How can we really make a difference?

One of the discussions that Mustard Seed Missions is about to undertake focuses on the number of people/families we can expect to help in the upcoming year.  This past year, our first, saw 100 referrals (and counting) from county caseworkers to our fledgling non-denominational ministry.  That number staggers me, it is far higher than I would have expected.  We've helped about 65 of them thus far, by God's grace and the generosity of individuals and churches in Venango County, and that number staggers me as well.  God has been good to us, we've worked hard in his harvest field, but as Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." (Matthew 9:37)  This past year, the workers have been dedicated, but the harvest has been still greater than we imagined.  So, what are we supposed to do?  Help as many people as we can, as fast as we can, or help a smaller number of people as much as we can?  Which method holds out more hope for breaking the cycles of material and spiritual poverty that surround us?  Jesus was the Son of God, but even he was exhausted by the press of the crowds hoping to find physical healing, and even he was worn out trying to extend to them spiritual healing as well.
The answer is certainly connected to long-term solutions, and this is something that every aid agency and charity struggles with.  How do you meet today's needs and at the same time help prevent them from being tomorrow's needs as well?  The wisdom of Ed Dobson in his Ed's Story film series about dealing with his ALS is relevant here.  Ed was a successful pastors, his congregation was many thousands, but when ALS started to take away his ability to do his job he had to quit.  He lost the ability to reach thousands, and was left with only the ability to reach one at a time.  Beyond being an inspirational story of faith, Ed's shift to working with people one-on-one is also a cautionary tale to the rest of us about trying to make spiritual guidance into a fast food industry.  The meal that God offers, the Bread of Life, is not to be gulped down on the road.  We need to make a difference in the lives of the Lost, we need to care for their needs and introduce them to Jesus; that's a process we can't rush.  As I said, we're trying to figure this out, your prayers are appreciated.

Open My Eyes, That I May See

The words of this hymn by Clara Scott popped into my head just now as I pondered what lessons might be gleaned from the work this past week of the teen missions team from the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio here in Franklin in conjunction with Mustard Seed Missions.  St. John's Episcopal hosted twenty-three teens and six adults who gave a week's worth of hard work in hot and muggy conditions to help people they didn't know.  These teens came here to Franklin because their youth leaders could see value in the experience of being involved as teens with helping the poor and less fortunate.  It was not only useful work for us here, but an educational experience for each of these teens the affects of which will hopefully linger and influence them for years to come.  I know that at least some of this transformative power is at work because several of the teens are repeat volunteers, and I heard expressed by the end of the week a desire on the part of many to return and help out again next year.

So, what are the lessons to be learned?  The first lesson is that poverty isn't limited to third world countries.  Poverty in America certainly pales in comparison to the outright starvation and disease in many places in our world, but when one lifts the cover and pokes into the corners here in our own backyard it is shocking to those who have not witnessed it how much need is right here with us.  The many causes of poverty, from disability to divorce, from pestilence to poor choices and beyond, are not limited to any corner of the globe. 

The second lesson then is that poverty looks like us too.  As Americans, we perhaps can be lulled into a soft sort of racism that begins to view poverty as a problem for "those" people.  What the teens discovered while working on getting the Hope House renovated, (a new homeless shelter being opened here in Franklin where previously there was none) is that many of those who will end up using this temporary housing will be teens not much different than themselves.  That many of these teens have been blessed with stable upbringings would be the primary difference between themselves and the young man that was waiting outside the building on their last work day because he had heard that a shelter was available.  This young man was 18 and could have just as easily been a part of our work crew rather than a person in need of a shelter.  We tend to picture homelessness as old guys with dirty beards and a drinking problem; those on the front lines of trying to help those amongst us in desperate need know that there is no stereotypical homeless person; that tragedy comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

The last lesson is that making a difference isn't as far away as it feels.  The tragedy unfolding on the evening news or the latest live feed on the Internet, which is taking place on the other side of the world can give us a sense of inevitable helplessness.  What can I do about such a big problem so far away?  If I don't have any more money to give to an aid agency, what can I do?  Twenty-three teens learned this week that a short car ride from home can be the mission field.  That their effort, even without formal training, can make a difference.  Now that they've returned home, they'll look at the world with new eyes, eyes that see need where once it was overlooked, and eyes that see opportunity where once there was apathy.

"Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me....Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!"  Imagine if the whole Church opened its eyes, what would we see?

Where are the thoughts?

I know that I haven't posted any new thoughts in a month, but the reason for the draught is a good one.  We've been making a lot of progress with Mustard Seed Missions of late and that work is eating into my time to read and ponder throughout the week.  I have several books on the shelf here at the office that I'm itching to get through, but when God is working amongst his people, as he is now through MSM, that's where my focus needs to be.

This week we have 23 teens and six adults from the Episcopal Diocese of Medina, OH here in Franklin working on MSM projects.  I've had the joy of meeting with these kids each morning as we get the multiple work teams on the road to their sites, and also the responsibility of making sure that MSM's project leaders and projects are running smoothly; and of course, the new MSM referrals keep coming in this week as well, five more already.

In years prior, when Nicole and I were back in Saranac, wondering and anxious about what God wanted us to do, hoping for an opportunity to work full-time in the ministry, and not sure where or when that might be; it was a steady prayer of mine that God would make me more useful to his kingdom.  As you know, don't pray for patience unless you really want to learn how to be patient, and don't pray to be used by God unless you're willing to get to work.  God brought us here, God put us to work, and we're loving it.  Right now I'm just thankful for the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing here in Venango County and thankful to have so many wonderful Christians from all over the county who are willing to join in this mission to the needy in our midst.

Don't worry, I'll get back to writing commentary on books, news, and whatever strikes my fancy soon enough, for now, God's got me too busy.

The Stream Internet TV/ radio interview about Mustard Seed Missions

It's not everyday that you get the chance to do a tv/radio interview, so I was happy for the chance to speak to The Stream about Mustard Seed Missions.  The show is 2 hours long, the segment about MSM begins at 1:34:45 and last about fifteen minutes.  (You can skip ahead without having to buffer the whole thing)
To watch the interview, click on the link below:
Mustard Seed Missions interview

A humbling moment, thanks to all

Last Wednesday was one of the highest moments in my professional life, it was an unexpected honor I received from the Dept. of Human Services of Venango County.  They held an annual awards dinner and chose me to receive the Outstanding Service to Others award from the Office of Economic Opportunity and Children and Youth Services.  Having lived here in Venango County for only a year and a half, I was certainly surprised to have been noticed beyond others who have toiled in this field far longer.  There would be no opportunity for this award if my church and my board didn't support me 100% in outreach efforts beyond our congregation, nor would I be able to do so without the support of my loving wife, Nicole, or the rest of my family, especially my father Walt and my mother Kathy.  In addition, I'm supported here in this ministry effort very capably by my office manager, Cheryl Rila. 
From the day I arrived here in Franklin I knew that something was different.  The years I spent hoping and praying for an opportunity to minister more while living back in Michigan were no more; instead, people were looking to me for leadership on several ecumenical outreach efforts.  It was during the third meeting of the Chilren's Roundtable that I had attended since moving here that one of its principal supporters, CYS solicitor Bill Cisek, asked me to "take over" the discussion about what the churches might be able to do to help partner with the Human Services dept.  Thus my involvement in Mustard Seed Missions, as it came to be know, was born.  Not by some grand plan of my own, but by a simple opportunity that presented itself to do what God would want any of his ministers to do; help those in need.  God bless everyone involved in the effort here in Venango County to make our churches known for what our faith causes us to DO.

The picture is of me receiving the award from Judge Lobaugh, another of the instrumental local government officials who have shown such amazing trust of our local churches.  Four incredible things have happened here:
1. The government agencies trust churches to help
2. The churches trust the government enough to be willing to help.
3. The communities of this county are working together for the common good.
4. The churches of this county are working together for the common good.

Lenten thoughts on peace among Christians

As we begin today the season of Lent we are reminded of the wide variety of Christian practice here in the United States.  We are not separated from each other by region, race, education, or any other social factor that has throughout history driven wedges between the various churches of the Church.  It wasn't always this way, America has a past where the type of church you attended meant a great deal more than the type of man/woman you were.  As we have our racial past sins, we've been on the long road of moving beyond our past.
Nearly every day I work with a Christian volunteer, lay leader, or pastor from a non-Baptist church.  My work with Mustard Seed Missions crosses boundaries all the time without even consciously thinking about them.  We will soon join together in a community wide cross walk followed by an ecumenical tenebre worship service.  We are still many, but we function more and more as one.  In this we certainly please God whose son is the groom of the whole Church, no local version has a monopoly on the claim to being the Bride of Christ, nor does any continent spanning denomination. 
That being said, most of us don't know about two experiments that took place in Eastern Europe prior to the Thirty Years War that offered hope of toleration and civil peace among Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed, and Orthodox Christians.  That these experiments didn't survive into the modern world do not detract from the vision, honor, and courage of those who embarked upon a journey of hope in peace.
The first example comes from the nobility of Transylvania, a small principality that was wedged between hostile Ottoman Turks and the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor.  Transylvania was home to a wide variety of Christian churches,  as such these nobles were forced to find common ground with each other for their very survival.  The result was and agreement in 1568 in the town of Torda that stated,
"ministers should everywhere preach and proclaim {the Gospel} according to their understanding of it, and if their community is willing to accept this, good; if not, however, no one should be compelled by force if their spirit is not at peace...no one is permitted to threaten to imprison or banish anyone because of their teaching, because faith is a gift from God." (from Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid McCulloch, page 640)
Likewise, the kingdom to the north, Poland-Lithuania was faced with choosing a new king after the death of Sigismund Augustus in 1572; they were also faced with Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, and Orthodox churches within their territory.  When the nobility decided to ask Henri, Duke of Anjou to be their next king they required him to first sign a agreement that had been drawn up in Warsaw which stated,
"Since there is in our Commonwealth no little disagreement on the subject of religion, in order to prevent any such hurtful strife from beginning among our people on this account...we mutually promise for ourselves and our successors forever...that we who differ with regard to religion will keep the peace with one another, and will not for a different faith or a change of churches shed blood nor punish one another by confiscation of property, infamy, imprisonment or banishment, and will not in any way assist any magistrate or officer in such an act." (McCulloch, page 643)

As we begin the path of Lent, the road that leads to the Cross and the Empty Grave, let us remember those who tried (often in vain) to bring peace among Christians, to foster a sense of brotherhood among those who claim Jesus as their Lord.  We should be rightly proud of our current level of brotherly love here in America, but we should rightly remember that we didn't walk this whole path on our own, there were visionaries in Transylvania and Poland-Lithuania hoping for peace five hundred years ago.

To Judge or not to Judge, that is the question.

Please don't judge me for borrowing Shakespeare's phraseology from Hamlet, that would make the rest of this post difficult to read.  The text that I'm going to be preaching this Sunday is Luke 6:37-42; it begins with the phrase, "Do not judge".  In the passage Jesus is warning us that the same way in which we judge, condemn, and/or forgive others will be the measure with which we ourselves are evaluated by God.  That certainly is consistent with the teaching back in vs. 31 "do to others as you would have them do to you".  Later in the passage Jesus explains that if we are trying to help others by pointing out to them the flaws in their own character (clearly something that needs to be done in humility) we must first remove the flaws in our own if we have any hope of seeing clearly.
As I write the sermon, I can't help but think about all of the judgments that I need to make each week to do my job.  As a committee member for Mustard Seed Missions, we evaluate need/resources each week as new people are brought to our attention.  How do we decide who we help and who we do not?  As the pastor of this church I need to evaluate calls for assistance that we get every week, how do I decide who to help and who to not, and to what extent?  I certainly also have to watch over this flock, to keep an eye out for troublesome behavior in this congregation and try to stamp it out for the benefit of the whole.  Along those same lines, I need to be on the look-out for false doctrines and harmful ideas lest they take root amongst us and do harm to God's people.
It seems as if my job requires me to be a judge over a great many things and people, yet Jesus' words have to apply to me just like everyone else.  In the end it all comes down to attitudes and the intentions behind our actions.  Do I have the best interest of others and the needs of the community to heart?  Are my decisions self-sacrificial or self-aggrandizing?  The same questions apply to us all in the myriad of decisions (judgements) we must make each day as spouses, parents, consumers, voters, and members of the organizations we belong to.  To remove ourselves from the equation (to not judge at all) would simply hand the decision over to those who have selfish goals in mind.  To sit in judgment gleefully would be an affront to God and the speedy road to our own destruction.
Do you and I have to judge things in life?  Of course, but we have no reason to be judgmental.  Do we have to condemn evil and work towards its destruction?  Certainly, but we have no reason to not hope for sinners to repent.  Do we have forgive others?  That is the most crucial question of all; if we fail to forgive, what hope have we when our own mistakes are brought into the light of day?  Forgive, be merciful, and remember the embrace of your Heavenly Father when you finally returned home.

Mustard Seed Missions - moving forward

I've been spending a lot of time working on Mustard Seed Missions related things of late (henceforth it will be MSM to save time), the committee meets every month and the phone calls, e-mails, and visits take place on a daily basis in the process of helping get this new effort off the ground.  I'm happy to report that thus far we've helped several families with situations that range from "easy enough" to "holy cow".  God has been gracious to us, the spirit of cooperation among churches and within the Human Services agencies has been heart-warming, as has been the generosity of volunteers and donors.  We've yet to find ourselves without funds, materials, or people to complete a project at hand once we get ourselves organized.  It has been an incredible journey thus far, one I found myself upon almost by accident (not as if God didn't know exactly what he was doing), but one in which I have been able to use my talents, passions, and position for the service of the kingdom.

The logo for MSM has been created, thanks to my talented wife Nicole, as has our pamphlet and bulletin insert for churches to use in getting the word out and recruiting volunteers.  The days and months ahead will certainly help us sort of the growing pains of any new organization, but I'm confident we'll be fine when I look at the quality of the people whom God has recruited for this effort.
MSM bulletin insert (Word)

A Mary vs. Martha kind of day

In Luke 10:38-42, Martha invites Jesus to her home and then becomes swamped with the preparation that had to be made.  Martha's sister, Mary, sits at Jesus' feet and listens to what he had to say.  When Martha grumbles to Jesus that Mary is helping her with the work, Jesus replies, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only on thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
This passage is often interpreted as a reminder to focus upon the important things and not get bogged down in the details; it can be applied to the functioning of a business, a family, or a church.  We must be aware of what is critical and not let what is important get in its way.
When you're a pastor, these sort of questions can pop up every day.  This past Friday I still had a lot of work to do on my sermon for Sunday, because of prior meetings earlier in the week I was a lot less done than usual for a Friday.  The meetings earlier in the week were important in their own right, they were about expanding the work of Mustard Seed Missions; worth doing, necessary, but time consuming.
Thus as Friday began, I was hoping for a relatively quite day to get my work done.  If there is one thing that most pastors don't like, it's being unprepared for the Sunday sermon as the end of the week approaches.  God had other plans in store for me that day.  Late on Thursday I heard of a local grandmother who had been kicked out of her apartment by a new owner and found herself, and her two grand kids living with her, living with virtually no furniture.  After a couple of phone calls, one bed and a table was located; the woman herself had obtained a fridge and range, it seemed that a couple of hours of delivery were in order. 
I was able to find a helper for moving the stuff, Cheryl's husband John, and we set to work on it.  Several hours, and a sore back later, the furniture was moved and a person in need was helped (a start on it anyway, this project, like so many MSM projects is ongoing).
At that moment, I was eager to get back to my office, sit and my desk and finish that sermon.  Mere moments after I sat down, however, the phone rang, it was a man who hadn't eaten or slept in days; someone in need of emergency help.  After looking for the man for an hour (he had given me the wrong street number in his sleep deprived state), I was able to take him to a local group, Heart to Heart, who were able to meet with him and get him some food.
By this time it was nearly 3 PM and I had a Christmas party to go to; yikes.  When did I finish the sermon?  Saturday morning, my day off.  Was there any help for it?  Not really, that message is one of my most important responsibilities each week, but if I can't set it aside to help those in real need, who am I being Mary or Martha?  By the way, the sermon went fine on Sunday morning; God knows what he's doing.

A seed is planted...Mustard Seed Missions of Venango County

There have been several pleasant surprises here in Franklin in my first ten months: the ease of making the transition due to the overly friendly people, the amazing ecumenical cooperation among our churches, and now the fulfillment of a vision that began before I arrived but which I have become a part of.

Mustard Seed Missions of Venango County: a cooperative effort where Faith Works

This group is the official name of the Venango County Children's Roundtable's effort to come to an understanding with local churches in order to help (primarily) the children who are on the CYS caseload.  Of course, when you help the children, you help their families; and when you help families, you help the community.  This effort represents cooperation between more government agencies than I can possibly keep track of (amazing in and of itself) and more churches and denominations (a God thing if anything is) than I can list. 

My involvement began this past spring as a substitute pastoral representative at a meeting of about 20 people where we heard about the work of Seeds of Hope in Tioga County, an organization that has been doing something similar for the past ten years.  Other meetings followed, and the numbers began to grow; 30, then 40, and finally over 75 in September.  By then, there were representatives from about 50 churches throughout the county that had attended or expressed interest.  There was a critical mass of enthusiasm and hope, but a beginning still needed to be made.

And now, in the last 2 weeks, we have chosen representatives to be on a committee that will begin to move this vision into reality.  Our first priority: get out into the real world and help one of the families that we've been talking about all year.  That is now a reality that will soon be coming true; a local mom with a teenage daughter living in a home that is not safe will be receiving new windows, probably a roof repair, likely some new plumbing, and new doors (more or less).  All this with the generous donation of people's time and money, and especially the help of people with training and expertise in the building trades.

Soon, the project will be regularly helping with unsafe housing, rides to doctors appointments (using county vehicles, expanding an already existing system), and mentoring and counseling of families.  Each time a church offers real help to real people the potential exists to turn that moment into the beginning of a relationship.  Our goal, even beyond the very big task of helping in these situations, is to help construct the support structure that every person and family needs.  Where does that structure exist already?  Within our churches, as those of us who have been blessed with a church family know.  Where is the answer to drug abuse, alcoholism, neglect, anger, hopelessness, insecurity, grief, and every other such trouble that is common to man?  In the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We, Mustard Seed Missions, are not a social service organization; those already exist.  We're not an evangelism arm of our churches, they exist too.  What we are is a mixture of both.  By offering real and meaningful help to people, by showing the love of Jesus Christ through deeds not just words, we show to those in need that they have value; that God loves them.  If those who receive our physical help decline our spiritual help, we offer them God's blessing and leave the door open; if those who receive our physical help wish to know why followers of Jesus Christ would be willing to help them, we have an answer ready to share, "we love because he first loved us." (I John 4:19)

Will it be easy?  No.  Will it be without bumps along the way?  No.
But then again, what worth doing really ever is, and can you think of anything else our churches should be doing more than this?

The website: mustardseedmissionsofvc.org is up and running; it will soon become the hub for upcoming projects and will alow us to see what materials/volunteers are needed and also allow those who wish to help see what is needed and when.