So, YOU Want to Plant a Church..

In his article "Why YOU Should Plant a Church", Bob Hyatt writes:

"There seem to be two distinct schools of thought in the church planting community. The first is “This is hard. Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t look like you’ve got what it takes… I’m not so sure you should do this! Have you prayed about it?”

Gee… thanks.

The second school of thought starts off sounding much like the first, but then takes a dramatic turn: “This is hard. What do you need? How can I help you? Man, what an adventure! Let me pray for you.”

Do you hear the difference?

Indeed, church palnting is hard, but if you are called by God to do it; it will be very rewarding at the deepest level. A church planter will need ample encouragment, they will need a pastor and a coach from the very beginning. If you have been called and have been assessed, take your time, you are not in a race to become another Rick Warren, or become a Northpoint or Lifechurch clone. You are on God's time and he is faithful. Read Bob's full article @

http://www.opensourcetheology.net/node/555

Thank you for the Small Church Lord..

The Bridge Community Church's lifespan was about 8 years; in that 8 years we had certainly established ourselves as a community church. I have no issue with larger churches; I just know that the majority of churches in America are small churches. These churches are the core of Jesus' church and will be for sometime.

Truth is that as long as any body assembled under Christ is willing to fore go their own desires for the need of others all around them, they will be what Jesus had in mind.

What Are Your Plans?

I remember graduating with ideas of going out and changing the world; I had my plans and they were good plans.  The stark reality of having to live life, eat, have a place to live, electric, water, etc. etc. started to get in the way of those ideal plans.

I was finding myself, self-determining who I was and how I would live.  I had not yet come to learn that God had already made me for the purpose he had intended; I was in a mode of feeling not yet fulfilled and always still seeking.  Oh, I had been able to put a great face on it, pretending to be so happy and in control; I was not however in control or satisfied.

My daughters post on Facebook today:

 "Jumping into a project without first consulting God is like walking down a pitch-black staircase without a flashlight."

Reminded me that its not about our plans, our intellect and talents; its all about using all those things for God’s plan that he has already written for each of us.  What are your plans? Start with prayer and seek God’s will, then his plans will be fulfilled… because they were his plans for you!

Peter Mueller is a graduate of Liberty University, with 10 years of ministry experience in small groups, family and church planting. He and his family currently reside in the Cincinnati Ohio Area.

Really? - The Power Within! - Whose Power?

Recently I have encountered many writings regarding the inner self, or the power to effect change in your life is within you (note: meaning unto your own ability). Carl Jung was just one of many who wrote regarding this idea.  In Jung’s book “The Undiscovered Self” he writes in regard to the philosophy of life and how the primordial images that maintain the flow of instinctive energy cannot just be replaced, they are reoriented and readapted; they cannot just be replaced. His words not mine.

Say what? He is talking about the fabled power within doctrine of phycology and self help gurus. Why do I say fabled? Because the evidence about mans ability to rise above his own self outside the bar of a sovereign God does not exist in totality.  Jung puts forth this thought: “this is in keeping with the aims of Marxist education, which seeks, like God himself, to mold man, but in the image of the State.”  Yet, God never mentions his aim to mold man, he affirms that he has created him in His image.  God has already outlined the best way to live in this broken world, a world broken by sin.

⁴ This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens— ⁵ and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, ⁶ but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground— ⁷ the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:4-7

For Jung its primordial, for me it’s a creator, not that we came to be by chance.  God is not molding me; he has already molded me in his image.  Sin has blocked my view of the real self and my potential in Christ. 

Jung in his book has to give way to the rationale of faith, even though he writes that it is mythological.  He writes: “Nothing is more characteristic and symptomatic in this respect than the gulf that has opened out between faith and knowledge…. Theology rejects any tendency to take the statements of its earliest records as written myths and accordingly, to understand them symbolically.”

¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. ²⁰ For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”  Acts 4:19-20

Seen and heard, would Jung conclude that these men and thousands of others are mentally deluded, that they are not knowledgeable of and for their day? We tend to believe what we see and hear, including that which we have not really seen (aka ghost).  I firmly have come to believe, having lived for sometime now in this world that we (man) alone is not the answer.  Fallen (sinful) man cannot outside of God bring about peace on earth, and act solely and collectively for the good.  Neither can poser Christians! Want to realize your full potential in this limited life? Seek who God made you to be and what he purposed you for, in that you will find fulfillment and true living.. likely more than you can handle at first. 

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.  Eph. 4:17-19

God has never asked you to check your mind at the door of the worship assembly; some men may have, but never almighty God.  He made your mind and purposed it.  Find real power and real life by getting out of yourself not deeper within.

Peter Mueller is a graduate of Liberty University, with 10 years of ministry experience in small groups, family and church planting. He and his family currently reside in the Cincinnati Ohio Area.

Faith and Other Matters of Eternity

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the parable of the Persistent Widow..  At the end of this parable Jesus asks a startling question. "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

This ending captured my attention today, knowing I have read this numerous times! I thought about us Western Christians as compared to Christians around the world.  Many of our brothers and sisters are not concerned with the coffee ministry, bowling leagues, basketball, etc. They have much more immediate concerns; concerns like eating enough and not being throw in prison or killed for their profession of Jesus Christ as Lord. 

So, what was Jesus thinking? Was he thinking aloud regarding what he will encounter when he returns?  Perhaps Jesus was acknowledging that we live in great difficulty here on earth; and a greater time of hardship is coming before his return.  His main point is that God hears and will respond to our prayers; scripture tells us that many will fall away during the end and return of Jesus. 

“The really vital question is not whether God will respond to prayer, but whether there will be faithful people who have persisted in prayer and not lost hope when the Son of Man comes. The parable is essentially an encouragement to continue in prayer without losing heart right through the difficult times of waiting before the Son of Man comes.^[1]”

So, will you be found faithful if Jesus came today or tomorrow etc.? Strengthen your faith; find a church where you are learning and growing closer to Jesus.  Jesus has a church for everybody. Find out where he wants you and then support it with all the gifts the Holy Spirit has blessed you with.

Peter Mueller is a graduate of Liberty University, with 10 years of ministry experience in small groups, family and church planting. He and his family currently reside in the Cincinnati Ohio Area.

---

^[1] D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), Lk 18:1–8.

In God's Waiting Room

Up until recently, I had only been unemployed 2 weeks in the last 32 years; that record is now being challenged. Couple of nights ago, my mother-in-law (aka Mom) recalled being told once "you are in God's waiting room."  

In deed I am waiting and searching God's word waiting for whatever God has purposed us for next in Kingdom work.  I have never been good at waiting, or patience regarding things getting done that i wanted to have done.. Perhaps indeed our family is in "God's waiting room" and I have to confess I don't like it.  When I don't like something happening in my life I seek out God's wisdom in his word; or he sends it through my beautiful bride to speak to me.  Here are some words of truth regarding waiting on the Lord.

Psalm 40:1-3

1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

Isaiah 40:27-31

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.


Find a great church community this week and worship this God that is everlasting!!!


Peter Mueller is a graduate of Liberty University, with 10 years of ministry experience in small groups, family and church planting. He and his family currently reside in the Cincinnati Ohio Area.