I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself!

For months I have had difficulty putting into words the pain I have felt as I listened to, read and watched many of my friends on both sides of the political divide talk. Make no bones about it this election year has clearly proven just how divided our country has been and still is! I think the most disappointing part of this whole process has been the division I have seen in the church among "Christians"! I wonder sometimes if we even consider our words before we speak them......or if in fact the words we speak are truly a reflection of our heart?

I had decided that would not write a post until after the elections were over. But days after the election I was still conflicted as to how to even broach the subject. Thank goodness that God equipped me with a compassionate and thoughtful team who think the same as I do. No words are needed from me when my friend and BSN team member Alida has said it so well!

Thought for Today...Respecting our leaders and praying for them!

Congratulations to President Barack Obama!

Yahoo.com

Let everyone be subject to governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgement on themselves. Romans 13:1-2 NIV

I pray that all who claim the name of Christ will choose not to denigrate our president any longer but will instead commit to praying for him. God has appointed him for a second time as the President of the United States. All throughout this election process the things I have read and heard Christians say about the president have truly hurt my heart. I grew up in a military home. The Commander in Chief was always respected by my father and mother no matter which party he was from. I cannot even remember my father talking down President Nixon when everyone else around him was doing so. His signature is on my dad's honorary discharge papers proudly on display in my parents home to this day.

President Obama needs our prayers not our insults or condemnation. I know that as I write this there are those who are celebrating and those who are grieving. It is important to remember that God was in control these past four years and He will continue to be in control for the next four years and beyond. There are devoted, Bible believing, Christians in both parties. Christ is not fully represented by either party.

sojo.net

One party focuses on protecting the unborn and preserving the Biblical view of marriage. The other party focuses on caring for the least of these...educating, feeding and providing medical care for the poor and disenfranchised. All of which are godly values. There is a great article I read entitled 7 Things Christians Need to Remember About Politics. You can read it by clicking here. As I read through it this quote stood out for me:

The political process is dirty and broken and far from Jesus. Paranoia and vitriol are hardly attractive accessories for the bride of Christ. Rather than engage in the political process, Christians have a duty to elevate it. Like any other sin, we are called to stand above the partisan dissension and demonstrate a better way. Should we have an opinion? Yes. Should we care about our country? Yes. Should we vote? Yes. But it’s time we talk politics in a way that models the teachings of Jesus rather than mocks them.

So whether you celebrate or grieve today...let's all pray together for the hearts of our government leaders on the national, state, and city levels. And as believers let's remember to be loving, kind, and compassionate toward others no matter how we or they voted.

Thank you Alida for being a beacon of light in a dark place!

I also suggest you also read an article from fellow BSN "sista" Carla Adair Hendricks. My question to each of you is where do we go from here? How can we as the church bring about awareness of the evil that is Racism? We are quick to broach the subject of abortion, gay rights and even the downfall of the USA under our present administration. When do we as a Chiristians come together and broach the one subject everyone in the room refuses to discuss? Until we as a people learn to cross the "Red Sea" together we will continue to be a divided city, country, and nation. I would ask that we each consider the consequences of inaction! Better yet.....what would Jesus command us to do?

^{Revolation 7:9} After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm brancheswere in their hands; ¹⁰ and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” ¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,¹² saying,
“Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
¹³ Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” ¹⁴ I ^[a]said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His ^[b]temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. ¹⁶ They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun ^[c]beat down on them, nor any heat; ¹⁷ for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the ^[d]water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Summer Break!

Sometimes in ministry you need to take a break and spend a little time with family. With summer approaching the BSN team will be taking a mini break from our blog during the months of June, July and August to spend time with family and friends. You can still connect with us on our facebook page. We had hoped to do some travel this summer to promote BSN, but we are still available for local gatherings if you are interested. You can contact us at blendedsoulsnetwork@gmail.com , or via twitter . Pastor and ministry wives are encouraged to join our private facebook community page. Of course if any of you attend or hold an event with other churches and would like us to promote or write about it please let me know. We should be back up and running in the fall. Enjoy the summer!

Let's Get Together!!!!!

This weekend my family and I attended an annual community picnic in my hometown of Gloucester, VA hosted by several churches in the Ware Neck area of Gloucester County.  

This includes my family's church, Union Zion Baptist Church, Buelah Baptist Church, and Singleton United Methodist Church. 

The pastors of these churches all belong to the Gloucester Ministerial Association, which is non denominal organization comprised of various church leaders in the community. 

In the four years that the three churches have met for fellowship they have held the annual picnic, conducted a unity service, and this weekend even sponsored a 5k Walk to raise money for the Gloucester/Mathews Free Clinic. 

Pastor Cohick from Beulah Baptist and Pastor Dickerson from Union Zion have even switched pulpits on Sunday morning to demonstrate their committment to unity within their community and the church! 

Although the turn out this year was smaller than usual (probably do to the fact that it was Mother's Day weekend) I'm very proud of my hometown, especially my home church for being so open to partnering with other churches in their community.

The theme for this years walk was "Connecting Our Community Together Thru Faith and Fellowship". I don't know about you but I get goose bumps when I see God's people not just living, & working with one another...but showing genuine "L-O-V-E for one another. How can we as a community of believers get together; not so that we can shine, but so that the LOVE of Christ that is in us can S-H-I-N-E ?

 

2 Chronicles 7:14

 ¹⁴if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face,

and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal

their land.

You're Not Welcome

Pastor Tubs wife Melissa and I connected via twitter and eventually through Facebook. Melissa is a big part of our BSN community and after several conversations we realized our husbands had a few things in common, including the fact that they are both bi-vocational. I can tell you from my own experience that you have to be a very special man to not only hold down a full time day job but act as a full time  pastor as well(are there really any part time pastors?). After hearing about Pastor Tubs (did I mention I love saying that name...lol?) bible study with other men from varying denominations and backgrounds I knew he would be a great contributor to BSN. 

At Acts2 Church we meet on Sunday mornings and you are not invited. Yes, I am the pastor. Yes, I have said this to people.

Anyone who stopped reading at those three sentences is now switching over to their Twitter pages to write about a pastor who doesn't want people at his church. I am sure the  tweets would range anywhere from "doesn't love his people and stay away" to "clearly this guy doesn't understand the Gospel" (sorry not good at twitter abbreviation). However, like many things in life that people don't want to wait to find out about before speaking, there is an explanation.

On Saturday mornings we meet at the church for men's Bible study. We do a verse by verse study of Scripture and often discuss how the particular verses help us be better husbands, boyfriends, fathers, and most importantly Christians. (Yes, most importantly Christians, if everything in my life is taken away today I still have God.) Although the group is not always large there is something still very special about it.

This group of varying size is usually always made up of men from different churches. Even in a small group it is not uncommon to have anywhere from three to five different churches represented. What makes this even more uncommon is that the churches range from Independent Baptist to Pentecostal to non-denominational. (And as we study the Book of Acts you can imagine some of the conversations.) Furthermore, this group has been known to have various ethnic backgrounds represented.

 For all the men involved we simply see this as an opportunity to grow and improve in our walks with God. We tend to celebrate the different viewpoints that are offered. In fact, I believe it has shown many of us the places where we have allowed division to enter our own thinking. We have learned that it makes no difference how you "perform" church as long as Christ is always the center of all that is done.

 Now, back to my initial statement. At the end of our time together on Saturday mornings I thank all the men for coming and tell many of them that they are not allowed to come back the following morning. Why? Because our church is not interested in merely moving sheep from one church to another but instead on bringing the unchurched to Christ. Perhaps, this concept may not allow us to ever have a church of thousands or maybe even hundreds but we can rest in the fact that we were not simply concerned with growing our little portion of God's Kingdom.

 I pray often that our church will always remain focused on bringing people to and growing them in Christ even if it means we never grow over a hundred people (and I stay bi-vocational). How nice would it be if we had more churches simply looking to grow people in Christ instead of growing attendance numbers and campuses?

Pastor Tub Rorabaugh is a devoted Christian, husband and father. He is the senior pastor of Acts2 Church in Jacksonville, FL. Acts2 is a church plant based on the concept of making better Christians through disciplining and community (Acts 2:42-44). Tub has been involved in Christian education at Temple Christian Academy for five years. 

He is a graduate of Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science in Religion. His desire to remain in God’s will leads and directs his daily walk. Tub is married to Melissa and they have two teen aged sons, Danny and Hunter.

Are We All Getting Along?

I came into contact with Carla via her blog. In the short time that we have "known" each other I have found her to be encouraging, supportive and a great communicator. I consider it a privilege that she would even consider doing a blog post for BSN! Thank you in advance Carla!



I

“Can we all get along?”

Five words. Spoken by an assaulted man. Repeated countless times since that day twenty years ago.

Last week marked the twentieth anniversary of the Los Angeles riots incited by citizens furious over the acquittal of four L.A. police officers that had brutally beaten L.A. resident Rodney King.

Rodney King happened to be African American. The officers happened to be Caucasian. And while Rodney King was no saint (he was a 25-year-old convicted robber on parole at the time), his speeding violation and intoxication didn’t warrant the inhumane beating he received at the hands of the men commissioned to “protect and serve.”
 
And when those overzealous officers received an acquittal, the city of L.A. turned upside down. The upheaval from those riots led to more than 50 deaths and $1 billion in property damage.

After three days of riots, King emerged from seclusion to speak those infamous five words, “People I just want to say, can we all get along?”

People around America have been asking that same question for the last twenty years: Can we all get along?

This past decade, I think most U.S. citizens would have answered this question positively in regards to race relations. Many of us would have probably stated something along these lines: Well, we’re not getting along as well as we could, but we’re getting along a lot better than we did. 

But then, something happens in our country to shake us up. We are tested. Sifted. A flashlight beams a light right between our eyes. And we notice our reflection in the mirror is not as lovely as we once thought.

It’s actually quite flawed.

February 26, 2012. A day in our country that tested us, sifted us, beamed a light between our eyes. When neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, we realized we hadn’t come as far as we thought we had.

Almost immediately Trayvon Martin’s tragic death became a racial battle. The African American community shouted outrage over this unarmed teenage boy’s murder in his father’s neighborhood. We posed in hoodies, shot pics in them and posted those pics on our Facebook profiles.

While Zimmerman awaits trial, I’ll choose not to speculate on the specific events of that fateful night. I cannot say for sure that Trayvon fell victim to racial profiling. And the question that will never be answered – if Trayvon had been Caucasian, would he be alive today?

One thing’s for sure. Our country is a long way from healed in the area of race relations. We’re not as far as we think we are.

We work together and live together, but few of us play together. And very few of us worship together.

In 1958, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote these words: “Unfortunately, most of the major denominations still practice segregation in local churches, hospitals, schools and other church institutions. It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning, the same hour when many are standing to sing: “In Christ There is No East or West.”

That was 1958. Unfortunately, despite a few exceptions, not much has changed regarding eleven o’clock Sunday morning in the U.S.

But I’m grateful for the exceptions. My husband happens to pastor one of them. And I’m grateful for ministries like Blended Souls Network.

May we always support the exceptions.

May we be the exception.

* Carla is a pastor’s wife, writer and advocate for justice. Her husband Anthony is a teaching pastor at Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas and campus pastor to Mosaic’s Conway campus. They are raising four precious children, Kalin, Christian, Joelle and Jada. You can follow Carla’s life and ponderings at her blog “Deep Waters” @ www.carlaadairhendricks.blogspot.com.

Are You Afraid of The Dark?

Pastor David and I met via the blog world! I believe our first conversation started over the issue of diversity. Through his blog I came into contact with Pastor Shaun, Pastor Marvin and Pastor Scott and eventually connected with them and others via twitter and facebook. I don't believe any of these men realize how much their conversations about diversity in the church effected the path I have now taken, or the fact they were willing to discuss ministry and leadership with me gave me the courage to speak out on the subject of unity. Pastor David is frank and upfront about his passion for a church for "all" people. Out of his love for people far from God he will soon launch "Soul Purpose Church". You can connect with David on twitter and facebook. 

We need to look head-on into race and Christianity.
The church shouldn’t go around saying that we should be colorblind.
If God was colorblind, we would all be the same color!!

We should learn to value one another.
Just because a person’s Black/White/Hispanic doesn’t mean that they are some sort of lower class Christian.
We have to make strides in understanding each other and learning how to effectively communicate.

Too many walls have been built in the name of the Lord that keep Black/White/Asian/Hispanic Christians away from each other.
Fear and mistrust must be replaced by love and compassion.

The world around us is steadily changing.
It’s becoming more diverse.
We must take the LEAD in building stronger communities.
We have to build relationships outside our zones of influence.

Inside the church walls we still have camps of segregation.
We have to throw out the old mindsets.
We have to refuse to be bound by old stereotypes.

Styles may differ, but your substance is forever.

 Up until I was 20 years old, I never had the opportunity to be in any church experience with someone of a different color.
Now let me tell you that I lived almost my entire life up to that point in church (choir, usher, youth leader, Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday).
I had been to school with other nationalities and races.
I participated in sports and other activities also, but I never went to church with anyone other than African-Americans.

This all changed with I went one year to our local Six Flags for their annual Christian concert weekend ( I forgot what they called it).
During this weekend they had the Black Christian artists perform on Saturday and the White artists perform on Sunday (huh??).

Since my friend and I had a 2-day pass we decided to go back Sunday and hear Carmen who was scheduled to appear.

During Carmen's ministry time, there was a strong movement into worship.
The whole crowd was on their feet praising God.
I had my eyes closed and was immersing myself in the presence of God.

When I opened my eyes, everything changed.

Next to me was a young Caucasian guy.

He was worshiping God also.

Right then I realized that although we may not look the same or come from the same neighborhood.
Or like the same food, music, clothes, etc.
Despite that, this guy loves God.
And God loves him too.

In that moment all my fears and concerns about “how white people do church” were gone.
Never again could I be afraid of what I never really knew.

I’m not afraid of the dark.
Are you?

A Case For Diversity!

I hope you have enjoyed the articles posted here at BSN. In the coming weeks we will hear from more of our BSN friends as they share with you their heart for unity and diversity. First and foremost we hope to encourage ministry leaders to come together, step outside of their comfort zone and establish relationships with someone you might not normally connect with unless you are intentional.

A few weeks ago Marc and I met up with our favorite pastor friends David and Cheryl for lunch. We actually met over twenty years ago while Marc was stationed at Fort Riley in Kansas. We were the only black couple in the community in need of a church home. Cheryl and David took us under their wing and treated us like family. While Marc served his country away at Dessert Storm, Cheryl, David and our small community took care of me and my three small kids. In the grand scheme of things we really should never have come into contact with one another. It would have been far more routine for Marc and I to seek out a church that looked like "us". Instead we stepped outside of our comfort zone and joined a small rural church in Riley Kansas where no one looked like us! This could have easily turned into an uncomfortable situation had the members of Crossroads Baptist Church not chosen to welcome us into their fold. Instead they embraced us without question, loved on us and treated us like one of God's children. In other words....they showed us the hands and feet of Jesus!

It was in fact at Crossroads Baptist Church where Marc did his first sermon, and it was Pastor David who licensed him for the ministry! To this day because of the welcome extended towards us by the church, its members, and the community of Riley that Kansas holds such a special place in my family's heart.  Years later our friendship continues and we are very thankful, grateful and honored to call them our spiritual parents in the faith!

Never underestimate the power of being intentional in your relationships with others! It has the possibility to form great friendships, community love, and in our case....a heart to serve in ministry!

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail (Unity and Diversity Part 2)

Part two of Stephanie's 2 part post continues today with ways we can come together as the "CHURCH" in a way that the gates of hell cannot prevail! As we prepare for Easter Sunday, lets not forget that we are all part of God's Team!!!!

You know how when you build a campfire it's important to keep all the logs grouped together? (I don't actually know this from firsthand experience since I am not a camper... but it seems to be true based on what I've seen on TV...)  When campers or firemen or Smokey the Bear wants to extinguish a fire, they make sure to spread the fuel out, to separate the burning logs so that the fire goes out more quickly.

When God established the Church he grew it from a tiny spark that spread into a magnificent fire, transforming lives from every nation!  But from that very first day, the enemy has been trying to separate us and divide us so that our fire will be extinguished. God created us each different and unique but we have allowed our differences to become walls that divide us.

"On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18

Worshiping with unity and diversity does not come easy. But it's definitely worth the effort for that little taste of heaven!  So, I thought I'd share some practical tips based on what we've learned about doing worship together based on our almost 4 years of experience. These are in no particular order and may or may not be true for every situation... but these principles have worked for us and may be helpful for you as well.

1. Unified and diverse worship works best when based on personal relationships. In our situation, the pastors or leaders of each church represented meet together to plan the service. The actually spend about 10 minutes planning and the rest of the time sharing their own personal struggles and praying for one another. The leaders who have built personal relationships with one another tend to work better together and are more committed to making the services happen in spite of the difficulties.
2. No egos allowed. Some people are natural speakers and others work better behind the scenes. My husband MC's each worship service by introducing each church group and helping the program to flow smoothly. But even though he is the one on stage the most, he always includes the other pastors during the prayers or time of response. All the churches have equal time and importance. No one church should dominate or take over the service. The churches even take turns hosting the service each quarter so that no one has more work than they can handle or more credit than they need.
3. Focus on unity. Emphasize the things that we all have in common: we all love God, we all want to serve Him, we all have been forgiven. That is why in our services there is no preaching. Yes, you heard that right. An entire church service with NO PREACHING! That is a rule my husband (a preacher) has stood firm on. We want to focus on what unites us, not what divides us. Since our events are made up of churches from a wide variety of denominations, preaching would highlight our differences. Some believe in laying hands & healing, some do not. Some believe in speaking in tongues, some do not. Some believe in eternal security, some do not. Some believe in only using the King James Bible, others use modern translations. Some believe in a verse by verse interpretation of Scripture and others use the Bible to support their topics. Some don't mind getting political, others avoid it. Some prefer a calm and educational sermon presented in outline form while others prefer lots of sweatin' & shoutin'. See what I mean? Those are the things that we disagree on. That's one of the reasons we all attend different churches... But when we get together, we can all agree that God loves us and the world, that Jesus is the only way to heaven, and that the Holy Spirit is the source of our strength. That is a good foundation for worship!
4. Celebrate the differences. Don't expect each church to worship the same way you do. Do your members raise their hands or clap during the music? Great! But don't expect everyone to do that. Do you feel more comfortable with quiet songs played on piano? That's fine! But don't walk out when the band starts beating the drums. In my opinion, the most fun thing about these services is that I get to do things that I wouldn't normally do at my own church. Honestly, if I were to sway and clap or shout during the singing on most Sundays, I would feel out of place. But surrounded by people who worship in many different ways, I can freely worship from my heart without fear of standing out in the crowd! I love hearing songs I've never heard before, worshiping along with instruments I don't normally use, and lifting my voice in a language that is not familiar (at least I'm hoping to do so soon...there is a Hispanic worship band planning to join us at our next service! How fun!)
5. Give a lot of GRACE. Jeff says all the time that maintaining a relationship is more important than being right. What he means by that is that we all have our own opinions of the right way to do things. But sometimes we have to put aside our idea of the "right way" in order to show grace to the people we love. When we love one another and worship together it doesn't matter if someone is off-key or the music is too loud. If someone starts speaking in tongues or  gets "slain in the Spirit" my Baptist buddies get a little nervous, but we give grace because it is more important that we worship together in unity than argue about what we think is the right way to worship. In these services we emphasize that there is something for everyone...but that probably means that there's also something that you won't enjoy. But that shouldn't stop us from worshiping together! "Love covers a multitude of offenses." 1 Peter 4:8

I sure do wish I had some pictures to post here. But I'm usually so busy worshiping during these services that I don't even think to take any! So here is a word-picture description of a typical worship celebration:

Every 5th Sunday approximately 200 people cram into a sanctuary that's not used to holding more than 50 on any a normal Sunday (all of our participating churches are small: averaging 20-80 people each).There are normally 8-12 churches represented. Everyone mixes and mingles as best we can in such a tight space as Jeff puts the order of service together and the different groups give instructions to the sound guys. At 5:00pm Jeff gets everyone settled down and asks the host church pastor to open in prayer. Some churches occasionally arrive late, but we're learning to be flexible. Jeff introduces the groups as they step up to give their presentations. Each church does 2-3 songs or skits. (See yesterday's post for a sample of what you might see) Sometimes you sit and watch as God uses their talents for His glory, and other times you get to get up and participate in the singing & clapping. Either way, it's worshipful and God-focused... and FUN!

Sometime during the evening, we will take up an offering. This should not surprise anyone, because I don't care what your background is... you can't have a church service without an offering. Amen? :) Each service our offering goes towards a specific cause. We have given to support disaster relief in Haiti, provide food for one of the participating church's food banks, to help local families whose homes were destroyed by floods, and to buy supplies to renovate the home of a young man in one of the youth groups who had been in a terrible accident and become paralyzed. The purpose of each offering was something close to the hearts of the pastors and that love trickled down into the hearts of their people. How great to not only worship but also to do ministry together with one another!

After two hours the service comes to a close. Some wish it would keep going and others wish it would stop sooner... that's where grace comes in. But two hours is the best compromise we've been able to do to keep as many people continuing to participate as possible. We always end with a call to respond. Usually it's a brief presentation of the Gospel with Scripture, a drama, or a personal testimony. Then all the pastors from all the churches move to the front so that if people need to make a spiritual decision, they have plenty of people they can talk to. This not only allows every pastor to minister in the way he knows best, and also presents a wall of unity for all to see. I love it!

According to my daughter, the best part is last. After the service we all gather in the gym or fellowship hall for food! Sometimes it's a full meal but usually it's just drinks and desserts. Everyone brings something to share and then sits around getting to know one another outside the service. The first time we did this, Jeff had to remind everyone to mix and mingle... everyone had drifted into what felt comfortable and were only sitting with their own church people! He joked and cajoled until he made everyone get up and sit by someone they didn't know! It was the funniest thing...but also the best thing!

Unity and diversity does not come naturally. Leading these services is not easy. Each and every church that has been a part of this movement has come under spiritual attack. Some have stopped participating. Others are still hanging on in the midst of their own battles. But this is God's plan: to show the world a little taste of heaven here on earth. This is the kind of CHURCH that the gates of hell will not prevail against!

PS... Our next Community Worship Celebration is scheduled for April 29. I will try to take some pictures. Please pray that God would continue to strengthen our churches as we worship together!

A LittleTaste of Heaven!

I should have known when Stephanie Shouse and I connected last year through Leading and Loving It that it wouldn't be the last time. Stephanie actually won a copy of "Church Diversity" after I did a review and gave away a book on my blog. Then this month she joined our BSN community after a conversation we had about the future of Blended Souls Network and the goals for this ministry. Apparently Stephanie and her husband have been hosting "BSN like" events for a few years without even knowing it! In Part 1 of a 2 Part blog post you will see how her and her husbands heart for ministry lead them to start a Little Taste of Heaven in Kentucky!

As a student at Columbia International University I got to experience a little taste of heaven every single day. At 10:40 am we would gather all the students and faculty together for chapel services. And every morning I stood to worship side by side with fellow believers from all over the world. Whether we were singing hymns, contemporary praise songs or listening to an international choir singing in other languages, we were all worshiping the same God, the same Savior, in the same Spirit. That's what I imagine heaven is gonna be like...except that we'll probably all be in tune... :)

But then came graduation and we all went our separate ways. We moved to churches where we were comfortable. We congregated with our friends and families. We settled into our routines of worshiping with people who were just like us in every way. Until one day we looked up and realized that our worship was so very one-dimensional. What happened? Why did we exchange diversity for monotony? And why doesn't anyone seem to mind?
When Jeff & I lived in New Orleans we began to see the problem. During the week we would be surrounded by people of various races, cultures, and socio-economic status. But on Sunday when we attended church, we were surrounded with people who were all the same. One church was all white, one church was all black, one church was all middle-class suburbanites, one church was all college educated, one church was all working class, one church was all "old-money" southerners... Whether the separation was intentional or not, it was definitely obvious. Isn't there somewhere that we can all worship together like we did back in college?

But we were not in charge of any of those churches back then. We didn't have any say in how things were done. Then God moved us to Kentucky. He gave us a church and a vision of doing great things for Him. We longed for authentic worship, practical ministry and the co-existence of both unity and diversity. Do you know how hard it is to be intentional about diversity when your community is 90% white? Hmmm...

Then about three years ago God began to move in the hearts of various pastors and church leaders. The desire to gather their churches to worship together in a show of unity began to form. And suddenly we found ourselves leading the first ever worship gathering of Henderson Area Churches. At first the emphasis was on unity. Two of the churches choosing to participate had split from one body a mere three years before. Getting the people from both churches to sit in the same room together, much less worship, was a seemingly impossible task. But God wanted to show His great power by allowing pride to be broken, hearts softened and bitterness ended. What followed has been an amazing testimony to His grace!

Henderson Area Churches now meet every 5th Sunday for a joint worship celebration. Our celebrations include 8-12 churches from all over our county, and are some of the most fun times I've ever experienced in ministry! A typical celebration includes many forms of worship such as:

• A white, middle-class praise team sings contemporary Christian music (usually Chris Tomlin) with a CD track
• A blue-grass band complete with steel guitar and honky-tonk piano sing "I'll Fly Away"
• A black choir of pentecostal persuasion claps and sways as they sing a traditional call & response accompanied by piano and drums
• A tattooed former biker couple blast out classic rock tunes with a spiritual twist
• A pastor and his wife in traditional Baptist clothing (i.e. suit & dress) sing an old hymn as their son plays piano
• A group of ladies from a small country church sing a Nicole C. Mullins song with hands lifted high
• A group of young people from a well-to-do African America church perform a worship dance wearing white gloves and praise dresses
• A youth group of mostly poor, white kids from difficult family backgrounds performs a dramatic interpretation of Christ rescuing them from the power of Satan
• A group of teens and women stretch out of their Baptist comfort zones to dance to a Mandisa song, hoping they won't get laughed at  or kicked out of their church...(That was my creative ministry team... :) )

All of these expressions come together to form a toe-tapping, unpredictable symphony of heart-felt worship that once again gives us just a little taste of heaven.

"By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
All of this does not come without a struggle. The enemy does not want us to be unified. He wants us to remain divided. It takes a lot of work to make worship like this possible... why do you think we only attempt it once a quarter? In the next post I will tell you some of the practical things we have learned in order to make intentionally worshiping in unity and diversity happen in our area.
What do you think about unity & diversity in worship? What has been your experience?

Come back next week to read Part 2 "Gates Of Hell"!

Breaking Ground on a Multi-Ethnic Ministry in Belize

Last week Bethel Disciples International Church in Belmopan, Belize broke ground for a new ministry building.  It was an incredible experience that we are still excited from.  This church began many years ago but the building is part of a new phase for this congregation.  

Pastor Lim Han came from South Korea as an 18 year old and has been serving the Lord and planting churches for over 20 years in the Cayo area of Belize.  His heart for the Lord and for discipling His people no matter what their ethnic background are evident throughout the 15 churches he has planted.  Some are Spanish speaking, some are English speaking and the church we attend, Bethel Disciples, includes the founding members who are Chinese speaking believers so the service is translated into Mandarin for them.

 The service was attended by over 400 people and here are some of the memories from that day...

 

Pastor Dan and Johnny (worship leader)

members of the worship team including a few people from one of the sister churches

the children's choir was too large to fit in one photo...

 

Pastor Han, speaking while Phillip translates into Spanish

 

everyone at the service had an opportunity to write out prayers for the new building...

leaders from the various sister churches launched them into the sky...

finally breaking the ground!

Jill and her team serving snacks when the service ended...

Bethel's plans for the ten acres are to have a Meeting Place, a Medical Center, a Media Center and a Multi-Purpose  Building.  Tom and I are excited to be a part of the ministry at Bethel and we love that the church personifies what Blended Souls is all about.  It is truly a place where everyone can feel welcome.   And we felt that the ground breaking service...with all of the sister churches included...was a slice of what heaven will be like!