Jeff Mashaw

This song is running on repeat in my head right now. I really...

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:27:13 -0700

This song is running on repeat in my head right now. I really enjoy the drum beat, very rhythmic and soothing.

God vs gods

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:00:05 -0700

This thought comes from Jeremiah chapter 10 which we will be studying today for Bible study at MCC. I really enjoy reading God’s opinion of the gods the people are worshipping. and the comparison between Him and the idols of the people. First, the idols. They;re made from wood, carved by human hands, must be carried around, for they cannot walk, they cannot hear, and most importantly, they cannot save. However, Yahweh is the true God. His Name alone is powerful. He is eternal, powerful, and mighty. His voice shakes the earth to its very core and there is nothing that can overcome His power.

This is truly an amazing thought. My hope is that I can live in light of this truth. My God is alive and powerful, and yet I oftentimes act and live as though He is dead and ineffective.

God help me to see your work, hear your voice and to be your hands. Amen.

Spring Break and Baby

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:32:21 -0700

I know it’s been much longer since I have last posted and I feel really badly about that. I have had two “half” weeks of Spring break the last two weeks. Two weeks ago, MCC had spring break which freed up Wednesday and Friday, and then last week as ASU’s spring break which freed up Tuesday and Thursday. However, between fixing the car, several appointments for Sarah and a Birth class on Sunday, Spring Break was hardly a break. I am hoping to resume my regular posting schedule later this week. Sorry about the delay. God has been doing things and I am eager to share them with you. Please keep praying for the ministry at MCC, for worship at ASU, and for Sarah’s health as we are rapidly approaching the delivery date of April 14th.

"If Mark and the organizations he leads do not change, I fear many more will be hurt, Mark and his..."

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:47:43 -0700

“If Mark and the organizations he leads do not change, I fear many more will be hurt, Mark and his family included. To not speak is to not love or care and shows no thought or consideration for those who have been wounded and those who will be in the future. We are witnesses. There is a pattern. There is a history. There is an ethos of authoritarianism and abuse. Mark is the unquestioned head of Mars Hill Church and the Acts 29 Network. His elders have no way to hold him accountable. Those under him likely fear him and want to garner his favor so they don’t daresay nor do anything that might anger him. This is tragic… . A Christianity which perpetuates the exaltation of mere men to god-like status, while belittling and wounding so many of God’s children in the process, is completely antithetical to what Jesus taught and is just as harmful to the leaders as it is to those who follow. Sadly, this is not the love of Jesus.”

- “My Story,” by Jonna Petry

What is your missional manifesto?

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:19:47 -0700

What is your missional manifesto?:

Hey check this out. It’s a missional manifesto. Reading it gives me all sorts of ideas and excitement about what God could do through His body. :) What’s is your manifesto?

Chronologies of Scripture

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:59:56 -0700

When I was younger and I came to a list of names while I was reading the Bible, I would usually just skip it. I never saw much application to my own life and thought reading them was just a waste of time. As I matured slightly, I learned that all scripture is useful for one purpose or another. Therefore I realized that to be true to God and His word, I would have to read every word in the Bible, including the chronologies. Recently for my own devotion I have been slowly going through Matthew starting at chapter 1, and in Matthew, right off the bat, we have the chronology of Jesus. As I was reading it I was reminded of all the beauty in God’s plan and how God works in spite and through our worst sin.

Probably one of the worse sins in the Bible is King David’s lust for another man’s wife. He sees Bathsheba bathing on her rooftop and he desires to make her his own despite his ridiculous number of wives and concubines. So he sends orders to have her husband secretly killed and then immediately after her allotted time of mourning, has her take up residence in his mansion and… well, you know the rest. The first child of their love is taken by God as punishment for his sin, but the second child is Solomon, the King of wisdom.

The first time I really realized this implication it was while reading this chronology in Matthew. It just hit me. King Solomon and direct ancestor of Jesus himself, was born of the woman whose husband had been killed and who was the object of David’s adultery. This is such an interesting aspect of God’s will and plan. In fact, I really don’t know what to think about it other than to marvel at God’s grace and goodness. How can he use us at all is a mystery, but somehow He is always able to weave the worst of us into something beautiful. I really love getting to be a part of that story.

Humility

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:13:06 -0700

Last week on Thursday, I wrote how I feel that Character is the single most important part of a worship leader. I mentioned 7 characteristics and today I wanted to talk a little bit more about one of them: Humility.

Of the seven traits that I mentioned last week, (click here to review) I think Humility is maybe one of the most important. However, I could probably make that case for each of them, but this week it’s Humility. ;) Anyway, let me break down why I believe humility to be so important. According to James 4,

Scripture says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

- James 4:6 (NIV)

First, the obvious, how can you worship God in any state that God would oppose? To give worship to God in a way that He would oppose would be counter-productive as it would be a waste of time. Secondly, why would you even want to worship God if you knew that He would be ignoring you? There are much easier ways to personal fame and fortune than leading worship, so it makes little sense to attempt to lead people to God in opposition to Him. And third, if you really desire to see people experience God’s presence and blessing through worship, then shouldn’t we make it all about God? And if you are making it all about God, how can you have room for pride?

Pride not only gets in the way of a corporate connection to God, but it also stands in the way of our personal connections to God. We need to be fresh and full of God’s Spirit so that we have something to give to those around us. We need to be overfull of the Spirit so that we can pour it out as a blessing on others. If we are letting pride stop up the flow of God’s Spirit, our ministry will dry up like an Arizona wash in July. :) Remaining humble before the LORD is what keeps us in the right mindset to avoid sin, and to be sensitive to His voice so we can speak what He wants when He wants us to.

Weeping for My People

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:00:05 -0700

The verse below is the first verse of what we will be studying at our next Wednesday Bible study at MCC when we meet again next week. Since this week is Spring Break at MCC, I decided I would do two posts on Jeremiah 9. One this week, and then one next week shortly before we meet for Bible Study. For this week’a post, I simply could not get past Jeremiah 9 verse 1. This verse just stopped me in my tracks:

If my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain of tears,

I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people.

-Jeremiah 9:1

I really enjoy the imagery of Jeremiah weeping for his own people. His passion for them and his brokenness over their sins is something that I desire to emulate. The problem with this comparison though (at least in my estimation) is who should I be weeping for? Maybe this is a minor issue, as my entire generation is lost without hope and needs to be saved, and the body of Christ appears to be mostly ineffective at reaching the lost. However, I find that what grieves me more is the plight of the lost. I have wept for the lost, but I am not sure that would translate directly to who Jeremiah is weeping for.

For us to make an accurate parallel, we would need to see that Jeremiah is weeping for his own people, the Jews. These were not people who were far off from the commands of God. They were instead people who had grown up with the law, and were close to God. If there are only two types of people, those who are God’s people and those who are not, then the Jews would have to be considered “God’s people” even though they acted nothing like it. Therefore to compare this to today’s society, we’d have to see Jeremiah weeping for, not the lost (though this is not an un-biblical concept found other places), but for his own people, the “saved.” Jeremiah is not weeping for the plight of those who have not heard the gospel, but instead is mourning over the sins of the saved and their pending destruction.

Here is my thought: while we do need to develop a healthy sorrow over the plight of those who are opposed to God outside the church, we should equally be emotionally concerned about those who are inside the church. There are many “lost” people in our churches. We should be able to see scripture’s clear teaching that calling yourself saved and then living like you are not angers God. It is this hypocrisy which will bring about the destruction of individuals and eventually the ministries which they take part of. When I look at the reality that my generation is mostly lost and then look at the churches which have done a poor job of reaching them, I need to weep not just for the lost, but for those churches which have abandoned God’s will. I need to look at my church and confess its sins before God. I need to beg God to change not just the lives of those around who do not believe, but for God to transform His body into a fully working entity which completely lives out its function and purpose on earth.

If we want to see true transformation and revolution happen in our society and in our world, we must see the transformation and beautification happen of the Bride of Christ. Scripture teaches that the Bride will be presented to the Groom pure and spotless, and so we need to ask God to make it so here on Earth, as it is in Heaven.

God, I pray that you will transform not just me, or those around me who do not know you, but God I pray that you would transform your bride. Make your church pure and spotless. Make it active and righteous and holy, set apart for your work here on earth. God show us how to be men and women after your heart who love your commands and pursue your will. Help us to reach this world as you did, to be Jesus with skin on. Show us your path and make us right again. Let us weep for our sins, recognize and confess our failures and then get up and move forward carrying the message of the cross to every corner of this earth. Lord, we ask all this in Your name. Amen.

"Repent, Because the Kingdom of God has come near"

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:00:06 -0700

I was reading in Matthew for my quiet time this week and I came across this simple quote from Jesus. This is in fact, the first recorded sermon we have of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. It’s simplicity is stunning and beautiful and it gets me thinking. I am curious if this sermon would work on a community college campus in 21st century America. Would this be the exact same sermon Jesus would preach if he were walking around Mesa, in 2012, instead Capernaum in A.D 30. Or, were these words only relevant when they were spoken by Jesus when He spoke them. Was that time and place the perfect combination for this simple exhortation to be effective?

Here’s is why I am thinking this. The people he was preaching to would be expecting a Messiah. They were expecting something to happen. For the most part, they were looking forward to the Kingdom of Heaven, and this would be something that perhaps they would be familiar with. They would have been mostly religious people: Jews. So they would have understood sin, and repentance, and maybe some of them might have even understood their need for a savior. But, the people I talk to today do not seem to meet any of these criteria. They do not have an understanding of God, or sin, or their need. Maybe they understand their need, but they do not see how the solution of Jesus meets their need. At least, they don’t see it immediately. It takes time and words to communicate the ideas of salvation, of sin, and redemption; repentance and forgiveness do not come naturally to this generation.

But still I wonder, if perhaps these words still have power. It makes me think. I desire to see people come to faith in Jesus. I desire to see people repent and believe in Christ, and I long to teach and proclaim “Behold, the Kingdom of God is near and is upon you.”

A New Website

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:00:31 -0700

I have had an interesting day at work. The internet at the Challenge Building crashed and so I got to spend part of the afternoon on the phone with technical support installing setting up our new modem, and setting up the new wireless router. All is good and working now. I always kind of enjoy working on technical stiff like this. I like the wires, and the configurations and all that jazz.

Anyway, part of our Christian Challenge staff meeting today was talking about our attempt to bring our organization into the 20th century. We are in desperate need of a consistent Brand image for our ministry so that we can more effectively communicate who we are and what we are about. Due to my above-stated interest in technical stuff am the most interested in helping with this assignment, and so I get to work on the re-design. I am not very skilled in the graphical arts, but I really want to see Christian Challenge be an effective ministry organization in the Phoenix area. And in this age, branding is one of those things that needs to be there so people can find you and connect with you 24/7. My hope with the website project is to be able to create a connection point for people to find out more about who we are and what God is doing in our ministry.

I am currently finding it difficult to really open up and get...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 11:00:05 -0700

I am currently finding it difficult to really open up and get into the world of the Bible. I feel like there is a wall surrounding God’s truth and I am outside with nothing and desiring to be inside. I know that this wall is only in my mind and that I simply need to overcome through perseverance, like Joshua marching around Jerhico. But today, there is a wall and I struggle to find the passion and love and desire that I once had to pursue God through His scripture. Thankfully, I believe that this too shall pass and I will once more be free to plumb the depths, but in the meantime I must keep trying to climb that wall.

"They want desperately to forget and rebuild anew; thankful for their lives. They want radios and..."

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:32:00 -0700

“

They want desperately to forget and rebuild anew; thankful for their lives. They want radios and cell phones and grasp at any semblance of normalcy. They cuddle and nurse their newborns like delicate, cherished gifts. What they don’t talk about is justice. They talk about how to forgive and move on.

But I can’t tell you their story. Why? Someone else has taken over their part in this complex saga, simplified it, branded it, packaged it and is reselling it as an Action Kit. For as little as $30 and up to $500, you get your very own pimplicious t-shirt (that was made somewhere other than Uganda or Africa) and various assortments of SWEDOW you won’t care about in a month. But hey! At least you did something!

”

- Teddy Ruge - About Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign.

Character

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:18:28 -0700

I am convinced that the single most important ingredient in a great worship leader is not their vocal ability, or their musical ability, but it is their character. In our society and culture we focus so much on the externals that we often times think the people in our churches need to resemble great public figures. Either, speakers, or rock musicians, or whatever. However, from my reading of scripture, especially studying King David (the scripture’s authority on worship, imo) I find time and time again that God really does not value externals nearly as much as internals. Yet, as people we often find ourselves looking at what a person does, or sounds like, or looks like without valuing what God values.

So what is the point, really? I believe that as worship leaders, we need to make sure that we have our priorities straight. To really worship God, we must treasure what God treasures, and work towards His goals, so it only makes sense to prioritize character. How do we lead our teams, and our people to grow in Christ-likeness? How do we focus ourselves on becoming men and women after God’s own heart? My good friend Austin Ryan suggests we focus on seven pillars, or attributes and I think he’s right:

(I took some creative liberty and re-arranged them a little bit.)

Authenticity: Are we really the people we are? Is the image we are presenting on stage really who we are the rest of the week? Are we truly in love with God, or are we paying lip-service to Him?
Humility: Are we puffing ourselves up? Are we leading as the world does? Or are we serving like Jesus did? When’s the last time you put your team’s needs and desires above your own? When is the last time you truly served out of a love for your people and not for your own glory?
Unity: How can we show the world the love of God if we do not love each other? It is by working together toward the goal that we are able to bring people to the presence of God.
Creativity: Our God created the heavens and the earth. Everything from the smallest microbe to the largest star. Including flowers, and animals, and humans, this world is filled with creativity. How do we find new ways to worship God with a similar creative passion to what He used to create us?
Evangelism: We cannot serve the Lord and continually disobey the great commission to go and teach all everything that Christ has shown us. God’s heart for the nations must be present in all we do.
Excellence: We must do everything that we do unto the glory of God. This is simply a matter of doing the best we can with what we have.
Party: We have an amazing job to serve the God of the universe, and using our gifts for God should produce in us an overflowing joy. We need to have a good time doing what we do.

So, these seven words represent seven ways that we need to grow and mature as leaders. I think these need to be the priorities as we work to develop worshippers in both Spirit and Truth.

For more about Austin Ryan and his awesome ministry, check out www.worshipcatalyst.com and his Worship Leader Essentials training materials.

A Balm in Gilead

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:00:06 -0700

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?

So why has the healing of my dear people not come about?

- Jeremiah 8:22

As we continue reading Jeremiah for our Wednesday Bible study at MCC, we keep discovering some really powerful truths about the way that God responds to us who sin. Here, at the end of chapter 8 after more truth-telling and light shining onto the darkness that is the heart of the people, we find this picture of beauty. In the midst of all their sin, their unrepentant evil. Despite the people’s inability to truly embrace the path of their God, God is still present among them. This rhetorical question helps us to ponder the reality of their situation.

Is not the God of the universe, their God. Has not He shown them time and time again His power and willingness to save them? Has He not shown them what is right and what is good? Then why are they suffering? Could not they be healed? And yet, it is not to happen. These people are so stubborn and dense and too lost in the comfort of their own evil sin that they cannot, no they will not repent.

Does this not give you some comfort in your own life? To me it is comforting to know that after all my sins and wrong-doing and stubborn rebellion against what is right and true, my God still comfort me. He still embraces me. He takes me back as though it it just the first time. There is no place on earth that you can go where God cannot find you. There is no height, or depth which can separate you from His love, and His embrace. I find it incredibly re-assuring and comforting (though sometimes rather saddening) that the only thing keeping me from experiencing the love of Jesus is my own refusal to be touched by Him. It is my activity, my schedule, my priorities, my cold heart which keeps me away from God. The solution to finding God is so painfully simple. I must decrease. I must die to self, I must give up, I must lose. Only then, can I live.

Jeremiah 7 (thoughts from 2/29)

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:18:17 -0700

We read Jeremiah 7 last week. After reading through it, here are some things which stand out to us:

Verse 1 Jeremiah is going to be giving this declaration from the front of the temple. Imagine someone coming into your church and giving you a declaration from the LORD about how sinful and evil you are. Then you can put yourself in the shoes of Jeremiah’s audience.
Verse 4 God is not satisfied by vain repetitions, or “religious” activity. He demands obedience and a commitment from the heart.
Verse 6 Look at the order of this list. God starts by pleading with His people to not oppress the foreigner. God’s intention from the beginning was to create a nation where all people would be impacted by His presence. He never intended to create an exclusive religious club, but an inclusive community of followers.
Verse 9 This is a rundown of the 10 Commandments. God is listing off the people’s sin and therefore His justification for their coming punishment.
Verse 18 Check this verse out. It’s not just the powerful, or the adults who are sinning, but it’s the whole family. The entire population has been corrupted down to the very children. This complete permeation of sin into every aspect of society explains why the whole society must be punished.
Verse 19 A very interesting insight here into the true nature of sin and God’s punishment. It is almost as if God is laying out that the punishment of sin is not something He chooses to do, but it inherent within nature itself. As if the negative consequences of evil are coded into the environment we live in much like natural laws.
Verse 31 These people were practicing a custom which dictating sacrificing children by burning them on altars for the sake of a god. This practice utterly disgusts God. In fact, it is something so foreign to Him that He, “never entertained the thought.”
Verse 33 God is going to so utterly demolish the people that the land will become completely desolate. There will be no way to shoe away the birds which feast on the dead flesh.

Reading this really helps us to see a little bit better how God functions and what matters to Him:

God has a heart for all the nations, and desires to bring all people to Himself
God hates sin and un-repentance is absolutely loathsome to Him.
Doing religious things is far less important than direct obedience and inner righteousness.

What are some things we can do to apply this biblical truth to our lives:

We can pray for forgiveness for our sins and seek true spiritual righteousness by trusting Jesus Christ for everything.
We can learn how to obey God better by reading God’s word and applying it to our lives.
We can do a motive check and ask ourselves why we are doing the religious activities we do. Is it for God’s glory, to make me feel better about myself, or something worse?
We can reach out to the lost and share the message of God’s love with them. He loved the “others” so much that He died just for them.

Now it’s your turn. What are you going to do this week to let this message of God seep into every secret place inside of you and let it transform you?

You can help reach college students in Phoenix with this message of God’s love! Can you think of a better way to use $10 a month? Partner Today!

Missed Opportunity

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:00:06 -0700

How many chances to share the gospel have been missed? I know I certainly seem to keep missing chance after chance. The latest instance was a few days ago. I was driving some people home from a worship night when I got into a conversation with one of my passengers. I was just asking how everyone thought it went when one person said worship wasn’t really her “thing.” This immediately caught my attention and we began a simple conversation.

She basically confessed that she grew up in a church background, but had found it to be something that no longer had an value to her. And when I asked her what she believed, she seem unprepared to answer the question. We went back and forth a little until I realized she was a “rationalist” (probably not a very devout one, so I use the term loosely) and that she only believed in what she could see. She said that she did not believe there was any such thing as an absolute truth or that there was anything that existed besides this life. This is where I wish I had known something better to say.

I had just recently been reading an article about a logical proof that God exists and so this is where I steer the conversation. I talk about how there is a logical proof that Go exists, and how there must be an absolute truth, and an absolute morality. Because, as I told her, if there was no such thing as an absolute morality, then you have to honestly believe that Hitler was justified in killing anyone he desired, for if morality is relative then who are you or I to say any different? However, I begin to realize that we don’t have much longer as we are getting close to arriving at our destination. I start to force the argument along without building a strong enough case, and due to my hasty approach, her rebuttal is clear evidence to her that she could still be right. It seems as though I had failed to really help her see the fallacies of her beliefs. As time runs out, I begin to realize that perhaps I could have done something different. I wish I had been more careful, or perhaps tried to stay to the gospel narrative. But, I could do nothing but pray and ask God to use my meager attempts for His glory.

Is anyone ever really won to God by rational arguments about God’s existence? I suppose they could be, I would not know for sure because I have never witnessed it happening. But I doubt my own ability was sufficient in this specific instance. All I could do was be cordial and positive and pray that I may have another opportunity to actually share the life-changing power of the gospel with this person. So I did pray, and I do pray, and I ask you join with me in this prayer for the unnamed student:

God, please change this young person’s heart. Let their eyes be opened and their heart melted by the love, grace and hope of Jesus Christ. Oh, that this person could live a life set apart by a commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Show your greatness and your power by transforming a life and allow the young believer who befriended this person take every opportunity to share the gospel as well, that they too may join in Your work of impacting lives at MCC. In the all-powerful name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

cabinporn: Lookout at Saint Mary Peak, Bitterroot Range,...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:00:05 -0700

cabinporn:

Lookout at Saint Mary Peak, Bitterroot Range, Montana.

Submitted and photographed by Chris La Tray.

I could totally spend some time here. I need to get away from the city soon or I think I am going to go crazy. :)

How do you decide where to go to church?

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 09:30:06 -0700

I had this conversation with a student this week. Things have been generalized for the sake of anonymity, but this really happened, and it was really neat to get an opportunity to offer some discipleship advice to a student.

Student: How do I know where I should go to church? I've been going to this one church my whole life, but they don't really have a college group, so I've been thinking about going to this other church where all my college friends go, but I just don't know. I keep feeling really un-peaceful at my home church, but I don't feel like God is speaking really clearly, and I just don't know where to go or what to do. What do you think?
Me: I am probably the wrong person to ask because I have not always made what I consider to be the right decision when I got to that point.
Student: What do you mean?
Me: Well, I really believe that when God is really speaking you will know it. There will be no doubt or lack of clarity. So if you are thinking that you should change churches, but are experiencing a lack of clarity, then you should just stay where you are until God gives you clarity. The problem is that sometimes we can cloud what God is saying because we become discontent with where we are or what we are doing, but the key is to trust God and continue doing what He has called us to and stay where He has put us until we are sure He is releasing us.
Me: The problem is that this is really hard to do. And that is why I am not the best person to ask. When I came to a place where I felt like I should leave my church, I did. I didn't wait for God to provide clarity, and I didn't stay where He put me. And essentially what happened is that I went 2 years without any clarity and ended up right back where I started. :) So it's easy for me to say this, but I know it's hard to do.
Student: I guess that makes sense. Yeah, I can see that.
Me: So, if I were you right now with what I know to be true, I would stay at the church I am at currently and see if I can't start a young adult ministry, or see if I can't be the catalyst that would create the change that I wanted to see.
Student: Ok, thanks !

Proof that God exists

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:00:06 -0700

Proof that God exists:

I stumbled upon this website this week while perusing my social media feeds. I found it very interesting and I would hope that it might be a useful tool as a piece of evidence for someone that there is indeed a God. I realized that for more, there is so much evidence that serves as a basis for my faith in God that it would be impossible for me to ever stop believing it. I was not always so sure, but after studying, questioning, searching and seeking, I have found many answers and much evidence which gives me a trust and a knowing in the “things unseen.”

I keep hearing this song on the radio and it is really growing...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:00:06 -0700

I keep hearing this song on the radio and it is really growing on me. I would absolutely love to make it to Passion one of these years. God, I just want to lay my self down before you and “surrender all to you”!