June Gloom in an Endless Summer

I write this as the temperature blazes its way through 100ºF on its way to a record 108! Although it's summer, this kind of heat-wave is uncommon for June. Californians refer to the normally overcast weather as June Gloom, the month when everybody's ready for summer but the sun is hiding behind the clouds like an out-of-shape swimmer behind his Hawaiian shirt. Well, today in June, the sun is flaunting himself in all his glory, thank you very much. Thank God for the common grace of air conditioner. 

As a pastor in my 9th Californian summer, I've come to notice my own kind of June Gloom. I tend to get a bit gloomy in my soul around this time of year,  partly because my kids start their vacation in June and I have to carry on working so I feel like I'm missing out. I love summer when I'm on vacation with them but that's less than 20% of the time. Secondly, it just feels too long. Three months is why they called the movie Endless Summer. I'm told it's still a hang-over from the agricultural era when kids used to help their parents on the farm during harvest-time, but the last time I checked, Californian kids weren't doing any yard work, let alone farm work, so why can't they just halve it and give us more time to rest in December before the year begins? 

If I'm honest though, the real reason for my June Gloom is that for three months the church thins out and slows down. I don't begrudge anyone taking vacation. The pace of life is relentless here, and people need to breathe. I'm looking forward to that on our own vacation  greatly. But it is difficult leading a church when, for 3 months, people are more absent than present, gatherings feel more sparse, mission slows down and you feel like you are preaching to a passing parade. To add insult to injury, vacation often takes it's own toll on people spiritually and relationally, so you end up doing a fair bit of crisis pastoring. And then there are those people who get  job transfers that take them out of state. They normally tell you about that in June. 

To top it all, we are about to send our 3rd team of planters out in 3 years, this time to plant a church in Thailand! I lead a remarkably generous and faithful church, but right now I find myself wanting to jump up and down and shout, "Hey everyone! We are planting a church into Thailand! It's not business as usual! We are a Battle ship going to war. We need all hands-on-deck! If we live like we are on a summer Cruise-Liner we won't make it!" I know you're probably thinking, "Man this guy needs to lighten up," and that may be, but this this is my reality. Summer can feel like a big, sunny, church momentum-killer. 

Yesterday, as I worshipped and preached on how Jesus came to set us free from slavishness, I felt the Father minister to me around my June Gloom. I sensed Him speak to me about my tendency to find my identity in ministry, which means that it is not just church momentum that takes a hit in summer. It is my sense of validation. This turns a challenging, yet very normal rhythm, into my very own June Gloom. If my validation is in ministry momentum, then a lack thereof will turn me into an invalid. As an adopted son of my Father in heaven, my status does not change with less momentum. My validation is secure because Jesus was completely invalidated for me on the cross. When the Son sets me free, I am free indeed, even from slavishness to ministry validation. I've felt a new buoyancy and intimacy with God since then. 

Many of us suffer from our own June Gloom in other ways. It may be that summer comes with a slowing down of business. Or perhaps because of financial lack you have to take a long staycation while everyone else travels. Or your lack of relationships causes you to feel isolated while everyone else seems to have so much fun together. Maybe the sense of escalating conflict and tragedy in the world right now has caused a gloominess, or perhaps you don't like the way you look in a swimsuit! All these are valid and real reasons to dread and endure this season rather than enjoy it.  But when we live from our status as adopted sons and daughters, we are freed from a slavishness to the things we strive for, and are given an unsinkable buoyancy amidst the ebbs and flows of work, relationships, ministry and life in general. 

Today, I pray for you what I pray for myself; that God, by His Spirit, would remove slavishness and replace it with a spirit of sonship, and that by His Spirit we would cry out to our Father who knows us and loves us more than anyone. 

"Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, drive the dark of doubt away, Giver of immortal gladness fill us with the light of day." 

Happy Summer, everyone! 

Jubilee Campaign Giving Day

Southlands is a family with a mission to glorify our Father in the power of His Spirit by proclaiming the gospel and making disciples of Jesus. 

Every church in every generation is called to align itself with the Great Commission, but each church family fleshes out the mission in unique ways. We have been called to focus our efforts on planting healthy, gospel-centered, Spirit-empowered communities living on mission together. This is not the only way to make disciples, but we believe it is a vital way. Over the years, many people have gone, given, prayed, served, and led, making this church planting mission a reality. Countless lives have been transformed as people have gone to set up churches as colonies of heaven in towns and cities. Over the last 18 years Southlands has multiplied 14 times, with our next church plant taking place in Chiang Rai, Thailand in the Fall of 2016. As leaders, our desire has been to find a wise and sustainable way of multiplying as God leads us.  

With this in mind, we embarked on a 3 in 3 vision in 2014, aiming to multiply 3 times in 3 years. Southlands Whittier was the 1st of 3, and the Chiang Rai, Thailand plant will be the 2nd of 3 multiplying initiatives. As you can imagine, these two plants require very different kinds of training and resources. 3 in 3 is not about expansionism. We believe it is a way of remaining faithful to the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations. Obviously, all of this costs money, and God has provided for us in remarkable ways as we've sought to obey Him. As a church, we set aside money every month to go specifically towards church multiplication which has enabled us to save towards resourcing the Chiang Rai plant. However, we believe that God is calling us to develop something of a multiplication war chest that enables us to do more than just budget for the next initiative. 

We do have an obstacle standing in the way of our desire to build this church planting war chest though. Thankfully we owe nothing on our property. However, we do pay around $10,000 a month towards a lawyers debt that was incurred in 2010 when we had to take legal measures to defend our church by-laws. By God's kindness we've been able to pay the lawyer's debt down from $830,000 in 2010 to $130,000 today. While the debt repayment represents good financial stewardship, it is increasingly difficult to do that, raise funds for church planting as well as run our local mission effectively. 

We have another incentive for paying off our debt rapidly. Next year Southlands Church will be 50 years old! She is a testament to the faithful promise of Jesus to build His church.  With our 50th birthday in mind, I began to look at the Biblical idea of the Jubilee. The Jubilee took place in Israel every 49 years. (Leviticus 25:8-10) Christopher Wright, in his book The Mission of God, explains that every 50th year, slaves would be released, debt would be cancelled, and people who had given up property because of poverty would be returned to their land. When Jesus  began his ministry with Isaiah's description of the Jubilee, he said that it was fulfilled in Him. Jesus himself, is our Jubilee, having paid our debt and released us from the prison of sin. Jesus interpreted the Jubilee not so much as reclaiming land as much as reclaiming mission. He spoke of a year of favor in which the Spirit of the Lord would anoint the people of God to preach good news to the poor and bind up the broken hearted and set prisoners free. The Church continues Jesus' mission in the power of His Spirit. (Isaiah 61, Luke 4)  

At the beginning of this year as we prayed about our 50th year, the elders sensed God speak to us about our Jubilee year being a year of cancelling our financial debt. This was not just to be for the sake of building improvements or staff hires, but primarily for the sake of reclaiming mission. We believe that God is leading us into a year of removing debt and reclaiming mission. 

Over the past month we have cast the vision of the Jubilee Campaign to various forums in the church,  asking people to prayerfully consider giving towards it, over above their normal tithes and offerings. We spoke of a giving day on Sunday the 1st of May, when we would all either pledge or give towards the Jubilee Campaign. Our aim is to raise $250,000 over the next year, enabling us to remove our debt and raise enough money for the 3rd plant in our 3 in 3 vision. 

My family has personally committed to give 2% of our annual income, over and above our normal tithes and offering, towards the Jubilee Campaign in the coming year. I know of a number of people who have committed similar percentages, and more. What we are asking is for each person to commit to an amount or percentage according to their means. We are looking to share the giving load. Let's trust God for an outpouring of generosity this Sunday as we seek to remove debt and reclaim mission to the Glory of God. 

To view a short video explaining the campaign click on Jubilee Campaign vimeo

"Hallowed Be Thy Name" : a theme for our prayer and fasting

I love the image of prayer being like a vine growing on a trellis. By itself, a vine will take a default path of growth, but if it is threaded through a trellis it spreads more evenly, prevents too much density, and ultimately results in greater health for the vine. A good vine dresser trains a vine to grow along the trellis for the sake of greater fruitfulness. 

Each of us have default paths in our vine of prayer, and also deficits of direction, which we tend to avoid.  The prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray, commonly known as The Lord's Prayer, is to our prayer life what a trellis is to a vine. While its familiarity to us can cause it to lose meaning, 

I've found that it is a powerful trellis for the vine of my own prayer life, helping me to grow in areas where I have a prayer deficit. My default is to pray, 'Give us this day our daily bread, or  'Forgive us our sins,' kinds of prayer, but the trellis of the Lord's Prayer trains me to begin praying relationally rather than functionally as I'm reminded that He is my Father and I am His adopted son. It also reminds me that He is in heaven which is my true home, giving me more of an eternal perspective as I pray. It rescues me from the tyranny of the urgent.

And then there is that strange old phrase, Hallowed be Thy Name. It reminds me of some historic Ivy League University or something, walking down those hallowed halls. But very simply, the term hallowed means to be made holy. This is a strange concept, because we know that God cannot be made holy. He is holy. But to pray that God's name be hallowed is really to pray that God's name is revered and treasured and adored as it ought to be. This is an area of prayer that is absolutely vital, and yet often overlooked. This is what we will focus upon as we fast tomorrow and gather to pray at 133 at 6:30pm.

To pray, "Hallowed be Thy Name" is at its most basic, worshipful trust in our Father. It is to acknowledge that He is the Father of heavenly lights in Whom there is no shadow of turning, who does not tempt His children but gives good and perfect gifts to them. We cannot pray, "Thy will be done,"or "Give us this day our daily bread," unless we trust that He is holy. Let's spend time worshipping Him, trusting in His heart before his hands.

To pray, "Hallowed be thy Name is also about mission. It is to ask that God's name be treasured where it is not treasured. It is to pray that the gospel would awaken people to the glory of God so that they would worship Him. Let's be praying for The Alpha Course in that regard, as we kick it off this Sunday at all three campuses. Pray that many would come and explore faith and that people would come to hallow God's name as they put their faith in Jesus. Pray too for the team going to plant a church in Chiang Rai, Thailand, that God's name would be hallowed in a nation where there are very few believers. Let's pray into our work to eradicate human trafficking and our work with orphans in Mexico, that people who have been abused and abandoned by fathers would be introduced to and restored by our Perfect Father in heaven. Let's pray for our students in educational institutions, where God's name is not hallowed. Let's pray that God would empower them to stand boldly for His Name.  

To pray, Hallowed be Thy name is also to pray that our own lives would not obscure His holiness. It is to pray that God would sanctify us so that we represent his holiness well. Let's pray for our work lives particularly, as we've launched the God at Work series, that God would empower us by His Holy Spirit to live lives of courage, integrity, creativity and excellence in the work place, so that that His Name would be hallowed. Let's spend time repenting where our lives have not represented his holiness well.  Let's trust God for a revival of prayer  in our work places that brings many to treasure the name of Jesus. 

Tomorrow, let's allow the trellis of the Lord's Prayer to train us to pray in new ways. 

And let's gather with hearts full of reverence and expectation for His Name to be hallowed anew.