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Each week, Granger's Student Ministry is providing more and more new kids with opportunities to make friends, have fun and learn about Jesus. We registered nine brand new "first timers" at GSM this afternoon and all the kids were connecting with God, other kids and great counselors as they gained a deeper understanding of The Jesus Way.
It was awesome.
Ephesians 4:25 - Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all.
Want to learn more about your role in "bringing up there down here?"
Bring a few friends (get 'em registered here) and study The Book of James with us. We meet once a week for 8 weeks. During that time you'll learn more about your opportunities to follow Jesus ... and you might make a few friends along the way.
Our first meetings this week are: Monday evening at 6:30 (for everyone) and Wednesday morning at 6:00 (for men). Other options are spelled out here.
James 1:5 - If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
We continue our weekend series "Play Like a Champion" with this important reminder: "commitment counts." Nothing great is ever accomplished without commitment. Great marriages aren't built without commitment. Great musicians don't drift into mastery of their art. Great athletes don't excel without disciplined training routines.
Commitment counts.
Great churches are comprised of ordinary people methodically ordering their lives and commitments around their passionate love for Jesus. The Church is normal people with outrageous devotion to their Savior and Lord. Almighty God is the object of our affections.
Why? Because God's commitment precedes our own. God loved us while we were still sinners. Christ died for us while we were in rebellion against God. As the great High Priest, Jesus is committed to His Father and committed to us. He stands as our one mediator, bridging the gap between us, as the way to real life. Sure, we love the Lord, but God loved us first.
John spoke of God's commitment to us, and our commitment to God, this way: "This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life."
Commitment counts.
This weekend I'm praying we'll think carefully about the commitments we make and the long-term consequences our commitments are sure to deliver.
Isaiah 55:3
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I’m making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
It was great fun for many of GCC's staff as we joined family and friends celebrating Austin Fox-Welter's wedding tonight. Sheila and I were able to be there, so I grabbed a quick picture from the back of the room as Hannah and her father started down the aisle.
It was a beautiful service.
May God bless Austin and Hannah, and all the people they show the Way of Jesus.
Revelation 19:9 - He said to me, “Write this down: Happy are those who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb!”
When people let the God's word sink into their lives, like seed falling on good soil, the Bible says their lives can become 30, 60, or even 100 times more productive. It's important that God's word is available, and with Bible apps "the seed" is more accessible, to more people, than ever before.
I'm giving you a portion of the CNN Report Jessica Ravitz posted today. You can go here and read her entire post. This snippet celebrates the work of our friend Bobby Gruenewald (one of the pastors at LifeChurch.tv), and his entrepreneurial success. He's making God's word (the seed) available with the YouVersion’s Bible app.
I'm proud of Bobby. He isn't even 40 years old and he's reaching the world for Christ.
“A lot of people in the U.S. have six or seven Bibles in the house and never use them,” says Bobby Gruenewald, 36, the man behind this mobile Christian mission. “Our goal was to help people engage with the Bible.”
If numbers are any indication, mission accomplished.
The app, also available at Bible.com, has been downloaded 65 million times and counting, Gruenewald says. Users can highlight verses, do searches and read devotionals.
If they see something they want to share, enter social media tools. They can sign up for daily reading plans (9 million have subscribed to this free tool so far), earn badges of recognition for meeting goals and bookmark their virtual good books.
As of Thursday morning, a running tally on Bible.com showed that since the app’s 2008 inception, users have spent more than 31.5 billion – yes, billion – minutes using it to read the Bible.
I hope you'll register now to participate in GCC's all-church Bible Study of The Book of James. (Yes. You can use a Bible app if you want to.) We begin at the Granger Commons this Monday night at 6:30.
Come and let God's word (the seed) grow in the good soil of your life.
Mark 4:14 - The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others.
Two weeks ago, Sheila and I were on Princess Royal Island trying to photograph a Spirit Bear. Our "First Nation" guide led us to a Salmon Stream. I slid down the bank and settled-in beside the water and photographed this big male as he walked along a log looking for fish.
He was focused, intending to find his next meal, so he kept his eye on the Salmon swimming in the water below him. He was so intent on catching a fish that he paid little attention to me. He was on-mission and his single-minded efforts were rewarded with success.
Want to increase your odds of success?
Register here to participate in GCC's upcoming all-church study of The Book of James. It begins the first week of October and only lasts a couple of months, but an 8-week-focus on God's Word will help you know how to live and why your life matters.
There are two ways to participate "live." You can join hundreds at the Granger campus on Mondays at 6:30 PM, or (if you're a guy) you can participate with other men, Wednesday mornings at 6:00 AM.
Whatever you do, keep the crucified Jesus in clear focus.
Your life depends on it.
Galatians 3:1 - Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives.
As Sheila and I are perched on the bow of our little boat - looking for Humpback whales in the distance - this huge Humpback breeches right beside our boat. It almost lands on us, making for a very exciting moment captured in this series of pictures.
I don't know if I'll ever look "up" at a Humpback again.
Job 41:1-2
Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down its tongue with a rope?
Can you put a cord through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
The obvious truth requires one of two responses: we try to ignore it by burying our heads in the sand and covering our ears with our hands while singing, "La,la,la,la,la,la,la," or else we face it head-on. We either deal with it or we leap to an alternate universe. The leap is easier. Life in the real world is hard and we need help to live it well.
Life is difficult and you're lost if you don't learn to navigate it.
How can we know the way?
I'm offering a little help tonight.
If you want to stare reality in the face, admit some assistance with your life-journey would be nice and learn some basics of navigating the wilderness of this chaotic and dangerous world (where we control less than we imagine as we mishandle so much of the little we do control), register for Discovering GCC and meet me at the Granger campus tonight at 5:30.
Four topics will drive us tonight: Who God is, what God has done, who we are and how we live.
It's one night that could revolutionize your future, your voyage and the decisions you'll be required to make along the way.
Acts 27:10-11 - Paul warned them, “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.” But they didn't listen to what Paul said.
Occasionally I watch a movie and I hear people referring to Jesus in ways that give me pause. I get concerned. It's not that I think all movies poking fun at religious leaders should be banned, but I fear some have misunderstood the truth about the Son of God, and having a part of truth, are falling to the heresy of believing it to be the summation of the whole.
Portraying the Second Person of the Holy Trinity as nothing other than the "eight pound, six ounce newborn infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant and so cuddly," and describing the Word made Flesh only as the "tiny Jesus, in your golden-fleece diapers, with your tiny, little, fat, balled-up fists," can bring you up a bit short....even if the words were written for a character named Ricky Bobby to say as funny lines in a movie.
It's not good to be mistaken about Jesus.
I'd suggest three books to help you know Jesus better: Mere Christiantiy (by C.S. Lewis), The Case for Christ (by Lee Strobel) and The Bible (by God).
The truth about Jesus is worth knowing.
Revelation 1:12-16 - I turned to see whose voice it was that was speaking to me and when I had turned I saw seven golden lamp stands, and among these lampstands I saw someone ‘like a Son of Man’. He was dressed in a long robe with a golden girdle around his breast; his head and his hair were white as snow-white wool, his eyes blazed like fire, and his feet shone as the finest bronze glows in the furnace. His voice had the sound of a great waterfall, and I saw that in his right hand he held seven stars. A sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth, and his face was ablaze like the sun at its height.
Bill Hybels leads a church that impacts the world, meets in multiple locations, feeds the hungry, serves the poor, educates the ignorant and brings justice where there is none. It's called Willow Creek. Bill's people built a place to worship - where they could invite their friends and neighbors to join them as they learn of Christ and experience the life-giving presence of God.
This is a picture of their auditorium space - where the exact same number of people can be seated on each of all three levels of the room. I took it yesterday, when I joined our GSM staff and a few dozen of our GSM students at Willow for a Youth Leadership Summit. We had the entire 5,000 seat auditorium to ourselves for a few minutes so I had the kids sit down and I took their picture.
It was an amazing experience. We sat in the place where thousands meet together with Jesus each week. It was awesome.
Psalm 63:2-3 - Here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory. In your generous love I am really living at last!
Bruce Cole was one of many attending GCC's ReInnovate Conference this week. As the Pastor of Faith Community Church he wrote on Facebook:
"I don't ever overblow or oversell conference experiences. Usually those mountain top experiences degrade a bit when you're back working in the valley. Gotta say—two days with the peeps at Granger Community Church…and I feel as rarin' to go as I've ever felt. Faith Community Church family—you ready for sparks to fly?"
The conference helped hundreds. It's a privilege to encourage church leaders from across America and I've posted a few of the pictures I took during the sessions that inspired so many.
Ecclesiastes 3:4
There is a time to dance.
Psalm 27:6
I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Psalm 33:3
Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully on the strings with a loud and joyful sound.
Psalm 150:4
Praise him with drums and dancing.
Psalm 149:3
Praise his name with dancing.
Revelation 19:1
I heard a sound like massed choirs in Heaven singing,
Hallelujah!
The salvation and glory and power are God’s—
his judgments true, his judgments just.
Psalm 96:1-3
Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all peoples.
2 Corinthians 10:15
What we’re hoping for is that as your lives grow in faith, you’ll play a part within our expanding work.
1 Corinthians 14:26
So here’s what I want you to do. When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight.
2 Chronicles 29:11
God has chosen you to take your place before him to serve in conducting and leading worship—this is your life work; make sure you do it and do it well.
1 Timothy 4:12
Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching.
Sheila and I met environmentalist and photographer Ian McAllister last week.
We were near the little fishing village of Bella Bella so we stopped by his place to see some of his photography and learn more about his conservation work. We talked with his wife and looked at his ongoing efforts to research an environmental "base-line" (through the use of hydrophones and remote cameras).
He is a passionate man.
Ian's non-profit (Pacific Wild) is devoted to four initiatives: the preservation of Pacific wild Salmon (placed at risk by recently introduced industrial fish-farming aquaculture), the development of an Ecosystem Based Management approach to the protection of the Great Bear Rainforest from clear-cut logging, careful management of oil, wind and hydro projects for new energy development (He's determined to stop the oil pipeline and oil tankers from polluting the environment) and a ban on sport hunting grizzlies.
We pulled away from Bella Bella and, to our surprise, Ian was returning home, so he pulled his boat up next to ours. I climbed up top the Delphinus and got this wide-angle shot of the linkage that made it possible for us to talk a while.
I listened as Ian passionately spoke about his goals and the work he was doing to achieve them. The guy is a zealot.
Whatever you think about preserving rainforests, protecting wild-salmon ecosystems or stopping the pollution of oil tankers and pipelines, know this: It's the passionate people who get things done.
Balanced people don't lean into the future and stable people don't inspire others to act with sacrificial devotion. Whether you like him or not, Ian isn't balanced; he's leaning into his mission and he's making more progress than people with no "lean" in their lives.
Meeting Ian made me wonder how many times when I've failed because I was more interested in being balanced and stable than leaning passaionately into my mission.
Lean too far and you'll fall over. Don't lean at all and you'll stand firm, but you'll also be unmoved and unproductive. I don't want to lean too far, but I do want to get something done that adds value and advances the Kingdom.
Psalm 4:5b - Trust (lean on and be confident) in the Lord.
Sheila and I were off the coast of British Columbia last week. We were in a little boat looking for Humpback Whales. Mid-voyage I longed for more details. I wanted to know precisely where we were and exactly where we were going.
I needed more information. I trusted our captain, but I wanted to know how we were planning to make the trip: which route to take, the course we'd chart and the important way-points we'd navigate to maximize the journey ahead.
So when we made dock at the little fishing village of Shear Water, I went ashore to buy a set of my own navigational charts.
I wanted to know where our boat was going and how we intended to get there.
Question: Would it help you to know where GCC is going and how we intend to get there?
Great adventures lie ahead. Do you want to share the journey?
Join me for the Discovering GCC class I'm teaching on September 24th at 5:30 PM. We'll lay a course for the days ahead and you'll know what you need to know to decide if you want to stay in the boat....or go another way.
Register here.
Proverbs 30:18-19
Three things amaze me,
no, four things I’ll never understand—
how an eagle flies so high in the sky,
how a snake glides over a rock,
how a ship navigates the ocean,
why adolescents act the way they do.
I'm often captivated (and occasionally confounded) by the varying interests of the people I meet. We commit ourselves to every mission imaginable - and a few missions so “out there” that they’re impossible to imagine. (Of course, what’s considered “out there” varies greatly from person-to-person; what one thinks outrageous makes perfect sense to another.)
So when Sheila and I booked a voyage on the Delphinus with intentions of photographing one of the mysterious and rare Spirit Bears roaming the wilderness of The Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia, a few of our friends questioned our mission.
Mission success depends on many things. Being in the right place at the right time helps. So does being prepared when the anticipated moment arrives. So does resolve. Resolve (commitment, determination or whatever you choose to call it) means you’re willing to pay the price to gain the prize. People resolute in the pursuit of their dreams, know their cause is worth its cost, so they pay what’s necessary.
Ronn Patterson (Captain of the Delphinus) spent the last few decades on a mission of his own, using his boat as a platform for eco-tourism and education. Ronn is a naturalist by profession, a marine biologist by training, a student of whales by practice, a professional photographer by habit, a teacher by inclination, and a writer by requirement. He is brilliant and his floating classroom gives those on board an up-close and personal look at some of the most interesting (and important) ecosystems in the world.
Ronn wanted to see a Spirit Bear too.
We left the Delphinus and joined Marven Robinson (a First Nation Elder we’d hired to help us find a Spirit Bear). We got in his boat, the “Gitgat’at Spirit,” for a speedy 90 minute cruise to the far side of Princess Royal Island. (The “Gitgat’at Spirit” has two 250-horse Honda engines on the back, so when I say, “cruise,” I mean, “cruise.”)
Prior to boarding Marven’s boat, we spoke with a photographer who’d recently hired First Nation Guides to find Kermode (Ursus americanus kermodei) and spent ten days in-a-row, all-day-every-day in the Rainforest trying to see one. She never saw one of the rare white Black bears. That news was sobering, but Marven was the man who guided a National Geographic Magazine research crew to photograph a Spirit Bear a couple of years ago, so we were guessing, “Even though there may be only a few hundred Spirit Bears alive in the world, if anyone can find one of these white Black bears, it’s Marven.” We guessed right.
Somewhere along Princess Royal Island shoreline, Marven brought the “Gitgat’at Spirit” to the water's edge. We got off the boat and headed into the Rainforest.
I try to move
quietly in the woods, but when Marven walked he made no sound. None. It was
almost spooky.
Marven eventually told us to "sit down and stay put" while he went on alone “to find a bear.” He vanished and we sat. We waited. In a forest of Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock and Yellow-Cedar and we sat near this trail (which Marven identified as a "Spirit Bear trail") and waited a while longer.
I’m not sure exactly how long we waited silently near the salmon stream we’d hiked along as we left the basin, but when I least expected it (out of nowhere) Marven appeared. He held his finger up in front of his lips and made no sound as he formed the word “bear” with his mouth. He motioned to follow, so we followed and he led us to a seven-year-old male.
In the trackless maze of The Great Bear Rainforest, he found a Spirit Bear.
Unbelievable.
Our first day with the Spirit Bear was one of the most amazing days of my life.
I took some pictures.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As we hiked the stream we noticed Pink Salmon were fighting the currents to swim upstream and spawn. Though predation takes many out of the gene-pool before they make it to their journey's end, enough fish escape the bears to establish the next generation of salmon. They're easy pickings for the bears and I crouched beside the stream as this Kermode bear went fishing.
Marven got us so close to this bear that Sheila took its picture with her iPhone!
These bears are not albinos. They're not related to Polar bears. They're not "Blond-Phase" Brown bears. They are white North American Black bears. The phenomenon, known as Kermodism, is triggered by a recessive mutation at the MC1R gene, the same gene associated with red hair and fair skin in humans. To be born white, a bear must inherit the mutation from both parents. The parents themselves don't have to be white, but both need to carry the recessive gene for the double-recessive mutation to occur. That hardly ever happens. These bears are rare indeed.
The Gitga'at and Kitasoo/Xai'xais people never spoke of the white bears. As a consequence fur traders and trappers didn't know they existed. Spirit Bears probably owe their survival to the tight-lipped First Nation people who considered them sacred and refused to hunt them.
It's impossible to describe the nimble grace of a 400 pound bear. They move with incredible agility, speed and power. Reseachers believe their light color gives Spirit Bears a "fishing advantage" and during daylight hours they catch 30% more salmon than dark Black bears.
For several minutes this big bear stood beside the stream and ate the leaves of the Lyngby Sedge. Bears eat lots of vegetation and while this guy was grazing I stood nearby trying to take his picture.
Sheila and I saw Spirit bears. We even got some pictures.
Mission accomplished.
Isaiah 11:7 - Cow and bear will graze the same pasture.
Colossians 3:1-2 - So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is.
Micah 1:8
This is why I howl like a pack of coyotes.
When Sheila and I were on Sabbatical a few years ago, we went to the Coliseum in Rome. My brother and sister (accompanied by their wonderful spouses) were standing in line with us, along with about a zillion tourists, when the lady leading our group handed Sheila her flag and told everyone to "Stay with the flag and follow her!"
Sheila suddenly went from hanging around with us to having responsibility for us.
That can happen to anyone. It can happen at any time.
Look through the Bible and make note of the times God entrusted someone with huge responsibility when they least expected it.
Check the Bible. God calls when we're ready, whether we know it or not.
Be willing to take your next step and God will lead you forward, not by your own power, but through Christ - who strengthens you.
If we'll always be willing, get ourselves ready and expect God's direction, we'll change the world.
Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Simplicity.
Under-girding the complexities of life there's a foundation that's reliable: Whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
1 John 2:15-17 - Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
Matthew 6:25-26 - Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
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