Can your back yard impact the Kingdom?

Were you aware that the state of Alabama has the 12^th highest rate of food insecurity out of all 50 States?

What about the fact that we rank 48^th according to the United Health Foundation America’s Health Rankings in national health status due to the high rates of obesity (28.4%) and diabetes (8.7%), increasing rates of children in poverty, and high premature death rate?

According to other recent studies addressing our specific area of the state, “over a third of Birmingham city children live in families below the poverty level. Younger generations, especially among the lower income communities have been shown to be becoming increasingly reliant on lesser nutritious convenience and fast foods. In conjunction with the tendency for Alabama children to eat the fewest fruits and vegetables of other states surveyed, Alabama children living in poverty are at even greater risk for health complications that can be easily prevented by dietary improvements and educational intervention.”

For many of us, this type of information is the equivalent of watching TV news reports of large scale African famines complete with swollen bellies and swarming gnats and flies. We would honestly rather just change the channel.

And we have.

Rather than seeing what is there, we would rather hang out at The Summit or Patton Creek. It’s pretty easy actually. As long as you never cross Red Mountain, one could easily go on indefinitely without ever stopping to contemplate the crisis that exists 15 minutes to the north of us.

But what if someone cared enough to move past the “I wouldn’t even know where to start!” stage? What if we began to contemplate the grace shown to us in our own relative economic blessing? What if there were a small handful of people who decided to apply for a Hope for the ‘Ham grant and walk into a downtown elementary school to do something like this? Or this? Or perhaps this?

Or what if a church decided to challenge its members to tap unused backyard space to produce, well…. produce? Each Friday, whatever is harvested for that week is then transported to an adopted downtown school where a small scale farmers market is erected. As children leave school for the weekend, they leave with a small sampling of fresh produce to take home to their families. Students families could also sign up for a “garden mentor” to spend one Saturday a month during the gardening season visiting with the family and laying out a home garden space, aiding them in becoming self-sufficient gardeners.

How long can we continue to simply change the channel? How long before God’s people are moved to see this dilemma, not as a welfare issue, but as a spiritual issue, an issue of our inadequate understanding of the grace shown to us by a merciful Father?

May God grant His people the eyes to see, the heart to care, and the will to address the issues that grieve His heart.

Matthew 25:35 – 40

35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Lessons in Hope from a Backyard Gardener

I like to garden. I mean, I REALLY enjoy gardening.

Perhaps it’s the feel of a rough, wooden hoe handle against my fingers, sanding away softness and creating calluses which remind me of my grandfather’s hands, hands which always held great comfort, experience and wisdom. Those hands that could make anything grow, no matter how hard the soil. And they did their fair share of cultivation in my own life as well.

Or maybe it’s the excitement of a four year old discovering a secret subterranean world of earthworms and grubs as he digs potatoes.

Oh, and compost, glorious compost. Ahh.

(I need therapy, I know.)

Maybe it’s the smell of rich, dark, freshly turned soil, or the first flash of bright, defiant green breaking the earthen plane, boldly declaring to winter that though her icy fingers were persistent and her winds blew with violent ferocity, they could not hold back the eventual and sure dawning of a new Spring.

Yes, I think that’s getting closer to it. In a word, I guess the practice of gardening reminds me to…. hope.

Hebrews 11 says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ²For by it the people of old received their commendation. ³By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

When I begin prepping my plots, there is still a chill in the air. When those first seeds are placed in the soil, the trees have not yet tipped their hand towards Spring by showing forth their new buds. Gardening often begins when there is little evidence suggesting that winter is yet over.

And yet it is not a completely blind leap. Because of past experience, I do know Spring is coming. My hope is, as the ESV Study Bible puts it, “not a vague hope grounded in imaginary, wishful thinking.” Rather it is “a settled confidence that something in the future – something that is not yet seen but has been promised by God - will actually come to pass because God will bring it about.”

How can I know this? Because He has proven himself faithful in the past, both in my own story as well as in countless stories revealed to us within His Word. Because of God’s “observable track record” I know that He is worthy of the hope I place in Him.

Gardening can remind us to hope. It can remind us that in our own winters when icy fingers are attempting to grip our soul and the ferocious winds of fear and despair are seeking to assault our spirit that there is such a thing as Spring. And the warmth and new life that characterize this yet unseen season are just as sure as the cold wind which may be all too real today.

Yes…. hope. Spring IS coming. And honestly, sometimes we could use the reminder.

Numbers Matter

I have been playing some with numbers lately. Actually my job has a lot to do with numbers. As Pastor for Newcomers and Outreach at Oak Mountain Church, you might say that numbers play a pretty big role in my daily life. The number of members, the number of 1^st time visitors, the number of repeat visitors, the number of new members….sometimes my desk feels like a never ending flow of numerical data.

Some people may balk at that. Decrying an over-emphasis on numbers can sound very “holy” and “righteous”. That is, of course, until you begin to realize (much like we learned in last night’s episode of LOST... Sorry, couldn't resist.) that every one of those numbers actually represents a unique individual, created in the image of God and in desperate need of a Redeemer.

Then you kind of begin to make a connection between 1^st time visitor number 347 and the guy who is walking through the doors because his wife decided last week that, after years of marriage she actually didn’t love him after all. And there he is saying, “Tell me again that God is in control. Tell me why to believe and how to explain all this to my 2 year old daughter.”

You begin to realize that new member number whatever and fifty-four is actually a legalistic, hard-nosed CEO whose wife and children hate him almost as much as his employees do. And there he is, hearing for the first time in his life of this new concept of grace. And he is saying, “How does this apply to me? What impact does this have for my socially functional yet relationally and connectionaly anemic, gospel-less marriage?”

Here is my point. Numbers matter because people matter.

We, as individuals, come into contact literally with THOUSANDS of people each week. If you add in contacts through social networking contexts like Facebook, Twitter, etc. that number then explodes exponentially.

Simple question. Who in your sphere of contacts are you inviting into your community of faith?

Two ways to take that question really. First, who are you literally inviting to become a member of the family of God? With whom are you, on a consistent basis, sharing your faith? You too? Hmm….

Secondly, who are you inviting into your locally recognizable community of faith, your church. If your church and its pastors are proclaiming the truth of the gospel, that God pursues the broken, the undeserving and the rebellious (and if they are not proclaiming this message, then why are you still there?), then wouldn’t it make sense to simply invite someone to attend worship next Sunday?

Here is what it might look like in our particular context at Oak Mountain Church. We have approximately 1,400 adult members of our church. For simplicity sake, let’s take that down to 1,000. If we then take HALF of that 1,000, that then leaves us with 500.

Stay with me now.

There are 12 months in a year. Let’s drop December because of the Christmas holidays and March because of Spring Break. That leaves us with 10 months.

500 people, inviting 1 person a month for 10 months, just gave us 5,000 unique visitors walking through our front door, exposing them to gospel infused, Christ-focused ministry and all of this with a relational connection already in place to our church. YOU!

5,000 people, whose lives could be dramatically changed.

Imagine with me for a moment what our church would look like with ….. no, wait, what our city would look like with 5,000 new people being influenced by the gospel? What would that do to the fact that 12% of Birmingham City School students are recognized as homeless? What would that do to our city’s murder rate? What effect would that have on our region? I think I could get kind of excited about dreaming like that.

So who are you bringing this Sunday?

RedeemingTechnology for the Sake of the Gospel

Um...wow.

Among the many interesting items in this video,

"The mobile device will be the world's primary connection tool to the internet in 2020."




What implications does this have for the church, for our growth and movement forward in engaging the next generations? What tools may we be completely ignoring while their potential for redeemed gospel usefulness goes untapped? This technological revolution could be every bit as seismic in our generation as Gutenberg's printing press was in his.

In Response to the Disaster in Haiti

photo from website of Churches helping Churches

Churches Helping Churches is the new site for a dedicated work begun by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA and James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Church in Napierville, IL. The mission is simple, summed up by Paul's words from Galatians 6:10.

"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."

MacDonald's words in response to the earthquake disaster in Haiti tug at my heart as it breaks for my brothers and sisters in this ravaged island nation which Christ dearly loves.

"The world will always be better, faster, and more effective than we can be at the important work of relief. As individuals, we should give to these efforts, pray for these efforts, and even volunteer to help, if God so directs.

BUT the primary focus of the church gathered, the priority calling of the body of Christ, the first response of all biblically-informed believers must be to help the church. Locating local communities of brothers and sisters in Christ, assessing the needs of local churches in hardest hit areas, rallying the church in North America to rescue and restore the church, wherever it is ravaged by natural disaster or human tragedy . . . This is the most important step of obedience we can offer to Christ and His kingdom.

Who will help the church? By God’s grace we will, together we can."

This sentiment is expressed beautifully in the song and video on Churches Helping Churches home page.

Our own denomination, the PCA, is also currently assessing what we can do in response to this tragedy. Updates can be followed here.

Locally, here at Oak Mountain Church we will be taking up a special dedicated offering for the work in Haiti this coming Sunday, January 24th. Checks may be made payable to Oak Mountain Church with "Haiti" designated at the bottom.

May the Lord God whom we call both sovereign and compassionate grant mercy, healing and peace to his bride the church in the coming weeks and months. And as always, may God be glorified and may His kingdom come.

Facing North with Scott Roley

Great thoughts from Scott Roley, Senior Pastor at Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN. Challenging as well. How many pastors do you know have the opportunity / take the opportunity to tour with a band in order to take the pulse of those traditionally outside of the church?

Hope for the 'Ham

Many of the best ideas are simply copies of someone else's brilliance. At least that's the way it typically goes with me. Not much originality here, I just don't have the brain cells.

This has been the case with Oak Mountain's Hope for the 'Ham grant proposal for our LIFE Groups. "Hope for the 'Ham" is simply a repeat of Mars Hill in Seattle's MicroMissions project (albeit with slightly less funding). What we are hoping to do is to encourage our LIFE Groups to fulfill the third part of our church's vision statement, the "Showing grace to all" part, by providing seed funding for ministries of outreach and mercy. The goal is simply to enable our members, through their small group communities, to love their neighborhoods well through acts of gospel-motivated service. In other words, to show grace to the "least" and the "lost" whom we cross paths with every day.

Read an example of what this has looked like for one of Mars Hill's community groups here. Be inspired and then light a fire under your LIFE Group. Don't wait for someone else to lead.