Thy vote be done

Posted by & filed under Current Affairs, Religion, Weblogs.

“By my power kings govern, and rulers make laws that are fair. Every honest leader rules with help from me” (Proverbs 8:15-16 CEV).

We voted and we have our new president elect. Regardless of how we voted, as Christians our duty now is to support our new president and pray for him.

When I voted this past Tuesday, I prayed a little prayer as I punched my vote onto the touch screen, “Lord, here is my will, here is who I think should be president, but your will be done.”

You see, I’ve learned that human effort can’t cause God’s Kingdom to come. That certainly includes the efforts of presidents, senators, and judges. These human leaders are important and what they believe is important, but only God can make His Kingdom come.

I’ve also learned that God’s will is better than mine. I’m learning to prefer His will to mine because I’ve tried mine already. And it turned out badly.

I want to be careful as I navigate this gray area between my will and God’s. If I am too quick to share my opinion as a pastor, I risk the prophetic voice that God has given me (and every Christian pastor). For this reason, I believe that the Church should be very careful about hitching its wagon to a political party or individual. You see, I believe the Church is the most important, influential, and powerful institution on the planet. Why should we negate or water down our message and influence by our connection to human kings? We are ambassadors for the coming King, King Jesus!

This past week I’ve heard quite a spectrum of responses to the election. Some have said they were sad, some said they were disappointed and afraid. But others were elated beyond description. They spoke of this “historic” election with pride in their voice and tears in their eyes.

One conversation that I found particularly poignant was with my friend, Rev. Alonzo Braggs. Alonzo is the pastor of Bethel AME Zion Church in Statonsburg, NC. He is also the president of the local NAACP. I have worked with Alonzo on the board of the Wilson County Ministers Association and on the board of directors of the Youth of Wilson, a mentoring program for troubled children in Wilson County. I was so impressed with his leadership and faithfulness to Christ, that I nominated him to replace me as president of the WCMA several years ago. He became the first black minister to be president of the WCMA (Wilson County has two ministers groups. One, the WCMA, has been historically, a predominantly white ministers group. The second, the Wilson Ministers Alliance, has been predominately black.).

Yesterday, Alonzo asked me, “Well, my brother Gary, how do you feel about our new president elect?”

“I am praying for him.” I replied. “He faces many challenging problems and he will need God’s help.”

“I am glad to hear you say that.” He responded. “I heard Dr. Dobson say on the radio this morning that he was grieved by the outcome of the election. I have always thought the world of Dr. Dobson. Why do you think he would say something like that?” He asked.

“I don’t know.” I replied, feeling the pressure of representing how some white evangelicals might feel about the election. “Alonzo, what matters most to me is that the person on the Throne of Heaven has not changed. He is still the same. I still report to King Jesus and He tells me that I’m supposed to pray for those He places in authority over me.”

“Amen to that.” Alonzo enthusiastically replied.

As we walked to our cars in the Wilson Medical Center parking lot, I thought how much more important my friendship to Alonzo is than my political point of view. I couldn’t hold my political opinions so loosely if I felt they offered real solutions. But I don’t.

I am concerned about those who believe that President elect Obama can deliver on all that he has promised, or live up to all their expectations. I know that he can’t. No man could.

That’s why I believe that God’s will is best. That’s why I’m praying, “Lord, not my vote, but your vote be done.”

I rendered unto Caesar today

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“And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s” (Luke 20:25 KJV).

I rendered, I mean, I voted today. The lines weren’t that long at the local fire station where I’ve been going to vote for the past 20 years. I like seeing all the people out doing their civic duty. It was raining, but the lines were short and we were in and out in less than 15 minutes.

Robin and I went together along with all three of our grown children. We’ve voted together the last two presidential elections. It’s like the Combs’ Clan shows up en masse and you know, votes as a bloc. Our three other children (our children’s spouses) all voted early. So, the Combs family did their duty for this election.

There’s this “both/and” tension between being a US citizen and a citizen of the Kingdom of God. As I carry out Jesus’ instruction to “render unto Caesar” I vote for the person I believe is most qualified. I hope he wins.

But as I “render unto God” I am reminded that He commands that I pray for those in authority over us. So, regardless of who wins (and absent hanging chads, we should know by tomorrow) I am to pray for them.

Human presidents and governments are never the final answer anyway. I am ultimately a Kingdom citizen.  As such, I already know who will be on the Throne tomorrow.

Taking the church to the streets

Posted by & filed under Religion, Weblogs.

David Apple with sign

“Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find” (Matthew 22:9 NIV).

We took the church to the streets this past weekend in Wilson! We participated in Wilson’s 4th Annual Whirlygig Festival where more than 22,000 people attended.

We sold baked goods that our ladies made and raffled off a Cracker Barrel rocking chair. We are giving all of the proceeds to the Hope Station, Wilson’s local non profit food pantry. We decided that if we were going to raise money in Wilson that we should give it back to the people in Wilson who really need it most.

The big hit of the weekend was our “free hairpainting.” We had people lined up out into the street for the privilege of sporting red and purple and other colors along with plenty of glitter (Perhaps you can notice that Robin got into the act too in this photo. They tried to get me into it too, but I insisted that the Lord had already begun adding a new silver color to my hair.).

After working the booth from 10 AM until 5 PM on Saturday and again from Noon to 5 PM on Sunday (Along with our usual dual Sunday services) we were all pretty tired. But it was a good kind of tired. You know, the kind of tired you feel when you’ve worked hard serving others.

On Monday and Tuesday we took our unsold baked goods and gave them to the Wesley Shelter for Battered Women and the Hope Station. They were so excited to get these great homemade, gourmet breads from us.

It was a great weekend. Maybe we should take the church to the streets more often.

Inviting the Kingdom to come

Posted by & filed under Religion, Weblogs.

“Thy Kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10 KJV).

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” (Matthew 13:31-32 NIV).

The message that Jesus preached more than any other was the message of the Kingdom. In Matthew’s gospel it was the “Kingdom of heaven.” In Mark and Luke it was the “Kingdom of God.” Both are references to the same. The first spoke more to a Jewish audience and the second to the rest of the world. Jesus brought us the message of the Kingdom and He gives us this message to proclaim.

Jesus spoke of a Kingdom that was near, here, and coming. Essentially, the Kingdom came with the coming of the King. So, where is the Kingdom? Is it near? Is it here? Or is it coming? Well, it depends. It depends on Jesus. Where is Jesus in your life? Because wherever Jesus is King the Kingdom has come. You can’t have a kingdom without a king. Is Jesus King in your life? If He is, then the Kingdom has come to you.

Jesus talked about the Kingdom being like a seed that grows into a tree. We have always used a tree as our church logo. Our current logo attempts to illustrate our vision statement: “Growing a Family of Christ Followers.” The logo is a family throwing up their hands in praise, but they are also representative of a tree producing its leaf in season.

This weekend we’re taking the church family downtown to run a booth at the Wilson Whirlygig Festival. What we’re doing is part of our calling to be messengers and ambassadors of King Jesus. Since Jesus is King in our hearts, wherever we go, the Kingdom goes.

This weekend we’re inviting the Kingdom to come to downtown Wilson.

College roomates and gospel partners

Posted by & filed under Religion, Weblogs.

Mark and Gary

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” Philippians 1:3-6 (NIV).

I got a call from my old college roomate, Mark Brantley, this week. He was back in the States after several years working in Russia and the Ukraine for our Father.

“Hey Gary!” He said, as I opened my cell phone to the unknown number on my caller ID.

“Mark!” I replied, immediately recognizing his voice. We were roomates our sophomore year at Radford University. Even though over 30 years had passed, I still knew that Southhampton County, Virginia accent of his.

“I want to come spend the night with you and Robin and catch up.” He continued.

“Come on down. We’d love to see you.” I replied. “As long as you don’t mind going to my small group that night.”

“Great. I’d love to go to your group.” He answered.

This wasn’t the first time I’d asked him to go somewhere with me. In fact, when he came to our small group on Wednesday night, I asked him to give his testimony. He told us how I’d asked him to go to a Campus Crusade meeting one night during our Sophomore year. He agreed on the condition that I’d go to a coffee house with him later (Mark wasn’t a believer yet and he and I were negotiating… you know… I’ll go to your boring Christian thing if you’ll go to my fun party thing.).

Mark went on to share with our group how he came to Christ that night. Mark told us how God had saved him. He told us many powerful things about his journey. And finally, how God had called him to reach out to the people of Ukraine and Russia.

As Mark talked, tears began to form in my eyes and my throat choked up. I was moved. I sat there in that living room listening to what God had done in my brother’s life and thanking God for the privilege of allowing us to cross paths as boys and now again as men.

I thank God for Mark. I praise God with joy because of the partnership He has given us through Christ.  You can’t imagine how sweet this partnership is… unless you’ve experienced it.

Orange aprons and the metrics of success

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I spent over a decade working in the corporate world before becoming a pastor, so I still like to stay informed. I recently read an article in Fortune magazine entitled, “Home Depot’s Total Rehab” that I found facinating. The article’s subtitle says, “First the customers revolted, then housing went into freefall. Time to slash and burn — unless you’re CEO Frank Blake, who thinks an army of orange aprons will save the day.”

“Orange aprons?” How can they save the day? Well, they can if they are worn by enthusiastic and motivated employees who make customers feel great about shopping at Home Depot. And that’s the point of this article. According to cofounder, Marcus Blank, “It was a religion at Home Depot that customers had to be happy.”

But after years of success, Home Depot had lost it’s “religion.” They hired a former GE executive as CEO to “bring scale and organization” to a company that had outgrown its entrepreneurial roots.

He introduced a new set of metrics for success. He led them to improve infrastructure and data systems. He centralized buying and merchandising. He slashed in-store payroll to lower expenses. Store managers were suddenly measured on a bewildering array of metrics, such as hourly labor rate. But none of these metrics related to customer service.

For several years the new strategy worked. Earnings per share more than doubled, driven by cost savings and centralized operations. But then, things began to turn downward. Customers, disatisfied with poor service, began to revolt (For evidence, type “I hate Home Depot” into Google). Employees, demoralized by the cutting of hours and the lack of emphasis on in-store leadership, began to leave. Home Depot was in trouble.

Now, a new CEO is trying to lead the company back to its original mission. He has cut labor in the central office in order to put dollars back into more “aprons” on the salesfloor. He often visits stores wearing an orange apron himself. He wants Home Depot to get its “customers come first” religion back. He wants to change the metrics for success back to customer service, professional advice, and in-store sales.

As I read this article I thought, “What are the metrics for success for our church?” It’s so easy to get caught up in building our own infrastructure. We look at attendance and giving. We count how many attend small groups. We try to save money by cutting costs and being frugal.

All these metrics are OK I suppose, but are they the true metrics for success?  I’m thinking that a better metric might be, “How many people are we leading to follow Christ in such a committed way that they are surrendering their lives to His service?”

In other words, how many people at WCC are wearing “orange aprons?”

Together at Catalyst

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Robin and I are in Atlanta this week with several WCC members at the Catalyst Conference. The theme this year is “Together.” We’ve certainly experienced a lot of togetherness these last two days. There was the 7 hour road trip, the hotel (with the funny smell and not enough sheets or towels), the rain, the traffic, the crowd… well, you get the idea. It took a lot of work to just be together at this conference.

We’ve heard some great speakers and experienced some great worship together. Tonight, we sat in rocking chairs at the local Cracker Barrel and “unpacked” our day together. I asked every member of our team to share their biggest “takeaway” of the day. Wow, what a rich conversation we had as each person, often with tear filled eyes, talked about how God had touched them.

Together. That’s the way God works through us. Life is just better together.

WCC’s first CD almost complete

Posted by & filed under Music, Religion, Weblogs.

We just finished our final touches on the studio recording for our first worship CD. My son, Stephen, has done a fantastic job as the producer on this project. He has spent 2 to 3 nights a week for the last 3 months at the Barton College studio. He actually wrote 12 of the 13 songs on the CD. I’m really proud of him and his Stedfast worship team. They have all worked very hard.

They even asked me to lay down one of my songs as a bonus track. So, last week I was in there recording a song I wrote some years ago called “Show Me Thy Ways.”

Now, we send the CD off to be mastered and reproduced. We’re planning to have them ready for purchase by December 1st.

I am praying that these songs will be a blessing to the Body of Christ.

Tattoos, tribes and true community

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“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42 (NIV)

What makes a true community?

People use the word community to describe all sorts of social groups. But what constitutes a “true” (real, authentic, fully realized) community? If we are born into the same race or family, does our membership in the same tribe equal true community? What if we wear the same colors, tattoo our bodies, endure the same initiation, does our gang become a true community? What makes a true community?

Psychologist and author, Scott Peck, says that most people have only experienced true community in accidental ways and that usually during crisis. He says that most groups that people think of as communities are really just “pseudo-communities.” He believes that true community requires going through a four stage process of deepening relationships and connection.

These four stages are:

  1. Pseudo-community: Where participants are “nice with each other”, playing-safe, and presenting what they feel is the most favourable sides of their personalities.
  2. Chaos: When people move beyond the inauthenticity of pseudo-community and feel safe enough to present their “shadow” selves.
  3. Emptiness: This stage moves beyond the attempts to fix, heal and convert of the chaos stage, when all people become capable of acknowledging their own woundedness and brokenness, common to us all as human beings. Out of this emptiness comes
  4. True community: the process of deep respect and true listening for the needs of the other people in this community. This stage Peck believes can only be described as “glory” and reflects a deep yearning in every human soul for compassionate understanding from one’s fellows.

Peck’s description of true community as the “deep yearning in every human soul” is what drives us to tattoo ourselves and identify with tribes. We all have a deep desire for true community.

I think God made us that way. He made us relational. He made us to be in relationship with Him and with others. That’s why Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God and to love others as ourselves. In other words, God designed us to be in true community with HIm and with HIs people.

As I look at any community that approaches the level of being “true,” they always seem to have certain traits in common. The first century church described in the book of Acts was certainly a “true community.” They had four traits in common. These four traits or “devotions” were the apostle’s teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. Restated, they might be 1) a common belief, 2) a common identity, 3) a common practice, and 4) a common dependence.

This past Wednesday I gathered with my weekly WCC Community Group. After the loss of my wife’s father last week, our family was in need of some “true community.” We gathered in a member’s home to read the Scripture together, eat together, laugh, talk, and pray. They (and many others in our wonderful church) brought meals to our home. They filled our house with flowers and cards. They phoned and emailed their words of comfort.

True community. I think I’ve found it.

A great generation passes

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“This is the generation of them that seek Him…”  Psalm 24:6 (KJV)

My wife’s father, Garmon Whitfield Conner, passed away this past Wednesday. He died suddenly of a heart attack. Our family is in shock.

As I sit in a Roanoke hotel room writing this entry, I can’t help but think about how much I’ll not only miss him, but the generation he represents. Garmon (or Papaw as we called him after the grandkids came) was part of the “Builder” generation. They were the ones who gave birth to us “baby boomers.” They are the ones who built and planted much of what we now enjoy.

Yesterday, we spent the evening at Garmon’s house. We walked around the house and land he worked so hard to make into a home. His two acres, covered with fruit trees, grapevines, and gardens, all reflect the labor he spent and the dream he had for a home. September in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia means that a lot of those trees and vines are ripe with fruit. We enjoyed tasting peaches, pears, grapes and Virginia apples.

“Where did Papaw get all these different trees and plants?” My son Jonathan asked.  “Were they here when he bought the place?” He continued.

“No, I remember him planting some of these.” I answered, as I reflected on the 31 years I’d been coming there. “The truth is no one eats an apple from a tree they planted. We all enjoy the fruit of an earlier generation. Papaw planted these trees, but we get to eat their fruit.” I said.

The photo above is a favorite of mine. The look on his face is classic. Whoever took the photo probably asked him to look their way as they took the picture.

My guess is that he gave that look, as he said something like, “Can’t you see I’m busy cooking you supper?”

The look was just his way of joking. He was always ready to give. He was part of the great generation.

I plan to remember him by telling my kids and grandkids about his generation’s willingness to sacrifice. I also hope to lead them to seek after the Lord the way he did too.

I’ll miss Garmon Whitfield Conner. His initials are the same as mine, GWC. I’ve often kidded my wife that she was looking for a man who had the same initials as her father.

I hope I have more in common with him than that.