K.C. Wahe - Follower of Jesus, Husband, Father, Pastor, Student, Blogger

After I preached my first of two sermons this morning at church, I almost fell laughing when an older fellow left shaking my hand saying, "good show man." I don’t know what he was making reference to in regards to the service; possibly the pulpit mic I whacked as I was waving my hands preaching that jolted the two hundred or so from their momentary lapse of sleep, the children’s sermon that seemed to bomb, or the way I sped through my sermon notes as if i were afraid that at a moments notice folks would run out screaming. All in all I felt good about what I preached. I took a wack at Joshua 1:1-9 this morning as my sermon text. My whole sermon centered on the promises of God and that as followers of Christ we’re called to trust in the promises that God promises to be faithful, that he won’t fail us, and that God won’t abandon us. I don’t know if they got it. I hope they did.

I did pay attention though to some feelings that I had about preaching that I hadn’t experienced before in my young ministry. You see as most young pastors, I’ve been on the other side of the pulpit hanging out in the pews with the people. What hit me was the thought of how do you tell someone with a straight face that God is faithful, God won’t fail us, and that he won’t abandon us when you know that there are folks who are sitting in the pews who just can’t get excited about what you are trying to preach about because of their own stuff happening in their lives? How do you turn the "good show man" into a meaningful transforming experience and make God’s Word come alive in a way that opens the eyes and hearts of God’s children?

Here’s my clone.

The desire of any leaders heart is that their followers will watch, listen, and imitate the life of their leader. The kind of leadership Joshua was called to by God to imitate, was one of courage and of strength in the midst of the joys and sorrows of life. To be someone who is of courage and of strength requires that the leader learn how to come to grips with their own inadequacies and weaknesses. I believe this is where the leader is able to find his or her strength. I believe true leadership comes from learning from ones own brokenness. I believe that a leader who is able to fully grasp what their followers have experienced in life is essentially what will empower others to their fullest of potential. I believe because of what Christ has done for us in the work of the cross, reconciling our live’s, leaders are to model the art of reconciliation. A leader who can honestly recognize their need to grow from his or her mistakes will only help in bringing about any kind of reconciliation to any conflict that arises within the church or organization. This model for leadership reminds of a friend of mine by the name of John. John was called upon to lead a youth ministry staff that I was apart of that was experiencing some transition in leadership. Something John tried to teach me was that the role of the leader is to become someone who is about the work of reconciliation and restoration of the kingdom of God here on earth. I recall one relationship I had with a church leader who I’ve come to love as a brother in Christ. This leader and I had a disagreement about how a specific ministry was to be led. This obviously caused a rift in our relationship. John was very much someone who desired for me to move beyond my pride and to with courage attempt reconciling my relationship with this leader. Even if it meant I made the first attempt at reconciliation by apologizing with hope that this would restore our relationship. By God’s grace we were able to move forward. As a pastor I desire so much to be someone who is about reconciliation. I desire to be someone who works at modeling the model Jesus gives in being a peacemaker. I also recognize that I still continue to grow in this area of my life and that I need to trust in the promises of God that he will always be with me and will stand with me. Ultimately, I believe every pastor is called to become a leader of leaders, passionate for the things of God who works night and day at seeing that the Word of the Lord is lived out in every aspect of their lives as leaders and that the peace of Christ reigns. A wonderful pastor I know is finishing a series on peacemaking. I’d highly suggest you check it out.

Joshua 1
The LORDs Charge to Joshua
1After the death of Moses the LORD’s servant, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2"Now that my servant Moses is dead, you must lead my people across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3I promise you what I promised Moses: `Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you– 4from the Negev Desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River on the east to the Mediterranean Sea[a] on the west, and all the land of the Hittites.’ 5No one will be able to stand their ground against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

6"Be strong and courageous, for you will lead my people to possess all the land I swore to give their ancestors. 7Be strong and very courageous. Obey all the laws Moses gave you. Do not turn away from them, and you will be successful in everything you do. 8Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed. 9I command you–be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Brian McLaren has recently posted here and here and here, a testimonial of sorts, that I’ve found helpful in understanding his conext for writing as I finish up his, "A New Kind of Christian."

When I was younger I never really knew what the word evangelical meant until I hung around seminary for a few years. Found this to be a good post about what the word, "evangelical" truly means. 

I found this on the Emergent Village blog (You might have to register for the Philly article). I have to confess the title of the article, "Emergent’ churches seek a looser approach. A shift in focus away from salvation," scares me a little as I continue reading Brian McLaren’s book.

I also found this to be an interesting read and is a great resource for us youth workers when it comes to ministering to Jr. High youth.

I found this here. Might be the only way to get an Ipod.

I started reading Brian Mclaren’s, "A New Kind Of Christian." I previously posted that I’m a bit outdated when it comes to the emergent conversation. I also spent much of my time in seminary hearing and listening to the whole "post-modern" conversation as McLaren hints to in his book. As I read his book I do think back to seminary where I watched myself become timid when it came to my own faith as a Christian and love for the Lord. In seminary I was challenged to step out of my evangelicalness and to somehow learn how to dance the dance between both worlds of conservative and liberal views of Christianity and theologies that were either somewhat outdated or border line heresy and to still with enthusiasm and with passion somehow manage to carry out the call of Christ to go out into all of the world and to make disciples of all nations. I’m sensing this is where McLaren trying to go in his book as he trys to push the evangelical out of his or her box of naivete. The book has caused me to ponder that there have been times in my life where I’ve been ashamed of the Gospel.  As I read on, I know one thing for sure. I am a lover of Jesus. I’m just as much of an evangelical as I was prior to seminary and prior to McLaren’s book. If from what I’m reading is true though, the church as we know it will and has and will need to change which is nothing new to me. People are burned out. The church is burned out. The Jesus freaks of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s have run out of steam and have given up hope. We’ve somehow have become civilized and domesticated when it comes to our faith in Christ. Some where along the path of doing church, we’ve lost our zeal for being passionate followers of Jesus, communicators of the Gospel. Some how in the midst of the white noise of post modernity, we’ve been distracted from what it means to go out into all of the world and we’ve forgotten what’s most important to being a disciple of Christ. I would have loved to have heard this as I graduated from seminary…

…"Will you continue to live loyally in the fading world, in the waning light of the setting sun of modernity? Or will you venture ahead in faith, to practice your faith and devotion to Christ in the new emerging culture of postmodernity"…"I want you to invest your lives not in keeping the old ship afloat but in designing and building and sailing a new ship for new adventures in a new time in history as intrepid followers of Jesus Christ." (Pg. 38).

This piece will stay with me for a long time as I seek to listen to the Holy Spirit and to ponder how to be a Jesus loving, evangelical, conservative, unashamed of the Gospel and to still somehow keep up with the rapid change that is taking place within the church and within the culture of religion today? 

A final reflection regarding Erwin McManus’s book, "The Barbarian Way. The book is really a charge to the church to become an unstoppable force…

"But when members of the barbarian tribe line up across the battlefield, side by side, something amazing begins to happen. Dark kingdoms tremble; the dungeons and prisons that hold men, women, and children captive crumble; prison doors open; chains unlock; and multitudes come to freedom. Whenever the barbarians of Christ pass through civilization, the oppressed and forgotten are soon found dancing in the streets." (Pg. 134).

What an honor as a follower of Christ to be apart of such a great calling to move about as a community of faith unashamed and unafraid to be people of transformation.

I just finished Erwin McManus’ book, "The Barbarian Way." (I realized I had to actually buy the book in order to finish it) His book challenges the civilized and the domesticated Christian to step out into a life of untamed faith. A life that calls for us to go against the normalcy of the church and to be led by God, not by the rules of organized religion. Unafraid and unashamed. I can’t help but remember my youth in how my faith was one of wild abandon (Something Mike Yaconelli had referred to often) I wanted to change the world. I wasn’t afraid to raise my hands in worship, to profess and claim that Christ was and will always be the Lord of my life. To shout aloud that I was truly in love with my Lord. I wasn’t afraid of anything. Something happened over the years. I became a domesticated and civilized evangelical protestant Princetonicated Christian who forgot what it truly meant to live life as Christ lived. The barbaric way. What I appreciate most about McManus’s book is that it’s a call for the Christian to step out of the naivete of Christianity and to live life as Christ lived his life. Not bound by rules or by rulers. Here’s an excerpt that spoke volumes to me…

"If you are a follower of Christ and you have allowed yourself to be domesticated, you have lost the power of who you are and who God intends for you to be.You were not created to be normal. God’s desire for you is not compliance and conformity. You have been baptized by Spirit and fire. Asleep within you is a barbarian, a savage to all who love the prim and proper. You must go to the primal place and enter the presence of the most High God, for there you will be changed by his presence. Let him unleash the untamed faith within you." Pg. 82

May the Lord of the universe release us to become people who choose a life that is not afraid to be who Christ has called us to be. A life that is not meant to be caged and where the Spirit of God roams freely. (Pg. 66) For this is where God will use us to truly transform the kingdom and to bring hope to those who are looking for more then just a civilized faith locked up in the four walls of the church. May it be so.