LeadNow Conference in Dallas

About 15 of our Shepherds and Ministry staff attended a conference last week in Dallas called LeadNow. The theme was: The Mission of the Church Matters.
I was expecting this to be a good time for us to spend together. And I was looking forward to hearing more of Francis Chan. He’s the guy that said: “If Jesus were here today, MY church would be bigger than His.” (Basically saying that Jesus didn’t care about the crowds as much as we do.)

I was surprised that most of the speakers are also authors (since I hear so much about how young people today hardly read books).

Francis Chan - Crazy Love & Forgotten God
Donald Miller - Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What & Through Painted Deserts
Mark Batterson - In a Pit WIth a Lion on a Snowy Day & Wild Goose Chase
George Barna - Barna Research Group

Francis was good (he spoke several times), but the most encouraging part for me was hearing such strong teaching on Christian discipleship from so many young leaders in their 20’s and 30’s. And they expected you to both have and use your Bible! (I really liked that.) Over and over, the speakers stressed personal devotion to the Lord, commitment to the local church, and personally serving others. One speaker told this gathering of 2,200 people that “to serve others without evangelism is to pervert the Gospel; and to evangelize without serving others is to pervert the Gospel.” (I was very impressed!)

Here are some comments from Matt Chandler (Village Church in Dallas) part of his lesson on “Getting the Gospel Right”: Only Christ reconciles all things. We think we are smarter than God. We want to live life our way and do what we want with our stuff; and then we expect God to accept it because we go to church. The Gospel is NOT that you are a better person today than yesterday. (Self-help books can do that.)

“for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" Gal. 2:21

Come to the Table!

So many “family” things happen around the family table. This was even more true before the invention of television (and T.V. dinners, fast food, and pre-packaged snacks.) When I think of the many memories of being called to the family table (or, occasionally sent away from it) my mind and heart recalls feelings of “family”. I long for this to be the feelings of those called to the Lord’s Table on Sundays, to commune with God’s family that has gathered together. Instead of the focus being primarily on what Jesus did for me on the cross, it seems more appropriate that the weight of the focus should be on what He did for ALL of us (at least on Sunday when we are together.)

For Christians, the Lord’s Supper is our most sacred time. The Communion Table is a regular reminder of our relationship to Christ, AND also of our relationship to one another in the Family of God. In Communion, we are taken back to the cross of Christ, and Jesus is brought here to us. The memorial is about Him, and yet He is our host! So, it is also about us! (ALL of us.) I’ve often heard that “If you or I were the only ones that ever would have responded to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, Jesus still would have died for you.” The truth is: MANY more have responded to Jesus than just me, and Jesus died just as much for them. So, during the Lord’s Supper, I plan to do a much better job of discerning the Body of Christ that extends beyond me, and be more aware of my “brothers and sisters” in God’s family. I am so thankful that God called me to the family table. And I am honored to meet my Lord and my spiritual family there.

“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” 1 Corinthians 10:16-17