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  There is much discussion in Christian leadership today about "engaging the Culture" of the world. I admit, I have never figured out the fascination some Christians seem to have with being accepted and loved by the world.  Jesus and Paul were very clear. We will not be loved by the world nor should we love the world. We are not a sub-culture seeking acceptance by the majority. We are a counter-culture seeking to change the world!  Radical Christianity is not engaging the culture of  the world. The real radical Christians are those who chose to live like Christ in the middle of this world.  The "ways" of this world come from satan, and we are no longer to conform to their pattern. We are citizens of heaven with an entire culture of our own.  In 2 Chronicles 33:17  we see the people of Judah having a partial reformation. They insisted however on doing worship where and how they wanted, rather than where and  how God had said. The "high places" were are part of their culture now. They wanted their culture, but just replaced their demon gods with the true God. It does not work like that!!!!!  True confession of sin means that we agree with God that we are wrong and He is right, not just partially right.

 There is so much pressure in life today. It seems almost crushing at times. It is good to remember Jesus's promise of rest to the worn out and stressed out. It is even better, though, to stay at peace. We know the value of peace. Psalms 34:14 teaches us to seek peace , even to run after it. Proverbs 14:30 shows us that this absence of pressure in our souls is good for our physical body.  We may need to avoid people to keep that peace. There are some people I just do not want to be around . People of strife  and last minute people. The people of strife we all understand. They just love to be in an argument about something. The most dangerous, for servant hearted people, however  is the last minute people. Learn to not allow last minute people to destroy your peace. Their lack of thought and planning should not be allowed to stress you out. Plan for interruptions brought about by needs of others,  but not by lack of thought.

 God put it into the heart of every person to live for a purpose. We all want to be on a "crusade." It is just the way we were created. The question, however, is are we on God's assigned "crusade" for our lives, or does the crusade we've chosen flow from another source?  Maybe we should ask ourselves a few questions before we launch out in great zeal:
 1. Does my little crusade bring destruction or does it build others' lives?
 2. Does my little crusade bring confusion or does it bring peace?
 3, Does this little crusade flow from a pure heart or (BE HONEST NOW) jealousy, envy, hatred, anger, etc.?
 4. If I was standing in front of Jesus right now (and we are, hahaha), could I look Him in the eye and say that I was doing His will?

 I read another article today about "abusive leadership."  It just amazes me today the frequency of these articles and books when 99% of the Christian leaders I meet are anything but abusive. In fact, I find far more of them being abused by the people they lead (hahaha). What amazed me was again the lack of any Scripture that people were encouraged to use in judging leaders.  He opened the article with, "My personal experience and theoretical inferences have revealed five indicators of those who abuse power,"  and not one scripture included. It would seem to me that opinions are not the basis of evaluating a leader or any other person. In fact, if I were to overlay his 5 indicators with Moses (the most humble man who ever lived), Jesus and Paul, they would have all failed in his opinion. The Word of God is the standard. Opinion is completely in the realm of "offense."  No pastor, no deacon, no leader in a church can live based on the opinions of people. They will either become a people pleasing politician or a chameleon that can never present Christ -- who is the same yesterday , today and forever.  As leaders, we all have different styles and personalities. Chose to live the Bible. You can not please everyone, but by living the Word you will please the Head of the Church.

  Last October, Dr. Cho looked at all of us in a board lunch and said, "You all need to preach healing more and stronger." Every one of us in the room believes in healing, have received miracles of healing and preaches healing. I smiled as I came to understand what he meant. We grow so comfortable with the truth that we walk in that we no longer preach it as strong as is needed for the new ones to also learn it. The basic truths of Salvation, The Holy Spirt,  prayer , healing, etc., need to be emphasized to the new generation. The basics are still the foundation stones that everyone must build upon.

 I had an interesting time in prayer the other day.  I am not one of these folks who has "encounters" with God every minute, though I do believe that He is real and that we do have incredible experiences in His presence (and I have had many). As I was praying, I learned a very interesting thought. The church has grown so large and in so many ways by the Holy Spirit but now I felt God say that from this point on, the growth would come only as I prayed more. I looked at my calendar and thought  "Ok God , what do I not do so I can pray more?" I am still figuring that one out, but I am determined to pray even more.

   I read the website of an old friend today and I wanted to weep.  What has happened to us in the ministry today?  Everything we know, we learned from the Bible, yet we leave it out of our sermons, websites and books.  Are we ashamed of the Word of God (Mark 8:38)?  Everything we are, we were made by Christ, yet we leave His Name off anything we do.  Are we ashamed of Him (Mark:8:38)?  Do we have such a desire to market ourselves and our products and to be accepted by the world that we have forgotten that all we are and should ever desire to be are His servants?  Have we become ashamed of the Gospel (Romans 1:16)?  Our words, our ideas, our personalities will never change the world.  Only the Gospel has that power.  None of us is perfect and it is easy to find ourselves on the slippery slope.  But we can remember who we are, who made us and who is our source of authority.  Enough of marketing; let us return to simplicity of ministry.

Think and ask questions 5 levels deep but live on the surface of life.   It is always good to keep asking questions and thinking deeper in every situation. It is however not a good thing to live a life of layers built to deal with the perceptions of people.  Live life on the surface. It will be hard for some to understand ( like a BIR official believing you only have one set of books) but it is always best to be an “uncomplicated “person . Popularity and integrity are not the same.

I preached the funeral of an old friend a few weeks ago, Ptr. Noli Cadalina.  It was such a surprise to see him called to heaven ahead of us. He was my student and friend for many years.  His laughter and corny jokes will be missed. He built a great church and loved souls. He had faith and was never afraid to follow God.  I was again reminded how different a pastor’s life is than that of a businessman. Here he spent his life building God’s house instead of a business for his family and now in death how easy it would be for his family to be forgotten and nothing for his children.  I was so proud of our pastors stepping up to make sure his kids all finish college.

Well, we start a new adventure together with a blog.  This is to be a place of random thoughts, musings, questions and just interesting fun things in the life of a Pastor.  I hope to have all the testing worked out this week and then next week we will update you daily from Israel to share the experience together.  So stay tuned and let me know what you think.