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What Is Missing?

I have had the wonderful opportunity to serve as a Field Expert for a gentleman who is writing his thesis for his degree.  He is wanting to start “a cutting edge” Chaplaincy program and pilot that program in Metro Atlanta.  It seems a little strange for someone to call me an “expert” in anything, let alone Chaplaincy.  One of the things I constantly find myself asking is “What needs to change about Chaplaincy?  What is missing?”

I really scratch my head when I think about the measures of success that most people in ministry use.  My measures are hard to quantify.  Did I take a step with a sojourner today?  Is someone closer to Jesus than they were when I came in to work this morning?  Did I strengthen a relationship that MAY lead to discipleship?  Did I shy away from Jesus because I feared the opinion of man today?

You see, Chaplaincy is not a ministry where you can beat someone over the head with a Bible.  It is about developing relationships, being there for someone even when they don’t want you to be, and not admonishing someone for dropping the f-bomb in front of you.  Chaplains have to remember, they aren’t dealing with normal people.  Cops are far from normal.

So, I need your help.  If you are a Cop and you read this blog, I need you to comment on this post and tell me what YOU think a Chaplain should know.  Tell me what YOU think is missing.  Seriously, this is no-holds-barred.  Be as raw and real as you can be.  It will do nothing except strengthen the people who want to help you!

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Getting In Trouble With The Religious

Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

I get accused of not being religious enough.  I get accused of not being sensitive enough with other Christians. I get accused of not being hard enough on sin.  All of those accusation are true and correct.

I am currently in a season of mentoring a man who is extremely Catholic.  He grew up in a Catholic home, went to Catholic School, was an altar boy, knows the order of service, and can recite the Nicene Creed backwards!  The boy knows his stuff.  He also spent some time in the armed forces and had the unfortunate experience of taking another human being’s life.  Several of them.  Anyone who has ever been put in that situation knows what kind of toll it takes on you mentally and spiritually.

He is a no-nonsense kind of guy.  He can smell right through religious dogma.  He will even admit that he sees problems with his own beliefs, but he holds to them nonetheless.  He cannot stand the falsely pious, holier than thou people who try to confront him about sin.  He’s stubborn, bull-headed and set in his ways.  But for some reason, he listens to me.  He doesn’t always do what he knows is right, but no one get does right all the time.  I’ll try to give him a direction to go and it’s hit and miss.  Most of the time, in regards to professional advice, he will take it every time.  When it comes to family and personal advice, not so much.

I extend grace to him and let him know that even if he sins, I will be right there beside him to pick him up.  He knows that he can call on me at any time.  But he knows that I am not afraid to kick him in the rear-end.  I’m not that way with everyone, but I understand how he learns.

That kind of behavior gets me in trouble with the religious.  There are those that would say that I need to admonish him for the sin.  If he was a member of Serve Church, they would say that he needs church discipline!  They would say that I need to address his misconceptions about religion due to his Catholic upbringing.  I think I’ll pass on that for right now.  He is a spiritual sojourner.  He doesn’t have a 100% firm grasp on this whole Jesus thing, just like most Catholics.  Just like most Christians for that matter.

In the above scripture, it says that those who are persecuted for Jesus are blessed.  The question that needs to be asked is “Who will be persecuting me?”  Well, look at who persecuted Jesus.  THE RELIGIOUS!  Of course you will get some push-back from those outside of the church, but MOST of your problems will be caused by religious people.  Church world has done a good job of using this verse so that they can be Jerks for Jesus (thanks Hugh Halter for that saying) and feel good about people hating them.  That’s not what it means.  It means that if you are living life asJesus intended, the religious people around you will be the one’s attacking you.

So keep it up.  You’re doing just fine!

Diamond In The Rough

Perceived Failure

Every pastor knows that it is HUGE to follow-up with people once they have become exposed to your church.  It is part of a process known as “assimilation.”  It is basically making people feel like they are a part of your organization or church.  It is a tried and true method to build a relationship with people.  And after all, belonging enables believing.

What about when it doesn’t work?

Let me explain.  Serve Church did an Easter Egg Hunt for the City of Nelson, GA (you can read about the results here).  We had amazing turnout and I personally spoke with as many people as I could.  Everyone had great things to say about the hunt.  Even more, everyone went home with a personally signed “Thank You” note with the church website on it.  I assume most people just threw them away because traffic to the church website increased by absolutely nothing.

My follow-up was to send out another direct mail piece through the post office.  I sent out 1400 flyers!  Now that’s not equal to 1400 people.  That is equal to 1400 FAMILIES!  The flyer told about an informational meeting that Serve would be hosting at the Nelson City Hall the following Sunday.  It had all of the right stuff on it.  Address, website, time, date, etc…

I set everything up on Sunday and waited for the time to roll around.  No one showed.  But I did get some things out of it.  Namely, threatened with 2 lawsuits.  Yup, you heard that right.  2 lawsuits.  One for violation of separation of church and state and the other for violation of federal postal laws.  Now let me say that they were both idle threats that could never have come to pass.  Both were offered by people who knew nothing about federal law.  And they were both offered by people claiming to be Christians.  Yeah.  Sad.  I know.  I even heard the comment, “Why do we need another church?  First Baptist is having revival and we had one saved and 4 baptized.”  I’ll hold my response to that for another time.

By all accounts, this sounds like a raging failure, right?  WRONG!  As someone told me today, “It’s all about brand recognition.”  Essentially what he was saying was that the main priority was NOT to get people to the church, it was to let them know we are out there.  It was to let them know that there is a church that is willing to do something crazy like do an Easter Egg Hunt with 5 days notice and give out almost $7,000 in candy to a community that wouldn’t even bother to show up to an informational meeting.  It was to show them that there is a pastor out there who will take the time to hand write 200 thank you notes to people who would just throw them away without ever looking at them.

Hear my heart.  I AM NOT COMPLAINING!  This was a victory for Serve!  I have had conversations with people who are very interested in Serve and LOVE what we are about.  They are just steeped in religion and tradition so much that they don’t know how to escape.  They want to help Serve, they are just afraid of what (insert name here) will think if they left their church.  I get that.  I understand.  I would never want them to be put in a bad spot.  That is a decision that they have to make themselves.  I cannot do it for them.

But now they know.  They will always recognize the logo.  Whenever they see the hand with an “S” in it, they will think of that church that loved on their city unconditionally.  When they need help, they will know that we are here to help, regardless of how big the mess is.

Harley Wave

The Harley Wave

There is a general nicety that occurs when 2 Harley Davidson riders pass each other on the road.  It is a small, almost unperceiveable wave.  It is not a grandiose gesture.  just a small, usually two to three fingers poked out at a 45 degree angle.  if you ride a cruiser-style bike, you get the wave.  If you ride a sports bike, you’ll usually get passed up.

So here is my question:  Who do you get to share the Harley Wave with?

Mine is the Law Enforcement community.  We have a wave, but we also talk in code, laugh at inappropriate times, and make jokes about things that most people would vomit over.  They are my Harley riders.  They are my people.  God sent me on mission to reach them.  I cannot reach them if I don’t get the wave.

That is why I am still in law enforcement full-time.  I cannot do this job part-time and still have the same results.  I won’t get the wave.  Sure I’ll wear the uniform, do all the same jobs, but it won’t be the same.  It’s like someone on a moped hoping to get the dude riding the Ultra-Glide to wave at him.  It’s not gonna happen bro.

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Cops and Christ

I recently started reading Sacrilege by Hugh Halter and came across this:

“As someone who cares deeply about people outside the Christian faith, I find it sad that the first thing I have to do to help them keep moving toward the God they’re looking for is apologize for what they’ve run into so far.”

I find myself here with cops all the time.  You would not believe the misconceptions about Jesus that some Officers have.    Well…if you have been in church long enough, you would.  They tend to think of God as someone who only lives on Sunday.  They don’t think that He has any say-so on Monday – Saturday.

Some think that Jesus is the epitome of a killjoy!  They think that if you follow Jesus, you have to give up anything that is fun.  No more parties, no more movies, no more interaction with non-Christians.  They associate Jesus with the “holier than thou” person that looks down their noses at people who enjoy a cold beer after mowing the grass.

I recently was told, “You know why I like you?  You practice what you preach.” The reference was to living as Jesus lived.  Living with integrity.  Reaching out to those who don’t know Christ to show them the tangible Kingdom of God.  I tithe, I practice spontaneous blessing, and I serve the least.

The conversation went on, “Some people say, ‘Well he says he’s a Christian but I see him drinking a beer and he cusses.”  Let me just say that, yes, I do enjoy an adult beverage from time to time.  Now, for some people, drinking is a sin.  I understand that.  But when something is a sin for you, that does not necessarily mean that it is a sin for someone else.  I do cuss occasionally,  but I am getting better.  Let me say that I am not yet the person that God wants, but I am definitely not the person that I used to be.  That is called sanctification.  We all should be in that process.

I, as does Hugh, find myself having to apologize for what Christians have done to Christianity.  That is just the nature of the beast.  My goal with every Officer that God puts in my life is to show them that following Jesus is simple.  Do what He says.  Not fill you head with knowledge.  Not do what you see the other religious people doing.  Read the Bible and do what it says.  I am trying to make disciples out of them.

I found that God has been teaching me how to make disciples for years and I just didn’t realize it.  I spoke a little bit about that in a past blog post.  I am showing those cops what it means to follow Christ with everything that is in me.  I try very hard to live what I teach.  Some days I get an “A”, some days I get an “F”, but every new day give me the opportunity to start again and put my best foot forward.