For What Your Church Calendar Say's, There It's Heart Will Be Also

OK. I know that Jesus actually said, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21) and I'm not trying to make up new scriptures. But I think that if you look at a your church calendar (all the scheduled activities for the month) it will show you what the heartbeat of your church is. MJ was on the website of The Church at Brookhills in Birmingham, Alabama the other day and was blown away by what she saw (see photo above). There was day after day scheduled with missions trips, mission team training, church planting meetings, disaster relief trips... everything was about reaching the world with the Gospel and helping people in need. That was it. Nothing else. And then it hit me. That's because that's what's important to them. That's where their heart is. So I decided to look at a few other church websites where they had calendars posted. Here's just a few of my observations and the 4 most common church calendars I saw on-line:

1) Churches that had a predominately "internal focus" with all kinds of activities for people in their own congregation. Their schedule was loaded down with all kinds of self-help classes and get-togethers for "their people."

2) Churches loaded down with outreach events into the local community "only." Trying to get their name out there making sure that people knew that they were there for them.

3) Churches with the same calendar, doing the same thing every month (i.e., ministry A is on the 1st Monday, ministry B is the 2nd Friday of the month, etc.), and nothing fresh was happening.

4) Then, there were churches like Brookhills, with a calendar full of activities revolving solely around reaching the world with the Gospel, ministering to widows and orphans, and helping those who have physical needs due to natural disasters or even because of the economy.

Now I know that I'm looking at this through "my lense" and the way God wired me, but I look at church 4 as the church that is giving the most biblical view of what the Bible calls us to look like. I can't see anywhere, in the Bible, where we're suppose to only focus on "our people." I can't see anywhere, in the Bible, where we're "only" suppose to stay in our own community (although it's part of what we're called to do). And I don't see anywhere, in the Bible, where we're suppose to just do the same thing over and over, never arising to new needs in our communities or around the world.

I do see where we're suppose to make disciples and be witnesses in our hometown, surrounding towns, to people who are despised and to other countries that don't have the Gospel (Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:8).

And I can also see where we're suppose to take care of the orphan, the widow and the poor (Jas 1:27, there are over 300 scriptures dealing with this and actually God got pretty ticked-off when His people didn't help these groups Job 22:8-10, Isa 1:21-23).

As I was sitting in service Sunday, Pastor Mike Keaton quoted someone who said, "the mark of a great church isn't in it's seating capacity but in it's sending capacity." And it made me think of seeing the calendar of The Church at Brookhills and how biblical and focused they were. They were focused on sending people out to the world (local and far reaching) with the Gospel. It also got me thinking about how un-biblical and mis-focused a lot of other churches were. I don't think it's on purpose either. I think we just get so busy filling our calendars with doing "stuff" that we never stop to make sure that what we're doing actually lines-up with what scripture asks us to do. I guess we need to slow down and re-evaluate... take a long hard look at where all of our energy is going and make sure it's what God has really asked us to do. Because what our calendar says, is really where our heart is. What does your church calendar look like?

Just Curious,

Jim

In Case You Didn't Know... "I'm a Professional Fighter"

Did you know that I'm a professional fighter? Really. Here's a picture of me and former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm big UFC/MMA fight fan. But did you know that I fight too? Actually I've been fighting a minimum of once a week for the last 3 months. Sometimes I'll fight 2-3 times a day. Seriously, I do. Now it's not the same fighting as in the UFC but it's fighting none-the-less.

You see, it seems that at least once a week I'll have a big fight... with my wife, that is. It seems like we've been fighting over stupid stuff too. Have you ever done that? Do you ever go through seasons where you're always on the edge? Now you probably thought that MJ and I never fought. That we never disagreed. That tempers never flared and things were never said that shouldn't be said. That our house was full of rainbows, puppy dogs, gumdrops and fairy dust is everywhere (I don't even know what that means, sorry). But that's not the case. We've been married for 22 years (actually our anniversary is next week!) and we're passionately in love with each other. I don't desire another woman and I know that MJ doesn't desire anyone else (probably because I'm so hot, of course. LOL!). We both love Jesus and are following Him wholeheartedly. But we've had some really good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) fights over the last few months. It's like we're in this pressure packed environment and things get heated so quick and it usually gets taken out on the ones that we love. Because when we fight it's usually not because of the other person. It's usually about the pressure we feel from other outside things. Have you ever noticed that in your relationships? Do you sometimes lash-out at the ones you love because you're frustrated about something totally different? Oh, that probably only happens in our relationship... yeah, right!

But, what I really think, is that it's just "straight-up" the devil who's trying to divide us. Because that's really the only way that he can stop us from fulfilling what God has called us to do... by dividing us.

It's the same as if there was a big huge log. I mean a big one... 3-4 feet in circumference . If you were gonna split it in two what would you do? You could hit it with an ax, sure. But that's probably not going to do too much. What you really want to do is get what you call "a wedge" and drive it into the top of the log. Then you take a sledge or a mallet and drive the wedge deeper into the log. And eventually, without much effort, the log splits! Totally divided. That's what wedges do, divide. That's what they were designed for... dividing.

It's the same in our marriage and what God's called us to do as a family. The enemy constantly tries to divide us by driving these wedges (outside pressures and stress) into our life. And, if allowed to stay, they will eventually divide us. But what we've learned to do is this... identify the "wedges" and remove them from our relationship before the devil drives them deep into us. Because if we can stay unified we're going to be able to accomplish everything God wants us to accomplish. "United we stand divided we fall." (I'm singing that song right now. Haha.)

And it's the same with your relationships. If you can identify the wedges and realize that all they are is cleverly crafted instruments of the devil, with the sole purpose of dividing, you won't fall prey to him by allowing him to divide you and your spouse. Or you and your boss. Or you and your__________. And together you'll be able to accomplish everything God has called you to do.

Even though I know this in my head, I still fall for it though. I guess I'm slow on the up-take or something. Back to the blog title... being a professional fighter. There's been a lot of fights over the last few months but one thing I can say is this... "they're always 1st round knockouts." Not because someone actually gets "knocked-out" but because we don't let them last. We're quick to forgive and quick to relent... anything to get unity back into our family. We've got to have it. We can make it without it. It's a priority to us. Because that's where the Spirit of God is. In Unity. Hopefully it's a priority for you too. Love you guys! Pray for us: )

Love Ya,

Jim

The Emotions of a Yard Sale

So, we had our first big yard sale getting rid of stuff so we can move to the mission field. Talk about a cornucopia of emotions... it was definitely more difficult than I thought it would be. Trying to decide what to sell, what to give away and what to keep for Brazil was challenging and emotional all at the same time. Just in case you were wondering, I'll give you my top 3 emotions from the weekend (even though there were many more):

Emotion 1: Frustration

I mean, you go through your entire life accumulating all these "things" only to see people walking away with them at a fraction of what you paid. It's was very frustrating. Especially when people tried to "talk you down" on an already rock-bottom price! Really? Are you really wanting this almost new comforter set for $1? We're only asking $5 for it and it's still in the bag! And you want to pay less than $10 for my son's infant bed!? Come on... give me a break. This is our stuff you're talking about. Don't make me smack you, lady! Anyway, that was one emotion... and no, I didn't smack anyone.

Emotion 2: Relief

If you've been to our house over the last few months you would've thought you were on a episode of Hoarders: Buried Alive on A&E. There's been stuff boxed up everywhere! You literally would have to turn sideways to walk through some of the rooms in our house because of all the stuff stacked-up everywhere in anticipation of the yard sale. I'm kinda claustrophobic too. I hate feeling cramped and confined and that's been our life for what seems like an eternity. But now that our first yard sale is over we sold a bunch of stuff and we've reclaimed our house so you can actually navigate anywhere in the house without knocking stacks of junk over... what a relief!

Emotion 3: Pride

You mention pride and it's usually thought of in a negative sense. But the pride I felt during and after our yard sale was a positive thing. Let me explain:

For me and MJ to get rid of our stuff at a yard sale, so we can move to the mission field, is one thing. But for our kids to do the same thing (willingly without being asked) is another. Being in the ministry can be tough on a family. We've met people over the years whose kids have rebelled and even walked away from God because of what they've seen their parents go through in the ministry. It's a delicate balance trying to be real with your kids and also trying to shield your kids from all the "junk" we go through as ministers. Kids can become calloused and sometimes they don't really "buy-in" to what their parents are doing or what they've been called to do. It hasn't been that way with our kids at all. From the oldest to the youngest they've all been very supportive and even excited about what we believe God has called us to. And it really showed this past weekend during the yard sale. As MJ and I were putting out our stuff to sell I looked around and my kids were putting their stuff out too! Stuff that we didn't ask them to sell either... like marble collections, toys, clothes... it was like nothing was sacred. When I think about it, it makes me sad and proud all at the same time. Sad because of the sacrifice they're making and proud because, well, of the sacrifice they're making. One of my biggest prayers is that all of my kids will follow Jesus. I can control most of the things in their lives but that's the one thing that only they can determine. And to see them willingly giving up "things" is an amazing thing to watch as a dad. We always talk to our kids about how "our stuff" doesn't define us and what we own doesn't add value to the "real us." We also talk to our kids about how everything will end up in a junk yard or a landfill one day. Nothing will last forever and we shouldn't have anything in our lives that we wouldn't be willing to give-up if God asked us or if someone else was in need. How we view material things (and money) is an indication of where our heart (the real us) is and what we value the most. Just look at Matthew 6:21.

So today as I think back over the weekend and as I look around at our house, that is becoming emptier and emptier, I'm glad that the Dunn's have decided to follow what God has asked us to do "as a family"... no matter how emotional it may be. We love you guys. Keep praying for us.

Glad to not have to walk through my house sideways,

Jim