My Christian life has definitely gone through seasons of growth.  Some have been monumental in growth.  Some have been dry.  Some have been exciting and full of opportunity.  Some have been lonely.  Some have been me trying to conform to a certain set of values, whether legalistic or not.  And some have been “ah ha” moments.  And as I look back over my journey as a Christ follower, there have been 3 big “ah ha” moments that have changed the way I have looked at the Christian faith and my journey with Christ altogether.

THE NON-EVANGELISTIC CHRISTIAN BUBBLE:  My first “ah ha” moment came when I moved to Boyce College in Louisville, KY.  I learned that I didn’t have to wear Christian “share wear,” as I like to call it, to be a committed Christian.  Between ages 16-18, I found myself only wearing Christian T-shirts, WWJD bracelets, hanging out with other Christians, and rocking duck-tape Bible cases for my bumper-stickered covered bibles.  I realized at some point around the age of 19 that I didn’t have to dress like a Christian, only hang with Christians, and talk like a Christian… to be a Christian. [...]

I recently had the opportunity to ask Brandon Shields a few questions about his new church plant to the great city of Indianapolis.  I had the great opportunity to learn under Brandon for a year-or-so back when I was an intern at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, KY almost 4 years ago.  Since then, God has used Brandon mightily in my life.  He has been truly an evidence of God’s grace in my sanctification, as well as in my growth as a pastor, husband, and father.  Please pray for Brandon and his team as they are in the beginning stages of planting Soma Church.  I have no doubt that they will make a huge gospel-centered impact in this city!

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GREG:  Why Indy and why Soma?

BRANDON:  Indianapolis is a strategic city in the Midwest. With more than 1.7 million people in the metro area, Indy ranks as the 12^th largest city in the country. According to the 2010 census, Indy is also the fastest growing city in the Midwest,

Evangelical work in Indianapolis has lagged behind the city’s numerical, economic, and cultural growth. Just a century ago, Indy was dubbed “the city of churches,” with the evangelical population growing faster than the city’s overall population. Today, however is a different story – only 15% of people residing in Indianapolis consider themselves an evangelical Christian, and a recent denominational study found that the city ranked last in church planting efforts among major U.S. cities. In many ways, “Naptown” has been overlooked and underevangelized for decades. Indianapolis desperately needs a movement of the gospel.

The New Testament is filled with rich metaphors describing the countercultural community of people who have been transformed by the gospel of grace. One of the most frequent designations for this community is the Greek word Soma, which simply means “body.”

Soma Church seeks to embody the person of Jesus Christ to Indianapolis, displaying the riches of God’s grace to our great city in both word and deed. We are a young, growing church with two big ideas: 1) the gospel changes everything and 2) Indianapolis is a great city that we love and serve.

GREG:  Do you have one primary partner for your plant or are you seeking out several partners, and if so, who are they?

BRANDON:  We have a combination of individual, church, and denominational partners. Our primary partners include the North American Mission Board, Longhollow Church, Highview Baptist Church, Summit Church, and First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach.

GREG:  What are your next 3-6 months going to look like as you dive into the beginning stages of Soma?

BRANDON:  Honestly, we are spending the next several months learning. Right now, we are a small group of about 10-15 people who gather in my living room each week. We are working through our “gospel DNA” and discussing what it looks like to be disciples who love and serve our city. We plan to get out in the community regularly to listen, learn, pray, discuss, and serve our neighborhoods and networks of relationships. Our prayer is that the Holy Spirit would simply show us where he is already working to bring the Kingdom, and then just be a faithful presence in that area.

GREG:  What are some challenges you are foresee planting a church in a city like Indy? 

BRANDON:  The biggest challenge for us at this point is that I’m totally new to the city. I didn’t grow up in Indianapolis, so we kind of “parachuted” in to plant this new gospel work. Practically, that means that we have little relational, social, or spiritual capital and credibility with people in the area. It also means that it will take us longer to “incarnate” Soma’s mission in a way that is fruitful in our context. Consequently, we are devoting most of our efforts at this point to praying and listening to “people of peace” that God brings our way.

GREG:  If you could describe the mission of your church and/or your philosophy of church planting in one sentence, then what would it be?

BRANDON:  The gospel changes everything!

GREG:  How can we pray for you, your family, and your church plant?

BRANDON:  Pray for my family – I have a wife and four children, and you realize quickly that it’s not just you planting a church. Your whole family is involved in everything! Pray that we develop a deep love for our neighbors and the city. Pray that God would show us “people of peace” that can give us access into new cracks where the gospel is currently not being expressed. Pray for our launch team as we seek to disciple one another into missionaries who love and serve Jesus, one another, and our city. Pray for conversions and gospel renewal that begins with us and spills into our communities and networks.

Have you ever extended a hand to give a homeless man a couple of bucks?  Have you possibly extended a hand to help a family (or even family member) in a tough time?  Or have you ever traveled across the Atlantic to pass out some much-needed items to those in a third world country?  Bread?  Shoes?  Rice?  Medicine?  Or even the gospel?  Many of us have experienced this a time or two.  You have traveled across the world, or even across the street, to extend a hand to those in need.  You have gone down to the homeless shelter and have extended a hand to feed a couple of homeless guys.  This type of work seems honorable.  It seems like Christian service.  It seems like the right, Christian thing to do.  The question, however, of which hand we are extending is crucial to, what I think, true gospel-centered ministry really is.

Pity is defined as contemptuous sorrow for one in misery or distress.

Pity always deals with the unfairness of life.  Why did this happen to me?  Why did this happen to my family?  What did I do to deserve this?  Self-pity is a bad thing and so is the feeling of pity toward others.  The feeling of pity causes us to look down on someone’s station or position in life, which, in turn, ultimately causes us to look down on them.  We develop a smoky relationship at best with that person.  This makes one person the haves and the other person the have-nots.  A hierarchy forms and the relationship never develops past a welfare relationship.  It is very similar to the white knight riding in to save the day.  Here’s your hand out.  Here’s your bread.  Here’s your full better.  This creates dependency and is completely, I think, unhealthy and unbiblical.  This type of mentality, though, makes us feel good to be the hero, which creates a barrier to them knowing the real hero and lover of the soul, Jesus Christ.

Compassion, on the other hand, is a word made up of two Latin words: com — meaning to walk alongside; and passion — meaning to suffer.  The Passion of the Christ or Passion Week both mean suffering.  Compassion, unlike pity, walks with a person, creating community, friendship, understanding, and a shared journey.  When we extend a hand of compassion, we join them in their suffering.  This is what Jesus did for us.  He joined us in our journey.  He, though in the form of God, emptied himself, and became a man (Phil 2:5-6).  This is what is known as true compassion. Christ became our punishment.  He became our suffering.

When we as the church extend a hand of pity, then we are simply only giving handouts.  We are making ourselves the hero.  When we as the church come alongside someone, suffer alongside someone, and feed someone in the name of Jesus, then we are extending a hand of compassion to the least of these (Matt 25:31-46).

Do you see the difference.  It is a careful paradox; a matter of the heart, I think.  Who are you, as a follower of Jesus, extending a hand of compassion to?  Who are you suffering alongside of?

Tonight I had a few of our student ministry leaders over to celebrate what God has done with and through them in our student ministry this semester.  Some of them lead small groups.  Others are leaders at our Wednesday night service.  All of them lead in separate ways depending upon their schedules and passions, but every single one of them are volunteers.  In fact, all 15 or so of them could call me tomorrow and tell me they weren’t coming back and I would be stuck.  Our ministry would crumble.  Small groups would stop.  And several discipleship relationships between leaders and adults would cease.  They are, in the truest sense of the phrase, the backbone of our ministry.  With that said, and because leading volunteers is so extremely crucial to the success of local church ministry, here a few ways to make them a priority.

1.   Allocate a percentage of your budget for equipping and celebrating volunteers.  Have leadership meetings, buy them books, and have fun parties where you buy good food and give them fun stuff.

2.  Be consistent in contacting them.  Send them emails and text messages, and let them know you are praying for them often.

3.  Challenge them to growth.  Send them articles to read, books to read, and give them opportunities to do ministry.  Raise up leaders to lead.  After all, leaders will always lead.  Leaders lead leaders.  As they are ready, pass off ministry to those whom have earned it.

4.  Celebrate their time, energy, commitment, and investment.  Throw celebrations and have specific times set apart where you do not talk about ministry related things.  Instead, have fun.

Here is a sermon I preached at Ryker’s Ridge Baptist Church on October 9, 2011. In this message, I try to explain the significance of the New Covenant for believers today. In doing so, I provide a bit of context for the listener by showing where the New Covenant fits into the overall metanarrative of Scripture. I then examine what Ezekiel has to say about the the New Covenant believer. Finally, I show the direction New Covenant believers are headed.

I hope you enjoy the message!

SERMON: Where Are We? Who Are We? Where Are We Going?: The Position, Essence, and Trajectory of the New Covenant People of God – Ezekiel 36:22-38

Youth Ministry is hard enough without having to think about your ministry growing.  Believe me, I know.  There are several things about youth ministry that make it hard.  Conflict with parents.  Working with volunteer leaders.  Middle school students.  Small budgets.  High expectations.  Low salaries.  Low totem-pole mentalities.  Etc.  Yes, there are several amazing things about working with young people and their families but when you are busting your tail as a youth pastor and not seeing growth happen in your youth ministry (for now on YM) then it is time to re-evaluate your YM priorities, your vision for your YM, and where you are spending your time.

Here are 4 questions to think through if you find that your YM is not growing.  They are practical in nature and lean toward common-sense.  However, I have talked with several youth pastors over the past couple of months that are struggling with numerical growth in their ministries and have not really thought through some of these things.  I pray they help.

This is often the hardest thing to do in YM.  Good leaders are hard to come by and they are even harder to keep.  Who are you recruiting to be leaders.  Our YM has been in existence for a little over a year, and we have 15 adult volunteer leaders on my YM team. From college students to adults, our leaders are the back-bone of everything we do in our YM.  They are discipling students, helping me with events, leading small groups, and are consistent in their ministry to young people.

Don’t spend your time in public schools that are far away from your church.  Many youth pastors I talk to find themselves driving 20-30 minutes to speak at FCA’s and other school events that are not close to their churches.  In my opinion, I think ones time could be spent better elsewhere.  Target the schools that are in a 5-10 mile radius of your church.  If you find yourself driving outside of this radius for functions and events then ask yourself why you are doing it.  Is it for the benefit of your church and YM?

Many youth ministries do not have a philosophy for equipping parents.  This is, however, a growing vision in YMs across the country.  Ask yourself — are parents connected to your YM?  Do they know your vision for championing the home and equipping parents?  Do they understand that they are the primary disciple-makers of their own children?  Are they behind your vision for your YM?  When parents are on board and connected to the life of your YM then I guarantee you will begin to see growth.

What is your vision for growth in your YM?  At Foothills Church, we have grown tremendously lately.  One area of growth we have seen is found in our YM.  In the past 10 months, we have grown from about 30 students to over 100 students.  And we saw 170+ people at a relational/evangelistic YM event we did in November.  I have a goal to see 250 students at our Wednesday Doxa Service by the end of 2012.  I have a lot of work to do to see this happen, because we are still 150 students from my goal.  The vision, however, is there.  It is solid.  The plan has been put in place, and we are going forth on our knees with much prayer.

How are you doing with these questions in your YM?

Here is a sermon I preached at Foothills Church a couple of Sunday ago.  It focuses on the mission of God from the birth of the New Testament Church in Acts 2 to Revelation 21 when the church will come to an end.  What’s more, it focuses on what I think a healthy externally focused church looks like.

I pray it blesses you.  You can listen by clicking play or downloading it by clicking the link below.

SERMON — Greg Gibson / Mission Dei: In the Church & for the Nations

It’s always insightful to look at church through history. The challenges and themes of the past are not that different from those of our own.

How to use money in the church is often a vexing and contentious issue. The wealth of congregations being devoted to primarily “in-house” areas is often taken for granted as the best way to use it. Churches across the country raise anywhere from thousands to well into the millions of dollars on building programs.

Somewhere in the process however, it hits people that maybe that’s not what God wants to be done with their money. Reading the gospels will never fail to shake-up our perspective.

Sometimes it’s just a book by a Christian author. In my church, we are going through David Platt’s Radical Together, the sequel to his New York Times Bestseller Radical. Platt discusses how his church in Birmingham, AL examined their budget and cut it drastically in order to designate funds for spreading the gospel in Birmingham and overseas. Nearly $2 million was freed up to help the poor and share the message of Jesus. Platt describes it here.

Globally, we focused on Northern India, home to six hundred million people, but fewer than 0.5 percent are evangelical Christians. Based on relationships we already had and new partnerships we were able to form, we committed time and money to meeting urgent needs there. During the year, through local Indian churches, we were able to provide food, education, medical care, and, most important, the gospel to more than a thousand families in unreached and extremely impoverished areas.[i]

The thought of money given by church members for newer buildings or improvements on existing ones being given to people and places most have, or never will visit makes many uneasy. In some cases there could be outright hostility to the idea.

Is the idea of giving away “church money” to another cause and the opposition that comes with it new?

Apparently not.

In the 4^th century, Ambrose, bishop of Milan faced a similar dilemma when a band of Goths rebelled and came across the border into the empire and had taken many Christians captive. The Goths were demanding ransom. Ambrose’s response was to order that funds be raised for the captives by melting some of the golden vessels and other ornaments the church possessed. This created a storm of criticism. Ambrose answered:

It is better to preserve for the Lord Souls rather than gold. He who sent the apostles without gold also gathered churches without gold. The church has gold, not to store it, but to give it up, to use it for those who are in need….it is better to keep the living vessels, than the golden ones.[1][ii]

Over 17 centuries ago it the challenge remained the same as it is today: keep money for ourselves, or give it away to those in need.

Making the decision on what is to be done with a church’s budget is complex. There is no biblical mandate to give away everything at the cost of maintaining your church. On the other hand, Jesus makes it clear, and the early church demonstrated, that to use one’s riches individually and collectively for the kingdom is paramount. With such a perspective, we’ll more likely consider melting a few of our own golden vessels down for the sake of living ones.

This months 9Marks eJournal is fantastic.  If you have an hour or so, then we encourage you to take the time and read through the articles in this months issue.  Some of the topics include: The case for a Sr. Pastor; the case against a Sr. Pastor; when staff should be hired; paying pastors appropriately; why you should fire incompetent staff members; and why you shouldn’t fire incompetent staff members… among a few other things.  We pray you are equipped as much as we were in reading this eJournal from 9Marks.  Thanks guys for the great work!  We really appreciate your ministry!

-the guys and gals at Veritas

After spending two days camping in Yosemite National Park (It was an amazing trip. I highly recommend you visit, especially if you live in or near California) a group of seven guys including myself had to leave after a torrential thunderstorm left our tent under 3 inches of water. We had hiked half dome that day and were drenched while hiking the 9 miles back to camp. Nevertheless, it was a blast. Of the eight, five of us had come from Florida for the weekend. The plan to stay in the park till Monday however, was thwarted.

With sleeping bags soaked and a miserable cold night ahead, we packed up our soaked gear and headed towards San Francisco looking for a hotel to stay in. We eventually found a Motel 6 to crash in late Saturday evening. On Sunday morning, we decided to spend the day giving the Florida guys a tour of San Francisco.

We wanted to find a church to worship in that morning so we drove to the city and found a place to park (never an easy task) and entered a Victorian era building rented out to Reality Church. The congregation was a church plant less than 2 years old. The demographic was primarily young professionals under 40. The worship was amazing, the preaching solid and Holy Spirit was present.

For the opening prayer, one of the pastors prayed for the good of the city as well as God’s mercy and blessing. Seemed like a typical prayer for a church in any given city or town except for the fact that it is the notoriously immoral west coast city.

In a true ironic twist, we were in San Fran during a homosexual rally that was to be held on Folsom street that day. Reality church was in the heart a predominantly gay district.

On our way to worship we saw men holding hands, cross dressers, flamboyant suggestive outfits and the like. While most of our time was spent on the Pier 39 in the tourist areas we witnessed many scenes that I will not even repeat here. It was a real taste of a modern day Sodom and Gommorah.

Seeing these things greatly bothered us as Christians and as men.

I couldn’t help but think of Paul’s words in Romans 1:27, “the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

And while the gay aspect of San Francisco took the spotlight in most people’s eyes, we found ourselves brought back to the worship service earlier that morning.

We worshipped God with 300 other Christians who love Jesus and his Word. The pastor prayed for blessings and mercy on that place –knowing full well what was going on outside that day.

I invariably thought of Abraham pleading with God to spare Sodom if only a few righteous people were found. In San Francisco we realized not only did the number exceed ten, but that the body of Christ was growing there –and influencing their community with the truth of the gospel.

It gave us a newer perspective –a less pessimistic and fatalistic one.

What we witnessed was contrast. It was light in darkness. It was Jesus in a lost world.