January 18, 2011 Forward Motion Faith

Visioneamers!

I had the opportunity to be at the Lancaster Mall today for a bit.  I sat for approximately forty-five minutes as Kim and her mom shopped.  I am a people watcher so as I sat I was drawn to the students in the mall.  Due to the holiday (Martin Luther King Day) students were out of school.  Many parents were spending the day with their kids.  By watching you could tell that either a mom or dad had taken the day off and were chillaxing with their kids.   On the other hand it was apparent without question that the mall had become the day’s baby sitter for far too many young people who were present without parental oversight.  They traveled aimlessly from one end of the mall to the other.  The purpose of these students for today?  Stay out of trouble and grab some lunch at some point.  Their mothers or fathers had dropped a large percentage of them off probably with the intent of picking them up when they got off work. Interesting…very interesting. 

I watched these kids for these few minutes and gathered some personal observations.  Sitting in the mall for forty-five minutes does not within itself qualify me to be a professional sociologist.  It doesn’t qualify me to become the extended parent for these tumbleweed students.  On the other had having pastored for over thirty years does give me the experience needed to say what follows.  I preface this with saying that Kim and I have dedicated ourselves to the lives of teens for many, many years.   Our love for students will never leave evidence that would be indicative of any short of giving our lives for students.

The kids I watched today brought some things to my mind.  The kids…or…uh…students from VHC.  I watch them week after week.  I have watched them for six years.  They have grown.  Some have matured and others all of us are hoping will at some point soon.  They are awesome students.  They come from spiritually sound homes and dysfunctional homes.  They come with both parents, they come with a single parent and they come on the bus only hoping to have a parent at some point in the future.  They come with name brand tagged clothes and they come with second hand clothes possibly from our own Victory Center.  They come with spiritual training and they come without a clue to who Jesus is or what church is all about.  They come with an upbringing that lends itself to respect to authority figures and they come without any idea of how to show respect to anyone or anything.  They come with a practicing definition of what modesty is and they come with the idea that modesty is a lost need for society.  Oh yeah…the come to VHC week after week.  They sit under our instruction and guidance.  They  come because their parents are second and third generation believers who have always come to church and they come because no one in their home has ever attended – they come with friends or on the bus.  They come from homes that have convictions and they come from parents that are agnostics and are cold-hearted toward anything spiritual.  They come from homes that express love in the most gentle and secure manner and they come from homes where love is a three letter word – sex.  They come from homes where discipline is focused and well thought out and they come from homes where physical and sexual abuse are the answer to discipline.   I could go on by I choose not to bore you.

Yes, watching these students today reminded me again of two powerful passages of scripture that should work toward defining our future at VHC.  They are Acts 2:17,39:

17  ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;

39  “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

In the birthing chapter of the New Testament church are found two passages that point to succeeding generations of young people.  “Sons and daughters shall prophesy” and “the promise is for you and your children and all who are far off” bring life to our purpose at VHC.  It’s just not about reaching any succeeding generation – it’s about prophetic fulfillment of duty.  Then Luke caps this off by writing what Peter says when he delivers his awesome message on the day of Pentecost:  “…your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.”  This is a powerful statement.  Two generations will hold hands and move into the dynamics of Pentecost and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  We can never forget this prophetic mandate.  Simon Peter fave us a key element to reaching succeeding generations – and it was so very simple – getting dreamers and visionaries to hold hands.  One compliments the other.

As I sat in the mall today I was reminded once again how vitally important our mission to reach succeeding generations is.  It is imperative to our future.  It is imperative to the future of all succeeding generations.  Reach them or lose them.  We can’t afford to lose them.   I can’t imagine what being a parent was like when Elvis Presley and the Beatles hit the stage.  I can’t imagine what it was like when Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd hit the stage.  You see with every generation comes the introduction of their own cultural identity.  Like it or not – it’s been happening for ages.  Baggy pants with the crotch to the knees really boggles my mind.  Girls with attire on that eliminates modesty completely totally upsets me.  The human body becoming an artist’s canvas from head to toe makes me question the meaning of art.  Piercings that will someday make one look like a dinosaur makes me smile inside.   But at one time page boy hair-cuts on boys, bell bottom pants, rolled up blue jeans and tie-dye t-shirts made someone’s parents frown and wonder where the world was going next.   We have never been without generational culture challenges.  I raced torqued cars from the Detroit assembly lines.  Today we throw a muffler on an import that makes it sound like a model airplane and we call it a race car.  Go figure.

I’m rambling and making no sense to many of you.  My point is that we have an obligation to deal with opposing cultural views and succeeding generations and the “stuff” they bring with them.  We have our hands full.

I challenge VHC to the high cost of reaching succeeding generations.  With their issues, habits, lack of ethics…and yes…their traditional and nontraditional faith views – we have a scriptural mandate to reach them.  Liking their styles or even understanding them will probably not happen.   Doesn’t have to.  I nor my congregation will be judged by what we liked or disliked about them.  We will be judged by our attempts to reach them.  I cannot nor can we as a congregation fail to reach them. 

Fasting has already started to show its fruit in our services.  A large number of respondents to our altar call Sunday were students.  They were millennia’s.  Right before our eyes we are watching God bring us together – the visionaries and the dreamers.  Young men will see visions and old men will dream dreams.    When they come together and hold hands – they form a “visioneamer”.  Don’t look that word up. Don’t waste your time.  It’s my word.  It’s what I am claiming for VHC.  A congregation of “visoneamers.”  You figure it out as you continue to fast and draw close to Him.