The Organic Gospel
I think one of the most discouraging things for the average Christian to face is trying to figure out which theological system is right or which theologian is right. We are often bewildered as to how such great scholars can come up with so many different interpretations.
This at times can be almost paralyzing as we watch these titans of the faith do battle over the meaning of words and doctrines while the rest of us stand on the sidelines waiting for the dust to settle, which it never does. Then we observe people who have little or no theological training who love the Lord supremely, obey Him consistently, draw deeply from His word, sacrifice joyfully, witness boldly, pray fervently and worship passionately. How can this be? I recently returned from a trip to the Amazon where I had the great privilege to meet with a tribe that had just been reached with the gospel. There we were, standing in the midst of the great Brazilian jungle witnessing what I like to call THE ORGANIC GOSPEL, with no doctrinal preservatives added.
These people had known the Lord for just four months. They had no bibles, no theological system they were following, no knowledge of doctrine, yet seemed to have a great grasp of the basic fundamentals of the Christian life. I was a bit skeptical until I heard some of their testimonies. This was a very small tribe, but their hope in the Lord dwarfed what I see in our western culture. One woman stepped forward and said she used to be angry and hard to get along with but now that she has been forgiven of her sins by Jesus, her anger no longer has a grip on her. Another stepped up and said, “I used to curse my children but now I bless them.” While yet another said she knew in her heart that something was not right when she heard that Jesus had come to set her free from her sin. She is now at peace, even though life is very hard.
So here are five things I learned from this tribe that I never knew about the gospel.
- The simple gospel taught them how to pray. Since God is a personal God then praying to Him seems only normal now that they are believers. They prayed for us before we left. It was beautiful and full of hope.
- The simple gospel taught them how to walk by faith. They were trusting God for their daily provisions, and if you could see the conditions these people live in, you would understand how faith was essential to their daily walk.
- The simple gospel taught them how to worship. They asked if we would teach them some songs so they could praise God in greater ways. We sang together under the shade of heavy vines draped over the limbs of giant trees drawing up water from a nearby swamp.
- The simple gospel taught them how to witness. They had a desire to reach other tribes with this message.
- The simple gospel taught them to seek forgiveness from one another. This was the clincher for me. One woman said, “Since Jesus forgave us we have decided as a tribe that if we ever offend one another in word or deed, we will go to that person and ask forgiveness.” I taught on this for years. Most of us in the west tell those we have offended, “I’m sorry,” or “I apologize,” but few will look the offended party in the eye and say, “Will you forgive me for what I have done?” That is what these people practice.
Some of you might be saying to yourself, “I have always known that the gospel alone could do this.” Let me challenge you on that thought. Why is it that the western church has to have endless books on how to worship, how to witness, how to pray, how to walk by faith, or how to forgive? Why do we have countless seminars on these subjects? But let’s ask an even harder question. Are we living these out with all of our theological knowledge? Perhaps this is getting a little uncomfortable. As I looked at these people I couldn’t help but think, “This is not a tribe, but a church – and a pretty mature one at that.” Do you know of a church in the U.S. that practices these disciplines? These people had no pastor, no creeds, no statement of faith, no theological system, no eschatological date for our Lord’s return, no worship center, and no prayer room. All they had was the ORGANIC GOSPEL.
Now before you write me off as one of those pastors that says, “Let’s get rid of doctrine and just love Jesus,” hear me out. I love good doctrine and have taught it for many years. After all, I pastor a Bible church. The purpose of good doctrine is to protect the gospel from cults, new age philosophies, and health & wealth theology (which, in fact, is no theology). Doctrine is highlighted when the gospel is attacked. Great theologians rise up as they should. Creeds and confessions are written. Books on systematic theology spring up. All this can be good, but it can also bury the ORGANIC GOSPEL. When theology is worshiped in place of the One it directs us to, then we are in serious trouble. The résumé of a person is not the person. It simply describes the person, albeit in a very limited way. No matter how much doctrine we compile, God will never be adequately explained by any group of people or any system of theology. So let’s remove our pride and learn from the tribe.
You can watch or listen to Pastor Mike’s account of this trip to the Amazon here.
Summer Camp 2011 Prayer Requests
As you may have heard mentioned in services last weekend, our Junior and Senior High youth are away for our annual Youth Summer Camp. Thank you for praying for us this week. We desperately need your prayers as we desire to see God move an act in our teens’ lives this week. Below is are several specific requests and an overview of theme this week so you can pray specifically for our teens to understand the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives and begin to live it out.
Specific Prayer Requests
1) Safety and Protection – as we travel and as we have fun white water rafting, water tubing, caving, riding a hot-air balloon, etc.
2) Logistics – we have over 200 people at camp this year. Pray that all would logistically work out with transportation, meetings, meals, etc.
3) Open Hearts – many of our teens are apathetic towards God. Pray that they would be open to what the Lord wants to teach them.
4) Listening Hearts – pray against any distraction and that the teens stay awake during the messages.
5) Small Groups to Connect – pray for the teens to connect with each other.
6) Salvation for the Unsaved – we have many friends and non-believers coming with us this year. Pray they would each accept Christ’s free gift of salvation this week.
7) Energy for Staff – pray for supernatural energy for the staff.
8) Spiritual Refreshment for the Staff – pray for the staff’s personal times with the Lord, that they would be refreshing, and that they would be able to minister out of the overflow of what God is doing in their lives.
9) Unity among the staff – pray that our entire team of over 40 staff would be united in Spirit to care for and lead out teens.
10) Discernment for the Staff – many teens come with significant issues (personal or at home). Pray that our staff would be able to discern how to care for and challenge each of our teens in a grace filled manner.
11) Below is an overview of our theme. Pray specifically that our teens would see the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives and begin to walk in it.
Our Theme: SUPER:natural
As believers we have all heard of the Holy Spirit, but how many of us really understand who He is or what He practically does in our life? Christ Himself says it is for our benefit that Christ leaves and sends the promised Holy Spirit (John 16:7). We are told if we walk in the Spirit, we will not gratify our sinful desires (Galatians 5:16). We hear about the Fruit the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) that should develop in our lives of love, joy, and peace and want some of those, but how do we get them? We hear about living in the power of the Spirit, but far too often tend to lead defeated Christian lives. We live for the next “spiritual high” but have no clue how to have a sustained walk with the Lord. We have heard so many truths about God and have so much knowledge, but do we have the basic skills of how to walk in step with the Spirit?
This year at camp, we will be learning about the Holy Spirit and what He does in our lives. With that in mind, our theme this year is SUPERnatural. Not supernatural in the Ghostbusters way of thinking, but as in SUPER (adj. – above, beyond, stronger than) natural (n. – the way things exist in nature without interference). This is about the power and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. On my own, I would not walk with God or honor Him, but thankfully He has not left me alone as an orphan (John 14:18). He gives us the power to live beyond our own natural abilities.
TAKE TWO: Under the Sun
Life disconnected from God is senseless.
Take Two is a series of videos from Pastor Mike Minter of Reston Bible Church. Drawing on over three decades of pastoral experience, Pastor Mike answers various questions often asked in life with a two-minute response.
Saying Goodbye to Trinidad
We have had an awesome last couple days. We spent 2 days running a summer camp for the kids at the children’s home. Tuesday evening we did another street meeting and went to see the huge sea turtles! We even got to see baby turtles hatching! Wednesday we did our second day of summer camp and left for the team debrief in Port of Spain. Last night we heard from Ronnie and Meela. Today we spent the day on a boat swimming and fishing. Then we returned to the church for a farewell dinner with the church (A very touching experience). We will give you much more detail when we see you late on Saturday.
Our flight is scheduled to land at Dulles at 11:20 pm. We are planning on students being picked up at the airport.
Thank you for all your prayers! God has definitely answered them and many more.
TAKE TWO: Fear of Man
Who are you pleasing? God? Or man?
Take Two is a series of videos from Pastor Mike Minter of Reston Bible Church. Drawing on over three decades of pastoral experience, Pastor Mike answers various questions often asked in life with a two-minute response.
Trinidad Update #6
Summary of the weekend:
On Day 8 (Sat), we went to Toco Beach, ate Fish Broth which is a stew that they cooked using a propane tank right on the beach, played football, and climbed trees.
On Day 9 (Sun), we went to an Evangelical church that Bob had helped out when he came here last with an RBC missions team, Ryan and Dan spoke, Emily gave her testimony and then we repeated our “package” at Hope Community Church at 5:45 pm and Joseph gave his testimony. We finished out the night having some fun with our Trini friends, especially our awesome maxi taxi driver Dale (last picture with Dan).
Blog from the weekend:
DAY 8: Well, it was bound to happen. We got roasted. The team spent much of our day Saturday on Toco beach. It was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. I think at times we all felt like somehow we had been placed into a post card. We spent our day running around having fun, spending some time with the local Trinis we have come to know and love, some who we are growing beside and some who we are witnessing to, and just praising God for his beautiful creation. After our time on the beach we stopped briefly at a lighthouse that was unlike anything we had ever witnessed before. Beyond a small beaten path we found enormous boulders and cliffs that at this moment I struggle to even describe. Aggressive waves plummeted toward us, crashed onto the walls of the cliff we sat on and flew up upon us in the form of this delicate mist. God is so beautiful. We went back to the Heerah’s house to find an abundance of awkward tan lines and crazy sun burns. I have never felt so white before in my life. After changing and showering, we headed back to Hope Community Church to lead a parent/teen event. There, we were given the opportunity to meet with community members and discuss with them what the Bible says about what a parent-teen relationship should look like. Courtney shared her testimony with the ladies and Bob spoke for the men. The turn out was certainly smaller than other events we have hosted, but we praise God for the intimacy that comes with that.
DAY 9: I cannot even tell you how fun it has been spending a full Sunday in Trinidad. We spent the morning at a nearby church that still had strong connections to the Heerah’s. Ronnie used to pastor there before being led to start Hope Community Church and many of the Heerah’s relatives are strongly tied there. It was a church
flourishing with life and life in abundance. Every face we saw was welcoming and loving toward us for no reason other than the fact that we are all truly members of a single body. We were given the opportunity to run the morning service, but we were blessed in that we did not take over their church for that day, but rather we walked
beside them that day. The worship they provided for us was beautiful and motivating. I was so encouraged to witness such a lively congregation. After their worship, our group sang a few songs, performed “In the Light,” and spoke before them. Emily Mooney shared her testimony from the pulpit in a way that genuinely seemed to capture the hearts of her audience. After Emily, Bob Shull, Ryan Swisher, and Daniel Shull tag-teamed a sermon, which was absolutely saturated in wisdom and in truth. It was encouraging to see our men step up to the plate into such a role of leadership. Not a single person, Trini or otherwise, left the building uninspired. After the church service, we were given lunch as a team as well as some awesome “meet and greet” time, where we were able to really speak with any church member that was willing to share with us. Little girls in dresses played hide-and-go-seek with our members and little boys played “ninja” while everyone else seemed immersed in conversations varying from the basics of getting to know each other, and deep discussion over what we all believed God was at work doing. After lunch, we met back at the Heerah’s house for a bit of liming, encouraging, and team time. Our time was good and reviving, but not long lived because we were soon off to Hope Community Church to prepare for the evening service ahead of us. As always, many songs were sung, and as strange as it is to stand on a stage and sing worship songs at a congregation, it is incredibly rewarding to see how the congregation began to worship along with us. Even witnessing one person worship with a heart full of adoration for God is enough encouragement to uplift us all. After worship, “Silence” was performed, and Joseph Choi gave a heart-felt testimony. We then all dispersed between the adult service and many children’s classrooms to teach Sunday school. Everywhere the team served was blessed. Our evening ended on a high note when we ate a late dinner with the community around us and simply spent some time in fellowship. The love we have developed for one another, within the team and within the community, never ceases to amaze me.
Please pray for our ministry at the Bridge of Hope Kids Camp. We will be hanging out with 45 kids and will need lots of energy and enthusiasm.
VIDEOS FROM WEEK 1:
Click this to watch- Jesus is a Winner Man
Click this to watch- Bob sharing the gospel with elementary kids
Click this to watch- In the Name of Jesus- Trini Style
Click this to watch a Minute to Win it Challenge Game
Trinidad Update #5
DAY 6: Thursday was an incredibly full day, which is something we were all thankful for. It is always neat to have days just full of opportunities. The morning consisted of going to a high school with a reputation of being full of troubled teens or teens that ended up there due to doing poorly elsewhere. The students we talked to were
far more interested in getting to know us than I had anticipated. I think we all expected for them to be “rough around the edges,” but at the end of the day, whatever they seem to be, they are all simply people, just as relational as the rest of us. Worship songs were sung, “King of Hearts” was performed, and Tucker shared his testimony with the students in a way that was conversational and relatable. After performing there, the team headed back to our work sight to finish the house we had started earlier this week. Lots of priming, painting, and sweating took place as well as the unexpected opportunity to meet and speak with the single mother who owned the house we were working on. In the midst of that work, three of the guys left early to dig a trench most diligently at the Heerah’s house. Naturally, their work ended with a massive mud fight that could not have been more fun. The team spent the rest of the afternoon in the word and preparing for the evening we were about to spend in Vega, a more rural area that is about twenty minutes away from the Heerah’s house. Once there, we broke up into groups and walked through the area meeting locals, attempting to stay away from stray dogs, and inviting the people we met to our upcoming street performance. Our street presentation in Vega was worlds different from our presentation in Sangre Grande, but we saw God at work nonetheless. Our crowd was in no way enormous, but they were certainly a crowd in need. After some worship “In the Light”
was again performed (giving me goose bumps, as always), Emmy Weeks shared her testimony, and Ronnie Heerah shared his testimony and the gospel. The response was overall very positive and we all enjoyed
spending the rest of the evening dining with the locals in Vega getting to know them, sharing with them, and never ceasing to pray for them.
DAY 7: Today was a day that we have long been anticipating. We have been advertising an upcoming free car wash to the locals since we arrived here and finally, today was the day. Every person had their job, be it washing, waxing, rinsing, or absurdly jumping and screaming “free car wash” to cars that passed by. All morning we worked with strange flows of one or two cars at a time or tons all at once. The single commonality between every person we saw, whether or not they agreed to get their car washed, was that none understood why anyone would give up their time to serve the community with no strings attached. Most did not understood why some American kids would give up their summer to serve. God truly seemed to make an impression on the people we came across. After the car wash we had a late lunch of…wait for it… pizza! Granted, pizza here is certainly different from back in the states, but either way it was pretty great to have a taste of America again. We spent our evening at Hope Community Church running an outreach that we called the “Minute to Win it Youth Rally.” It was fun to see a mixture of new and old faces showing up knowing nothing of what the night would hold. We started off the night by splitting into groups led by each of the RBC team members, who each shared a condensed version of our testimonies as well as attempted to get to know the Trinidadians on at least a basic level. Daniel Shull emceedthe evening, keeping the event full of fun and excitement by running the games and interacting with the Trinidadians. They all adore him. For the first time the skit “Silence” was performed, and Joshua Johnstone shared the gospel. I am thrilled to write to you that five hands were raised in indication of accepting Christ when Bob ended the event in prayer. And just like anything in Trinidad, the evening ended in “Trini” time. We had no real schedule for the end of the evening, so we all just “limed” (hung out) playing games and conversing with everyone we could. It was, most certainly, a successful event that was full of truth and love.
Please continue to pray that we help represent the church in this area and ultimately our God in ways that encourage the community.
(by Hope and Ashley)
TAKE TWO: Fairness & Justice
God is not fair. But He is just.
Take Two is a series of videos from Pastor Mike Minter of Reston Bible Church. Drawing on over three decades of pastoral experience, Pastor Mike answers various questions often asked in life with a two-minute response.
Trinidad Update #4
DAY 5: The beautiful thing about being a part of the kingdom of God is that any risk we take is not really a risk at all. No matter what the outcome of our actions, as long as we are following His will, God is in control no matter what. It was a blessing and a privilege to be a part of the risk and the will of Christ on this day. We started off the day with every intention of returning to our work project, but God clearly had different plans for us considering He sent heavy rains upon us all morning. We took the time he gave us to dig deep into his word and explore the internal fruit that comes from within a missions team; a fruit that is rarely the cause of a mission trip but its outcome is just as vital as any outward work being done.
After some great Bible time, all the while waiting to see what the rain would do, a plan B was created. The weather lightened up enough to be outside but was still too damp to do the painting we had originally hoped to do, thus we went into Sangre Grande with gospel-oriented surveys and spent most of the afternoon sharing with locals about the life-altering love of Christ. It is difficult to sum up an afternoon like that, because every individual had such a different experience, but I can tell you that despite the differences between our conversations, Christ was a clear part of every one of them. It does not cease to amaze me the way that the culture here allows us to openly evangelize in a way that would never be so well-accepted back in the states.
After lunch and more surveys the team got ready for an evening of hard-core evangelism. A friend of the Heerah’s graciously allowed our team to put on a program in front of their store in Sangre Grande so that we could share the gospel to the streets of Trinidad. Crowds gathered from across the street in front of stores, in front of our space on the side walk, and packed around the area that we performed, all curious to see what the crazy Americans in matching yellow shirts were going to do.
The crowds were not massive, but they were consistent and we considered ourselves blessed to have any listening ears at all. For the first segment of our program the team sang two worships songs together, Hope Ruffner shared her testimony, and the skit “Decision Time” was performed.
After about a half hour of talking to the listeners on the street, getting responses, and handing out tracts, we started all over again. This time the team sang two different worships songs; John Shull shared his testimony (beautifully, I may add), and the skit “King of Hearts” was performed. An eloquent, but ultimately welcoming and clear presentation of the gospel by Ronnie Heerah followed both segments.
Naturally, we did hit some bumps in the road, but every one of them was extraordinarily handled. For example, when drunk and mentally unwell men showed up hoping to become best buds with some of us, the men on our team (leaders and students) swung into super-protection mode making sure that every person felt completely safe the entire evening. One drunken man yelled that he was “vexed” at one of our college leaders because he would not allow the man to marry one of our team members. It was honestly hilarious and handled in a way that allowed us to laugh rather than feel uncomfortable or unsafe. I could not, and I think I speak well for all of the girls here, ask for a better group of guys to protect us and work beside us.
Our time on the streets today was really incredible. We saw a huge interest and spoke some real truth to many people we had never met and may never see again. God was in every detail, every word, and every moment calming and guiding hearts. We left Sangre Grande with joy in our hearts and a thirst to seek more opportunities to share in the same way that we had this evening. We have tasted and we have seen that God is good.
Trinidad Update #3
click to watch a video- Jesus is a WINNER MAN!
click to watch a video- Sharing the gospel with the kids at Guaico Elementary School
DAY 3: We started off the day as a team walking through the streets of Sangre Grande exploring the culture, the stores, and the over all feel of the town in which we soon hoped to connect with. In our groups we attempted to speak to the people we saw, understand the things around us, and connect with each other.
It is always a blessing to be able to multi task the way that we do here by, at it simplest, fellowshipping and worshipping while we complete the tasks at hand. Our pale skin has been a major give away these few days. Everywhere we go we get looks but of course we have loved it and have taken that attention as an opportunity to connect with and relate to the locals.
After our prayer walk we ate a delicious home cooked meal at the Heerahs house and soon changed into our swimwear. We spent a few hours on a local beach and had a grand old time. I have been personally so encouraged by the way that in whatever we do, we do it as a team. We played Marco-Polo the majority of our time there and I so appreciated the participation of the entire team as well as some new friends we made that day.
After some major fun and fellowship we began an evening of sharing in the community. Our American team split up into groups of three or four including some extraordinary Trinidadian help. We went our separate ways within nearby neighborhoods and went house to house asking locals questions from a survey with the intention of not only having a greater understanding of the needs around us, but also to interest people in Hope Community Church and ultimately the gospel. These kinds of surveys were very different from what most of us were used to simply because the Trinidadians here typically enjoy sharing with us and getting to know us, whereas in the states most of us are used to being brushed off.
Talking to strangers with thick accents and strong opinions was certainly enough to stretch most of us, but at the end of the day we all took joy in what God had done in us and through us. God gave us the chance to be bold and to lead for the sake of the gospel, for which we praise Him. We ended our day sharing about our experiences sharing at a local Chinese restaurant after which we ended our night exhausted and ready for some sleep.
Please pray for the families we talked to: that our conversations would encourage them to seek out the one true God. Ronnie was so encouraged to see us talking to the neighbors of the church. We really are hoping to be an encouragement to the church and the community.
DAY 4: Tuesday morning we woke up earlier than days past, frantically getting ready for the busy day ahead of us. Skits were being practiced, things were getting packed, and much prayer was taking place as we headed off for Guaicu Presbyterian Elementary School, where we were given the opportunity to put on a program for the children attending there.
Ryan Swisher passionately led some worship for the kids, followed by Ronnie to sang children’s songs including Jesus is a Winner, Man, a personal favorite of mine. We performed King of Hearts and maybe it was just me, but I believe that we all felt the spirit of God strongly in that room as every character and idea was depicted. The children laugh, gasped, and erupted in applause (most graciously, I may add) as we performed and later explained what the skit meant and how God had reached us personally just as he reached the characters in the skit.
Considering the room was enormous and packed tight with various aged children, the attention overall was focused in on us and our message for them. After performing the team was given some time to get to know the kids and simply show them the love Jesus would have us show. Many kids begged for autographs, compared us to Disney characters, and asked if our eyes were real. We could not help but laugh at the silly things they said to us but when we left something in our hearts stirred. We barely knew these kids, but each of us was sincerely sad to go.
After our time at the school we headed out to a work project where a house was being built for a single mother who Ronnie was connected with. I doubt any one of us had ever sweat that much in our entire lives. Every team member worked like crazy digging trenches and priming walls in the heat. It was encouraging to see the progress of our labor as time went on. Our work there is not yet finished, but we plan to return tomorrow to finish painting what was primed today and help assemble the roof for the house. After eating some traditional Trinidadian roti for lunch, we hoped to work even longer on the house, but frequent rain showers prevented us from being able to do any real work, so we took that as God calling us elsewhere. We had some team time back at the house followed by individual and group Quiet Times. Although it rained off and on all evening, nothing could stop us from doing more surveys! Because it was our second time around, conversations seem to run smoothly and go further than they had the day before, and for that we are thankful.
We ended the day with perhaps the most fun activities in the world: eating food and singing karaoke! The restaurant we ate at is called Sound Bites Caf and is owned by a Christian family, who we thoroughly enjoyed spending the evening with. The food was delicious and the company could not have been better. We were encouraged to sit by team members we knew the least and from that grew some real friendships, or rather deepened the friendships that we have already formed. Karaoke also brought us closer together. Anyone willing to put themselves out there for the sake of bonding and fun is worthy of respect. The evening could not have gone better. We rode back to our living areas singing songs with contentment in our hearts; ready for whatever God will have for us tomorrow.
Please pray for our Street meeting tonight! We will be sharing our package and witnessing to those passing on the street from a small parking lot. Pray that Gods message is communicated clearly and that He will be working on hearts to the benefit of His kingdom.