During the summer it seems like the pace of things are a little slower and the schedule is a little less cluttered, so why not make the most of it and "gear up" for discipleship? This has been a practice at VALLEY Christian Church for the past few years with amazing fruit! The summer not only finds us kicking off our summer study group (see previous "Gearing UP For Summer -1" post), but we also have an annual staff retreat, Kid's Extreme week, student mission trip and other special opportunities for the VALLEY family while the days are longer and the temp is hotter.

God created the seasons (Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall), and I believe he has a special purpose for our spiritual growth and the spiritual growth of a church in the midst of each season. It's just too easy to fall into the trap of lowering our expectations of what The Almighty has planned and purposed to do because some in the church family are away on vacation or because the kids are out of school.

What would your spiritual life look like if you set some summer goals for your spiritual growth?

What would your church family look like if it held the conviction that by the end of the summer months your church was going to be amazingly different because it made the MOST of the summer and seized these sunny months to grow closer to one another, closer to God and closer to its community?

I don't think God takes a break for the summer and I don't think he needs a vacation. He wants to work in and through you this summer no matter where you are. We're not waiting on Him. He's waiting on us!

Ed Stetzer is a prolific writer, missiologist and church planter. He is currently posting a series on his blog, "Calling for Contextualization". In the series he deals with the necessity of contextualization and the dangers of contextualization. Particularly interesting to me are his comments regarding pastors/churches that say they are "making the Bible relevant". The ignorance of this statement has alway irritated me each time I've heard it. What they actually mean is "We don't believe the Bible is relevant and timeless on it's own". DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! Personally, I wouldn't trust a leader who would make such a statement to lead me across the street, much less spiritually!

Take some time to check out Ed's posts using the links above.

Best quote from his most recent post:

"Contextualization [is] a delicate enterprise if ever there was one . . . the evangelist and mission strategist stand on a razor's edge, aware that to fall off on either side has terrible consequences . . . Fall to the right and you end in obscurantism, so attached to your conventional ways of practicing and teaching the faith that you veil its truth and power from those who are trying to see it through very different eyes. Slip to the left and you tumble into syncretism, so vulnerable to the impact of paganism in its multiplicity of forms that you compromise the uniqueness of Christ and concoct "another gospel which is not a gospel"

(Dean S. Gilliand, "Contextual Theology as Incarnational Mission," in The Word Among Us, ed. Dean S. Gilliland (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1989), 10-11.).

Even though I've got a day off today, I find myself really having a tough time not jumping into study (work) for the upcoming week. Sunday (July 4th) we kick-off our summer study group and I'm totally stoked. Over the last few years, we've used Sunday nights in the summer to gear up (rather than gear down) for leadership development at VALLEY Christian Church. This year, we're even taking the bold step of starting our study group on a holiday weekend; not to be difficult, but it's the only way to fit 8 meetings in for us over the summer.

Too many churches gear down during the summer and then find themselves trying to create momentum when the fall comes around. At VALLEY, we've found nothing creates and sustains momentum in the church like making deliberate and intentional investments in people lives during the summer months!

This summer, we'll be reading and discussing Mark Driscoll's book, "Doctrine". Having just finished a verse-by verse teaching of 1&2 Timothy, it's interesting to note that in the original text, there are thirty-two references to “doctrine,” “teach,” “teacher,” “teaches,” and “teaching” in the three Pastoral Epistles (1&2 Timothy and Titus). In the early church, the believers were taught the Word of God and the meanings of basic Christian doctrines. Many churches today are places for entertainment, not enlightenment and spiritual enrichment. It is "sound doctrine" that keeps churches from chasing fads and bandwagon causes so prevalent in the church world today.

This week I'll share some more about "gearing UP" for the summer and intentionally investing in leadership development.

Since the winter, I’ve been teaching a verse-by-verse study on 1 & 2 Timothy on Wednesday nights. This past Wednesday, we were in 2 Timothy 2 and it brought me back to a message that I heard preached 24 years ago! I was a freshman at Liberty Christian College in Pensacola, Florida. We had a special fall Bible Conference and the guest speaker for the week was Kemp Holden. Miraculously, I can still vividly recall two of the four messages that he preached over 24 years later. One of those messages was from 2 Timothy 2 and it greatly impacted my life then and continues to today.

20Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 22So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:20-22

Pastor Holden challenged each of us to make the commitment to be a “Vessel for honorable use” that would be “ready for every good work”.  As I heard God’s Word preached that night, I committed myself once again to being “set apart as holy” for God to use in any way He desired. All of this cycled through my memory once again as I studied to teach on this same passage 24 years later.

The reason I call this memory miraculous is because I can hardly recall what I preached about just a few short months ago, but this message and one other (about forgiveness), delivered by Pastor Holden have stayed with me all this years! So I wanted to say a huge “Thank You” to Pastor Holden here on my blog for preaching with power and conviction the Word the Holy Spirit directed you to share those many years ago!

Father, may the words that I preach likewise be Your Word that it would stand the test of time and continue transform the lives of those who hear it, even decades later!

There's a great new PDF book available for download from The Resurgence called, "Preaching & The Emerging Church".

The emerging church movement has significantly influenced contemporary Christianity. Evidence abounds—the creation of blogs, conferences, seminary classes, doctorate programs, and the birth of an entire class of literature. In recent years much has been written to help the church better understand this latest Christian phenomenon. However, a deficiency still exists when it comes to understanding the role of preaching within the movement. Since preaching is God’s appointed means to convert sinners and preserve the church, then an understanding of this movement’s preaching is of vital importance to the church and the culture it serves.

"Preaching & The Emerging Church" examines the preaching content of four of the founding leaders in the Emerging Church: Mark Driscoll, Dan Kimball, Brian McLaren, and Doug Pagitt. A important and insightful read for every preacher or "would be" preacher today!