Combat soldiers have left Iraq.  My friends from the 2nd ID are now in Kuwait on their way home.  There are 50,000 soldiers remaining in Iraq supporting Iraqi forces.  At the same time, most of the 101st Division is in the fight in Afghanistan along with other coalition forces.  This video is a great reminder of the soldiers who are there and those who are returning or have returned

Being on campus from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. may seem like an interesting way to earn a living, but David Fischer sees that as his job.

And, he is more interested in developing relationships that lead to presenting the gospel and developing disciples than in making living.

David is a missionary to the campus of Austin Peay State University.  He is connected with Bethel Community Church but he is responsible for raising his own support.

Spending just an hour listening to David talk about his passion for the outreach to the campus makes me wonder why I’m not doing more.

During the school year, David has a Sunday evening worship service on campus that draws at least 100 students each week.  Students at the Sunday night service break off into small groups that meet after the worship service or at other times during the week.

It is in those small groups that students develop relationships that lead to discipleship.  That is important because without the relationships, discipleship is nothing more than harassment, David observes.

David has a key leader and two apprentice leaders assigned to each small group.  Those are the primary ones David is pouring his life into.  He is constantly in contact with those leaders meeting with them regularly, but not micromanaging them.

David says the relationships he develops and those his leaders develop are key to their ability to draw students and spread the gospel on campus.

David believes that the world can be changed by reaching college students.  And, he is convinced that reaching Generation Next will happen by going to them, not by asking them to come to you.

And, David says, it’s all about relationships.   It is working for David.  Have you tried it?

There are no pews in the church; or, there is no church in the pews.  The church is not in the pews or in a building or in a location.  If church is the church, it is scattered.

For the past month, I have been forceful in comments about challenging the status quo, changing to meet the challenge of this generation and having the courage to make a difference.

I have been called to move from generalities to specifics.  This is my manifesto.

I speak of my own local church but the truths apply to the larger church in general.

I love my church.  I am committed to my church.  I am passionate about my church.  Consequently, I am ready and willing to fight for my church.

The enemy with the potential of bringing the church down is not outside the church.  The enemy is within.  The enemy is present from the pew to the pulpit.  We must identify, challenge and fight complacency, apathy and mediocrity wherever they occur.

Identifying and achieving the objective will require rocking the boat.  It will require speaking out.  It will require taking a stand.  Humility is essential.  Timidity is unacceptable.

Making the church what it needs to be will require getting out of the pews because church doesn’t have cushions.  Remember the First Century church — the one we say we are modeling? Do we see them sitting in pews?  We occasionally find them gathered, but we most often find them scattered, on the move and in action.  When we find the New Testament church arguing – and we do find them arguing – it is generally about practice and never about worship style, budgets, building plans or staff assignments.

Changing the church is not about changing the pastor or the staff.  Changing the church is about changing me.  My church will never be missional, relevant, radical, primal, engaging, piercing or exciting until I am.  So, change is about me.

I am a man of unclean lips.  I live among a people of unclean lips.  But, I believe.  God, help my unbelief.

I can’t determine what programs work for you or don’t work for you.  But, I can for me.

I’ve taught Sunday school for the last 500 years (give or take about 465 years) with the past six being a young adult class.  When my commitment ends in a few weeks for this Sunday school year, I am shifting my energies to a community group.  That decision was carefully weighed.  I’ll explain later.

I have mentored and counseled young men for a least the past 15 years.  Beginning in January, I will make that more intentional, purposeful and directed.  I have found a model I want to put in place.

Being the church requires being flexible.  It requires being open to change.  It isn’t regimented, scheduled or programmed.  It is frustrating, time consuming, exhausting and draining.  It requires lots of grace, acceptance and relationships.  It is short on legalism.

But, we won’t realize that as long as we sit in pews daydreaming through another sermon.   We discover that out there where there are no pews, no stained glass windows, and no schedules and where sermons are lived out.  And, it doesn’t depend on professional ministers.  It depends on professing ministers.  When you look carefully at the New Testament church, the ministers are those who profess to follow Christ.

Last week, I was asked when this new ship would show up.  My response was, “when we build it.”  It doesn’t involve a committee.  It doesn’t require a vote. It is not covered in the by laws.  It doesn’t need a budget allocation.  It requires passion. It’s time to get started.  Are you ready?

“The greatest churches in history are YET to be!  Will you pay the price of conflict and criticism to be used greatly by God?”

Last week, I retweeted that quote as a retweet from Rick Warren.  Retweeting a retweet is pretty risky.  But, I trusted both the tweet source and the retweet source.  And, I strongly agreed with the statement.  But, since I posted it, it has haunted me.

There have been some pretty awesome churches in history.  There are some pretty awesome churches around now.

Some of my friends in new emerging churches and new church plants insist that starting new is much easier than trying to change an existing structure.  I can’t disagree with them, but I still won’t give up on the potential for change in the traditional established church.

Yes, new churches can have significant impact if they persevere and get established.  But, I have to believe there will be a tremendous power if an older, established church can retool for ministry in the 21^st Century.  Think of the resources an established church can put into ministry if they will only catch a vision for reaching the 21^st Century.

I realize the frustration of trying to make the change.  I am painfully aware of the price of conflict and criticism.  But, I’m not sure I have been strongly committed to really making change happen.  Perhaps I have only been critical.

At times, I am convinced the ship is sinking.  I get disheartened when fellow strugglers lose hope and abandon ship or worse, stay on board and quit fighting for change.

But, I believe that in time, the ship can be righted.  It can be put on course.  It can come through with guns blazing.  And when it does, the sleeping giant will roar.

It is going to take a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of patience, a lot of conflict, and a lot of criticism.  Even so, I am convinced that an old, traditional, downtown church can regain relevance and significance.  It is worth it, for the glory of God.

News stories say it has been 28 years.  Dang, that was a long time ago.  But, it doesn’t seem that long ago.

There’s a parole hearing this week for David Frey who was convicted of the February 11, 1982, murder of APSU football player Rodney Wayne Long.  The parole hearing is bringing the story back to the surface after these many years.

I remember how hard we worked the story in the Leaf-Chronicle newsroom back in the day.  It fell on top of another high profile disappearance that turned out to be a kidnapping/murder as well.  Both stories were competing for news lead every day.

I remember one night running all the way up the hill from the police station to the third floor newsroom (OK, it was only one block) with a lead that was going to be the top story the next morning.  Now revered veteran reporter/editor/columnist Tim Ghianni and I shared a byline that next morning.  The headline seems hokey now – Wallet found – It’s Rodney’s.  That was the break almost three weeks after his disappearance that began to unravel the story of the 19-year-old promising college football player who simply left his dorm room late one night to get a burger and wound up encountering the wrong people.  He was never to return to his dorm room, his football team or his family.  His body was found face down in a snow-covered cornfield with a bullet in the back of his head.

Rodney Long would now be 47 now.  Who knows what he would have accomplished.  Would he have realized the gift of life he had been given and lived it to the fullest?  I was less than 10 years older than Rodney when he died.  Like Rodney, I don’t have a guaranteed life span that has been revealed to me. Do I seize the gift of life I’m given every day?  How about you?

In an eight-day span, I have attended three funerals.  I’ve attended my share of funerals in the last few years but this may be a record for me.   This grouping included an aunt, the father of a co-worker and a civic organization colleague.  The services ranged from Southern Baptist to Free Will Baptist to Catholic.

It was interested to see how, in different faiths, we deal with the inevitable reality of death.  Interestingly, in these three situations, the funeral services were celebrations of lives well lived.  Each of the individuals had lived long and full lives.  Each died suddenly and unexpectedly.

While the services were different, the focus of each was similar.  The Southern Baptist service leaned toward informal.  The Free Will Baptist service was in a small, rural country church with the burial service out back behind the church in the cold, biting February wind.  The Catholic service was filled with pageantry packed with symbolism.  Because he was aware of the percentage of non-Catholics in the service, Father Ed, who is also a colleague in the same civic organization, did an excellent job explaining the rituals to us.

Whether in the eulogy of the Southern Baptist service or the commendation of the Catholic service, each one focused on highlights of the individual’s life.

None of us are going to make it out of this world alive.  Whether you exit soon and abruptly or fade off into the sunset, somebody is going to have something to say at your service.  Are you living a life well enough to provide detail for a celebration?

There’s a group of young guys who think I have wimped out.  We were going backpacking today, but I pulled the plug. Against my nature, I said it’s too cold.  The high will hardly be above freezing and I just can’t see spending two nights on the trail without getting warm.

I introduced this group of high school guys to backpacking back in the fall. They have been eager to go back and this was to be the weekend.

I generally don’t back out when I get a chance to go.  I am increasingly drawn to the mountains, the wilderness and this one spot on Savage Gulf in particular.  I enjoy the camaraderie with peers when I can find them.   But, taking a group of young bucks like these guys is a special opportunity for mentoring.  There are easier ways to accomplish this, I know.  There is not much that beats a day of backpacking followed by an evening around a fire.

These are the adventures that build character and make a young man grow bold.  It’s a tough world out there.  A young man needs all the steel he can muster to stand strong.  I don’t know how it will help them in days ahead.  That’s not for me to see.

Tell me what things you use to toughen up those you get a chance to lead.

I don’t know that there is any choice but to persevere.  That was my response as a young brother attempted to affirm me last week.

We had taken the holiday break to check up on each other since he has been away at college and now grad school.  Somewhere, I missed the transition between his middle school years and now when I was constantly pouring into his life to where he is speaking truth into my life.

He has had opportunity to observe me for many years and critically evaluate how I have handled the rough waters of life.  By God’s grace, he saw something positive there.

As unappreciative as my response was, it does ring true.  As I have had time to analyze it more, I come to these classic John Newton lyrics:

“Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come.  T’was grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

Indeed, those of us following Christ are on a journey.   We have not reached a destination, nor will we until grace leads us home.  Until then, our best option is to persevere.  The journey will take us through many dangers, many detours, many pitfalls, many broken paths, but it is grace that will lead us through.

Arrogance heads us into the rocky shoals where we believe we have what it takes to navigate on our own.

Chris Tomlin dropped the dangers, toils and snares stanza from the John Newton classic in his praise song update.  But, his added lyrics are appropriate:

“My chains or gone, I’ve been set free.  My God, my Savior has ransomed me.  And like a flood, his mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace.

It is when we dive headlong into the river of grace that we have what it takes to persevere.

Some of us are crawling back to work the morning after a four-day holiday break.  Sleeping late or getting up early for shopping, eating too much and having a flexible schedule for four days was a change of pace.

Now, that seems distant as we hit the routine of a full workweek.  There are deadlines to meet, projects to finish and jobs to get done.

I was reminded a couple of times during the holiday that having the break is a blessing that not all enjoy.

Friday, while getting my oil changed and talked with the guys at the Pennzoil Service Center, I realized guys like Ben don’t get many holidays.  And, their work is a lot tougher physically than mine.  I’d say Ben deserves a break more than I do but doesn’t get it.

Saturday, while driving up I-24 into Kentucky’s farm country, I noted big combines working the fields.  Farmers were obviously back in the fields by early Friday morning, if they took a break at all.

And what about those retail workers who staffed the crazy midnight and 5 a.m. Black Friday sales.  I don’t think it was a special treat for them to deal with all the unruly shoppers scrapping for a bargain.

Then, there are those who aren’t going back to work today because they don’t have a job.  In this economy, there is more of that than some of us want to acknowledge.

Some of us have great circumstances with much for which to be thankful.  Others of us may not have had the ideal situation but still have much to give thanks about.

Here’s the point to think about — is thanksgiving a four-day holiday or a state of mind?

If anybody has noticed, I haven’t posted anything since the day before the Extreme Makeover build.  You’d think I would have come away from that with lots of thoughts and observations.  I mostly came away exhausted.

It was a great project.  It is amazing to see hundreds of volunteers come together for a unifying project.  Builders and subcontractors who don’t normally work together and are often competitors worked side–by side.  They were willing to do it because the objective was so real – building a house in 106 hours.

People volunteered without question.  Others donated supplies, equipment and gifts for the family generously and willingly.

There are hundreds of observations I could make.  I may pull some of them out over time.  One that stands out is the question of why can’t this be done on a smaller scale more frequently.  One woman in particular kept posting a request on the extremevolunteer Facebook page that she needed help on her house.  Others on the Facebook page commented that they had volunteered but had not been contacted.  If there are those who need help and those who want to help, how do we link them up?

That is a question that begs an answer.  We can pull together a massive effort to build an extreme house for an extreme project.  How do we go about pulling together routine projects for routine efforts to do routine repairs?  Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound too exciting.  But the need is there.  I believe there are hundreds of churches and other groups already doing these things.  They go unnoticed.  Even so, there is more to do.  What was it Jesus said…”The poor will be with you always.”?   There’s not going to be a shortage of these projects.  Go find yours.