The Leader's Heart Weblog (Personal Blog of Gary Franklin)

Outside Our Walls

One of my most rewarding (and frustrating) experiences is inviting people to live in the bigger story of God's kingdom. My life easily becomes so small - trusting God to lead (and sustain) me into the more expansive space of His heart and purposes is both challenging and rewarding. But it's where I feel the most alive!

This fall we're continuing this conversation with our church family - a reminder that the place we're called to live as followers of Jesus is not within the safe confines of our church but 'outside our walls' in our community. What follows is the invitation I shared yesterday. While it's primarly for those of our church family who weren't with us - it's an invitation I would like to share with all my 'friends'.

We learn a lot about Jesus' heart from the ‘spontaneous moments’ we read about in the Gospels.

One of those moments occurred outside the village of Nain – as Jesus and his followers approached the village they were met by a small funeral procession – a woman (a total stranger to Jesus) - who recently buried her husband was burying her only son. Jesus was so moved by compassion by the painful reality of her life that he stepped toward her, spoke to her, touched her son, raised him and gave him back to this grieiving mother.

Unguarded compassion…

There were lots of reasons for Jesus to not step into this woman’s story. With his gesture Jesus was stepping outside the religious culture that said it was inappropriate to touch a dead body. But as was so often the case Jesus’ compassion would not be restricted by the religious culture of His day.

For these weeks leading into Thanksgiving I have a special invitation to you – step toward our community with the compassion we see so clearly in Jesus – I'm asking each of us to serve 10 hours somewhere in our community…

We’ve been learning about ‘defining moments’ in our faith journey in recent weeks – times we say ‘yes’ in choosing to follow God's prompting. We express such faith as individuals. We also express it as a church family. Maybe this will become a ‘defining moment’ for our church family…a moment we all say ‘yes’.

We too have lot’s of reasons we may choose to not take this step…

• Feels too risky
• Fear
• Apathy or indifference
• Busyness
• Boredom – little passion or compassion
• Some may even disagree with our vision of serving our community with compassion – I find it sad that Christlike compassion sometimes asks us to step outside a religious culture which has grown way too comfortable and isolated inside our walls.

Let’s ‘move beyond’ and ‘move through’ whatever the barrier is for us…let’s give Christ the opportunity to shape our lives (and the lives we're led to 'touch') by giving our lives away.

Jesus reminds us over and over that we find our life only when we give it away – when we die to ourselves - give our life to Christ and to others.

We’re not suggestion ‘where’ you give your life away – only that you give it away – 10 hours over the next 6 weeks (We’ve given you some suggestions if you need them).

Be creative - follow God’s direction…follow your heart.

But we are asking you to step outside the more comfortable space of serving believers you already know to step into the lives of people in your neighborhoods or in our community -people who are hurting – who may not know or feel the compassion Jesus has for them – who need the touch of someone who does.

At the end of the 6 weeks we’re planning a special moment in a worship service the Sunday before Thanksgiving when we’ll give to God the hours we’ve given away – ask Him to use them as He desires in the lives of those we’ve served.

Join us “Outside These Walls’ – its where we’re called to live and love as followers of Christ.

Fighting for your hearts,

Gary

A Family Tradition

Baptism is one of the family traditions I most enjoy as a pastor. It's such a powerful metaphor of the life we find in Christ...and the life we now share together in the family of Christ. After church last Sunday many from our church family traveled to the home where our baptisms have taken place for years. We gathered around a pool to listen to a number of adults announce their love for Christ. Then a number of dads took advantage of another of our family traditions - father's baptizing their children ... then affirming them before others.

While every story shared that day was meaningful and celebrated for its uniqueness, we then shared in a moment I've never experienced before - an entire family being baptized together. One by one each stepped into the pool to be baptized ... by members of their extended family who have loved them, prayed for them, stood with them through hard times and were now rejoicing with them as they shared with us what Christ means to them as a family. But the moment that captured all of our hearts occurred right after the baptism. The entire family standing in the pool together in tears embracing each other ...

This image has gripped me all week long. It powerfully expresses the power of Christ to redeem and restore all our lives...and the vision that our lives be lived and celebrated as His family.

Fighting for Your Hearts,

Gary

Christ...Our Unshakeable Center (The Journey Continues...)

"Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him...Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise..." (Hebrews 10:22,23 NLT)

A couple of years ago a friend offered me and Verna a very generous gift - two 1st class tickets to any location Delta flew - not buddy passes but secure seats. You might think we would have grabbed this invitation in a heartbeat and moved whatever we had to move to say 'yes'. We never took advantage of the offer. Life got in the way...

That's the nature of an invitation - we must choose to accept it to fully experience it's generosity. 

Jesus makes a generous invitation to me - allow me to live within you as the source and sustainer of your life. Quite an invitation. But I must choose to accept it to fully experience the generosity of the invitation. Once again life so often gets in the way...

Curious - that my life would get in the way of Jesus' life.

A few weeks ago we invited Tim and Kris out to dinner to celebrate their 1st year of marriage. We were together in North Carolina after the wedding - we wanted to bless them by treating them to a nice restaurant in Highlands. Rather than life getting in the way life was found in accepting the invitation. We enjoyed a great evening together.

My life is found in accepting Jesus' invitation of life to me.

Father may I not allow my life to get in the way...

 

Fighting for your heart,

Gary

 

 

Christ...Our Unshakeable Center (The Journey Continues...)

In my last post I shared a couple of questions I've been living with recently...

• Is Jesus the source and sustainer of my life?
• Is Jesus the unshakeable center I turn to when my life feels uncertain, unstable or unsure?

'How do I 'live' these questions in ways that become more than just superficial affirmations...?

For me it begins by paying closer attention to the things I naturally lean on to sustain my sense of well-being 'other than Jesus' (see last post...)

I then remind myself (daily...) of some things that feel counter-intuitive to the  "I can make life work"  belief that is so deeply embedded in my soul.

A number of years ago I read Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning. It exposed how little I understood and lived in trusting Christ. There are certain books that rock my world and redirect the way I live. This was one of them. It moved me to affirm an aspiration for my 'life legacy' - "Gary trusted God with a ruthless and courageous trust." It's been far easier to affirm than live, but it has remained a conscious commitment ever since.

Here are the things I return to (over and over...and over...) on my journey toward a life of ruthless trust...

• I am becoming more little in my own sight
• I am very aware of my brokenness, limitations and weakness
• I am learning not to require success, wealth, power (or...) to validate my worth
• I long to be startled by God's extravagant love for me
• I need to experience the mercy and tenderness of Jesus - lifting me, scarred and depressed after my sin, gently to Himself for my healing and hope.

Like I said - counter-intuitive. Yet that's what following Jesus looks like. A life of ruthless trust - allowing Jesus to be the source, sustainer and unshakeable center of my life - requires me to lose my life to allow Him to live His life in me. 

Fighting For Your Heart,

Gary

 

Christ...Our Unshakeable Center?

Following our study of Hebrews 7 I invited our church family to reflect on a couple of questions...

• Is Jesus the source and sustainer of my life?
• Is Jesus the unshakeable center I turn to when my life feels uncertain, unstable or unsure?

As I began reflecting on them myself this week I wondered, 'How do I 'live' these questions in ways that become more than just superficial affirmations?

I think it begins when I pay closer attention to the things I naturally lean on to sustain my sense of well-being 'other than Jesus'. My lack of attention confines to me a shallow place that deprives my soul of one of the things it needs to thrive - contact with reality.

Here are a few of the 'other things' I look to...

Feeling like I'm 'in control' of all the stuff in my life. Whenever my life requires more of me than I think I can handle I naturally default in one of two directions. Either I feel so overwhelmed I emotionally withdraw - strangely hoping that ignoring something will make it go away. Or I kick into an overdrive - driven by a belief that "If I worked harder or longer...". Neither serves my walk with Christ well. Both expose how much my need to feel like I'm in control hinders me from looking to Christ as the source and sustainer of my life.   

Feeling like my circumstances are peaceful. Wherever the 'pressure' comes from - whether it be concerns about our financial well-being, our kids, close friends or the church family I serve - the lack of peace leaves my soul feeling unsettled, tired and anxious. Whenever life feels heavy and hard I feel this strong need to be more responsible and make everything right. The pressure I feel to be responsible often pushes Christ to the margins. My sense of Christ's presence is too closely connected to my circumstances being peaceful. I find it harder to experience Christ's peacefulness when my circumstances are anything but peaceful.

Feeling like I'm succeeding in the things that matter to me. Marriage. Parenting. Career. Health. Ministry. My spiritual life. Few things are as toxic to my soul as when I fail to live up to my expectations of myself, what others expect of me...what I think God expects of me. My internal response to my imperfection is  "I should be beyond that by now..." or "I'm better than that...". Yet my humanity is what it is - broken, fallen and sinful. The more I try to manage my imperfection the less I embrace the mystery of Christ in me.

Here's my invitation - take some time this week to pay attention to the things you naturally look to 'other than Jesus' to provide you with a sense of well-being.

Fighting for your heart,

Gary

Reflections from Ghana

We arrived home from Ghana last Monday morning around 6:00 am. So I've had a few days to recover and begin to reflect upon what was a remarkable experience. Here are a few of my initial thoughts along with some pictures. 

The power of compassion to open the heart...

Komlanyili is a remote village that is home to some 600 people - easily overlooked, ignored and forgotten. This is the village where our church (in partnership with Young Leader's International - YLI) funded a clean water project. Before the dedication service a group of us took a long hike to the current water source for the village - a deep, dirty hole in a long dried-up river bed. It was filthy and unfit for people - yet this was their only source of water. 

 
The celebration that followed back in the village was special - women and children dressed in beautiful colors, lots of traditional music and dance. The chief of the village joined by chiefs from a number of surrounding villages. The chief was warm, gracious and deeply grateful for our presence - openly welcomed Christians to his village. Throughout our presentations we freely shared the Gospel - the gift of clean water being freely given because God's love for them is freely given. Since the project began a few months ago a number of people have come to Christ - the first in this village. The gift of clean water, a simple gesture of compassion, now stands a metaphor for God's love and generosity - opening the hearts of people in remarkable ways to conversation about Christ. Every time the people of Komlanyili enjoy clean water they will be reminded of God's love for them!

The natural way the Gospel is seeded and spread...

Through this natural gesture of compassion the gospel has been seeded in Komlanyili. Some miles away is another village - Kpenchela - where YLI sponsored a similar clean water project. This village has a small church being pastored and discipled by a group of young leaders led by Pastor Adam Brown. We learned that this church Kpenchela is already sending folks to Komlanyili every week to support and disciple this new church. The gospel being seeded and sustained - miraculous but so natural. It's the same wherever we live. The gospel is seeded and sustained by people and relationships.

I was sobered by how hard life is for some...

Every day...every day...is a struggle for survival in this part of Ghana. I found it hard to imagine the challenges of everyday life. I was speaking to one of the YLI leaders who farms for his family and friends. I asked him if he enjoyed farming. His first response told me I had just asked a really dumb question. He politely smiled and said he farms not because he enjoys farming but because his family would starve if he didn't. We struggle more to feel satisfied with life. The difference is big - we so easily lose our way over things that generally are neither important nor essential. We are wise to pay closer attention to those around us for whom life is hard. They have something valuable to teach us.

I am deeply grateful for a new generation of younger leaders committed to following Christ and loving people...

It was refreshing to spend a week with a group of Ghanian young men and women whose passion, character and commitment to Christ left me humbled yet deeply hopeful about the future. And I feel very proud of Ash Zook. Ash is the director of YLI, also part of our church family and a good friend. His vision, leadership, love for Ghana and the YLI leaders is deep and compelling. It's a real privilege for me to enjoy a friendship with a younger leader of such character and commitment. My vision comes alive and my heart remains hopeful just hanging around with him.

As different as our cultures may be the challenges of keeping Christ central is very much the same...

This last reflection is more sobering. With all the great things the western mission movement has brought to Ghana it has also confused Christ with western culture. To this day the Ghanian church struggles to separate following Christ from the western forms they inherited. In a place where the heat is wilting (and no A/C) and an African culture where people never wear coats/ties - preachers must still preach in a coat and tie - because that's they way they were taught decades ago by western missionaries. While this may seem silly (and small) to us the tragic reality is that the Ghanian church is paralyzed by such discussions. Couple that with the challenges of presenting Christ within the traditional/pagan African culture and the pressures are real.

Wherever we live keeping Christ central and distinct from cultural expressions and forms is always tricky. Too much of the conflict we face in the church is less about Christ than the forms we use to communicate Christ within our own culture. Whether we are incarnating Christ among a muslim community in Tamale, Ghana or among a post-christian community in Fayette County, the challenge is the same - a prayerful, creative and courageous clarity that refuses to confuse Christ with culture. 

Fighting for your hearts,

Gary

 

When the Family Grows - Traditions Change

It's hard to believe it's been six weeks since my last post. Where does the time go...?

Verna and I recently traveled out to Denver to spend a weekend with our oldest son Tim and his wife Kris.  It was a bit surreal staying in their home as their guests (I must say it was very cool having him pay for dinner!). We visited the places and restaurants they enjoyed. The weekend revolved around the rhythm and pace of their life. Verna and I enjoy quiet weekends at home with deep conversation and a good night's sleep. Tim and Kris enjoy trendy restaurants and late nights. As different as we are we had a great time together. 

Since our visit I've thought a bit about traditions - and how they change as our family grows and changes. When our children were little everyone loved the beach. As they grew the beach was still the easiest place for our family but we began to hear 'this is boring' or 'there's nothing to do'! As they grew into their latter teen years we gave up trying to find a vacation that everyone would enjoy - not to mention finding a time that worked for everyone's schedule. Now that they're young adults, spending time with them is best tailored around who they are as people. But as our family grew we learned to adjust and flex with the changing seasons of all our lives. Today Verna and I celebrate wonderful memories of past traditions and times enjoyed together. Another part of us grieves the loss of former times together and what they meant to us. But then we gladly embrace this new season - and with it the birth of new traditions and new memories. We're even planning to get the whole crew together around Christmas - you guessed it - at the beach!

As the Grace Church family grows and experiences changing seasons we too face the changing traditions that inevitably follow. Over the past couple of years we've seen a new look for the women's tea, a new vision for engaging our community called Engage Fayette, new approaches to how we disciple our children, adult learning moving from classes into smaller group settings sponsored by the Center for Spiritual Formation, new opportunities for women and men to develop spiritual friendships that are more natural. We are seeing new traditions begun in global missions as we enter long-term partnerships with non-western national leaders and communities in places like Moldova and Ghana. We also see new traditions being formed as we worship together.  As our family changes it is no small challenge honoring the past as we engage our present. While we remain committed to honoring the legacy of our past we are equally committed to birthing the new traditions that become the legacy of our future.

Jesus talked about changing traditions. He reminded us that old wineskins must be ripped open and replaced if the wine of new life is to expand. As we all know change is always challenging. Whether it be within our natural family or our spiritual family if often feels like the fabric that held our family together is being torn. But as our family grows and matures we too must adjust and flex with our changing seasons - it's part of becoming 'new' in Christ and allowing this new life to find room to breathe and expand.

So how do we handle the changing seasons of life in our spiritual family with grace ?

• Celebrate the past with the richness of our memories and the richness of it's legacy - while we cannot protect all the traditions themselves we can protect the values that birthed them. 
• Grieve the loss of traditions that were meaningful to us - one writer wisely describes the spiritual journey as a lifelong series of grieving's as we learn to let go of our past to live well in the present
• Gladly embrace who we're becoming - learn to enter and enjoy new traditions, the building of new memories and a new legacy
• Celebrate the 'new' things God is doing - Jesus' vision for us is that we become 'new' creations in Christ - what is true for us as individuals is also true of us as a family.

Fighting for your heart,

Gary

 

 

The Long Loneliness to Holiness...

I've had a couple of conversations this week about suffering. Suffering is a uniquely personal reality that has many faces. The wife of a young couple (mid-20's) our church supports in Moldova diagnosed with acute Leukemia this week. A close friend of one of my sons killed last night in Atlanta - leaving friends and family behind to grieve. A woman whose heart is wide open to God paralyzed by emotional illness.  A friend learning to live in a marriage with little hope of change.

Suffering always feels long and lonely. 

I read something today that resonated with me...

"I needed a context for developing patient attentiveness to the ways that holiness develops over a lifetime, which necessarily includes stretches of boredom, and pain and suffering, which Dorothy Day named, 'the long loneliness'".

The Pastor by Eugene Peterson, p.217

The 'place' we find ourselves in - our health, our marriage, our family, our friendships, our work, our church - these are the everyday 'contexts' where holiness is developed. Holiness is developed when we enjoy a quiet afternoon of reading the Bible or a slow morning of prayer and journaling. Holiness is developed when we're thankful for good health and good relationships. Holiness is developed during a 'holy moment' when we experience God's presence in a special way. Holiness is developed when we are surprised by God's grace and generosity. Holiness is developed when we rejoice in our freedom from patterns of thinking, feeling or behaving that have held us for too long. Holiness is developed when we celebrate forgiveness from the guilt and shame of past decisions. 

Holiness is also developed during the confusing seasons of boredom, pain and suffering. That holiness is somehow being formed here is much harder to see and much stranger to understand. That God might be doing something here is hard to grasp - intellectually and emotionally.

What is required of me here is a more 'patient attentiveness' to what God is shaping in me while in this place - a 'longer view' which embraces this place as part of the lifetime God uses to develop holiness in me - and a courageous decision to linger in the loneliness of this place until it's work is done.

Fighting for your heart,

Gary

 

"Family Talk"

I'm beginning a new focus area in my blog called 'Family Talk'. I will periodically use 'Family Talk' entries to talk about some of the issues that are very specific to the Grace Church family - things we're facing as a church, growth areas, invitations, and challenges. On any given Sunday we estimate that some 30% of you are away. It presents special challenges to us in keeping you informed and involved in things we care about. Our hope is that 'Family Talk' plays a role in keeping us better connected.

Last Sunday I began a two-part series called "Portraits in Giving". Each year the elders ask me to provide Biblical instruction for our giving as a church family. Such talks are intended to disciple our church family in our attitudes and priorities in giving. 

In II Corinthians 8:7 we're challenged to "excel in the grace of giving". We looked at what excelling in giving looks like...

• Excelling in giving is less about our financial situation than our faith posture
• Excelling in giving is rarely a romantic experience – more often than not it’s about meeting very ordinary needs  
• Excelling in giving is best experienced when we plan for it
• Excelling in giving thrives when it moves from duty to joy
• Excelling in giving may be the best barometer of our trust in God                                             

If you missed Sunday I would encourage you to sit down with your Bible, turn to II Corinthians 8-9 and listen to the talk (Go to our website at www.gracechurchfayette.org and listen to the talk for April 10).

This Sunday we'll look at the fruit of your generosity by telling a number of very special stories you won't want to miss. 

Your faithfulness and generosity sustain our ministry. Our hope and invitation is that everyone attending Grace Church embraces Paul's challenge to 'excel in this grace of giving'.

Fighting for your heart,

Gary

Learning to Rest...

I've been gently reminded in recent weeks of my need to 'rest' by the words of Scripture (Hebrews 4:9-11 and Matthew 11:28-30). This reminder always stirs mixed emotions within me. It's something I really want. But getting there seems hard and elusive. Jesus' invitation - "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest...for my yoke is easy and my burden is light" - felt anything but easy and light. 

"Rest" is a posture of my heart that wholeheartedly embraces a core belief that  "everything God does is good and everything He does is enough". But rest is not the product of my intellectual assent to the goodness of God. It's lived out in my experience. It's the product of trust. 

I'm encouraged that I see progress in recent years. Slow but present. What does that look like for me...?

• I'm placing a little less pressure on myself to live up to the expectations others have of me...and the expectations I have of myself. 
• I'm more honest with what I feel - where I feel 'weary' and 'weighed down'- so rather than 'carrying' (internalizing) the stuff that troubles me, I'm finding freedom in describing how I feel to my Father and inviting Christ into the messiness and mystery of it all. I recently stumbled upon Psalm 55:17-18, "In the evening, in the morning, and at noonday, I will complain and lament and He will hear my voice. He will bring me safely back"  
• I'm finding it easier to release things emotionally that I would hold on to in the past - sometimes for days or weeks (okay even months and years)
• I'm becoming more skilled in seeing the difference between loving people honestly yet not feeling hurt by them. Still a long way to go here...
• I'm beginning to believe that being 'peaceful' may be more valuable than being 'productive'
• I'm embracing (slowly and reluctantly) that the stuff that is the most hard and most hurtful may accomplish the most good in me.

It's hopeful to see that what Father is doing in me is good...and that it's good enough. I hope you see the good He's doing in you...

Fighting for your hearts,

Gary