Gospel Of The Kingdom

We just finished a new series at Campus Church called The Gospel Of The Kingdom.  (Follow the link for free access to notes from the messages.)

The purpose of the series is pretty simple.  Jesus is the first to proclaim the Gospel Of The Kingdom and we, as his followers, are expected to learn, live, and proclaim the same Gospel Of The Kingdom today.  Even though God spoke through prophets and angels in the past and has spoken through apostles and saints afterward, there has never been a more vital word spoken than the proclamation of the Gospel straight from the mouth of Jesus.  From this foundation we are able to understand both the prophetic word that preceded it and the apostolic word that followed.  This series is intended to introduce us to this moment in time so that we, just like those twelve men then, can also respond to the exciting call of Jesus to leave everything behind and follow him. 

Jesus spent three years with twelve men who were with Him from beginning to end.  Over the course of three years these men witnessed not only the lifestyle of God among men, but also heard the message of the "Kingdom".  After three years Jesus died on the cross and in three days rose from the grave.  Jesus revealed himself alive not only to the twelve men who were with him, but also to many other witnesses.  Before Jesus ascended into heaven he left his parting words with the twelve apostles.

Matthew 28:
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The purpose of the church cannot be more simply defined than this mandate of Jesus before he ascended into heaven.  Go and proclaim the Gospel Of The Kingdom that he himself had taught.

What's Life Without A Party?

Sometimes I think we over-complicate the simplicity of having a party.  What is a party?  Is it anything more than a group of friends eating, laughing, dancing, and being a little wild?  I think that a party can be any or all of the above.  I also think that the most important ingredient of all is the "group of friends".  

One thing that I loved about China was how easy it was to have a party.  They can do it on the fly without any hesitation.  "Let's all go out to dinner tonight!"  Look out, a party is about to commence.  We would walk long distances together around the city, instead of just driving somewhere and walking into a home or restaurant.  The journey together through the city is debatebly more enjoyable than the meal itself.

Why is it that the funniest things just happen when a group of friends are walking somewhere?  Walking with a group of friends has to be the easiest party to organize and clean up.

I also think that the "strange and foreign" are a good basis for a good time.  Have you ever gone out to eat with friends and decided on some weird foreign food place that borders on gross because it is so strange?  The laughs and the experience outweigh any of the discomfort you might experience during or after the meal.  Not that I have ever had bad experiences after a meal.

We had some Asian friends over to the house the other night and surprised each of them with an Asian meal that was new and strange to each of them.  We ate a different type of rice, prepared in a different way, and even consumed in a different way.  We invited our Korean friends to our house and fixed a South East Asian (Laos/Cambodian) meal that we ate on the floor with our hands instead of chopsticks.  (We learned how to fix this meal because Ron and Kris Barrie would invite us into their home with their 7 kids and we would blow it up.) We had a blast.  Everybody made fun of me because it hurts me so bad to sit on the floor.  My mind is 18 years old while my joints are 85.

We listened to a "Michael Jackson" Pandora station throughout the night due to MJ's popularity throughout Asia.  After we ate dinner we danced to MJ in our living room.  Everybody from my 5 year old Phoebe to us old folks took a jab at lighting up the sky with stellar dance moves.

Call some friends tonight and do a party!

Cutting Edge Worship Gadgets

Due to a rising concern of eye care during the Campus Church Sunday celebration we have decided to promote a cutting edge worship gadget.  This has been a difficult issue for us in general to cope with and finding a solution that works for everyone was beginning to seem impossible.  

The issue surfaced as a result of the worship teams demand for low lighting and candles during the celebration.  "We didn't feel like the issue of lighting should be a congregational decision to begin with and who can deny the tangible benefits to the expression of worship through the use of low lighting and candles",said Scott McBrayer the worship leader at Campus Church.  The firm position of the worship team quickly gave rise to a dispute that had been a long time awaiting.

As the pastor of Campus Church I have made a priority of making every reference to scripture available on the projector for everyone to see.  I did this for two reasons.  First, due to the low lighting in the room, I did not want to put anyone's eyesight in danger by attempting to read their Bibles from their seats.  Secondly, I wanted to accommodate folks who might not have a Bible with them.  To my chagrin there has been an alarmingly high number of participants who are continuing to read their Bibles from their seats.  I fear that this must be persisting due to a lack of translational agreement I'm the church.  The translation being used from the projector is the English Standard Version.  

I couldn't bear the thought of either over riding the stand of the worship team or continuing to see the translational dissenters suffer eye loss due to their lack of confidence in the ESV.  There had to be a solution.

Campus Church's Committee On Committees voted and decided to create a committee in order to stifle any opportunity of division or fighting to take hold of the church.  The committee was titled The Low Lighting Task Force Committee and is made up primarily of medical, military, and worship professionals.  After a lot of thoughtful deliberation in a ten minute discussion the task force came to a resolution.

We will be taking proceeds from the Campus Church offering account and purchasing a number of L.E.D. enabled baseball caps.  This is the perfect solution...well, we thought it was, until another chorus of ill effected consciences sounded an alarm because there are men wearing hats inside the church not only on Sunday, but also during worship.  The Committee On Committees will be convening soon in order to address two issues.  First, they as a committee must reprimand The Low Lighting Task Force Committee for thinking that a ten minute meeting could accomplish anything in a church.  Secondly, we now need to create another committee to resolve the age old question of whether men should or should not wear hats as a matter of conscience or truth.

Kenny Deason
www.campuschurch.tv
405.474.1783

Celebrate The Creator

Every Wednessday morning I do a discussion group at UCO (8am in the Nigh Bldg).  We've been going through the first chapter in Romans.  This morning we read and discussed Rm 1:17-23.  

Take time to celebrate God for making himself plainly known to you through the things he has made.  Take time to think about the eternal attributes of his power.  Outer space is being sustained by this power as much as the jumping spider in a city park.  If you were capable of making up a god in your own imagination, what would be more divine, eternal, mysterious and brilliant as the God who designed, created, and sustains the universe you live in, right now.

The goofball with the party hat in the picture is my youngest son Josiah.  At five months old Josiah lives in a world filled with wonder.  Josiah laughs and giggles as he explores the big things in life, like the rough beard hairs on my face compared to the soft touch of mom's cheeks.  He greets each new region of exploration with a timid nervousness because he knows that there is so much he doesn't know.  When we take Josiah outside he becomes tightly wound up in a rapid firing visual overload.  His neck snaps his head back and forth as he tries his best to understand what he is experiencing at that moment.  God has created a world of wonder for Josiah, so that Josiah can be certain that an eternal and divine being gave him life.

Learning To Like Correction

Nobody likes failure, but we all experience failure at different times in our lives. Think about a time in your life that you were really blowing it and somebody came in and spoke a word of correction. What was the source of the correction? Have you ever experienced dynamic transformation and change because someone was willing to speak that word of correction. The purpose of correction is to redirect us away from something that is wrong and toward something that is right.

We've all had lame experiences with people who have abandoned us because we were failing. I'm sure all of us can hear the hackling criticisms coming from an impatient bone head who is on their way out the door. Because of experiences like this we tend to condition ourselves to hide our failures from others. We don't want to experience rejection, abandonment, and hurtful words. A saint should never, ever, treat somebody this way. We did not learn this from Jesus. God has not dealt with us like this and demands that we express the same degree of mercy and forgiveness to others that we have received from Him.

It's really kind of crazy when I think about it. We might be playing it safe by hiding our failures from lame people, but we shoot ourselves in the foot by running away from correction. God and the saints (real saints as opposed to lame saints) are wired to forgive and redirect. In fact playing it safe by hiding and avoiding correction will ultimately result in a longer prison term in the solitary confinement of failure. Think about it this way. When we make our hearts hard and resist or hide from correction, God in turn is resisting us. When we allow our hearts to melt in humility and honesty, God pours out his grace upon us. In the Bible James addresses this issue very squarely, as is James' custom. There is no safer place to be than broken and humble when we are failing in our life. I want to be more pliable and open to correction. The older I get, the more tiring I feel even thinking about how long and hard the road to transformation can be when I'm proud and calloused. Being humble before God and friends is where it's at.

What Moves Us?

As a leader I am constantly looking at the broader "work of ministry" in the church.  Leaders are set in place to equip and empower the diverse purposes and spiritual giftedness in the church.  That means that I am not only concerned about being responsible with my own gifting and purpose in the kingdom, but also the gifting and purpose of others in the church.  People talk about the visible sham practiced so often in churches that result in a few leaders "doing" the work of ministry, while the church shows up at some occasional events as spectators and financial contributors of the event.  People inside and outside of the church can be heard heckling that form of spiritual community.  Why do so many Christians continue to fall into the role of mere financial contributors of events while failing to take responsibility for their own "work of ministry"? I get so excited when I see saints take hold of their calling and gifting in the church.  There are some students and families in Campus Church that bring me to tears of joy sometimes, because I realize how excited they are about their purpose in the church and the surrounding community.  I remember spending a morning in prayer when I just shut my mouth and listened to God tell me about the amazing ways that he is using some of the students and families.  I literally cried while I was smiling and listening to God speak. What is it that moves us as disciples into our own "work of ministry"?  I don't have an elixir to offer us in this blog post, but I do have my thumb on a few very vital ingredients on the matter.  1) Jesus precisely ordered every disciple to follow Him, imitate Him, become like Him.  2) Dream dreams about what that will look like in your life.  3) Share these dreams with a leader around you.  It is their job to walk with you, encourage you, and see that you are empowered to "do" your dreams.  4) Go gangbusters for Jesus and "do" your dreams.

Skyline Interview of Kenny D

Allright, after the churchline.tv spoof I have probably got everybody totally confused. This is a real interview of true events of my story and some shop talk about campuschurch. The interview, filming, and editing was done by Mr. Matt Lowery of Skyline Church downtown OKC. Matt has been interviewing a variety of folks involved in missional work in the downtown area. Skyline, along with a cluster of churches in the downtown area, including campuschurch, get together on a monthly basis to encourage each other and talk about what God is doing in OKC.