Last weekend I decided to check in on Bob MacGregor and City Harvest Church. We haven't blogged about City Harvest much, mostly because City Bible and The City Church have given us plenty of material, plus Bob was an excellent youth pastor to me all through High School. Bob actually cared about me and my future and when most everyone at CBC had written me off, Bob agreed to meet with me once a week…and then he showed up…every single week…for quite a few months. Pastor Bob is good and caring man.

So…I decided to check in…and was not sure what I would find. Cruising through the City Harvest Church website I stumbled upon a sermon Pastor Bob had given back in February titled "Calvinism and the Sovereignty of God". I was very intrigued. The church I attend is rather Calvinistic in its teaching and I've heard certain members of CBC bashing my church because of this, also Bob is a member of MFI. (I don't get the feeling that many MFI sponsored churches would openly accept Calvin should he wished to attend.) I braced myself for the worst.

What I expected to hear was about the heresy of John Calvin and the ridiculousness of his 5 points (T.U.L.I.P.) - quick note to all CBC readers: Don't bother asking your pastors what they think about the 5 points; they don't have the first clue what they are. Skip ahead and go straight to Lanny Hubbard, it's what your pastors would tell you to do anyway - ok, so I expected a good Calvin bashing…

…what I got was a real and honest look at the positive things Calvinism brings to Christians. As it turns out Bob was in the middle of a series on church history. He was actually wanting his congregation to be educated…he was actually TEACHING them (which is quite dangerous you know, it tends to lead to people actually thinking for themselves instead of just relying on their pastors). It was very refreshing. And I don't know if I'll have time, but I would really like to hear this whole series. Church history is quite fascinating.

So here he is, teaching his church about Calvinism which is a rather difficult subject. He is risking upsetting half his congregation and I didn't know how he was going to do it. Wisely, instead of focusing on the difficult parts, the controversial points, he focused his sermon on the "good things that Calvin brought to the church", and he did it in a balanced way.

He talked about the Sovereignty of God and how when he realized God chose him…regardless of whether that was based on God's foreknowledge or God's choosing his elect isn't the issue…when Bob realized that God chose him he began to feel secure in his salvation…for the first time. I thought this was great.

He went on to talk about the Gospel of Jesus. That's right, not the Gospel of Blessing as Mr. Wendell might have you believe, but the Gospel of Jesus…the Cross…Grace…the Sovereignty of God. He touched briefly and moderately on "Once saved always saved" and then ended his sermon. He started out teaching and ended up preaching…I loved it all.

Based on that one sermon, here are my thoughts of City Harvest Church: it's a good solid church to be a part of. I'm sure there are lots of things that I would disagree with CHC about: Tithing?, MFI membership?, Spiritual Covering?, but in the end all these things are secondary. As long as the true Gospel is being preached I don't care about all the rest of that stuff. Good job Bob, good job City Harvest.

If you are looking for a quick but balanced overview of John Calvin's teachings I recommend you listen to this sermon.

On a side note, I don't personally buy into all 5 points of Calvinism, but I found that my study of them led me closer to God and helped me get rid of a lot of my "religious" attitudes. I highly recommend that everyone take an open look them…regardless of how ridiculous they may sound when you first read them.

Here is a great story from Doug Broke My Leg:

 Free Indeed said:

Did Doug really break your leg (I only ask because I’m familiar with his wild “stories”)???

Hahaha. Did Doug break my leg? I’ll let you decide.
2-3 years ago while meeting with Jack Louman to get some counsel in an area I was having trouble in, Jack said he felt that I had written off Doug too quickly (having only tried to get together with him for a couple months). He said if I would agree to trying again, he’d call Doug and make sure he was receptive.

Amazingly Doug called me not fifteen minutes later and we set up a time to meet in his office.

Those who’ve been down this road know the formula. I started off by apologizing for some attitudes I’d had, and for general non-submission in some things he was flat wrong about.

He very graciously forgave me.

I brought up some specific times he had offended me, and that had ended up causing my attitude toward him.

He told me why I was wrong for being offended.

But all was not lost. Doug said he was committed to being my pastor (perhaps my meeting with Jack rather than him was the issue?) but that he had an analogy he wanted to walk me through.

“What,” said Doug, “does the shepherd do when the sheep runs off?”

“uhm, go after it?” I replied.

“right…. but if she sheep runs off again. Then what does the shepherd do?”

“uhm, goes after it again?

Doug starts to get frustrated:
“Well, right. But you’re not getting it. What does the shepherd do if the sheep keeps running off?”

Me very confused at this point:
“Uhm, isn’t the job of the shepherd to go after lost sheep? I don’t know what you’re trying to get me to say!”

Doug, realizing that he’s going to have to spell it out, launches into a description of his pastoring style:
“You see, if a shepherd has a stubborn sheep that keeps running off, he breaks its leg, and then carries it around on his back until the sheep is used to being with him. After the leg is healed, then the sheep and the shepherd have a bond and the sheep will stay close by. That’s what I want to do with you, if you’re willing to submit. I want to ‘break your leg’ and carry you.”

I remember sitting there just stunned. I had so many things I wanted to ask him, but I knew every single question would have offended him somehow. Since my goal was reconciliation, I knew that I had to check my desire to argue. Beside we were all taught to submit right? At that point I still had a lot of Kool-Aid in my system; so like a good drone sheep I agreed to have my leg broken and asked what he wanted to do next.

It turns out that the “being carried on his back” part involved getting together once a week. We set the time and place. He showed up the first time and we had a lovely chat. He stood me up without calling every time after that. I think I remember showing up two or three times, just to make sure I was genuine in my efforts. Then it was back to meeting with Jack.

Perhaps a better name for myself would be “Doug Broke My Leg And Left Me In The Bushes”

Several years ago, I attended a Benny Hinn crusade in the Tacoma Dome. After the crusade ended, I left the dome and started walking to my car. On the way to my car, I saw Gary and Sue (names changed), sr. pastors of a very large church walking to their vehicle. I had not seen them for quite some time, and I had developed somewhat of a friendship with Gary previous to this when I was his "speech coach" for his speaking parts in our former church's Christmas special that was shown on local TV many years previous. I spontaneously ran up to them and got Gary's attention by saying something spiritually crazy. He responded so smoothly to my overture that it appeared for a second that we had rehearsed the entire scene! We genuinely laughed. I felt it was a good moment and hoped that we could play some "catch-up."  No sooner had we exchanged "hi's," than Sue said to her husband: "Honey, my feet hurt!…I want to go home!" Her comment brought our brief encounter to a screeching halt. We said our good-byes and left. 

Since I am going to spend the next 24 hours devoted to discussing the merits of Greg Oden versus Kevin Durant, and looking out for the Sam Bowie of 2007, I won't be blogging about church today.

But if there are any other Blazer fans out there, feel free to share your thoughts on this momentous day.

I'm giddy.

I just stumbled upon a blog written by an ex-City Church member. I haven't had time to go through all of it, but I read his review of one of Judah's messages, which sounded similar to a few reviews written here, and then I read the About Me section which has a most excellent email exchange between Craig (the blog author) and Wendell Smith.

Well this is inappropriate:

Details Magazine offers this quiz to see if you can tell the difference between an Evangelist and a porn star.

Whipping a devout congregation into a frenzy can raise a person’s blood pressure. When the Joel Osteens of the world reach the climax of a sermon, their cheeks are pink and their heads are thrown back in rapture. In fact, in tight shots, their faces resemble those of porn stars committing a cardinal sin. Take a look at these close-ups and see if you can tell who’s giving glory to the Father and who’s bringing it home to Daddy.

http://men.style.com/details/features/landing?id=content_5479 

I'll spare the Judah Smith jokes for a moment and just ask a simple question:

Are quizes like this the work of the devil persecuting God's church for their righteousness or the result of America's Christian Church making a mockery of God?

Because there is nothing I love more than bringing another church into our circle of fun, here is a question from a new reader:

We have a young man interested in attending the internship at Atlanta City Church (www.atlantacitychurch.com) . We oppose and pray that he makes a different choice. Would love to hear from anyone with experience at ACC.

I am of the same mindset as you all, which is how I found this website in the first place. This is scary business. Do you all see a lot of marrying within the interns and church congregation? It seems a little incestuous!

Where are the Atlanta folks??! Any comments on the leadership there?

I know JP has made a few observations about Pastor Rick Snow. Anyone else?

Is this the end of the Religious Right?

Just ran across a blog by Joe Carter that discusses 10 harmful evangelism tools. They include:

The Alter Call, Witnessing, The Sinners Prayer and Chick Tracts.

Joe posits:

If you want to be a more effective "witness for Christ" then start by doing what Christ did and love other people. Start by loving the "unlovable" — the smelly, unbathed men down at the mission, the annoying kids at church, the bonehead who cuts you off in traffic. Yes, you need to tell people about the Gospel. But that is evangelism, not "witnessing." In the context of the Christian life, "witness" should be a noun more often than a verb.

Regarding Testimonies, he says:

Several years ago, during a job interview for a Christian organization, my prospective employer asked me to tell him my "testimony." The fact that I was a Christian apparently wasn't enough. I had to have a good conversion story to go along with my faith.

 And Chick Tracts:

Chick Tracts are a tool of the devil. That fact–and yes it is a fact–is not changed just because you know a guy who knows a guy who heard testimony about a guy who said the Sinner' Prayer after finding "The Long Trip" on the floor of a truck stop restroom.

Gotta say, I agreed with a lot of what he said. Evangelism tools are often impressive among Christian Circles, but highly ineffective among everyone else.