About 9-10 years ago, the leadership of Calvary sent me off to spend some time seeking God for direction for Calvary.  I visited a handful of churches, sat down with a couple of pastors, and prayed.  At some point I sensed God giving me one phrase, “Build a church without walls.” Church without walls? I’m thinking, “God what in the world does that mean?” Every church I had ever joined had been a church with walls.  So I searched on the internet.  :)

Google was just getting started so I’m not even sure I googled it.  But anyway at that time I found three different organizations using that phrase, church without walls. A church in Texas.  A church in Florida.  A small group organization.  I just googled “church without walls” and today there are over 30,000 hits!  Here is what I love about that… I didn’t write a book.  If one of those other three organizations wrote a “church without walls” book, I never read it.  I believe it’s just one of those God-things.  Something was in the heart of God that he wanted to get out, so he put it on the hearts of a lot of church leaders.

What was on his heart?  I want the church to get out from it’s walls and into the world, so that people will know the heart of God is for them.

So for the last 10 years or so, we (Calvary) have been working out what it looks like to be a church without walls, helping people connect in life-giving relationships with Christ, with each other and with the world around us.  Not the best church in the world, but the best church for the world.  We want to help people find the uncommon life without walls that God has planned for each of us.

Yesterday I ran across this parable — written by a guy who is involved in campus ministry and attends Calvary — it’s a great picture of the church without walls.

Here is the link — Parable of the Castle and the Campfire.

When Jesus disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he taught them, “When you pray, say ‘Our Papa in heaven…” This prayer — we often call “The Lord’s Prayer” — was remarkable for one reason. It instructed the followers of Jesus to call God…Papa. Before Jesus, this nearness, closeness, intimacy-factor in relationship to God was not celebrated. So what if we are to view our relationship with God in terms of papa — child? What then?

Dave Johnson is the Sr. Pastor of Church of the Open Door in Minneapolis Minnesota.  Steve is a great preacher…I have always been inspired by his sermons. I received his tapes regularly for awhile and used them as part of my own personal worship time. In the last 25 yrs. OD has grown from 150 to thousands. It’s a great church and he’s a great pastor. I attended Open Door a few times while I was in college..I played football with one of Steve brothers. I knew another brother fairly well because he’s the football coach at Bethel. I even had lunch with his father — another pastor — a time or two. But I’ve never met Dave.

16 years ago, before I came to Calvary. I tried. I wanted to meet him, to pick his brain about going to a church with a staff; how he prepared for preaching; what it took to see a church go from 150 – 5000. I thought I had enough connections to be able to gain access. I called. I left messages. I sent notes. I even asked a brother to intervene…but I couldn’t get in.

After awhile I quit trying.

He was too busy, too many responsibilities, too involved with what he had going on to find time to talk to me. You know what I don’t think any less of him. He’s an awesome preacher and leader, a Kingdom Builder. I don’t think he’s stuck up…he’s a humble man. As Calvary has grown, I’ve seen how impossible it is for me, to be there for everyone… Dave Johnson had limitations and he had to set priorities…and I wasn’t his priority.

But you know what? He isn’t God. And I’m not his Son.

In Romans 8:14-16, Paul writes,

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are (children) of God. And so we should not be like cringing, fearful slaves, but we should behave like God’s very own children, adopted into the bosom of his family and calling to him, Papa, Father. For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we really are God’s children.

See my kids don’t even need an appointment to talk to me.  Whenever, whatever, come on in.  Call.  Text.  I want to be available to my kids.  God too.  Papa God loves when we come.  But you know what He really loves?  He loves it when we come because we just want to talk. No agenda. Just want to be with him.  I love it when my kids just want to talk.  No agenda.  No can-I’s…just talk.  Just hangout.

It’s been good this week to just talk to my dad.  Maybe this week, you should schedule in some “just talk” time with Papa God?

About a dozen years ago, I and some other community pastors had the opportunity to be on Cornerstone TV talking about some of what God was doing in our churches and our community. We were being interviewed by Ben Kinchlow. For those of you who don’t know Ben Kinchlow he used to be a regular on the 700 Club with Pat Robertson. Ben’s a very striking person. He is a large African-American man with silver hair. The show was on at 8:00pm and Lynn had gathered the kids around the TV waiting for Dad to show up. She’d spent a little bit of time explaining to Josh (he was about 2 or 3) that Daddy was going to be on TV. “Just watch the TV, here it comes Josh, it’s starting, watch for Daddy… ”

And then as the show starts Ben Kinchlow fills the screen. Josh looked at the screen…looked at Lynn…looked back at the screen and said, “Thaaaat’s my daaaad?” Lynn couldn’t resist…She said, “Ya Joshy that’s your dad.” He looked back at the TV and said, “Oh…okay.”

Now I’ve heard that TV adds about 20 pounds but there is just something wrong about a son being that confused about who his dad is. Do you know your dad?

Father’s Day this weekend. For many people Father’s Day is a tough day. Maybe you never knew your father. According to the National Fatherhood Initiative, 24 million children in the US are growing up without a father in the home. Maybe you wish you never knew your father. All sorts of questions go through minds. Where can I find a father to fill the void left by the dad I never knew? How can I erase the pain? Am I doomed to be like him? Is it in my DNA?

Others have different struggles. A son or daughter that doesn’t want to know you… making bad choices, or a dad who used to be so vital and aware, fix anything, great advice, your #1 fan for life. Now you just hope he recognizes you and remembers your name when you visit him this afternoon. Do you know your dad?

Jesus did. You can’t read long in the gospels without getting the feeling that if there was one thing that Jesus knew…it was the Father. Listen to some of his words..

– John 5:19 The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does the same.
– John 14:11 I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

What does knowing my dad have to do with prayer?  Bing Hunter writes in his book on prayer…

We tend to view prayer as a process of gathering information about God and practicing certain techniques. But prayer is interpersonal communication between two individuals.  In scripture it matters far less how, when, and what you say, as it does how well you know Him to whom you pray.  The foundation, the heart of prayer is knowing God.

I love how J.I. Packer puts it,

The invariable fruit of… knowledge of God is energy to pray…. and the more knowledge, the more energy!  — (no energy) is a sure sign that as yet we scarcely know our God.

Do you know your dad?  Do you have energy to pray?

As I write this I’m driving — actually Lynn is driving, I don’t surf and drive — somewhere in Illinois, south of Chicago.  As you read this — on Friday morning — I will be sitting at a breakfast table with a cup of coffee, talking to my dad.  (I’ll make it long cup to accommodate you late risers.)  I’ll be honest, I’m looking forward to being with my dad this Father’s Day.  He’s made a mark on my life, like I hope I leave on my kid’s lives.  If you would like a bit of the back story on my dad, I wrote this blog post last year. (10 Reasons I’m Glad My Dad is My Dad).

You may or may not know this…but it isn’t always easy being a dad.  Sure we didn’t have to carry the child within us for 9 months.  Sure we probably didn’t change as many dirty diapers — didn’t have to worry about breast feeding.  Sure we might have gone to a handful fewer parent/teacher conferences.  Sure we may not have always been the one to stay up late at night when they were sick.  Okay, sometimes it may have been a little easy!  :)

But here is the part that isn’t always easy…living up to the example of our Heavenly Father.  Shortly after Sarah was born, I was leading an all-night prayer meeting at Bethel Seminary.  As I led my portion of the evening, I shared this thought, “Having just had a child, I have a new appreciation for the thought that God is my father.”

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray he said, “Ok, when you pray…say Father.” Then he gave what is commonly called the Lord’s prayer. Much of the Lord’s prayer was not all that different from the standard Jewish prayers of the day. The requests are remarkable similar to the Jewish Kadesh Prayer… a Jewish liturgical prayer. ONE BIG DIFFERENCE.

It’s that word Father. FATHER… The translation of the Aramaic word Abba…Abba & Imma….Mommy & Daddy, PaPa. One New Testament scholar wrote this,

With the help of my assistants, I have examined the prayer literature of ancient Judaism…the result of this examination was, that in no place in this immense literature is this invocation of God as “Abba Father” to be found. Abba was an everyday word. It was a homely family-word. No Jew would have dared address God in this manner, yet Jesus did…(and) He empowers his disciples to speak with their heavenly Father in (the same) familiar and trusting way.

If we look at Jesus’ example we would have to believe that of all his names, Father is his favorite. In the Old Testament God was called Father…only 7x. Jesus refers to God as Father 17x in the Sermon on the Mount alone! The gospels record over 200x’s that Jesus called God Father.  God is my Daddy — Abba Papa.  Wow.

When Jesus lived…what he had to say about God blew away the routine categories of God-pictures. That truth shaped everything Jesus said and did. It shaped his prayer life.   But then this this amazing thing happens, Jesus passes it on to us. Not only my Father, your Father. God is your Abba, Pappa, Daddy God.

Wow.

If  organized religion turns you off, try Calvary… we’re disorganized religion at it’s best!  :)  That’s one of my favorite lines when I’m talking to people who are hesitant to try church.  One of my favorite descriptions of Calvary is that we are organic as opposed to highly structured.  The church is an organism, not an organization.  Organic carries with it a sense of growth, change, a little fuzzy at the edges.

Now we have people at Calvary whom God has gifted with minds that love to organize.  I think they can devise structures in their sleep!  And here is the reality, Calvary would not survive without their gifts.  Like a body without a skeleton is a blob, the church without organization is a mess, not a movement.   Imagine Kidz ConneXion without any structure — toddler moshpit!  Imagine CityServe without the wonderful organization that Bob and the CityServe team brought to the weekend.  We need structure.  At least weekly I tell God thank you for bringing Dan Dorsey to Calvary — he brings organization that brings movement to the divine mess.  We need structure.

But here is the Calvary Axiom: Structure must always submit to the Spirit.

Now what does that look like?  Well for example — Relationships trump Roberts Rules.  (If you don’t know Robert — consider yourself blessed.)  I often pray a blessing over people which includes the line.  “May they be blessed to love people more than rules, and God more than people.” God is looking for people…more than plans.  God’s Spirit loves to work through people. Structure submits to the Spirit.

Sometimes the structure we seek is a policy.  I have an aversion to policies.  I would rather see leaders make decisions in the moment, with an ear open to God, than rely on policies.   But at the very least we can never let our policies say no to God.  I think of all the rabbinical policies that Jesus broke in his three years of ministry.  Did his policy-breaking ways earn him enemies from religious leaders?  Certainly!  But look at the people he touched.  Sometimes our policies can keep us from leaving a mark on the world.  Structure must submit to the Spirit.

Sometimes the structure we rely upon is a strategy.   One of my gifts/passions in leadership is strategy.  God has shaped me to think strategically.  I love it when a good strategy comes together.  But at Calvary, we aren’t afraid to let the Spirit give a new direction to our strategy.  A great case in point is our multi-site movement.   In the midst of planning a facility that would hold the whole current Calvary movement — God slowed us down and at the same time brought people like Pastor Vic and Pastor Bruce and we sensed his leading to go multi-site, before we built a new facility.  Now we have four gathering sites from which to do God’s mission.  (By the way, I’ve recently had multiple groups of people approach me about a Calvary site in Bellefonte.)  When structure submits to the Spirit, good stuff happens.

Strategies are structures that help us plan.  Policies are structures that help make frequent decisions a bit easier.  Buildings are structures that give us a place.  All three can be tools that help us leave a mark on the world… but the Spirit breathes life into our structures.  The Spirit brings movement.  With the Spirit, any structure will be filled with life.  Without the Spirit, there is no life in any structure.

Maybe your greatest need is not a new plan, it’s a new Spirit.

Loyalty.  Love.  Perseverance.  In a world that is so quick to walk away from commitment, those words burn bring like a beacon of hope. Short-term effort is not what we are looking for…we are looking for a long love in the same direction.   John Wooden died on June 4th at the age of 99, four months shy of 100.  Known to thousands simply as coach.  Known for a record 10 NCAA basketball championships.  Known for a winning streak of 88 games.

But if that’s all you knew you missed the heart of John Wooden.  Loyalty.  Love.  Perseverance.   Did you know that he was married to one woman — Nellie — for 53 years.  In fact — they met when they were 14 and she is the only woman he ever kissed.  She was the love of his life… and since she died on the 21st of every month, he wrote her a love letter.  He wrote her 300 love letters after she died.  Loyalty.  Love. Perseverance.  A Long Love in the Same Direction.

He left a mark on the world, but not because he pursued success…  He left a mark on the world, because he pursued love.   Watch the videos…one is short.  One is long.  Both will help you think through the kind of character that leaves a mark on the world…through love.

The following video is a talk that Wooden gave almost 9 years ago at the age of 91! His character was shaped by wisdom.

So what do I grab from his example…to be a man or a woman who leaves a mark on the world?

I don’t know if Josh — my 14 year old son —  realizes it or not…but tonight was a powerful night for him.  He got blessed.  Jeremiah and Calvary’s youth staff gathered the 8th graders and their families to celebrate their journey from middle school to high school.  We had fantastic food, a dance -sorta- revue…and then an opportunity for our sons and daughters to hear a blessing that we — the parents — had written for them.

We miss it — the power of a blessing, but read through the Bible  and you can’t help but wonder, “what’s up with this blessing stuff?”  Father’s blessing sons and daughters.  God blessing people.  Brothers stealing blessings.  In fact there is a supernatural side to the blessing.  But we often miss it.  We miss the power of words, the power of affirmation, the power of calling out the good we see, the power of speaking God’s favor.

But we didn’t miss it tonight.  Thanks to Jeremiah and the youth staff, we took an evening and blessed our kids — not so much kids, but still our sons and daughters.  My heart was grabbed almost as much as I listened to the blessings that other parents wrote…good stuff.

Here is the blessing we wrote for Josh.

Josh, in the name of Jesus, we bless you. We bless you with all the promises and dreams that God has in his heart for you.

We bless your ears to hear words spoken in truth with grace, the life-giving words of scripture, and the voice of Jesus calling you to follow him.

We bless your heart to be tender, and filled with courage, the courage to care deeply for the kids in Myanmar, and people around the world, who need to know how much Jesus loves them.

We bless your mind and your mouth, to bring joy and laughter to people. To ask questions that other people might not ask, to see things in new ways, that others might not see. We bless your curiousity.

We bless your competitive spirit to excell in ways that help others win, ways that help others become better because you are on their team.

You bring laughter to our lives. You have a tender heart; that cares about others. You have a mind that loves to ask
questions. You are courageous in your generosity. We love these things about you and ask God to open the windows of
heaven to bless you as you seek to become who He has created you to be.

Have you blessed your son or daughter lately?

29 years.  I’ve known her for 29 years…plus a month or two.  I’ve known her longer than I haven’t.  29 out of 48 years.  We lived across the square from each other in Township East, Bethel College.  Let’s see… first memories.  We met in the shower.  (Waterfight.)  She fell for me big time. (Literally.  Taylor’s Falls State Park.  Think traction, blood, etc.)  Our first date was a double date.  (Except she was my room mate’s date, and her room mate was my date.  Before the date ended, we had switched.)  Her paying job at Bethel was making chocolate chip cookies, every once in a while she would bring me one.

Middle memories.  Wedding (Hottest day on the planet.)  Sarah’s birth.  (Wow you screamed, that was scary.)  When the search committee from First Baptist in Grove City came to help us move to our first church.  (They came with a Cattle Trailer instead of a U-Haul.  Somewhat clean, but smelly.  You were such a gracious champ.)  Katy’s birth (Bedrest.)  Practical jokes in Grove City.  (With Good friends.)  Jake’s birth.  (First boy.)

Later Middle memories.  The move to State College stopping in Dubois at the Burger King with Tim and Tracy to eat.  (Why I remember that I have no idea.)  Josh’s birth.  (The sexes even out.)  Vacations to Orlando.  Hurricane Dennis in the Outer Banks.  Hawaii with the kids…and without the kids.  Family mission trips to Estonia and Myanmar.   Graduations.

I could go on and on. She has seen me at my best — in fact she and God have been most responsible for me at my best.  She has seen me at my less than best… and loved me in both.  We have walked through really good times and some times that were more difficult.  But when I look back on 26 years I can’t imagine missing a single one of them.   I haven’t just known her longer than I haven’t, I’ve loved her longer than I haven’t.

– I have loved watching her grow in her relationship with God.  She inspires and motivates me in that.  

– I have loved watching her be a mom.  She has poured so much good and God into our kids.

– I have loved watching her discover who God has created her to be, and how God has created her to serve.  She does it in a one-on-one kind of way, but I have a suspicion that when we get to heaven, God will show us that the mark she left on the world, out-marked mine.

– I have loved having fun with her.  There is no one I would rather laugh with, vacation with, serve with, or take a long drive with…

I’ve loved her longer than I haven’t and I’m looking forward to loving her longer than I have.  Here’s to the next 26 years…God-willing.

Just for a laugh, as we head into high school finals… we celebrate the amazing creativity… of those who do not know the answer.