(At the Fort Hood "Jesus test" Give-Away in the Killeen Mall - with Denbigh Cherry & his daughter Laomai)

     Several times, I have been compared to Vance Havner.  I feel unworthy of such comparison, but smile none-the-less.  I can think of no greater honor.  Vance Havner had a way with words.  The gospel never staled in his writing.  It was fresh and cutting.  In 1966, Havner put out a little volume entitled Pepper 'N Salt.  It was full of one-liners and nuggets that God had given him through the years.

     I reckon God shaped my mind in similar fashion.  In homage to Vance Havner, I have assembled a few God-given nuggets of my own.  These are a collection of random thoughts that the Spirit has placed upon my mind these past few years.

- Someone else's road to hell is paved by our good intentions! This is truer than the oft-quoted proverb of similar fashion.

- If your life is not incarnating heaven, it is perpetuating hell.

- God is great at playing tug-of-war with His servants. He eventually wins!

- All rise each morning stuck somewhere on the string between arrogance and humility. Lord, tune my heart to sing Thy grace!

- Revival begins when you come to the end of your self!

- I can accept what the lost can't understand a lot easier than I can what the church won't understand!

- The average Baptist church's indifference to the lost generations around them is as incomprehensible as a pinata party in the ash-fall of Auschwitz.

- A mature Christ-follower will not enjoy judging others.  He will take no delight in proudly inspecting someone else's fruit.

- All great movements of faith begin when only two beings believe - you....and God!

- Obedience to God's will stretches us.  Faith is the daily cross we are stretched upon.

- When you step out on faith and suddenly, it seems no one is standing around you...you have just crossed over into God Territory.

- Nothing can drain the soul of the fullness of God's Spirit like lust.

- Inviting Christ into one's heart is the pin prick that eventually leads to the total draining away of all that we are.

- A watch in a worship service should be as out of place as a Christian in hell. 

- Could it be that denominations and abominations rhyme for a reason?

- There is a vast world of difference between being a church member and being Kingdom-minded.  Church members quench the Spirit, but those who are Kingdom-minded enthusiastically embrace the unpredictable will of God.  

- It is easier to hate than it is to love. It is easier to find fault with one another than it is to unite. It is easier to suspect others than it is to celebrate our kingdom calling. It is easier to envy than it is to surrender. All of these truths are evidence that the enemy has sown his seed in our hearts.

     The American church is full of two kinds of members - fools and cowards!  You are either one or the other.

Fools unashamedly tell people about Jesus!     Cowards invite people to church.

Fools get out in the world and engage the lost wherever they are.  Cowards hide in the church building.

Fools are relational.  Cowards are religious.

Fools dare to walk on the water with Christ.  Cowards sit in the boat and question the fool's presumption if they sink

Fools risk losing their talents.  Cowards bury theirs.

Fools lose themselves in worship.  Cowards remind the pastor the Cowboys play at noon.

Fools count the cost of revival and risk it all.  Cowards recalculate and recalculate in hopes the price will come down.

Fools will not sit still while their nation goes to hell.  Cowards will hesitate with their butts starched to their pew "til we all get to heaven."

Fools stand a good chance of hearing, "Well done, good and faithful servant."  Cowards stand a good chance of hearing, "Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity.  I don't know who you are."

Fools walk by faith.  Cowards walk by sight.

Fools charge the gates of hell.  Cowards forward e-mails to their friends bemoaning the evil of the world.

Fools dance like Jesus on top of the Sermon on the Mount.  Cowards make a graven image out of the Ten Commandments.

Fools embrace their responsibility by unloosing heaven on earth.  Cowards escape their responsibility by singing about heaven in church - alot!

Fools burn with passion.  Cowards bask in the lukewarmth of caution.

Fools are being transformed into the dangerous image of Christ.  Cowards have conformed to the politically-correct image of this world.

Fools are Christ-led and Jesus-driven.  Cowards are self-led and purpose-driven.

Fools look like disciples.  Cowards look like Pharisees.

Fools will empathize with these words.  Cowards will criticize them.

     I pray I always remain a fool.  I continue to be blessed by a handful of fools who stand behind my foolish walk of faith.  The Apostle Paul wrote, "We are fools for Christ!" (1 Corinthians 4:10).  Martyred missionary Jim Elliott wrote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

So Christian, tell me - which are you?  A fool or a coward.  

(With the Youth Group of First Baptist Church, Pipe Creek, TX. - Summer of 2007)

     I'm not one prone to be startled and swayed by statistics, but every now and then a truth comes along that rattles me to the core.  While in revival this fall in Georgia, I came across an article in the Georgia Baptist paper, "The Christian Index."  It confirmed a suspicion I have held for a long time.  96% of the generation born between 1977 and 1994 are unchurched!  96%!  Only 4% of the generation known as "the Bridgers" are Christians!  In addition, 85% of those born between 1965-76 (the Busters), 65% of my generation (the Boomers, 1946-64), and 35% of "the Builders" (those born before 1946) are unchurched!  For the past 80 years each American generation has had a lesser percentage find new life in Jesus Christ.  96% - 85% - 65% - 35%!  Tell me, church. which percentage is acceptable?  The proof is before us.  We are not doing what we are called to do.  We are not cultivating relationships and sharing our faith on a regular basis.  We are not giving a consistent answer to the hope found within us!  And most disturbing of all, we don't seem to care.

     The same article went on to speculate about the next generation of kids born after 1994.  They are currently known as "the Millennials."  The Index author drew this conclusion:  "If the church does a good job of incarnating the gospel in a media-rich format the Millennials can understand it may pull itself back from the brink of extinction.  If it doesn't, this generation may very well grow up in a nation where churches are community centers, coffee houses, and restaurants like those found today in Europe."  Now I am definitely not opposed to fresh and creative forms of media.  But such a trite conclusion helps shed some light on why we are losing the battle.  I agree the gospel needs to be incarnated but it needs to be incarnated in us.  The generations among us need to see Jesus in His church as the church lives out among them.  Individuals come to Christ through relationships.  More often than not, persons lead persons to Christ.  For far too long, lazy Christians have foolishly thought that ministers, money, and media could share Christ in their stead.  And 96% unchurched is the result of such erroneous thinking.

     Christians claim to follow Jesus.  Congregations sing how much they love Him.  The American church boldly acknowledges Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  And yet the volume of an empty pretense cannot erase the frightening reality that only 4 sheep are in the fold while 96 have wandered astray.  How great a revival is needed indeed.

(Fountain in Front of the St. James Hotel - Selma, Alabama)

     Every revivalist has a few loyal supporters.  They also have at least one groupie who shows up at every revival service they preach.  This faithful fanatic is more interested in what transpires during a church-wide revival emphasis than the possessor of the average fanny sitting in a pew.  If his presence were fully acknowledged, it would scare the heaven out of most believing attendees.  His business card proclaims him a member of "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm."  He represents none other than Satan.  And he is at revival to raise hell if hell needs raising!

     In many churches he yawns his way through the week.  He quickly discerns these congregations are simply going through the motions of religion.  They are only pretending that they want revival.  Their supposed hunger to see God at work among the fellowship is exposed by their lack of prayer beforehand.  His battle is half won before revival services begin.  All that remains for him to do is to plant seeds of arrogance and indifference.  He is greatly pleased when church members opt out on remaining services.  (Church members who show up on Sunday morning out of habit during revival services and choose not to come back the rest of the week cast their vote against revival.)  He becomes ecstatic when God's children remain numb night after night to God's altar call.  By the end of some revival weeks, the emissary of darkness is the most revived parishioner of the lot.

     Fortunately, not all revivals go his way.  Sometimes God's people are prayed up!  Sometimes God's people have a spiritual passion for revival that runs deeper than lip service!  Sometimes God's children are keenly aware of their hellish visitor and they bind his influence in the name of Jesus!  Sometimes God's children let go of sin and step into the sweeping falls of the Holy Spirit!  And the church gets right!  And the lost get saved!  And everyone knows that the scheduled services were only the primer for the beginning of true revival!  And that is when churches need to watch out the most!

     More than once I have left a church in a state of revival only to learn later on that Satan had been permitted to unravel almost everything God began in a matter of months.  Whenever God is permitted to work among us in a powerful way, there is a temptation to pause and marvel the event.  If we pause often enough, the past event looms larger than the present presence of the Holy Spirit.  If we pause long enough, the break creates a vacuum.  And as our focus wanders from our daily walk with the Lord, the enemy slips in and sows seeds of discord.

     Ironically, Satan enters the fellowship through those who claim to be followers of Christ.  It is usually someone in danger of losing power.  The uncontrollable  will of God is always a threat to those who foolishly imagine they call the shots.  It is usually someone who demands their own way.  They would rather split a church that surrender their will to the spirit of Christ.  It is occasionally someone who didn't bother to yield themselves to the possibility of revival in the first place.  But they are more than happy to presume to be the voice of God for an entire church so as to reduce the collective spiritual fervency to a temperature they can die with.

     Churches, beware!  Satan has a remedy for revival.  Jesus warned that the end result of revivals that bring cleansing to a body without the filling of the presence of Christ renders the final outcome of that body worse than if revival had never fallen (Luke 11:24-26).  Firmly resolve that the devil will not find an open door into your church through your heart.

(Pratt Cabin – McKittrick Canyon at Guadalupe Mountains National Park on an autumn day between the Ira and Pipe Creek revivals – November 2005.)

    This summer I had the opportunity to eat lunch with a restorer.  The experience was heightened by the fact that we were sharing our meal on the site of one of this individual's remarkable restorations - the Hotel Paisano in Marfa, Texas!  Designed by famous southwestern architect Henry Trost and built in 1930, the Paisano had been reduced through the years to stained glass, dark paneling, and shag carpet.  Five years ago my lunch guest joined forces with owners Joe and Lanna Duncan, and they returned this world-class, small town jewel to its original splendor.  The walls are light again.  The courtyard fountain sparkles and laughs.  The lobby beckons weary travelers to relax and contemplate.  The ballroom stands ready to begin the beguine.  From the paint to the decor; from the halls to the balconies, my restorer friend's influence is all over this historic tribute to a bygone era.  I imagined Trost would be proud.

   As I sat there, I realized that my lunch guest and I had a lot in common.  Aside from the fact that our last name is the same, my wife Vicki Lynn and I are both caught up in the work of restoration.  We both long to see creations from the past live up to their fullest potential.  For example, Vicki Lynn aches to get hold of a certain classic Fred Harvey Hotel, the La Castaneda , in Las Vegas, New Mexico, before it is too late.  And I ache to see the church be the church.

   When Jesus saved us, we became new creations  (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Our old selves were leveled.  Christ became our foundation, cornerstone, and architect.  He began to construct our lives from the inside out as He saw fit.  Perhaps His new house smell lingered over our walk for some time.  Perhaps His fires of love and compassion burned in our hearths for years.  But somewhere along the way, we settled in and got comfortable.  God's purposes no longer became our main concern.  Slight sins accumulated like veneer over mahogany.  Royals rugs were replaced with the carpet of compromise.  Years of indifference and neglect have left us in need of revival.  But since our sanctuaries are overflowing with individuals in the same spiritual condition as us, we fail to notice our glaring need for restoration.

   When a Christian is restored, they are returned to their original splendor.  They are brought back to who they were intended to be.  They become the kingdom uncluttered.  And when the kingdom of God becomes uncluttered, the lost will begin to see the real forest of Jesus once hidden by the trees of our shoddy religion.  This is what made the early church such a force to be reckoned with after three thousand individuals gave their lives to Jesus on the same morning during Pentecost.  Imagine what would happen if every follower of Christ were suddenly restored to their original splendor.  We would witness a world-wide revival of epic proportion!

   Even though Vicki Lynn and I work in different fields of revitalization there is one truth we both fully recognize.  The price of restoration is high.  It costs more to restore than it does to initially build.  Ironically, the high cost of redemption has not increased on Christ's part.  His blood covers the price of our complete salvation both now and forevermore.  Any haggling over the cost of spiritual restoration comes from us.  For whatever reason, it was easier to yield our eternal life to Him when He made us new creations than it is for us to re-surrender our deteriorated Christian lives today.  That truth should give us serious pause and cause us to wonder,  "If we had not become Christ-followers then, would we have ever surrendered our lives to Him now?  And if we won't humble ourselves to His restoration now, did we ever really permit Him to change us into a new creation back then?" 

(Pastor Doug Johnson & Robert - The Alamo - November 2005)

     Christians should be the most truthful people on the planet.  We follow the One who identified Himself as "The Truth."  He promised us truth that would set us free.  Why then does it seem we are often the first to pass on a lie?  Whether it comes in the guise of a "prayer request" that is nothing more than a juicy tidbit of gossip or an e-mail forward admonishing us to take it out on some godless corporation, Christ-followers have no business playing nursemaid to the devil's children!  (John 8:44b)

     I recall the first time I realized I was duped into perpetuating such a lie.  In the early 80's, a rumor circulated among the churches of Alabama that the Procter and Gamble Company was in league with the devil.  According to knowledgeable sources, the makers of soap had made a deal with Satan.  The moon and stars of their logo supposedly bore flagrant testimony to their shameless alliance with Lucifer.  Pastors called on their congregations to boycott.  I jumped on the bandwagon and purged our cabinets with a vengeance.  I perused every label of every product before it was allowed to enter our shopping cart.  A month and a half  later, the boycott was repealed.  The knowledgeable sources recanted, declaring the libeled company as pure as Ivory Soap.  Ironically, I worked for a P&G company while attending seminary.  A Christian executive co-worker told me how that particular rumor resurfaces every five to six years.

     Isn't it amazing how the seeds of falsehood find fertile soil in the greenhouse of faith?  This past year I have been encouraged several times to boycott Pepsi Cola because they omitted the words "under God" on their "Pledge of Allegiance" cola can.  No such can ever existed!  I have received countless e-mails asking me to sign a petition against Petition 2493 because of the late Madalyn Murray O'Hair's attempt to remove Christian broadcasting from radio and television.  The latest batch of bunk attaches Dr. James Dobson's name to Beelzebub's bouncing babe!  It took me all of three minutes on the internet to discover the truth - Petition 2493 never existed!

     And then there are the occasional diatribes I receive denouncing some well known personality like Hanoi Jane.  By her own confession, Jane Fonda is my sister-in-Christ!  Yes, what she did thirty years ago was reprehensible.  So was the sin we just committed this week.  But she should no more be labeled Hanoi Jane than Peter should still be known as Courtyard Simon or the Apostle Paul should still be known as Sanhedrin Saul.  Several years ago she became a new creation in Christ.  Her sins were forgiven.  To continue to hold any person's past over them after that past has been set free by the truth and blood of Christ is an attempt to reduce God's wondrous grace to no grace at all.

     Christians should be the most truthful people on the planet!  And we should be the most wise and well-informed!  We have the mind of Christ!  Misguided zeal is poor excuse for speaking the devil's native tongue, especially in this day and age when the truth can usually be found just a few clicks away.  (I often go to www.truthorfiction.com to substantiate or dismantle e-rumors.)  If you know my heart, hopefully you will understand that I have attempted to speak the truth in love.  As followers of Jesus we are commanded to take a stand for truth.  To the world, that makes us fools for Christ's sake.  But to take a stand for that which is false just renders us stupid for no good reason at all - and unfortunately the lost have seen enough of that among our ranks.

Our family at the Cowboy Christmas Ball in Anson, TX. with our friend Michael Martin Murphey - December 2004.

     If the souljourn of faith were reduced to a dance, no doubt it would be a two-step.  At times, that's about as much of the journey ahead as God gives us.

     Somewhere in the archives of my memory, I recall hearing a preacher or Sunday School teacher share from Psalm 119:105 - "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."  The speaker portrayed a traveler walking along a road at night.  The lamp in his hand illuminated just a few steps ahead.  In order to see beyond the edge of the darkness before him, the traveler had to keep moving forward.  Each step forward revealed another step  further down the path.  After painting that word picture, my anonymous teacher made his point.  "One step of obedience now reveals the next step and obedience to that step yields yet another to be taken.  This is the true walk of faith."

     While this has always seemed to be true in my own personal pilgrimage, it has never seemed more-so to me than now.  In my 18th month of full-time revivalism, I have paused to reflect how God has kept me going by revealing just a few steps in the journey ahead.  When 2005 began, I had no idea that I would preach to congregations in San Angelo, Crosbyton, Newcastle, DeLeon, and Gainesville.  In mid-summer, I knew not that my autumnal steps would lead to such places as Higgins, Pecos, Menard, Ira, and Pipe Creek;  nor did I suspect such out of state treks to Snowflake, Arizona or Denver, Colorado. 

     And now as 2006 unfolds, with most days of my calendar as white as the sands of Ft. Walton Beach, I am curious - and excited - about the journey ahead.  Each morning I ask our Father, "Are my plans and purposes today Your plans and purposes today?"  Each day I ask Him to continue to open up opportunities of service.  And as one speaking assignment is closed on my calendar, more assignments are given.

     I encourage you to learn to two-step with God.  Learn to let God lead.  Break loose from whatever reigns you in and keeps you from stepping out in faith.  Whenever He asks you to dance, get up from your chair and leave the wall to the flowers who continue to shrink in the shadows.  His Word is a light and a lamp!  His call is all the assurance you need to act.  Do you really mean, "Wherever He leads, I'll go?"  I challenge you to take the step and watch the darkness in your life peal back like the Red Sea.  For this much is certain - in order to two-step with God, you've got to take the first step!

(On the Trail to Guadalupe Peak - Guadalupe Mountains National Park - April 2009)

   In 1983, a group of deacons stood in their pastor's driveway awaiting his arrival.  They were there on a mission.  The youth minister had overstepped his bounds.  For over a month the young man had announced a Fifth Quarter Fellowship to be held after an upcoming football game.  The entire student body had been invited.  Now on a Friday afternoon mere hours before the planned event, the deacons of the church were there to demand that the event be canceled.....because some African-American students might attend the fellowship.  This church was located a short distance from the famous Selma-to-Montgomery march.  The Civil Rights Movement had occurred almost twenty years earlier.  And yet, this church had refused to change.  They failed to embrace a change that their founder, Jesus Christ unashamedly celebrated one noon at a well in Samaria

   I read a dissertation written by a former pastor about a church of which I was personally acquainted.  As I read his words written almost a decade earlier, I was amazed at their familiarity.  Negative attitudes, narrow opinions, and complaints had not changed one iota in ten years.  A one-on-one conversation with the author revealed that the lack of change stretched back even further.

   Why are churches so resistant to change?  Why do Christians fold their arms, bow their necks, and gush such pious platitudes like - "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it?"  (It's interesting how that quote is interjected in discussions of morality or doctrine but seldom offered with as much zeal when struggling with the implications of loving enemies and forgiving our fellow man.)  Why do most Christian lives continue to fall short of the glory of God?

   Change is indicative of spiritual growth!  Our souljourns began when we were willing to repent of our old way of life and surrender our sinful selves to the Lordship of Christ.  As Jesus stated in Matthew 18:3 - "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  Jesus took our surrenders and transformed us into new creations. (2 Corinthians 5:17)  In one glorious moment, our hearts were changed...our minds were changed....our lives were changed! 

   And yet, our need for change did not end there.  Our personal salvation was not some "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!" that rendered us spiritually perfect and biblically knowledgeable from then to eternity.  With the change came a challenge.  The challenge to live like Jesus.  With the change came a call.  The call to deny self, take up our cross daily, and follow Jesus.  To embrace the challenge and obey the call necessitates a life of constant change and spiritual growth.

   The seed of the gospel explodes in the fertile soil of those who dare to cultivate. Fallow is the ground and common is the plight of churches who don't.  Change becomes a threat to them.  The green shoots of growth exploding through the crust disturb the rest of the hibernating hotbed.  Proponents of status quo rise up in pious agitation to nip the new growth in the bud.  They act as if faith is something to be protected rather than lived.  When some change comes along that they will accept, they celebrate the moment beyond proportion.  The bride of Christ wiggles her toe and the buzz of the fellowship would lead you to believe she had moved Everest!

   The truth is - God does not change!  He emphatically reminds us of His constancy over and again throughout scripture.  ("I the Lord do not change." - Malachi 3:6)  His Word does not change.  It is eternal truth.  But our relationship with Him must change as we allow Him to increase our faith.  Such change will overflow into our worship and our discipleship.  Resistance to change is a serious indicator that something is not right within.  Ignorance will always resist truth.  Darkness will always resist light.  Pride will always resist a power that cannot be harnessed or controlled.  And death within us will always be threatened by the assurance of abundant life.

(With Denver Blue and Gregory Smith - Revival, First Baptist Bronte TX. - November 2006)

   Earlier this year, I attended a conference in Dallas led by popular author and professor Dallas Willard.  I was deeply struck when he made the following comment: "What we really need in our churches is not more money & not more people.  What we really need in our churches is more people that are Christ-like.  That will be enough to set the whole bundle on fire."

   Dr. Willard hit the nail on the head.  We don't really need more of anything in our households of faith except to start living up to the example set before us by Jesus.  We need that more than 40 days of purpose.  What good is purpose if our aim is not grace.  We need that more than the prayer of Jabez.  What good is that mantra if all it does is feed our selfishness.  We need that more than experiencing God.  What good is such a heavenly experience if we don't share some of it with those caught up in the hell that surrounds us.  Our children don't need to have the Bible taught to them in school as much as they need to see the Bible lived in us in all we say and do.

   Two-thousand years ago, Jesus sat down on a hillside and preached the greatest sermon ever heard.  We know it as "the Sermon on the Mount."  It is found in Matthew 5-7.  It is such volatile stuff that believers are still stumbling all over it.  It is as controversial as Hitler's Mein Kampf and Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto.  Jesus dared to issue such commands as "love your enemies" and "do not judge."  He dared to place conditions on God's forgiveness by stating we would receive (from our Heavenly Father) as good as we give (to our fellow man.).

   Jesus meant just what He said.  His admonitions are not open for debate.  And to prove He meant it, on another day He climbed another mount and died just what He lived!  Right before His death, He gave us a new command - "Love one another."  And then he added, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)  Strange.  He didn't say they would know by the doctrine we fastidiously keep.  Nor did He say they would know by our piety.  He said they would know by our love.  That is what those outside the church are desperately seeking.  And unfortunately, when they examine our fellowships, they are finding little to draw them in.  But if they ever saw in us what Christ intended them to, look out!  Such a church will go up in holy smoke, and our Father will be pleased by the aroma.