A map of services and studies of the Lighthouse Church. The line shows how we have advanced in the central region.
We own the central region of the Valley. We have Bible studies and services running up its spinal cord. Now to expand laterally.
I don’t think Christianity was supposed to be an armchair faith. It was meant to be active. We need to get out and project light, not just meet and talk about doing it.
In an extraordinarily short period of time, God multiplied a simple Bible study in my home to three nexus points of evangelism: church services in Anthony Beilenson Park at Lake Balboa, a Bible study at Las Palmas Park of the City of San Fernando and my Van Nuys Bible study in my apartment.
I am surprised by this. I have known both growth and vast expanses of “stagnation” in ministry in my 16 years in Guatemala. Explosive growth is unusual, beautiful, special. It cannot be manufactured, planned for, conjured up. It comes sovereignly from God.
The only thing you can do when God moves is try to not screw it up. Excuse the expression. But what I mean is that if you let it go to your head, or if you get distracted, then you lose the wave or revival. The best thing to do is to keep your head down and try to ride the wave as far and long as you can.
And give the glory to God.
The Valley Boy Pastor is quite astonished at what God is doing.
Ah, the ups and downs of staring a work for God. I was wondering where the people were yesterday at my home Bible study. The one family that started suddenly disappeared. I just prayed for the full hour for everybody in the complex.
Afterward, I saw my neighbors and discovered the problem: Mexico was playing Jamaica in the American Cup. No wonder they didn’t come!
In my younger, more insecure days of pastoring, I would’ve prepared a message on not making an idol out of anything. This time, I took the Bible study snacks over to their place and watched the second half.
Actually, the same thing happened to the school in Guatemala. About one-third the school would miss on certain days, and I never could figure out what was happening. This was before I started to get into soccer.
Later, I took up soccer as a stress-buster. The disciples were passionate for Barcelona, so I got hooked on the team. They taught me about the history, the personalities, the techniques. I grew passionate about it.
So then we would show the Champions League finals at the school. Why not? It’s better they miss just two hours of class rather than the whole day.
… then too, I learned that sometimes, some of God’s biggest business is not transacted during the church service. I saw how one brother finally committed to marry his common-law wife at potluck. Seven sermons didn’t do what shmoozing and food did.
As Christians, we are about people, not programs. Our job is to get people in to Heaven, not into church. Church just happens to be the easiest way to feed the word to as many people all at once. But church time is no more sacred than any time. And God is not limited to service time to act.
By all means, bring the people to church. And if you can’t, bring God to them outside the church. This is what the Valley Boy Pastor is doing in Van Nuys.
Whether its natural treasure or Spanish gold coins, you’ll find it in the depths. You can’t remain on the surface.
So too, a superficial understanding of grace and God misses the treasures. The man who is content to skim the surface, totally ignores the incredible richness he would discover if only he would dive into the depths.
Even if you gash through a galvanized surface, the exposed metal below won’t rust. That’s because the adhering zinc that constitutes galvanization blocks the electric activity in steel that is part of the oxidation process. So it can’t oxidize, and thus no rust.
Paul described faith as a shield, which invoke images a heavy metal disk held aloft to block arrows, spears or sword blows. With modern metaphors, we could enhance our understanding of faith. Maybe it’s more like galvanization. Even if it’s not covering perfectly, it prevents corrosion.
Prayer, Bible study and fellowship are like galvanizing your spiritual interior.