Campus Pastor at Lino Lakes

Since Bob announced the news that I’m the new campus pastor at Lino Lakes I’ve had some people ask me what exactly is the role of a campus pastor?  My role will be a little different than Steve at Spring Lake Park or Don at White Bear, because I still have my teaching responsibilities, but here’s the way I think about it:

First, for the staff and volunteers that serve primarily at the Lino campus my job is to lead and care for them on the weekend.  We have an incredible staff all of whom are very good at what they do.  As a staff we’re all together in the office during the week with our own group.  For example, the elementary team works together during the week preparing for the weekend, but when the weekend comes everyone splits up and goes to their own campus.  Part of my role is to bring the staff and ministries together as a team so we can reach the goals we have as a campus. 

Second, for the congregation I see my role as the connector.  What Lino’s been missing is the consistent face that people know they can connect with and ask questions of.  My plan is to be in the lobby as much as possible to be that person.  Lino’s a big campus and it’s easy to stay unknown.  And to a certain extent we want to allow people the space to remain unknown if they want, but when someone is ready to be known, we want to be there for them.  I, along with all the staff and volunteers at Lino, want to help people take the next step in their relationship with Jesus.

There you go.  If you have any other questions about the whole campus pastor thing, let me know.

Can you repeat that?

We’ve had some questions this week looking for additional clarity around something Bob talked about in his message, on the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  First, what is blasphemy? In the Old Testament it is the improper use of God’s name (Lev 24:14-16).  It’s using His name along with an attitude of disrespect.  The New Testament expands the definition to include actions against Christ and his church (1 Tim 1:13, 1 Pet 4:4).  These were folks who denied Jesus was the Messiah and rejected His unity with the Father (Mark 15:29; Luke 22:65; 23:39).  Blasphemy is a sin that can be forgiven, but there is one form of blasphemy that the Bible tells us is not forgivable and it involves the Holy Spirit.  Bob said, “If you’re concerned that maybe you’ve done it, that’s a sign that you haven’t.”   The sin itself is mentioned in Matt 12:32; Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10, and according to the Holman Bible Dictionary:

“It is a state of hardness in which one consciously and willfully resists God’s saving power and grace.  It is a desperate condition that is beyond the situation of forgivneess because one is not able to recognize and repent of sin.  Thus one wanting to repent of blasphemy against the Spirit cannot have comitted the sin.” 

In other words, it’s only the non believer who can commit this sin and he or she wouldn’t be interested in seeking forgiveness for it in the first place.  They’ve rejected God and the what Jesus did on the cross, and that grieves the Holy Spirit.  Bottom line, followers of Christ cannot commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.   Hope this helps and puts some fears to rest.

Follow up on “Are we living in the end times?”

We’ve officially started the “Ask Anything” series.  After reading all 3000 + questions that Eagle Brookers submitted we narrowed it down to the 6 that were asked the most.  The first question answered this past weekend was “Are we living in the end times?”  If you weren’t there you can watch the message online, but I’ve received a couple of follow up e-mails from people and they asked a good question, so I thought I’d post it here because chances are some of you who were there this past weekend have the same question.   

 

One person asked: “I am confused as to what happens the second you die. I’ve always been instructed that if saved, you are w/ Christ when you die here on Earth. Time and time again I’ve been comforted at funerals w/ the notion that loved ones are now at peace, w/ God – then yesterday Jason explained how when Christ returns ALL people who ever lived will then be judged – either taken w/ Christ or eternally separated. So, which one is it?  Where are our souls in the meantime?

 

The short answer is both.  When a believer dies his or her soul is taken to heaven.   In Luke 23:39-43, Jesus tell the thief hanging on the cross next to him that “today you will join me in paradise.”  In Acts 7:59 when Stephen is stoned to death he looked up to heaven and prayed “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  So when we die our soul is welcomed into heaven by Jesus.  At the final judgment all people who have died in the past will be resurrected bodily (e.g. Dan 12:2, Ps 49:15, John 5:28-29, Acts 24:14-15, and 1 Cor 15:35-53) and then Jesus will judge everyone where he will “separate the sheep from the goats” as he says in Matt 24.  Hope this helps. 

I’m back

I’m back after a month off from posting any thoughts. My time away was spent focusing on finishing my masters of theological studies degree. I’ve never been so happy to be done something. It wasn’t that it was difficult necessarily, I mean I enjoyed the learning, but I sure didn’t enjoy all the reading and paper writing. The homework was relentless. Seriously, if you’re thinking of going back to school, here’s what you can expect:

- Around 1.5 – 2 hours of homework a night.
- No vacations (or at least no vactions without bringing homework along).
- Limited extended family interactions, ie birthday parties, holiday gatherings, etc (but depending on who is in your family, you might be happy about that).
- If you have kids under the age of 16 involved in any sort of activities, you will not be able to see their games or performances very often, and will not be able to help with driving them to practices or whatever.

I guess what I’m saying is count the cost.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t go back to school, I’m not saying you won’t learn a lot, and I’m not saying you won’t enjoy the experience…I’m just saying be ready for a couple years of textbooks and typing.  Did I mention I was glad to be done?

On to a happier subject, have you let us know what service you plan on attending this Christmas?  Today we reviewed Pastor Bob’s message and it’s going to be great.  If you know someone who has ever struggled to believe,  do whatever you have to do to get them to a Christmas service because God is going to use Bob to speak directly to them.  You know the feeling, so if you haven’t already, it’s not too late to invite that person.

Let’s talk politics

If you were at church this weekend you heard me at Lino Lakes, Don at WBL, or Steve at Spring Lake Park, talk about why we as a church don’t talk politics, get political, or allow anyone to try to stuff political flyers under your windshield while you’re in church (which happens far more than you think).  The leadership of EB, led by Bob, made the decision a long time ago that we were going to stay focused on our mission as a church, which is to reach people for Christ and help them grow in their faith.  We have made the strategic decision not to talk politics in order to reach more people.  We believe God is the only one who can transform a heart, not the government.  The responsibility God has given EB is to teach about Jesus and invite people to make him their Savior, and it’s up to God to transform their heart, beliefs and behaviors.  If we did get political the people who need God’s love and forgiveness the most would likely not walk through our doors, and if they did, chances are they wouldn’t come back. 

I’m not saying we don’t have opinions on who should be elected, I’m saying we value reaching people far from God with the gospel message more than we value trying to convince you who to vote for. 

I know this decision doesn’t please everyone, but what decision ever does.  In fact, I’m pretty sure someone gave me the “rasberry” at the 11am service.  Oh well, whaddya gonna do?