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Speak, LORD,

…for your servant is listening

Guest Blogging

Check out our Pastor’s blog: www.BuddyCremeans.com
Seems there’s some guest blogging going on over there

Vertical Reality

Last night we had both a wrap-up and kick-off party, at our new campus. We ended our year of student ministry at the original campus, and started it up for the summer at the new one. We said good-bye to one student pastor, and welcomed another. And the Vertical Production Team got to put on one last show together in style.

It’s been a crazy and fun year, and we’ve learned a lot through it. Brian has done a fantastic job building an awesome student ministry, and its bittersweet to congratulate him as he moves on to his new position. But we have a great team of leaders, and some amazing students, and it was nice just to cut loose and hang out together.

I can’t say I’m not a little relieved that summer is here, and things can slow down a bit. But we do have some fun things planned for the next couple months — which I’m sure you’ll read about on the site. And it has been a year to remember: a year of VPT, Nine12 Serves, Backstreet Boys performances, the first ever Northway Missions team, and some great friends… Have an awesome summer everyone!

The Crazy Week Continues…

So yesterday all the guys on staff got together to watch some important basketball game. Why no one got together for the Stanley Cup is beyond me, but apparently this is what you do in the States. Anyway, if you know me, you know that I’d almost rather watch paint dry than a televised sporting event, but I figured I’d go for awhile for the company, if not the athletes.

Again, so glad I did. At half time the boys started swapping stories, as men are apt to do. Only in this crew the stories aren’t your typical masculine fare. Instead they were telling stories about what their life was like when they started out in ministry. How they showed up, fresh out of Bible College, for their first internship…and were crushed to find out that they’d been assigned to the lawn mower for the summer. How they moved into a crappy “ministry” apartment — only to have their stuff moved out on them when they went away for the week.

By the time the game started again, I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at these tales of how these established leaders, who seem to have it all together, started so humble and so naive. And aside from being a riot, it was also really encouraging. I’m relatively new to this ministry-as-life gig, and even though its often exciting and challenging, there are times when it, like any job, can just be routine. When meeting after meeting stacks up in front of you. When the next series is just… the next series. When its hard to see that what you’re doing even matters.

But now, any time I’m feeling a little worn out by the routine, or a little useless because nothing new and exciting is happening at this very moment… I’ll just picture Brian Howe sleeping in his car, and then waking up to another week of watering trees and weed-whacking by the pond…

And I’ll remember that God works in the little things too, and he doesn’t require us to understand how He’s teaching us. He just asks us to obey, even in the every-day stuff, and trust His promise that He will complete the good work He has started in us…

The craziest week EVER…

This is like the fifth time today that I’ve opened up WordPress Admin and tried to blog. Each time I’ve found myself at a loss for words.

This past weekend was an insane one. We plotted a top secret visit home, in which we planned to visit only a few people who we felt could use a little love, and not tell the rest we were even around. It’s not that we didn’t want to see people — we wish we could see everyone. But we have such a limited amount of time and energy on our visits home, that on this particular trip, we needed to be strategic about where we spent ourselves.

And spend we did — although the investment paid off in spades. We got back to New York at 5:30am on Monday morning, after driving through the night; weathering rolling bouts of terrifying rain, and nearly running out of gas at 4:00am when our planned service stop was “Out of Order.” I had to be at work for 10:00am that same morning, so you can imagine that I didn’t have much left in me.

But it was worth it. We got to visit Randy in a home without bars, where he appears to be thriving as a dad. His little boy is adorable, and grudgingly agreed to share some of his toys with Benjamin while us grown-ups talked. Randy’s girlfriend has grown in leaps and bounds since she last crashed on our couch, and has turned out to be a wonderful and attentive mother. They plan to get hitched, and Randy is working through his priorities as a free man and new dad, but so far is spending most of his time hanging out with his son. Which as far as I’m concerned, is a great place to start.

We also had the privilege of attending a Princess Ball for our young friend, and Benjamin’s newest girlfriend, Allison. The culmination of her young woman’s Bible Study, the Ball was a chance for her family and friends to support her and bless her for how she’s grown. And she has grown since we left, and it was pretty cool to be a part of her night.

We did also get in some brief visits with some other good friends, and even got to very quickly meet Benjamin’s newest playmate Theodore Hambleton, who was born last Thursday (and who’s arrival we found out about due to New York’s free Rest-Stop-WiFi and my obsessive compulsive need to check e-mail). Congrats to Brian and Melissa on your new family member!

Still, despite being a trip of encouragement and celebration, we were pretty much vomiting with exhaustion when we got home on Monday. My project at work continues to loom over my head as the final details come together, and of course, things don’t get any slower at church as the school year wraps up. So I e-mailed my boss at church and asked for the week off, hoping they’d understand that we were all on empty.

Tuesday evening was VIP night, a somewhat new tradition where all the volunteers get together for food and worship and just to fellowship together and enjoy the fruits of our labor, and how God has grown us as a community. The last one was an awesome time, but I still didn’t want to go.

I have a brutal cold, probably as the result of lack of sleep, and a giant canker sore on my tongue that makes it painful to talk (and that one definitely is the result of lack of sleep, because it happens to me a lot when I don’t get my 6-8 hours). I practically dragged myself out the door, with Nic and Ben, to go down to the church — not really for myself, but because I wanted to honor the other volunteers…

God, and Pastor Buddy, had different plans. And this is where it gets awkward to talk about…

After the food we all gathered in the sanctuary to sing — me mostly mumbling, but glad to be doing even that, because I love worship, and rarely get the chance to do it from in the production booth. About halfway through the music, Barb offered to (more like told us she was going to) take Benjamin. She told me later, she just felt like she needed to. When the music ended, Buddy came out on the stage, and said some kind words to the volunteers in general, and then said “They don’t know I’m going to do this but…”

Now when a speaker says that, it usually means someone is about to get embarrassed. At first I was looking around to see who it was, but then I got this feeling in my gut like it was about to be us.

“…I’m going to ask Jon and Nicole Wise to come up front.”

We clambered up onto the stage and sat on a couple stools they had set up there, and Debbie (Pastor Buddy’s wife) came out with a bucket and some towels, then the two of them got down on their knees… and washed our feet.

I think Buddy said something about the various ministries we’re involved in, and I think I took the mic from him and said something about how this shouldn’t be for us. But mostly I was just humbled and awed to the point of tears. In front of easily 250-300 people, the pastor of our church and his wife, washed our feet. I can think of no more Christ-like an act of service and humility than that, and for some reason, they did that for us.

Did they know that we were completely exhausted, and totally hanging by a thread this week? Or was that just a God thing?

I’ve been empty before. Every couple months, the pace catches up with me, or something bad happens, and I get discouraged. Usually I handle it wrong. Usually I respond by getting selfish or angry — actually usually both. But this week I was determined just to rely on God to get me through. To not take it out on anyone, or shut anyone out. To just place myself in God’s hands and trust that He would sustain me.

I had no idea that God’s grace and would be made so evident, or that He would use such a beautiful act of service to let me know that He’ll love me through anything.

They called up two other couples as well, probably more deserving than us. In fact, I’m sure we should have washed everyone’s feet in there. It’s so amazing to see, in a church of 1500, almost 500 volunteers (they weren’t all there that night) who are a part of making it happen every week. These are the people who get it — who love and serve like Christ did. Not there for themselves, or ever asking for attention. But there because the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are always too few.

Its an incredible honor that God put us here, and allowed us to work along-side such a wonderful church. Thank you Buddy, Debbie, Brian, Dave, Nate, Chad, Kevin, Heather, Linda, Jim, Eva, Deanna, and every single unpaid staff and VIP, for giving yourselves to God’s work. Yesterday was a little glimpse of what it’s going to be like hanging out in heaven with you all!

Purpose

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The Spirit of Adventure

I don’t usually just post whole articles from my devotional. Usually I try to wrap some of my own thoughts around them. But today’s devotional just resounded so perfectly, that I figured I’d post it pretty much without change…

Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? We tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.

This is my crew, in whom I am well pleased

This month, for Nine12 Serves, we went to a downtown soup kitchen to do an industrial cleaning.

This month, like the last 2 previous, the Vertical Production Team, has shown up faithfully at, or about, 7:30am in the morning, on their Saturday, ready, willing, and even joyful to serve God in a tangible way. Lending their strength, their spirit and their passion to some of the most humble, but important ministries in the area.

We mopped floors, we disinfected chairs, we polished counters, we cleaned windows, we scrubbed cabinets, and we asked God for His blessing on the people who serve, and are served in that kitchen, and in the little chapel attached.

These are not kids with lots of spare time on their hands. They have homework, they have sports, and almost all of them have their own ministry in the church that they help in. But they make an offering of their time so that they can show others the love of Christ who has saved them.

And I could not be more proud to know them, and to lead them.

The Daniel Fast

I’ve done my best not to talk about it, because the Bible is pretty clear that were not supposed to make a big of doing it, but for the past 3 weeks we’ve been fasting. And not just Nicole and I — most of our church has been on a Daniel Fast. In general this means that we don’t eat meat, dairy, bread, sugar, caffeine, salt, pasta… pretty much anything good. Nic and I have been doing a slightly modified version — she’s breast feeding Benjamin, so she kept poultry, and leaving milk out of my diet started doing horrible things to the inside of my mouth, so we added that back in, and we both decided to keep fish for the protein (which is still a sacrifice, cause I hate fish). Aside from that, we’ve successfully eschewed all the good tasting foods for 20 days. Tomorrow at lunch will be 21, and we’ll celebrate by eating burgers until we can’t move, and then eating some more.

We, as a church, were challenged by our pastor to do this fast, so that we could re-direct our hunger towards God. This isn’t the first time he’s challenged me on it. A couple months ago in staff meeting, he excitedly told us all about this great new thing he was doing: “not eating!!” and wouldn’t we like to try it?! Of course I missed the point at the time — I like food. But when he challenged the church, he gave us a much better explanation of it. And, having never fasted before, we figured we’d take the challenge and see what God would do.

So that’s the background. The honest reality is, even though I’ve definitely been hungry, and its definitely made me talk to God more — mostly thoughts like “Dear God, I could really go for a steak right now” — I don’t feel like I’ve gotten any closer to Him. We were told if we wanted to experience God in an exciting new way, we should fast. But all I’ve really experienced is a feeling like there’s a hole in my stomach. People around me talk about what they’re learning through this, or how God is changing them, and I’m wondering what I’m doing wrong.

And I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. God doesn’t work on-demand, and just because we’re not eating, doesn’t mean God has to do amazing things in our lives. I know there are some for whom this is a huge sacrifice or a huge challenge, and I’m confident that God will honor them in a way that is appropriate to where they are in their walk in life. But I’m equally aware that God hasn’t worked any miracles in me or through me in the past 21 days.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not glad I did this. I am, in fact, very satisfied that I made it to 20 days — with or without a revolution in my life. And for those of you who disciplined yourselves through this fast, and didn’t feel the Holy Spirit moving, let me tell you why this was worth it. And I should note here, that this isn’t my discovery — rather, God hit me in the face with it during my devotions a couple days ago, and I’ve been waiting until the fast was over to post it. From My Utmost for His Highest (emphasis mine)…

. . . add to your faith virtue . . . —2 Peter 1:5

Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must “work out” our “own salvation” which God has worked in us (Philippians 2:12). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning— to instruct yourself in the way you must go.

Faith without works isn’t worth much. It’s great to believe in something, but if you don’t act on it, it’s not very valuable. The fact is, many of the great leaders in the Bible had developed the discipline of fasting. God’s Word does not say that every time they fasted, a miracle happened. Sometimes it did, and we have many of those occasions recorded. But sometimes the Bible simply states that someone fasted. Great leaders, strong Christians in the Bible added to their faith with a humble act of obedience called fasting. And this is the important thing for me about this fast: obedience.

God doesn’t say: obey me, and I will make your life full of sunbeams and roses. He says: obey me.
He doesn’t promise that if you don’t eat meat, you’ll suddenly get a halo over your head. But He does promise to complete the good work He has started in you.

Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand.

We took up this fast expecting God to do something great. So far there are no angels singing heavenly hymns behind me. But I am proud that I have learned a discipline that Daniel, and Esther and even Jesus applied to their own spiritual lives. This is a tool in my arsenal now that I know how to use. It’s actually strange that I’ve been a Christian for over 20 years, and I’ve never learned to fast before… I knew the way — the Bible talks about it all over the place. But now that I’ve learned this discipline, when God tells me to fast, I know that I can act immediately on His instruction.

We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us.

There was no crisis in my life when I started this fast. Things are pretty good, and I’m pretty blessed. I didn’t need a miracle, and God didn’t deliver one. But I did need to learn how to act on my faith — so that when a crisis does come, I will know how to humble myself and trust Him.

But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves…We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been.

God doesn’t require us to fast. It’s not a prerequisite for getting into heaven, or to having a relationship with him. Even if we wanted to, we couldn’t sanctify ourselves through fasting. Rather, it’s a habit we take the initiative to develop, because God develops our character through obedience.

Adventure

I’d like it if the video spoke for itself, but sometimes I’m not sure if I’m getting out what I really want to say. Like my mind has ideas, and it chooses words to associate with those ideas, but then when I say them, I’m not sure if they convey it properly, or if their just words, and the idea is still locked in my brain. I think I said what I wanted to say. Something like… I’ve got to go places where people do amazing things, and this is why I can’t sit still, and this is why I believe God’s plan for us includes the verb “GO!”

Anyway, it’s a good 20 minutes long, and I did the best I could on the editing, but one of our cameras didn’t look real good, so I had to kinda work around it. Also, there’s two times during my talk where I had to tell some sk8r boiz to shut up — don’t worry, I’m not yelling at you ;o)

Click here to see the video…

Speaking of GOing. My parents left for Malaysia on Monday. Have a great trip guys, can’t wait to go over there and visit!