Articles by Lynn Anderson at Heartlight

Home for Christmas

hopenet@ont.com (Lynn Anderson) — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0600

(This article is from Lynn's moving book entitled Longing for a Homeland: Discovering the Place You Belong.)

All these people ... did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. (Hebrews 11:13-14 NIV)

It's Christmas and I want to go home. I miss my folks. The nostalgic song "I'll be home for Christmas" is sung not about a "place," but about our people. Come Holiday Season, most of us spare no expense to get with our family around the tree.

Like most people I "go back home" to see family as often as possible. Yet strangely, each visit seems less and less like "going home."

First, my siblings and I felt our life-paths growing ever further apart. Different circles. Different life issues.

Then Mother left us. For two year's Parkinson's had left her staring into space. But that last morning in her hospital room she partly emerged from the fog and even laughed with us. Great moments. But at noon a nurse called saying Mom was gone! After that, "going home" was never quite the same.

But we still had Dad. At eighty, people took him for sixty. Then, cancer struck, moving from lungs to bones to brain, leaving stroke-like symptoms. So Carolyn and I packed hastily and set out from Texas for Saskatchewan, Canada.

This was two and half weeks before Christmas.

We spent those weeks at my father's bedside. I am his only son, so although Dad could not speak his eyes followed me constantly. His condition remained unpredictable. Christmas drew closer and our grandchildren were expecting us in Colorado Springs. We felt torn, not wanting to disappoint either Dad or our kids. Finally we decided to rush to Colorado for Christmas, and then hurry back to Dad. I awkwardly attempted to explain this to him. But Dad shook his head and finally mumbled, "I - won't be - here." "Of course you will Dad," I assured. But he turned his face away, as I kept repeating, "Only a few days."

Oddly, the last words I said to my father, I spoke to the back of his head. We loved each other enormously, but I was leaving him and he was leaving me. Home was slipping away at frightening speed.

Obviously, I am not alone in this "homesick" feeling. It is the story of the human family from generation to generation beginning the day Adam was driven from his splendid garden home. Ever since then all the sons and daughters of Adam have been "away from home." Homesick.

I hear a tent corner flapping in the desert wind. Hear the murmured prayers of old men, far from home. Adam. Abraham far from Ur. Moses far from Egypt and Midian stumbling alone up Mount Nebo. "These all died in faith, never having received what they had longed for." As will the lot of us. Wandering. Searching. But never finding the homeland.

Whole nations become collectively homesick. Europeans leaving family embraces and sailing westward, homeless. Africans torn from loved ones to live homeless among strangers. American Indians herded from vast homelands to holding pens called "reservations." Israeli settlers dragged from the Gaza Strip.

Fact is, of course, staying put would not heal this universal grieving because Home is not a people! No human relationship lasts forever. And not all Christmas home-thoughts are happy ones.

The dreaded call reached me in Colorado Springs the day before Christmas. My father had passed away. I felt dead and torn. In one moment grateful for children and grandchildren around me. The next moment, guilt ridden that I was not by Dad's side at his last hour.

The day after Christmas, Carolyn and I climbed in the car again for the two-day drive back to Dad's funeral. The first day, beautiful weather. The second day, ominous clouds formed, a north wind rose, and the temperature fell 60 degrees in two or three hours. By the time we reached the Canadian border, we were driving into an old-fashioned blizzard. Yet we drove on. After all, Dad's funeral was set for the next day.

Night settled in as we checked into Canada. Snow grew thicker. Wind rose steadily. Temperatures kept falling. Visibility near zero. Our car radio warned travelers off the highways. The storm was to last for days. But, since "home" was now only a hundred miles up the road, we crept urgently along between those lines where the edge of the dark pavement met the vast whiteness. Periodic flurries wrapped us in total white out. Eventually the dark pavement disappeared under a layer of slick whiteness and I drove straight into the ditch, high-centered in deep snow!

With the highway now closed no help was likely to come along. And we were miles from anything. Even worse our light clothing could not begin to protect from such savage weather. We would not likely outlast our half-tank of gasoline by more than a few hours. It sounds melodramatic in retrospect, but Carolyn and I actually began trying to shape our good-byes to each other.

Then out of the lethal white fury, a large freight truck appeared. At risk to himself, he hooked a cable to our car and snaked us back onto the pavement.

Rescued.

By now our only alternative was to drive on. However, ice had gathered on our accelerator cable, freezing the car at only two speeds: wide open and off! So we would yank the car into gear, gather speed to fifty miles an hour, then coast in neutral to a near stop - and repeat the process.

We limped along like this for several miles, till through the blur we spotted the glow of a light, which turned out to be at the cross-street of a little village. We could see no buildings, just the circle of whiteness surrounding that pool of light. But out of nowhere a car pulled up beside us. A window slid open and a young male voice said cheerily, "You'd better get off this road. We have a heated implement shed for your car and my mother has a hot supper on the stove."

Next morning, snow had let up a bit, the highway was freshly plowed, but the temperature was now thirty-five below, with wind gusting to thirty-five miles an hour. However, our car now ran perfectly, so, we thanked our "angels" and pushed on to Weyburn, Saskatchewan, in time for my Father's funeral.

By the time of Dad's death, the town of Weyburn had shrunk and my parent's once thriving church had dwindled to a remnant. A mere handful of people braved the brutal weather for the funeral service. So in my soul-numbing grief, this depressing town felt morose beyond expression.

At the cemetery, winds blew between the tombstones with such cruelty that even the family did not leave the van. And as soon as the pallbearers set Dad's casket on the lowering device, they scuttled for cover. The funeral director and I stayed a few minutes. When he tripped the switch to lower Dad's casket, the frozen lowering device would not budge. He fumbled with the mechanism, but I saw the waxen frostbite claiming his face. So I urged, "You can come back and finish this when the weather breaks. Dad is all right. He always loved a good blizzard anyway." Then we both sprinted to the warmth of the hearse, leaving the casket exposed in the vicious cold. I still sometimes dream that I see the body of my father dressed in a suit with no overcoat, lying out in a blizzard.

Two days later, the skies still gray and the temperature still brutal, Carolyn and I loaded up and drove out of Weyburn southward, in gloomy silence. Eventually, I mumbled, "I don't think I ever want to come back here again." I felt as disconnected from any known permanent sense of belonging as I have ever felt in my life. Homeless! I was coming to the devastating discovery that as precious as our families are, home is not a people. People just won't stay with us. Nor we with them.

Oh, how I longed for a home. Still do. Especially at Christmas I smell the smells, taste the tastes and hear sounds of that home, with Mom and Dad, like it was when I was a child. But, we all leave each other eventually. No human relationship is permanent. None.

What is infinitely more sobering: even if people could stay, no human relationship is ultimately fulfilling. Not the warmest parent - child relationship. Not the closest friendship. Ah yes! Even in the most intimate and "ideal" marriage we are still destined to a certain degree of loneliness and homesickness.

Where oh where then is home?

Here, I believe, is the answer: Home is where God is. Only our heavenly Father stays permanently. And only He fulfills completely. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations." (Psalm 90:1) "How lovely is your dwelling place, Oh God almighty. My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." (Psalm 84:1-2) Only with God are we fully at home.

And Christmas reminds us that the one who is the Christmas story, left his home at the Father's side and became "homeless." "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." (Luke 9:58) Immanuel he is called, "God with us." (Matthew 1:23) Identifying with our homelessness. But mysteriously, at the same time this Homeless One is the way to the Father's house. "I am the way home," he said, "No one comes to the father except by me." And "I will go and prepare a place for you among the many mansions of my Father's house." (John 14:2-6)

So, with you, Oh my Heavenly Father, "Surely goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life." (Psalm 23:6) So I have made a decision. And I am resolved. "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." (Psalm 23:6)

Home.

Take me home for Christmas

Lynn Anderson is a preacher, noted author and founder of Hope Network Ministries, based in San Antonio.

Website: Hope Network Ministries

An Open Letter to the New Clergy

hopenet@ont.com (Lynn Anderson) — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Boarding Flight 286, a somber-faced stranger in dark blue slid into his seat beside an innocent looking matron. She eyed him discreetly, then gushed, "Oh. You must be a minister."

"No ma'am," he explained, "I'm with IBM. It's my hemorrhoids that make me look so sincere."

Humor aside, business people and ministers may have more in common than pained expressions. In fact, I believe that you, today's Christian business leaders, are actually the world's most influential ministers! So, hats off to the "new clergy"!

Track it with me. Up through medieval times the church stood watch over western morals and ethics through the "clergy." When the church lost clout during the Renaissance, universities replaced the church as "keepers of the flame" and professors served as "clergy." Eventually the torch was handed to the public schools, where teachers played "clergy." But, today, public school teachers are forbidden to teach Judeo-Christian morals and ethics. Now that church, university and public schools have either lost clout or gone AWOL, who will shape tomorrow's values?

Enter the "new clergy"!

Today, the market place holds the clout, and it is business leaders who most broadly influence our values. So, authentically Christian business leaders are strategically positioned to perpetuate our ethical, moral and spiritual heritage. You may not wear the title comfortably, but you are the "new clergy."

Of course, all of us are "clergy," priests ministering to the world (1 Peter 2:9-17), but business people can minister in special ways.

First, you are the "new clergy" to young persons entering the business world. Every year, thousands flock from the campus to the city, following the Pied Piper who smiles at them from the "Wall Street Journal". They desperately need to be mentored by business people who are authentic disciples of Jesus Christ. Young people who come because they admire your excellence may stay to emulate your values -- possibly, even your faith. Without your Christian presence, long-range consequences could be disastrous.

Second, you are the "new clergy" to the business community itself. The free enterprise system began on two basic assumptions: 1) common moral and ethical standards and 2) common concern for the community. However, in today's competitive environment, these values often get shoved aside by whatever promises profit at the bottom line. Concern for community easily capitulates to "every man for himself."

Years back, when Eli Black (a rabbi who was also chairman of United Brands) committed suicide, "The Wall Street Journal" observed, "He believed he could straddle the two worlds -- business and sensitive social conscience. In the end the pressure from the two worlds split him apart." "The Journal" went on to ask, "Can a sensitive person with high moral standards survive in an uncompromising financial world?"

Behind this question loom two larger ones: first, can the free enterprise system itself survive the absence of high moral standards? And, more importantly, will America "lose its soul"? Such questions have led some major corporations to re-tool their leadership styles and corporate values. The "new clergy" belong in this picture. Who is more credibly and strategically positioned to preserve the values and redeem the culture?

Third, the "new clergy" play a major role of witness in the marketplace. You have access to the ears and hearts of people whom the rest of us will never know. They will listen, too, if you respect people, stay clean and shoot straight.

I am impressed by the tough questions being raised by some Christian business people:

Did God make me affluent, visible and powerful?
If he made me affluent, visible, and powerful, why?
How do I witness in the marketplace without taking advantage of my position?
How will I do so without appearing partial to believing employees?
How will I do so without being type-cast with phonies who tout religion for business advantage?

You courageously navigate waters beyond the depth of most churched clergy. We are deeply grateful that God has placed you, the "new clergy," where you are.

Fourth, you are the "new clergy" to the church itself. High-profile business leaders must step gingerly through delicate complexities into a relationship with the local church. The mice and the elephants make each other nervous. Some mice expect elephants to trample them. Some elephants remain peripheral to the church lest they frighten the mice. And some business people, accustomed to the brisk, efficient pace of the marketplace, grow frustrated with the muddled plodding of volunteer organizations.

At times it may seem easier to follow the church at a detached distance or to zip past the cumbersome thing toward more vigorous para-church enterprises. In either case, both the business people and the church lose.

I often hear Christian business leaders confess enormous need for the church. Facing the chill wind of the secular marketplace alone, without the support and accountability of the church, overwhelms even the strongest.

You know you need the church. But some of you ask, "Does the church need me? Am I of any value to the church, given the mouse and elephant phenomenon? Beyond dropping my generous check in the plate, does the church really expect anything significant from me?"

I reply with a thundering, "Yes!" You are profoundly important to the church. Not merely to pay her bills, not to prop up her sagging self-esteem, but as primary colleagues in ministry. You enrich our understanding of the faith. "Business clergy" help keep "church clergy" in touch with the marketplace. You call us to accountability and excellence. Personally, I cannot imagine functioning as a balanced Christian man without a circle of spiritual confidants from the marketplace.

Today, as we face a vacuum of character and the vertigo of change, we look to you. This is your hour. Thank God for the "new clergy."

Lynn Anderson is a preacher, noted author and founder of Hope Network Ministries, based in San Antonio.

Website: Hope Network Ministries

Thanks for the Flame of Freedom

hopenet@ont.com (Lynn Anderson) — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0500

The mercury dipped near 30 degrees below zero that cold Canadian day in February 1936. Yet the rough hands of hardy homesteaders lugged a cattle trough up the hill and shoved it through the door into my mother’s kitchen. Then, they carried buckets of water from the well, warmed it on our coal-fed stove, and poured it into the trough deep enough to baptize my parents into Christ. That day, Mom and Dad set in motion a free search for God’s truth and a passion to follow Jesus at all cost. That free search still flourishes into the fourth generation. For a time Mom and Dad were dropped from their former social loop because they dared to leave the ways of the world -- and the comfortable circle of nominal religion. But with the passing of years, they became the emotional and spiritual hub of much of their extended family and a wider circle of friends.

Both my parents have gone to heaven, now. But their words live on through Dad’s courtship letters, which also chronicle their spiritual journey. A few excerpts, from 1934 and 35:

"There was to be a [liturgical] service last Sunday afternoon, but I didn’t go, as they want me to supervise the Sunday school again, and it’s no use of my going ... as I believe Christ and conversion should be stressed more and I cannot teach against my beliefs. What do you think?" Later: "I was at a [revival] meeting today and heard a very good sermon. It seems closer to the Bible than the other ...."

Still later:

"... last night I went to the meetings in the school and Bailey preached a sermon as I never heard before and I don’t think I’ll ever hear one like it again. Most of the people wept while he preached and it sure affected me ...." And again: "... try to get out here for your holidays so that we can talk of these things in religion and of these followers of Christ which in my mind, we should be."

Obviously, later still:

"I shall be despised more than ever now, but what of it ...."

These memories flood my eyes with thankful tears. I thank God for the spirit of the ancient Bereans (Acts 17:11), who "examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" (NIV). And I thank God for the best features of my faith which fired my imagination, and propelled me into the adventure of freely and passionately following Jesus Christ, guided only by Scripture, no matter where it may lead. And I thank God for the faith-style of my parents, whose spirits spurred me to explore -- and fostered the freedom to question -- even to doubt. Oh how I needed what they gave, because, frankly, I have personally been a questioning, doubting searcher all of my life. I don’t think my own personal faith would have survived

However, my parents also taught me (and I want my grandchildren to teach their children) that those who pursue truth will at times pay some enormous prices. Those who authentically pursue the will of God have always done so in the face of hostility. Remember Jeremiah -- in a well? And Jesus -- on the cross? And Stephen -- stoned? And Luther ...? Zwingli? My parents, and possibly yours? For them, authentic relationship with God meant infinitely more than job security or social approval.

Yet, these nearly seventy years after my parents set out on their courageous faith journey, at times I am strangely puzzled by my own attitudes:

Why do I admire my parents’ integrity, yet get "antsy" when my children (walking in the tradition of their grandparents) sometimes "own" conclusions which don’t match mine?

Would I want to discourage in my children the very integrity I so much admired in my Mother and Father?

Would I want my kids to "settle permanently" on theological turf that my pilgrim parents saw only as "the horizons of a new frontier?"

Of course, I do believe some things deeply enough that I want my children to share them. But, I cannot allow my own conclusions to chill my children’s quest. Rather, I pray that they will pursue God’s truth and vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ even if integrity drives them out of any ruts I may have been traveling. How could I ever quench the spirit that shaped a family faith paradigm, which has lasted lo these generations?

Again my eyes mist over as I watch our married children and their spouses build homes of hospitality, Bible study, and worship. They serve joyfully in their local churches in various roles -- teacher, worship leader, deacon, and evangelism. Both sons-in-law, businessmen, keep leading people to Christ, baptizing them and then mentoring them in faith. One is now an elder in his church. Our oldest son, after eight years in business, and fourteen months as a youth minister, is now a Marriage and Family Therapist, his chosen field of ministry. Our youngest son, still a single and a globe-trotting photojournalist, keeps pursuing his faith journey with integrity.

Now, do all of our children see things exactly like Carolyn and I see them? Of course not. Do they all see things alike among themselves? Hardly. But, they do walk in faith, free before Christ, with integrity in their search for the will of God. Yes. Oh yes. And we are proud of their faith journey. A thousand times, Yes! And, Oh yes, they follow the searching spirit of their grandparents, and the spirit of their faith heritage.

Our four oldest grandchildren (of eight) are already baptized believers. One of them, at 14, began a summer Bible study group with school friends. Another keeps her family’s prayer list moving and journals answers. She recently penned this paraphrase of Psalm 93: "God is the ruler ... Even though he does not wear a gun, he has strength like a bullet. He guides the earth like a car and no one can move it except God ... You made our future world long ago. You are lasting forever ... I know I can trust you; you doubly check every hour. You are in charge."

Another has just returned from a mission trip to Russia, where she poured love into orphan children, for two weeks, in the name of Jesus.

Thanks Mom and Dad, for the flame of passion and the freedom to grow.

Each year, our extended family gathers to re-enact the Passover, thus shaping faith memories -- pointing to Jesus, our Passover lamb. The older grandchildren (two now teen-agers) have already taken strong stands for Jesus in their public school environments — in the tradition of their Great Grandparents. And, what is really spooky, our two Grandsons say they want to be preachers! And next month, our oldest grandchild will be a freshman at a Christian university.

Oh yes, Mom and Dad, thanks for blazing a trail to vibrant faith which has now spanned four generations. May this roadway never run out:

Oh may all who come behind us
find us faithful.
May the fires of our devotion
light their way.
May the footprints that we leave,
lead them to believe,
And the lives we live
inspire them to obey,
Oh may all who come behind us ...
find us faithful.
Oh, yes, Lord,
may my grandchildren
leave a glowing pathway of freedom,
integrity -- and faith.

Lynn Anderson is a preacher, noted author and founder of Hope Network Ministries, based in San Antonio.

Website: Hope Network Ministries

Want to Plant a Church?

hopenet@ont.com (Lynn Anderson) — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 00:00:00 -0600

Editor's Note: This article is longer than most and is more specific -- it is about church planting. However, our purpose is to provide resources for positive Christian living in today's world. Lynn Anderson's sharing of this information provides a great beginning place for those interested in planting churches, one of the most important areas of church expansion in today's world.

A Question I Hear Quite Often

"My wife and I have recently felt called to look into church planting, but we don't know where to get started. How are these teams formed? How do you pick a city? How do you raise support? Any discussion on this would be a great help to me. Thanks."

If you are asking this question, hey, you have joined an exploding crowd! Nearly every day someone contacts me regarding church planting. Dozens of church planting organizations are at work today, domestically and abroad.

Here are four ways to get started planting churches

As of January 1, 2005, I will be working 1/4 of my time with STADIA networking planter churches, planter partner churches, planters and planter partners. So I am most familiar with STADIA. However, along with information on STADIA let me include contact information on the three other church planting organizations with which I am most familiar, KAIROS, MISSION ALIVE, and IMAGINE A CHURCH. Here is some introductory information on each:

STADIA
www.stadia.cc
Phil Claycomb
pclaycomb@stadia.cc

Beginnings:
Beginning in 2002, Stadia began to reach North America with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The goal is to see more than 5,500 new churches started on the North American continent by 2025.

The Present:
Stadia came into being as the Northern California Evangelistic Association became a part of the Church Development Fund family. NCEA had planted over 50 churches from 1984 through 2002. The Northern California region is acting as a model for this church multiplication movement. They continue to lead in developing new and challenging models for church planting.

Foundations:
No movement can be sustained without a solid foundation. Here are some of the basics Stadia holds as foundational truths.

Biblical Purpose:
"It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation." (Romans 15:20)

Our Core Values:
We believe these values are key to a church planting movement

Biblical integrity -- We submit to the Bible as God’s standard.

Leadership -- We empower leaders to lead.

Development -- We invest in people to help them be their best. We value relationships as important to God and to us.

Innovation -- We are always looking for a better way. We do what needs to be done in the best way we know.

Ownership -- We will drive the church planting vision to the local level.

Teamness -- We believe a team will always outperform an individual.

Multiplication -- We will plant churches that multiply. We only use methods that are reproducible.

Risk -- We embrace risk-taking faith.

Our Mission:
Stadia exists to find, train, deploy, and support church multiplication leaders. These leaders will build regional networks of planters, multiplying churches, and support personnel who will build a church multiplication movement that is sustainable and reproducible.

Our Vision:
Stadia will develop a North American church multiplication movement which will result in 5,500 new, vibrant churches by 2025.

Our Strategy:
We believe this will be done most effectively through a church multiplication movement that stresses each church giving birth to multiple daughter and granddaughter churches through local and regional leadership teams.

Our Vision Thrusts:
We have determined that five new areas of emphasis are needed:

Develop farm systems for leaders (church planters, coaches, mentors, and regional "apostolic" leaders).

Develop models for cities and ethnic communities.

Develop funding sources that will enable a church planting movement.

To encourage multiple church plants in every state in the United States every year.

To develop internet resources that will change the way we do church planting in the US and around the world.

KAIROS
www.kairoschurchplanting.org

Executive Summary:
Kairos is the Greek word meaning "the opportune or seasonable time, the decisive epoch waited for, the right time." (Thayers Greek-English Lexicon)

For he says, "In the Kairos of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the Kairos of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

The Kairos Mission:
The Kairos mission is to recruit, equip and support church multiplication leaders to strategically plant new church planting churches of Christ in order to produce regional church planting movements.

Kairos Directives:
For multiplication: New Churches in New Places for New People.
For church planters: No One Plants Alone.

The Kairos Vision:
By the year 2016 Kairos will have:

built a recruiting, equipping, and supporting system that produces and places in the field over 12 church multiplication teams each year equipped to plant multiplying churches of Christ in the Northwest.

planted 60 churches of Christ in the Northwest with over 18,000 attendees.

developed a church multiplication ministry model that has generated similar church multiplication movements in other areas of the US and the world.

Geographic Service Area:
The initial focus area is the Northwest United States where 5 church plants are currently preparing for launches. A regional coordinator is committed to begin developing a second focus for the Southwest, particularly southern California.

Kairos History:
The initial idea was to focus on church planting in the Northwest United States. The name CPNW (Church Planting Northwest) was used to identify this focus. The church planting ministry idea has generated such interest from other regions of the United States that the regionally generic name Kairos has been selected for the parent ministry, under which geographically focused works can be supported.

Finances:
Funds are needed both to finance the Kairos ministry and to provide basic salary and benefits for church planting couples. A financial base for the ministry will be built from new church plants, which are asked to give 10% of their monthly contributions to support the ministry, and from churches interested in supporting church planting.

The Need:
Research reported by the Glenmary Research Institute in 2002 on the status of churches in America showed that the growth of the Churches of Christ in the United States for the twenty years from 1980 to 2000 is close to 0% (a full report is available at www.churchplantingNW.org). Membership of the Churches of Christ peaked in 1990 with 1.29 million members in approximately 13,000 churches. The growth in membership of these churches shifted from a growth trend of just over 3% in the 1980s to a decline trend of slightly more than –1% in the 1990s. During this same period denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention and the Assemblies of God, which were involved in strategic church planting, experienced significant positive growth rates in both decades.

Membership of Churches of Christ in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska from 1980-2000 was consistent with the rest of the country. There were twenty fewer members in these Northwest states in 2000 than there were in 1980. This state of non-growth is difficult to accept when Oregon and Washington are the #1 and #2 least churched states in the United States. Only 31% and 32% of the populations of these States respectively report any church attendance. Meanwhile, the population growth of these states in the 1990s was over 21%, well above the national growth rate of 13%. These people, while unchurched, are not unreceptive. Seventy percent of people in a recent survey gave Christianity as their preference for a religious choice. The Stadia: New Church Strategies ministry has been very successful planting new churches in northern California. People in the Northwest are willing to consider Christianity when it is presented to them in relevant, practical ways.

Two questions are raised by these growth numbers for the Churches of Christ from 1980-2000. The first question is, "Can the Churches of Christ expect to see any significant advance in the next twenty years if we do not make any significant change in the way we approach our evangelistic efforts?" The second question is, "Can we afford forty years of zero growth and maintain any sense of vitality and relevance to the communities in which we exist?"

Our Answer and Strategic Response:
Our answer at Kairos to both of the above questions is NO. We believe that the Churches of Christ in the Northwest, and indeed the US, must do something different if we expect to exist as lively, relevant churches in this the 21st century.

Peter Wagner, former professor of Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary has stated that the most effective means of evangelism across the history of Christianity is planting new churches. This statement has been proved by denominations such as the Assemblies and Southern Baptists which have focused on the strategic planting of new churches. Stadia has successfully planted almost ninety new Christian churches in northern California since 1986. Stadia accomplished these results using a church planting support system for planter training and care. Kairos is working with the Stadia ministry to develop a similar church planting system capable of creating a church multiplication movement among Churches of Christ based on recruiting, equipping and supporting church planting teams to strategically plant church planting Churches of Christ in the Northwest.

Why do we consider the Northwest United States as a prime region in which to locate this church planting ministry? First, as mentioned above, these states are the most unchurched in the nation, yet they are also receptive. Second, the main stream Churches of Christ in the Northwest in general, and in Portland specifically, demonstrate a high degree of acceptance of church differences. The PUMP inner city church (Portland Urban Mission Project) and the Living Streams church are both new churches with non-traditional approaches to their ministries, yet they have been well received in the Church of Christ community. The Kairos ministry should find acceptance here. Finally, to be outside the main concentration of Churches of Christ in the south will provide room to explore ways to plant new churches in new places for new people without undue critique.

Kairos will accomplish its purpose by doing the following:

Kairos will work with potential church planters to prepare them for and support them in their church planting work.

Kairos will work with existing congregations to train and support them in the work of sponsoring new churches through daughter church planting.

Kairos will develop a model of church planting and planter care that will be reproducible in other urban areas of the nation and the world.

Our Strategic Plan to Meet the Need:
Kairos intends to promote evangelistic growth among churches of Christ by recruiting, equipping and supporting church planters who will strategically plant new churches which will in turn plant more new churches. Our functional model will adapt the model of Stadia ministries (www.stadia.cc) which has successfully planted almost 90 churches in the past 15 years. The heart of this model is a team of coaches, mentors and peer relationships who support the church planters as they start their churches.

Kairos will act as a support ministry for church planting. The first and primary support will be to the planting couples and their planting teams. The ministry will recruit and assess potential church planters through an assessment process. People who are accepted into the program will be provided a program of reading and training opportunities which will prepare them for the evangelistic process of church planting. The church planter will be assigned a coach who will work with the planter as he prepares a two-year ministry plan for the church plant. A spiritual mentor will also work with the planter. Where the coach helps the planter improve his performance, the mentor helps the planter develop as a person. The mentor is a spiritual safety net who provides personal care to the planter. Kairos also helps the planters select their target areas and provides basic demographic data to the planter.

The second area of support Kairos will provide is to churches who desire to plant a daughter church. This support includes help to the congregation through seminars, identifying a compatible church planting couple, and supporting both the planting church and the planter couple through the planting process.

Funding for the ministry will come from two primary sources. First, churches which are planted within the ministry system will return 10% of their monthly contribution income to Kairos. Second, churches which are daughter church planting through Kairos will provide the ministry 10% of what they support their church planter for that service. In addition, Kairos will seek funds from individuals and organizations. Church planting couples will be supported according to a declining balance sheet for 3 years, at which time their churches are expected to be self-supporting.

Organizational History:
The initial idea for Kairos began when Stan Granberg met Dean Pense of Stadia ministries (then the Northern California Evangelistic Association) in October 2001. In February 2002 Stadia invited Stan and Gena Granberg to participate in a 3 day church planter assessment lab at the Stadia ministry center in Vacaville, CA. This trip provided the Granberg’s an inside look at the Stadia planter support system. Dr. Granberg then planned the first Northwest Church Planting Workshop in March 2003, hosted at Cascade College, to promote church planting to Churches of Christ in the Northwest. To prepare for this workshop the Church Planting Northwest website was created (www.churchplantingNW.org) and an informational e-bulletin was produced which is now called Inside Church Planting (available on the website). These events demonstrated the viability of a church planting ministry and an interest in church planting among Northwest churches.

The second phase in the birth of Kairos began in August 2003 when the Granbergs were invited to attend the first Stadia directors’ lab for those who would be directing church planting associations across the United States. From this experience the following three key ideas formed:

A strategic ministry to support church planting among Churches of Christ was needed and should be established.

The vision for the ministry needed to be shared with individuals who had attended the first Northwest Church Planting Workshop and were interested in the church planting vision. If these individuals bought into the vision, the vision would pass an initial test and the nucleus of a ministry team would be formed. Both were accomplished.

The ministry plans to begin with 3 church plants in or around the Portland, OR area within 2 years to establish an approach for church planting.

The current third phase in establishing the Kairos ministry began in November 2003 when Stan Granberg held a daughter church planting seminar for the Dalton Gardens Church of Christ in Couer D’Alene, ID. A Northwest focused ministry, called Church Planting Northwest (CPNW) was introduced and well received by the Dalton Gardens church. At the Pepperdine Lectureships in May 2004 CPNW hosted a breakfast at which the CPNW idea was presented to a broader group of people. The feedback from Pepperdine was that there was a need for a broad-based ministry that was not geographically confined. In response to this feedback the name Kairos was selected for this ministry.

Other organizations and how we relate to them:
The Stadia organization, as mentioned above, has been a model and mentor for Kairos and we expect that relationship to continue. In April 2004 Kairos and Stadia entered into a partnership agreement through which Kairos church planters will have access to Stadia administrative support and the 3rd party benefits vendor (CPI), through which health insurances, a cafeteria plan, 401k and tax services are provided. In addition, we are exploring the possibility of developing a church planting apprenticeship program with Harding University Graduate School of Religion. This program has the potential of training 4-6 church planting couples a year.

Our plan for future funding:
The long-term financial stability for the Kairos ministry will come from the monthly 10% contributions of the planted churches and the contributions made by partnering mother churches. Monies for expanding the number of church planters that Kairos can support will be sought from individual contributions and foundations.

Developing staff and churches:
Kairos is committed to developing church planters and church planting churches; this means we must model what Harvard professor Chris Argyris termed "a learning organization". One of our organizational values is to promote personal and organizational growth by providing learning opportunities via printed materials, seminars, expert advisors, etc. Kairos will work to bring growth opportunities to those in our influence network on a regular basis.

Primary Contact
Dr. Stanley Granberg, Executive Director (503) 257-1220
CPNW@cascade.edu

11124 NE Halsey, PMB 497

Portland, OR 97220

MISSION ALIVE
Internship for Evangelism and Church Planting
www.missionalive.org
Dr. Gailyn Van Rheenen
gailyn@missionalive.org

Insignia: A flame

Theme Verse: "His word is in my heart like a fire" (Jeremiah 20:9)

Purpose of Mission Alive:
Equipping evangelists and church planters through experiential training

Organization of Mission Alive

A local church will oversee Mission Alive (See alternative option under Goals for 2004)

A Board of Advisers will work with the Director of Mission Alive and the overseeing church in decision-making.

A Director will coordinate the functions of Mission Alive and actively work as an evangelist and church planter in modeling incarnational ministry.

Mission Associates will participate collaboratively with the Director in developing Mission Alive ministries. Mission Associates are mature leaders having the motivation and attributes to become leaders in new church plantings.
Apprentices train to become evangelists and church planters within Mission Alive for one year or more. Many apprentices will grow to become church planters.

Interns train with Mission Alive for a period of 3-4 months. Many interns will become apprentices at a later period of time.

Long-Term Goals

Equip 300 interns for evangelism and church planting by 2015

Equip 100 apprentices for evangelism and church planting by 2015

Plant 25 suburban and city-wide churches by 2015

Plant 150 apartment and house churches by 2015

Goals for 2004
Develop the Overall Organization of Mission Alive -- Two Options:

Finding a supporting church to oversee Mission Alive with the guidance of a Board of Advisers (as suggested above).

Organize as a non-profit organization composed of mature Christian leaders like our Christian schools and World Christian Broadcasting.

Select Sites for Future Church Planting

Develop criteria for site selection for urban church plantings in North America.

Make a systematic analysis of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area through demographic and cultural analysis

Select five sites (based on goals B. #1 and #2) for church planting within the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area

Recruit Interns and Apprentices

Develop relationships with Christian schools for the purpose of recruiting future interns and apprentices

Recruit 15 interns and 5 apprentices to enter training in 2005. Develop a weekly prayer and equipping time for future church planters in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area

Develop modules of training for interns and apprentices

Network with Churches of Christ about future church plantings

Meet and counsel with evangelism and mission ministries of Churches of Christ throughout the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area.

Advertise Mission Alive among Churches of Christ

Meet and counsel with ten evangelism and mission ministries of Churches of Christ to help them facilitate church planting.

Goals for 2005

Implement the plans developed during 2004

Equip 15 interns and 5 apprentices.

Develop weekend orientations for future interns and apprentices during both the Fall and Spring semesters

Develop structure for the on-going mentoring of church planters by training coaches, mentors, and financial managers of church planting teams

Recruit 20 interns and 7 apprentices for 2006

Simultaneously plant two churches with interns and apprentices in different contexts in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area

Continue to meet and counsel with evangelism and mission ministries of Churches of Christ throughout the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area

Continue to advertise Mission Alive among Churches of Christ

Meet and counsel with ten evangelism and mission ministries of Churches of Christ to help them facilitate church planting

IMAGINE A CHURCH
Roger Peck
RLPeck@aol.com

From Roger: Over the last few months a lot has happened with me personally and also Imagine A Church Network. Since the time we organized as a 501 3c organization and really started getting serious about making a difference, God has opened many doors for IACN. Our board of directors are all working hard at helping move this ministry forward and together we are seeing fruit. IACN focuses on three main things and has developed process for each of these:

Redeveloping Church Networks (RCN), where we work with plateaued or declining churches to lead them through a 15 month process of redeveloping.

Just In Time Church Planter Training, where we work with church planters, training them through a 1 year process while they are planting their churches. We come along side of them during this year with coaching and training.

Coaches Training, this is training coaches worldwide to come along side of church leaders to help them with strategy and process. We do this coaches training with Denominations, churches, and organizations to help them build a coaching system.

The following are some exciting things that are happening:

Free Methodist
A door has been opened to us through one of our board of directors with the Free Methodist denomination. I took a trip to Indy to meet with a number of pastors and leaders from that region and a significant relationship was built. I then met with one of their bishops and began a working relationship with the denomination. We are going to be doing multiple RCN’s with their churches starting this fall. I have been attending their annual conferences around the Midwest sharing with them and building a relationship for IACN. I have been invited to be the speaker/trainer for their National Leadership Conference in Oklahoma City in January so that I can have contact with their leaders nationally. We are beginning to work with their Hispanic churches and church plants as well.

Other Denominations
There are a few other denominations that we are beginning to work with using the RCN process and starting Church Planting Centers. We are working with 2 large churches helping them develop a reproducing process so that they can plant their first daughter churches. I am starting 2 other RCN of multiple denominations in the fall that will impact communities. We have been asked by some small colleges to use our church planting material and training as curriculum for their church planting majors.

Globally
Something has happened that we did not expect to happen so fast. We met with some leaders in Mexico last week that are representatives of Christian Swartz (NCD). They are the NCD representatives of Mexico. They heard about our RCN process and really feel that this process will give them what is needed to impact churches in Latin America. Therefore we are partnering with them so that IACN will have a presence in Mexico as IACN of Mexico. At the present time we are having all of our material -- RCN, Church Planting, and Coaching -- translated into Spanish. This will also enable us to do work here in the US with Hispanic works in all areas. We have a guy who is working with us that will do the presenting in that area as he has extensive cultural background in that area.

A representative from International Leadership Academies contacted me to see if we would consider working with them to help establish a church planting initiative and training in India. We are going to be talking with them.

Presenter Training
As you can see IACN is growing and taking steps to help build the Kingdom Worldwide. Therefore we have recognized the need to multiply ourselves in terms of presenters, coaches and trainers. We have quite a few individuals who have worked with us over the past year or so and we are now asking them to step up their involvement a little so that we have qualified trainers nationally
and regionally. We are having a presenter training for the U.S. sometime in August to train these people in all of our material.

Lynn Anderson is a preacher, noted author and founder of Hope Network Ministries, based in San Antonio.

Website: Hope Network Ministries

Creating a Vision for Your Congregation

hopenet@ont.com (Lynn Anderson) — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 00:00:00 -0600

"We need help giving vision and direction to our congregation. What would you suggest?"
I am frequently asked a question like this. So I huddled with respected and trusted colleagues and came up with these suggestions:

Begin with leadership prayer sessions together. Then plan a leadership team retreat to begin brainstorming and planning. (This can be guided by available published resources and/or with an outside facilitator-coach.)
I would highly recommend Thomas G. Bandy's Moving Off the Map (Abingdon, 1998). It may be the best and is easy to use. It gives a list of probing questions to ask. It also lays out methods for bringing the congregation together to get it done, with some imaginative "right-brained" exercises and detailed "left-brained" step-by-step procedures. It is written in typical Easum-Bandy no nonsense style.
Another widely used resource is Focused Ministry Resource Kit, by Terry Walling. Available through ChurchSmart, (800) 253-4276, www.churchsmart.com. $75.00. A notebook and cassette tapes. Designed for guiding an existing congregation through the process of arriving at a shared vision. It is not a quick fix. It suggests a process, provides help for group dynamics, etc. It helps the group ask three questions:
- a) Where have we been? (The assumption is that the best indicators of what God wants for our future are already hinted at in what God has been doing among us in our past.)
- Where are we going? (Provides a mechanism for getting a team to think through a vision ... caveat: I'm skeptical that a group can visioneer as well as an individual.)
- Who can help us get there? (Helps the group identify growth barriers, issues, and further -- identify coaches-mentors to assist.)
Finally: Make yourselves accountable. It helps to have an outside coach (one known/trusted by the leadership), skilled in facilitating group discussion -- to keep you moving on to 'next steps' toward pre-determined deadlines. Besides the ones listed above, there are many other tape and book helps, but the key is in the doing. Just getting started is the hardest part. DO IT, even if you need help getting it done.

Lynn Anderson is a preacher, noted author and founder of Hope Network Ministries, based in San Antonio.

Website: Hope Network Ministries

Chaotic Light

hopenet@ont.com (Lynn Anderson) — Sun, 03 Oct 2004 00:00:00 -0500

Oh, no! Not this again. It’s bad enough not being able to see. Why do some people have to humiliate blind people just for sport? Like last week, some kids dumped the coins from my cup into the sand. Then when I bent down to scratch around and find them, the kids kicked dirt in my face and ran off laughing.

And the loud talkers. They seem to think that blind people are also deaf. They shout their greetings in my ear. Others say the most painful things, right out loud. Like the woman yesterday who stood right there and complained to her husband that the stuff running from my eye sockets turned her stomach.

So naturally I was suspicious when this gang of men walked up. I heard them ask the old questions again, right in front of me, as if I had no more feelings than a rock or a tree. “Is it his sin or that of his parents that took his sight?”

The unusual note in His voice encouraged me. I felt He was giving me dignity. And He said something about God. But then He did the most confusing thing. I can hear really small noises, you know. So I heard the creak of His sandals and the rustle of His cloak as He knelt down. I could hear His fingers scratching around in the dirt. The rustle again as He stood. Then I hear him hock saliva from His throat, and spit it in His palm. Next I was sure I could hear a squishy sound, like He was making spit-mud in His hand.

Then came the shock. Splat. He smacked His handful of spit-mud right in one of my eyes. This had to be the dirtiest trick anyone pulled on me yet. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to run. But I held my ground, hoping they would leave. Then He repeated the process -- splat -- in my other eye!

Double insult. Finally He ordered, “Go wash your face in the pool!”

Here was my chance at an exit! So I picked up my stick and tapped off in the direction of Siloam. When I felt my stick stir a splash, I fell on my knees and scooped handfuls of water onto my face and into my eyes until I heard my tormenters leave.

But then, when I stood up, for the first time in my life I saw light. Then trees. Water. Sky. Birds. Flowers.

I dropped my stick and ran for home ... and chaos!

When Jesus brings us to the light, He sometimes chooses to do it in strange ways, like this man in John 9 with the mud-cure from heaven. Jesus also sometimes calls us not to simplicity, but to chaos -- with his presence working behind the scenes.

For more on this man, his cure, his chaos, and his Christ, read John 9:1-41.

(Adapted from The Jesus Touch by Lynn Anderson.

Lynn Anderson is a preacher, noted author and founder of Hope Network Ministries, based in San Antonio.

Website: Hope Network Ministries

In An Anonymous Hotel Room

hopenet@ont.com (Lynn Anderson) — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0500

For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

I often find myself on the road ... far from home ... where no one knows me. Maybe I get to my hotel exhausted, maybe even hurt or depressed. And I walk into a strange room -- all alone. Sometimes, evil seems to lurk everywhere around me. And without accountability, in a weary and depressed and lonely state, I feel vulnerable. Vulnerable to who knows what -- to the bright lights and sound from streets and bars? To the lure of the XX rated movie channels, right there in the room?

Oh, so you understand. You too have stood at such dark anonymous doorways.

"Often", you say? And you know what I mean?

Let me pass you a bright secret for such dark places. Years back, a friend gave me a strong weapon for times like those. He taught me to step through the door, set down my luggage, fire up my lap-top to an open file in "My Documents" under "Prayer of cleansing." And pray the prayer aloud. It goes like this:

Lord, I claim this place for your purposes. I stand on the truth of your Word: "The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous" (Psalm 125:3). I believe you have given me this place (home, business, motel room, or condo). I dedicate it to you and ask you to fill it with your holy presence. I separate myself from any iniquity that has occurred here in past times. I apply the power of Jesus' blood to remove any desecration of God's name in this place. I ask you, in Jesus' authority, to set watching angels around this property, protecting your servant from the work of the evil one.

(If this is a hotel or motel room, I will add the following.) Father, I ask for your holy presence and holy angels to linger here, to touch the lives of those who inhabit the room after me. Bring conviction to their hearts, and draw them to seek after you.

I stand on the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose name is above every name, to weaken the power of evil in this place. Through the blood of Christ, I remove all desecration of the name of God that was prompted whether by human or demonic beings. I command all enemies of Jesus Christ that have access to this place, or who may be here now ... to leave. Go now where you are ordered to go, by the voice of the Holy Spirit. I claim this property for the Kingdom of Light. I order all darkness to flee, in the name of Jesus the King.

But I must do this first thing. Before anything else. ANYTHING else! Sometimes I sit on the edge of the bed and pray this prayer over and over, till a sense of security descends. When I pray the prayer aloud, firmly, and resolutely -- from the heart -- I begin to feel much safer. And my room seems cleaner and healthier. The dark corners, once seemingly inhabited by sinister forces, seem to fill with loving-kindness.

God left us at least three powerful promises:

"I am with you always to the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20)

"He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but ... will also provide a way out, so that you can stand up under it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

"If you ask for bread, He will not give you a stone. If you ask for a fish He will not give you a snake." (Matthew 7:9-10)

My friend gave me a great gift. That's why I am eager to pass it along. So together we can be reminded of the infinitely more precious gift of God's presence.

Lynn Anderson is a preacher, noted author and founder of Hope Network Ministries, based in San Antonio.

Website: Hope Network Ministries

The Old Home Place

hopenet@ont.com (Lynn Anderson) — Tue, 09 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0600

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
"This is my own, my native land!"

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd,
From wandering on a foreign strand!
Sir Walter Scott

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. (Psalm 137:6)

My great grandfather Per Erik Anderson came from Sweden in the 1870s. My great, great grandfather, a Swedish "land-owner," disinherited Per Erik because Per would not give up his romance with a "peasant girl," the milkmaid, Carolina. So Per Erik found himself land-less and homeless in Sweden. And when he heard rumors of free land in America, he headed alone across a wide ocean -- looking for a new homeland -- eventually bringing his Carolina and their two young children to Wisconsin. One of these children was my Grandpa Eric, just five years old when he left Sweden.

HOMESTEADERS

By the time he was grown, my Grandpa Erik, also infected with "wander lust," began dreaming of his own land. In 1913 after my grandmother, Anna, had died of the flu soon after the birth of her fifth child, Grandpa Eric took his young family and migrated northwest to Saskatchewan, Canada, to look for land of his own. My father was just a lad of eight that year - when my Grandfather began his homestead on the virgin Canadian prairies. Moving. Searching. Longing.

In time, both Grandpa Eric and Dad called it "the home place." Later I would too. When my Mom and Dad married, they began their life together on the land homesteaded by my paternal grandfather, Eric.

CHILDHOOD HOME

During my childhood years, I felt that land would be my home forever. I roamed that homestead; explored every square yard of it. Every "coulee" and every hill. Knew which Choke Cherry bushes yielded the sweetest fruit. The draw where the most colorful crocuses exploded from the soil each spring. I could take you to the exact wrinkle in the prairie hillside which hid the coyote pup-birthing den. And the best spots to snare jack rabbits. And the brush patch where hawks nested year after year. Often, I would stand on "the big hill" a mile southwest of our house looking over "our land." Dark winter evenings, I followed Dad to the barn, carrying the lantern as the hard cold snow crunched under our feet. Dad would point to the glistening crystals at the edges of that pool of lantern glow and say, "Look -- we are rich. God has covered our land with diamonds."

LEAVING

Although my Father tended his land for more than thirty years, in retrospect I wonder if he ever felt completely at home there. Dad loved that land all right, but it was not a permanent dwelling place to him. He held it lightly and for only a short few decades, then left that land, and moved on to different things.

I also left that land -- way too young. When I was fourteen years of age, since there was no high school near our homestead place, the folks sent me away to a boarding school. I have never really lived "at home" since then.

The day I left, Dad drove me and my scuffed old cardboard suitcase twelve dirt road miles to the little village of McCord to catch the east bound morning train. He set the case on the platform then stood quietly and looked at me a long time. He shook my hand. Then cleared his throat. Then he squeezed my shoulders with a hug. Then shook my hand again. He kept repeating this and blinking back tears, his twitching lips unable to form words. Finally, Dad spoke huskily and abruptly, "Be strong son. And... and remember who you are." Then turned on his heel and strode resolutely to the car. As the train pulled out of the station, Dad stood by the old Pontiac watching me leave his life.

While that old coach rattled down the tracks, I tried to weep out the big lump in my throat. Somehow I knew that I would never live at home again. Oh yes, I returned briefly during a few summers and blew through for short visits. But, I've never really "gone back home."

LONGING

By the time Mom and Dad died, the "old home-place" had long since passed into the "possession" of others, some of whom are strangers to me.

Sometimes, in my nostalgic "home longings," I wish I could bring back a few more childhood years with Mom and Dad. And I often wish I had "our" land back in my "possession." Across the years, at times when bittersweet memories flicker in my soul, I go back to re-walk those hills and try to recapture some "at home" feelings. But, I know that place is no longer my home. Hasn't been in fifty years. In some ways, I think it never really was.

Joe Diffie sang my feelings for me,

The only thing I see ahead is just the heat a risin' on the road,
The rainbows I've been chasin' keep on fading, before I find my pot of gold.
And more and more I'm thinking, that the only treasures that I'll ever know,
Are long ago and far behind wrapped up in my memories of home.

Home was a swimming hole, and a fishing pole,
And the feel of a muddy road between my toes.
Home was a back porch swing
Where I would sit and mama'd sing
Amazing Grace, while she hung out the clothes
Home is an easy chair,
With my daddy there
And the smell of Sunday supper on the stove.
My footsteps carry me away,
But in my mind I'm always going home.^[1]

Guess it runs in the family. Now my youngest son tells me, "I feel homeless."

But then 'Longing for place' is as at least as old as the Psalms. Listen to the soul of this homesick Hebrew poet, writing from exile:

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. .... How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? ... May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.^[2]

ROAD TO DISAPPOINTMENT

There are special places on this earth where some of us have felt peace; places where important memories were born -- or that once felt like home way back there at some long ago time. Most of us eventually leave them. We take different roads away from the home place. From time to time we long to go back. But, when and if we ever do get back to that place, we only discover to our sad disappointment that Thomas Wolfe was right, "You can't go home again."

Nevertheless, we keep trying. Lord knows I have more than once returned to the homestead of my childhood, trying to "get back home" by walking once again on the land my Grandpa Eric homesteaded. Land where I was born and lived until my early teens, then left never to live there since. But, as the old Stamps-Baxter spiritual says it, "I can't feel at home in this world any more," not even back on the "old home place."

A SHATTERED DREAM

Memories of my first attempt to take my children "back home" still bring a lump to my throat. I was all a-jitter with anticipation that day, heading south from McCord, Saskatchewan, down the twelve-mile road toward my childhood home, 17 rangeland miles from Montana. I babbled old family legends the whole way, hoping my children would catch the spirit of the old home place. I wanted them to recapture with me the "home" feelings from long ago. But far before we reached the old home place, things looked wrong. Old dirt roads had disappeared beneath gravel and blacktop. Most familiar landmarks had vanished. Where had these new farmhouses come from? When I was a child, we hailed everyone along this road by name. But now strange faces stared curiously back through pick-up windshields.

Even the hills seemed smaller.

In spite of these changes, when I drove through the gate onto our land, I still felt intoxicated on a mixture of nostalgia and excitement. Couldn't wait to show my kids the panoramic view from atop "the big hill," where the ancient Indian smoke-signal hearth still keeps watch from that high place. To walk them through the circles of stones where Indian teepees once stood. To climb with them up to the "big spring" that watered our herd. And to the Indian graves that look down from a low hill across the old wheat field and hay slew on the west side.

I wanted my children to connect with simple objects from my childhood: the ruins of the 1929 Pontiac, in which I learned to drive, eyes peaking over the dash, feet stretching for the pedals. The old sleigh still resting on a knoll: my sisters and I ran along behind it to warm our toes. Rusty remains of Dad's old grain binder. Object after object, memory after nostalgic memory.

NOT A PLACE

We drove down through the gully, past the old well, and up toward the yard where my small boy bare feet used to run. But, I was not prepared for what hit me when we pulled up in front of the old house. Weeds and grass, waist-high, had taken over what had once been Mother's well-kept yard lined with shrubs and flowers.

The outbuildings had all crumbled into the past. But the old house still stood -- alone -- her features weathered by time and vacancy, yet with her personality and character still intact. However, she looked so very forlorn. Remnants of the brick chimney leaned off-angle, about to tumble through a gap where the winds of fifty winters had wiggled shingles loose. Pigeons fluttered out of these holes in the roof. Partly broken windows stared blankly, like the eyes of a lunatic, gone mad with loneliness.

For long moments I could only stand and stare back. Time seemed to fall away. I felt my bare feet running though the grass again. Heard my sisters laughing as young girls. Smelled Mom's cooking. Heard Dad's tenor song. An ache several levels deeper than physical pressed around my heart. I reeled under the storm of nostalgia.

Then suddenly, like awakening from a dream, yesterday fell away.

My children tugged at my coat. "Daddy, why are you crying?" How could I explain to them that here in the very center of my childhood place, I felt anything but at home. Never have words of Thomas Wolfe seemed more poignantly, personally true, "You can't go home again." Home would never be again. Only in memory. Nothing more. For even if the buildings had not decayed it would still have been impossible to get home by coming to this place. The "home-ness" of the "the old home place" is erased forever. My soul felt as empty as that old house.

Mom and Dad have long since gone to heaven. They had not been to the home place for at least a decade before they died. One of my sisters is buried a thousand miles away; the living ones scattered across the earth. Even neighbors have died or left. Only "the land" remains the same, yet even it seems different: once tilled for fields, it is now turned back to rangeland and fenced by hands of strangers.

That day I began to comprehend on profoundly unsettling levels, that "home" is not a place! The "old home place" is not home. In fact no place is. Not for me, and, I think, not for anyone!

All these faithful ones died without receiving what God had promised them, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed the promises of God. They agreed that they were no more than foreigners and nomads here on earth. And obviously people who talk like that are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had meant the country they came from, they would have found a way to go back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a heavenly city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

^[1] Diffie, Joe. "Home." Sixteen Biggest Hits. Sony.

^[2] Psalm 137:1,4
All Content Copyright by Lynn Anderson and Howard Publishing Co. This is a book excerpt from Longing for a Homeland for your sampling of great material. Please do not reproduce this article.

Lynn Anderson is a preacher, noted author and founder of Hope Network Ministries, based in San Antonio.

Website: Hope Network Ministries