It's a veritable United Nations, the "228 Park & Ride," where thousands of Houston westsiders catch daily buses. A place also where scores of solo drivers like myself occasionally or regularly pick up some trusting stranger so we can zoom down the barricaded high-speed lane into the city rather than poke along in stop-and-go traffic on the freeway. Over the years I have chauffeured passengers from Africa and Asia, Barbados and Bolivia, Singapore and Scandinavia, Russia and Rwanda, China and Croatia. This particular day my passenger comes from Greece. His name is Farook, he tells me, … [Read more...]
LOST AND BLIND
Houstonians who work downtown enjoy an underground tunnel system, filled with restaurants and shops, providing air-conditioned escape from the weather and other inconveniences of sidewalk travel. Two encounters there on recent days have reminded me of the practicality and power of the biblical metaphors for our condition apart from God. Last Tuesday I was crossing town underground when I came upon a young Chinese man with a pack on his back and a puzzled look on his face. I stopped, and eventually understood that he was looking for the Greyhound bus station. "Follow me," I said, as we … [Read more...]
A CHALLENGE TO THE ‘SENT’ (2)
“Go! I am sending you out." -- Luke 10:3 “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.” - Albert Orsbom (1916) The Good News is enough. The Holy Spirit is alive and well. I think it comes down to this: we need to learn to love like Jesus. We are to be “sent” people . . . and unfortunately we aren’t going into a carnival-like environment where everyone loves Christians. We are sent out “like lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:3). I believe this means living vulnerable lives, allowing others to see our struggles. We need to take our hospitality to the streets, where we will rely on the hospitality of … [Read more...]
A CHALLENGE TO THE ‘SENT’ (1)
“Go! I am sending you out." -- Luke 10:3 “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.” - Albert Orsbom (1916) It appears to me that evangelism is much more difficult these days. It's a tough crowd out there. Look around and you'll see what I mean. People are church-phobic. Churches are changing their names so they don't sound like churches. Worship communities all over promote things like "The first twenty visitors will receive free Astros tickets!" or "Come to our Antique Car Show (worship service to follow)!" The church down the road from my house offers a sports camp. They know that people … [Read more...]
GOD’S HIDDEN SERVANT
He never made the headlines. He is not on the lecture circuits. To my knowledge, no books bear his name. He doesn't even travel abroad, except for an occasional visit to friends and supporters in the United States. Yet for 35 years he has been an international missionary of Jesus Christ, a modern-day Apostle Paul carrying the simple gospel message to thousands of Muslims, Hindus and others who might never see a Christian preacher in person. He doesn't travel in jets like Billy Graham, or on horseback as did John Wesley. He rides the international mails, witnessing through correspondence … [Read more...]
THE PERFECT STORM
Last weekend (January 2006) daughter Melanie and I were strengthened and encouraged at a spiritual conference conducted in Fresno, California by The Zoe Group of Nashville, Tennessee. Speakers included John York and Gary Holloway of Nashville, Randy Harris and Mike Cope of Abilene, Texas and Leonard (Len) Sweet, who currently teaches at both Drew University in New Jersey and George Fox University in Oregon. Preacher, author and historian, Sweet is best known as a futurist who stands with one foot each in academe and popular culture to advise an emergent church of the twenty-first century … [Read more...]
POSTMODERNISM & JESUS
Somewhere about the time Columbus "sailed the waters blue," a seed of thought began germinating in the minds of many Europeans -- a seed which took root in the New World and sprang into a giant American tree during the next 500 years. This worldview saw "Progress" as the ultimate human goal, with the roads to that goal being Science (providing insight), Technology (providing power) and Economic Growth (providing wealth). That philosophy was "Modernism," and by the end of the 20th century its promises were exposed as false. In its place has evolved a new philosophy, "Postmodernism." Because … [Read more...]
THOSE WHO NEVER HEARD (2)
A gracEmail reader writes, "Our Bible class had a discussion concerning individuals who were not able to hear the gospel before they died. Several stated that all those people would be lost. What do you believe will happen to such according to the Bible?" * * * God's judgment will be completely righteous, for he will judge all people by the light they actually possessed rather than by some standard of which they had no knowledge (Rom. 2:12). Not everyone received the Ten Commandments, or the Golden Rule -- but every human being with moral consciousness has God's revelation in creation (Rom. … [Read more...]
THOSE WHO NEVER HEARD (1)
"What about those," asks a reader, "who, through no fault of their own, never hear the gospel during this life? Must we assume that all such people will finally perish?" * * * It is absolutely true that no one will be saved except through the atonement which Jesus has accomplished (Acts 4:12; 1 Tim. 2:5-6). It is also true that many people will be saved by Jesus' atonement who, in this life, never understood that Jesus' atonement had taken place. Christians historically place in that category all faithful people who lived before Jesus, both Jew and Gentile (Rom. 3:23-30). Many Christians … [Read more...]
NATURAL EVANGELISM
One gracEmail subscriber draws back from the thought of approaching strangers to distribute evangelistic leaflets. Another subscriber feels unable to engage in door-to-door "cold campaigning" such as is done by Jehovah's Witnesses but also feels guilty in this regard. A third subscriber rejects such outreach methods totally as being impersonal, insisting that evangelism requires a personal relationship to be genuinely authentic. And a fourth subscriber suggests that not every Christian is gifted to be an evangelist, just as not all are teachers, pastors or prophets. * * * Clearly the … [Read more...]