Repentance

Hey guys,

Recently, we as a church family have been dealing with some common family issues. What do you do when family members are disobedient or disruptive or destructive? Every parent is familiar with such thorny challenges.

We were dealing with one such challenge this morning. As I reflect on it, I’m impressed with the critical core attitude that will determine the outcome. It’s usually not the presenting problem that is the real problem; it’s the attitude behind the problem. If a person acknowledges the problem (confesses it), the way forward is not only possible but highly probable. This attitude is the key that opens the lock to the new life that Christ offers us.

The Bible calls this attitude repentance. Literally it means to “change one’s mind,” with a corresponding change in behavior. It reflects a tender heart and a willingness to change, which God honors and can work with. In fact, without repentance, no real change is possible. With it, God gets in the equation and change can and does happen.

Take some time and look at the central place repentance occupies in Scripture (Luke 15:7 and 10, Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15, Acts 17:30 and 26:20, and 2 Peter 3:9).

It’s no wonder that influential figures down through history have emphasized this crucial response. Martin Luther said in the first of his 95 theses that the whole life of the believer should be one of repentance.

Where it exists, God can begin His work in us. Without it, we stay in the hole we’re digging for ourselves that gets deeper and deeper.

Woody

Being Pruned

Hey guys,

As usual, it’s been a while. It’s not because I don’t love you—it’s just that life sorta runs over me.

Hasn’t this “Vineyard” series been helpful? I’ve personally learned a bunch. It’s given me a new perspective on keeping on in my spiritual life. It’s been freeing to realize that it doesn’t ultimately depend on me but on Jesus and my connection to Him. It’s His life (Juice) that flows through me and expresses that life in me and through me. I take great comfort in the knowledge that God is the Gardener and is cultivating me to produce the fruit He wants. He’s already decided what that is and is pruning me to make that fruit possible.

This last week, I talked about the pruning process. I applied it to my attempt to buy some mountain land—something I have dreamed of for a long time. I went to an auction and bid on the land, but when the bid went beyond my comfort zone, I froze. I then experienced “non-buyer’s” remorse (and still am to some degree). It took the form of disappointment and regret and self-recrimination. I have been surprised at the depth of it.

But God is using it to “prune” me. Owning the land wasn’t wrong (but the land owning me would be). Maybe it is about something else competing for my time and affection. (When the “good” displaces the “best,” the “good” becomes bad).

Monday morning, I woke up early (or maybe God woke me up). I woke up remembering a letter we had received several weeks ago. It was a letter from K. P. Yohannan (GFA) telling about the Christians in Orisse, India, who were being persecuted. Fifty thousand were displaced with thousands losing their homes and all their possessions. I went and looked in the trash can in my office and finally, after the third try in my office, I found the letter.

What God was prompting in me was to buy real estate—not mountain land, but houses. So, Nan and I bought four houses (new houses that haven’t been built yet). These are houses that will replace the burned homes of Christian brothers and sisters in India.

Now there’s a deal!

Love ya,
Woody

Back from Nepal!

Hey guys,

A long time since the last blog, huh? One of my excuses is that I’ve been out of the country. As some of you know, a team of BRCC’ers went to Nepal to get a firsthand exposure to Gospel for Asia and the Tibetan Trust Home. Really, though, the trip was to get a firsthand exposure to God. And that’s what happened. There’s something about getting out of your routine in a strange environment that sets you up for personal/spiritual growth.

I love to see this happen. I love to have it happen to me. My “adventure,” as I knew before I left, had to do with my journey into my fear and dread of speaking in a strange culture. My resolve was to speak every time I was asked...and asked I was. The first time I was sick and couldn’t. The second time we ran out of time and it got abbreviated. The next time was to about 70 kids. I’m not good at teaching kids but a deal with God is a deal with God.

The next time was May 1st at the Trust Home Birthday (few, if any, of the kids know their birthdays, so they just have one big annual celebration for everybody).

What’s cool (and scary) about this is that the children’s relatives and friends from the Tibetan Refugee Camp are invited. So there I was speaking about Jesus to 150 Buddhists, including several monks and a lama (a big deal leader). I asked Will Likins to give his testimony since he spent several years studying Buddhism on his way to Christ. Then I did my best to present the Gospel.

On Saturday, the day we left, I spoke at the weekly gathering of the “fellowship” – older kids and local believers.

I walked away with the awareness that I had done what God wanted. My fear and insecurity are pretty much intact (although lessened to a degree). If I can get beyond myself, it was a privilege to baptize eight new believers, four of them Tibetans. One of them was a head monk’s son who was to be the spiritual leader (Buddhist) of his ethnic group. He made a clear, public decision to follow Christ and proclaim it publicly. With his baptism, he became the second baptized Loba believer that we know of. Think what God can do through this!

This is just my lesson (one of them). The rest of the guys on the team took huge leaps of awareness in different areas. If you want to hear some of them – come to the meeting next Sunday, May 17, at 7 pm in the high school room, where we’ll tell of God’s work in Nepal, in BRCC, and in us.

Woody

Sensing the Shifts

Hey guys,

Wow! The last two weeks of our “Shift” series were amazing. I personally was affirmed in our partnership with the Trust home and with Gospel for Asia. I just feel a kindred spirit with both Dolma Shrestha and David Carroll. Many of you must feel that too. I just finished talking with David Carroll and found out that approximately 72 native missionaries were picked up to be supported by BRCCers. This is in addition to many of us who were already supporting native missionaries through GFA. Yea God! How that must please Him. Think of the lost people who will be found, of the churches that will be planted, of the lives that will be changed, of the eternities that will be changed. And we get to be a part of it!

I talked with Mike Cook yesterday. (Mike is with Allow the Children, the organization that we channel support through to the Trust Home.) He told me that approximately six dozen (sounds like about 72, doesn’t it?) new children were picked up by BRCC. I’m feeling a lot of joy right now for the difference we’re getting to make, for the “shift” that is occurring in you guys, and for the opening this is giving God to do even greater things in us and through us.

Speaking of that, be sure to personally invite your friends and family who don’t know Christ to our Easter service. Or, better yet, pray for and start a conversation with them about their spiritual journey. Draw the “bridge.” If your “invitee” doesn’t come, then come to the 7 am service so there will be room at the later services for our guests. You guys are awesome. Actually, God is awesome and He lets us participate in and enjoy what He’s doing!

Love ya,

Woody

168 Hours of Prayer

Hey folks,

Last Sunday night, I spoke in a church in Roanoke about prayer and evangelism. I usually refuse such requests, but I told God that I would accept invitations to tell about what He is doing here at BRCC because it’s pretty amazing. I also know that the good news only came to us on its way to somebody else. And a major lesson we’re learning is the centrality of prayer to evangelism. That’s why I’m excited about this week of prayer. We’ve prayed for 168 hours before, but we’re more aware of the connection than ever and you guys are more responsive than ever. God is doing something special here at BRCC.

A young man came up yesterday (Sunday) and gave his life to Christ. Think of that repeated over and over as we pray, as we take what we’re learning on Sundays and implement it, as we have conversations—thousands and thousands of them, as we invite, as we serve. What could God do? What could He do in us and through us? So, send me your stories so I can share them with the whole church and we can all be encouraged as we continue to move closer to God. It’s sorta like a body moving toward the sun (Son). There’s increasing (spiritual) heat, more (spiritual) light, more gravitational attraction. That’s what I want.

Woody

"Down" Time

Hey Folks,

The last few days have been “down” for me. Ever have those? If that’s due to known sin, then God brings it to our attention and we repent. I’ve learned over the years to keep short accounts with God. Why live in darkness when I can live in the light?

But what about those times when there is no obvious reason? My first step is to talk to God about it. Maybe there’s a reason that I need to become aware of. What else? Here are my limited reflections on this.

First, I continue to do the things that are good for me whether I feel like it or not. To quit eating when you lose your appetite is self-defeating. To not exercise because you don’t feel like it is a recipe for ill health. The benefit is not just maintaining spiritual health, but there are bigger/deeper lessons that God wants to teach me. While this is a big and complex subject that I have neither the space nor the knowledge to cover comprehensively, this is the major truth that God is pounding into me lately. The “truth” is the one stated above—there is a bigger/deeper thing that God wants to do in me that the present problem is just a symptom of (and the doorway to). It seems it’s almost never about the “thing,” behavior, emotional state, etc. It’s about something deeper. Like a bad marriage is not ultimately about the marriage—it’s about the people in it, their selfishness, their hard hearts, their whatever.

This has been good for me to know. It doesn’t remove the pain, but it does require me to believe certain things about God and to act on them. It gives a kind of purpose to the place I’m in. In a way it gives hope. I know that God is about the business of fixing what’s broken in me (“conforming me to the image of Christ” – Romans 8:29), not fixing the broken world or circumstances necessarily but hammering me into a beautiful, usable shape. It’s not fun but it’s no longer meaningless and hopeless. I can believe “all things do work together for good for those who are (His)” (Romans 8:28).

So, my question is more and more frequently now, “God, what do You want to teach me, to do in me?” rather than “Why are You doing this to me?”

He is a good Father – so good!

Love ya,

Woody

Abundant Life

Hey Guys,

Nan and I had a good time on vacation. One of the benefits of going away is that it gives us a different perspective and makes us more aware of how fulfilling it is to be a part of what God is doing around here at BRCC.

I heard another story this week of a young man just showing up at the building wanting to talk with someone. He got in a conversation and, as a result, gave his life to Christ. He’ll be baptized this Sunday. That’s five people that I know of in the last week or 10 days who have stepped across the line. One cool part of this young man’s story was that a year and a half ago, his parents prayed with some of us for their very wayward son. He played his hand out and ended up in jail and finally in our atrium this week where he was found by Christ. Yes, this was their son! I just love hearing and being a part of such stories.

In fact, my dream (and God’s) is for everyone at BRCC to personally be a part of such stories. That is God’s desired future for you (and me). As a church, we are to help you be a part of such encounters. God never meant these stories to be limited to “professionals” or “super Christians.” It’s part of that “abundant life” (John 10:10) that we talk about a lot around here. And it’s for every follower of Christ!

So our next series (called SHIFT) is designed by God to do just that. Don’t think it’s for you? Show up for the next few weeks with a willing heart and God is gonna take us (you) on the ride of your life. It can happen! God wills it to happen!

The only thing left is for us to let God do it. I can’t wait, can you? God has a story, like the one I just related about the young man who came in this week, with you playing a central role. God is inviting you to step out of your little story and into His story and bring others with you. Again, if you’re asking, “Can that really be possible? For me?” the answer from God is “Yes.”

Love ya,
Woody