Dadgummit

The first weekend of October, I'm serving on the work crew for a Wild At Heart Boot Camp. A prep assignment was to become familiar with one the resources Ransomed Heart offers because part of the duty of the work crew is working the resource tables. I've got most (I don't have Raising Girls -- I have one child, a son, so I didn't think it necessary to have Raising Girls). I'm behind in listening though, as I don't commute to work anymore and find that a good time to listen for me.

So I was listening to a recording called Unveiling Your Purpose. Wonderful recording, most I had heard though at a Calling Intensive I went to. There was one statement though that I didn't like, though I know it likely true. The speaker spoke of desires, and how there is much good to do, and much that may catch our attention for a day and make us think we must do something, but what we need to pay attention to is what do we keep coming back to, what lingers with us.

Dadgummit.

That makes me face a hard one. For years a recurring theme has been church reformation. I was always attracted to the latest trends for awhile, though I realize most of those now was the "church growth" garbage -- which is so much about the ABCs -- attendance, building, and cash flow. I thought about a career switch to church planting at one point. But it has become refined, realizing that a driving force has been wanting to see people come fully alive. The last few years, a focus has been in development -- developing the heart, learning how people discover what makes them come alive, etc.

I thought this was all headed toward living my calling in an arena similar to a life coach. And being this is a kind of first cut of "history", maybe it still is. For my readers, I provide this kind of honesty in my journey so those looking back on the end story don't see it as "so simple" and wondering why it can't be so simple for them. It's not simple.

So, where is it heading? I don't know, but this recurring theme suggests something with church reformation to me. And that leads to the 'dadgummit'. Sure I'd like to see churches focusing on what I think they should be doing, which is encouraging and equipping the saints. Church has become too much about show, about numbers, about being a club, just about everything but body that helps people become fully what God intended them to be. That latter point is what I think the intended outcome of encouraging and equipping was supposed to be.

What would be nice would be that the whole "church" thing was about equipping me to help people hurt by church. That's simpler than church reformation. I can visualize how that would work. But visualizing church reformation ... how would that occur?

Maybe I'm wrong in interpreting the past -- that would be nice. And I'll be talking to others, of course. Maybe they can help me see another view on it. Or maybe that speaker is just wrong. (I hope he doesn't rid this blog ...)

Definitely, this will be continued.