Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

The End of the Block I am up at 5:45 every morning. I head on downstairs, switch on the PC in the office, make my way to the kitchen for my daily cup-o-joe, let the dogs out while it brews, and head back to the keyboard to check my email, Facebook, log my blood pressure, and get ready to run a few miles. It is the same all the time; my formula for getting the day started. It's pretty rigid, and very religious. It is sort of like church every day; predictable, ordered and well, routine. Having suffered a major heart trauma in April , I am not only grateful for the simple things, such as not being in the hospital, that I could not go back to work unless I had my life in better order. Although I was  exercising regularly , I wasn't as serious about it as I am now. I like to run outside as often as I can. We did get 88" of snow this past year, so the gym is a good option during the winter months and the treadmills are wide enough for snowshoes. As spring became summ...

In my enthusiasm for the Holy Spirit - the witness of Jesus on earth - I just couldn't contain myself. I somehow rounded up a bunch of friends from the local evangelical church and invited them to one of the conference meetings. They were nice folks, loving, but always struggling. By there own admission, they were saved, but each one confessed that they didn't seem to be going anywhere with God. Religion for them was boring and bit dry. They had been told that tongues were of the devil, and that any worship of the Holy Spirit and not about Jesus, was a cult. Off we went to the meeting! “Do you believe God?” shouted a loud and fiery preacher from the platform; right in the midst of worship. There was such a sense of the need to repent, that I hit my knees as soon as I found a seat. Closing my eyes, I quietly cried out, “God forgive me, God forgive me! Oh Jesus, please forgive me.” I wasn't looking around me—it was me and the Lord right then. A few minutes later, when I f...

Just about all people follow someone's leadership. They have heroes, bosses, managers, parents, pastors and teachers. And yet most of us also lead. We can lead ourselves, a family, or a country; someone is in always in charge. I believe Church leadership is partly talent, partly learned and always entrusted to us by God. All of our choices have consequences, and therefore are leading somewhere. Every entity has some sort of leadership; the church is not exempt from that. It seems I have come across more then few uniformed church people in the area of leadership. They don't seem to understand the fundamentals of leading, but have no problem taking control . They don't seem to get that leadership is not about them, but about those they lead. Simply stated in the Bible, "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." Leadership in the church is about getting at the end of the blessing line and encouraging others to join you. Church l...

This next few posts are going to be about religion. If you have read this blog for any length of time, you know that religious practice that is disconnected from a living God, is a something I often rail against. If you have any doubt, just click on the Religion topical link down to the lower right! Religion is in itself, a bunch of hooey. One person believes their pet philosophy and practices it in a certain way. They are all out there, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Rastafarians and a half a million more. They all claim to follow someone,or something, while they incorporate the teachings, practices, sayings, or theologies into their daily lives; or not. It seems that no one can prove anything, therefore; there is this debate that never ends. No wonder most people find at least one aspect of religion boring. There is a new religion that is is taking hold in Austria. It is the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster whose memb...

I have an online buddy and last year we had a chat about some denominational differences. It wasn't a debate, but a sincere conversation about what the Bible says, and what man has added to it. In the midst there were questions about religious practice. A denomination is simply an emphasis on certain biblical truths; often "colored" by a culture, a religious experience, or a move of God. The truth is there are lots of denominations . We have many expressions of Christianity in the US , and also some cults which seem Christian on the outside but reject the central truth that Jesus taught: Jesus is God. A cult is defined as any so-called Christian organization that denies the divinity of Christ - Jesus is/was/always has been God. I am not going to try to answer the age old question regarding theology: "Who's right?" (I am writing this blog because I think I am!) Please keep an open mind and explore the links. In the end, you will be challenged in your own...

A lot of people spend a lot of time talking about religious themes- and a host of others avoid them like the plague. Like politics, whether or not we participate in religion, it will eventually affect our lives. The truth is this: there are politicians that are elected and vote for laws which affect us, whether or not we ever give them a thought. In the same way, the principals of the Kingdom of God are at work as are the laws of physics. Kingdom principals will continue to operate for eternity. So why is it that folks get all wound up about religion? Here's my take. Because they try to understand God with their mind, while their emotions maybe saying something else. Even the most mature Christians step off into intellectual endeavors trying to make a case for a biblical world-view. The living God, however; is not going to be understood by the human mind. Memorizing Bible passages, attending a Sunday service, and spouting scripture does not, in itself, make us a Christian. Th...

Stereotypes are bad, but have you ever thought why we have them? It's because they are true to some degree. Most people claim that they want to be individuals, but they often end up identifying with a larger group. Christians certainly can be like that. That's what makes light-bulb jokes about denominations sort of funny. HERE are some if you'd haven't heard how many evangelicals it takes to change one. I like Jeff Foxworthy's  "you might be a redneck if" routines. In the very same style of humor, I have created my own one-liners about religious people. There is no conclusive or factual way to tell if someone is religious - but some of the following things sure do make you think. You might be religious if you think that _______ . . . . the church is a building. . . . the King James is the only authoritative Bible translation. . . . all Catholics are not saved. . . . tongues are the only evidence of salvation. . . . 4 Spiritual Laws, Roma...

Today I am teaching my first class in the 5-Fold School of Ministry . As a group of Christians, we'll be looking at some challenging topics, encouraging the participants to love others with their gifts, and in some cases, relying on tradition. All three aspects of the class are scary. Topics that challenge existing church paradigms are scary because they could conceivably create another ineffective model for doing church. Asking believers to step out into spiritual gifting is scary because, let's face it, the gifts of the Holy Spirit can get messy some times; it's a lot less risky to make someone a pan of baked ziti than it is to hear God in prophecy, and deliver it. And finally, knowing when to depart from tradition, and when to stick with it, is also scary. The church tends to reinvent itself every so often, and the results are mixed at best. The question I am exploring is how to we change what is broken, and capitalize on what is working (what God is actually doi...

I think the only kind of worship service I haven't participated in is one with snake handling. Believe me, I'm content to leave that one alone. All that experience is worth something - I once wrote a blog for Tracy over at Abundant Life... like most guest-bloggers, it had to be one of my best evers ! IMHO - it was. ;) It's taken a long time (since March), but here is the sequel. In my most sarcastic style (which my wife won't let me use at home), I thought I would follow up with, in no particular order, 10 more popular hot-button issues in the church today. -1 Building Funds: According to Dave Ramsey, most Christians don't tithe - I've been there. Some folks think that a church buildings (along with Christmas and Easter) are just a pagan tradition from the third century, and they also believe only house churches are the "true church." So how much pressure can churches put on believers to make love offerings, give tithes, gifts, alms and donate t...

I guess Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle made another uproar. He said that Yoga was demonic. The opinion bloggers got on board - well isn't that what bloggers do, have opinions? Why does this matter? Well, for one thing, church is already a tough place. We have denominations (doctrinal opinions) , we have Christians that hate Christians, Christians that mistake patriotism for Bible and we have those that like to stay in the middle, and then there is the black and white crowd. How could anyone sort through all these opinions, and actually be right? Here is my take on the whole mess. -1 Lack of Study:   Barna Research said that a large number of Christians said that they relied on their own opinions and feelings as a moral guide over the commands of the Bible. And that is one of the big problems - people think  they know what's best for themselves. Honestly, if that were the case, we wouldn't have the Darwin Awards , or the ...

I read a few blogs, and man, there are folks out there that have been hurt by church - lots of them! Today I was thinking about some of them, those that are blogging to express their pain and frustration. I have done the same; used my blog to give a voice to those same feelings. I used to think it was sort of funny that some of the folks I met at AA meetings would say, "I'm a recovering Catholic." They were men and woman that had found a relationship with God through the agony of alcoholism. I know what they were talking about. I had my own empty religious upbringing in which God was sort of a myth, and religion was more of a social/cultural activity. One day I met the living God, and all the education I had previously had, as shallow as it was, gave me a starting point. I went and dug out my little red leather bound Bible with the velvet bookmark still on the verse from John that we read when we became members of the church. I hadn't looked at it since. In the ...

Be honest, are there things that you don't like about the church, about its people, and the "rules" in the Bible? Ann Rice recently had a whole list. I have posted a few lists over the years myself. I bet you can even whip one up before you get to the next paragraph. How is it possible to know Jesus and yet exist within an imperfect church, with diverse viewpoints, denominations, worship styles, theologies and well, uncertainty? To quote Mark Driscoll, who I generally don't care for (Hey, I do like Rob Bell sometimes): "Every Christian struggles, to varying degrees, with different parts of the Bible because they call us to repent of beliefs we formerly held and ways in which we formerly behaved." I suppose the rub comes when that which we read in the Bible conflicts with our personal belief system. That's when the fireworks start. It is the time when folks from Westboro Baptist Church and Jerimiah Wright (Obama's Former Pastor) make headlines....

In listening to Christians around the world, I have discovered a few things. One, the church has caused a bit of damage. I find that sad. Two, church goers are looking for something that is life giving. And three, the patented formulas for church growth are leaving a lot of folks feeling lonely. Online there is a lot of noise about how hypocritical the church is, the scandals and abuses - and the naysayers are still talking about the crusades! Bill Marr, and Elton John can't seem to spew enough hate to go around. And then you have the Larry King preachers like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren who can't even spit out a simple gospel when they have an audience. It's a good thing Jesus doesn't need a PR agent. I actually don't think it is possible to change the image of the church enough so that people notice. It's seems like it is always going to be about money and bad character. I have a lot Christian friends through blogging, Facebook, and some other social media. M...

After a nearly full day in court last Thursday, I am ready to be a lawyer - for Jesus! Not that Jesus needs my help, or defense skills. One of the things that intrigues me about the Bible is that so many folks do not appear to have read the Best Selling Book of All Time ! Ouch! Therefore; I suspect that there are some things that they don't know about God. It's true that most Christians have never read the entire Bible, and readership is dropping quickly. HERE are the stats. But I don't really want to talk about the Bible today. I want to talk about what's NOT in the Bible. Here's a list of stuff that people seem to accept as members of Team Jesus, that are quite possibly man made traditions. To view them as "requirements" and " biblical mandates," they can certainly get us off track. Church Membership - If you are a Christian by faith in Jesus, you are a member of an eternal order of saints - umm you'll spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus...