the Bible, but appears to be central to the meaning of ‘ekklesia’ the word we translate as church. What does ekklesia mean? It literaly means, “a calling out”. Basically, it was used to label a group called for a specific purpose. In the Bible, it is used of a mob (Acts 19:32), but most often in reference to the assembly of believers. As the ‘ekklesia’ or community of believers, what is our specific purpose? A fully defined answer can be found here, but primarily, it is to teach the word of God, provide fellowship, remembering Jesus through communion, and prayer.

Looking at Acts 2:42, it is obvious why the new belivers had everything in common. They had not planned to live in Jerusalem, merely visit for the Passover. The new Christian community pulled together with the purpose of meeting the needs of everyone. Three thousand became believers, but they were definitely in need of each other in order to survive. Instead of merely providing for each other, though, they devoted themselves to the fellowship. Paul would later tell the Thessalonians that they needed no instruction on brotherly love: it would appear that the first church in Jerusalem needed no instruction at its inception.

Later in church history, we see that in Paul’s missionary journeys, one community of believers needed each other. Philippi provided supplies and money for Paul’s missionary efforts in Macedonia (Phil 4:15). Macedonia and Achia (think Philippians, Thessalonians, Bereans, Athenians, Corinthians, and Cenchareans) sent money to Jerusalem (Romans 15:26). It is believed that the Romans gave Paul money for a trip to Gaul. There is no doubt that churches in one city knew of churches in other cities (1 Thess 1:4) and that they provided assistance to each other.

It is reasonable for administrators to manage the money and needs across several congregations. Peter and the other apostles did this in Jerusalem (Acts 4:35), Paul did this throghout the Gentile world(many references). But what was an apostle’s role in all this?

Apostles were called to a specific purpose; Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles and Peter as an apostle to the Jews (Gal 2:8). Paul, in his role, went from place to place preaching first in the synagogues (Acts 17:2), and then anywhere he could, usually the home of a new convert. (Acts 17:7) He spoke in Gentile assemblies (Acts 19:19) and the marketplace (Acts 17:7). To demonstrate his approval from God (1 Co 2:4), he was empowered to heal the sick (Acts 19:12), cast out demons (Acts 16:18), speak in other languages, and other supernatural things. As the apostle to the Gentiles, he had no qualms with sending people to strengthen (many references) or even straighten out a church(Titus 1:5). As God’s chosen messenger to the Gentiles, he certainly had a mandate from God to do these things.

What does this wordy and overlong meditation have to do with interdependence? Well, looking the early church, they seemed to require no central agency to help each other. When a need arose, they worked to meet it (2 Co 8:14-15). The need supplied by the apostles, Paul in particular, seemed to be communication between the churches. As one church knew the needs, other churches could provide help. Nothing stopped the Philippians and other Macedonian churches from giving (2 Cor 8:3-4) on their own.

What of conflicts? Seems that the apostles, elders, and folks from three Gentile churches were able to meet adhoc to answer a difficult issue (Acts 15). The letter went out from the apostles and elders, carried by specific messengers. A ruling went out on the difficulty. It’s interesting that the ruling was changed later (the prohibitions of eating strangled animals and meat offered to idols were later removed).

What of the current ICoC situation? Nothing prevents any of our churches from helping each other. Chicago started a missions society with several members that send money overseas. Boston and South Florida have done similar things. We should have an adhoc gathering to discuss other churches needs and find churches willing to help. There are still churches that need help.

Nothing prevents a church from planting another - especially in working with another church to do so. My minister wants to plant a chruch in Wisconsin. He asked couples here if they wanted to help. He then went to our church in Minnesota to ask folks to help from there. Looks like about 20 or so will be going on the church planting and this was all accomplished without a central agency.

When Katrina hit New Orleans, many gave to HOPE worldwide. Nothing prevented anyone from volunteering or sending money. Our church gave to three families directly, two of which were not members of our sister church in New Orleans. Other churches sent direct help to the church in N.O. It seems that churches in Texas and elsewhere gave the most direct help. Again, all this without being told from a regional director.

Nothing prevents churches in a regional area from meeting together and helping each other. The Heartland Churches of Christ will even soon have a website. The central resource can help smaller congregations have a web presence. But more importantly, meeting once a month, common issues can be discussed. The Heartland organization has no officers, no oversight of member churches, no creedal statements, and yet events are coordinated and resources pooled for mutual benefit. What need is there for another organization? What other level of working together is needed? When Omaha did the Purpose-Driven Church, the KC church provided materials they customized. When Wichita started using Family Dynamics materials in marriage retreats, other Heartland Churches began sending folks to FD to be trained. When Kip started trying to split churches here, they all met together and made a common statement against Kip. Really, what other interdependence needs to be demonstrated?

An even better opportunity for interdependence is available by working with Independent Christian Churches and/or Churches of Christ in a given city. Stadia has shown that these groups can and do work together to spread the gospel. Why can’t we work with them as well? Why can’t we partner with other groups in our city to help the poor and needy? My church worked with a Vineyard Church two years ago to have a blood drive. We still have a working relationship with them that allows us the use of their building.

I read about connectionalism and I wonder why it is needed. With the ICoC’s unique history, we can be so much more than that. I think this is especially true considering that we are still working through various aspects of our past and an emgerging split. I have no illusions, we have a very long way to go and a lot of work to be done. I think we have demonstrated that we are not mature enough to have any kind of central body with any governance. The good news is that, we probably do not need it. I understand that Amercians in general have an extreme problem with any authority - but even on a pragmatic level, it’s simply not needed around here.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t some expedient things about a central governing body (bishopric):

We can more easily denounce Kip and his heresy.
We can move staff around more easily because local churches will not need the interview process.
We can adminster funds to regional churches more easily.
We can _____ (help from the audience?)

What about training? The early church had the school in Alexandria. The CoC has Abilene (and Pepperdine and Harding). Abilene brought the ICoC and CoC together. The ICoC has four speakers there. Pepperdine brought the Southern Baptist Convention and the CoC together. This year, the Restorationists of all stripes are talking about unity.

That is, except us. We’re talking instead of consolidating and cementing ourselves as a denomination. God help us.

This, of course, sounds like a challenge.

Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

G. K. Chesterton

Still writing something on Connectionalism. It is controversial in a few circles, but is generally accepted among various denominations, especially the United Methodist Church. Before writing my thoughts here, I should say at the outset that I do respect this group for looking to outside models and doing their homework. The article does represent some hard work and careful study.

The Gang of Nine have shown the direction they are heading, and it seems that they are going to head in a direction similar to the UMC. The Sothern Baptist Convention is slightly different - they have conventions and regional groups, but those groups can not appoint clergy in its member churches. Under the UMC model, the regional bishopric hires, fires, and moves around staff in member churches. The Central organization also sets policy and doctrine, though in recent years they have opted for very little mandated doctrine and more policy.

Despite good arguments to the contrary, connectionalism is presented as a biblical mandate. This is based mainly on the argument that although there are no apostles today, the needs exist for the role of an apostle. This is a consistent hermenutic in our church history, mainly that all the offices of the first century church may not exist, but the need for the role remains. (This is also used in reference to prophets.) What I will say at this point is that the authority of the apostles is stressed, while the other roles of the apostles are not. In many writings of apostles, their primary role seems to be one of planting churches. Second, strengthening them. Their authority in other churches seems to have derived from either Jesus himself (the 12, Matthias, Paul) or from planting a church (Paul, Silas, Barnabus).

As far as the critique of the ‘mainline’ Churches of Christ, the comments are accurate according to those that are asked. Various groups exist to facilitate training and missions work, but members of the CoC debate their effectiveness. However, there is an example of maintaing local church leadership and co-operation that appears to be working. Namely, the Independent Christian Churches. There are regional groups, but the one hallmark is the NACC. Another organization, Stadia, has been working to plant churches with good success. They have planted over 100 churches, with many more planted recently, including ones planted by CoC and Christian Church members.

As I suggested, we should have a missions society similar to Stadia, or we should simply use Stadia. We have people all over the country itching to plant churches, my own minister is doing just that. There is success is forming groups without ecclesatical authority to plant churches, so why not? There is not a lack of people willing to take part. My concern is that had regional bishoprics been in place, this church might not have been planted.

Authority is a thorny issue, especially amongst Americans. Our society is fiercely independent and values independent thought. As a whole, Americans have an unhealthy attitude of authority and hide behind the proverb ‘power corrupts’ as an excuse to disparage any authority. It is a shame, really. We claim to submit to no one but God, all the while trying to tell Him what to do. I personally believe in local authority and I submit to it. I do not work to undermine the authority in my church locally.

There are those that puport to be leaders regionally, nationally, and globally. As with the apostles, I do not think they should be accepted on their word alone, but on a demonstration of the Holy Spirit. I am a cessationist, so how does the HS manifest itself today? See Galatians 6. Like the Bereans, I also went to the Scriptures to see if what they say is true. I have found that half is true, the other half is specualtive. Is the role of an apostle needed today? Ephesians 2:20 and Revelation 21:14 lead me to believe the apostles came to lay the foundation of the church. As such, their role is no longer needed.

I led the thoughts for communion today. It reflects the benefits of going out and the men’s retreat.

Click on this sentence for the link to the mp3.

It’s not that I haven’t been reading 1 Thess. I have read it several times. I just need some time to write things down that I have not had lately. I look forward to taking advantage of a men’s retreat to do just that.

Aside from 1 Thess, though, I need to pray through my circumstances. If I have learned anything thus far from 1 Thess, it is that the Thessalonians knew what it meant to be in difficult circumstances. (Huge understatement). Paul didn’t talk to them about having Joy in all circumstances, instead, he told them to hold on. He reminded them of the justice of God and that Heaven awaits all believers.

This is encouraging to me as I have had the ‘joy in all circumstances’ verse shoved at me for most of my Christian life. It was presented in a way that was designed to eliminate criticism, not provide comfort as Paul did.

So off I go to a small town about an hour south of here. I wish we were going to Villisica, IA again. I enjoyed walking out a ways to a small riverbed where I have prayed in two previous years. I hope I can be alone in our new place - that is what I crave the most. It has been difficult to ‘be still and know that I am God’ and I have sung Be Still my Soul so much that I do not have emotion left to react to its words.

It’s not that I am feeling low - I am feeling burdened. My credit is shot from the medical (and gas) bills I cannot pay on time. That means we cannot get a house and may have trouble moving out from our substandard house. We do not have money. Were it not for the kindness of my church, my son would not have hearing aids. We barely have anything else. I am frequently tired. I am worried about one of the applicants for our lead minister vacancy at my church. I feel disconnected from my son. I am about to start a second job. I am straddled with a car I cannot get rid of. My son does not like wearing the hearing aid and I am scared that he is going to break it. I am gaining weight and my health is suffering again. More than anything, I feel powerless to change my present circumstances.

All of these things are just normal life. I know people with worse problems, I am not the only one to have them. The thing is that my present cicrumstances are getting to me despite renewed efforts in Bible study, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines. I know, a good time with God doesn’t get rid of your problems. I don’t think that. It’s just that time with God provides perspective and encouragement, not solutions. I will always have problems (watch it Shane). They will never go away, just change as my son grows up, my marriage changes, I change, my environment changes, and so on. Since I will never be problem-free, the real search is for hope, faith, and love. Too many times I am looking for hand outs, solutions, and determination.

Sometimes I think too much, so I thought I just needed some fun. Tuesday we rented Madagascar and I loved it. But it is not recreation that I needed this time - this one will only come out with prayer and fasting.

I hope for a great weekend. See you on Monday.

The folks at Gold Rush Games seem to be gearing up for version 2 of their OGL Action! System rules. (See the forums, cannot link to them from work)

As they are asking for feedback, I offered one suggestion and plan to offer another one.

Stats Do Not Make Sense
Looking at the rules, a person with a STR score of 4 can dead lift 100kg. A person with a STR of 8 can dead life 300kg.

Yet the stronger person, though three times stronger, does twice the damage.

Looking to the range of the superhuman:

A person with a STR of 10 can dead lift 200kg. A person with a STR of 20 can dead life 6400kg. The second person is 32 times stronger than the first, yet does only twice the damage.

I reworked the STR attribute to follow a logarithmic progression so that twice the strength (as measured in amount a person can dead lift) meant twice the damage. Four times the strength, four times the damage. It’s not perfect. So far those with average or slightly above average strength cannot hurt another person in a fist-fight. (Yes, this is a large problem).

Chances of Success

Seeing if you are succesful in a task is straight forward:

Atrribute score + Skill Score + 3d6 roll = number to compare against Target. If the target number is 12 (Easy), you have an Intelligence of 3 (normal) and a Computer Skill score of 3 (Amateur, but received training and hands-on experience), you have to roll a six or better to be successful.

Looking at the set of target numbers you have:

Average/Easy 12
Tricky 15
Challenging 18
Difficult 21
Demanding 24
Extreme 27
Legendary 30

Assuming attribute of 3 and skill of 3, you need to roll 6, 9, 12 ,15, 18 respectively. Extreme and Legendary things are just out of reach.

The odds for success of an average person are:

Average/Easy 95.3% chance of success
Tricky 74.0% chance of success
Challenging 37.5 % chance of success
Difficult 9.25% chance of success
Demanding 0.4 % chance of success

Big jump from Tricky to Challenging. Determining Tricky or Challenging is a judgement call. Dude, what a big shift.

The issue comes from rolling 3d6. You have a 1 in 4 chance of rolling a 10 or 11. So if you need a roll less than 12, your chances are good. Need 12 or more? Well, there’s the cliff, take a flying leap.

My suggestion was changing to 2d12, then the probabilities even out. However, I know they are trying to stick to d6. Using 2d6 makes it worse. Using 4d6 doesn’t help much.

Anywho, that’s my semi-annual foray into RPGs.

This is another blog phenomenon. A frequent visitor, bobber, tagged me and I in turn will tag 4 others at the end, someday

Four Jobs I Have Had

• Software Analyst
• Software Trainer
• Middle School Teacher
• Commercial Fisherman (one summer)

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over
I really don’t watch movies, so these four may be odd, if I can think of four…

• The Italian Job
• Bowling for Columbine
• The Godfather
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version only)

Four Books I Could Read Over and Over
I don’t read for recreation as much as I did when I was single. I read for a purpose these days. Recently I’ve read or am reading, Grace Based Parenting, A Celebration of Sex, The Happiest Baby on the Block. I’m not listing the Bible because it really irritates me when others do things like that. I figure I’m supposed to reveal something about me that you do not already know. Also, it seems like I’m wearing the entire Bible on my forehead as a phylactery.

• Focualt’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
• anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. How about Strange Pilgrims or One Hundred Years of Solititude?
• How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth by Fee and Stuart (a book about the Bible is okay)
• The Meaning of Life by Bradley Trevor Greive (you have to click this one to appreaciate why it is listed)

Four Places I Have Lived
I haven’t lived outside North Carolina much at all. I currently live in Nebraska

• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Colington, North Carolina
• Portsmouth, Virginia

Four TV Shows I Watch
TV? What’s a TV? Here’s four shows I hope to watch if I can.

• Crossing Jordan
• MythBusters
• Is the History Channel a show?
• Law and Order, the original show, not the zillions of offshoots.

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation
yeah, Shane, I know the Sioux City, Iowa trip wasn’t much of a vacation, but it was worth the 12 Chick-Fil-A sandwiches.

• Roma, Italia
• Washington, DC
• Sioux City, IA
• Jacksonville, FL

Four Websites I Visit Daily
Besides the blogs I have listed on the top of my website, I visit these non-blog sites:

• Lxer
• ICoCInfo
• freshmeat
• Homestar Runner, it’s Dot-Com…

Four Favorite Foods

• shrimp from home prepared any way but raw
• ngiri-zushi made with yellow-fin tuna
• chocolate milk
• Tehran Chicken (menu item from Persian resturant in town)

Four Places I’d Like to Be Right Now

• home with my wife and child (it’s actually the house to the left of the red marker)
• home on the Outer Banks
• Computer Renaissance with $1,000
• Vale, Colorado

Four Bloggers I’m Tagging
I don’t know, but I’ll get there…

• Salguod
• Scott
• *
• *

Before looking at the text itself, a little background of Paul and company’s visite to Thessalonika:

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are in Philippi. At the very end of the chapter, the jailer in their prison becomes a believer. When the city officials declare that Paul and company should be released, Paul demands a personal escort as a Roman citizen. When they are escorted from prison, they go to Lydia’s house to encourage the brothers before leaving.

Keep in mind that they had been flogged. Their visit to Lydia’s house may have been a few days. Read more…

Ever want to mine a bunch of data using google? Well, here’s your chance. This link takes you to one of the better guides for using google’s advanced features.

More fun than a geek should have on a Friday, really…

My son’s hearing aids come today.

WARNING! IRRELEVANT ASIDE COMING! DODGE! WEAVE! DUCK! DIVE! AVOID!
This is the bright, shiny spot in a week where every possible issue that can go wrong with our Pension software, has gone wrong.

Anyone know COBOL? I sure don’t. And before you offer a class, let me just say that any COBOL programmer worth his salt has seen the code and responded like Marlon Brando in Apocolypse Now.

The horror…
The horror…

We now return you to our regularly scheduled post, already in progress.

..says to the other, “I’d heerd of that there Hind Lick Maneuver, but ain’t never seed nobody do it!”

We apologize for the inconvenience. Those responsible for returning to the correct blog have just been sacked. We now return you to the correct blog, already in progress.

So we’unz r headen off…

We apologize again for the inconvenience. Those responsible for incorrectly applying the ‘hillbilly’ filter have just been sacked. Those responsible for sacking those who have been sacked, have also been sacked.

Whoa, I feel like I’ve been somewhere else for a while. Sharp taste of moonshine in my mouth for some reason.

We again…

I’m sorry, the one that feel the need to sack those responsible for sacking those that have been sacked, have just been sacked. Sooner or later, they’ll figure out that you just cannot sack the blog owner.

As I said, my son will get his hearing aids later today. Frabjous joy, Callou Callay!

I’m so happy I c-

Distance measured as factors of 60.

kwet is about 11mm. Next unit up is 60 kwets. Next unit up is 60×60 kwets.

Therefore measurements are written 10.15.39 or 3600+900+39 (4539 kwets) or 49959 millimeters or approx 163 feet 9 inches.

Great distances are measured by adding more numbers in front. Two sets of numbers are used in small construction, five is massive projects.

I grabbed my friend by the side of the head and told him this.

The entire sentence was, “Preach the Word, no one else here is going to tell you to do that. You’d better do that, or I’m coming up there to kick your butt for leaving here.”

I came here in 2002 in a world of misery, but the hope of a new life for the first time since I went to college. I knew no one. I had nowhere to stay. I had a nice car, a little bit of money, and a job.

This guy was the first lead evangelist I met younger than me. From the start, he welcome me in. He listened to my hurts and encouraged me to go talk to everyone I was angry at.

I did. All of them. Sam Laing, Arthur, Kip, all of them.

I stopped being angry and devoted myself to helping others again. I worked on computers for free. I got some outside speakers to come here. We tried some new ideas. I taught some classes. I enjoyed attending church for the first time in years.

We talked about a lot of things. He helped me overcome my fear of speaking my mind. He helped me temper my perchant to bluntness without ever telling me a thing. I saw him struggle to come to grips with our church past. I even defended him when people were trying to tell him how to preach. I saw him also go back to his old church and try to make amends for everything he had done. He answered emails from some of those folks.

He became confident in his own calling yet have his own voice. He received criticism from within the church, outside the church, and from other ICoC subculture ministers. Still, he went his own way. He went to a Presbyterian school here to get a theological degree, he reached out to CoC’s, a Vineyard church, and befriended a professor that was feeling pretty low himself about his ministry.

He officiated weddings (including mine) and memorial services, but he did more than that - he cared. Whatever my feelings are on some of the things done during his tenure here, I always knew that he cared. I wish he was not leaving, but I support him in going after his dream.

His dream was to plant a church near he and his wife’s family. In this time of post-HKL renaissance, this requires no approval from anyone. With three young children, it was now or never - and I believe the time was certainly now. The message he preaches needs to spread. People need to know that Jesus is the message, not a church, not a system of control, not a mechanical system of theology. Jesus cared and he exemplifies that like no one else I know.

I truly believe that God brought me here to learn from and learn with this man. Despite both our faults, somehow we ended up helping each other. For that I am grateful.

I wish you well my friend. Go with God and preach the word.

Or else.

My son had a urology appointment today that we have been treating as more of a formality than anything else.

It’s not a formality.

Preliminary, and I do mean preliminary, results point to issues of reflux caused by improper drainage of one of his kidneys. This condition is associated with his Goldenhar’s. The effects are more increased urinary tract infections and kidney infections. If the infections occur frequently, that could lead to more medical problems. If the reflux becomes a larger problem, there could be toxicity problems that I currently do not understand fully.

I guess he’ll be drinking cranberry juice when he starts eating.

In addition, I received some very bad news that I cannot post about.

Not a good day, but at least God is still the same. He’s still good. He still abides with us.

Last night, I took an extended shift with my son. If I fall asleep without the CPAP machine, I get no rest. So, though we were spralled out on the chaise (it’s the thing that looks like half a couch) in a perfect Hallmark moment for three hours, I am not entirely here.

What?

Oh yeah, so I got an extended shift with my son last night…

Uh-

Anyway, I may not make a lot of sense today. Of course this means a post on something random will come later.

Don’t worry Shane, I marked up the paper you sent me - ahh the flashbacks of being an English teacher.

I had some time to think through what I am feeling. I’ve also had a chance to talk to others. Tomorrow night is a big deal for our church, so barring any suprises there, I believe I’ve come to grips with this present crisis.

Background
I’ve looked for the history of accountability partners and the like. The Catholic church had spiritual minders in the 5th century, but the minders were imbued with authority. I wanted to look at the history of the kind of mentoring relationships that Purpose-Driven churches, Promise Keepers, Campus Crusade, and others use or have used at one time. John Wesley had a group 200 years ago - he ended up having conflicts in managing the various small groups and became an overseeing evangelist in a way. Outside of that, the first mention I have seen comes from Watchman Nee. Born in 1920 in Mainland China, Nee believed in spiritual authority from teacher to student. I must confess that my knowledge of Nee’s works is too rusty to explain here.

After that a little book called Operation Timothy written in 1970 by Connecting Businessmen to Christ. Formed in 1930, they continue to be devoted to one-on-one discipleship. If you read their plans for 2006, it is eerily similar to the Evangelization Proclamation.

I have this book - it is a series of twelve studies to help a new Christian, something made very clear in the book. Since the original, book two has been published dealing with finances, marriage and other things. Again, the focus is on new Christians, though as a movement, they have increasingly become definied by their one-on-one discipleship lifestyle. Before drawing too many parallels, their National Director, Patrick O’Neal, makes $37,500 a year. They manage about four million dollars a year in donations - considering they have 18,000 members, that is not very much. (For you old schoolers out there, that’s $222.22 a year per member or $18.51 per member per month. Under our old financial policy in the ICoC, this would have been below poor.) Suffice it to say, I do not believe that they are after money.

After Operation Timothy, I found discipleship partners again in the Shepherding Ministries formed by five prominent charismatic leaders, Derek Prince, Don Basham, Bob Mumford, Charles Simpson and Ern Baxter (also in 1970). They broke up in 1985 after charges of abuse began to surface. Bob Mumford still runs LifeChangers. Charles Simpson runs his own publishing site including a magazine called One-to-One. The other three men have since passed on. For all their work, it seems their organization, besides creating a firestorm, burned out after 11 years.

Then, I found where Campus Crusade picked up the mantle. The ICoC picked it up from there. Other organizations abound that extol the virtues of one-on-one discipleship as a means to grow into maturity. I discovered that this concept is not unique to the ICoC subculture, but has been in America at least since the late 60s. (Unless you count the Methodist movement in America.)

I thought that surely such an obvious concept has been taught through time. I seached the entire works of Spurgeon - nothing. Calvin? Nothing there, either. C.S. Lewis? As one man said, “Lewis understood that discipleship is a matter of faithfulness in the undramatic episodes of life”. You could argue that Tolkien and Lewis were accountability partners of a sort, but it would be more accurate to say they were friends.

But the Bible Says…
What is the value of a two hundred year old commentary? You can easily see what your society and culture try to add to the Bible. You can also see what the past culture tried to add as well. With almost two thousand years of Christianity, there may not be any new insight, but there is a lot of insight to discover.

So I looked up Col 3:16 and Eph 5:19. These stalwart verses of “one-another” relationships should have something to offer in the old commentaries. However, it’s not there. No mention in Matthew Henry, JFB, Barnes, or others of one-on-one partners to teach and admonish each other. Tretullian shared about Col 3:16 in the context of the Sunday love-feasts. Basically, he, or another person would sing a hymn or share in other ways to the assembly. Seems a far cry from a justification for personal minders, especially for one so close to the original church.

Tired of Bashing Discipleship
I decided that I need to stop bashing discipleship. Sounds strange, but it sure sounds like I am, doesn’t it? Truth is, I do not bash it at all. When I lost weight, it was because I met with a support group every Saturday morning. Having to weigh in put pressure on me to make healthier food choices during the week. I never would have accomplished very much without the support of a great bunch of men. The accountability of sharing my struggles gave me the courage and strength in weak moments to make good choices. I have always been grateful to them and the man that lead the group.

You know, there’s no qualifier coming in this paragraph. I started making bad choices again when I left the group. Food is an area of my life that is so weak, that it will require some kind of structured disciplined plan to change my habits again. I do not have the desire to do it on my own. I’m sure that there are areas of our lives that feel the same.

What I learned is that my group was a tool through which God could work. Hold on, do not get ahead of me, here. I’ve not sold-out in any sense of the word. It was a tool that helped me overcome a very difficult area of my life. It’s success, to me, was based on the fact that there was a way to measure progress, an encouraging group of men in a similar situation, and the group was voluntary and temporary. The forced Weigh Down group I was put in a few months earlier did not help me because it was not really voluntary. I was assigned that group by the Sector Leader. Because it was not voluntary, I also believed that it would not be temporary. No matter what, it felt like a losing proposition. I was basically told that I was fat and that I couldn’t do anything fun until I learned some self-control.

What’s the Catch?
It appears that this notion of personal disciplers is a modern one. So what in modern society would produce this idea? Something pretty basic, our individualistic culture. Our American society is overwhelmingly geared around honoring the individual. You can say what you want, sue whomever you want, and basically do what you want. Legal precedent and legal precedent continues to affirm to that an individual person has the right to do whatever they want, when they want to do it.

In Christianity, this can appear with a great loss of the sense of corporate worship. There was recently an article about a growing number of Christians that do not attend church. (couldn’t find the link) Distaste with organized religion is the primary reason given for non-attendance. Considering Paul’s words about the church, and yes, the one-another passages, it is important for Christians to regularly meet together. This doesn’t mean that there are creative ways to meet together, just that dissatisfaction with some of your brothers and sisters is not reason to forego church altogether. Find a church somewhere for your own good, not theirs.

In any case, the sense of individual relationship with God has been so over-emphasized in this country, that men and women are looking for coaches, mentors, bosses, or any other person to help them with their personal relationship with God. The primary goal of a Christian is not the constant measuring of your relationship to God, your amount of sin, or the personal enrichment activities that make up your Christian walk. The Pharisees made up all kinds of rules to hedge themselves in so that they would not go beyond God’s set boundaries of right and wrong. This zealous focus on acheiving something for God as an individual is the same kind of thing. It is good to fight your sin. God says be holy as He is holy. However, your progress as far as your personal purity doesn’t save you from lust, adultery, or any other sexual sin. The blood of Jesus saves of from all sin, even after our baptism. Having a coach to keep you accountable on weight goals doesn’t save from gluttony or give you any self-control. It is the Spirit of God at work within you that accomplishes that. Call it what you will, d-partner, encouragement partner, prayer partner, whatever - it is still only a tool.

You Had Me for a While, but You Lost It
Here’s the stuff that is more personal to me.

Making d-partners a condition of membership is wrong. It’s like trying to play golf with only one club. The right tool for the right job is a simple concept that most anyone in construction understands. Discipleship is not much different. Paul said that each man should build with costly stones, not hastily with straw. I believe a partner is the right tool in some situations, specifically for new Christians. However, the goal of maturity is to distinguish right and wrong through constant use, not create a co-dependent soul that cannot make a decision without advice. A d-partner is not the right tool for everyone, simply giving it a new name and saying “play nice” is being disingenuous.

The purpose of a d-partner is to accomplish a specific goal and to be accountable to acheive that goal. An open-ended d-partner without a specific objective harms both people. It isn’t really designed for that, especially within the ICoC subculture.

I’m still upset that because a few people asked for d-partners, the whole church has to go through this. D-partners are fine, why did the whole church have to get involved? Find someone and be patient with yourself. Instead, there’s a bit of a concern on the part of a few members and some are simply doing it because it was presented to them to do.

It’s not a condition for membership in my church, so I’m staying. I do not agree with what is being done, but for now staying is more worthwhile than leaving. Is it silent assent? Maybe. Human beings are not rational creatures despite all protests to the contrary - we are emotional being and we live by making emotional decisions. I’ll deal with the feeling of compromising my principles the best way I can.

Doing the right thing can be difficult, but you are forgiven.

A new church planted by Frank Davis. Frank was an evangelist in Brooklyn and is now the evangelist for this new church in Atlanta.

He also wrote this article saying that God Hates Divorce. How ironic.

I also forgot to mention the church in Chile as asking for Kip’s discipling in 2004, before the Gang of 84 wrote the letter.

It never ceases to amaze me in a way.

For fans of Homestar Runner, there is a new email after a long 35 day wait.

Life is now officially good.

Granted, it was up, then down, so I haven’t actually seen it, but I read the transcript on HR Wiki.

When I was in high school…

Wait. Check that. Don’t want to remember much about high school. Umm… chorus trips. First love. Best friend. 36 hour marathon. Okay that was the good stuff.

Cafteria - Sanitation Grade C. Do not want to remember that. Used to have a lunch lady chomping on a cigarette while serving you. Imagine the bus driver from Forrest Gump and you have a good mental image.

“You want mashed ‘taters with that, son?”

So much for not remembering. I’m going to be thinking about that bus driver all day, now.

We now resume our regularly scheduled lives, already in progress.

I met Doug on the phone earlier tonight.

As I was spilling out my great frustration/disappointment/conflicted moment, he wrote me and offered to call. I was happy to accept.

I enjoy meeting people and I can be overexcited sometimes, as he soon found out.

I told him a couple stories I couldn’t believe I was telling, but then again, that’s a familiar feeling to me. I talked about D&D and playing RPGs as a kid. Yeah, Scott, I told him about drawing battle axes in homeroom. I didn’t tell him about the gray furry giant snake except to mention the 36 hour marathon that we had.

Anyway, I just rattled on about everything and nothing - it felt really good.

Thanks Doug for the tremendous encouragement. I enjoy reading your site, even the car stuff. I wish I could build or work on something with my hands in that way. As it is, I burn out computer hardware - I try to do software. Or work out integrals or mathematical series if I can’t sleep at night.

I think my worn out Calculus book will get some rest tonight.

There are certain thoughts rattling around in my head that I just cannot shake. Maybe it is me being unfair, maybe I am totally inflexible. Worse yet, maybe I expect people to conform to my standards of spirituality (which may be extra-biblical at best).

1. Some people simply have to be told what to do.

It seems to be true in my experience. You place someone in an environment where they are expected to be responsible for their own spirituality and they do nothing. They are waiting to be told what to do. So a minister or other person sits down with them and explains good things to do and encourages the strengthening of their own personal convictions and makes it clear that they need to ‘go after’ their own spirituality. Read more…