Unpacking

We had a fairly eventful weekend at the Bezner house.

We sold our house a few weeks ago, and this was loading weekend. So Joy and I, along with my Dad and sis, loaded up our belongings into a POD.

It was an exquisite packing job.

Seriously.

You couldn't have fit another box into that thing.

We took pictures, high-fived, and came in to enjoy a cup of coffee.

And then we got a phone call that the buyer was backing out.

To say that we were surprised would be an understatement.

We were flabbergasted. As JB put it, it seemed as if the Lord was in this from the beginning, so it made no sense for it to all fall apart so quickly.

But fall apart it did.

I can honestly say that, despite the surprise, we somehow knew that the Lord was behind this. I can't tell you how at this moment. In fact, I have no idea what His plan is in this happening.

But I also know that all we experienced was inconvenience.

Meanwhile Matt has brain cancer, Beth has unrelenting chest pains, one of my friends is burying her step-dad today, and many of my other friends are attempting to salvage their marriage.

This isn't suffering.

And, if all we learned from this experience is that the road to church planting isn't going to be easy, then lesson learned.

Some people have joked and said that this means the Lord is blocking us from leaving Kaufman.

Perhaps.

Of course, the Lord spoke so clearly in telling me to do this, that I can hardly qualify a hiccup in selling my house as being a roadblock. Instead, I'm choosing to say that if the Lord wants us to stay, He'll be just as clear with me.

So we were in shock. And a bit discouraged. But we still know this is where we are headed.

And we'd love to ask for your prayers, in the meantime.

The Lord is good.

Listen and Learn

The last two weeks have been mind-bending for me from a spiritual vantage point. Here are a few things that the Lord has been teaching me:

1. Confession of Sin. I'm sure my Catholic friends and relatives are scratching their collective heads, since confession is an integral part of their practices. But as my Protestant and free church friends know all too well, there is no mechanism by which many Christians practice the confession of sin.

I know that some traditions (Apostolic, Holiness) practice public, congregational confession.

I'm not saying that such confession is bad. I'm simply saying that it's probably not realistic: Would you feel comfortable publicly confessing your sins to everyone in your congregation?

Probably not.

But spiritual growth does not happen until we identify our problems—our sins. So once we recognize them, we need to confess them so that others can help us grow. Not to mention the fact that the book of James commands it.

2. Hearing from the Head. I've mentioned this already in another post, and I'm still processing this, but I'm increasingly convinced that the majority of problems in most churches come because we make decisions and then ask for God's blessing rather than the converse. We need to be still and listen to Jesus.

3. Apprenticeship. Looking back on my life, I've realized that the time I grew the most spiritually was in settings where there were fewer than ten people. And I would say that the most intense of those experiences came when there were three or fewer people.

I was best discipled as an apprentice.

Thinking about Kids?

Then you better read this first.

Piper on Planting

John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis explains why churches ought to plant other churches in this blog post:

1. There are about 200 million non-churched people in America, making America one of the four largest “unchurched” nations in the world.

2. Each year about 3,500 churches close their doors permanently.

3. Today, of the approximately 350,000 churches in America, four out of five are either plateaued or declining.

4. One American denomination recently found that 80% of its converts came to Christ in churches less than two years old.

You Are Marshall

This has nothing to do with Jesus.

But it makes me laugh.

Hitchcock and the Holy Spirit

As I've already mentioned, JB gave me a terrific present for Christmas: tickets to see the stage production of Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" at the Majestic Theater in downtown Dallas.

I'm a fan of Hitchcock films, particularly "North by Northwest," (watched it multiple times) but love how he takes such simple concepts and builds suspense. Be it a telephone call, a telescope, a shower, or a car, Hitch's films often are able to take the tiniest mundane thing and turn them into the center of tension.

That's why the play was so surprising.

I came in expecting tension and suspense, but the play actually turned the old film into a Monty Python-esque sort of comedy, with a cast of four acting out over 150 characters.

Skeptical?

So was I.

But don't worry; it all worked together beautifully.

Somehow the cast faithfully re-enacts the old film and carries the plot, even building toward a somewhat exciting climax, causing you to have side-splitting moments along the way. My words certainly won't do it justice, but when you see people changing costume, accent, and character right before your eyes and somehow not losing the flow of the script, it's phenomenal.

Somehow these writers and actors turned a thriller into a comedy. And it worked.

I'm reading the book of Romans these days, and it hit me this morning that the Gospel is a transition of sorts: it takes the status quo of religion and rules and turns it into a comedy (in the classical sense) of life led by the Spirit. Once we invite the Spirit of Jesus into our lives, we are freed from rules and can simply live by the law of love.

For those of us who like order, this sounds a bit willy-nilly.

And I suppose that, at times, it is.

But Paul understood that the Gospel is not based on control; it is grounded in the Lord's desire to see His children freely love Him and one another.

And love is nothing that can be forced through regulations.

Only by joining our spirit to the Spirit of the Lord can our hearts, minds, and actions be transformed. Only then can we experience salvation. Only then can we know what the Scripture declares: "Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law but in the new way of living in the Spirit."

Skeptical?

So was I.

But don't worry; it all works together beautifully.

Hypnosis 101

So I'm an Apple guy. Love my Mac.

But this is hilarious.

Confession

I'll try to keep this brief.

I'm a self-confessed overachiever workaholic.

And it regularly bleeds over into my relationship with Jesus.

Today I read Romans 3 & 4 as part of my time with the Lord. And God smacked me.

I am guilty of attempting to earn God's favor rather than resting in the truth that my forgiveness comes freely through grace and faith in Christ.

The realization was swift and sharp. As were the sobbing tears that accompanied my prayer.

May we stop attempting to impress the Creator by living FOR Christ and simply live IN Christ.

Church at the City Tavern

Three months ago I had lunch with my friend Joshua Jones, General Manager of KHYI 95.3 to talk about our upcoming church plant.

As part of our conversation, we talked about taking the Gospel to places that were unexpected, to people that were least likely to come to a traditional "church service." As part of that conversation, I mentioned that I had dreamed about holding a service in a bar.

That's when I learned that Joshua can make things happen.

Turns out Joshua has is friends with Josh, owner of The City Tavern, in downtown Dallas. And it also turns out that Josh and his wife attend The Village. And it also turns out that the Lord has been doing some pretty cool things in their lives, prompting them to want to reach out to some of their customers.

Joshua also has connections in the music world, and he knew that John David Kent and David Ponder and Mike (of Somebody's Darling) were believers and would love to be part of something like this.

Before I knew it, Joshua had the entire thing put together, calling it The Tavern Church.

On top of that, Joshua's girlfriend, Kimberly is quite the mover and shaker, and she used her tireless people skills to get the whole thing buzzed in the downtown area.

They just needed a teacher.

So last night I found myself on stage at The City Tavern teaching on forgiveness and reconciliation from John 8 to a group of about sixty (?) people who wouldn't typically be found at church.

And I found myself praying with a man who had marital trouble. And hugging a weeping bar manager. And conversing with a mother who stood in the back. And earning trust.

Thanks to Joshua, this thing is going to be happening on the last Sunday of each month, so if you're interested in what we did, you're welcome to come check it out for yourself.

As for me, I'm consistently in awe of the Gospel's power. I'm not a prognosticator, but I'm guessing that in the next few months we'll see some folks come to Christ at the City Tavern.

And I hope you'll be praying for just that.

Planting School

Thursday and Friday I spent the day with some phenomenal individuals.

NorthWood Church in Keller offered me and fifteen or so other church planters the opportunity to be trained as a planting intern between October and January. As part of training we went to two two-day modules, read books on culture, theology, and the world, watched a bunch of video clips, and connected with some pretty incredible leaders.

Since I've already professed my undying love for Bob Roberts, Jr., previously, I'll simply tell you that he was a great inspiration (as usual). But I should also mention that the other guys tied to NorthWood were top-notch as well. Bobby Vaughn (Church Planting Pastor), Omar Reyes (Mission Pastor), and Brian Hook (volunteer in planting, part of Vision 360) all did a great job.

But the highlight of the module was, without question, Eddy Leo, pastor of Abba Love in Jakarta, Indonesia.

His number one credential?

He was at one time Number Four on Al-Qaeda's hit list. His church of 30,000 alarmed Muslim extremists in Indonesia and propelled him way on up there. According to Bob, he's now Number Six, so apparently he's been slacking lately.

Yeah, that's a cool pastor.

Eddy taught all of Thursday afternoon, and by the time the session was over, I was overcome with God's goodness. Eddy may not look like much (he's small and humble; one person quipped he looked like a gardener), but the Lord is using him in an incredible fashion.

At one point he said that at Abba Love they had learned two very important lessons in the life of the church. We all grabbed our pens to write them down. Here is what he said:

1. Christ is the Head of the church. Not the pastor. Not the oldest member. Jesus.

2. Love one another.

If you're looking for some mind-bending thoughts, you might also want to read this interview between Bob and Eddy posted over at glocal.net.

Along the way I've met guys planting in San Francisco, Colorado, Chicago, the Metroplex, L.A., and planters from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds. God is up to something all over the world, and I'm glad that I get to be part of it.

And on Thursday night we had a great time celebrating Bob's 52nd birthday with his wife Nikki and being prayed over as we begin a church. It was a great time of confirmation and commissioning. I am thankful for men like Bob, Eddy, Bobby, Omar, and Brian that take time out of their busy schedule to train guys like me.