Today was great. The highlight?

Dave Ramsey’s talk on practical leadership for your organization? Maybe.

Matt Chadler’s challenge to live and teach in such a way as to leave a lasting legacy? Could be.

Certainly the highlight must have been Tim Sanders plea to bring our Christian values of love, sacrifice, and service into the workplaces of America? Missed it by that much.

None of these come close. The absolute highlight of my day was when the Daraja Children’s Choir of Africa skipped on stage (literally skipped) and broke my heart singing God of Wonders. Then three of the children took to the mic and whipped out some incredible scripture references. To say I cried would be an understatement.

God put Africa on my heart a few years ago now. My heart breaks for the people of that continent. I have had a desire to go and do something there but that desire battles with perceived reality and usually ends up in the “good intentions” pile. Today was different.

Today I heard God say to me, “You are going to Africa.” This wasn’t communicated to me in a “someday” voice but in a “Get Ready!!!” voice. How will I get there? When am I going? I don’t know but if that really was God’s voice then I can’t wait to find out the answers to the When, Where, and How.

I think that the reason that I have spent so much time on this passage is because I marvel at the risks that Jesus took in his ministry. They pale in comparison to the risks that we take today.

In fact the only time I hear people discussing risk is when it comes to money. For shame!

Philippians 2 reminds us that Jesus risked leaving an exalted seat in heaven for the life of an itinerant preacher who was obedient to a criminal’s death even though he was innocent of any and every crime. Matthew tells us that Jesus risked leaving his ministry to fishermen and unskilled, ordinary men and women. the Gospels point out that Jesus risked giving glory to God and bringing life to the marginalized and broken even though his methods lay outside the box of tradition.

Part of me is just enamored and challenged that Jesus might have risked being labeled as an outcast by touching and healing the leper.

That is where I want my faith to be. Am I risking it all to remain faithful to the things that God is calling me toward? Do I care more about my safety, my status, my reputation, my tradition than I do about seeking after the glory of God?

It all comes down to risk.

Becoming a disciple, just like becoming a fully mature being, takes time, takes the involvement of committed people, and takes a process of growth and development that is intentional and well worked out. The problem that we are dealing with is not only the problem of individual Christians who don’t grow but the problem of local churches that don’t have a process for nurturing and growing new Christians into mature disciples.

I never got the chance to meet Dr. Robert Webber but he had a profound impact on my life and my ministry. His writing took my theological box where I stored my ministry paradigms, ideas, things I thought I knew, my church upbringing, and what I thought was my safe, little god and dumped it out on the floor for me to examine. When all was said and done I decided to do away with a box altogether and just make Christ my pursuit and my all consuming passion. When I first read the words quoted above I immediately knew that I had found my calling. I wasn’t just a minister. I am a disciple who makes disciples. As simple and profound and challenging as that. I promptly devoured everything by him I could get my hands on. I have even spent the year walking with him through the Christian calendar, something I would have never been able to experience without his prodding and help, by using his book Ancient-Future Time. I will be forever grateful.

Dr. Webber’s battle with cancer ended on Friday.

I also echo the prayer that was posted on the press release:

“Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world; in the name of God the Father Almighty who created you; in the name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you; in the name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you. May your rest be this day in peace, and your dwelling place in the Paradise of God. Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Bob. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.”

Thank you Dr. Webber for your work and your life. I am indebted to you for insight and your relentless pursuit of Christ Jesus, our Lord. He is the Victor. May you rest in His arms tonight.

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“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.”
-Luke 24:1-8