Praying for our Mission Team

One of my heroes in the world is Marcos Samaniego. Marcos is a big man who has a heart that outsizes his body. You can’t help but feel good in his presence. Not only does he have a great sense of humor and an accommodating spirit, he has a spiritual presence that makes you aware of something profound going on.

Marcos is a trained physician who lives in El Paso but chooses to practice across the river in Juarez. It is an unusual choice for most people. You see, Marcos could make much more money by practicing in El Paso. He chooses to practice in Juarez because of his commitment to Christ and his understanding that God has called him to cross the Mexican border each day to practice his medicine and his Christianity in Juarez.

I met Marcos through a ministerial friend of mine who said, “You’ve just got to meet this guy. He’s the real deal.” And real deal he is. Besides the many medical clinics he has set up in the Colonias, the poorest section of Juarez, Marcos cannot bear the sight of a homeless child. Thus, he has developed several orphanages which take in children and give them back a future. Marcos has not only a heart for ministry but he has an incredible work ethic that strives for excellence. His homes and his clinics are run with a sense of competent care that rivals similar institutions in the States.

Over the years I have had the good fortune of listening to adults and young people talk about their experiences in Juarez. Churches I have served have yoked up with Dr. Samaniego to build clinics and homes. The model for our collaboration consisted of asking Dr.Samaniego to determine places that needed health or home care. The churches then developed construction teams of adults who took on the responsibilities inherent in building the buildings. Then, in the summer, youth groups went to host Vacation Bible Schools, sports camps, and other activities for the youth in those areas.

Amazing things took place on the other side of the border. I watched as people would go and share Christ in all sorts of ways. I watched in awe one day where a youth leader and her entourage discovered that a large portion of the young people they were working with had no shoes, and in response took theirs off and gave them to them. I watched older adults become so convicted with the work there that they came back home and immediately enrolled in a Spanish class so that they could better communicate upon their return.

The conversion that takes place in Mexico and other mission fields is not only one of foreign boys and girls, men and women being introduced to Christ. It is also the transformation that takes place in the lives of those people who go to serve. In short, people who go on a mission trip become missionaries for life.

This week a group of young people and their sponsors are going on a mission venture to Chattanooga. There they will work with inner-city children and do various work projects. My hunch is that in their work and play they are going to experience the love of Christ in personal ways . . . so personal that they will return glowing with a divine joy. I can’t wait to see what is going to happen. In the meantime, I want to pray for experiences that change lives forever, don’t you?

Friday: Friday Night Dinner

Hopefully you get the deal now, each Friday night we encourage you to gather around the table with someone you love and share a meal.

We have gone through all the reasons:

We believe God is often found in relationships between people.

We believe the Christian table is at the heart of our faith.

We believe that sharing a meal is sharing life.

We believe that relationships matter.

Let us give you one more reason today to practice this spiritual discipline: It will prepare you for receiving communion this Sunday.

We are "officially" starting our journey together this coming Sunday and we want to begin with you at the Lord's table. It is central to our ministry and time together.

Tonight use this meal as preparation for the greater meal this Sunday when our entire community will be gathered around the table.

Dawn Treading

I think my favorite book of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Not only is the book a fascinating depiction of the church, the title alone is worth acclaim – “Dawntreading.” What a great image for the call of the church.

From the beginning of time sunrise has always been a time of hopeful beginnings. Whether you are on the beach and get up early enough to see the ocean brighten up in glorious anticipation of the new day or in the mountains and watch the sun’s first rays tiptoe across the mountaintops and slide down into the valleys, there is something mystical about witnessing the beginning of the day.

The early church caught a sense of that. The first baptisms usually took place on Easter morning, just as the sun was rising. The tradition symbolized the resurrection of Jesus as well as the beginning of a new life in Him. Thus, there is something about sunrise that is divinely appealing to followers of Jesus. From disciples who journey to Mount Horeb, the traditional site of the giving of the Ten Commandments, and get up in the dark so that they can climb to the top of the mountain to greet the morning, to the numerous sunrise services that take place on Easter morning or other mornings, Christians have been drawn to these glorious beginnings of the day.

Perhaps that would be a good discipline for us – to get up in the dark and prayerfully await the rising of the sun. It would be a helpful and hopeful prelude when we might consider the fact that the coming day is a gift from God. We should receive it as such and use it with wise joy. I think I am going to set my alarm right now. There’s a new beginning about to take place, and I don’t want to miss it, do you?

Wednesday: Praying For A Specific Person

There are people who come into our lives and have incredible abilities to pray exactly what we need prayed. This has happened a few times in my life.

I had a lady in Waco who could discern God's activity in my life. At one point I was leading a group of 80 students and volunteers on a international mission trip to Nicaragua. During the trip half the group got the stomach bug. As I was taking care of those ill, I prayed that this lady could pray for our healing. Later that day I was able to check my email (the only point in the trip I could do so), I had an email from this woman stating "Griff you won't get this until you return probably and then it might seem crazy, but today I got the sense your group was very sick and I stopped everything I was doing to pray for you all afternoon. It's probably just an old lady's fears, but I am praying."

When I was thinking through the call to University Baptist Church a dear friend in Sugar Land called me to say, "Griff every time I go to pray I can't get you and Abby off my mind. I hope telling you this might let me off the hook and move on, but just please know that I am praying for you all the time and I have no idea why."

My Mom can do this for me. She can pray very specifically into my life and discern God's will for me. With her it happens with red birds, she will be praying through things and suddenly a red bird will appear on her morning walk. She will know God's presence is nearby.

I used to think these people had connections with God the rest of us did not have. I now believe they are just people who pray for me regularly and thus do have a connection with God and my life.

We all need people like this in our lives. We all need to be people who pray for others like this as well.

Think of a person today and spend three times praying for them. They will be blessed. You will be blessed as well.

Pray for our Global Community and Leadership

The occasion was the inauguration of William Jefferson Clinton, and the driving force behind the idea was James Dunn, then the Director of the Baptist Joint Committee. Dunn, who became a model of ministry for me with his work at the Texas Christian Life Commission, has always been on the cutting edge of political issues that deal with religious freedom. His work at the Baptist Joint Committee was instrumental in keeping Baptists abreast of political issues that needed attention and involvement.

On the eve of the inauguration of President Clinton, Dunn put together a special worship service at the First Baptist Church of Washington. When the event’s invitation arrived, I responded immediately, enthused about the prospect of attending an inauguration and even more enthused about being a part of a worship experience that James had coordinated.

The worship service was magnificent. Bill Moyers presided as various people gave personal testimonies to the unusual congregation collected that evening. Interspersed among the testimonies were musical pieces by Ken Medema and others. It was quite moving. Thirty minutes or so into the worship experience the Clintons and Gores arrived with their entourage. Their entrance was quite noticeable, and they settled in to the section reserved just for them. I fully anticipated their staying for just a few minutes, enough time for a photo op and a tip of the hat to their spiritual traditions. I was mistaken. They stayed for the remainder of the service, another hour and a half, fully participating.

The evening had many interesting remarks, but the most poignant for me came from former President Jimmy Carter. Carter stood at the pulpit, turned toward the Clintons and Gores and said, “A lot of people in this city will invest enormous amounts of time, energy and money in order to tell you what to do. I wouldn’t listen to most of them if I were you.” Carter then paused, looked over the entire sanctuary, then said, “But I would tell you that I would listen to the people in this room. They will tell you the truth. They will remind you of who and Whose you are.” Then, flashing that famous Carter grin, he concluded, “And we all need those reminders from time to time.”

                                

Our political leaders do need to be reminded on occasion of who and Whose they are. They also need to be prayed for on a regular basis. It’s not easy trying to be a statesman in a world where your political future can be sabotaged by the whim of the next election. To be great often requires leaps of faith. Let’s encourage our leaders with our phone calls, letters, and most of all, our prayers.

Monday: Pray for National Leadership

Today we are going to return to a prayer we used early on in this exercise. It is the Merton Prayer. This prayer is about understanding and following the will of God.

Today take time to pray this prayer for yourself, President Obama, and our elected leaders.

May we all be people searching and following after the call of God.

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Praying for the Future of UBC

Years ago I had the good pleasure to hear author David Macauley speak about his work. Macauley has written several books which he illustrates with marvelous pen-and-ink drawings. Many of his books deal with architecture, featuring subjects such as castles, mosques, pyramids and other interesting topics. My favorite of his works is Cathedral, a detailed history of the construction of a Gothic cathedral.

Cathedral is the fascinating account of the century-long process of the construction of a church in the fictitious French town of Chutreaux. Macauley takes us back to 1252 and introduces us to all kinds of craftspeople, as well as the tools they employed in the building. In the narration of the book we are given insights into how gargoyles were constructed and then placed, how the huge windows were made and then put in place, and how the mammoth bells were hoisted to their resting places in the towers atop the cathedral. But of all the things I was fascinated by in Macauley’s telling, I was most amazed by the reality that those people who began the cathedral knew that they wouldn’t live to see it completed. After all, it took a hundred years to build such a structure.

The people’s commitment of faith stuck me in such a profound way. Why, most of the folks who worked on the cathedral knew full well that they wouldn’t live to benefit from it. Nevertheless, they pushed on, doing their very best in the times and at the jobs given to them. My hunch is that we could learn a lot about building the church from these folks. Of course, I am not referring to the physical mastery of their work, but rather their spiritual devotion to building something important for God.

My hope and prayer is that our church might have the same kind of spirit about it -- that we might invest our gifts and our lives in the endeavor of building Christ’s church in such a way that our work benefits our life together and those who follow after us. I pray that we will embrace the work we share in such a manner that God’s grace is seen inside and out.

Saturday: The UBC Campus

I learned a valuable lesson a few summers ago in my garden. I attempted to grow a pepper plant that was not made for the Texas heat. It barely even grew a leaf. It was quite pitiful.

One of the best lessons I have learned about gardening is this, stay local.

Plants were not made to be universal, but for specific climates and soil conditions.

This is probably true for churches as well, each church was designed for a specific climate and condition.

Think about the history of University Baptist Church. After reading the history book over the last month, I understand there are some important words to the church to include college, open and inviting, thinking, and loving.

I also understand that our location is important. There is a history in this property. We planted here for a reason.

Today take time to walk University Baptist Church campus and neighborhood. We planted here for a reason. God called us here for a reason. Pray that we are answering God's call.

Eating With Friends

I’m not sure how and when it started exactly. We were serving our first church, and they were members there. Whatever it was, we became fast friends. The wives loved cooking and reading and comparing notes on the raising of their young children. The husbands enjoyed reading, sports and talking politics. The friendship became one of those life-long treasures.
One of the galvanizing ingredients of that friendship was that we shared meals together every Sunday and Wednesday night after church, not to mention another meal or two during the week. After I finished my duties at the church on the "church evenings," I would join the crew awaiting me at the house. A meal would be thrown together, and we sat around the table talking about all kinds of things frivolous and serious. The women enjoyed experimenting with various menus, and the men were more than receptive to their creations.
In fact, even the men got involved on occasion. One Christmas, the wives signed us up for a Chinese cooking school. They weren’t really sure whether we would attend. But we did, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Consequently, there were occasional evenings when we pulled out the woks to try a new Asian delicacy. Those nights became limited, not by the men’s reluctance to cook, but by the women’s less-than-enthusiastic appreciation of our using every utensil, bowl, and pot in their kitchens!
I really miss those meals, not so much for the culinary joys they were (and they were!), but because of the times around the table where we shared matters of the heart. Those times together helped me grow as a husband, a father, a friend, and a follower of Christ. It’s almost impossible not to mature when you combine good food, good friends and good conversations. Shared tables are one of the tangible graces of a good, good God. I hope you find yourself experiencing that grace today!