R.I.P. - Dearest Liz

Friday morning, right before I left for work, I received notice that my dear friend, Liz, had died. 

When I first entered full-time ministry, back in 2004, Bob and Liz were one of the first older couples who really extended a hand to me. 

They were saucy and un-PC, but not in a racist or mean way, like SOME older people get - they were deliciously un-PC and hilarious. 

I'll never forget when Liz, who was 40 years my senior, saw me in a jacket and tie for the first time. 

She snuck up next to me, gave my arm a squeeze, and said, under her breath, "Hey, you clean up pretty good." And then she smiled and winked at me. 

I responded with something like, "You're looking pretty good yourself, young lady," but, even though I was trying to play it cool, I don't think my face had ever been so red. She got me good. That was a quintessential "Liz moment." 

In retrospect, I think Bob and Liz were a perfect example of people who'd been authentically transformed by the love of Jesus, because they were fully on-board with the mission of Jesus and his church, but yet were still wholly, authentically themselves. 

With Bob and Liz, what you saw was what you got. They never put on a mask or pretended to be perfect, they just served and lived and loved, in their very Bob-and-Liz sort of way. 

When Bob’s health started to decline, I wanted to do what I could to be a friend to Bob and to help out Liz. I would swing by once a week to help with some household chores and play Rummikub with Bob (who almost always won - I’m pretty sure he cheated). And during that time, I got to know both of them much better. So when Bob passed, I was crushed. 

I stopped by several times after that, to see how Liz was doing, and sometimes I spent the whole time trying to help her with her new iPad, but other times, we had long talks about her hubby, and her kids, and her time in the military, and her love and concern for the church, and her ideas about the afterlife, and all sorts of other interesting things. 

It was during these visits that I learned what a tough old broad Liz was, and I kept thinking to myself, "Man, I wish I'd met this couple 20 years sooner. I bet they were a hoot. How much could I have learned from them?" 

But then I moved to Chicagoland to plant a church, and Liz and I kind of lost touch. We played Words With Friends for awhile, but then she got sick, and we didn't even do that anymore. I feel bad that I only got to see her one more time after I moved up here, especially now that it's too late. 

And I'm sure they had an impact on many people over the years, but they definitely had an impact on me. If they'd done nothing but change the way I think about what devoted, lifelong Jesus followers are supposed to look like, that would've been enough, because there's a little bit of Bob and Liz in every sermon I give. 

Their lives, lived on the Way of Jesus, are a significant part of my evidence that what I teach is actually true. 

But what would've happened had Bob and Liz considered their faith a “personal thing - just between them and God?” And what if I'd never visited Bob as his health began to decline? And what if I'd never thought to check on Liz after Bob passed? I would've lost so much. 

But that's NOT what happened. And there's only one reason for it. 

The church. That rickety, broken-down, antiquated institution that Bob and Liz loved so much. That's the common thread that made it all happen. 

They never would've met me if not for the church. 

I never would've gotten to know them if not for the church. 

Our lives collided because God, in his infinite wisdom, designed the church to crash people like Bob and Liz and me together. 

That’s the whole point. 

I will miss them.

Ed

What in the world...?

HAS EVERYONE GONE CRAZY?

It might seem like that. People seem more tense than ever. It seems like everything's a battle, and there's blood everywhere. The world seems pretty broken, and the future looks mighty dim, and we're all shaking our heads, wondering how we got to this crazy place. But here's the thing...

This is nothing new. The world's crazy. Always has been.

There is, however, a path that helps us make sense of it and navigate it and maybe even make a dent in it. And that path is called The Way of Jesus.

But The Way of Jesus is all about steps. 

So this is your formal invitation to Step One.

The Way of Jesus, like any path to a place where you've never been, is better walked with someone who knows the way, or at least someone who's a few steps ahead of you. So, Step One on The Way of Jesus is to find some running partners, some navigators, some guides.

We're inviting you to join us. We Questers are asking the very same questions you're asking, but we think we've found a path through the crazy. We're feeling our own way down this path, and we're inviting you to get on it with us.

It may be bumpy and dangerous, but what way isn't? And at least on this Way, you don't have to go it alone, and it's headed toward someplace we think you'll like.

Take the first step by joining us at our Sunday Gathering.

Courage is...

When we think of courage, we tend to think about people throwing themselves on top of an exploding hand grenade or battling a terrible illness or taking great risks to aid disaster victims. But courage comes in all shapes and sizes.

Sometimes it takes a surprising degree of courage just to get out of bed in the morning.

And while we may not be called to fight off wild dingos in order to save a newborn or jump onto a moving train in order to rescue the President, many of the things we ARE called to may require almost as much courage.

In fact, sometimes it requires enormous amounts of courage just to continue doing what you've been doing. 

We've been talking on Sundays about the value of waiting. We've been discussing how waiting on God is all about trust, but how sometimes it's really hard, because we don't see results. 

But here's the thing:

Sometimes the value is not in the receiving but in the trusting. Sometimes it's not about input/output or give/receive or cost/benefit. Sometimes it's all about persevering. 

This is why Paul tells us that "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." (Romans 5:4-5) These things are listed in succession on purpose. Sometimes we must suffer to build strength and integrity, and only then can we experience hope. 

But notice that nowhere in that list do we find "quitting" as an option. It doesn't say, "suffering produces misery; misery, complaining; complaining, quitting." Whatever mission we're called to, there is intrinsic value in seeing it through to completion.

And this progression is absolutely critical if we expect to stay on mission. Perseverance is pleasing to God. He loves it when we respond to his call and hang on for dear life. This is why Jesus tells us that the one who takes risks and stays on mission will be considered faithful and will ultimately reap the rewards of their perseverance, which includes high praise and increased responsibility. 

"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!" (Matthew 25:21&23).

If we play it safe, if we avoid risk, or worse yet, if we quit, the rest of that parable doesn't favor us. 

We know the passage that says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" but shouldn't that lead to the logical conclusion that, if we know we're on mission, if we know God has called us to something, what could be better than that? Even if we aren't seeing the outcomes that we'd like or expect, why would we want to be anywhere else?

Most of the time, being bold and courageous is just about hanging on. It's about waiting well. It's about trusting God. 

Be bold and courageous. 

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Change can be scary.

Sometimes it springs from necessity, sometimes just a desire for novelty. But change is neither categorically good or bad. It just is.

Admittedly, when considering the coming year, there's much to be nervous about. But there's also much to be excited about - at least from a Quest Church standpoint.

We have an unprecedented opportunity to reach a brand new segment of our community. Our move back to mornings (9 a.m.) and to Orbit Skate Center carries with it the possibility to connect with young families and their children in ways that have never been possible before.

So, what shall we do with this opportunity?

I vote we run with it.

We've been talking about how life - how walking The Way of Jesus - is either an adventure or nothing. Now's the time to embrace this. 

Not sure what it will look like, just yet, but, over the next month, things are gonna change big and fast. Let's grab that change and run with it.

There will be lots of ways you can do that. Stay tuned. 

Just do it!

Training is tough.

In today's modern world of 24-hour digital connectedness, where everyone has a personal computer in their pocket, you can receive a wide variety of training in a wide variety of ways. Or so it seems.

You can screen out best practices from a blog. You can purchase online education for almost any undertaking. Youtube has videos demonstrating everything from playing the guitar to repairing a carburetor, and google has pointers for every pursuit from breastfeeding your baby to house-training your pets. You can find twenty solutions to any problem, as long as you can articulate it and google it. Information is everywhere, and it can be in your hands at the speed of light.

But information is not the same as training. 

Despite the nearly omniscient nature of the internet, I think something often gets lost in translation. There's every sort of learning available on the web, but I think real training in most areas still requires three components that the internet struggles to provide: experience, accountability, and oversight.

In most cases, these components require real people in real relationships. In most cases, you can learn ABOUT a skill by watching others do it, but, in order to LEARN a skill, you have to actually PRACTICE it. Maybe hundreds of times. Maybe thousands.

It's no different walking the Way of Jesus. In order to learn and grow, you have to do. And everybody and their brother has an idea of what that should look like. Everybody has a plan or a program. But talk is cheap. And time is short. And there's just no substitute for doing.

Like the great angst-ridden, teen-aged philosopher, Holden Caulfield, I'm not a big fan of "phonies." But, sometimes ya' gotta fake it 'til ya' make it. Sometimes, you just have to figure out what needs done, and go do it.

Fortunately, the way this whole Jesus thing is set up is that you don't have to do it alone. You should always have experience, accountability, and oversight on the Way of Jesus, because they’re built right into the system. It's called the church. And if we’re doing it right, church should be the perfect example of training done right. But you can’t do it by watching, and you can't do it yourself. You can’t do it in a book or a pew or a laptop. That's not the way it works. You have to do. You have to try. You have to go. Together.

Just do it!

Pastor Ed

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Series Title: 7 THINGS

Message Title: God isn't gullible

Date: 5/8/16

Main Passages: Romans 12:1

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• What is most unnerving about the fact that you can't fool God?
• What makes you most nervous about following Jesus?
• In what area do you feel least qualified in following? Love? Grow? Go?
• What's the main thing that's keeping you from truly following?

Good news!

So, last week at Quest, we talked about how our God is so great and powerful that we can't fully know him (if you missed it, you can listen HERE). But can we know him enough? Can we understand the Creator of the universe well enough to grasp what our relationship with him should be? 

We talk about "being saved" and "repentance" and "The Way of Jesus," but what do those things really mean? Can we understand them in a practical way? Can we truly know how to respond to a God who is so huge and powerful, but who also insists that he is present with us whenever we gather? What do we do with that?

One guy who did a really good job of wrestling with it is Paul. He was a smart guy, and he worked his way through these ideas, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and fortunately for us, he wrote it all down in a series of letters to the very first churches and their leaders.

One of those letters was written to the churches in Rome, Italy, which was, at that time, the central hub of civilization. And there is a long-standing tradition, in the church, to grapple with salvation and what exactly we are saved from, by working our way through the Roman letter.

This is often accomplished with something called "The Romans Road" - a series of verses in the Roman letter, which, when read in order, should open up the good news of Jesus Christ in a clear and understandable way. I have put together my own version of the Romans Road for your consideration, and you can download it HERE.

Blessings!
Pastor Ed
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Series Title: 7 THINGS
Message Title: God isn't simple
Date: 4/17/16
Main Passages: Job 38:4-7

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• If you've ever tried to "share your faith" what was the most difficult part?
• When do you think it's appropriate to do so?
• Would you be more or less likely to share if you had a resource like this? Why?
• What do you think is more important, conversion or discipleship? Explain.

On a Mission

I’m a veteran. Nine years with the U.S.Army. But I’m not telling you that so I can get a pat on the back. I’m telling you that, so I can tell you this: I know a little something about mission.

It’s really hard to do something like serve in the military without a mission. And let me be totally honest with you; I didn’t join the military with the goal of saving the world or making the world safe for democracy or crushing the spread of communism or anything noble like that. I did have a mission though. And without it, I wouldn’t have even made it through BASIC training. 

My mission? Money for college. Yep. That was it. Not proud of it, but there it is.

However, no one stays in the military for nine years for the college money. At some point, my mission changed. Somewhere along the line, my mission shifted; my mission started to conform to their mission. The mission of the Army started to become important to me. I can’t really say that I ever loved being in the military, but at some point, serving my country and preparing others to do the same became my mission.

My spiritual walk has followed a similar path. I’m not sure what my mission was when I first started going to church regularly, but at some point, God’s mission started to become important to me. And now, serving the church and preparing others to do the same has become my mission.

You may not be sure why you’re coming to church, but without a mission, it probably won’t stick. It doesn’t have to look exactly like my mission in the church, but it needs to look like something. 

You may not know it, but you’re on a mission from God.