St. Louis Bootcamp - Acts 29

It's official: Acts 29 will be hosting a bootcamp in St. Louis this fall (September or October). Since the Lou is within driving distance of Omaha, we would love to take as many Coram Deo dudes as possible to this bootcamp. The guys at the Journey are working hard to put together a top-quality speaking lineup, and with Covenant Seminary down the street, the theological focus will be strong.

Bootcamps are technically for guys who want to plant churches. But here's why I'd suggest that every aspiring leader in Coram Deo think about going:

1. Exposure to the broader world of church planting
2. Honing the missional DNA of our church
3. Getting to know some of the Acts 29 brothers, who are some of the sharpest men around
4. Being in a different gospel-centered-church environment and learning from what they're doing
5. Gaining a vision for how to renew a city through a movement of church planting
6. Raising the bar for what spiritual leadership looks like

Think about it.

Cletus Take the Reel

Side-benefit of church planting conferences: Acts 29 guys are always mining new sources of good cultural humor.

Check this YouTube link for a great combination of redneck humor and fun at Carrie Underwood's expense...

It's Baked Goods Tuesday!

11:00AM

1:30PM

Mmmmmm...Baked Goods Tuesday!

Planting Churches in the Congo

Please remember to pray for JD and two of our Acts 29 brothers, Mike (Seattle) and Dave (SoCal), as they lead a church planting bootcamp in the Congo this week.

As you may have seen, central Africa is rife with upheaval right now because of the political unrest in Kenya. Check Reuters Alertnet for daily updates on the situation.

In spite of turmoil, Jesus is building his kingdom, and he is raising up godly African men to plant gospel-centered churches. We're honored to serve them.

Update 1/22/08: Reuters today released a report stating that "the Democratic Republic of Congo's 1998-2003 war and its aftermath [have] caused more deaths than any other conflict since World War Two" (see the Alertnet link above for more). This should spur our prayers as we realize the need for holistic gospel renewal in light of such a massive humanitarian toll.

A Note of Gratitude to the Generous

On behalf Mosaic Community Development, the board of directors, staff, volunteers and all those directly affected by the recent and generous gift from the people of Coram Deo... thank you so very much! This is without a doubt the largest financial contribution we have ever received, however what really excites me is the fact that Christ followers at Coram Deo are embracing the teachings of Jesus about the poor, by giving out of your extra resources.

Often times when I meet someone from Coram Deo they remember the time I shared with your Sunday morning community about how the serving poor can highlight our own poverty. In particular a story about my bike being stolen always sticks out in peoples minds as they recall my emotional retelling of learning how to love the friend/thief who betrayed my trust, not only by stealing my very expensive bike, but then pawning it for drug money at about 5% of it's actual value. I never got my bike back, but I learned about my poverty of spirit, in that I have the potential to place an object like my bike above forgiving my friend and restoring our relationship. My poverty ran deep. God used that bike theft to highlight how much I loved 'stuff' and how little I loved Him or the poor. Since then I am often reminded of how easy it is to hold on tightly to what I have been given and store up the extra of God's blessing for myself.

It's very encouraging for me to see the people of Coram Deo wrestling with the ideas of how money should be used and caring for the 'poor in our midst' by giving of their excess resources. Thanks for joining with Mosaic in exploring the poverty in our own lives as we care for poor in the city. Blessings to you all as you seek His kingdom.

With sincere gratitude,

Matthew Smith
MCD Board Chairman

Conversion: Kind of Like Falling in Love

On Sunday, we looked at the biblical teaching on regeneration/conversion from John 3 and Ephesians 2. I summarized the Bible's teaching by stating that "conversion is not done by us; it is done to us."

I have received some e-mails this week from people wrestling with their own conversion, and many of them are asking the same thing: if conversion happens to us, and we can't make it happen, then what are we to do? In the words of one guy: I intellectually assent to the facts of the gospel and desire to be converted... but if we are unable to convert ourselves, how can I ever hope to become converted?

My answer to that guy might help some of the rest of you who are wondering about these things. I told him:

It is true that you cannot convert yourself. But it is not true that the alternative is to do nothing. What you CAN do is to plead with God to bring about the conversion of your soul. If Jesus was telling the truth when he said, “All that the Father gives me WILL come to me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37), you can be certain that as you continue to “cry to Christ, just as you are; confess your sin, your impenitence, your unbelief, and cast yourself on His mercy; ask Him to give you a new heart, working in you true repentance and firm faith” (using Packer’s words), God will certainly do that.

It is God’s desire to convert sinners (Ezekiel 18:31). Assuming that it is your desire to be converted, I am confident based on the promises of Scripture that your conversion will happen. But it will not happen by you “doing” something; it will happen by God doing something IN you as you wait on him. I think this is what Packer means when he writes, “give yourself up to Christ... And wait on Him till His light rises in your soul, as Scripture promises that it shall do.” Scripture promises that His light WILL rise in your soul; but that will happen by God’s grace and mercy and not by your effort.

When it comes down to it, conversion is a lot like falling in love. You can’t make yourself fall in love... You start pursuing someone who interests you, and falling in love happens. In the same way, you can’t make yourself fall in love with Jesus... But you can start pursuing him, and conversion will happen.

Conversion: Additional Resources

Regarding Antony Flew's "worldview conversion"...

Antony Flew's conversion to theism - in his own words (PDF file of the journal article in which Flew first broke the news of his theistic belief)

"Thinking Straighter: Why the world's most famous atheist now believes in God" (Christianity Today April 2005 interview with Flew)

NY Times Magazine skeptical about Flew's latest book (2007)

Roy Varghese's response to NY Times criticisms (5 Nov 2007) (Varghese's letter to the Times editor is the first entry in the comment thread of this blog post)

Regarding the biblical understanding of conversion...
Read the entire text of J.I Packer's introductory essay to John Owen's classic work The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, from which I took the extended quote in the post below

Read John Piper's sermon titled Conversion: the Making of a Christian Hedonist

You Must Birth Yourself Again

There is a new gospel on the rise in evangelical Christianity. It sounds very much like the old gospel, with one notable exclusion: it does not call people to conversion.

Or, perhaps more accurately, it does not call people to true, biblical conversion. For the new gospel has kept the language of "conversion" while divesting it of its biblical substance. It sees conversion as something we do by walking an aisle or praying a prayer or "giving our lives to Jesus." Our action becomes the decisive event that causes us to be converted. To state it plainly: we convert ourselves.

This new gospel is the result of a theological agenda which has been imported into Scripture rather than reverently derived from it. The language of Scripture could not be clearer: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..." (1 Peter 1:3). It is God our merciful Father who has caused us to be converted. Conversion is not something we do. We play no part in it. This is why Jesus used the metaphor of birth to describe conversion (John 3:3-8). We did nothing to get ourselves born physically. And we do nothing to get ourselves born spiritually.

If this clear explanation sounds strange to modern ears, it is because we have been raised on a steady (unhealthy) diet of the new gospel. And just like a McDonalds value meal seems nutritive enough until proven otherwise, J.I. Packer wishes us to compare the french-fry theology of the new gospel with the deep, substantive richness of the old:

To the question: what must I do to be saved? the old gospel replies: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To the further question: what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? its reply is: it means knowing oneself to be a sinner, and Christ to have died for sinners; abandoning all self-righteousness and self-confidence, and casting oneself wholly upon Him for pardon and peace; and exchanging one's natural enmity and rebellion against God for a spirit of grateful submission to the will of Christ through the renewing of one's heart by the Holy Ghost. And to the further question still: how am I to go about believing on Christ and repenting, if I have no natural ability to do these things? it answers: look to Christ, speak to Christ, cry to Christ, just as you are; confess your sin, your impenitence, your unbelief, and cast yourself on His mercy; ask Him to give you a new heart, working in you true repentance and firm faith; ask Him to take away your evil heart of unbelief and to write His law within you, that you may never henceforth stray from Him. Turn to Him and trust Him as best you can, and pray for grace to turn and trust more thoroughly; use the means of grace expectantly, looking to Christ to draw near to you as you seek to draw near to Him; watch, pray, read and hear God's Word, worship and commune with God's people, and so continue till you know in yourself beyond doubt that you are indeed a changed being, a penitent believer, and the new heart which you desired has been put within you. The emphasis in this advice is on the need to call upon Christ directly, as the very first step.

"Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him"

So do not postpone action till you think you are better, but honestly confess your badness and give yourself up here and now to the Christ who alone can make you better; and wait on Him till His light rises in your soul, as Scripture promises that it shall do. Anything less than this direct dealing with Christ is disobedience of the gospel. Such is the exercise of spirit to which the old gospel summons its hearers. "I believe... help thou mine unbelief": this must become their cry.

(From Packer's Foreword to The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen)