i could tell you that my life has been just really busy of late and that would be true. i could tell you that Thanksgiving and Christmas and relatives and shopping and school Christmas concerts and Christmas services filled up my schedule for some time. that would also be true. i could tell you that i'm not the best at time management (not bad but not the best) and that could account for why i have not kept up with my story here. all those things would be true.
but the real truth about why i haven't written is because of what comes next in the story. next is one of those chapters from my life that i would rather delete if i could. the problem is, it's my story. it is what happened. and it's hard. and still ... there is grace.
more later ... and soon ... really.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
harley grace - part four
what an amazing thing! i was soaring. it was blessing time for the kirbys. new life was coming into our lives, into our home. a tiny light began suddenly shining in the midst of so much darkness. it was a huge reminder to me that God had not forgotten us out here in our desert place.
there was so much to do, so much to prepare for in our home.
we started trying out baby names and talked about baby furniture and baby clothes and baby toys. we started talking about baby's first Christmas which we realized would happen this year. on and on we talked, planned and, for a time, rejoiced in secret about our baby.
but we waited only a little while and finally began telling friends and family our incredible news. our joy and that of our friends and extended family was limitless. good things were happening and good days were coming.
well, i continued on my path, albeit with with a decidedly new skip in my step, just praying, hoping and looking for opportunities to connect with bikers in the community. i had heard about a guy, indian mike, as he was called (because he owned a classic indian motorcycle that he had rebuilt himself and with which he had won many bike shows), who worked at the local harley dealer. more importantly, indian mike was one of the founders and co-presidents of a chapter of the yellow jackets motorcycle club and he had been a part of another popular club in the area before that. in other words, this guy had connections to lots of bikers ... and ... it just so happened that someone in our church knew him, or at least, knew his wife.
this was an interesting development - finding out that someone in our church knew indian mike - and i intended to look into this guy and figure out how we might be able to meet him and maybe reach out to him and to others through him. yeah, i fully intended to look into this. but ... as ministry life goes, i got busy with so many other things and the days and weeks began to slip by.
then, one sunday after church i was talking with a woman, liz, who was very new to our church. in fact liz had only attended two or three times and i had met her and talked with her some but what i found out about this woman on this particular sunday just blew me away. her husband was a biker. cool.
"hey, that's really interesting because i just started riding again," i remember telling her.
"you should talk to my husband. he rides a harley. in fact he works at the harley dealer in town."
"oh, really?"
"yeah, his name is mike. you should meet him. and if you are looking for a bike i'm sure he could help you. here's his card."
liz's husband was a biker ... but not just any biker. his name was mike ... but not just any mike. he ... was indian mike.
more later...
there was so much to do, so much to prepare for in our home.
we started trying out baby names and talked about baby furniture and baby clothes and baby toys. we started talking about baby's first Christmas which we realized would happen this year. on and on we talked, planned and, for a time, rejoiced in secret about our baby.
but we waited only a little while and finally began telling friends and family our incredible news. our joy and that of our friends and extended family was limitless. good things were happening and good days were coming.
well, i continued on my path, albeit with with a decidedly new skip in my step, just praying, hoping and looking for opportunities to connect with bikers in the community. i had heard about a guy, indian mike, as he was called (because he owned a classic indian motorcycle that he had rebuilt himself and with which he had won many bike shows), who worked at the local harley dealer. more importantly, indian mike was one of the founders and co-presidents of a chapter of the yellow jackets motorcycle club and he had been a part of another popular club in the area before that. in other words, this guy had connections to lots of bikers ... and ... it just so happened that someone in our church knew him, or at least, knew his wife.
this was an interesting development - finding out that someone in our church knew indian mike - and i intended to look into this guy and figure out how we might be able to meet him and maybe reach out to him and to others through him. yeah, i fully intended to look into this. but ... as ministry life goes, i got busy with so many other things and the days and weeks began to slip by.
then, one sunday after church i was talking with a woman, liz, who was very new to our church. in fact liz had only attended two or three times and i had met her and talked with her some but what i found out about this woman on this particular sunday just blew me away. her husband was a biker. cool.
"hey, that's really interesting because i just started riding again," i remember telling her.
"you should talk to my husband. he rides a harley. in fact he works at the harley dealer in town."
"oh, really?"
"yeah, his name is mike. you should meet him. and if you are looking for a bike i'm sure he could help you. here's his card."
liz's husband was a biker ... but not just any biker. his name was mike ... but not just any mike. he ... was indian mike.
more later...
Thursday, September 29, 2005
harley grace - part three
when i got home from the retreat i was so full of peace, joy, encouragement, purpose, hope and vision. the impact of the times of worship and inspirational teaching were wonderful and certainly figure into everything i was feeling. it was clear, however, that what had put me over the edge was the sense of community i had experienced while riding and sharing life with my new-found pentecostal biker buddies. these guys (and gals) were so full of passion for sharing the Christ-life with others and proud of the opportunity that riding had given them to minister to people that many have overlooked, america's eight million bikers and motorcyclists.
that passion sparked something in me and it wouldn't let me go. i knew that i had to be a part of this. so upon returning from the retreat i called russ at his office in indiana and we talked for probably an hour or more about his story (the story of the incredible transformation God performed in his life) and his ministry (the gift that God gave him of sharing the story of his transformation with the biker culture). and by the time we were done with our conversation i had downloaded the membership application from his web site and had gathered all the details i needed to start a new chapter of honorbound mm in virginia.
it took a few months to get everything in place but by the spring i had my colors (the patches that are displayed on the back of your vest and identify you as a member of the ministry) and virginia chapter 2 was launched.
and in the midst of riding and praying for opportunities to share Christ with bikers (along with all the other ministry we did as church planters in a young and growing congregation), my wife, evelyn, and i received some unbelievable news. after nearly eight years of hoping, praying, wondering, and waiting, evelyn was pregnant with our second child. God, the giver of all good things, was up to something new.
more later...
that passion sparked something in me and it wouldn't let me go. i knew that i had to be a part of this. so upon returning from the retreat i called russ at his office in indiana and we talked for probably an hour or more about his story (the story of the incredible transformation God performed in his life) and his ministry (the gift that God gave him of sharing the story of his transformation with the biker culture). and by the time we were done with our conversation i had downloaded the membership application from his web site and had gathered all the details i needed to start a new chapter of honorbound mm in virginia.
it took a few months to get everything in place but by the spring i had my colors (the patches that are displayed on the back of your vest and identify you as a member of the ministry) and virginia chapter 2 was launched.
and in the midst of riding and praying for opportunities to share Christ with bikers (along with all the other ministry we did as church planters in a young and growing congregation), my wife, evelyn, and i received some unbelievable news. after nearly eight years of hoping, praying, wondering, and waiting, evelyn was pregnant with our second child. God, the giver of all good things, was up to something new.
more later...
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
harley grace - part two
i had noticed that from time to time rich neubauer would show up at our denominational pastor's network meetings wearing biker riding gear and usually with a long-haired biker friend in tow. i have to say, i admired the boldness this pastor displayed in just walking into those meetings, "auspicious" as they were, without much care or concern for the looks he was getting. here he was, a pentecostal pastor dressed like that, and obviously riding one of the harley-davidson motorcycles we had seen parked outside. so i was curious about him and his harley riding habit and the long-haired friend that always came with him.
well, it was at the retreat center where i finally got the chance to talk to him about all this and about the way the Christ-life has changed for him since he started riding. rich shared with me an amazing story about a man named russ cockrum, the founder of the honorbound motorcycle ministry. he told me how russ started the ministry after having a bad motorcycle accident that caused him to do some serious soul-searching. it was during the recovery period as russ lay in the hospital that God reminded him of something russ had said over 20 years earlier. on that day and at the very moment he first began to follow Christ, russ had whispered, "God, never let me forget where i came from." those words came back to him like a boomerang in the face.
russ realized that over the years since meeting Christ he had forgotten where he came from. God had rescued him from a life as a drug addicted, alcoholic biker about to lose his marriage and everything else important to him and had helped him become a successful church planter, pastor and denominational leader. but 20 plus years later, God had something else in mind.
as it would happen, at this same time, russ met rich neubauer. rich had heard about a fellow pastor traveling out here from the midwest who had had a bad motorcycle accident. and rich, being a local pastor and a guy with a heart as big as texas, went to visit him in the hospital.
that connection between rich and russ turned out to be a divine appointment and the idea for starting honorbound mm was born.
well, this story and the new stories rich had to tell about the many lives that have been impacted by the ministry over the past 5 years of honorbound mm's existence, filled me with a new passion and an excitement for sharing Christ in a context i never thought was possible for a pentecostal preacher. and, little did i know how God was about to use this ministry to speak into my life at the most difficult season i have ever faced.
more later...
well, it was at the retreat center where i finally got the chance to talk to him about all this and about the way the Christ-life has changed for him since he started riding. rich shared with me an amazing story about a man named russ cockrum, the founder of the honorbound motorcycle ministry. he told me how russ started the ministry after having a bad motorcycle accident that caused him to do some serious soul-searching. it was during the recovery period as russ lay in the hospital that God reminded him of something russ had said over 20 years earlier. on that day and at the very moment he first began to follow Christ, russ had whispered, "God, never let me forget where i came from." those words came back to him like a boomerang in the face.
russ realized that over the years since meeting Christ he had forgotten where he came from. God had rescued him from a life as a drug addicted, alcoholic biker about to lose his marriage and everything else important to him and had helped him become a successful church planter, pastor and denominational leader. but 20 plus years later, God had something else in mind.
as it would happen, at this same time, russ met rich neubauer. rich had heard about a fellow pastor traveling out here from the midwest who had had a bad motorcycle accident. and rich, being a local pastor and a guy with a heart as big as texas, went to visit him in the hospital.
that connection between rich and russ turned out to be a divine appointment and the idea for starting honorbound mm was born.
well, this story and the new stories rich had to tell about the many lives that have been impacted by the ministry over the past 5 years of honorbound mm's existence, filled me with a new passion and an excitement for sharing Christ in a context i never thought was possible for a pentecostal preacher. and, little did i know how God was about to use this ministry to speak into my life at the most difficult season i have ever faced.
more later...
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
harley grace
okay, i’m still overwhelmed by the grace of God as i think about the story i have to tell, but, here goes. it will have to come through several posts because it’s pretty long but the work of God through every detail (at least as much as i will be able to fit in) is simply astounding, amazing, astonishing and any other good “a” words a person could think of.
the whole story begins with a motorcycle and ends (although the story is still going on. eventually you will see what i mean.) with a motorcycle in a big way. and people who know me personally know that i like to ride motorcycles. it’s just something i have always loved to do. it probably started with my dad because i still have this vivid memory from my childhood in which my father placed me on the gas tank (i was probably 4-5 years old) of his cruiser and took me on my first ride. the experience of that day just stuck with me.
anyway, people know i love to ride. i owned a bike in college (a kawasaki since my dad had a kawasaki) but sold it to buy an engagement ring for this really special lady i met (evelyn) and then married after graduation. now, i have never had any regrets about selling the bike to buy the ring, really. but … i have missed riding ever since and i knew that some day i would get back to it.
so, over the past three years or so i started to really get the bug again and on one “pastor appreciation sunday” my congregation surprised me with a gift certificate for a rental of my favorite kind of bike – a harley-davidson. i rented the bike for three days and fell in love with the riding experience all over again. i couldn’t shake it. so much was this the case that the church just gave me a rental gift certificate every year on “pastor appreciation sunday” and my wife bought me at least one rental as a birthday present.
i started renting a bike several times a year and, as you can read in my previous posts, began riding with other minister friends that i discovered had the riding bug too. it was through one of these minister buddies (rich neubauer) that i learned of the honorbound motorcycle ministry – a ministry that trains you how to share the Christ-life with folks in the biker culture. i was attending the annual minister’s retreat sponsored by my denomination when i happened to run into rich and a few other guys who, like me (except not like me in that i was renting my ride), had ridden their bikes to the retreat center.
rich and some of the bikers/pastors with him were wearing leather vests (as well as boots, chaps, head wraps, etc.) with huge colorfully embroidered patches on the back – pretty radical looking garb for pentecostal preachers. i asked rich about the meaning of the patches which included a crown fashioned from thorns and a cross made from three nails dead center of the crown. what rich explained to me in that moment and in the hours that followed as we spent the retreat time together brought something fresh and wonderful and fulfilling in my life. more later…
the whole story begins with a motorcycle and ends (although the story is still going on. eventually you will see what i mean.) with a motorcycle in a big way. and people who know me personally know that i like to ride motorcycles. it’s just something i have always loved to do. it probably started with my dad because i still have this vivid memory from my childhood in which my father placed me on the gas tank (i was probably 4-5 years old) of his cruiser and took me on my first ride. the experience of that day just stuck with me.
anyway, people know i love to ride. i owned a bike in college (a kawasaki since my dad had a kawasaki) but sold it to buy an engagement ring for this really special lady i met (evelyn) and then married after graduation. now, i have never had any regrets about selling the bike to buy the ring, really. but … i have missed riding ever since and i knew that some day i would get back to it.
so, over the past three years or so i started to really get the bug again and on one “pastor appreciation sunday” my congregation surprised me with a gift certificate for a rental of my favorite kind of bike – a harley-davidson. i rented the bike for three days and fell in love with the riding experience all over again. i couldn’t shake it. so much was this the case that the church just gave me a rental gift certificate every year on “pastor appreciation sunday” and my wife bought me at least one rental as a birthday present.
i started renting a bike several times a year and, as you can read in my previous posts, began riding with other minister friends that i discovered had the riding bug too. it was through one of these minister buddies (rich neubauer) that i learned of the honorbound motorcycle ministry – a ministry that trains you how to share the Christ-life with folks in the biker culture. i was attending the annual minister’s retreat sponsored by my denomination when i happened to run into rich and a few other guys who, like me (except not like me in that i was renting my ride), had ridden their bikes to the retreat center.
rich and some of the bikers/pastors with him were wearing leather vests (as well as boots, chaps, head wraps, etc.) with huge colorfully embroidered patches on the back – pretty radical looking garb for pentecostal preachers. i asked rich about the meaning of the patches which included a crown fashioned from thorns and a cross made from three nails dead center of the crown. what rich explained to me in that moment and in the hours that followed as we spent the retreat time together brought something fresh and wonderful and fulfilling in my life. more later…
Thursday, June 09, 2005
how far will he go?
i'm overwhelmed by the awareness that God is willing to go to any extreme to reach any person (no matter their culture, politics, spiritual acuity, etc.). i'm in the midst of a story that illustrates this fact more clearly than anything i have ever experienced. the story is still unfolding but will show up here soon. there is too much to say already but in the next few posts i will have to try and get started and one day get it all in. right now i can't even begin to tell the story because, like i said, i'm overwhelmed. suffice it to say it involves several "chance" meetings, a painful experience (the worst thing that has ever happened to me), the persistent voice of God, the church, and a harley-davidson.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
what is the fate of the pentecostal church in the postmodern period?
one of the big questions i think i have been really trying to answer as we all look at the awesome and sweeping cultural shift that is upon us (i mean in the church as it begins to re-form in the postmodern era) is this; how will the pentecostal church fare in the end?
it is a church that embraces the experience of God. sometimes it has been criticized as too experience-based and that is partly true. instead of an experience of God i would really rather talk about an encounter with God – a face to face meeting rather than an emotional tickle, a life change rather than a series of momentary touchy feely events. nevertheless, the pentecostal church has expected the supernatural encounter of God.
it is a church that acknowledges the mysteriousness of God. even though God is mysterious we do believe he is still knowable. we know that God is invisible but believe that his presence can be sensed.
it is a church that embraces imagery and spiritual insight through sensory perception – consider the sound of rushing wind, the sight of tongues of fire, the tender lighting of a dove.
it is a church that is participatory. we trust God to enable us to speak in a spiritual language and, by the same Spirit to interpret spiritual language. we trust God to move in and through us as we employ the spiritual gifts he has given for the strengthening of the church.
it is a church that is communal. we know that from the beginning the Spirit was poured out on the church as it was meeting to pray and worship as one body.
to be honest, my underlying assumption (and, for sure, my hope) is that the pentecostal church is well suited to move into the postmodern period if it can only shake free of some of the other cultural (modern) trappings it has learned to live with.
it is a church that embraces the experience of God. sometimes it has been criticized as too experience-based and that is partly true. instead of an experience of God i would really rather talk about an encounter with God – a face to face meeting rather than an emotional tickle, a life change rather than a series of momentary touchy feely events. nevertheless, the pentecostal church has expected the supernatural encounter of God.
it is a church that acknowledges the mysteriousness of God. even though God is mysterious we do believe he is still knowable. we know that God is invisible but believe that his presence can be sensed.
it is a church that embraces imagery and spiritual insight through sensory perception – consider the sound of rushing wind, the sight of tongues of fire, the tender lighting of a dove.
it is a church that is participatory. we trust God to enable us to speak in a spiritual language and, by the same Spirit to interpret spiritual language. we trust God to move in and through us as we employ the spiritual gifts he has given for the strengthening of the church.
it is a church that is communal. we know that from the beginning the Spirit was poured out on the church as it was meeting to pray and worship as one body.
to be honest, my underlying assumption (and, for sure, my hope) is that the pentecostal church is well suited to move into the postmodern period if it can only shake free of some of the other cultural (modern) trappings it has learned to live with.
Friday, October 15, 2004
brownsville blues
i have been pondering another question.
did the brownsville revival in pensacola look so much like the azusa revivals because God moved the same way as before or because that was the way people (including me. I went to brownsville in 1996) expected to experience it?
did the brownsville revival in pensacola look so much like the azusa revivals because God moved the same way as before or because that was the way people (including me. I went to brownsville in 1996) expected to experience it?
Friday, October 08, 2004
Thursday, October 07, 2004
holiness and harleys
after coming fresh off a three-day retreat i’m thinking again about the question from my last post, “how much of the pentecostal church is simply cultural and how much of it is truly a reflection of the Spiritlife?” this retreat is an annual event sponsored by my denomination where the ministers from our region head to the mountains to get alone with God, refocus on the inward journey, and … play golf.
only I didn’t play golf … because i was able to talk another church planter friend of mine (ray cowell) into riding out to the retreat center with me on our motorcycles. i had in mind that we would just ride through the nearby rocky gap state park during our free time.
now, ray has a new bike, a honda vtx 1800. in other words, an import - a not made in the usa motorcycle, a metric cruiser. okay, okay, so it's faster than what i was riding - an hd electra-glide classic. anyway, when we got to the retreat center we were surprised to see a few other bikes in the parking lot - harleys, in fact. "but, they couldn't possibly belong to any pentecostal preachers. harleys and holiness preachers? " that's what i was thinking though i had heard rumors.
as it turned out, after the evening session that first night, ray and i met four other bikers (yes, pentecostal minister bikers) who indeed had felt compelled to ride their bikes to the retreat. this was amazing; those bikes did belong to other ministers after all - pentecostal bikers - go figure.
plans were made to hook up for a ride the following day in the free time between the morning and evening sessions and ray and i went back to our room more than a little excited, anticipating a day of riding hogs while "the ladies" (what we took to calling the non-motorcycle-riding preachers) played golf.
the next day, after the morning session, we met up outside the lodge with what turned out to be a serious group of bikers covered in black leather everything - chaps, jackets, boots, gloves - and straddling chromed out two-wheeled symbols of serious cultural rebellion. are these guys holiness preachers?
without much conversation we strapped on helmets, pushed dark sunglasses back on our faces and thundered out past guys in plaid pants who were lugging big bags of gulf clubs (metal rods that each wear tiny fuzzy sweaters with numbers on them).
what happened to me - to all of us - throughout the hours that followed was subtle at first, hardly noticeable. while my ministry colleagues and i were riding, we were connecting - deeply. those few short hours riding together and the "celebration" meal we all shared afterward (thanks again for the steak, rich) resulted in the most authentic community i have ever experienced. it was so good to be real and to be known. it was amazing to be pentecostal and riding harley-davidsons with other pentecostal preachers.
one of my biggest regrets is that i didn't get a picture of all of us together. i did manage to take a few shots of the postcard scenery that surrounded us on all sides - the misty mountains, placid lakes and meandering streams that absorbed the rumble of so many chrome pipes even as our shiny metal machines went gliding furtively across miles of pavement and between snaking yellow lines.
by the end of day three of our retreat we found two more ministers who had bikes (one of them a missionary and the other a church planter) which brought our total to eight riders (five of us church planters and two of us former church planters and one guy doing college ministry).
I can't believe how much fun a bunch of pentecostal pastors had doing what most of our colleagues shake their heads at (and, i think, secretly wish they could do themselves). It was great.
Ray, Rich, Mark, Tim, Nancy, Sam, Wes, it was a pleasure riding with you.
only I didn’t play golf … because i was able to talk another church planter friend of mine (ray cowell) into riding out to the retreat center with me on our motorcycles. i had in mind that we would just ride through the nearby rocky gap state park during our free time.
now, ray has a new bike, a honda vtx 1800. in other words, an import - a not made in the usa motorcycle, a metric cruiser. okay, okay, so it's faster than what i was riding - an hd electra-glide classic. anyway, when we got to the retreat center we were surprised to see a few other bikes in the parking lot - harleys, in fact. "but, they couldn't possibly belong to any pentecostal preachers. harleys and holiness preachers? " that's what i was thinking though i had heard rumors.
as it turned out, after the evening session that first night, ray and i met four other bikers (yes, pentecostal minister bikers) who indeed had felt compelled to ride their bikes to the retreat. this was amazing; those bikes did belong to other ministers after all - pentecostal bikers - go figure.
plans were made to hook up for a ride the following day in the free time between the morning and evening sessions and ray and i went back to our room more than a little excited, anticipating a day of riding hogs while "the ladies" (what we took to calling the non-motorcycle-riding preachers) played golf.
the next day, after the morning session, we met up outside the lodge with what turned out to be a serious group of bikers covered in black leather everything - chaps, jackets, boots, gloves - and straddling chromed out two-wheeled symbols of serious cultural rebellion. are these guys holiness preachers?
without much conversation we strapped on helmets, pushed dark sunglasses back on our faces and thundered out past guys in plaid pants who were lugging big bags of gulf clubs (metal rods that each wear tiny fuzzy sweaters with numbers on them).
what happened to me - to all of us - throughout the hours that followed was subtle at first, hardly noticeable. while my ministry colleagues and i were riding, we were connecting - deeply. those few short hours riding together and the "celebration" meal we all shared afterward (thanks again for the steak, rich) resulted in the most authentic community i have ever experienced. it was so good to be real and to be known. it was amazing to be pentecostal and riding harley-davidsons with other pentecostal preachers.
one of my biggest regrets is that i didn't get a picture of all of us together. i did manage to take a few shots of the postcard scenery that surrounded us on all sides - the misty mountains, placid lakes and meandering streams that absorbed the rumble of so many chrome pipes even as our shiny metal machines went gliding furtively across miles of pavement and between snaking yellow lines.
by the end of day three of our retreat we found two more ministers who had bikes (one of them a missionary and the other a church planter) which brought our total to eight riders (five of us church planters and two of us former church planters and one guy doing college ministry).
I can't believe how much fun a bunch of pentecostal pastors had doing what most of our colleagues shake their heads at (and, i think, secretly wish they could do themselves). It was great.
Ray, Rich, Mark, Tim, Nancy, Sam, Wes, it was a pleasure riding with you.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
what is a pentecostal anyway?
people (inside and outside of the church) have been asking that question for a long time. as a teen i never knew what to say when people would ask me about this. i remember telling them, "were a protestant church (though, not even sure what that meant) and, well, we're kind of like baptists." most people seemed to know what baptists were even though i really didn't know much about their church. i did know that the baptist church and our church had a lot of the same basic beliefs but mostly i knew they were more readily accepted by people than we were. this answer kept me from having to go into the "tongues" thing in the middle of parties or explain that, "no, we don't handle snakes or drink poison in our church."
it did make things weird, though, when i would bring a friend to church. i remember thinking (praying), "oh please don't let sister blue hair give her weekly message in tongues this week, oh please, oh please." of course, she always did. not that i didn't believe in what sister blue hair was doing it's just that my friends usually had no idea it was coming and i had no idea how to prepare them for it. how it would turn out, you never knew for sure. some of my friends freaked at what they heard and saw at our church and others said they were able to feel God for the first time in their lives.
as i think back over all my experience growing up in the pentecostal tradition i wonder how much of what we saw and did was simply cultural. i don't mean that our pneumatology in itself was cultural but maybe most of our expressions and our explanations and possibly even our means of engaging the Spirit were greatly influenced by the cultural and historical context from which pentecostalism was birthed.
as acts2 people we have had a tendency to try and recreate the circumstances of a move of God. whenever there is any kind of "outpouring" at a particular church we are a little too eager to build a model out of it and hold seminars about it and write a book about how it was "done." but even all of the more current moves of God seem to look amazingly like the azusa street revival meetings where it all began (there is even a group of folks meeting near asuza street who are praying for the same "fire" to fall as it did in 1906-1909) .
what i'm wondering is if our tendency to hold onto history (which is not bad in iteslf) is so closely tied to our way of seeking a move of God that we can't conceive of the Spirit causing people to act in any other way than what we have experienced. in other words, how much of the pentecostal church is simply cultural and how much of it is truly a reflection of the Spiritlife?
it did make things weird, though, when i would bring a friend to church. i remember thinking (praying), "oh please don't let sister blue hair give her weekly message in tongues this week, oh please, oh please." of course, she always did. not that i didn't believe in what sister blue hair was doing it's just that my friends usually had no idea it was coming and i had no idea how to prepare them for it. how it would turn out, you never knew for sure. some of my friends freaked at what they heard and saw at our church and others said they were able to feel God for the first time in their lives.
as i think back over all my experience growing up in the pentecostal tradition i wonder how much of what we saw and did was simply cultural. i don't mean that our pneumatology in itself was cultural but maybe most of our expressions and our explanations and possibly even our means of engaging the Spirit were greatly influenced by the cultural and historical context from which pentecostalism was birthed.
as acts2 people we have had a tendency to try and recreate the circumstances of a move of God. whenever there is any kind of "outpouring" at a particular church we are a little too eager to build a model out of it and hold seminars about it and write a book about how it was "done." but even all of the more current moves of God seem to look amazingly like the azusa street revival meetings where it all began (there is even a group of folks meeting near asuza street who are praying for the same "fire" to fall as it did in 1906-1909) .
what i'm wondering is if our tendency to hold onto history (which is not bad in iteslf) is so closely tied to our way of seeking a move of God that we can't conceive of the Spirit causing people to act in any other way than what we have experienced. in other words, how much of the pentecostal church is simply cultural and how much of it is truly a reflection of the Spiritlife?
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
i was a teenage pentecostal
as a guy who has grown up in the classical pentecostal church i'm getting started with this blog probably more than anything as a sort of "soul therapy." i guess what i'm trying to do is work out the postmodern implications of living not only the Christlife as a product of the modern church but also as one who has embraced the Spiritlife. i'm beginning to get a picture, foggy as it still is, of the "new kind of christian" that will inhabit the church but i wonder how acts2 people will fit into this "church on the other side." i don't really hear anyone talking about this. there are probably a few folks in this conversation but i don't know of any.
anyway, i kind of feel like a quarterback who just threw an interception. all i can do is helplessly look on as everyone goes running in the other direction, and hope i don't get clobbered in the process. the church is changing "direction" again and i want to be a part of what's happening but i appear to be on the wrong team. it's no big deal, as pentecostals we're pretty used to that kind of thing. i was just hoping that the emerging church would be past the idea of separate teams.
the funny thing is, we have always embraced the imminence of God. you want experience? we got it baby! we've never been afraid of that. and the truth is we have always had a good handle on the theology behind our experience though we have been accused otherwise. we simply didn't feel compelled to codify everything or create pneumatology text books (except that we are doing more of that nowadays). we just shared our acts2 stories (and, subsequently, our theology) in community.
anyway, as for me, i have experienced the Presence. i'm one of "those" people who speaks in "tongues." i have felt the rush of his spirit like a river flooding the church building - divine healing, dreams, visions, prophetic insight - all those things have been and continue to be a part of my experience. and what i'm wondering is this; am i going to be more accepted in the postmodern world than i have been in the modern one we're all leaving behind? if so, bring it on!
well, i have a bunch of other questions too but before i get to those i'm hoping to churn up some dialogue on the subject because I wonder who else is feeling out of place. i wonder who else in my particular tribe (assemblies of god) may be involved in this same process. i wonder what the pentecostal church will look like on the other side.
anyway, i kind of feel like a quarterback who just threw an interception. all i can do is helplessly look on as everyone goes running in the other direction, and hope i don't get clobbered in the process. the church is changing "direction" again and i want to be a part of what's happening but i appear to be on the wrong team. it's no big deal, as pentecostals we're pretty used to that kind of thing. i was just hoping that the emerging church would be past the idea of separate teams.
the funny thing is, we have always embraced the imminence of God. you want experience? we got it baby! we've never been afraid of that. and the truth is we have always had a good handle on the theology behind our experience though we have been accused otherwise. we simply didn't feel compelled to codify everything or create pneumatology text books (except that we are doing more of that nowadays). we just shared our acts2 stories (and, subsequently, our theology) in community.
anyway, as for me, i have experienced the Presence. i'm one of "those" people who speaks in "tongues." i have felt the rush of his spirit like a river flooding the church building - divine healing, dreams, visions, prophetic insight - all those things have been and continue to be a part of my experience. and what i'm wondering is this; am i going to be more accepted in the postmodern world than i have been in the modern one we're all leaving behind? if so, bring it on!
well, i have a bunch of other questions too but before i get to those i'm hoping to churn up some dialogue on the subject because I wonder who else is feeling out of place. i wonder who else in my particular tribe (assemblies of god) may be involved in this same process. i wonder what the pentecostal church will look like on the other side.
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