one conversation at a time

I study for my Master's every Monday, from after work until midnight. Studying consists of reading articles and books to finish the thesis for my Master's. I have hit about 23 walls while working on this project, but am currently making some progress and feeling a little better. I want to be done with it in December. I really want to be done with it in December.

Tonight I cheated. Instead of going to the library after work, I went to the Hunsaker's for dinner. I missed Kelly. I missed Halle. I missed the Ballmers and Hunsaker and Stemens and Brewers and JP. It has been such a busy week with all the destruction and restoration going on. It was such a nice time of being with one another. It was refreshing, and then I went and got a solid 3.5 hours in on my project, so it worked out fine.

I picked a book off the shelves of the library called, "Making Disciples - one conversation at a time". I breezed through most of the book, not seeing much to glean, but found a very helpful section on the "one another" statements of the New Testament and how they guide life in Christian community. Then, I found a fantastic page and a half at the end that I have to share with you. There is some church language he uses that I wouldn't use, but I love the application of this Scripture. It may not be a new thought for you, but it is for me and I love the application of it to my life, your life and the way we ought to live. If you have time... please read it.


-- From Making Disciples - one conversation at a time

"One denominational leader lamented, "... What are we doing wrong?"

I asked, "How straight can you take it?"

He responded, "I'm desperate to know the truth. Our church is dying."

Here's what I told him: "The efforts of your denomination remind me of that story in the reign of King David, when God put it in his heart to bring the ark up to Jerusalem and set it in the Tabernacle (2 Sam. 6; 1 Chron. 13). He place the ark on a cart, drawn by oxen, and headed for Jerusalem. Along the way the oxen stumbled, and the two sons of Abinadab, Uzzah and Ahio, reached up to steady it. When Uzzah touched the ark he was struck down dead, and the whole enterprise came to a halt. David became angry with God that his friend had been killed.... So here's my questions: Where did David get the idea of carrying the ark on a wagon?

"From the Philistines, " He answered correctly. "It had cause so much trouble back in their country that they loaded it on a wagon and sent it back to Israel."

"Exactly!" I told him. "David's bungled project is a pefect picture of your denominations: you are cretainly God's dear people, and you are sincerely trying to accomplish what you belive to be God's will. But you have borrowed your methods from the Philistines. God have explicit insturctiona bout how the ark was to be carried so this very thing woudld not happen. But when you use Philistine methods to do God's work, people get hurt and the whole enterprise breaks down.'

Listen... Why don't we just do what Jesus told us to do: make disciples. And why don't we do it like He did: Daily conversations about the kingdom of God with a few close personal friends -- right in the context of every day life."

Michael D. Henderson
Making Disciples - one conversation at a time
pgs. 172-173