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Here are some quotes from the participants during the weekend:

“I have never seen Christian love in action like this before. It’s a shame that I had to come to prison to see and experience Christian love…and, it’s a shame that you guys had to come here to show it to me.”

“What the D.O.C. has failed to do ever since it came into existence, Kairos is accomplishing. That is, rehabilitation.”

“The talks on forgiveness really hit home and it’s forcing me to deal with this issue. It’s been a real blessing.”

“I’ve slowly pulled myself away from the church the past 16 years, but I know I belong in the body even if I’m only a toenail.”

“I demonstrated agape [with the cookies] when I got back to my dorm and they were shocked.”

“I have a lot of holes and what I’ve been taught here has filled the voids. I’ll die representing Jesus.”

“It’s been great meeting ‘all my relations’.”

“When we can truly man up, what will we be? Now that’s true leadership.”

“I’m muslim and came for the food and got a lot more than I bargained for. I’ve been here 10 years & you’ve got something good and I mean it.”

“I see now that I’m not alone in life.”

“Before Thursday I didn’t know who God was, but I’ve always felt there’s someone behind me and now I know who it is.”

“I’ve been in over 18 years and I’m 35. Been in lots of hairy situations – stabbed & shot before 16 – but I have never ever felt anything like I have the past 2 days. I can promise I’ll never be a perfect Christian, but I promise I’ll do my best to keep getting back up. I’ve been thinking the past 3 hours how to tell my mother – she’ll never believe this! I’ve been waiting all my life to hear her say she’s proud of me. I don’t know how to make her believe this. I guess I’m just going to have to SHOW her.”

“I learned that God’s bigger than all of us and what agape really means.”

“Even incarcerated men like us can live a life of hope and love each other and be in service to Jesus.”

“It’s not how you start life but how you finish. We’ve decided as a family to do that with Christ Jesus.”

“This wasn’t just heart warming, it was life changing. I’m taking away a new life.”

“The love was in your face.”

“When I first arrived I felt I was growing spiritually and I found a lot of men here [this weekend] that were great examples of faith. A lot of humanity has given up. They’ve had faith in lots of things that have let them down. You all are proof that God has not given up on humanity.”

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;”

The last aspect of spiritual formation in “The Me I Want To Be” is the practicum. It is the action item of spiritual growth. As you can see in this familiar text on spiritual gifts, it is critical to “use them.” Having them is one thing, using them is quite another. Practice may not make us perfect, but it does help us grow more perfect!

Living in the flow of the Spirit means I use my gifts in the context of my daily life. Experiences are what we do in life. Most people spend over half their lives “at work.” Our work is our arena of experience.

“Work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do……the medium in which we offer ourselves to God.” Dorothy Sayers

“You come to know God by experience at His initiative as He reveals Himself to you. As you experience God, you come to know Him more intimately and personally.”

YOU COME TO KNOW GOD BY EXPERIENCE AS YOU OBEY HIM AND HE ACCOMPLISHES HIS WORK THROUGH YOU.

Some Insight into Work:

I. Discover your strengths (Marcus Buckingham, Now Discover Your Strengths)

II. Understand what you receive when you work

III. Let your work honor God (Col. 3:22)

IV. Make work a part of your calling

V. View work as a service to God

VI. Adversity “can” lead to growth.

1. Rising to a challenge reveals abilities hidden within you (and beyond you!) that would otherwise have remained dormant.

Temptation has a way out; not necessarily adversity!

2. Adversity can deepen relationships.

3. Adversity can change your priorities about what really matters.

4. Adversity points us to the Hope beyond ourselves.

Ernest Hemingway, “Sooner or later, the world breaks everyone, and those who are broken are strongest in the broken places.

MAYBEyou need to stretch and plan an experience that would stretch you in a new way.

MAYBE you need to offer up your “ordinary life” to God as a means of learning more and giving more.

SF My Experiences: SF My Experiences

Went to WVCF today for our instructional training.

When one of the guys from my table came in he was all smiles and holding out a yellow envelop for me to see. He said, “You won’t believe what God did!”

This is the man who gave his life to Christ on the anniversary day of his incarceration. When that happened he told the guys, “I don’t know what my mom is going to say. She has never said she was proud of me one day in her life.”

Turns out he called his mom this week. She was ecstatic! She squealed and praised the Lord. She said she had been pray for him for so long! The card was from her. The opening line in the card was, “….I am so proud of you!” He took that as a true sign from God that what he had done was totally right.

Way to go God! What timing you have and how you bless your children! This same week, he got into college and had a job interview.

Now I know, this isn’t all proof of God’s hand that everyone would understand, but for this man in this situation it was a total miracle.

I am home from Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. I am very tired but so very filled with the awe of God. It is so amazing every time I do a Kairos weekend to see how these guys meet the Lord through the love and care of followers of Jesus. The Body of Christ at its best. Just check out Mt. 25. One of the guys at my table reminded me of that today. “You know, we are the ‘least of these’ and you guys come and care for us.”

We had 36 prisoners, can’t give names, but the Lord knows and I have them fresh on my heart. They all saw a demonstration of how God can come in the flesh through His people and remind them they have value.

Two of the guys at my table made first time commitments to follow Jesus. One guys is doing 40 yrs; 20 more to go; has been in prison for over half his young life. Yesterday was the anniversary of the last time he was arrested and put behind bars for the third time. One of the speakers challenged the guys in that room to choose life “today” and to become a Christian. He decided that was a sign that he needed to make a change in his life. Way to go God for meeting him at that “kairos” moment. It was a special time. I hurt for him and rejoice with him.

Another guy at my table, was hard, still is. He made a baby step toward God. He has someone he hates for “putting him in here for the next 40 years.” Who knows all the details, but he is learning what it is to forgive and start a new life. He was in tears as we took turns going around the table and praying for each other. He said he had never had another man pray for him or ever prayed for anyone in his whole life.

We had three men of Muslim faith who were on this Kairos. They all three testified to a huge new understanding of the “people of the book.” They expressed their warm appreciation for the love shown them and said, “we have a great thing here in Kairos and maybe it will change this prison.” Of course, that would be the goal! One man at a time makes a difference, you could not miss that fact.

It was awesome to hear from the guys from last year! One in particular gave a 10 min talk to the new guys. He was and is an amazing example of what God can do with a big, strong, hard guy. He traded his “hammer” last year for a cross. He was baptized into Christ about 8 weeks after that and is now one of the key leaders for the Christian community behind the walls at WVCF. To God be the glory for “Trooper.” A real modern kind of Saul of Tarsus. I know you that was a huge statement, but in many ways, more than you will ever know, it is true.

I have to say may tears began to flow, and they are now as I write this. We are not allowed to touch the guys as they leave the closing. They simply have to march out by cell house to a sack lunch and into “the old way.” I see my brother Chuck, every time I experience this moment. I can’t imagine living like those guys. Yes, I know what they have done, many have told me. BUT, except for the grace of God you see, that could be me. Two of my brothers spent the vast majority of their adult life behind prison walls.

If Jesus hadn’t rescued me when he did, I remind myself, that really could be me. Thank you Jesus! I don’t know why me and not them, probably will never understand that. But I have a brother who follows Jesus now and who lives in a dark prison environment. I pray that others come and see him and care for him like I have opportunity here to do. He deserves that too.

It truly was another “kairos” moment for me and all the team. It was special because all of us are special and God finds ways of making special moments for us. Why not make a special moment for someone you love when you get a chance. Loving God and loving people is what it is all about. No more, no less.

Romans 12 is about “community life.”  It is about members of the body of Christ serving together and living out the gospel.

The people of God from the beginning have lived in families, tribes and fellowships.  They have always known they are better together.

Our relationships can be described as a “cross-beam.”  Vertical relationship is with God, the horizontal is with people.  It is about loving God and your neighbor.  Mt. 22:37

> With God

Prayer more than any other single activity, is what places us in the flow of the Spirit.

It is our relational connection to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Prayerlessness is not just sin, it is disconnecting us from our source of power.  Following Christ means being a praying person.

Each of us in a sense has an “outer court” an “inner court” and a “holy of holies.”

Relationally we connect in these three levels.  There is public prayer, prayer with friends and then just you and God!

> With Others

“The single most common finding from a half-century’s research on life satisfaction, not only from the U.S. but around the world, is that happiness is best predicted by the breadth and depth of one’s social connections.”  Robert Putnam

Connectedness is not the same thing as knowing many people.  People may have many contacts in many networks, but hey may not have any friends.

Connectedness brings:

The gift of love.“If you can’t do great things, do little things with great love.   If you can’t do them with great love, do them with a  little love.  If you can’t do them with a little love, do them anyway.”  Mother Teresa

The gift of commitment.  The early church new connectedness didn’t just happen; it took commitment.

The gift of joy.  Prov. 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

The gift of belonging.  This is why in community we call each other “brother and sister”—it is about family—-not institution

The gift of confession.  I cannot be fully loved unless I am fully known.  James 5:16

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm tender hand.”  Henri Nouwen

The Spirit flows best in authentic human relationships—transparency means come as you are.

This whole piece of spiritual formation is about “relationships” and not “programs.”  It is connecting with God through our human relationships.  Community is huge in a church and MCC is no exception.  We are a “community” following Christ and serving in His cause.  Community is our middle name for a good reason!

The Teaching Outline:  SF My Relationships

God is always present in our lives and every moment helps to shape our spiritual life.  BUT if we are going to grow to be more like Christ or grow in character it will take some intentional disciplines.

I am convinced after nearly 38 yrs in ministry that this time issues has become overwhelming to most people.  Time has become one of our most valuable resources; sometimes even more than money!  The really huge piece of its value is that we all have the same amount no one is richer in this resource.

My experience in the DE was that I couldn’t add more to my schedule; I needed to reduce some things in order to get more time for God.  The same is more than likely true for you too.

Some things to help with your spiritual alarm:

> Time with God is a must (Mt. 26:41)

“The goal of prayer is to live all my life and speak all my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God.” P. 134 The Me I Want To Be

“I must pray what is in me not what I wish were in me.”

Humility and Honesty are key ingredients for regular daily prayer.

Prayerlessness is a sin and a spiritual pandemic

> Time for regular reflection is essential (Ps. 139:23)

The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring conviction (Jn. 16:8)

The purpose of our nemesis is to steal, kill and destroy.  We have a built in alarm to warn us of his work in our lives.

> Time for repentance keeps us healthy

“The battle against temptation is a noble fight, but if we simply try to repress a desire, it will wear us out.  We need to have a very clear picture of what kind of person we want to become, and why.”   P. 140

We become vulnerable to temptation when we are dissatisfied with our lives.  The deeper the dissatisfaction, the deeper our vulnerability, because we were made for soul satisfaction.   P. 141

The Teaching Outline:  SF My Time

I had the pleasure of attending a lectureship at Lincoln Chrisitian University this past week entitled; “Discipleship To Jesus for the 21^st Century”. Dr. Michael Wilkins from Talbot Theological Seminary was the lecturer.

He stated that the “to” was important because in English we don’t have a case system and it was emphatically important to understand that our primary learning relationship is with Jesus Christ. People are important and learning from them is important but primarily we are under the teaching relationship of Jesus first and foremost.

In a very simple post I wanted to let you know my biggest take away.

Three measures of Discipleship for a local Congregation:

John 8:31 ¶ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

John 13:35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

He said that if he were pastoring a congregation again these three things would guide his efforts at a discipleship model. That got my attention because that is what I am currently engaged in. Sometimes academics have to get really practical

So, Word-Love-Fruit.

1) How do we intentionally get people in the Word and obeying it in their daily lives.

2) How do we create environments that encourage and give opportunity for people to be loved and to love each and every day.

3) How do we evaluate fruit from our lives, ministry and congregation?

The first two of these are a whole lot easier to work on than the third. Our Life Journaling and emphasis on bible study are ways of helping with staying in the Word. We are trying hard to make some of the more historical methods of scripture reading and application take on new life in our generation. Hard, reading in general is a challenge and reading for application is even harder!

Creating environments seven days a week to have people be loved on and to love others is hard. We are so “come to church” minded it is hard to get people caring for people in their daily environments. Whether that is work, neighborhoods, or school it just needs to be targeted for Christ like engagement.

I, we at MCC, have struggled with measuring fruit without becoming legalistic or elitist. Fruit in all the biblical contexts I am aware of is some thing that is visible and tangible. The practical nickels and noses of evangelism are quite easily used as fruit measures by most churches. Measuring things like character and giftedness are a little harder.

John Ortberg’s new book The Me I Want To Be is a great new source of information and challenge for those seeking to grow spiritually.  As always, he is great in helping me to understand the process of growing and not just making me feel guilty about not being a better person.

The process that is explained centers around “my mind, my time, my relationships and my experiences.”  “The only way to become the person God made you to be is to live with the Spirit of God flowing through you like a river of living water.”   See Romans 8:1-11

Henri Nouwen wrote, “Spiritual greatness has nothing to do with being greater than others.  It has everything to do with being as great as each of us can be.”

Spiritual formation is the process by which your inner self and character are shaped.

The first place of shaping our inner self and character begins with our mind.  As a general rule, our emotions flow from our thoughts.

1. Our thoughts are impacted by four major desires that are within each of us.  Material wants, achievement, relational satisfaction and physical needs.
2. Our thoughts must be constantly monitored.  See II Cor. 10:5, Phil. 4:8
3. Our thoughts must be turned into obedience.  See Jam. 1:22, Mt. 16:23, and 22:37

So much of what I see in the lives of people who want to grow spiritually is a victimization to their feelings.  I am not saying that feelings and emotions don’t matter, they do.  BUT we must remember that those feeling originate from somewhere.  Many of us could grow more effectively by bringing our emotions under the control of a better thought life.  Living in the flow of the Spirit allows us to transform our minds and thus not be dominated by our feelings.  See Romans 12:1-3.

I don’t think our Lord is all that impressed by our common excuse of “I don’t feel like it.”  Feeding our minds can really be improved if we will focus on reading the Word, thinking about the Word, praying the Word and then obeying that Word.  For most of us it is easier to be smart than it is to good.  Spiritual formation is about changing that!

The teaching Outline:  SF My Mind

“Seemed like a good spirit at the meeting today. Most of the people didn’t abuse the open microphone, you guys are brave. Several things were going through my heart but they weren’t directly in line with the 21 day fast so I didn’t get up. I wanted to commend you pastors and your efforts to work together. It reminded me of the first Pastors and their Wives Retreat that Elaine and I headed up back in March of 2001 in Hungary. The main scripture was

Luke 5 ¹One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,^a]”>[a]with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, ²he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down^b]”>[b] the nets for a catch.”
⁵Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
⁶When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

They had to work together to haul the fish into the boats. If everyone would have pulled their own direction the nets would have been pulled taunt and the fish would have escaped. And a great catch would have been lost because of pride and disunity.

Today I felt unity like I have never felt in Terre Haute before. Feels good. Looks good.”

I don’t know whether there is a word in this for the masses, a small group, or just me, but I wanted to say that God continues to speak. A very crucial, foundational message was delivered tonight, so thanks for those words. When God starts bringing up themes or scriptures multiple times I usually take that as a sign he’s got something he really wants me to pay attention to. Well, he’s had me on the love theme for a good three+ years now I’d say (showing me over and over again how I have let my affection stray and how he wants it undividedly on him!), but Sat. night at IHOP one of the scriptures we prayed around was Jesus’ words in Revelation to the church of Ephesus about forsaking their first love. You addressed the love thing tonight, too. Also as a side note I was thinking about that passage in John 21, and how the first two times Jesus asks Peter with the word agapao, but Peter replies with phileo each time. The third time Jesus uses phileo. I’ve often wondered why Peter would use a different word than Jesus did to respond to the question (and why Jesus switched to another word the third time). The note at the bottom of the page describes agapao as “to love unselfishly to the point that you would be willing to sacrifice”, and phileo or philo means “to be a friend or to have the same interests with another person.” When you presented the connection to Deut. 6 about heart, soul, and strength it made me wonder whether the agape love somehow correlates with the heart and soul, and the phileo correlates to the strength. Kind of a stretch maybe, but it made a little bit of sense at the time it came to mind : )

Secondly, the Holy Spirit was a recurring element in my evening. I started reading Francis Chan’s book, Forgotten God: Reversing our tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit. I read the first chapter before coming to church tonight, and my spirit was quickened during the teaching when some of the talk about the Holy Spirit came from scriptures I had read just a couple hours earlier. In Jn 14:16 when Jesus said God would give another Counselor to the disciples, apparently the greek word another means another that is just like the first (as opposed to another that is of a different sort or kind). I thought that was interesting. I have thought or said many times how it would be nice to have Jesus with skin on, but the Holy Spirit is Jesus without skin on and Jesus himself said the HS is better!

After only reading one chapter I am pretty sure this is going to be a good book. The only reason followers of Christ will look any different from the world is as a result of the Holy Spirit, and if the Bride is going to prepare herself for the Lamb the Holy Spirit must be involved. Here are a couple more paragraphs from chapter 1 that really caught my attention:

“If we read and believed these [scriptural] accounts, we would expect a great deal of the Holy Spirit. He would not be a mostly forgotten member of the Godhead whom we occasionally give a nod of recognition to, which is what He has become in most American churches. We would expect our new life with the Holy Spirit to look radically different from our old life without Him.” (case in point: Peter denying or Peter fishing for fish versus Peter preaching 3000 souls into the kingdom in one day or Peter healing a lame beggar)
“Yet this is not the way it is for most people. We don’t live this way. For some reason, we don’t think we need the Holy Spirit. We don’t expect the Holy Spirit to act…
“Even our church growth can happen without Him. Let’s be honest: If you combine a charistmatic speaker, a talented worship band, and some hip, creative events, people will attend your church. Yet this does not mean that the Holy Spirit of God is actively working and moving in the lives of the people who are coming. It simply means that you have created a space that is appealing enough to draw people in for an hour or two on Sunday…
“The reality is that the early church knew less about the Holy Spirit than most of us in the church today, at least in the intellectual sense. But they came to know the Spirit intimately and powerfully as He worked in and through their lives…
“The goal of this book is not to completely explain the Spirit or to go back to the apostolic age. The goal is to learn to live faithfully today…”

So, more surfaces scratched, more inklings of things to come. Fortunately, the HS will guide us into all truth and disclose what is to come.

——————-

Those were some very solid whispers! You are right on with the deep stuff of the “love” conversation. It really goes to the “heart” of how much Peter would love Jesus. There is real grace here too. Peter had denied Jesus three times; now Jesus was in a sense helping him find grace in a triple act of repentance. All centering around the deeper love word.

Francis’ new book is awesome finished it a while back. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is so neglected, I know He has not always been a vital part of my growth. I am so “man driven” it isn’t even funny. I need to be Spirit driven and fully molded by His power and not my own.