Set Free Church

Lost!

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Today, my friend and I hiked through Radnor Lake State Park. I love that place, primarily because I feel like it’s a place where you can still be in Nashville but feel like you’re stepping into another world. To me, it feels a lot like Middle Earth and I always feel like a hobbit out on a quest whenever I go there.

This time, I flashed back to a less pleasant memory. I went back to when I was a Boy Scout at my first Boy Scout Camp in Arkansas. I vividly recall that I went walking by myself and got incredibly turned around and lost.

Yes, I was that Boy Scout who got lost at Boy Scout camp.

I remember being absolutely terrified and panicky. At that moment, I felt sure I wasn’t ever going to find my troop or anyone else I knew ever again. It was not a good moment.

Then there have been times when I got lost in a very good way.

I can remember times when I got so caught up in serving, particularly at Set Free Church, Christian Alliance for Orphans, or Nashville Rescue Mission, that for a precious few moments I forgot about me and all my issues. I got so completely lost in what I was doing that I had no time to overthink and overanalyze what was going on in my life.

C. S. Lewis once said that the perfect worship service would be the one you were completely unaware of. You wouldn’t be able to recall what the songs you sung were or what the sermon was about. You would only know that God had shown up.

May we live our lives in such a way that we lose ourselves and only remember that God showed up. Maybe then one day we will find out much later that those were the times when God did His best work in and through us.

 

Set Free VBS 2014 Day Two

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Again, the weather was perfect. I brought my camera, hence the pictures, and even brought some old-school DC Talk to liven things up a bit. Not that things needed livening up.

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I do think the message is getting through to these kids. They are finding out that Somebody really does love them. They are discovering this Jesus, (hopefully) deciding to follow Him, and at some point defending what they believe when others question their faith.

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I still remember Ronnie Johnson from Memphis. He was from the neighborhood and had done his share of drugs (both using and selling) and being a general all-around low-life. His testimony was his transformation. People simply couldn’t believe this was the same guy from way back. They marveled at how different he was. He made sure to point to Jesus as the reason why.

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Jesus really is the only one who can save communities. Not government programs or welfare or the lottery. Only Jesus can rescue people from themselves and their poor choices. Only Jesus can take broken lives and make them whole again. Only Jesus can take what was dead and make it come alive.

I’m praying for miracles. Not necessarily the Lazarus raised from the dead kind, although that would be nice. I mean the kind where this neighborhood is transformed by the grace of God into a place where people go to meet Jesus and leave as different people. Where instead of coming here to buy drugs, people come to find God’s salvation. I’m praying God will raise up a whole generation from this place who will be the next missionaries and pastors and evangelists. Who knows? Maybe the next Billy Graham or Martin Luther King, Jr.?

With people it’s a pipe dream, but with God anything’s possible.

I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow night.

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Set Free VBS 2014 Day One

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It was a perfect evening for ministry. You couldn’t ask for better weather. I remember last year I was melting in the heat. This year? It almost felt like fall.

We didn’t have a huge turnout, but there were several kids there. God knew who needed to be there. Once again, I was just blessed to be there to witness the volunteers loving on these kids, many of whom probably don’t get to see much tenderness or affection expressed toward them.

I don’t know about numbers or if any of these kids prayed to receive Christ. I do know several of them went forward to pray at the end. I do know they heard the message of Jesus’ love. I do know that these seeds weren’t planted in vain.

I can’t wait to go back tomorrow and see who shows up. I’m planning on bringing my “real” camera (the one that’s just a camera and not also a phone and a calculator and an iPod and a thousand other things). There will hopefully be pictures to share on my next blog.

In the mean time, just remember that cup of cold water. You don’t have to do everything for everybody. Sometimes, you can do one small thing for one person and make a world of difference. At least in that person’s world.

That’s what it’s all about. Loving people the way God loved you. Not so you can get people to pray a prayer and put another notch on your salvation belt. Simply because these people are created in the image of God and have worth and value if for no other reason than that.

I think I heard once that it takes something like 6 or 7 meaningful encounters before a person chooses Christ. No one person can save a soul– only God can do that– but each one can plant that proverbial seed, say that word of encouragement, offer that cup of cold water that adds up to a changed destiny.

That’s what I’m hoping for.

 

Set Free VBS- Day Two

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IMG_0809 On my way to the second day of Vacation Bible School at Set Free Church, I ran into some heavy rains. As in I almost couldn’t see the road. I like a good storm now and then when I’m safely tucked in bed inside my own home, but not so much when I’m driving in it. Especially on the interstate.

But I got there. Thanks to the rain, it was quite a bit cooler, though still quite muggy. I’m pretty certain that more kids showed up today than yesterday. I can’t say that I’m the world’s best VBS volunteer, but I showed up. And so did these kids. As my pastor said once, all God needs is a place to start. Not perfect obedience or perfect planning. Just the smallest little opening.

IMG_0892So we planted some seeds. As you may well know (even if you’re not a farmer), most seeds don’t automatically sprout into full-grown plants or trees. In fact, you probably won’t see any visible results for a while. But underneath the soil is where all the change is taking place.

These kids may not seem different. But underneath, in their hearts and souls and minds, God is working. He’s showing them a Father different from any they’ve probably ever known. He’s showing them a Love like they’ve never felt before.

IMG_0917I can tell God’s working in me, too. Once again, I’m finding out how true it is that you simply can’t outgive God. In fact, even in serving all you’re doing is receiving and letting what you’re given pass through you to those around you. I’m reminded of what Ann Voskamp said:

“”Christian hands never clasp
and He doesn’t give gifts for gain
because a gift can never stop being a gift –
it is always meant to be given.”

I hope at the end of this year’s VBS some kids will pray to receive Christ (and some already have). I pray that their lives (and mine) will have been transformed and changed so that there’s a little less greed and a little more generosity, a little less lusting and a little more loving, a little less like the world around us and a little more like Jesus.

That will make every bit of what we’ve sacrificed to be there more than worth it.

Set Free

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I’ve been really privileged and blessed to be able to participate in a Vacation Bible School being held at Set Free Church in downtown Nashville.

Set Free Church is a ministry that reaches out to homeless men in Nashville and offers an intense live-in discipleship program for those who are trying to get cleaned up and put their lives back together. They also minister to the needs of the families in the nearby neighborhood with Wednesday night meals and various outreach programs throughout the year, as well as Sunday morning services each week.

To me, they are a light in a dark place. I see a place where the Spirit of God is moving and lives are being changed and families transformed by the amazing power of God.

The pastor himself is a formerly homeless man who can testify to God’s sovereign power to reach out to those that everyone else has given up on and to make those people into trophies of grace that tell of the awesome saving power of Jesus.

I see the Gospel as the story of how God in Jesus came down to set the captives free and to proclaim liberty to those in bondage to darkness and sin. This church is the Gospel lived out in flesh and blood with hands and feet on a daily basis.

I’m so thankful I get to be a part of what God is doing in downtown Nashville. I try to serve and to be a blessing there, but I always end up being far more blessed and receive so much more than I give.

Pray for these men and women who are on the frontlines of a very great spiritual battle. Pray that the neighborhood would see Jesus in them and be drawn to what they see.

I know for certain that there will be a multitude of people in heaven because of their faithfulness.

Cutting Hearts

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I spent my evening doing something that I honestly never thought I would ever do again in this lifetime. Something I hadn’t done in a very long time.

I spent it cutting out paper hearts. It was part of preparation for Vacation Bible School we’re doing down at Set Free Church, a ministry that helps homeless men find their way back and helps heal families.

Then I got to thinking. Isn’t that sort of what God is doing with my own heart?

I don’t mean that God is using literal scissors, although at times that’s what it feels like.

I mean that God is in the process of reshaping and remolding my heart into one that can He can use to reach out to the people around me.

Sometimes, that means my heart gets broken. I’ve had countless times where my love for another went unreturned. I’ve had times when a dream I cherished got dashed to pieces.

More often than not, it means a snip here and there. I lose a bit of my selfishness and make room for doing for others without expecting anything in return. I lose the need to always be acknowledged and loved and learn to love and serve those who may never be able to repay me.

Ultimately, it’s about my heart looking like God’s own heart. It’s about my heart beating with His heartbeat and feeling His feelings and loving those He loves with His own perfect love.

It’s a lifelong process that involves Him chiseling away at my hard heart while softening it at the same time.

That’s my prayer for you, too. That you would have God’s own heart beating within you to love the unloveable and reach out to the hopeless and helpless and show the world that no one is beyond the reach of God’s power to heal and change and transform.

I know, because I was one of those hopeless ones at one point. So were you.