Thoughts on Halloween, Darkness, Light, and Free Candy

I just got off the phone with a nice Christian woman who is grieving the loss of a loved one.

She thought that her loved one might be trying to contact her from the dead.  She had arranged for a spiritualist to come to her home and help her loved one to “cross over” to the light.

The woman–to whom I was speaking–is completely innocent.  No one had ever taught her about the dangers of spiritualism so she had no idea that she was about to open up her home to darkness.  We spoke for about an hour and she decided to cancel her appointment with the spiritualist.

During our discussion I directed her to the ministry of Ben Alexander: Exposing Satan’s Power (ESP Ministries).

Ben Alexander’s involvement in Spiritualism began at an early age when he was growing up in England, but became more and more profound, until he was fully practicing as a trance medium, believing that he was contacting the dead for beneficial purposes.

In 1964 he came to the United States to “stir up” Spiritualist activity here, but God used his coming for a totally different end. Ben was led to the Gospel of Christ!

His website contains a ton of great information for anyone who would like to know more about occults, psychics, Satanism, and spiritualism.

While on his site this morning I checked out what he had to say about Halloween.

At Journey Christian Church–like all Christians–we believe that Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12), so this year for Halloween we are taking the light of Jesus Christ to our community.  We have about 30 homes that are participating in what we are calling Light Night.  We believe that Halloween is a unique opportunity to share Christ with our neighbors.  Think about it….name another night of the year when most  of your neighbors will come to YOUR front door?  What a great opportunity to build meaningful relationships with our neighbors.

As Ben points out, October 31st is not evil in and of itself, but it is a night (just like any other night) that Satan wants to use for evil, but we (JCC) have other plans!  We are following Ben’s advice and turning a night of potential darkness into a night of powerful light.  We’ve prepared about 1,000 candy bags that contain candy (obviously), information on our Children’s Ministry, and a copy of the Gospel of John.  These bags will be handed out from homes that will be transformed into the “coolest–and best lit–homes on the block.”  We’ve asked our Light Night host homes to play Christian music, to give out good candy, to set up carnival-type games in their driveways and garages (that they can check-out from the Church or use their own), set up bounce-houses in their front yard, make popcorn, host costume-contests, hand out hot-cider, make cotton-candy, and so on. We want to set up things that will help us to get to know our neighbors so that we might help them to get to know Jesus (if they don’t already).

I understand that the multitude of people and little kids who will be out on Halloween are completely innocent and are probably–for the most part–completely unaware of the spiritual darkness in the origins of this holiday.  They just want to dress up and get free candy and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

I also understand that everyday (including Halloween) our enemy “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8) and that he’d love to use Halloween to spiritually devour as many people as he can, so I’m glad that we’re going to resist him tomorrow night by shining the light of Jesus as brightly as we can in every dark street of our community.

And I’m glad that free candy is involved, because there’s nothing wrong with free candy!

Check out My Most Recent Article: Why I Write Books

Recently I was asked to write an article answering the question: Why do you write books?

If you’d like to see my answer, click here:  My Article in the Christian Standard magazine

A great communion meditation: The Cat and Mouse Game

One of our core ministry leaders did a communion meditation last Sunday and I was so impacted by what he shared that I wanted to share it with you.  His name is Errol Schroeder and he’s a great thinker and writer.

I love his unique take on communion.

Here you go:

Have you ever come to church just looking for an excuse to quit? Probably not, but I have. And just in case that’s where you’re at right now, don’t leave now and say that God spoke to you during service telling you to quit church, because He didn’t.

Here’s how it goes for me…It starts early in the week. Things at the job aren’t going well. I’m grateful to have a job, but sometimes it seems like it’s really a secret CIA experiment to see just how much anguish the human soul can endure. Toss on the pile some kid or family issues. Pressurize it with personal finance dilemmas. Wed/Thurs, check out the news. The descent continues. It doesn’t seem like anyone in the government can do the right thing. Lack of accountability, greed, selfishness and entitlement attitudes rule the day. And world peace is nowhere on the radar, despite it being the prime directive of every beauty pageant contestant since time began.

By Friday I am seriously bummed out, so much so that I am thinking of doing something drastic… like starting to listen to country music.

Then it comes to me, I know, I’ll quit going to church. Oh yeah. That will show ‘em. I just need an excuse, justification by rationalization. Let’s see, I’ll go to church and it will be the same people who are always there. Then those kids in Uptown worship, they’ll be out of control and not pay attention. And worship in big church… they won’t do any songs that I think we should. And that preacher, he for sure will say something to tick me off, step on my toes. He just doesn’t understand my life. I don’t covet that car – I REALLY NEED it, (to bolster my self-esteem).

So Sunday morning I get up, get dressed, get my attitude on, get all bristled up for the big showdown. On the drive into church, Darlene will mandate that we listen to Christian music, something about me needing it. Yeah, whatever. Purely coincidental though, as we make the weekly pilgrimage from Windsor to Greeley, my deflector shields start to drop and I already know deep down inside that my issue isn’t with church; what it is is a separation from God. But that surely is God’s fault, not my own doing, or lack of doing.

And I get to church and sure enough, I see the same people who I see every week. And even though I may not speak with all of you, or even know all your names, just seeing you here gives me a sense of stability and correctness. And then in Uptown, what I thought would be annoying chaos is really youthful exuberance, pure energy, and one of the kids will say something and I realize that they are getting the message. And then off to big church and the “official” worship time. Maybe it’s a song that we’ve done a bunch of times before or a song that I’ve heard on the radio before but it catches me off guard. But most often it’s just the energy and sincerity of the worship that draws me in. And if I close my eyes at that moment, I can see Jesus standing there, leaning on the cross, arms crossed, kind of rolling his eyes and he says, “What are you doing? Why do we have to play this cat and mouse game? I paid too high of price for you to hold me at arm’s length, at your convenience, especially when you know that we’ll end up right here, together.”

Boom! There you have it; encounter and transformation. And it all culminates with this time of communion; a planned opportunity to “accidentally” stumble upon our Lord and spend some quality one on one time with Him. Maybe you’ve been communing with God all week, or maybe you’re like me and have to be tackled from behind; either way let’s take the next few moments to lay our woes and wonders at the foot of the cross and thank him for being there for us, both at the cross and now. And you know what, if the preacher man steps on my toes later, it’s because I need it and God knows it.

Prayer.

Jesus, let me pray for those like me, the hard-hearted and bull-headed. Thank you for taking a chisel to our minds and hearts to open us up to your love, your sacrifice and making us aware of your constant proximity.

*******

Amen, Errol.  Amen!

Importance of Relationships as Tool for Evangelism

My next book, Eats with Sinners, is set for release on November 20th.  I believe this book has the potential of helping Christians to reach countless people for Christ.

In my book I reintroduce the Church to Christ’s primary method for connecting with people: Eating with them.

Too many people view evangelism as an argument to be won, when it really should be viewed as a relationship to be built.

Two weeks ago I came across these stats that confirm the research I did for my book.

Question: How are most people led to Christ?

2%–Walk-in (to church building)

3-5%–Preacher (they like the preacher)

2-3%–Needs met by church

1%–Home visit

.001%–Crusade

90%–Invited by Friend

Evangelism is more about relationships than most of us seem to understand.

I pray that you’ll pick up a copy of my book at the nearest bookstore next month and learn what you can do to reach your friends for Christ.

Check Out Eats With Sinners Here

How we should obey God . . .

Our ministry intern Patrick Lightfoot spoke at Journey a couple of weeks ago.  He did a fantastic job!  He taught from the passage that describes how Abraham laid Isaac on the altar to sacrifice him for God.  Patrick explained how we should obey God by sharing three expectations he and his wife have for their kids when they are given an order.

Patrick and Hannah expect their kids to obey. . .

Quickly

Completely

& Cheerfully

(and God does too.)

If you’d like to hear his sermon (entitled Sacrifice Obediently) you can click here: Sacrifice Obediently

Shackleton’s Way of Getting the Group Through a Crisis

Shackleton’s Way of Getting the Group Through a Crisis:

1)      When crisis strikes, immediately address your staff. Take charge of the situation, offer a plan of action, ask for support, and show absolute confidence in a positive outcome.

2)      Get rid of unnecessary middle layers of authority. Direct leadership is more efficient in emergency situations.

3)      Plan several options in detail. Get a grasp of the possible consequences of each, always keeping your eye on the big picture.

4)      Streamline supplies and operations so they won’t slow you down.

5)      Give your staff an occasional reality check to keep them on course. After time, people will start to treat a crisis situation as business as usual and lose their focus.

6)      Keep your malcontents close to you. Resist your instinct to avoid then and instead try to win them over and gain their support.

7)      Defuse tension. In high stress situations use humor to put people at ease, and keep your staff busy.

8)      Let go of the past. Don’t waste time or energy regretting past mistakes or fretting over what you can’t change.

9)      Ask for advice and information from a variety of sources, but ultimately make decisions based on your own best judgment.

10)  Let all the people involved in the crisis participate in the solution, even if that means doling out some work that is less than vital.

11)  Be patient. Sometimes the best course of action is to do nothing but watch and wait.

12)  Give your staff plenty of time to get used to the idea of an unpopular decision by leaking details early.

Are we still of any use?

Found this great quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Are we still of any use?

We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretense; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical.  Are we still of any use?  What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straightforward men.  Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Reckoning made at New Year 1943

( Dietrich, Bonhoeffer, Letters & Papers From Prison. New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1997, pp.16-17)

Shackleton’s Way of Developing Individual Talent

I hope you find these helpful.  I only have a few more.  Blessings!

Shackleton’s Way of Developing Individual Talent:

1)      Create a work environment comfortable enough to entice professionals to spend the greater part their waking hours there. Allow for some personal preferences.

2)      Be generous with programs that promote the well-being of your staff. Healthy bodies and minds are more productive.

3)      Make sure each employee has challenging and important work. Even the lowest-ranking workers must feel they are making a valuable and appreciated contribution to the company.

4)      Match the person to the position. Be observant of the types people who are working for you and what jobs might best suit their personalities as well as their experience.

5)      Give consistent feedback on performance. Most workers feel they don’t get nearly enough words of praise and encouragement.

6)      Strive for work relationships that have a human as well as professional element. No matter how large your company, get to know as many employees as possible. Memorize their interests so you can chat about something other than work.

7)      Reward the individual as well as the group. Public acknowledgement of a job well done – a birthday or a work anniversary – will make an employee feel appreciated.

8)      Be tolerant. Know each employee’s strengths and weaknesses, and set reasonable expectations.  Occasionally indulging individuals, even if you think they’re being too needy, can have a powerful effect, especially in high-stress situations.

Free Communion

I spoke at a conference recently during which they had a special communion service.

A sweet young lady and her friend were finishing up filling the communion trays when my host and I walked into the kitchen.

When she saw us she asked (as she was holding up the excess grape juice), “Anyone want free communion?”

We said “No thanks” and continued on through the kitchen, but as I walked out of that kitchen I thought to myself, “Yes, there are a probably a bunch of people who would love free communion and I’m glad Jesus wasn’t one of them.”

Communion represents the body and blood of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that bought our salvation.

Jesus paid a high price for our salvation and I’m glad he did.

Salvation is free–to us–but discipleship is costly.  Are we willing to pay the price to maintain a life of intimate and faithful communion with Christ?

There seems to be a lot of people who want communion with Jesus without the cost–without having to pay a price for following Jesus.  They want a type of Christianity that doesn’t keep them from doing what they want to do, when they want to do it.  They want a type of Christianity that doesn’t require too much of them.  They want a type of Christianity that doesn’t cost them too much.

A lot of people seem to want Christianity without the cross, salvation without sacrifice, and life without loss but that’s not how it works.

There is no free communion with Christ.  It costs somebody something.

It costs us our time, our agendas, our attention, our will, our stuff, and ultimately our lives.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 16:24, 25,”If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

True communion with us cost Jesus his life.  It wasn’t free.

True communion with him will cost us our lives, too.  It’s not free.

Yes, there may be a lot of people who want free communion, but I’m thankful that Jesus wasn’t one of them.

Enjoying the Journey . . . Haitian Style!

An Elder from Journey and his daughter sent me this great picture.  Corrie is serving as a missionary in Haiti for the next 10 months.  We’re very proud of her.