There is something about a gospel choir that just makes a song reach a whole new level. My first time hearing a gospel choir was when I was in college. I still remember how I got goose bumps as I heard different gospel songs at the concert. After this experience, I got hooked. Now, my mp3 playlist is filled with various gospel songs.
I don’t know what it is – maybe it is the instrumentation with the Hammond organ, drums, and bass guitar or the incredible vocals; but either way, the passion in which the choir sings the songs has a powerful way of ministering to people.
This is why when I heard the gospel choir version of Chrysler’s Super Bowl Commercial, it was powerful. When people use their God-given talent, it has an awesome way of moving the spirit of a person. I am praying that many more people within the HMCC churches will be raised up to use their musical gifts to inspire people to know the True and Living God.
We are still praying for Detroit. I would love to see the restoration of Detroit, not only physically and economically, but most importantly, in a spiritual way. It is through the church, the people of God who will need to light the way – a city on a hill cannot be hidden (Mt 5:14).
It has been interesting to see the reactions of my two boys and my daughter when I came back from my 5 week missions trip. Even though Josiah and Elliot were happy to have me back, the outward expression of Karissa has been different from the boys. Maybe this is why people say that there is a usually a special connection between a dad and his daughter.
Often times I look at KiKi and feel the weight of responsibility in being her father. Not only will she know the Father’s love through the way I treat her, but she will judge her future male relationship (I am praying that it is just one!) in light of what she see in me.
This is when I realized how much I fall short of what Christ can offer to her.
When I saw this music video by Shane and Shane, it spoke to me powerfully. It portrayed the father’s heart for a daughter (and even a spiritual daughter). May the father heart of God remind us that He is the only one who can fulfill and satisfy our heart’s desires. The Perfect One.
God has given me the privilege of visiting many different countries in all my years of doing missions. It seems as if in every country, God teaches me a different lesson; but at the same time, they are lessons that have a lot of common threads. As I give this more thought, there are several commonalities or traits that unite all the experiences together. No matter what country or culture, these traits open up opportunities for relationships and ministry.
They are:
1) LAUGHTER.It is amazing how humor opens up the hearts of people. Our time in Lampung has been good as we have been able to build relationships with the members of the churches, people in the neighborhood, and the different pastors. Even though we are different, humor has been bringing us together. Humor is transcultural. We are able to laugh about the same things; and now, we are even poking fun at each other.
2) LANGUAGE. I find it interesting how people find it endearing when we are able to speak their language. Even though it is just several phrase (with horrible pronunciation), they are encouraged when they see us trying. It shows that we want to enter into their “world” and there is an instant connection. Recently, with the youth of Lampung we taught them the word, “holla!” (bringing a little bit of gangsta flavor). Then we made it into a response to “Pugi Tuhan” (praise the Lord). It was an instant hit!
3) LOVE. The language of love is universal. It comes in all different forms – love for the host country’s food, love for the people, love for the culture, and etc. It is incredible to see the things that God accomplishes when this language of love is spoken. It becomes a bridge for strong relationships. It becomes the avenue for new opportunities. It becomes the gateway to a person’s heart. This is one language we need to be fluent in.
4) LIFE-GIVING. Whenever we go into a country and meet various people, we want to be a life-giving missions team. To be “life-giving” is to simply be an agent of bringing the hope of the Gospel and the blessings of God to an area or to a person. As we come with this kind of attitude, it has always brought a kindred spirit with people. People want to always be around other people who are living with hope, faith and love.
Pastor Andrew and I finally found an internet cafe here in Lampung. I keep on forgetting how loud internet cafes are, especially when there are a lot of internet gaming going on. Even as I am writing this blog post, I am surrounded by all these young people (10-14 year olds) playing online shooting games. Oh how the world has become globalized!
As I am reflecting in our one week here in Indonesia, God is reminding me of several things:
1) The privilege of being part of the HMCC family. It has been amazing to say the least of the unity and bond that we felt when we all joined together in Karawaci. When HMCC-AA, HMCC-Chi, HMCC-JKT, and HMCC-SGP gathered together, it really felt like a family reunion. Even though some of our team members met one another for the first time, it was as if we were meeting family members. This connection due to the same DNA and vision, allowed us to bond very quickly and we got a sense that we were on the same mission.
2) God is doing great things all over the world. It was so encouraging to see the HMCC church in Indonesia. As we worshiped together this past Sunday, I saw how much the church grew and it uplifted my spirit. The same God that we worship in Ann Arbor is the same God that is working in the lives of people in Indonesia. It is a privilege to witness it firsthand.
3) God loves the local church. We are working with an evangelist here who is trying to start up a local church. Lampung, which is located in the island of Sumatra, has a strong Islamic influence; but God is opening up doors for the Gospel to spread. We are getting ready to hold a joint revival meeting with 17 churches in the area. It is our hope and pray that God will elevate the spiritual climate in the area through the local church. I am also praying that our evangelist friend will be able to start up a church with the converts that will trust in Jesus.
My internet time going to be up in 5 minutes, therefore I will stop here and try to update more at another time. Please continue to pray for us. We need God’s anointing and protection as we build relationships with people here in Lampung.
The great thing about being on this Asia Missions Team is hanging out with people from the different HMCC churches. As people were resting, I had some downtime with the worship leaders of HMCC-AA and HMCC-JKT. Worship is definitely a passion of mine therefore; it was great talking about various things related to worship.
I asked them to share some of their thoughts on worship during HMCC !gnite Conference and also what they are looking forward to in regards to worship here in Indonesia as we do missions.
Recently, my wife asked me when I started drinking coffee. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I started drinking it at a very early age – at the age of 10 years old. Now, before all of you start judging my parents, let me qualify the statement.
I remember going into my parents’ store which was located in the South Side Chicago (the hood) on Saturday mornings. There were times where I was so tired that my parents would give me a concoction of: dime size amount of Folgers coffee power, massive amount of cream and a good amount of sugar. It was the best drink ever – well, at least for a 10 year old.
Every time I drank it, I was able to stay awake and attend to my duties as I helped around the store. Then I began to find myself “desiring” this sweet, light brown concoction every time I went to help out my parents at the store.
This is how it all got started.
When I told Christina, she was just in shock (shook her head in disbelief) as she heard me recount those golden years.
But it wasn’t until college where I really began to appreciate coffee. As I got weaned off the coffee with cream and sugar, I started to drink it “black” for the actual coffee taste. Then over the years, I have become somewhat of a connoisseur on coffee as my taste buds were being trained to taste the difference between a dark roast and a light roast, the varying acidity levels, and etc.
As I was reflecting on this, I realized that the early introduction of “coffee” (even though it was more like a hot sweet, cream drink) put me on a course of loving and enjoying coffee.
I couldn’t help but to make the correlation with the importance of introducing values at an early age. If the Barna statistics are true, then it is imperative that we reach the next generation at a young age.
This is why I am so committed to reaching the next generation of “world shakers and history makers” through the college ministry. The college years are a transformative life stage. As students are in a stage of discovery, they are making some important decisions. If they can make a commitment to Christ, it will literally change the course of their destiny.
Therefore, I will continue to be an evangelist for Jesus and a coffee-evangelist. I am thankful that I experienced both before the 20 years old.
One of my pastor friends (@harvestpd) forwarded me this video on coffee. I am more convinced than ever.
I still remember the talk that I had with our associate pastor at HMCC of Ann Arbor. We were in the midst of trying to finalize a list of candidates for our leadership team, but then we went on a rabbit trail. Yes, I confess. Rabbit trails are usually instigated by yours truly, but eventually I try to bring everything back to the main thing.
In the middle of the digression, we talked about what traits to look for in a potential leader who is a growing follower of Christ. We went beyond the usual traits that we look for in a potential leader – the FAITH acronym (Faithfulness, Availability, Integrity, Teachability, Humility).
We came to the conclusion that there are a few traits which reveal more about the heart of the person than anything else. They are:
1) In the last 3-6 months, has this person stepped out in radical faith and demonstrated their utter trust in Christ? When we look throughout the whole Bible, we notice that God was constantly calling His people to a life of faith and trust – Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, the disciples, and Paul to name a handful. How they responded to God in obedience revealed a lot about their view of God (and about themselves). Often times, God asks us to do things that are unexplainable, unimaginable, and unreasonable. But that is the point. God wants to see if we will completely trust in Him. Too often we are not willing to surrender and sacrifice in order to step out in faith because we love ourselves more than loving God. We are crippled by fear, insecurities and selfishness. God is always lovingly opening up opportunities for us to trust in Him. He uses our family, our future, our friends and even our finances to test us. Have you stepped out in faith recently? This one trait reveals so much about a person and where they are in terms of their relationship with Christ.
2) Does this person boast about their weaknesses? There is something about being part of a church culture, where it is easy to boast more about our strengths than our weaknesses. I think it is part of the “success” oriented philosophy that has influenced us by the world’s standards. But the Gospel is different. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians writes, “But I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. But [God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses” (2 Co 12:5, 9-10). When I see someone boast about their weaknesses, I see a person who has a good perspective about themselves and about God. I get a peek into their heart. They are humble and broken people. They know that it is not about them. They are set on glorifying God in everything that they do. They have a strong view of God’s Sovereignty. They know that apart from Christ they can do nothing. A phrase that God has been placing on my heart recently is: The more our weaknesses and shortcomings ACCUMULATE, the more it begins to ACCENTUATE God’s glory. I want God’s glory to shine through me. When was the last time you boasted about your weaknesses?
When we look at both of these traits, we will see that it shows a lot about what is going on in a person’s heart. We live in a generation where there is a lot of talk, but not enough action. To walk the talk, these two traits will stretch us and test us.
Therefore, next time you are in a situation where you are being challenged to step out in faith and trust in God, remember that it might be God’s way of raising you up for something great. Also, next time you are in a situation where you have the opportunity to share about your strengths, remember to share your weaknesses because God might use it to display His glory.
I confess that I am one of those people that do not take things readily at face value. You can call me cynical or skeptical, but it takes a lot of cold hard facts and a good logical argument for me to believe. This has been a weakness in my character.
This is why, when it comes to the topic of transformation, I struggle to comprehend the full process of it. I don’t have to look very far to see my own shortcomings when it comes to life change. Often I feel this tension in my heart. John Newton said it well when he wrote, “I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am.”
While I understand theologically that genuine transformation is a work that only God can do, I have wrestled a lot with the human responsibility of it.
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about genuine change and transformation.
In the past, I have teetered on the extremes of God’s Sovereignty and human responsibility. Many times I have been either frustrated with God’s Sovereignty and the slowness of genuine change or fatigued by all the “trying.”
The more I think about this, the more I realize that God places various emotions in our lives (His Sovereignty) so that we can take steps to experience genuine transformation (our responsibility).
There are several emotions that will cause us to make a decision toward transformation. Sometimes we will just experience one of these emotions or we can experience a combination of them:
1) DISGUST.There are moments in our lives when we come to a point of sheer disgust. We are shocked and repulsed at where we are. We get tired of doing the same thing that brings feelings of defeat and disappointment. We get tired of being the person that we do not want to become. This emotion becomes the fuel to seek genuine transformation.
2) DREAD. Fear is a powerful emotion. It sometimes causes people to do crazy things and take drastic measures. When we begin to see how our behavior or lifestyle is going to eventually kill us – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually – we become more open to change. This is when we are willing to pay whatever the price is required for genuine transformation.
3) DESPERATION. When we get desperate, we tend to look outside of ourselves. We come to the resolve that we are not smart enough or strong enough to handle the situation on our own. We get humbled. We begin to open our hearts to other possibilities and avenues for change. These are the times when we usually cry out to God for help.
4) DISAPPOINTMENT. Sometimes we need to experience heartaches in order for us to see the false sense security we had, as we placed our trust in temporary things. Disappointments bring us back to reality – the reality of a fallen and broken world. Disappointments become the fuel for better and wiser choices in the future.
5) DISSATISFACTION.Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, philosopher and physicist who lived in the 17th century said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” When we come to the realization that we have been filling our hearts with things of this world rather than God, we begin to desire to seek true and genuine transformation.
When we experience these emotions, we begin to say to ourselves, “I’ve had it;” “I don’t want to live like this anymore;” and “enough is enough.” It becomes a powerful moment of realization for that person. It is like the “eureka” or “ah-ha” moment.
Then, there is a strong resolve that comes over that person. It is as if something clicks for them.
This is when a fire starts to burn inside of them. A desire for transformation starts to build. Then, a decision is made.
Maybe some of the emotions that you are feeling right now will become the fuel for transformation. Don’t resist God. He is sovereignly placing those things in your life so that you will turn to Him. Now, we have a responsibility to humble ourselves and surrender to Him.
Recently, the kids and I had a talk. We decided that throughout the summer they will read a handful of key books in exchange for their allowance. I first got this idea from John Maxwell, the leadership guru. I heard a talk that he gave about how his parents gave him money for reading books when he was growing up.
I will never forget how he shared personally about his parents’ philosophy about chores and getting allowance. John Maxwell’s parents didn’t believe in giving allowance for chores because they did not want to reward their kids for doing something that they should already be doing, since they are part of the family.
When I first heard this, it really went against what I learned. In fact, initially, it was a bit counter-intuitive. Many people have been raised to get allowance for doing chores around the house, whether it was taking out the garbage or doing the vacuum.
But this was not the philosophy of the Maxwells.
Instead, John’s dad gave him money (allowance) for reading books and then giving a written report on it. The more I thought about it, the more I came to the realization that John’s dad was “reinforcing” the importance of a habit that will allow John to get ahead in life.
John’s dad could have “reinforced” the habit of doing chores, but he didn’t because it was something expected from every member of the household. John Maxwell learned and began to see doing chores more of a responsibility rather than getting something out of it. Smart.
This got me thinking.
There are many things that I have to do as a responsibility that I do not necessarily get “rewarded” for doing. It is just something that I know that I have to do as a husband, father, and pastor. Therefore, if I only do it because I am getting paid to do it, then it will not be a good thing.
After talking with Christina, we have decided to reward our kids for doing something that we want them to continue to grow in, so that they will have many opportunities in the future to make a difference for Christ. This is going to be an experiment therefore, we will see what happens.
I have already downloaded some books on the Kindle and the kids are thrilled (at least for now).
I am praying that the books on leadership, influence, priority and difference-making will shape their minds to transform the world.
Some of you might have already heard about the possibility of starting a HMCC LIFE Group in New York City this summer, which will hopefully turn into a church plant one day. One thing I value very highly is the dissemination of information. To be more exact, I value the dissemination of correct and timely information. In this way, there are less misunderstandings, as well as less assumptions, which often times can ruin relationships and cause things to be blown out of proportion.
In this blog post, I want to lay down the facts and also ask you to join me in prayer as we are trying to discern God’s heart and His will for us as a church.
Back on October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10) I presented HMCC’s 2020 Vision. Part of that vision entails planting ten new churches by the year 2020. As I have been praying for this vision, God placed various cities around the world in my heart. One city that has always been on my heart is New York City.
There are 3 things that stick out for me:
1) It is a city with various NEEDS. NYC is the largest city in the United States and is a significant global city. A lot of what happens around the world has its beginnings in this city. The impact is felt in various sectors of society such as commerce, arts and media, entertainment, fashion, and education. There are close to 8.2 million people who are spread out over a small area of 305 square miles. It is the most densely populated city in the U.S. With so many people, there is an array of needs that has to be met. The most significant need is the need for more life-giving churches. According to an October 2010 Barna report, it shows that New York has one of the highest percentage of unchurched people. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life also gives a similar picture of the religious landscape of NYC. A single church cannot reach out to every unchurched person in NYC. There needs to be many more new churches starting, so that more people can experience transformation through the power of the Gospel. Below is a quick picture of the religious situation according to Gallup:
2) It is a city with many NATIONS. It is just breathtaking when I found out that there are as many as 800 languages spoken in New York, currently making it the most language-diverse city in the world. One particular ethnic group that has a large representation is the Chinese people. The Chinatown in NYC is the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Also, with a lot of colleges and universities in NYC which are ranked high globally, it attracts students from every nation around the world. The future leaders are coming to NYC to study. With the nations coming to NYC, the opportunities are tremendous to influence the next generation of world shakers and history makers. Even having the United Nations Headquarters in NYC speaks to the importance of being a hub for international affairs.
3) It is a city with our NETWORK. Over the last 14 years of doing college ministry in Ann Arbor, we have seen many students graduate and go to NYC for work and graduate school. Recently, we had the largest freshmen class this past year in the history of our church in Ann Arbor; therefore, we are expecting that many more people will be heading out to NYC in the future. Already, we have been in contact with some graduating seniors who will be heading out to NYC and also with some graduates who now live in NYC. As we are trying to connect the dots with our greater vision to reach the nations, we are seeing more people who want to be a part of what God is doing in the context of HMCC. Many of the freshmen from New York and New Jersey area are back home and we want to still connect with them throughout the summer with what God is doing in HMCC.
With the 3rd point, I want to elaborate a little bit more because this has been a major factor in the decision to step out in faith to start something in NYC.
In the last 14 years, whenever our members were graduating and getting ready to head out to NYC or NJ, they have asked me if I knew of churches in that area. Since there are some friends who are pastoring churches out there, I would always recommend those churches first. Then, there are some larger well-known churches, which I try to recommend so that they have a variety of choices.
Some of these former members would get plugged in quickly with the recommended churches, which is a huge praise; but others have had a hard time finding a church that fits with the vision and values that God has placed in their hearts. Due to our strong emphasis on the importance of the local church, many of the former members would eventually find a church they can fit into and build community.
As I have been examining the various groups of people who come and go through Ann Arbor, I have realized that there are 5 groups of people that would be interested in being a part of what God is doing NYC:
1) People who have served as a leader in our ministry context. Over the years, there have been people who were very involved in our ministry and then placed in a city where they couldn’t find a church right away. They would share with me how it would be awesome to have a HMCC community in their city. One thing I want to make clear is that there have been many leaders who have gone to different cities and found a church that suited them better in their lifestage, which is awesome. Hopefully, we are humble enough to realize that HMCC will not meet all the needs of people. Therefore, I am just addressing those former leaders who have expressed their desire to stay connected to what we are doing globally.
2) People who came to know Christ as their Lord and Savior and those who have had their lives transformed by the ministry in HMCC, but did not serve as a leader. I am realizing that the context of a person’s first experience with Christ is very significant. As we have seen many people’s lives transformed through our church, many of them want to continue in their involvement with our vision and mission. In the past, since we did have not any plans of starting something in NYC, we would encourage these people to write down a list of values that they wanted to see in a church. Then, we would advise them to visit various churches (via recommendation of other alumni and friends). Afterward, they were encouraged to narrow down the list of churches to a few and then make an informed and discerned decision. Even after all these measures, people were still trying to find a community that they could be a part of in the city. We even had some students who went to NYC for summer internships and within the short time there struggled to connect with the recommended churches.
3) People who are coming to NYC for the first time, but they have a relationship with someone in our church network. It was exciting to hear recently that a high school student from Indonesia was going to New York University. With all the great universities in NYC, many people are coming to the city for undergraduate or graduate studies. For some of them, it will be their first time being away from home and for others it will be another transition of trying to find a new community. But what would it be like if there was a church community there for them before they arrive? Especially for the international students. If they come to NYC and find community through our church and then they go back to their country, they will have an international church that they can be a part of when they go back (vis-à-vis HMCC of Jakarta and HMCC of Singapore).
4) People who have friends and family members who are not yet part of any church community. I am finding out there is a large group of people, who are connected relationally with some of our members, who do not have a church community. Some of them are pre-Christians, therefore, they have no interest in attending a church, while some are people who stopped going to church for various reasons. This is a huge harvest field of people that we want to reach out to. One thing I have learned from the business world is that the best advertisement or marketing strategy is not a flashy commercial, but a recommendation from a trusted friend. As our members have experienced genuine transformation, their friends and family have noticed. This is why when our members encourage their friends and family to check out our ministry, they are more open due to the trust that is interwoven into their relationship. We have a passion for this group of people and we want to reach out to them.
5) People who are still students at the University of Michigan or any of the universities where there is a HMCC church, and after hearing about our 2020 Vision, they are interested in being part of the vision in the future. This past year’s freshmen class will be the class that would have had the most exposure to the 2020 Vision. They heard it first as freshmen and hopefully throughout the four years of college, they can develop a greater heart for church planting in the future. I am confident that as God leads us to various cities, many of the current students will one day be a part of the greater movement in all our churches.
In light of these five specific groups, we are in the process of praying and planning for a future church plant in NYC. Honestly, we don’t have all the specifics down. In fact, I think we like it this way because with the last several church plants, it has been exciting to follow God’s lead rather than trying to strategize and plan too much.
When I think about HMCC of Jakarta and HMCC of Singapore, I can truly say that it was really a God thing. The encouraging thing about all that is going on is that when we look at the Book of Acts, we see that when the Spirit of God moved powerfully, God was the One who started different communities of faith to reach that particular city.
As many people have been asking me about our church plant movement philosophy, I wrote some things down in another blog post. You can check it out here.
This is what we know so far:
1) Even with all the great churches out in NYC, the needs are still great and the harvest is plentiful.
2) We have a handful of believers who want to see a HMCC community start in NYC.
3) Pastor Pete and I will be heading out to NYC this Sunday, May 15th to meet up with our current students and alumni to cast the vision and talk about starting a LIFE Group.
This is all we know so far. It is pretty scary at times, but we believe that God is Faithful. If he started the other churches to meet the needs of the community in that particular city, we are confident that God will do the same thing in NYC. We have to remember that things are never boring or routine when we are following God’s leadership. In fact, it is an incredible adventure and I signed up for this when I fully surrendered my life to Christ when I was in high school. I have never been the same – all the glory to God!
Here is a time lapse video of New York City. Let’s continue to pray for God’s will to be done in this great, global city that God is concerned about.
“But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:11, NIV)
