Saw this today and had to pass it along. Matt Carter is the teaching pastor at The Austin Stone Community Church. The message will speak for itself. Take time to listen to it.
So Mark Driscoll, a pastor from Seattle wrote this blog concerning St.
Patricks day. It was very insightful and so I wanted to pass it along
for all who do not know about the origin of this amazing holiday. Could
it be that we have lost the heart of what this day is supposed to be
about? for the direct link go to
http://theresurgence.com/2010/03/17/st-patrick-one-of-the-greatest-missionaries-who-ever-lived
for God
for People
for the Nations
for the Kingdom
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My family name was originally O'Driscoll until it was changed a few
generations ago by relatives hoping to more fully assimilate into
American culture after immigrating from Ireland. Though I was raised
Irish Catholic, I knew virtually nothing about Saint Patrick other than
the green beer, parades, shamrocks, leprechauns, and drunken Red Sox
fans that celebrated in his honor every March 17th. Technically, Saint
Patrick is not even a saint, as he was never canonized by the Roman
Catholic Church. Additionally, Patrick was not even Irish. Rather, he
was a Roman-Britain who spoke Latin and a bit of Welsh. Patrick was
born around 390 A.D. When he was roughly 16 years of age he was
captured by pirates and taken to Ireland on a ship where he was sold
into slavery. He spent the next six years alone in the wilderness as a
shepherd for his masters' cattle and sheep.
Isolation
Patrick was a rebellious non-Christian teenager who had come from a
Christian family. His grandfather was a pastor, and his father was a
deacon. However, during his extended periods of isolation without any
human contact, Patrick began praying and was eventually born again into
a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. Patrick endured the years of
isolation in rain and snow by praying up to 100 prayers each day and
another 100 each night. In his early twenties God spoke to Patrick in a
dream, telling him to flee from his master for a ship that was waiting
for him. Amazingly, Patrick made the 200-mile journey on foot without
being caught or harmed to find a ship setting sail for his home, just
as God had promised. The sailors were out of food for the journey, and
after Patrick prayed a herd of pigs miraculously ran toward the ship,
providing a bountiful feast for the long voyage home.
God Speaks to Patrick
Upon returning home, Patrick enrolled in seminary and was eventually
commissioned as a pastor. Some years later God spoke to Patrick in a
dream, commanding him to return to Ireland to preach the gospel and
plant churches for the pagans who lived there. The Roman Catholic
Church had given up on converting such “barbarians” deemed beyond hope.
The Celtic peoples, of which the Irish were part, were an illiterate
bunch of drunken, fighting, perverted pagans who basically had sex with
anyone and worshiped anything. They were such a violent and lawless
people, numbering anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000, that they had no
city centers or national government and were spread out among some 150
warring clans. Their enemies were terrified of them because they were
known to show up for battles and partake in wild orgies before running
into battle naked and drunk while screaming as if they were
demon-possessed. One clan was so debased that it was customary for each
of their new kings to copulate with a white mare as part of his
inauguration.
Unique Missionary Strategy
In faith, the forty-something year-old Patrick sold all of his
possessions, including the land he had inherited from his father, to
fund his missionary journey to Ireland. He worked as an itinerant
preacher and paid large sums of money to various tribal chiefs to
ensure he could travel safely through their lands and preach the
gospel. His strategy was completely unique, and he functioned like a
missionary trying to relate to the Irish people and communicate the
gospel in their culture by using such things as three-leaf clovers to
explain the gospel. Upon entering a pagan clan, Patrick would seek to
first convert the tribal leaders and other people of influence. He
would then pray for the sick, cast demons out of the possessed, preach
the Bible, and use both musical and visual arts to compel people to put
their faith in Jesus. If enough converts were present he would build a
simple church that did not resemble ornate Roman architecture, baptize
the converts, and hand over the church to a convert he had trained to
be the pastor so that he could move on to repeat the process with
another clan. Patrick gave his life to the people who had enslaved him
until he died at 77 years of age. He had seen untold thousands of
people convert as between 30-40 of the 150 tribes had become
substantially Christian. He had trained 1000 pastors, planted 700
churches, and was the first noted person in history to take a strong
public stand against slavery.
Roman Opposition
Curiously, Patrick's unorthodox ministry methods, which had brought so
much fruit among the Irish, also brought much opposition from the Roman
Catholic Church. Because Patrick was so far removed from Roman
civilization and church polity he was seen by some as an instigator of
unwelcome changes. This led to great conflicts between the Roman and
Celtic Christians. The Celtic Christians had their own calendar and
celebrated Easter a week earlier than their Roman counterparts.
Additionally, the Roman monks shaved only the hair on the top of their
head, whereas the Celtic monks shaved all of their hair except their
long locks which began around the bottom of their head as a funky monk
mullet. The Romans considered these and other variations by the Celtic
Christian leaders to be acts of insubordination. In the end, the Roman
Church should have learned from Patrick, who is one of the greatest
missionaries who has ever lived. Though Patrick's pastors and churches
looked different in method, they were very orthodox in their theology
and radically committed to such things as Scripture and the Trinity.
Additionally, they were some of the most gifted Christian artists the
world has ever known, and their prayers and songs endure to this day
around the world, including at Mars Hill where we occasionally sing the
"Prayer of Saint Patrick" and the Celtic hymn "Be Thou My Vision."
My sweet wife Jessica told me last night that I had to watch this workshop from the Verge Network. This video was long, almost two hours. Jess and I are naturally sermon watching junkies. We both just love to learn and think through ways to live out the Kingdom, grow in the Word of God, and live out what missionality really looks like. I had no idea when she told me that I needed to listen to this that I would basically get punched right in the gut. Please take time out of your day, watch this breakout session, and let the Lord stir something in you for if we are to ever as a movement of God's people truly impact the world, there has to be a letting go of the world and an embracing of what the Kingdom of God looks like.
for God for People for the Nations for the Kingdom w
if your getting this through email the direct link is http://www.vergenetwork.org/2010/12/05/hugh-halter-turning-consumer-christians-into-missionaries-video/
Hugh Halter: Turning Consumer Christians into Missionaries [VERGE 2010 Breakout Session] from Verge Network on Vimeo.
Here is the video from Jessica and I's Wedding!!! Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfYPkiAID_w for God for People for the Nations for the Kingdom w
Yesterday was my birthday. It was an amazing night. Jessica was taking me to dinner and I thought it was going to be just the two of us. Yet when I walked in some of my closest Dallas friends were gathered around. It was a shock and could not have made me happier. I love my friends so much. They are a glorious inheritance from the Lord and I am so blessed to have them in my life. My squad leader William Miller was one of those people there who is also one of my groomsmen. He wrote this blog about our friendship that I wanted to share with all of you. God truly surprised me with his friendship but I could not be more thankful for it. We had a very rocky start, yet through the fire of the Race, the Holy Spirit forged a bond that is deeper than blood. He is one of the strongest leaders and men of God I know.
--------From William Miller's Blog--------
Today is one of my best friend's birthday. Over the last two years, Warren has become one of my closest friends and shown me what true friendship and loyalty really are. Even throughout our time on the Race and all my tough calls, bad decisions, and idiotic words, he stuck by my side. So today, I'm able to celebrate his birthday with him for the second year in a row, but Stateside this time. As close as Warren and I have gotten, it didn't start out that way.
We both enjoy a good laugh when people ask how we became friends. There are some people out there that you instantly connect with and gravitate towards. I can't say either of those were true with Warren. We couldn't really be much different, and I'm pretty sure we annoyed each other to an extreme. However, when it gets down to it, we really just saw each other as competition. I didn't really want anything to do with Warren and when I became a team leader, I thought I had won the battle. That was until a couple of months into the Race.
Warren went through a lot of pride struggles when he wasn't asked to be in leadership, and so did I when I was asked. Unfortunately, his were calling out his pride and mine were fueling it. A little over two months in, Warren came to apologize to me. Up to this point, Warren and I never really talked or connected so his apology confused me. He apologized for being bitter with me and never giving me a chance because of all this competition animosity. Every bit of me wanted to shrug it off and blow him off in my pride, but I couldn't. And wouldn't you know it. Our teams got paired together that next month and I was sharing a room with him.
Over our first month in Romania, I realized I was starting to like this guy against my "better" judgment. Before long, Warren began confiding in me and proving that he really trusted me. I've never really been one to trust anyone (you'd think I was playing Survivor or something in real life), but Warren wore me down. Just like that, he became the first person that I would go to when things came up, and the trust that grew made me nervous. I fought his friendship for a long time.
Now, Warren and I meet at least once a week to talk through EVERYTHING. Literally. This guy knows more about me than I think I do at times now. He hears about all that I'm excited about, struggling with, and questioning. This friendship has been a total change on how I view trust and relationships and it's with a guy I didn't even like not too long ago. It's crazy the route we've taken. But I guess friendship is developed through proximity, but brotherhood is often founded in adversity.
So today I get to celebrate his birthday, and in a little over a week, I'll get to stand beside him at his wedding. I can't believe this is the same guy I met almost two years ago. We need people we can trust and most of that comes by getting over ourselves. Before all this, Warren wouldn't have been my pick for this close of a friend, but because of how we were both humbled through each other, something developed. We need people in our lives we can be honest with. But we also just need people that will have our backs through anything. Trust me, it's a nice place to be... ------------------------- for God for People for the Nations for the Kingdom w
Today Jessica and I had the joy of being table host for a homeless ministry outreach just south of the city of Dallas. It was a cool experience. Homeless ministry for whatever reason has always been a hard one for me. It is an area where honestly my heart has not been very Christ like. For a good bit of my life, even as a believer, I have not had compassion towards those who walk the streets, live in boxes, and beg for money. When I would look at them, it would be rare if compassion would arise.
I would justify my lack of love by pointing out that they were probably just going to use the money for beer, crack, or worse. And the worse thing I could possibly do would be to enable a self destructive pattern. Yet my heart was devoid of love for these people. I had seen enough bad cases where to me every scenario might as well have been the worse case scenario.
The story of the Good Samaritan tends to be a very convicting one when I think about this issue. There is a Greek word that is used to describe the compassion that the Good Samaritan had on the hurt person. The only other time I believe this is used is in the story of the Prodigal Son. The Father had the same compassion on the lost son returning home. With that same intensity of love is how we are to love one another and a hurting world. With the love of the Son of God.
As I already said, this is an area where I do fully recognize that my heart is in the right place. Jessica has so amazing in praying for me in this area and been a great encouragement. Multiple times she has found a way for us to go and love on the homeless of Dallas in an effort to bring the Kingdom to them and at the same time to a dark area of my heart. Today was nothing short of amazing and beautiful.
Jessica had put so much effort into making sure our table looked beautiful with a nice red table cloth, beautiful dishes, a great center piece, and everything that would be needed. The ministry host brought some food over and a group of homeless people sat down. We began to talk with them and I felt particularly drawn to one of the guys. We spoke incredibly well and was a smart guy. He told me the story of his failed career and how life had brought him to where he was at. In listening to his story, maybe for the first time, I did not think that he was lying. He talked about how Jesus was changing his life and through the local state services, he had finally got off the streets and was in an apartment about 15 miles north of the city. There are apparently a few job opportunities that might be opening up for him as well and someone was kind enough to buy him a cell phone.
The thing that was the most convincing was the look in his eyes. It was a look of HOPE and JOY. The streets create a look on peoples faces. I have seen it enough to be able to recognize it. It is one of defeat, brokenness, desperation, and pain. It was something I have honestly never seen on the face of a homeless person. His eyes were filled with life. Most of the experiences I have had with homeless people in the past have been ones of a guy begging for something with one of the normal stories. This man was not asking for anything. He was happy. He was full of life. He had met Jesus and was marching towards a restored life. It was nothing short of beautiful.
I was thankful for the opportunity to be a blessing to people today but even more than that, I am thankful that the love of Jesus is changing my own heart, renewing it in His image, and creating a sense of compassion for the hurting of the entire world.
for God for People for the Nations for the Kingdom w
Wow a lot has changed. So its been a few months since I have blogged and about 7 months of being back in the states and all I can say is, "wow. how I miss the race." Life has been crazy for sure as Jessica Philip and I are getting married. 19 days! It has been one exciting journey for sure and I am so thankful as to how the Lord wrote our story. Yet wedding planning and all things America can be consuming at times. We are probably going to be taking some time back here to build a foundation in our marriage and then hopefully launch out from there. Launch to where? I don't know.
It is crazy that right now I am up late, missing Africa, and wishing so badly I was back on the field. Life just seemed to make so much more sense when we were there. And how I would give anything to be back in it. Who knows what the Lord has? Who knows where He will lead us next?
Personally I kinda hope its Swaziland or somewhere else in Africa. All the time training pastors. All the time sharing the Gospel with people. All the time holding Siboseso. I wish I was there right now. Hopefully soon. Until then: praying. hoping. listening. seeking. growing. deepening. living
for God for People for the Nations for the Kingdom w
So lately I have been looking more and more into the concept of a missional church. I know that when many people here that, they automatically assume a church with mission trips or a church with a very cool strategy to invite people to come to a sunday service. The more I have been looking into the concepts around the great commission and the church's (Body of Christ) role to bring light against darkness, it seems that the Church is to be on constant mission out in the world and we are to equip everyday normal Christians to be missionaries in their context and culture that Kingdom may come to schools, office building, parks, under bridges, dark alleys, and even to local churches all over the world. Being a missionary does not mean that we necessarily go to Africa. I just means we live on mission constantly wherever we go. for God for People for the Nations for the Kingdom w
