Forgiving Grace

I'm sure some of you that have read my posts regularly have wondered where I went for 3 1/2 months.
Well .....
I had a wild ride and then took some time off. I'll start with the wild ride first.
It's no secret that I have been open to pastoring a church again, and in the February/March/April range there were several churches that had contacted me about taking on the senior position of either music minister or pastor. One seemed very promising and it came down to the time of the trial sermon to be given. Then BAM!
Out of nowhere I was blindsided.
I've never hid my feelings and beliefs on the Holy Spirit (and many other topics) in this blog and on my webpage, http://www.upsidedownchristianity.com. Yes, I have served in some conservative churches, and yes I have served in some that were more open to the Holy Spirits leading.
See this previous Post (I want order in this house)
Well, for those of you who have never been through the search committee process, I'll give you a bit of the process. Applications are accepted and reviewed. Interviews are given, sometimes over the phone if long distance. Research is done by interviewing/questioning people who have served with the pastor and with people who have been a regular part of the congregation of his former church. (It is a little different for recent graduates of seminaries.) The list is narrowed down and questionnaires are sent out to the few pastors remaining as possibilities. People that they don't like then are ruled out, leaving hopefully only one or two for the final process, the trial sermon and vote by the congregation.
Well, one church in a northern state (they are known for their cheese) contacted me. They had found my website, read quite a bit of it, read part of the blog site, and wanted me to consider coming and taking over for their pastor who was leaving.
I researched the area, asked questions that were pertinent to our moving so far away, and decided that the church would be a good fit. It would be a bit of a rebuild since there had been some strife with the previous pastor, but I love challenges and have some knowledge and experience to tackle the job.
Well all of the above happened and then it was time to bring me in for the trial sermon. (they had already heard a pre-recorded one earlier.) A week or so before I would have gone, I was notified that they weren't interested in me anymore.
Now, they had gotten the questionnaire, had a VERY lengthy talk over the phone, and they knew pretty much every belief that I hold, especially in worship.
Then they started wanting to add more and more from me and previous congregations. I put my foot down and said it's either do or die, but this is enough.
A day or so later I get the email that they are not considering me because they do not want anything to do with speaking in tongues in their service, and I had stated a few months back on the questionnaire that I would allow it under certain circumstances. (See previous post link again if you haven't read it yet.)
You know what I said.
BS. (yep, that is what I told them, BS.)
It had become a game of find the dirt on me because the committee vote was 4-3 to bring me and they wanted a 7-0 vote (never EVER heard of that one before) from the search committee. So the 3 nays/borderline yes's tried to find something to rule me out.
After having a similar experience with a church that wanted me to rebuild their music program not too long before that, this was the last straw.
I've never seen committees act like that before, but then again, I've never dealt with long distance churches until the past year. (always local ones that welcomed me.)
Well, I pulled my resume' from all of the pastoral search sites and told God that I simply couldn't take it anymore.
Hmmmmmm ...... Silence........ (though it wasn't golden I don't think.)
A month passed and my nerves had started to come back to normal. Then something happened that caught me off guard.
Craigslist.
Most people either love it or hate it. My son spends some time on there surfing the ads and so I had started checking it out. I found the "Musicians" page and one day when I pulled it up, there was an ad for a bass player for a new group that was forming. The plan for the group was to do Christian Contemporary music, mainly their own songs with a few covers thrown in from time to time.
I sent an email saying that I was interested and a reply came back that same day.
I met with the man who was forming the group and we clicked instantly. We talked a little about our pasts and neither one found judgement with the other. Finally, a true Christian exists. (was beginning to wonder for awhile.)
Soon the group met at an outing to get to know one another and then we went back to a building that had been secured for us to be able to practice in each week and not have to tear down the equipment after every practice.
Everyone hit it off with each other. This was in the latter part of May '12 and with one addition and one subtraction, we're moving along at a pretty good pace. We have already put together a half dozen songs with some more in the works and hope to have a demo CD available soon, with a full release to follow.
Finally, I feel like I can minister again. No one is trying to trick anyone (Monroe neighborhood, you know who you are!) or dig up their pasts. We all have a past, but thank God, with Him we have a wonderful future with Him for eternity if you have been saved.
Well, all this said, now you kinda know what has been going on in my life. The hurt is still there (though weakening from day to day) from everything that I experienced with the committees, and I've pretty much decided that if/when I do have a church, it will probably be one that I have started. No BS, no back stabbing (Monroe, you poor terrible people). A church that is run with God as the figurehead. A TRUE Christian church where no one is judged, everyone is welcomed into His house and worship can take place without many restrictions.

**** NOTE TO ANY SEARCH COMMITTEES****
I am not saying I won't consider your church, but it is like this.
Read my blog. Read my site www.upsidedownchristianity.com
If you have a questionnaire that you would like me to fill out, then send it and I'll gladly return it to you when I've completed it, usually within 24 hours, unless it's the weekend.
If you would like to meet with me to see if we're compatible, fine.
But you either want me or you don't. No games. No trying to make buddy-buddy and then stab me in the back with your lies that you told me and twisted facts that you've given.
I'll do a trial sermon and I'll be glad to send you a .wav file of me giving a sermon.
But don't play games and drag me and my family down to the mire.
I won't tolerate it!
****END NOTE****

So until that happens, I'll continue to worship, fellowship and minister to others through the talents my Lord and Savior has given me through music, using my voice, my bass guitar and any keyboards when called upon..
Oh yeah, one irony to all this is the name of the group: Forgiving Grace (site is still being developed, so it's still in it's raw stage at the moment, the facebook page is more current right now https://www.facebook.com/pages/Forgiving-Grace/184059025055793)
Forgiving Grace. Think about those words. Forgiving ... to hold nothing of ill towards another person, Grace ... only something that God can bring upon His people that can lead to any hope of an eternal life in Heaven through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His Son.
Forgiving Grace ... something I have yet to see out of a search committee. (Sometimes I think they would find something wrong with Jesus if He was a candidate for their leadership. (read a funny email on that years ago.)
I do look forward to what God will do in my life and in the life of my wife. We have some ministries that we are still praying about that we would like to be able to do one day if the funds become available.
Several people have told me in the last few months that I'll still be a pastor one day (one person I had just met) so I know that God is still reassuring me that there is a plan that I can't see but that He has control over.
But for now I have made some wonderful Christian friends with the band members and their families.
And I am keeping up the faith that my God shall supply all my needs, that He shall watch over me, and that one day this will all be over and I'll finally be with Him and all my friends and loved ones that have gone before me.
Thanks for being a faithful reader of this blog, and I plan to start to post more regularly from now on.
Love in Christ,
Rev. Keith

Order! I want order in this house!

I talked about worship in blogs before this one. Now I want to continue to talk about worship, only as commanded by God.

God has never been about chaos. There has always been dominion over everything. When there was nothing, God ruled in Heaven. Then He created the universe. He still ruled. Then he created earth, and created man. He gave dominion (rule) over everything on earth to man. He even gave man the opportunity to name each animal. (see Genesis for details.)

God always laid out how worship and sacrifice was to be practiced in the Old Testament. But when Jesus came to earth and then died on the cross for our sins, the old ways were no longer necessary. We no longer had to sacrifice animals. Jesus was our sacrifice. So God would not leave us hanging either on how to continue our worship. He used Paul to give us instructions on how the church should continue after Jesus went back to Heaven.

1 Corinthians 14: 26-40 NIV

Good Order in Worship

 ²⁶ What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come

together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a

revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. ²⁷ If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. ²⁸ If there is no interpreter, the

speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.

 ²⁹ Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. ³⁰ And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. ³¹ For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. ³² The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. ³³ For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.

vs. 33-35 omitted on purpose (I'll tackle that one later in another blog)

 ³⁶ Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? ³⁷ If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. ³⁸ But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.^[h]

 ³⁹ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. ⁴⁰ But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

Note verse 40. EVERYTHING should be done in a fitting and orderly way. God’s way. Orderly.

In an earlier blog, I talked about my first experience in an Assembly of God church. There was a lot of talking in tongues, and it caused confusion for me, and I’m sure others. I want to point out something.

²⁷ If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. ²⁸ If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.

Note what it says in the middle of the 27^th verse. One At A Time. How many times have you ever been to a church where unknown tongues are spoken, and there are multiple people carrying on. Have you ever wondered if this was of God? Well, next time it happens, now you know. And notice something else. “Someone must interpret, or shut up!” (paraphrased) It doesn’t get any plainer than that. See, I’m not against speaking in tongues. I believe in it. I’ve done it. But don’t try to be heard (and maybe seen) when you should stay in the background. (Read the whole chapter for a lot more about speaking in tongues)

Next, things that happen in church and we wonder why:

 ²⁶ What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.

Hymns. See, songs are the first things mentioned. Now, does that mean it’s the most important? No, but it is important.

Next, “a word of instruction” is mentioned. What is that? We use the word “sermon” nowadays to indicate the same thing. But I like the phrase “word of instruction” better. Know why? Because a lot sermons are just a bunch of words. Everyone walks out of the service and no one understands how to use the words that the preacher spoke for any part of their life. It was like that for me growing up. Remember when I said growing up it seemed like a history lesson? (see much earlier blog) It’s because that was what it was. The (teacher, preacher, evangelist) told what happened, and then you were told to believe in Jesus and be saved or go to hell. So read the bible, believe in Jesus or go to hell. That is why you can’t tell the Christians from the Pagans in the world today. Christians have not tried to become “Christ-like” as we are to be.

Preachers, teachers, and evangelists! Start instructing. Quit teaching a history lesson, and teach us how to be a part of history. People talk about the great revival of the early 1900’s.  What about the Great Revival that we NEED to happen NOW?

Churches are suffering some of the lowest levels of attendance and membership in the history of the church. The way we’ve taken Christianity and made it the church only lends to make this trend continue. Let’s reverse the trend. Let’s turn the church upside down, shake out all of what is not biblical, and insert GOD and CHRISTIANITY back into our lives. Let’s start to worship, and quit meeting to be a part of a clic, or to clear our conscience. Let’s give instruction so that people can start to be Christ Like!

Next blog I’ll look at “revelations” and how they can happen now, and not just be a part of the end of the bible.