Ambassador of Christ in the Americas

Here is an excellent reflection by my dear friend, Tristan Block. 

In his early career as a hockey player, Stan Mikita was one of the most penalized players in the National Hockey League. His fighting and cheap shots continued on until his eight-year-old daughter asked a very grown-up question. “Daddy, how can you score goals when you’re always sitting in the penalty box?” Stan Mikita was putting himself, his team, his career and his character at a disadvantage by playing dirty.

The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Are you living this life using the weapons of the world? Do you find yourself shouting in fits of anger? Do you flex your muscles (literally or figuratively) to show who’s boss? Do you manipulate and twist the truth to get your way? Using these weapons of mass destruction will certainly land a follower of Christ in the penalty box. Furthermore, they will crush relationships and ultimately the ability to shine the light of Jesus before others, especially your spouse and children.

On the contrary, as authentic Christians, we are given weapons by God himself. They look very unusual to the world. When the world wants to shout in anger, the Christian speaks in gentleness. When the world wants to flex its muscles, the Christian stoops down to wash feet. When the world wants to manipulate, the Christian puts the needs of others before the needs of self. A Christian lives out love even when it is not reciprocated. Beloved, those are the weapons of divine power! They break down barriers in relationships. They form new relationships. They show the love and gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone who sees it in action...but not if you’re in the penalty box.

Stan Mikita retired with several seasons as lead scorer in the league, including tying the all time scoring record for a single season. But more than this, Mikita got out of the penalty box and received the Lady Byng Memorial trophy for sportsman like conduct, the Hart Memorial trophy for the player most valuable to his team and the Art Ross trophy for leading the league in scoring points. Even more impressive is that Mikita was awarded all of these in the same season! It never would have happened if he had remained in the penalty box.

What advantage or disadvantage are you putting yourself in? In your home do you fight with the weapons of the world? How about in your work place? It’s time to set aside the weapons of the world and live with divine power given from God! When we do that, others will take notice and give praise to God our Father!

It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is the beginning of blessedness and the consummation of humility is the perfection of all joy. Humility contains in itself the answer to all the great problems of the life of the soul. It is the only key to faith, with which the spiritual life begins: for faith and humility are inseparable. In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him.

Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

The following blog post was written by Sam Shewmaker, former Harding professor or missions and missionary to Rwanda, Africa. I copied it from his blog on the Missional Outreach Network.

"Changing the world" is a slogan I heard often during the years I taught missions at a place called Harding University. We had a lot of the younger generation who wanted to 'make a difference' in the world and I wondered how long that idealism would last. Best I remember we figured about 18 to 20% of the mission interns we sent out each summer actually returned later to serve full-time in missions for at least two years outside the United States. Not to shabby, maybe.

So whatever happened to the other 80%? Well, I don't know but I still pray that the seeds planted will yet bear fruit. Oh sure, some went just to see the world, to check off another continent on a tax-free air ticket, been there, done that. But others saw the world with spiritual eyes and returned home changed people... changed by the world.

The world starts at your doorstep or maybe closer. And changing it starts inside of you! Changing your value (or obsession) with safety, overcoming your dread of 'the world.' Being willing to live a transformed life before the world, and so earning the credibility to share the transforming message.

Some are pretty good at changing the world from afar, emailing World Bible School lessons or writing cogent missional blog posts. But most people need to see a real, live example of a transformed life lived before them. More of us need to get down and dirty 'in the world', living among those who need change and to be changed, entering in to the suffering of a hurting world; being incarnational, not just thinking and writing about it.

Come on World Changers... lift up your eyes... and look across the street... down the block ... or around the world! And Go!

Duplicity is one of the greatest threats to the moral fiber of our society. We see it everyday: sports heroes caught doing drugs, exemplary actors and actresses caught up in crime and politicians caught telling lies and stealing from the poor. While many have been caught, many others are yet to be discovered. This duplicity, or inauthentic living has become so common in our society today that many are unable to recognize it and its consequences.

In the middle of such deception and deceit, many people cry out, “Where is God? How can there be so much evil in this world? If God would truly the Ruler of the universe, why does He allow so many bad things to happen?”

In my ministry I find myself having this conversation on a regular basis. My response usually contains an explanation of man’s free will and the reality that man has pushed God to the outskirts of society, rejecting His plan for life on earth.

As Christians we must realize that the only way to show a better way is to live authentically, without duplicity. The simplicity of the Christian faith allows our yes to be yes, and our no to be no. We do not need to make vain promises nor do we need to dazzle people with our eloquence. Yet, what we need to live is a holistic life, in that what we say and do, go together hand and hand, in step with our Lord and Savior.

If we do not live like Jesus, if we refuse to be God’s hands and feet on earth, then the world will have no choice but to reject God and His perfect plan. Without contact with authentic living, the future of our world seems rather bleak. Let us, then, live as Christ, freely choosing to do the will of our Father. May we say with Jesus, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  

A short video about my time in San Andrés, Colombia. I taught two youth classes, a Sunday morning Bible class and a congregational singing seminar. I also went on a tour of the Island with the youth of the church! Enjoy the video and visit San Andrés!

MEDELLIN, Colombia – More than a decade ago, a chorus from Harding University in Searcy, Ark., traveled to Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. The students shared their voices – and their love of Christ – with people of South America.

Among their audience were Rosanna Marín and her family. It was their first contact with Churches of Christ.

Recently Marín got the chance to make a similar trip from her home in Venezuela to neighboring Colombia. The young Christian was one of four members of the a cappella singing group Unión C that sang for more than 160 people at a church in Medellín.

The group, which also included Darling González, Jonathan Hanegan and José Santoyo, conducted a congregational singing workshop for churches in Medellín and sang at the third annual National Youth Camp in Cali, Colombia.

Santoyo, a leader in the church in Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, directs an all-girl chorus from the church in nearby Barcelona.

“The church in Medellín has invited him to return and continue teaching on worship and congregational singing,” Hanegan said.

“Venezuela and Colombia are now divided, but they were once united as ‘La Gran Colombia’ under Simón Bolívar,” Hanegan said. “Through mission efforts like this one, the Churches of Christ in Venezuela will be united under their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

WATCH VIDEOS of Unión C’s performances under the “playlists” option at www.youtube.com/panajonathan.

The Christian Chronicle, March 2009 edition. 

One of the greatest challenges the church faces is prejudice. We think that because we are Christians, saved by the blood of Christ that we no longer suffer from prejudging people. The truth is, whether we grew up in the church or not, our society teaches us to be prejudice. However, this is not what God desires! Henri Nouwen has an interesting reflection on guarding ourselves against prejudice. 

"One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren't even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there.

"Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being 'other.' Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at 'those other persons' as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God's heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear."

God wants us to be free of prejudice because it keeps us from seeing people as God sees them. Let us make a concerted effort to avoid prejudging others and ask the Holy Spirit to constantly remind us of Christ's love for all of humanity, despite their differences. 

Here is another reflection from Henri Nouwen: "We spend an enormous amount of energy making up our minds about other people. Not a day goes by without somebody doing or saying something that evokes in us the need to form an opinion about him or her. We hear a lot, see a lot, and know a lot. The feeling that we have to sort it all out in our minds and make judgments about it can be quite oppressive.

"The desert fathers said that judging others is a heavy burden, while being judged by others is a light one. Once we can let go of our need to judge others, we will experience an immense inner freedom. Once we are free from judging, we will be also free for mercy. Let's remember Jesus' words: 'Do not judge, and you will not be judged' (Matthew 7:1)."

How many people do you know who give to the poor but honestly do not care much for them? How often do we give to good causes without being emotionally involved? Is it possible that we give to the church and to the Lord out of mere obligation instead of  love?

Amy Carmichael, an Irish missionary to India once wrote that “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”

In our churches, we do not need to teach giving, nor should we teach our obligation to give. We should preach God and his love! If we truly knew God and understood His love, we would be truly transformed by His love.

Once we are touched by the love of God, giving will be our natural response! We will no longer give alms to the poor because of social virtue nor to the church because we know we should. We will love and give because God loves and gives. In our sacrificial giving, we will become like Christ (Ephesians 5:1). 

God's love for us is everlasting. That means that God's love for us existed before we were born and will exist after we have died. It is an eternal love in which we are embraced. Living a spiritual life calls us to claim that eternal love for ourselves so that we can live our temporal loves - for parents, brothers, sisters, teachers, friends, spouses, and all people who become part of our lives - as reflections or refractions of God's eternal love. No fathers or mothers can love their children perfectly. No husbands or wives can love each other with unlimited love. There is no human love that is not broken somewhere.

When our broken love is the only love we can have, we are easily thrown into despair, but when we can live our broken love as a partial reflection of God's perfect, unconditional love, we can forgive one another our limitations and enjoy together the love we have to offer.

Henri Nouwen.