Dr. Jon R. Roebuck, Exec. Director

“Being a disciple means being constantly ready to bring the love of Jesus to others, and this can happen unexpectedly in anyplace: on the street in a city, or during work, or in a city square, or on a journey.” -Pope Francis, from Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), No. 127.

I take a lot of things to work each day.  Most days I carry my laptop.  It’s a very portable workstation that contains a lot of my work and projects.  I also take my cell phone to work each day.  How would any of us survive without the ability to have our contacts, emails, and social media at our fingertips?  Somedays I take my lunch.  Recently my wife bought me a bunch of those disposable containers that I don’t have to remember to bring home.  It makes the whole “leftovers for lunch” thing a whole lot more manageable.  I take other things to work as well.  I take books, snacks, keys, etc.  I also take along my personality, my skillset, my ambitions.  But the real question is, “Do I take along my faith?”

Many might argue that there should be a separation of faith and work; a duality of life that says live your faith at home, but not at the office.  Such folks believe that work practices should not be impacted by one’s faith positions.  Some fear that faith could be offensive, over-bearing, and perhaps even off-putting.  But I’m not in that camp.  I tend to believe that if faith is in you, it should always go with you and should even be evident to those around you.  However, one’s faith should be naturally expressed, lovingly conveyed, and authentically lived.  Faith should not be a club used to impose opinion condescendingly upon others.  It is not to be a litmus test to judge another person’s worth or likeability.  It is not to be used in any way that repels others from honest inquiry about your beliefs.  As I understand it, our faith should draw people into relationship, not push them away.  So how can we take our faith to work in a non-offensive, Christ-promoting, culturally-impacting way?  Here’s a few thoughts…

Be Joyful.  We can’t be up-beat and happy all the time.  That’s not even close to what I am suggesting.  Joy transcends emotions.  It is rooted in the hope that we have in Christ Jesus, acknowledging that his faithfulness and love for us is constant and enduring.  Being joyful means that we can offer peace, calm, and hope to those around us, even on a bad work day.

Do your best, always.  Colossians 3:17 says, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”  There is a calling contained in that verse to work hard and to strive for excellence.  Because we do all things “as unto the Lord,” we cannot settle for mediocrity.  We must constantly ask, “Is this my best?”  Details matter.

Treat others with civility and respect.    I Cor. 3:16 reminds us that the Holy Spirit lives in us.  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23)  No Spirit-led person should allow rudeness, anger, or a lack of decency and civility to come from their mouths or hearts.  It’s just not in us if we are Spirit-filled.

Be honest.  Faith demands integrity.  When people can’t trust your words, how will they ever trust in the Savior you proclaim?

Be supportive.  There will always be people around you in the work environment who are experiencing difficulties.  And although we cannot pretend to “fix” everything in their lives, we can offer support and encouragement.  Sometimes it’s as simple as taking the time to listen.  Sometimes it’s as simple as the promise to pray for them, or better yet, to take a moment to pray with them.

Practice forgiveness as a daily discipline.  One of the hardest demands of the Christian faith is that of forgiveness.  It is also one of the most clearly evident ways we have to demonstrate our commitment to Christ.  We should make a habit of telling people that we are sorry when we have wrong them, and forgive them when they have wronged us.  It means that we cannot become “historical” with every infraction.  We have to model a complete offering of grace and a willingness to trust again.

It is never an easy quest to live one’s faith consistently and openly before the world.  But it is what Christ expects of us.  So take your faith along on the ride to work this week.  Let it be lovingly evident in everything that you do.

JR

Dr. Jon R. Roebuck, Executive Director

I once heard a story from the days of the old west.  It seems that a cowboy was making the long walk back to his ranch, carrying a load of supplies in a burlap sack that he had slung across his shoulder.  The journey had been long and hard.  His feet ached and his back was tired.  The dust from the dirt road covered his clothing from head to toe.  Mixed with his sweat, the dust made a gritty ring around his collar.  A friend was traveling the same road, riding on his buckboard wagon which was being drawn by a horse.  He recognized his friend and pulled up beside him on the road.  “Hop in!  Let me give you a ride,” said the neighbor.  The tired cowboy quickly took him up on the offer.  But when he climbed up on the seat of the wagon, he kept the burlap sack slung over his shoulder.  The friend said, “Why don’t you set your sack down and rest your back for a while?”  To which the old cowboy replied, “You are kind enough to give me a ride today, I’ll just keep carrying my own sack.”

There are times when life gets overwhelming.  From time to time all of us have to shoulder a heavy load of concern, grief, fatigue, or pain.  No one is immune from the day-to-day struggles of life.  The load can be overwhelming at times… back breaking and soul stealing.  In such moments, it’s always meaningful to have those friends who will come along beside us and help us to carry some of the burden.  But there are some burdens that have to be borne alone.  And that’s hard.

I have a friend who now carries such a load.  His life is burdened by a situation with a family member that he will have to carry for the rest of his life.  And he will carry it well.  He’s strong and full of faith… but he’s also human.  He will get tired.  He will become weary.  There will be days when he will want to do anything to put down his burden but he can’t.  It’s with him for the duration.  And what is frustrating for those of us who know him is that we can’t really make it any better.  All we can do is pray faithfully, encourage verbally, and understand compassionately.  My friend is not to be pitied, but accompanied for some of the journey.  I can’t rest his back from his burden, but I can sit and listen and offer the solace of human understanding.

I am reminded of the Old Testament story of Job.  Job’s life goes to “hell in a hand-basket.”  In the course of a single day, Job loses all of his livestock, servants, and ten children.  Even as he mourns, he is afflicted with horrible skin sores.  Four of his friends show up to offer their support.  They sit with him in silence for 7 days.  No one speaks.  No one tries to “fix” his grief.  They just surround him and let him grieve.  It would have been enough.  He would have found some comfort in the sheer presence of his friends.  But then they do try to answer his grief.  They suggest that his problems are a result of his sins, or those of his children.  They suggest that God is punishing him.  Job becomes so irritated that he calls his friends “worthless physicians” who “whitewash their advice with lies.” (Job 13:4)

I hope that I’m a better friend than that.  I hope you have better sense as well.  We can’t fix everyone’s pain and we sure don’t help when we try to “fix blame.”  Sometimes those who are forced to shoulder an oppressive load, just need for us offer only our presence and not our judgment.  Sometimes we simply need to accompany them for part of their journey.  I can’t fix the pain in my friend’s life… no use in even trying.  But he will know that I haven’t forgotten his plight, nor neglected my daily prayers.  I’m not going to preach empty words of hope nor quote pious sounding expressions.  I’m just going to be there when he needs me, even if it means sitting in silence as he weeps.

On this week’s episode, Dr. Roebuck talks about his favorite passage of scripture about the prodigal son.

Dr. Jon R. Roebuck, Exec Director

It happened again.  I got a letter this week from a company informing me that my personal data had been compromised.  This time the company involved is a medical company that connects the dots between a medical provider who provides joint injections for knees, shoulders, etc., with the insurance companies.  It works like this… when the doctor prescribes a procedure, this company is contacted to make inquiry of the insurance company to see if the procedure is covered.  Apparently in order to make all of the necessary contacts, this “3^rd party” has access to a patient’s medical record, name, address, social security number, etc.  Because I had a history of knee injections (23 to be exact) prior to my recent bilateral knee replacement surgery, my personal data has been floating around this system.  The recent letter stated the company’s belief that none of my medical records were compromised, but that everything else was at risk.  They offered to provide a year’s worth of identity protection.

A few years ago, I got a similar letter when the data at Target was compromised.  There was even a third incident a few months before that well-publicized incursion.  I don’t even remember what company was involved, but my bank had a crazy time sending me new cards each time I was at risk.  It’s a huge problem, right?  So many of us have personal information stored with a number of so called, “secure” sites.  And yet businesses and data banks are getting “hacked” with alarming regularity.  It even happens in the cyber world.  How many times have you received a message from someone you know that seems a little strange?  And within minutes you get a “real” message from that friend saying that his/her email has been hacked.

It’s a scary thing to think that someone has stolen my identity, or yours.  We don’t want people posing like us to take our money, ruin our credit scores, or bring upheaval to our lives.  We don’t want anyone doing anything that in anyway falsifies who we are or brings potential shame upon our character.  So why do we allow ourselves to steal the identity of Christ and use it fraudulently?

Consider this verse… Gal. 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” That verse teaches all of us as believers in Christ, that we no longer belong to ourselves.  Our bodies, our hearts, our minds, and our motivations are now the property of Christ Himself.  It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in and through us.  So, we become His image before the world.  We become His ambassadors.  We become the standard bearers.  Whenever we choose to act inappropriately, or with malice, or with hatred, or with prejudice, or with greed, we have to borrow His body to commit those deeds.  We become the perpetrators of identity theft.

The problem is that most of us don’t think before we act.  We don’t consider the rippling effects that are created whenever we misrepresent Christ.  We live our lives, tweet our insults, Facebook our opinions, and voice our thoughts as if no one sees, hears, or reads what we say and think.  We have segmented our lives into various categories.  We have a faith/church life.  We have a political life.  We have a family life.  We have a business life.  We have a social media life.  And somehow we think that it’s perfectly fine to live any one of those lives distinctively from the other lives.  We forget that we have taken on the identity of Christ.  His grace, His voice, His ethic, and His authority has to overarch all that we are and everything that we do.  Whenever we fail to practice the belief that “Jesus is Lord,” we have committed the worst kind of identity theft.  If we are going to claim Him as Lord, we must be willing to be claimed by Him.

Dr. Jon R Roebuck, Executive Director

I live in one of the fasting growing cities in America.  By September of this year, Nashville, Tennessee will top the 1.9 million resident mark.  In fact, each day, the population of Nashville increases by 82 residents.  That’s 574 each week or roughly 2500 each month.  Such stats might be frightening to some but exciting to others.  Think about it… if you are in the real estate or construction business you have to think that the surge in population will mean a tremendous boost to your business.  Fast food chains, car dealers, health providers and others will have to step up their game.  So will the church.  While most mainline denominations bemoan the downsizing of congregations, contributions, and influence, maybe they should be rejoicing at the opportunities that are about to knock at their doors.  To be sure, the same old song and dance won’t lure new faces to church each week.  Like everything else, the church will need to adapt radically.  I’m not suggesting that we water down our theology or throw out all we know about ushering people into the presence of God.  But there will have to be new strategies, new settings, new services, and new attitudes.  The fields are white unto harvest… they are just not “mostly white” like they once were.

Since 2012, Nashville has had the fastest-growing immigrant population of any American city.  12% of the ever-growing population was born outside of the United States.  It is home to the nation’s largest Kurdish population.  Folks are coming to Nashville from places like Somalia, Burma, and Honduras.  According to my friends at the Nashville Baptist Association, this past week, like every other week, worship happens across our city in 87 different languages.  That statistic resonates with what Metro Schools has learned about its student population.  Currently, 30% of students enrolled in Metro Schools speak a language other than English at home.  (That’s 1 out of every three.)  The ramifications for how we do church and how we engage our city as people of faith are enormous.

For years, the strategy has been helping others learn how to conform to our image. Maybe now we should think about the ways to conform our image into faces that are welcoming, engaging, and compassionate.  We have to get to the point where we no longer demand uniformity of skin tone, hair color, clothing styles, or worship practices.  We will learn how to become more multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-lingual or we will continue a slow fade into irrelevance.  The world has come to us and we need to be ready.  Rather than fear the change, we should rejoice in what God is doing.

Let me encourage you and your church to do at least three things.

First, take your family and go to a strange church where the majority of people don’t speak your language or share your ethnicity.  Just go and worship one week.  See how it feels to be the minority.  Take on the experience of not understanding the language, the style of worship, or the cultural nuances.  And as awkward as you feel, think about how you are expecting immigrants and refugees to suddenly embrace your home church as God’s gift to the world.  You have to think like an outsider or you will never understand their worldview.  And if you care about sharing the love of Christ with them, you will have to adjust and accommodate, even if doing so makes you uncomfortable.  And by the way, a warm smile, a firm handshake, and a welcoming hug don’t demand Google translation to get the point across.

Second, when you have the opportunity to hire new staff, don’t hire to match current need, but future need.  That will take some vision and courage on your part.  One of my closest friends in ministry pastored a church in a rapidly transitioning section of Birmingham.  The area around the church was in constant flux.  The once all-white population soon became mixed racially.  So, when the time came to hire a new youth minister, the church intentionally hired an African-American minister to reach kids in the neighborhood who were foundering without the love of Christ and the support of a two-parent home.  When it came time to hire a new Music director, they went with a Hispanic guy because of the Latino population in the church field.  It took a lot of courage and grace to make that happen.  And my friend took a lot of grief along the way.  But the church is alive and well today, and yes, it is very different in every way.

Third, consider the full embrace your congregation could offer an immigrant family.  It’s easy to talk about welcoming the stranger in our midst.  It is quite another thing to invest the time, energy, and resources it takes to make that happen.  What if your church had the vision of making a difference in life of a least one immigrant family this year?  What if you determined to make a difference… a real difference?  What if you helped that family with housing and language skills?  What if you helped them find a job and buy a car?  What if you helped them find the path to citizenship and learned to converse with them in their native language?  What if you helped them navigate the school system and provided all that the children needed to be successful in class?  And… what if every church in the city did the same?

As you look ahead ask this simple question in terms of what God will do in our city… Will the Kingdom grow because of me, or in spite of me?  The world is coming.  We must be ready. Embrace the challenge.