Article Du Jour - the Deficiencies of Powerpoint

Recently, I have moved away from using powerpoint in meetings for the very reasons enumerated in this article:


"We Have Met the Enemy and He is PowerPoint"

According to the article, PowerPoint "stifles discussion, critical thinking and thoughtful decision-making."

Advocating a Boring Passport

At 18, I received my first passport. 10 years later, once the passport expired, the diversity of “stamps” became a source of pride – you see every time you enter a country, immigration stamps your passport. Each country has a unique stamp, and often at the end of a trip I enjoyed sitting down and looking through all the stamps and visas in my passport. I marveled at the littlest countries with the biggest stamps (like Lichtenstein) and the manner in which stamps reflect the culture (the German stamp is unadorned yet efficient). My passport had stamps from 5 continents, and a couple dozen countries – stamps from mission trips to Venezuela, Peru, Central Asia, India, England to name a few. My passport was the James Dean of passports.

However, today, I want to advocate a boring passport.

My first passport revealed a misunderstanding of effectiveness in short-term missions. I loved going to a new country, sharing the gospel, seeing many “pray to receive Christ” and plan on going on mission again the next year – just to a different country. This allowed me to have an amazingly colorful and diverse passport.

A little over three years ago, my attitude about short-term missions changed. Now my passport is boring. In the last three years, I have been to two countries on mission trips – India and Argentina. I’ve been to India once in this time span and Argentina nine times. As I flip through the pages of my passport, all I see is the same entry and exit stamp over and over again – in a word, boring.

Rather than going on several mission trips a year to several different countries, I decided that the best way for the missions ministry at North Richland Hills Baptist Church to make a lasting impact was to go to fewer countries more frequently per year. In the last three years, our primary international partnership has been in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (If you want to learn more about the partnership check out adoptabarrio.wordpress.com) NRHBC has sent fifteen mission teams to Buenos Aires in the last three years.

Pretty boring, huh? However, we have seen lives impacted by the gospel – just this week I enjoyed studying the Bible with a young man who a year ago became a believer and couldn’t find a single book in the Bible. On Wednesday, he didn’t miss a beat – able to find books in the Bible just as quickly as I could. Iker is well on his way in discipleship.

Prior to the change in philosophy, discipleship was an afterthought. Now it is our passion. After all, Jesus did not call us to make converts, he called us to make disciples.

A boring passport is not an empty passport. We live in a day and time in which travel is easy and relatively inexpensive. There is little reason for an American Christian to have an empty passport in regards to missions.

Boring passports reveal a white-hot passion for contributing to God’s mission to redeem humanity – in other words making an impact on one location – one people group – one partnership through evangelism, discipleship and church planting.

If you don’t have a passport – get one and use it for missions. If your passport is exciting – join with NRHBC’s work in Argentina and make it much more boring.

How boring is your passport?

Video Du Jour - BENNY HINN CONFRONTS JOEL OSTEEN

This is funny...pot calling the kettle black?

If you want your best life now, either buy Joel Osteen's book or send "seed money" to Benny Hinn.

The Scriptures - Our Instruction Manual for Life

This is an excerpt from my sermon yesterday - for a copy of the sermon, check out www.nrhbc.org.

As a red blooded American male, I have no interest in using instruction manuals when I have to put something together. After all, isn’t “some assembly required” really just a challenge to my intelligence?

As a result of having two kids 8 months apart, my life became filled with a handful of instruction manuals – interestingly enough – none for the actual kids – just for their stuff. And apparently kids need a lot of stuff!

There is an inherent danger in ignoring the instruction manual as some assembly required may turn into some reassembly required! If we neglect to follow the instruction manual, we may construct a swing, when we were supposed to be building a high chair. No honey, it’s supposed to wobble when the kid sits in it!

Neglecting or forgetting the instruction manual can be hazardous.

Imagine if you had an instruction manual for life. You would have a best-seller on your hands as this is something people crave! There are 99,060 self-help books on Amazon.

Fortunately for Christians, we have this source in the Bible. The Bible is our instruction manual for life – we have a choice to either follow it and be fully equipped or ignore it and be uninformed, ill-equipped and in a sense broken.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

The scriptures are profitable for teaching – are you hearing & applying?

The scriptures are profitable for rebuking and correcting – are you open to being torn down and rebuilt?

The scriptures profitable for training in righteousness - are you spending time in the word?

Article Du Jour - Global Warming?

Are carbon emissions responsible for global warming? Does global warming exist?

Michael Crichton doesn't think so:

http://www.michaelcrichton.net/speech-ourenvironmentalfuture.html

from the article:

"Michael's detailed explanation of why he criticizes global warming scenarios. Using published UN data, he reviews why claims for catastrophic warming arouse doubt; why reducing CO2 is vastly more difficult than we are being told; and why we are morally unjustified to spend vast sums on this speculative issue when around the world people are dying of starvation and disease."

What do you think?

Praying for the Couples in our NRHBC Family

In the last few weeks and months, several couples at NRHBC have experienced difficulties in their marriage, some even leading to separations.

A few weeks ago, the Sunday Morning Bible Study (our Sunday School) leaders were asked to set aside today as a day of prayer for the couples in our church.

If you are a married couple at NRHBC, understand that your SMBS leaders and I are praying for:

1) Restoration - for the separated couples

2) Protection - for every couple in our church

3) to Thrive - for every marriage in our church to thrive - to be a godly example of a marriage in our community.

Article Du Juor - "Passions over 'prosperity gospel': Was Jesus wealthy?"

Passions over the "prosperity gospel": Was Jesus Wealthy?

"'Mary and Joseph took a Cadillac to get to Bethlehem because the finest transportation of their day was a donkey,' says Anderson. 'Poor people ate their donkey. Only the wealthy used it as transportation.'"

What this pastor is forgetting is the importance of Christ coming from humble origins. The Israelites had certain expectations of the messiah - that he would be a conquering king.

The problem for the pharisees, Sanhedrin, Saul (before he became Paul) and even at times the disciples was that Jesus did not meet their expectations for the messiah. After all, what good comes from Nazareth?

Wealth would have meet one of their expectations for the messiah. Instead, God sent Jesus to be laid in a manger, to grow up in back-water Nazareth and to enter Jerusalem on a donkey, each as symbols of a humble messiah.

We can have confidence that Jesus was not wealthy in terms of worldly wealth. Praise God that he sent his son to humble himself even to death on the cross!

Why Fuller Seminary

**Updated**

Growing up in Texas, I had only attended Texas institutions for my education - kindergarten through seminary. Furthermore, I have always attended Southern Baptist Churches and earned my masters of Divinity at an SBC school in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

When thinking about doctoral work, I decided that I wanted to get out of Texas and out of SBC circles.

I examined a few schools based on a few things:

1) Is the institution evangelical and orthodox?

2) Will the professors equip me to lead a church to engage the culture with the gospel, make an impact locally and globally for the kingdom, encourage the body of Christ to move deeper into a relationship with Christ, and become a transformational leader and preacher?

3) Do the alumni reflect #2?

I decided upon Fuller Theological Seminary as it impressed me the most on all three levels. A few friends have derided that decision - funny enough - because the program is challenging. They encouraged me to look for an easier and shorter program just like they did. Their goal is to earn a DMin - my goal is to become a better leader/preacher/missionary/etc.

In order to prove my point on #2 and #3 from above, I'd like to provide a list of professors and alumni from Fuller.

Professors in the DMin program:

Dave Gibbons - (this Dave Gibbons, not this Dave Gibbons) pastor of Newsong and author of The Monkey and The Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church, speaker at Leadership Summit in 2009.

Alan Hirsch - missional thinker and leader, his books, the Forgotten Way and The Shaping of Things to Come have made an incredible impact on the missional movement among evangelicals.

Reggie McNeal - member and leader in the Leadership Network, his books, The Present Future and A Work of the Heart are widely regarded as encouragement for changes needed in the western church.

Alan Roxburgh - consultant, teacher, speaker, author on all things missional. Roxburgh's books, The Missional Leader and The Sky is Falling – Leaders Lost in Transition are important books in the missional discussion.

Bishop William Willimon - a Bishop of The United Methodist Church since 2004...For twenty years he was Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University...A 2005 study by the Pulpit and Pew Research Center found that Bishop Willimon is the second most widely read author by mainline Protestant pastors.

Bishop N.T. Wright - Bishop of Durham, England...is one of today's best know and respected New Testament scholars...has written over thirty books, both at the scholarly level and for a popular audience.

Alumni:

Rob Bell (M.Div), author of the acclaimed Velvet Elvis, founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church.

Bill Bright (B.D), founder of Campus Crusade for Christ and commissioner of the Jesus Film.

John C. Maxwell (D.Min), evangelical Christian author, speaker, and pastor who has written more than 50 books, primarily focusing on leadership.

John Ortberg, (M.Div & Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology), teaching pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, and author of several books including The Life You've Always Wanted and If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat.

Les Parrott III, (Ph.D.), professor of clinical psychology for Seattle Pacific University, author, and motivational speaker.

John Piper (B.D), author of works such as Desiring God and Future Grace, theologian and senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church.

Bob Roberts (D.Min), pastor of Northwood Church in North Richland Hills, TX. Author of Glocalization and leading authority on all things Glocal.

Rick Warren (D.Min), pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Church and the best-selling hardback book in U.S publishing history, The Purpose Driven Life.

The opportunity to learn from Alan Hirsch, Reggie McNeal, and William Willimon as well as to be counted as alumni along side Rick Warren and John Piper sealed the deal for why I choose Fuller Theological Seminary.

Hocus Pocus or Prayer

As a minister, restful sleep on Saturday night is crucial. A couple of Saturday nights ago, my 5 month old son decided to have a restless night. This causes everyone else in the house to experience the same sleep pattern.

By 2:30 AM, Jonathan had awoken about 4 times. My wife and I traded off going into his room and comforting him back to sleep. At 2:30 AM, it was my turn. What resulted must have been a movement of the Spirit encouraging me, as this time rather than pick him up, I decided to pray.

My prayer was simple, but seemingly powerful as God answered the prayer and Jonathan slept through the rest of the night. When I woke up to get ready for church, I said another prayer - this time of praise and thanksgiving that God answered my prayer.

The next night was similar as it turned out that Jonathan was sick. Again, by 2:30 AM, it was my turn and Jonathan had again woken up about 4 times. I tried the same prayer - after all, it worked the night before, right? I am nothing if not a pragmatist. God decided not to answer the prayer and Jonathan woke up several more times.

This incident reminded me of the power and mystery of prayer.

Prayer is not hocus pocus. There is not a set of words in prayer that will guarantee God's answer.

Paul in Romans 8:26-27 says, "the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." (NIV)

Some Christians are deluded into thinking that the power of prayer is in the words that we say - this is erroneous. The belief in the power of specific words is the definition of an incantation - " a written or recited formula of words designed to produce a particular effect." (from Webster).

Incantations are not Christian - they are magic - they are more in line with the world of Harry Potter than the Kingdom of God. Christians must recognize that prayers are not magic - but there is no denying that they are powerful.

1 Peter 3:12 says, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer." (NIV)

God listens to the prayers of his people. When God chooses to answer them - it reveals just how powerful they can be. The power is not in the words that I say, but inherent in the fact that God listens and when he chooses to, God acts.

What a joy and blessing that God listens to the prayers of his people.

How Easy it is to Lose a Thankful Heart

I have two sons that are only 8 months apart in age. Things can be a little hectic at home. The stresses of having a 13 month old and a 5 month old can at times impact my attitude. In other words, I am on occasion un-thankful.

This is quite ironic in the light of a recent request my pastor made last week - he asked me to lead the "Thanksgiving" portion of our prayer service. I am grateful that he asked as the preparation was quite cathartic.

In the days leading up to the prayer service and during my preparation, DFW experienced the snow storm of the century. 12.5 inches of snow fell in 24 hours - a new record for my hometown. It left several without electricity for days.

It is easy for us as Americans to become un-Thankful. When we go a few days without power or “suffer” through a winter storm, or have two children in a year, our hearts can be impacted.

This led to an epiphany -Perspective is often necessary for thankfulness. As a mission pastor, what is better to bring perspective than to look around the world and compare our standard of living to the one experienced by the majority of the people.

Therefore, I turned to a trusted source, "Basic Training for Mission Teams" a training manual published by Lifeway in conjunction with the International Mission Board.

How is this for a little perspective?

If our world had only 100 people

• 80 would live in substandard housing

• 67 would be unable to read

• 60 would be malnourished

• 1 would have a college education

• 7 would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth; all 7 would live in the US

• 70 would be non-Christian; 30 would be Christian

• 30 would have little or no access to the gospel.

God consistently reminds me how fortunate I am. I hope this information will encourage you to be more thankful in your prayers.

Article Du Jour - the Tebow Superbowl Commercial

Florida QB, Tim Tebow

Richard Land reflects on the bruhaha over the Tebow Superbowl Commercial.

I found this point to be particularly interesting:

"The 'pro-choice' movement knows they are losing and that ultrasound machines and commercials like the Tebows’ are confronting the country with the undeniable humanity of each unborn child, just as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin put a human face on the 3 million slaves in America, thus hastening their liberation."

You can access the article here:

http://erlc.com/article/the-tebow-commercial-why-the-heated-protest/

You can see the commercial here:



What do you think about the protest of the commercial?

Sincerity and Prayer

In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." 1 Samuel 1:10-11

Recently, I heard a sermon in which the preacher (not my pastor, Tommy) makes a statement which leads me to conclude that God answers the prayers of his people based on whether or not the prayer was sincere. The preacher was preaching out of 1 Samuel 1. The preacher said the following which sounds reasonable, but is a little dangerous. “It is not the length of our prayer that matters, but certainly it is the sincerity of our prayers that make a difference.” Seemingly, the preacher is drawing the conclusion from Hannah’s example that God gave her a son, Samuel, because of the genuineness of her prayer. However, the scripture has examples of sincere and fervent prayers that God chooses to ignore, such as the prayers of King David to save the life of his son.

1 Samuel 11 describes an affair between David and Bathsheba, which results in Bathsheba's pregnancy. Nathan, the prophet, rebukes David and announces that God has decided to take the life of the baby. According to 2 Samuel 12, David fasts and prays for seven days, asking God to spare the life of his son. David prays sincerely and desperately, but God does not decide to answer his prayer.

Both David and Hannah pray for their sons. Both pray sincerely. God answers the prayer of the latter but not of the former. No one knows why God answers certain prayers while ignoring others. Sincerity does not guarantee that God will answer the prayer.

The preacher, in attempting to encourage a sincere attitude in prayer, exaggerates the power of sincerity. This is not to diminish the importance of sincerity. Christ's parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18 reminds us that sincerity is vital. However, what is more encouraging than my sincerity is the fact that prayer is in the hands of God. God’s people must offer prayers in faith and with sincerity, knowing that ultimately Jesus provides an excellent example for reliance on God in Luke 22:42, “not my will, but yours, be done." (ESV)

A Different Perspective than the Prosperity Gospel

Dr. Tson was a pastor in Romania during the communist years. He was repeatedly arrested, interrogated and tortured for sharing the gospel. Dr. Tson provides a very different perspective than the prosperity gospel - perhaps following Jesus is more than just for our benefit.

Today's article is written by Dr. Tson. Here is an excerpt:

"During an earlier interrogation at Ploiesti I had told another officer who threatened to kill me, 'Sir, let me explain how I see this issue. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying... Everyone will know I died for my preaching. And everyone who has a tape will pick it up and say, 'I'd better listen again to what this man preached, because he really meant it: he sealed it with his life.' So, sir, my sermons will speak 10 times louder than before. I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me...' As long as I tried to save my life, I was losing it. Now that I was willing to lose it, I found it." - Dr. Josef Tson

You can read the article here: Thank you for the Beating

Church Involvement in Haiti

One of our own from NRHBC at work in New Orleans after Katrina

While our hearts are broken over the situation in Haiti, we must keep a couple things in mind. First, we need to keep the best interests of the Haitians in mind and work towards long-term solutions. In disaster-relief situations, sometimes relief efforts can do more damage in the name of good intentions because short-cuts are tempting. We cannot forget that whatever we do as a church reflects on Christ. There have already been reports of people doing damage to the name of Christ even though they intended to "help." (for example - http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/31/haiti.border.arrests/) Second, we need to work together to accomplish this task. No one church, group or denominational entity can solve the problem. This is time for the church to be the church - to come together, work together to help Haiti recover physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Ephesians 3:10-11 gives testimony to the importance of the church at times like these, "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NIV)

People have asked why would God allow such a terrible tragedy to hit Haiti. It is my desire that in the weeks, months and years that follow, people will say, "Thank God for his Church - which steps up in times of need to help the people of the world." Haiti gives us the opportunity to obey the second greatest commandment - to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Now to turn to specifics about the situation, as I understand it after attending a couple meetings this week:

On this past Monday (1/25), the first assessment team from the North American Mission Board (NAMB), the International Mission Board (IMB) and the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Disaster Relief team returned from Haiti. Therefore, everything right now still has a hint of conjecture until more assessment has occurred.

The reports are that the first relief teams will not be able to go to Haiti for 90-120 days. This is for a couple of reasons: 1) difficulty of travel to Haiti (the country has only one international airport capable of receiving a jet, and the airport only has one runway; the country has only one operational port with one pier and one crane functioning) - it is not like New Orleans, where it was possible to drive down and help within days of Katrina. The Dominican Republic is an option, however, for the time being, it is very difficult to travel from the Dominican Republic into Haiti. 2) Instability - political, material, - in other words, in just about every way the country is unstable. Therefore, until organized relief efforts begin, there is very little mission teams can do to help. (Unless, of course, the team consists of doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel)

The first teams to go with the SBC will be Disaster Relief teams exclusively. The needs are so immense that in 3-4 months and for the next 12 months, disaster relief teams will be the only ones sent because they will be the only ones needed - disaster relief teams can help with feeding and "cleaning" before reconstruction can occur.

In order for someone to go with NAMB or the IMB, when teams will be allowed to go in 90-120 days, they need to do the following things:

1) Attend disaster relief training (in SBC Disaster relief jargon - attend yellow cap training)
2) Procure a passport
3) Receive the following vaccinations: Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid and Tetanus - and procure Malaria medication
a) Only healthy people should go - conditions will be very difficult for the foreseeable future (tents, canned food, etc)

As of right now, they do not expect "regular" volunteer teams, especially student teams, will be able to go to Haiti for 12 to 18 months. They have no idea about costs or precise dates.

I am attending another meeting this week. As soon as I know more information, I will pass it along.

The best thing we can do now is pray for the people of Haiti - pray for their spiritual, emotional and physical restoration. Pray that when we can help, we will provide long-term care.

God Bless,

Mark

Ministry Must Make a Change in the Minister

Lately God has been teaching me about change. Specifically, how I must be changed as I continue to seek to become more like Christ. As a minister, one of my goals is to help others to find their identity in Christ and to be continually transformed by Him (that is sanctification).

Here are 2 key thoughts about our identity and character as ministers:

1) Who you are is more important than what you do.
A few years ago pastor Ronnie Floyd of First Baptist Church Springdale wrote a book entitled 10 Things Every Minister Needs to Know. Dr Floyd says that every minister must understand that who we are is more important than what we do. Often we have a tendency to find our value and our identity in what we do, or how well we do it instead of recognizing our identity as blood bought, unconditionally loved children of God.
Pastor Floyd encourages readers to look to Ephesians 1:3-14. Concerning identity, check out this statement:

Who am I? In Jesus Christ, I am chosen miraculous, accepted, completely, forgiven freely, planned providentially, and rich spiritually.

2) The ministry we do must make us who Christ wants us to be.
Once we recognize who we are, we must allow God—through reading, studying, and teaching His word; through intercession; through worship; and serving—to change us. We must recognize in our own lives what we teach others: that as we encounter God, we cannot remain the same. As believers we are destined to become more like Christ. As ministers this is critical: we must live out this truth if we ever hope to teach it.

The measure of our ministry is not solely how it impacts others, but also how it changes us. Imagine what a miserable existence it would be to minister to others, yet not be changed ourselves. Still, there are many even today who work in God’s name, but have not experienced the power and transformation that is brought by His presence.

Let us never simply do ministry and walk away unchanged. We must know who we are in Christ, and we must become who He has created us to be.

Toms Shoes

Blake Mycoskie, Toms founder, Amazing Race participant and Texan, founded a non-profit company in which for every shoe purchased, one is donated to children in need.

Blake says, "While traveling in Argentina a few years ago, I met barefoot children who were struggling just to get through their daily lives. I desperately wanted to give them shoes for a better tomorrow, which led to the creation of TOMS. Since that time you -- the TOMS community -- have given away over 400,000 pairs of shoes to children around the world through our giving partners.

I couldn't have imagined that one simple idea -- all children deserving shoes -- would create such an astonishing movement. Thank you for embracing this dream and helping to create the TOMS community we have today."

For Christmas, I bought a pair of Toms Shoes. It was gratifying to know that with the money spent to buy a new pair of shoes, another was sent to a child in need.

If you are interested, click on:

What I Learn About God By Being a Father (Part 1)

My two sons, Parker is on the left, Jonathan on the right.

In the last year, I have become the proud father of two sons. They are not twins. For an explanation you can check out -losspences.blogspot.com/.

I am entitling this "Part 1" not because I have immediate plans for any subsequent parts, but that I fully expect to in time.

My older son, Parker, turned a year old a little over a week ago. It has been a delight to be his father.

A few months ago, Parker discovered how to clap his hands. He now does it all the time. It is his favorite means to express himself. He claps when he is happy. He claps when he is sad. He claps on cue whenever someone sings, "Patty Cake."

Recently, when he climbs into my lap, he has discovered that he can "force" me to clap. He places his hands on the outside of my hands and brings them together then separates them and repeats. He thinks he is making me clap - it is rather precious.

Little does he know that if I didn't want to clap, he doesn't have the strength to force me. It is out of love that I allow him to clap my hands.

As a Christian, and especially a minister, I face the temptation to believe that what occurs in ministry is a result of my efforts. People accept Christ, are moved by a lesson or sermon, churches are planted - the temptation is to believe I accomplished these things. Especially when commend for doing a good job.

The truth of the matter is no different then with my son. Parker is not clapping my hands, I am. I am not reaching or teaching people about Christ, God is.

Instead of "this is what I am accomplishing for God," the truth is, "this is what God is accomplishing through me. "

To him be the glory!

A Humble Certainty Explained

It is time for me to explain what I mean by "A Humble Certainty."

It should be the desire of every Christian to be like Christ. One of the main characteristics of Christ is his humility. Therefore, every Christian should desire to be humble. In the reading for the class, a few of the authors misapplied the characteristic of humility in the development of their theology. Humility, for them, means that a Christian must be, if not ambiguous, then at least fluid in regards to doctrine. While I agree that doctrine should be open to reexamination, I disagree that it is not possible to be humble and certain at the same time. After all, Jesus was both certain and humble. While this seems to be counterintuitive, it is possible to be firm while remaining humble if the source of the certainty is not in oneself. The confidence is in the truth of God’s word, and that there are some doctrinal truths that are clear in the scripture and therefore can be held with certainty.

The incarnation, in which Christ left heaven to live on earth, was an incredible act of humility. Paul describes this act of meekness in Philippians 2:3-8, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!” (NIV) Even the nature of his birth and life was humble. Jesus’ birth in a manger and life in obscure Nazareth belie the fact that Jesus chose a humble life when he could have chosen to be born into royalty and live in luxury. The great British poet, William Blake, painted the picture of Jesus’ humility perfectly in his poem, “Little Lamb.” Blake wrote, “Little Lamb, who make thee, Dost thou know who made thee…Little Lamb, I'll tell thee; Little Lamb, I'll tell thee: He is called by thy name, For He calls Himself a Lamb He is meek, and He is mild, He became a little child.” Jesus left the glory of heaven to become a man in order to die on the cross. That Jesus chose humility is an example, especially to every Christian, to make the same choice.

Jesus’ humility did not change the fact that he was absolutely certain about many things. Jesus was certain about who he was. In John 8:58, Jesus existed before creation, “‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’” (NIV) According to John’s account, Jesus’ statement about himself was so inflammatory that his listeners picked up stones to kill him. Another example of Jesus’ certainty is found in the account of Jesus cleansing the temple, which is found in each gospel account. Jesus was convinced that what was occurring in the temple was wrong. Physically clearing the temple was hardly the act of a man with ambiguous beliefs. It was possible for Jesus to be humble and certain about his beliefs. It is possible for his followers to follow his example and be humble and certain at the same time.

Diana Butler Bass vehemently argues that it is not possible to be humble and hold strong convictions on the scripture. She writes, “As soon as certainty replaces humility, it leaves little room for the intellect to transport the faithful to awe.” I disagree. It is possible to make claims on Jesus Christ, eternity, salvation, while remaining modest. In other words, it is possible to be humble and certain when the certainty is not founded on one’s own abilities such as intelligence. Instead, one can be humble when making confident claims when the foundation of the claims is God’s word. Resolute statements on difficult issues such as eternal destiny are possible because the scripture makes resolute statements on difficult issues. As a result of her misunderstanding of humility, Bass avoids concrete statements about truths that are clear in the scripture, which can damage the ability of a church to fulfill the mission God has given to it, namely to proclaim the gospel of Christ and to make disciples.

Ambiguity on the ability to make authoritative doctrinal statements has a negative effect on the mission of the church. There is a proclivity for those who are ambiguous on scripture are also ambiguous about eternal destiny. Bass champions a view of a church that “makes few grand claims about eternity and salvation. Rather, these communities emphasize life in this world.” Granted, many churches that are resolute on the scripture have a tendency towards focusing more on heaven than life on this earth. However, because the scripture is clear about how the choices we make about Christ effect our eternal security, the church can be clear about these doctrines as well. In Romans 6:23, Paul states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NASU) Jesus says, according to John 14:6, “‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (ESV) In 1 John 5:11-12, the apostle John writes, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (NIV) This stands in sharp contrast to Brian McLaren’s perspective, ““Maybe it’s not that there are two places beyond the door of death, heaven and hell.” The scriptures make clear statements about the consequences of sin and the existence of heaven and hell. Furthermore, God’s people can be confident in stating the truth from God’s word while remaining gracious and humble because the truth is found in the scripture rather than in themselves.

Mankind is fallible. This much is clear in scripture and in daily life. As a result, Christians should be open to the reexamination of doctrines. In this respect, humility is required to ensure that what we can be certain about is clearly stated in scripture. Olson argues, “reconsideration and reconstruction of doctrines in the light of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ and in Scripture is required by our own finitude and fallenness…” Reconsideration is always important, especially due to humankind’s fallibility and the ever consistent change of culture. Application from the scriptures must be consistently reexamined to discern how the truths from scripture apply to cultural idiosyncrasies. McLaren offers a perspective on how humility and doctrine collide, “if you have an infallible text, but all your interpretations are admittedly fallible, then you at least have to always be open to being corrected about your interpretations…” The basis for correction must be from the infallible scriptures. Christians must be willing to reexamine their doctrinal positions. However, the reconsideration is not on a whim or on someone’s opinion. We must always be willing to change our position if it is proven to be unbiblical. The scripture is the standard therefore the scripture is the source. Humility comes into play when we understand that it, not our opinions or positions, is the standard of belief. This is how we can be certain about what we believe and remain humble.

American evangelical Christianity needs a dose of humility. We have come to the point where the hallmark characteristic of evangelicalism is not humility but arrogance. In this sense, we have become exactly what Christ was concerned most about the Pharisees, proud of our religious observance but spiritually empty. The correction is not found in becoming ambiguous in our beliefs, but maintaining a certainty. Humility and certainty require the balance of knowing what we believe, while being willing to reexamine our beliefs because the foundation is not found inside ourselves but in the scriptures. This is what I plan to apply in my ministry context. More specifically, I plan to make this a part of my ministry “DNA” with the goal of sharing this value with my faith community. It is my opinion that we will not convince many Americans of their need for Christ through arrogance or doctrinal debates, but through a community that humbly loves one another and knows what we stand for.