Leo's Blog

Wild Goose Chase Tidbits

One of the things I love about the way Mark Batterson writes is he says things plain, simple and to the point. 

I'm not going to waste your time adding fluff, but read the following statements from Wild Goose Chase and I pray they mean as much to you as they did to me this morning.

"Come on, if God can keep the planets in orbit, don't you think He can reorder your life when you feel like it's spinning out of control?"

"`Don't wait to worship God till you get to the Promise Land; you've got to worship along the way."

I highly encourage you to got get this book sit down read and digest it.

It's time to stop praying

I know that sounds rather sacreligious but I think Mark Batterson has in right when he rights about it in Wild Goose Chase.  He says, "You need to start praying...then you need to quit praying and do something about it."

Please understand I'm not advocating that praying is a waste of time (and neither does Mark in his book).  I just agree with him that we need to take action in what we're praying for or maybe we need to just do what we are capable of instead of praying for it.  It's like I heard a pastor say once.  He said that if you have eaten yourself overweight, God's not going to miraculously overnight make you skinny.  He expects you to do what you are capable of doing and take care of the situation yourself.

A pastor friend of mine, Mike McCrary, shared this story a few weeks back during one of his sermons.  He had a guy stop into the church to ask for a tank of gas.  Where our church is located it is not uncommon to get such requests.  However, this time when Mike said he wouldnt be able to give him the tank of gas, but asked if he could pray for him the guy responded, "I don't need your prayers, I need a tank of gas."  Mike said he had a gut check in his spirit and went and bought the tank of gas for him.

So let me ask you what Mark asked his readers, "What are you praying about that you need to stop praying and start doing?"

Churches and Zoos have the same effect on inhabitants

I've begun reading (finally) Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson.  I no sooner get five pages into it and one of the most profound statements and I believe logical statements I've ever read smacks me square in the face.  Mark talks about spending time in the Galapagos Islands and seeing so many animals in their natural habitat.  And upon returning home they go and visit the zoo and see what happens when animals get caged up.

It was then he goes on to say "I wonder if churches do to people what zoos do to animals."  He continues saying that, "Too often we take people out of their natural habitat and try to tame them in the name of Christ."

I've been struggling these past few months, in large part because of my reading Pagan Christianity, of how we do church.  There are some highlights for the most part, but at the end of the day reaching the lost requires us to go to their natural habitat, not expect them to come spend time in ours.

Jesus lived his life this way.  He spent time at wedding parties, eating dinner with tax collectors, and just on hillsides teaching them.  I think there are a lot of us, myself included, spend too much time in our Christian bubble. 

Its time we look at how we are doing church and ask ourselves have we become to tame and too domesticated that we no long fit in the natural habitat where the lost spend their lives.

Troops personal message to Obama

The video says enough.  No need for me to expound.