Category Archives: Spirituality

Unreligious?



This story in USA Today was interesting for several reasons.

For many, it’s always fun to show how Christianity seems to be “waning.” People aren’t going to church as much, etc.

“the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion,” the report concludes.

This is really the heart of the matter, in my view. Americans just don’t want to be labeled. There is some penchant in our lives to be trendy in some way that doesn’t SEEM to be trendy, but really is. So, the current trend is to NOT be labeled.

But this quote drives the point home:

Kosmin concluded from the 1990 data that many saw God as a “personal hobby,” and that the USA is “a greenhouse for spiritual sprouts.”

Today, he says, “religion has become more like a fashion statement, not a deep personal commitment for many.”

A hobby. That’s what Christianity has come down to in America. It’s a fashion statement more than anything to be a part of this church, or that group, or this place or that place. Following Christ? What does that mean?

So, in a sense, this survey doesn’t bother me. It reveals our soul. The problem is this: most evangelical leaders (my own denomination included) will look at something like this and blame America. We’ll blame the devil. We’ll blame the spirit of the age.

We need to find ourselves guilty.

We have watered down the message of the gospel, thinking we’re only “changing the package in which it is delivered.” We’ve dumbed people down on who Christ is in the name of “being relevant.” Discipleship and commitment and the cross of Christ have no meaning. We talk about Christ like we talk about Buddha, Krishna, the Dali Lama, or someone else. It’s “dialogue.”

Christianity is not a hobby. Jesus is not a fashion statement. He is King. He is Lord. He is Master. His word, his commands, matter. When he bids someone to come and follow, it is a bid to die to oneself, take up the cross, and follow.

He’s not about some dialogue. He’s about being the King of kings and Lord of lords. And that means in my life right now. Not when I feel like getting around to it.

Lord, we have treated you as a hobby! We have sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind. Going to church is like going to a coffee shop these days, and we have cheapened your majesty in the process. You are the Master. You have called us the be the apprentices.

Dear Lord, offend us with your gospel once again, I pray!

Greed, Selfishness, and Other Dangers


This article from Great Britain has some interesting thoughts about selfish capitalism. There are things I so deeply appreciate about the Roman Catholic Church. There is a sense of calling people back to what is biblical. (I will admit that even that call can seem hypocritical at times when one looks at the splendor of the Vatican in the context of some of their words.)

One sentence from the Cardinal sticks out: “This particular recession is a moment – a kairos – when we have to reflect as a country on what are the things that nourish the values, the virtues, we want to have … Capitalism needs to be underpinned with regulation and a moral purpose.”

Your turn. What do you think?

I was reading an interview with a pastor named Bob Roberts. A comment he made struck home with me, so here it is:

How did church planting become important to you?

Years ago, I was at a point of growing our church big. I was concerned about how fast we could get there. We relocated, and the church started going to pot; it was doing badly. I was embarrassed; I was humiliated. But I’d made a public commitment that I would stay at the church forever, because I heard Rick Warren say that! That’s a fun thing to say when things are going good. But when the church is going in the crapper, when you’ve got First Baptist of Israel in the middle of the desert, you want out of there. And I wanted out bad.

I was walking in a pasture behind my house one day. A pastor not far from me had had affairs with five women; he crashed and burned. Another guy north of me had a megachurch, but he was going to the pen for embezzlement. I told God, “God, I’ve got my pants on. I’ve got my hands out of the offering plate. You’ve got these guys over here doing all this stuff. Why aren’t you blessing me?”

All of a sudden this little question came to my mind: When will Jesus be enough for you? Sometimes, I think that’s when I became a Christian. I just began to weep, because I realized he wasn’t. I was miserable because of our attendance the day before. That’s wrong. I mean, if I’ve got the Holy Spirit, if I’ve got the Word of God, why can’t I be content? Why is my joy based on having to grow my church as big as Rick Warren’s or Bill Hybels’s?

So I began to think: What does it mean for Christ to be enough? From this point forward, instead of seeking to be the biggest church in the area, we decided we were going to church the area. That’s when we started planting churches.

When will Christ be enough for me?

It has been a weary week thinking of the horrific violence. The week became even heavier when I realized just when the events at Virginia Tech took place. The shooting was Monday, April 16. April 19 marked two other horrific events: the tragedy at Waco, Texas in 1993 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Today, April 20, marks the 8th anniversary of Columbine.

If these are not times for prayer, I do not know what time WOULD be more appropriate. We need God. We need God to turn our hearts. Our nation needs a soul searching revival.


“The church is dying in many places because of cleverness.” (Jim Cymbala)

When I attempt to get by on my cleverness, ingenuity, talent, brains, guts…you name it… I will only get so far. Pastor Cymbala made that statement above when I visited his church for the prayer meeting on March 20. It has stayed with me.

It rings so true in my own life. My prayer life falters and then everything around me falters. I am not a clever pastor. I am not a talented pastor. I better be a praying pastor.

A conversation this week reminded me of the impact of Pastor Cymbala’s statement. We are beginning to see a rise in moral failures in some places. It’s only the last part of a deeper problem.

Brothers and sisters, we are dying from our own cleverness.

What is paraded as “successful” in our Christian colleges? When a pastor comes to visit chapel, is he or she a pastor of a church averaging less than 100 (which would represent over 80% of churches)? More often than not the pastor is a megachurch pastor. The evangelist is a “big name” evangelist.

Looking back at several church district meetings where growing churches are celebrated, I have a difficult time remembering the last testimony from one of those churches where they spoke of prayer being the generator for their growth. They spoke of programs, ideas, devices, technology, sermon themes. Looking back over the past few times I have witnessed the celebration of a “booming” church, I honestly cannot remember ANY discussion of prayer, a move of the Spirit, or even a huge conversation about conversions.

Our new church plants are built on cleverness. One church plant I know of went several months before the pastor developed his own sermon series. He was getting them “out of a can.” It was “working.” His church hit 125 almost instantly. Why bother with anything else? The numbers were good. Or were they?

What do numbers mean, anyway? Well, a lot. It’s still how we count success.

Yet, we are seeing an increase in moral failures again and we are left scratching our heads.

Small church pastors with little growth are not more spiritual. My point is we are reaping a harvest we have intentionally sown. When we parade results in front of people the hidden message is, “You can get results, too.” We begin to look to pragmatics rather than the power of the Spirit.

We parade big time evangelists across our college chapel platforms and everyone is “called” to be an evangelist. What they are called to is the big time travel schedule, the adoring crowds, the cool websites, and the nice money. They do not see the years of labor, the multiplied hours of prayer, and the endless line of rejection that may come first. No one gives them that picture.

We are not people of prayer. We are people of pragmatism, and our pragmatism will kill us. I face failure all the time because I am not “measuring up” to other churches. My mind spins and whirls trying to “think up” some “formula” to get my church to grow. I want to see people come out of darkness into light. I want to see our church stabilize financially. Those are not bad things!

But when I fail to get in the place of prayer and instead try pragmatism, I will find myself in trouble every time.

Brothers and sisters, we are failing. Let us not fail anymore.


“The church is dying in many places because of cleverness.” (Jim Cymbala)

When I attempt to get by on my cleverness, ingenuity, talent, brains, guts…you name it… I will only get so far. Pastor Cymbala made that statement above when I visited his church for the prayer meeting on March 20. It has stayed with me.

It rings so true in my own life. My prayer life falters and then everything around me falters. I am not a clever pastor. I am not a talented pastor. I better be a praying pastor.

A conversation this week reminded me of the impact of Pastor Cymbala’s statement. We are beginning to see a rise in moral failures in some places. It’s only the last part of a deeper problem.

Brothers and sisters, we are dying from our own cleverness.

What is paraded as “successful” in our Christian colleges? When a pastor comes to visit chapel, is he or she a pastor of a church averaging less than 100 (which would represent over 80% of churches)? More often than not the pastor is a megachurch pastor. The evangelist is a “big name” evangelist.

Looking back at several church district meetings where growing churches are celebrated, I have a difficult time remembering the last testimony from one of those churches where they spoke of prayer being the generator for their growth. They spoke of programs, ideas, devices, technology, sermon themes. Looking back over the past few times I have witnessed the celebration of a “booming” church, I honestly cannot remember ANY discussion of prayer, a move of the Spirit, or even a huge conversation about conversions.

Our new church plants are built on cleverness. One church plant I know of went several months before the pastor developed his own sermon series. He was getting them “out of a can.” It was “working.” His church hit 125 almost instantly. Why bother with anything else? The numbers were good. Or were they?

What do numbers mean, anyway? Well, a lot. It’s still how we count success.

Yet, we are seeing an increase in moral failures again and we are left scratching our heads.

Small church pastors with little growth are not more spiritual. My point is we are reaping a harvest we have intentionally sown. When we parade results in front of people the hidden message is, “You can get results, too.” We begin to look to pragmatics rather than the power of the Spirit.

We parade big time evangelists across our college chapel platforms and everyone is “called” to be an evangelist. What they are called to is the big time travel schedule, the adoring crowds, the cool websites, and the nice money. They do not see the years of labor, the multiplied hours of prayer, and the endless line of rejection that may come first. No one gives them that picture.

We are not people of prayer. We are people of pragmatism, and our pragmatism will kill us. I face failure all the time because I am not “measuring up” to other churches. My mind spins and whirls trying to “think up” some “formula” to get my church to grow. I want to see people come out of darkness into light. I want to see our church stabilize financially. Those are not bad things!

But when I fail to get in the place of prayer and instead try pragmatism, I will find myself in trouble every time.

Brothers and sisters, we are failing. Let us not fail anymore.

I received this from my good friend Kevin Senapatiratne. We meet once a month with two other pastors and he recently wrote about the “spirituality” of meeting for burritos. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:


The Spirituality of a Burrito

Is there really any spirituality in a burrito? I would like to think so. I have been a pastor in MN for the last ten years. The last year and a half I have been traveling and speaking to churches on the importance of prayer. But once a month I participate in a spiritual discipline involving a burrito that has helped my walk with Jesus.

Once a month me and three other pastors travel from as far as 45 minutes away and converge on a Q-Doba in the Twin Cities. I risk getting in trouble using the name but it is the chance that I am willing to take to try and get a free burrito. For two years now Pete, Dan, Bill and I have met once a month for lunch at this fine establishment. I would change their names to protect the innocent, but that might imply something that may not be true. There is no agenda at these meetings other than to determine who is responsible for buying the community chips. Although there is no set discussion point much gets accomplished. Each meeting is different in the conversation but the value is still great. I just never know what I am going to get when I pull into the parking lot.

Last time we met the talk turned to our craziest wedding stories. Pete trumped us all by telling of a lady who caught her hair on fire after walking by a candle. Another meeting Dan waxed eloquent about the condition of the Royals baseball farm system. Bill has been know to share such stories as when he made beef jerky as a side gig with its various subplots. During summer months it is great there is seating outside where we can enjoy the breeze as we sit and talk for hours. The latest addition to our routine is to move our meeting after lunch to the ice cream shop a couple stores down. We discussed with the manager how she now has the great beginning to a joke about 4 preachers walking into an ice cream shop.

There are some months that this is the only time that we see each other with one scheduled exception. Each year near the end of the summer we head to a local golf course that gives a free round of golf to pastors. To say that we then head out and play a round of golf would be way too generous. We would rather say that we spend our time looking in the woods for golf balls and then periodically take some shots. The first time we did this we began with breakfast and headed home in the dark.

How is it possible that I consider this a spiritual thing, or even that it helps my walk with Jesus? Yeah, we do sometimes share in a talk about the Bible and I hope that we are giving a positive impression of Jesus to the manager of the ice cream shop. But, it is much more than that. I have learned from this group in a fresh way about the spirituality of friendship. Even in those times when the deepest thing discussed was Dan’s comparison between the book and movie of Forest Gump, I drive away with a refreshed enthusiasm for God and the assignment He has given me.

Maybe when God told us to relate to one another in love it isn’t just when we are talking about the book of Leviticus that we are blessed in our soul. Maybe when Pete shares about the ski trip he is about to take or Bill his side job as a drafter I gain something just by being with them. As I travel around to churches one of the things I am learning and teaching about prayer is that God wants to be with us even when we have no agenda. What I am learning from this group is that God wants me to be with His people even when we have no agenda. So even though I may never find the verse in the Bible that speaks about burritos; the word of the Lord for me is, “Taste and see the burrito is good.”

I received this from my good friend Kevin Senapatiratne. We meet once a month with two other pastors and he recently wrote about the “spirituality” of meeting for burritos. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:


The Spirituality of a Burrito

Is there really any spirituality in a burrito? I would like to think so. I have been a pastor in MN for the last ten years. The last year and a half I have been traveling and speaking to churches on the importance of prayer. But once a month I participate in a spiritual discipline involving a burrito that has helped my walk with Jesus.

Once a month me and three other pastors travel from as far as 45 minutes away and converge on a Q-Doba in the Twin Cities. I risk getting in trouble using the name but it is the chance that I am willing to take to try and get a free burrito. For two years now Pete, Dan, Bill and I have met once a month for lunch at this fine establishment. I would change their names to protect the innocent, but that might imply something that may not be true. There is no agenda at these meetings other than to determine who is responsible for buying the community chips. Although there is no set discussion point much gets accomplished. Each meeting is different in the conversation but the value is still great. I just never know what I am going to get when I pull into the parking lot.

Last time we met the talk turned to our craziest wedding stories. Pete trumped us all by telling of a lady who caught her hair on fire after walking by a candle. Another meeting Dan waxed eloquent about the condition of the Royals baseball farm system. Bill has been know to share such stories as when he made beef jerky as a side gig with its various subplots. During summer months it is great there is seating outside where we can enjoy the breeze as we sit and talk for hours. The latest addition to our routine is to move our meeting after lunch to the ice cream shop a couple stores down. We discussed with the manager how she now has the great beginning to a joke about 4 preachers walking into an ice cream shop.

There are some months that this is the only time that we see each other with one scheduled exception. Each year near the end of the summer we head to a local golf course that gives a free round of golf to pastors. To say that we then head out and play a round of golf would be way too generous. We would rather say that we spend our time looking in the woods for golf balls and then periodically take some shots. The first time we did this we began with breakfast and headed home in the dark.

How is it possible that I consider this a spiritual thing, or even that it helps my walk with Jesus? Yeah, we do sometimes share in a talk about the Bible and I hope that we are giving a positive impression of Jesus to the manager of the ice cream shop. But, it is much more than that. I have learned from this group in a fresh way about the spirituality of friendship. Even in those times when the deepest thing discussed was Dan’s comparison between the book and movie of Forest Gump, I drive away with a refreshed enthusiasm for God and the assignment He has given me.

Maybe when God told us to relate to one another in love it isn’t just when we are talking about the book of Leviticus that we are blessed in our soul. Maybe when Pete shares about the ski trip he is about to take or Bill his side job as a drafter I gain something just by being with them. As I travel around to churches one of the things I am learning and teaching about prayer is that God wants to be with us even when we have no agenda. What I am learning from this group is that God wants me to be with His people even when we have no agenda. So even though I may never find the verse in the Bible that speaks about burritos; the word of the Lord for me is, “Taste and see the burrito is good.”