Bible Stories You Probably Didn't Hear In Sunday School: Be Bold

I’ve got to warn you, we’re starting a new worship series at the Village. We are going to focus on the “Bible Studies You Probably Didn’t Hear in Sunday School”. So, we’re going to be going into sometimes uncharted, sometimes controversial territory. I know, dear frequent readers, you’re shocked (“sarcasm hand in the air” is what we say when we’ve said something sarcastic like that and are not sure people know we are using sarcasm).

Our Bible story this week is from the Book of Jeremiah. The Israelites were on the verge of being conquered, AGAIN. Surprisingly, as God’s chosen people, they do spend a lot of time losing (then again so do the Lions, Bengals, Browns, Indians, Tigers, etc so were used to rooting for the frequent loser around these parts).

This time, they were about to be conquered by the latest, big, bad boys on the block, the Babylonians. Jeremiah was a prophet, or as Lupina put it so well last week, one of God’s Blackberries (sending us messages, trying to keep us on track, etc). He knew the Israelites were going to lose and be taken into exile. Yet, when he was given the chance to buy the family farm he did. He knew that life was going to return to that place, that homes, farms, vineyards would be rebuilt. As a bold move of witness to that future, he bought the land.

Jeremiah’s act not resonating with you. Imagine that Canada is not our friendly neighbor to the north, but a superior enemy, snarling on the leash keeping it from overrunning us. As you hear on CNN that they will be invading and taking us to work in Canada, you’re given the opportunity to buy the ancestral family farm in Waterville. The world’s wisdom, is that you need to get out of Northwest Ohio as quick as possible with all the money & things you can carry. But God wisdom, sent to you in visions, is that we’ll be back and someone needs to make a grand show of faith in that. God’s logic is not always our logic.

Kristen & Misty are friends from our old church, Central UMC. They were married years ago. For their honeymoon, they did not do any of the typical things; no cruise, no tropical beach, no shopping get away. Nope, they spent their honeymoon at an orphanage in Africa helping care for babies & children with AIDS. They love kids, having careers working with kids, and they could think of no greater express of their new commitment.

They subsequently left town for school and work, moving to Nashville. As they settled in, they followed their calling and adopted a child. Then came a second child. Then came a third, single child. Now, the logic of our world might be that would be enough. Even with one working, one stay at home Mom, that should be enough However, these two are just not guided by our logic. So, when they were called about adopting a group they loving call “The Fab Five” a group of five siblings, they didn’t really pause.

Adding five kids, all with special needs, in need of a special home, is not the logic of our world. But thankfully, it’s Kristen & Misty’s logic. Common sense would be to take your time in adding five to a family, but again, God’s logic is not our own, and this eight child family that Cheri got to visit on a recent trip, is thriving together. Then again, our friends tend not to follow what is thought of as “common sense”.

Our friend Mike Slaughter is the pastor of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, just north of Dayton. When Mike came to Ginghamsburg, there were about seventy members and they had just gotten indoor plumbing in the decade before his arrival. Mike was fresh out of school and ready to change the world. He definitely was not looking for the little country church in the farm fields north of Dayton as his place to start.

Mike tells a story of going out into the field and praying, something to the effect of God get me out of here, NOW. Mike says God’s response was something like fine get me a few thousand people worshiping here, and you can go. Mike made a series of bold moves, some growing the church, some temporarily shrinking the church, but in the end, thousands indeed came to Ginghamsburg, and still do. Bold moves often result in bold changes. A group of us from the Village will be traveling to Ginghamsburg later this year so we can learn from their successes and failures.

But Mike and the Ginghamsburg Community’s boldest move was yet to come. They were poised to create their mega sanctuary. At present, to get to the thousands in attendance mark, they have five worship services at their main campus, along with many others elsewhere. Don’t get me wrong, the current site is huge and holds hundreds at once, also including a youth center that is larger than anything this side of Cedar Creek in Toledo. But they were ready to take the next, big step with a huge space. But they didn’t. God had different ideas for the church.

They said no to spending millions on a new facility and focused on creating more, smaller worship experiences. At the time, they weren’t exactly sure why. They decided to focus on people, not a building. Later they found a reason why, the Sudan and specifically the Darfur region. Darfur, for those of you who don’t know, is a region in Africa that was once it’s own independent region, but is now part of Sudan. It is in the midst of an over six year, very bloody and dangerous war. As you can imagine, if an area is in the midst of a war, the state of the people is not good.

Until recently, there was no United Methodist presence in Darfur. But Ginghamsburg set it’s sites on that problem. They began a series of Christmas campaigns reminding everyone that Christmas is not our birthday’s but Jesus’ Thanks to that, and at least in part the decision to focus on people not building they have raised unbelievable amounts of money. But they went beyond that. Lots of churches use checkbooks to fix problems. Mike takes teams over there every year. This is a very dangerous place to be, but Mike doesn’t follow the wisdom of our world, but God’s. Thanks to that, there are thousands of people alive today who would not be otherwise. Then again, thanks to a team from Ginghamsburg, we were able to open the Village on time too, so they don’t just help overseas.

You might think the Village is a bold move, but it’s not Cheri’s and my first. We’ve taken several chances in our marriage, starting a new church from scratch, starting a new worship service with five hundred dollars and a handful of volunteers. But the one most like Jeremiah’s was in Cheri serving Central UMC. Central United Methodist in Toledo is over one hundred years old. In it’s hey day, over 750 attended worship at Central in a weekend. But, unlike the other UMC in the neighborhood, Central did not move with it’s population. It stayed in the neighborhood. In 1999 it was in need of a turn around pastor as 750 was down to a faithful few dozen who thought that the news of a new pastor meant their closing.

Cheri was ready for a change, not because she didn’t love her prior church, but because she was very pregnant with our first child Becca and wanted to go to less than full time in the town in which I worked. In exchange for a 40%+ pay cut, Cheri was going become the pastor at Central. Beyond a new job, adding a child, we were also going to buy a home. This while my job was in upheaval, I’m talking lawsuits to determine if my firm continued or not. So, off we went to our first introduction as a couple (in the United Methodist Church, you are appointed by the Bishop to your next church. The church and the Pastor are introduced. As the Bishop and their advisors have prayed long and hard, you don’t say no, generally).

As we arrived at the District Superintendent Bob Ball’s home, he and his wife would take us to the church to meet it’s leaders, he met us at his door. Bob said words that made mine and Cheri’s heart sink. “They’ve just faxed me their budget for next year and I’m deeply troubled by it” are not words you want to hear as you are about to buy a house, have a child, and deal with a possible job transition for the other spouse. Bob continued with “I’m not sure how they plan on paying your salary”. So, now, as we played with my paycheck, added a child, and a mortgage, we could be losing her greatly reduced check.

To make things more exciting, we went to the church and realized that the building we thought was Central was not Central but another church. Not the modern, accessible sanctuary we had mistakenly thought was Central. Finally, after a funny start to the introduction (where Cheri went to the bathroom, many months pregnant, leaving ½ of those present unsure whether I was the pastor to be or her), we got down to talking about Cheri taking over as the Pastor. Our friend Liz certainly sealed the deal of my fear by pointing out that the kids who attend the church’s after school tutoring program were reminded that the gangs colors came off when they came into the church. Did I mention these were elementary school kids and that the love of my life, mother of my soon to be first child, was going to have to be the director of that program for awhile to balance the budget?

Oh, yeah, and the house we were going to buy, was TWO blocks or so away from the elementary school where the gang colors had to come off. Yeah, get me out of this situation is what the world’s logic would say. Thankfully, we had just studied Jeremiah in a bible study Cheri and I were attending. God was setting me up, in a good way. So, when Cheri said, are you ready to make this happen, my answer was strangely “Yes”. I’m a personal risk taker, but spouse and child, well the word “overprotective” has been used about me.

Jeremiah, Mike & the Ginghamsburg community, Kristen & Misty didn’t do these amazing things on a human whim. All of them had these wonderful things given to them as ideas from God. Mike prayed in a field and elsewhere. Kristen & Misty not only prayed and studied, but they also acted and listened. Even Cheri & I were in a small group where the story from today came up.

Do you know what your bold thing might be? We have glimpses of our next big things as a community at the Village, but know our members and supporters will come up with more. And, of course, God likes to surprise us with new ones. If you don’t know what your next thing will be, get involved in a small group that prays and studies the Bible. We’ve got two starting on Wednesday January 20th. I will be hosting a drop in series using the TV show the West Wing to discuss issues of faith and morals. Kristen Taylor will be leading an Introductory Bible study. Come join us, and learn how God wants you to “Be Bold”.