The other night I was watching an old(ish) TV show. A child made a confession, his mother was concerned for the condition of his soul, and so what did she do. She invited her pastor to come to dinner for the purposes of ambushing her child in a sort of “holy” intervention. First of all as a pastor, I implore you, please don’t do that. No one wants to be ambushed, and the vast majority of us do not want to be ambushers. That tactic rarely works and it put everyone in a very awkward position that is not conducive to change. 

The plot thickens. The confession was not sincere. It was manipulation, a ruse on the part of the child to get out of the consequences for his very real actions. This was revealed in a discussion with the pastor, where the kid revealed his diabolical scheme, under the idea of some sort of pastor/parishioner confidentiality. But that was not the big issue. The big issue was the discussion. They started off talking about the mother’s concerns that her child’s sin would land him in hell. I was waiting for the pastor to talk about repentance and grace, but that was not forthcoming. Instead he talked about repressing urges and essentially a whole lot of things the young person could do in his own strength to resist and what God would want him to do and not do. To which the young person replied he doesn’t believe in God.  That of course is the much larger issue. Our sins separate us from God, but through faith in Christ we can repent, be forgiven and be saved. The thing that truly sends us to hell is rejecting the Savior God gave out of perfect love to repair the separation between God and the people He loves. That was never addressed. 

I found myself getting really frustrated by the bad theology of the scene. Now admittedly this was not surprising. The show makes no pretense at all of really having anything to do with Christianity, but then a thought hit me. I remember thinking, “Well one thing’s for sure, the person who wrote that knows nothing about Christianity.” But then another thought came—a convicting thought. Why aren’t more Christians using their gifts in the area of entertainment? What if instead of lamenting the bad theology in the media—it’s easy to spot and it’s everywhere—what if we who claim the name of Christ, started creating, and not just for other Christians, but for the mass market? 

I can almost hear the push back from here. They won’t accept it. They’ll reject it. They’ll cancel us. I’m not sure that’s the case. First of all, money talks. If there are enough supporters of anything, if there is money to be made, someone will produce it. Secondly, who do we serve? Is He greater that he who is in the world? To borrow from a famous parable, are we putting our talent to work or are we burying it out of fear. Some of us have got to go out, get a shovel dig up the talent our Master has given and get to work.

Well those of you who know me, know that when it comes to my working life, there are two things that really excite me, ministry and the arts. When God brought me to the intersection of these two fields, I found a big part of His purpose for my life. Well today I watched some very talented people who also live at that intersection. You see, I am blessed to live less than an hour from the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA, and today a bus load of us from my church went to see their production of Moses. These trips are always a blessing. 

I love the Scriptures. I love reading them, studying them and trying to find creative ways of helping people to connect to the truth of God’s Word. Sight and Sound does that masterfully. As someone who has spent a fair amount of time working with school and community theaters, designing and painting sets, I find these productions mind-boggling. The level of creativity used in staging one of these shows confounds my imagination. 

Now I will admit there are times where I find myself coveting just a little. I wonder what I could do with a large team and a huge budget, but I try to pull myself out of those thoughts quickly, and the story of Moses shows why. When God called to Moses in the burning bush, the first thing Moses does is start to do is to make excuses, finding all the reasons he can why he is not up to the task. Moses looks to his insufficiencies to try to turn away from God’s call. 

At one point in Moses list of excuses, this one about, “What if the people don’t believe me?” God asks Moses a very simple question. “What’s in your hand” Now Moses had been a shepherd for over 40 years and he was out tending to the sheep when God called him. What was in his hand was a simple shepherd’s staff. Now from there, God does something amazing and supernatural, and if you want to learn more about that read Exodus chapters three and four. I want to stop at the staff, because I think it speaks to our problem. Moses was looking at all the things he felt he didn’t have as excuses to avoid God’s call, and God in effect says, stop worrying about what you don’t have and focus on what you do have. I think what God is saying is, “Take what you have, place it in my hands and watch what I can do it.” Sight and Sound is fantastic, but you don’t need their budget to serve the Lord. You need to take what you have, the things God has given you and you need to use them faithfully. 

In actuality, that is how Sight and Sound began. A young artist started using his art abilities to share the Gospel. It started with a traveling program utilizing slide projectors, and they did that faithfully and slowly God expanded their abilities and their vision to what the ministry has become today. Don’t compare yourself with others. Don’t look at what you don’t have. Take what God has given you and step out in faithfulness. Do it now!

What’s In Your Hand? 

I’m just a few months away from my 60th birthday and at times it is creating a conundrum. It’s pretty easy to feel a little negative about it. It’s doubtful that I will make it to 120 which means I have used up over half of my life. I find myself looking back over poor choices and things that I wish I had done and at times, I get a little overwhelmed. When I do that, I’m looking at it wrong. 

Looking at squandered time, and lamenting the past comes from a scarcity mindset, at least for me. Do you know how much time I have left? Exactly the amount that God planned for me when all my days were written in His book before one of them came to be. Mostly what each of us have is this moment, and the question becomes how will I use this moment. Will I be faithful with this day as I move forward in Christ? I truly believe God’s Word. This means I believe, among other things, that He who began a good work in me will carry it through to completion in the day of Christ Jesus. This means I need to serve Him with faithfulness, knowing if I start something that I am unable to finish, it’s okay because God is more than capable of finishing it. This means, if I follow His lead in faithfulness, and do what I can, He has it covered. This takes off a lot of pressure.

And there’s something else to be considered. Even in this way of thinking, I can convince myself that faithfulness is busyness, and that’s not exactly true either. This is more than just about doing work, filling my schedule and finishing projects. That can lead quickly into the idolatry of thinking this all depends on me. This is more than just about work. Will I be faithful in family time and spending real time loving the people God has given me to love. Again it all comes down to faithfulness in each moment. My relationship with God must come first, then my relationship with my loved ones, and then my work. Yes there is hard work in my future, but if all I do is work well, I will have neglected some pretty important things, or more like important people. God’s got this. He will care for us in whatever time is left and, in Christ, He will lead us all the way home and care for us for ever. 

Love well, work hard, be faithful and follow His lead in whatever time is left. 

I just watched an incredible moment. I had America’s Got Talent on TV as I was finishing up inking a few drawings for my church Power Point tonight. The last act for the episode was a pair of mothers. One lost her child tragically, but donated his heart. The other mother was the mother of the child who received the heart. It turns out that the last song the one mother sang to her child before letting him go, was the same song the other mother sang to her child when he came out of surgery receiving the gift of life, a new heart. Some years later these two mothers met and discovered the song that they had in common. For Good from the musical Wicked. They sang the song together on AGT and I was a blubbering fool til they were done. Were they the best act I have ever seen? No, but that’s not exactly their point. They were on to bring awareness to organ donation. The moment was powerful and I was pleased to see them move on to the next level. Every time they tell that story, it could be used to change many lives. Those are the stories that need big platforms.

Think about that song title. For Good. That’s how the arts should be used. For good. Every time I see something like that, I want to create something. I want to create a piece that get people to make changes and work for good. These two moms have a story to tell and it is touching. If they keep telling it, it has the possibility to change lives, and changed lives change thing. I love the arts. They are a powerful tool that can be used for great good. That being said, my faith is not in the gift, my faith is in the Giver. I want to see anointed artists making anointed art that tells great stories that will be used by God to do great things. If I had one wish it would be that God would get a hold on the lives of more and more artists, and that He would use them “For Good.” My prayer tonight is “Father use me and the gifts you have given me for good.” What’s your prayer for your gift? May the Lord use it and use you for good!

Today I sit here in my room at the Montrose Christian Writers Conference, getting ready for the day to begin. It has been really great, but I have to admit I am on inspiration overload. I’ve taken classes in writing and marketing, as much for trying to figure things out for church and getting the word out as about my future writing projects, and I have a thousand ideas spinning through my head. 

I pastor a wonderful church that I love full of people I love. It’s a church that has many tremendous strengths, but like many churches, we need to figure out how to reach and minister to the next generation. I have some ideas for that and I am anxious to get some of them started.

I’ve been teaching on Jesus the Master Storyteller, the parables of Jesus and I know after all the study I have done in that area, I could write a pretty comprehensive book on the stories of Jesus that could be a real blessing to the church in general and specifically to the creative storytellers in the body of Christ, and I would love to do that.

I have always felt a burden to build up creatives in the church, and I have a book project that is underway but a little stalled as I try to figure out my point of view. This comes from a two fold burden I have. As a church leader, I understand the need to help the church to embrace creative people and creativity, and as a creative I understand the need creative people have to connect with the church and with their Creator. I am trying to figure out is this one book or two and how it should be structured. I want to do that too.

Further, I want to create creative arts idea books for people in the church who want to use the arts in “preaching, teaching and reaching.” I know this is a big part of my calling and I want to pursue it, plus several people have suggested that this might be a good piece to present to the home school market. I would love to do that and can see real potential to use this avenue as a way to sow into the next generation of creatives for the church. I really want to do that.

I still have a burden for creating some teaching resources for people with developmental difficulties. Ministering to these people has been a passion of mine for a long time, and the desire to embark on this project is great. I also have a passion to do more speaking and sharing what God is showing me with the church and the world beyond. 

Now here’s the thing. I am first and foremost a child of God. Right next to that I am a husband, a father and grandfather, and I have neglected these areas of my life before in pursuit of my goals. Those relationships really need to come before anything else, and I have failed in that area many times. I refuse to do that again. I’ve also been neglecting my health for the sake of getting things done. I’ve done this before in life and paid a high price. I don’t want to do that again either. 

So what do I do with all this? I find balance. I write down the ideas and I plug away as the Lord leads. I have created here a list, a list I will develop on my own, but I post this in the name of accountability. I will do my best to let the Lord prioritize my life for me. Please keep me in prayer.   

Today I have a confession. I’m having a real problem with social media. I’m on it too much. I get stuck in one story after another, and all it does is lead me down a rabbit hole. I get angry and frustrated and to what end? Who cares if I am angry? No one who made me angry, that’s for sure. A lot of it is politics, media twisting truth and at the bottom of it all is sin. I’m angry over sin, but what can I do? Watch more things to make me more angry? That seems a bit counterproductive to me. Will my anger spur me to action—and if so what should that action be? I think it’s time to really minimize my contact with social media. I won’t lay it down completely. It’s how I make most of my ministry contacts, but I am going to cut way back, with God’s help. 

Now I can almost envision people saying, “How will you stay informed? Are you going to be like an ostrich with your head in the sand?” My research this year taught me among many other things that ostriches don’t do that and neither will I. No, instead I am going to limit my contact with things over which I have no control—things that leave me asking “What can I do?” With no real answers in sight. Instead I need to redouble my efforts in the things that are in my control. I will devote more time to praying for the people who are currently leaving me throwing up my hands. I will devote more time to being the best husband, father, grandfather, pastor and, in general, man I can be, I will spend my time preparing for the opportunities God has given me to share His truth, and make the most of those opportunities. I will speak to young people, in person and in groups, trying to stem the lies too many in my generation, and those generations that have come since, are telling them. I will devote more time to ministering to the people God has laid on my heart, especially those with developmental disabilities, and I will devote more time to telling better stories, writing more books and making art that tells His story. 

This is not one of those notes where I announce I’m leaving. Social media already has far too many of those and I am not completely leaving. This is saying, I’m tired of wondering “What can I do?” I already know that, now I am limiting the distractions so I can start to get it done. Pray for me.