"I don't do business with churches."

Early in Catalyst Christian Church history, when we were only about two years old, I went looking around our town for a new location to house our church. We wanted to be more visible in the community and have a larger space to accommodate our future growth.

My friend and co-worker, John Kelley, and I drove up and down Main Street, looking for available space.  We found a large, empty storefront with a huge "For Rent" sign in the window. The location was perfect.  It was about 10,000 square feet, right on the main drag, highly visible, huge parking lot- in other words, it was ideal.

After glancing in the window, I decided to call the number in the window.  A man's voice answered, "Hello?"

"Hello," I said. "I'm interested in your property located at (address withheld)."

"Sure," said the guy, perking up at the potential tenant. "It's ready to move in. What kind of business are you?"

"We're a church," I answered.

His tone changed immediately. "I don't do business with churches," he said abruptly, and hung up.

You know exactly what John and I did.  We immediately went and found a lawyer, filed a complaint against the guy, listed our symptoms of emotional bereavement including but not limited to: headache, fever, depression, feelings of isolation, trouble sleeping, and worst of all a strong compulsion to listen to Nickelback.  We hauled the guy into court, sued him for all he's worth, crucified him on social media, picketed his offices, made death threats against his family, broke windows in the property, and shut down a GofundMe page set up to help him out.  Right?

Nope. We said, "Oh well," and went someplace else.

And that was it.

That's what decent people do.

He has a tenant that he wants to work with. It's his property. He can rent it to whoever he wants.

He lost out on the rent money we would have paid him. That's his business. Quite honestly, I didn't want a guy who feels that way towards churches to be our landlord.

America is based on the freedom of voluntary transactions between business and consumer. Voluntary. I believe he has the right to rent to whoever he wants. It's his property. He owns it. He invested his own money in it, it's his livelihood, and if he doesn't want to rent to us, he shouldn't have to. He doesn't own every building in this town. There are plenty of others.

He rented to someone else. We rented from someone else. No big fuss. No big deal.
We are in a fantastic location that works great for us. We can rent from whoever we want to.

And that's how a free society works.

"Without games, it makes no sense to practice."

Spring sports in Kentucky are difficult.  Especially this year.

Middle school soccer started February 15. God decided to grace the Bluegrass State with 20 inches of snow that day. Then He saw fit to grace us with another twelve inches of snow a few weeks later.  Then, more recently, He decided to grace us with 5-10 inches of rainfall each week, plus thunderstorms and wind gusts.

Needless to say, that has wreaked havoc on outdoor sports' schedules. The middle school girls' soccer team I coach didn't have a game for three straight weeks due to rainouts and weather.

However, we were able to practice.

I noticed, however, that the intensity the players displayed decreased. When we were having regular games, the girls were focused. They came to practice prepared. They came to practice ready to work, ready to improve. We were winning our matches.

Then, during the three weeks of no matches, they started to lose focus. They walked more instead of sprinting. They didn't work as hard. They began losing the drive to win. In other words, without matches to play, they didn't see the need for practice.

Then we had a match. We got destroyed by our across-town rival. You know what the girls said when they came off that field?  "We need to practice more."

I wonder if there are any parallels to the church here.

Christianity isn't something that you practice for endlessly. Christianity is a faith that is supposed to be lived out on a daily basis, meaning you are going to have challenges. I guess the parallel to the "match" would be sharing your faith, going on mission trips, accomplishing the Great Commission, teaching your children the faith, struggling with and overcoming temptation and addictions, etc.

The parallel to the "practice" would be Sunday morning worship. Practice is where you are encouraged, taught, challenged, and prepared for the match. Sunday morning is where you are encouraged, taught, challenged, and prepared to live out your faith.

If you aren't accomplishing the Great Commission, struggling with and overcoming sin, sharing your faith, etc- you will eventually see no need for Sunday mornings.

Just like my team, when there is no competition, no matches, no challenge, practice becomes irrelevant. I would not play a sport where all I did was practice and never had any matches. The point of sports IS the match, and the practice is the means to winning.

In the same way, I doubt I would even be part of a church if I was not planning on living my faith out. If I never went on mission trips, never shared my faith, never went to prisons to encourage and witness to inmates, never counseled troubled couples, never preached, why would I need to go to church?  Why would I need to connect with my Lord and Savior? I wouldn't be following anything He said anyway-so He really isn't my Lord- so why would I feel the need to worship Him? Why would I need the encouragement of other believers? If I weren't playing soccer matches, why would I go to practice? If I wasn't engaged in God's will, why would I go to church?

I think that's where a lot of "Christians" find themselves. 83% of Americans call themselves Christians, but less than 40% can be found at "practice" on a Sunday morning.  Why? Many reasons, but I wonder if they simply see no need to practice what they never intend to do.

So, Christians, do you skip Sunday morning?

I will say this- the more engaged in the Great Commission I am, the more I have a desperation for Sunday morning worship. Living out the Christian faith is difficult. The more engaged with God's will you are, the more relevant and necessary you will find worship. You will desire and crave fellowship with other believers far more if you are actually living your faith. If you do not have a burning passion to worship God, to connect with Him with other believers; I would argue that accomplishing the Great Commission isn't in your life plans. I would be so bold as to say you are not actively making disciples, not leading anyone to Christ, not taking any kind of stand on Biblical issues, and not really doing anything that a nonbeliever doesn't do.

If you aren't in the game, you'll see no need to practice.

If you aren't active in accomplishing God's will, you'll see no need for church.

The second you decide to follow God's will, the second you decide to surrender your life to Christ and live for His glory, you will see the importance of Sunday morning- worship and fellowship.  You won't be able to live without it.

So, where are you today? Times are getting tougher. I believe God is pruning His church right now. I believe the coach is kicking players off the team who aren't showing up for matches and who aren't showing up for practice. There's no doubt that the matches are getting tougher, and there isn't any room for those who don't intend to play. He's waking up people from their slumber, calling the faithful to be bolder, more committed, and more effective in reaching the lost. He's calling us to stop rationalizing our sin. He's calling us to wake up out of our sin-induced slumber and calling us to a life of radical love, radical self-sacrifice, and radical soul-winning. In order to do that, you need regular worship and regular fellowship with believers. Sunday morning is no longer one option among many. It's the given around which we schedule everything else.

"That's not yours."

When I was a senior in college, I was engaged to my then-fiancee-now-wife. I was a twenty-one-year-old guy on a college campus (my future wife attended a different university, so we only saw each other on weekends).

During the fall semester, I played soccer, which meant that many weekends we would have road trip games. The women's soccer team also travelled with us. We would leave Friday nights, stay in hotels, play a game Saturday, travel to the next college, stay in a hotel, and play Sunday. Then we would road trip back to our school Sunday evening.

Needless to say, that put twenty in-shape, young guys in close proximity with twenty in-shape, young ladies.  All weekend.  When we were not playing matches, there was a lot of down time. Hanging out in hotel rooms. Lounging by the pool. You get what I am saying.

I was excited about being married. I was madly in love with my fiancee, who is now my wife, and I still am today. However, that environment was tailor-made for temptation, and I'll admit, there were times that I struggled. Nothing physical was ever going to happen, but at times it was tempting to look.  It was in one of those moments that God spoke to me and told me something I will never forget.

We were in San Antonio, getting ready to play Trinity University.  The women's team was playing first, and we were sitting on the sideline as they ran by us onto the field for warm-ups. Some of the guys made some remarks about the physiques of some of the ladies, and as I looked to see who they were referring to, God spoke to me.  He said three words.

"That's not yours."

Three words that completely took me off guard.  He didn't have to say anything else.

What God was saying was that He had created those young women. I believe that I was created for my wife and she was created for me. Therefore, those young women belonged to someone else. They belonged to the men who some day would marry them and call them their wives, just as those men whom they would call husband belonged to them.

God created them precious and attractive so that their future husbands would be blessed, just as God created their future husbands handsome and attractive so they would be blessed.  What God had created was sacred and more importantly, off-limits to everyone except for whom they were intended.

To all you men out there, and you ladies out there, that struggle with lust, I want you to repeat those same words God spoke to me- "That's not yours."  That lady that you work with?  That's not yours. That woman or teen girl on the website you frequent? That's not yours. The wife of your best friend that you enjoy flirting with? That's not yours.

Do you see how awful it is to lust over something that isn't yours?  Do you see the sin that is being committed?  That's not yours. Stop treating it like it is.  Stop treating HER like she is.

She's not yours. She was made for someone other than you. So hands off.  Eyes off. Thoughts off. THAT'S NOT YOURS.

If you face sexual temptation, if you face the temptation to look at women (or men) in a sexual way, call these three words to mind- "That's not yours." These three words have kept me from all kinds of trouble- all kinds of temptation have been defeated by those three words.  All kinds of marital strife and trouble have been avoided because of those three words.  All kinds of embarrassment and betrayal have been defeated because of those three words.

Maybe you men need to write these three words on a post-it note and stick it on your computer.

Maybe you men need to change the name of the contact in your phone, you know, the one that you can't delete because you work with her or something, but you get very excited when she calls, to "That's not yours."

Keep your hands and eyes off of God's people.  They're not yours.

The Importance of Practicing for Persecution

*On this topic, I typically get nothing but yawns. I sometimes feel like a flagman on a road waving his arms and shouting, "The bridge is out!!" while cars pass by me at seventy miles an hour. The plain and simple fact is that most people just don't want to think about anything negative, much less prepare for it. I am anticipating that this blog gets very little traffic.*


I've been playing soccer for 36 years.

Something occurred to me yesterday at practice (I coach a local middle school girls' team, so I have 12-14 year-olds on my team). I was demonstrating dribbling and shooting techniques for them, and many of them weren't getting it. I mean, they weren't even close.  Form was off, technique was off- they just couldn't do it.

I thought to myself, "How can you all not be getting this? It's so simple!" I watched, coached and corrected, and watched some more. Finally, most of them got it; some still didn't.

Then I realized why I thought it was simple- I had been doing these moves and techniques for 36 years.  They, however, were learning it for the first time.  I had done these dribbling moves millions of times in practice, hundreds of thousands of times in games under tight competition. I didn't even have to think. It just happened.

This is known as "muscle memory."  Repeated practice lays down a coordinated groove in both your mind and your body, so that the action becomes automatic. You do it without thinking, without effort- almost subconsciously.

These girls, on the other hand, were not there.  They hadn't practiced it enough.  We all know what happens in the game- they won't do it.  They might WANT to, but when the true test comes, they won't be able to come through. They simply haven't practiced enough. They don't have the muscle memory yet. It's not their fault- it's just the truth. They need to go through the same motion hundreds and thousands (and hundreds of thousands) of times before it becomes automatic.

The same is true in our Christian lives.  It's no great secret that it's open season on Christians in the world today. Christians are getting slaughtered in the Middle East, both by fringe groups and legitimate governments. Christians on university campuses in America are bullied and mocked openly. Christian businesses are facing Nazi-like public shaming by the homofascist movement, akin to the tactics used against Jewish businesses in 1930s Germany. In the years to come, it will get even worse.

What is your muscle memory when it comes to persecution?

Have you practiced?

I think it is time for Christians to decide- NOW- what you will do when you face persecution. I am calling all Christians to take time and decide right now what you will do in each of the following scenarios:

1) You are in a college dorm getting ready for class.  Two men with AK-47s bust in and ask, "Muslim or Christian?" If you answer "Christian," they will shoot you.  What do you do?

2) You are a Christian business owner. A reporter shows up and asks if your business will provide a product in support of a gay wedding. If you say, "No," you will be subject to boycotts, smearing on social media, death threats, most likely the loss of your business, and possibly lawsuits endangering your life's work, personal savings, and job security. What do you do?

3) You attend a church where your pastor will not perform same-sex weddings. You arrive on Sunday morning to see your church vandalized- graffiti on the walls, windows broken, church bus tires slashed, etc. You fix it one week and it happens the next. Social media calls everyone who attends that church a bigot, homophobe, intolerant. The pastor and his family receive death threats and his children are harassed at school. What do you do?

4) You are up for a job promotion, something you've been working for for years.  Right before you get the promotion, one of your co-workers discovers you made a donation in support of a traditional marriage amendment to your state constitution. When your boss finds out about it, he asks you about your views on marriage. You know that if you say, "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman only," you will not get the promotion. You might even be fired.  What do you do?

Each of these four scenarios, unfortunately, are not made up.  Scenario one happened at Garissa College in Kenya three weeks ago. Scenario two happened at Memories Pizzeria in Indiana three weeks ago. Scenario three happened about five months ago in Washington State. Scenario four happened at Mozilla to CEO Brenden Eich.

It is time to decide NOW what you would do in that situation. Practice it. Know your reasons. Prepare yourself. This is SO very important. When the day of trial comes, you don't want to have to decide. If you want to honor Christ, if you truly want to stay true to your beliefs, you will need your automatic muscle memory to take over. The temptation to back down will be too strong for most of us. We will fail at the time of reckoning if we don't have the muscle memory in place.

So, decide now.

We practice for all kinds of things. We practice for sports. We practice marksmanship on the gun range.  We practice art, music, woodworking, and scrapbooking. We practice all the time for the things we believe are important. How about your faith? Will you practice for the day of reckoning when you will be called upon to stand and be counted?

I have told both my congregation and my family that I will do jail time. I know I will. Not because I am a criminal or because I hate anyone, but because I will never perform a same-sex wedding nor will I ever say that it is compatible with God's word. The most likely scenario that I have prepared myself in advance for is that I will be threatened, and I won't respond. Then I will be sued, and I will probably lose the lawsuit. Then I will be fined, and I won't pay the fine.  That will lead to my imprisonment. That's okay. I am in prison every Tuesday morning anyway teaching my fatherhood skills class. I'll just teach it everyday, I guess. If God sees fit to put me in that mission field full-time, so be it. I would be in good company. That has happened to Christians for the past 2000 years. It even happened to the guy who wrote half of the New Testament. His name?  The Apostle Paul.

I've already decided. I've already made up my mind that that is the path I am going to take. That is the path I believe is most honoring to God. I remind myself every day about it. Therefore, like on the soccer field, when the time comes, I will already know what I am doing. Muscle memory will take over, and temptation will not take me. At least I hope it won't. One can only prepare so much.

One thing is for sure, though- persecution is coming. It's already here. You must prepare. You must practice. You must know what you will do before it happens. This is what the wise person who wants to live out his or her faith does. Be prepared and practice. What will be most honoring to God in your day of trial? Decide now, not when you are staring down the barrel of a gun or a lawsuit.

Why committed Christians can't seem to accomplish the Great Commission

If you are a believer in Christ and have spent any time in a church, you are very familiar with Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus tells us to "go into all the world, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

That's no great secret. Most Christians I know could quote that verse.

Unfortunately, that is the extent in the lives of most Christians.  Why is this?

Why is it that one of Jesus' most specific and directed commands is so routinely disobeyed? Why is this straightforward, no-gray-area, no-room-for-interpretation command of Jesus so absent in the lives of even very committed Christians and churchgoers?

I think it boils down to one thing.  It isn't desire, or relationship with God, or prayer, or devotion, or any of the other things we normally assume when a command of Jesus is ignored.

It is PROXIMITY.

Christians just simply aren't around people who need the gospel.

In America, it is perfectly possible, and even encouraged, to structure your life and routine to be around people whose needs are not apparent. If you live in a safe neighborhood, go to an affluent school, drive your car everywhere you go, hang out with safe friends, go to nice shopping malls, etc, you can spend your entire life without ever meeting the very people Jesus said to go and reach.

I've been to several different countries. Many of them are countries where Christianity is a very small minority. I've been to the rural areas of Nepal, the mountainous regions filled with Hindu gods, strict caste systems, and questionable electricity. I've been to villages in India where missionaries have been killed for bringing Christianity to the tribes. I've been in areas of extreme poverty, encountering orphans and widows and people living on less than a dollar per day.

We simply don't see that here in America. We aren't in proximity to obvious spiritual needs.  Here in America, spiritual needs are a private affair. People don't invite strangers off the street into their homes and ask them to pray for them.  We don't see bundles of orphans on street corners. We don't see old women who haven't eaten in three days because their husbands died, leaving them without work or support. We don't see people hungry for the gospel who, the first time they hear about Jesus, they become lifelong disciples.

Sometimes I'm envious of pastors in those areas. They don't have to go looking for ministry. The ministry opportunities are right outside their doors.

However, here in America, it is difficult to find ministry opportunities. Ministry opportunities have to be actively sought out. Ministry opportunities are not obvious- they are very, very hidden. Christians in America have to disrupt their routine, sometimes immensely, to find the people who are in need.

I believe this is why committed Christians don't take the Great Commission more seriously. They've looked around and don't see any opportunities.

Their friends are either all Christians or are so actively antagonistic to the faith that they don't bother sharing- one, because they already know the gospel, two, because they don't want an argument and a possible loss of friendship.

American Christians, here is the truth: Just because opportunities are hard to find doesn't mean we don't have to do what Jesus said. We just have to work harder than other folks.

Once you are determined to place yourself in proximity to people who need Jesus, you will find ministry opportunities everywhere.

Prison ministry is available everywhere- but you have to get certified and background-checked first, and oh, there's the entire "going to prison" thing. They won't come to you. You have to go to them.

Mission opportunities are everywhere- but you have to raise money for plane tickets and all that.  Oh, and there's the danger and the language barrier thing. They won't come to you. You have to go to them.

Homeless ministry is available everywhere- but you have to go to parts of town you normally don't go and be around people who are mentally unstable, hungry, and possibly don't smell very good. They won't come to you. You have to go to them.

Foster care and adoption is available, and hugely needed, everywhere. You have to be willing to bring hurting children into your home and possibly be rejected and hurt. They won't come to you. You have to go to them.

I guess what I am trying to say is this- place yourself in proximity to the people who need Jesus. You probably aren't in proximity to them. That's why you've been ignoring the Great Commission. You simply don't know any inmates, homeless people, foster children, orphans, or people of other religions in other countries.

If you DID know them, the Great Commission would flow freely from you, because when a true believer in Christ meets a person in need, it is very natural to love that person and share Jesus.

But the first step is proximity.  We have to be around the folks who need Jesus the most.

Once that foster child has a face, and not just a name, the Great Commission is accomplished.

Once that inmate has a face and isn't just a sinner in an orange jump suit, the Great Commission is accomplished.

Once that shoeless, toothless woman in a village in Nepal has a face and not just a nationality, the Great Commission is accomplished.

Once that homeless man who hasn't had a bath in three weeks has a face and a story, and isn't just a nameless number walking the streets, the Great Commission is accomplished.

Proximity.

Proximity.

Maybe one of the biggest sins we have committed in American Christianity is the deliberate structuring of our lives so that we never see the people Jesus wants us to go to.  If you a Christian, you want to see hell empty and heaven full. It won't happen without proximity to people who need Jesus.

If you are a committed Christian who does not accomplish the Great Commission- if you are a Christian who has never made a disciple outside of your own family- most likely you have structured your life so that you will never see the people God wants you to share the Gospel with. Don't take that lightly. Place yourself in proximity to those who are most receptive to the Gospel. Then watch the Great Commission be accomplished through you, to the glory of God.

Those who will not worship will need to be entertained

I heard a great quote, and it's something to think about as we approach Easter Sunday.  "Those who will not worship will need to be entertained."

What is your attitude towards this Sunday (and every Sunday)? Are you seeking to worship?  Or are you seeking to be entertained? Your answer to this question may completely reveal why Sundays are good or bad, relevant or irrelevant. Sunday worship is irrelevant to someone seeking entertainment; Sunday entertainment is irrelevant to someone seeking worship.

Unfortunately, our culture has prepped us to desire entertainment. There will always be more people seeking entertainment than worship.

Pastors and church-growth gurus have seen this trend and have responded- that's why the Willow Creek model of the megachurch in the 90's was so successful. They removed crosses, stopped talking about sin and hell, decked out sanctuaries with cool lights and fog machines, preached "Five Steps to A Happy Life" messages, and struck into niche of people seeking entertainment. Sunday mornings became less about worship and more about growing and maintaining a certain number of people in attendance.

Several years ago, Willow Creek announced to the nation that it had made a mistake. Their model was a failure- they had failed to make disciples.  I give them major props for that. To admit that you're wrong on that big a scale takes major character and humility. While they had drawn big crowds and entertained the heck out of people, they had not seen anyone walking closer with Christ.

So, what are you seeking this Sunday?

If you come to church this Sunday and will not worship God (meaning that you walk in unprepared to glorify the Name of God, unprepared to surrender your life to Him, unprepared to commit to His ways, unwilling to turn your attention to the One greater than you, unwilling to acknowledge everything that He is, ungrateful for the cross, ungrateful for His sacrifice for you), then Sunday morning will be completely irrelevant for you unless you are entertained by funny videos, cool music, lights, fog machine, and a slick message, because you want to be entertained.

However, if you come to church this Sunday and want to worship God, the funny videos, cool music, lights, fog machine, and slick message will be most likely boring and irrelevant to you because you want to worship.

Jesus didn't entertain.

Jesus provided an encounter with God.

Jesus specifically turned away people wanting entertainment.

In Luke 23:8-9, Jesus is sent before Herod for a trial. Herod was eager to see Him, because he had heard a lot about Jesus and was hoping that Jesus would perform for him. Jesus said nothing, did nothing, and refused to entertain. Herod was disappointed.

Any king Herods in our churches today?

Anyone seeking to be entertained by Jesus? Anyone wanting a great show, a great miracle, a great fun time, but unwilling to worship Jesus as Lord and Savior?  Unfortunately, yes. Our churches are full of king Herods, and unless the king Herods are entertained, they will leave.

So, this weekend, ask yourself if you are going to worship or going to be entertained. Those who will not worship will need to be entertained.