Twittering Christianity

Last Sunday afternoon, Max Lucado, famous Christian writer and former preacher at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, sent out a Twitter tweet to the world that he was on his way to a river baptism service. As one of Max's followers on Twitter, I always enjoy his spiritual messages that are summed up in less that 140 characters, but I was especially fascinated by this tweet. A river baptism service? I didn't know we still did those. Immediately, my mind bounced to the scene in O, Brother, Where Art Thou? when George Clooney and his fellow escaped convicts are interrupted by hundreds of people dressed in white robes singing "As I Went down to the River to Pray."

When I think of baptisms, I typically think of those that happen only in the church. When I was baptized, my church was under construction, so we didn't have a "normal" baptistry. I was baptized in a glorified bathtub, but it counted. The thought of river baptisms sounds old school, but it also intrigues me.

Sunday night, Max sent out a follow-up tweet: "We spent 2 hours in the river. 257 baptisms! Glorious!" For those of you keeping score at home, 257 is a pretty spectacular number for two reasons. First, 257 people had their sins washed away in one day. That just shows the power of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of those people. Second, that is just a huge number. It might take some churches four years to have that many baptisms. While no one really "keeps score" based on the number of baptisms that they have, I am amazed that something like that happened.

Max also tweeted that Bruce Bowen, who plays for the San Antonio Spurs, was down at the river baptizing people. I have heard a lot of great thing about Bowen as a strong Christian leader, a philanthropist, and a role model to young kids, but I was quite impressed that he was a part of the action last Sunday. Typically, we assume that professional athletes are egocentric millionaires that act like children when things don't go their way, but Bowen took a break from the NBA play-off atmosphere to impact the lives of hundreds of people down at that river.

The popularity of Twitter over the past four months has been astounding, and it is also pretty cool to see celebrities like Shaq, Ashton Kutcher, Barry Zitto, Lance Armstrong, and Max Lucado using it as a way to connect with non-celebrities. While Max may not consider himself a celebrity, his tweet last week was read by thousands of people. Max does write about some random things he does during the day, and with posts like the ones regarding the river baptism, he is able to use Twitter as a way to connect Christianity and culture.

Breakfast on Beech Street

This morning, I joined 15 volunteers to serve breakfast to 40 people from the Abilene community. Waking up at 5:00 am was definitely a struggle, but three hours later, I know that it was worth it. I might need some coffee to make it through the day, though.

Breakfast of Beech Street (BOBS) is a ministry of 5 churches here in town that serves approximately 12,000 breakfasts each year. For five days a week, volunteers from these churches and the community prepare breakfast and sack lunches for anyone who is hungry and needs some food. I first assumed that this ministry was just for homeless people, but the majority of people that got breakfast this morning were not homeless. They were just hungry and were not able to make breakfast for themselves at home. There are not any applications to fill out to make sure that each person actually needs food. There are no strict guidelines saying that only certain people can eat or that each person only gets one omelet. We make breakfast, people come, and they eat until it is gone (today we had some leftovers, though).

I do find it fascinating that BOBS serves out 12,000 breakfasts each year to people here in Abilene, but I am especially pleased that this is done through the work of 5 churches...of different denominations...working together...for a greater purpose. Episcopal. Methodist. Disciples of Christ. Church of Christ. Presbyterian. For centuries Christians from different denominations have argued about whose doctrine is correct, and we have strayed from the massage of the Gospel.

Mark 10:45 says, "For even the Son of Man [Jesus] did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." This verse points out two important truths of the Gospel. First, the part about the ransom refers to our salvation that comes through Christ's death and resurrection (See Easter post below). Second, Christ came to serve others, not to be served. The Gospel of Christ is not about doctrine and denominations. It is about serving those in our communities. Churches do a great job of spiritually edifying believers on Saturdays, Sundays, and Wednesdays, but people often forget that the role of the church is also to equip believers to go out and serve others and meet their needs - not our needs.

BOBS ministry is to spread the Gospel by feeding people, saying "Good morning," sharing conversations, and shaking hands. Yes, there was a prayer for the food at the beginning, and the meal was served in the kitchen of a church, but that was the only "churchy" thing about it. I worked in the kitchen and loaded plates with toast and omelets. I greeted people as they passed through the line, but I didn't say anything about becoming a Christian. I didn't hand out a tract of the five steps of conversion. I didn't share a testimonial of my faith. I just gave food to people that needed it. Jesus fed people, too. Lot's of them. Read this to learn more.

Happy Easter

Easter is only a few days away, and that means I will be hunting eggs filled with money and candy very soon. Truth: I am almost 22 years old and still hunt Easter eggs every year. Yes, I will go to Easter service at my church, and I will enjoy a nice Easter lunch with my family, but it seems like this "holiday" has lost its meaning somehow. Just like Christmas. The two major holidays out of the entire year that have been set apart for Christians to celebrate the Gospel have become secular.

For those of you not familiar with the story, Good Friday is the anniversary of Jesus' crucifixion for proclaiming to be the Savior/Messiah that was sent by God to the world. Three days later, Jesus was raised back to life. Easter is the celebration of his resurrection. In Spanish, Easter is called "Pascua" (PAH-skwah), which is literally translated to mean "Passover," not Easter. There's your fun fact for the day.

Going back to the Old Testament when God's chosen people, the Hebrews, were in Egyptian captivity, God sent plagues against the Egyptians so that they would let the Hebrews out of slavery. The last plague sent was that all of the firstborn children were to be killed in the night by the spirit of God unless the door to a family's house was marked with lamb's blood. At the sight of this blood, the spirit would PASSOVER the house, and those inside would be spared. Because of this, Passover is widely celebrated by Jews, but Christians tend to put the focus of the holy week on the resurrection day (Easter). [Thought: Why don't more Christians celebrate Passover, too? The first Christians were Jews.] Easter Sunday always follows Passover because Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection occurred while he was in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

I write this history lesson to give a better picture of what Easter is really for. It is great to take a break from work and school and spend time with the family, but I feel like at the dinner table on Sunday or at some point in the day, someone should mention the significance of this holiday. For Christians, the true purpose of this holiday is to represent Jesus' resurrection, which brings salvation to those who believe in him. But there is much more to this holiday.

I feel like the purpose of this holiday could also be to simply take a scheduled pause in our lives and spend time with our families. Honestly, we can celebrate the resurrection whenever we want. Easter is special because of what people do on it. This will be my 21st Easter, and I have only spent two Easters away from my family. Easter Sunday of my senior year of high school was spent in Hong Kong. Easter Sunday of my sophomore year of college was spent at a children's home in Montevideo, Uruguay. If I was in the US, I would have most definitely gone home for the weekend to spend Easter with my family. Sunday will be a special day because I will eat some great home cooking, and I will hunt eggs with my sister and cousin. But I will do it with my family. Celebrating the resurrection is important to me, but spending time with my family is important, too.

Faith Is a Highway

Over the past month, I have driven to and from Dallas, Austin, and Nashville, and in the coming weeks, I will be driving to and from San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas. I got an oil change less than a month ago, and I already need another one (every 3,000 miles). Throughout my college career, I have taken many road trips to and from the same locations, and I have become so familiar with the routes, that these three, four, or five hour car rides are no problem for me.

Of all the metaphors that I hear about faith, spirituality, and relationships with God, the most common relates all of these to a journey. Some believe the journey started when we entered Sunday School. Others believe that the journey commenced on the day of our baptism. We start out as children of faith, and through teaching and studying we begin to grow and mature. The journey gets boring sometimes.

Have you ever been on your way to work or school, zoned out for a little bit, and thought, "Did I run that stop sign back there?" When we take the same route, do the same thing over and over, it becomes routine, and we go about the task absentmindedly. It sounds dangerous, but it is something that most of us have done. We go through the motions, but our focus is not on the what we are actually doing. On my trips to and from the different destinations listed above, I know all of the towns that I will pass through in order, where the state troopers usually hide, where the good places to eat are, where the exits are, and how long I have remaining in my trip.

The journey through life as a Christian becomes like one of those trips. Christians usually find themselves getting locked into a lifestyle or routine that defines their identity, and it gets boring (common). As a product of a Christian middle school, high school, and university, I have been steeped in Christian living - how Christians are supposed to live - and frankly, some Christians live very boring lives. There seems to be nothing new to spice things up, because we are told that the spicy things are probably sinful. Christians need spontaneous revivals for the same reason that travelers love to take random road trips. It is something new, unique, and exciting.

After my Sophomore year of college, my roommate and I took a road trip from Houston, TX, to Tuscon, AZ, to Tijuana, Mexico (we craved Mexican food for lunch), to San Diego, CA, to Los Angeles, CA, to Phoenix, AZ, to Abilene, TX, and back to Houston. It was quite the drive, but it was exciting because it was something new. I had never driven through the southern portions of New Mexico and Arizona. Even though there was not much to look at, it was still exciting. I had never even been to Arizona or California at all for that matter. The road trip was not a part of my routine. Traffic was terrible in LA, but it was fun, because I had never been in traffic that bad.

For Christians to grow to reach their full potential, we need to do something that is out of the ordinary - take a spiritual road trip. According to Crocodile Dundee, Australians go on walk-abouts for mental and physical rejuvenation. They come back with a renewed outlook on life - a renewed spirit. Christians can do the same thing. Some fast by abstaining from eating, while others go off by themselves for some solitude. These are just two examples, but there are many other things Christians can do to strengthen their faith without getting into trouble.

I feel like we'll enjoy the journey a little bit more if we break away from our routines for a while.