A Field Trip

Friday, January 13 2012 14:42 Written by Brian Gilley

texas_crew

Off to Texas we go. Here we go on another youth trip which entails little sleep, much driving, probably a snow storm, lost items and lots of chatter. Why bother? What makes these things worth the time and energy? In a word: Growth.

6Ao - the after effect

Thursday, August 11 2011 13:23 Written by Brian Gilley

I have had writers block for a very long time, much to the dismay of no one. But our recent event (6Ao) was a strong enough stimulus to finally move me to say a brief word.

I cannot find the proper words to express how much I appreciated our time together at our most recent event. It was refreshing, invigorating and entertaining. I laughed till I hurt, I ran until I literally hurt, I lost a bunch of sleep, I smiled often, I heard about people crying, and I was sincerely sad to see everyone leave. I would like to say it was perfect, but I know better. I would like to say that it was easy, but that would be a lie. But I can say, without hesitation, that it was worth it.

fence dwellers

Thursday, November 19 2009 11:34 Written by Administrator

by brian e. gilley
[this is an addition to the "He never lets go" post]

In a world of flakes and half committed individuals the resolute person stands out like a princess in a pig pen. I truly believe that the uncommitted think they are experiencing the best of both worlds when in fact it is closer to the truth to say that are missing everything. They are like a jr high boy at the school dance too afraid to get on the floor for fear of being made fun of and too afraid to leave for fear that he might miss out on something. Yeah, he’s alive but he isn’t living. He’s paralyzed, paralyzed by fears from within and without. The uncommitted just hang out on the fence, vacillating back and forth waiting for who knows what.

The uncommitted think that somehow, by straddling the fence they will not be caught by the perils of the “big” sins nor will they be smothered by stifling religion. They think they will avoid the pain that blatant sinners find and they will escape the boring grind of Christendom. They think they have found the loophole in the system. They think they have found a way around God and His rules.

A lazy Bible reader might not have paid attention to the fact that God has already spoken against this particular brand of sin.
Against this very same backdrop Isaiah writes and breaths judgment, as does Malachi. They boldly proclaimed God’s message to people who were partially committed and partial in their allegiance to the LORD. And yet the people of the day thought they were “ok” because they still followed the external expectations of the Law. But they missed the point entirely and for this they found judgment.

God’s chief instruction to them was to love Him with all that they were. The ceremonies and rituals were only there to give an external expression to the internal reality of their lives – they were meant to give outward display to their love of God over and against all else. Rituals don’t save; they never have. But you knew that and that is not the subject I meant to write about today.

To get to the point, if you read these prophets you will discover that, as a fence dweller, you don’t find a loophole – you find condemnation.

You find condemnation because you are in fact a very committed person.
- refuse to commit to a girl > committed to being single
- refuse to have deep conversation and discussion > committed to the superficial
- refuse the wisdom of God > committed to your own wisdom (or those you like)
- etc…
The uncommitted are quite committed, but only unto themselves. You = god. You rule and govern and God doesn’t. God calls that idolatry.

I say all this because I spent most of my years hanging out on the fence. It’s not that I never return to the sidelines; it’s just that now when I recognize it I amend my ways. I don’t mean to shame anyone. I do mean to rebuke a mindset that is destructive and incredibly pervasive in our culture today. I say it this harshly because it seems that some things can be put in no other way. Some messages need to be hard.

Don’t miss the point; don’t waste your life: Choose you this day whom you will serve, if Yahweh is God then serve Him. Anything else is wholly unfitting. And a life half lived is no real life at all.

Biblically Based Youth Ministry

Wednesday, August 12 2009 07:19 Written by Administrator

A friend in a far off land just asked me a question about youth ministry. Typical enough, right? But his question shot through my brain and triggered a vivid flashback - I remembered how vital a time it was for me.

So here it is: I was asked to write an article for Think On These Things and it changed everything. I rethought and retooled everything I was doing. it's amazing really, that such a simple thing can send you on such a monumental tale spin. The writing of that article did so much more for me than anyone else I am sure. It crystallized my thinking and brought a whole other level of seriousness and weight to the role I attempt to fill as a pastor to a small flock of God's people.

If you can to read what sent me off the deep end and moved me to great amounts of introspection you can read it below - and follow the link for the whole story.

Missing Ingredients

I was in Raleigh, North Carolina, for Thanksgiving at the Romines when I was offered my first glass of sweet tea – that is, real southern-style sweet tea. I was in love. What an amazing concoction! I proceeded to drink the rest of the pitcher. Before that day I had tried tea a thousand times but I never cared much for it. It did the job of thirst quenching well enough but that’s about where my desire for it ended. Once I tasted this sweet potion (must have been one part tea and one part molasses) I realized that all tea before this time had been missing something: the right flavor of tea and a whole lot of sugar.

Something is missing in modern evangelical youth ministry. To tell the truth, it seems many things are missing. What would a group be like that had the proper ingredients?

In this article I would like to point out two missing ingredients in many evangelical churches’ youth ministries. And much like the sweet tea Mrs. Romine made, these ingredients are no secret. They are nothing new or revolutionary. No, the sad fact is that they have been sitting there on the counter like so much sugar since the inception of the church.

The Centrality of Teaching the Word

Our concerns with common methods

I am taken off guard every time a salesman calls our church trying to sell some new program that is the next “must have” for our ministry. A salesman or two has even tried to impose a guilt trip on me for not wanting his program. It is appalling to me that a person would think that the church needs their hip program in order to succeed. With what measure are they gauging success? I thought we were given all we need for life and godliness through the true knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 1:3)? Am I naïve and idealistic, or worse, pompous and smugly self-righteous?

read more

The Challenge of Pragmatism - Part 2

Friday, May 29 2009 05:11 Written by Administrator

A Blast from the Past
written by Gary Gilley

Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, and others from the Emergent camp write and speak winsomely about what they are offering, but history, not to mention Scripture, suggests great caution must be exercised at this point. Church historian Iain Murray reminds us that 19th century “liberal theology very rarely presented itself as being in opposition to Scripture. On the contrary, its exponents claimed the authority of the New Testament for the view that Christianity is life, not doctrine.” Some using this line of reasoning, like the eventual Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple, could say, “An atheist who lives by love is saved by his faith in the God whose existence (under that Name) he denies.” It was living by love that mattered, not what one believed about God. Nineteenth century liberal theologian Schleiermacher went so far as to bar doctrinal preaching from the pulpit for “experience, not teaching, is to be the object of the preacher.”

As theologically the 21st century seems to be an echo of the 19th, so too is the reaction by evangelicals. Read more

Hermeneutics

Friday, May 29 2009 03:25 Written by Administrator

The following is a response to a question asked by one of our high school peeps. The question revolved around hermeneutics - defining it and explaining the need for it. I think it might be useful to more than just the person to whom it was addressed (especially being that we have been working through this on Wednesday nights).I hope it is not too disjointed or broken in thought to be of value.
May the LORD bless you as you seek to please Him.

"Ah. Well hermeneutics is the art of interpretation. It is learning how to rightly divide what has been said by another.
The most skilled folks in this art are able to clearly see what is being said. It takes into consideration many factors in order to come to a proper conclusion. Things like knowing the language and culture come in especially handy here. There are presupposed ideas that go into any statement being studied. Such as, “this was meant to be understood” and “this was first written to ____ audience.”

In the end the goal is to understand the intent of the author. What did the author mean when he/she said it. This is conveniently called “authorial intent.”

Everything up to this point has been under the umbrella of observation and interpretation.

Once all of this has been properly ascertained then the reader can begin to consider how this effects us today. This we like to call the "application stage."

If all this homework is not done or not done properly, wrong conclusions are made and thus lived out.
As for examples of the dangers caused by misapplication, they seem almost too numerous to call out. Back in the 1800’s a slave pastor lead the bloodiest revolt in U.S. history. He rallied his fellow slaves by preaching from Exodus. He spoke of the wicked people the Israelites were to exterminate and then likened them to the white slave owners of their own time. He said that the slave owners needed to be exterminated in the name of God in the same fashion as the wicked nations in the time of the conquering of the promised land. This is of course an extreme example but it demonstrates the need to interpret any document correctly (and I would contend that this need is even exaggerated with respect to the Bible due to its weight and power).

Adding to this, I beleieve that the great need for hermeneutics today revolves around the popular idea of a document as “living.” This sounds good but can be a very dangerous thing in that it relegates whatever is being read to the subjective whims to the reader.

For example, our President is a very intelligent man. Certainly more intelligent than I and he certainly knows the laws and constitution better than I. And yet I strongly disagree with a lot of what he says regarding the constitution. How can this be?
From what I can gather, nearly all the disagreement lies in the fact that he believes that our constitution is a "living document." Meaning that is not a static writing, stuck in 1787. He would contend that it is a document who’s meaning changes with culture and time. He believes that the authors of the constitution wanted it to be understood in this way. You can think of this as a “modern art” approach to literature – the only meaning is the meaning is the meaning you give it. Whatever you derive from it personally is what really matters. I think you can see the problem with this.

This same concept is and has been applied to the Bible. This makes the Bible a book that does not really speak with authority and the only parts that need to be obeyed are the parts that you think speak to you.

With all this said, it seems obvious that the need for proper hermeneutics is very great in our time."

b.e.g. the3rd

Holy Living - lost in the mix

Saturday, May 02 2009 07:18 Written by Administrator

I am fascinated to see this extremely popular (reemerging) version of Christian; most specifically the Christian who thinks it necessary to look and act like the world – in a supposed interest to reach the world for Christ. The favorite proof-text is of course “I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some (1Corinthians 9:22).” Much has been sacrificed on the alter of this verse.*

I imagine some of this is a reaction to the world-as-the-bad-guy thinking that dominated much of the church. I also assume that some of this is done in a naïve fashion. And let me also add that I can understand the goal and the perspective, to a degree. But while I agree that we should not hole up in monasteries nor hiss and spit at the unbeliever, I must also ask, “What happened to personal holiness?”

What ever happened to,
“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” Says the LORD (2Corinthians 6:14-17).

How have the words of Peter been lost in the mix?
“prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy for I Am holy.” (1Peter 1:13-16)

*To rebut this idea I would tell the reader to note the context of this powerful statement of Paul. This is made in the midst of a discussion regarding Christian liberty and is then followed by a discourse on the need for extreme self discipline and godly living. This is not a justification of licentious living, rather it is just the opposite.