The word missional also gets its meaning and understanding from John 20:21 when Jesus tells his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” We must understand that the Father sent Jesus.  God is a missionary God.  God is on a mission to reconcile the entire world to Himself.  Therefore, the Father sent Jesus into the world to usher in the Kingdom of God in order to begin this reconciliation.  This is what theologians call the Missio Dei (Latin for Mission of God).

Jesus then tells his disciples that he is sending them on the same mission.  Jesus calls his church to go into the world and to share that the King has come and that we can be reconciled to the Father.  Being a missional church means that you understand that the church is sent on mission as an instrument and as a sign of the Missio Dei.  Although the word missional has only been used for a few years, the concept has been around since the 1950s.  Darrell L. Guder and Lois Barrett tell us the following:

By mid-century, the emphasis in mission thought shifted toward a theocentric approach that, in contrast, stressed the mission of God (Missio Dei) as the foundation for the mission of the church.  The church became redefined as the community spawned by the mission of God and gathered up into that mission.  The church was coming to understand that in any place it is a community sent by God.  “Mission” is not something the church does, a part of its total program.  No, the church’s essence is missional, for the calling and sending action of God forms its identity.  Mission is founded on the mission of God in the world, rather than the church’s effort to extend itself.[1]

A missional church exists because of and for the mission of God.

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[1] Darrell L. Guder and Lois Barrett, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), 82.

My mind is still spinning as I constantly ask myself the question…why?  Why would a father shoot his own daughter.  Two days ago only five blocks from my house, a father shot his 9-month-old daughter in the head in revenge for his girlfriend being unfaithful to him.  (Read the story here)  I found out the vague information from one of my neighbors and friends as news helicopters where circling the neighborhood.  My heart broke today as I read the full news story of what had happened.

I’ve known for awhile the dirty soul that lies within Albuquerque.  My pastor has said that Albuquerque is a city that is so beautiful on the outside, but dirty when you take a closer look.  I couldn’t agree more.  We have the Sandia mountains, amazing sunsets, deep culture, incredible food, and stunning art.  When you look closer though you see our high crime, fatherlessness, drug abuse, drunk driving, and list goes on and on.

But the dirty underside use to be a distant aspect of Albuquerque to me.  That was until we moved into our neighborhood about a year ago.  I love our neighborhood.  It is a socio-economic, life stage, ethnic, and linguistic mixture of Albuquerque.  The neighborhood has retired couples and newly weds buying their first homes.  It has migrant workers that are trying to give their kids the life they never could.  The school across the street from me is bilingual to accommodate english, spanish, and bilingual students.  There is an active neighborhood association.  One of the main bike routes for the city runs right in front of my house.   It is also part of the International District of Albuquerque.

If I didn’t tell you anymore, you would think I lived in a picturesque suburban neighborhood.  But when you take a closer look, you see something quite different.  It’s called the International District because it use to be called the War Zone and the city didn’t think that helped with PR.  The park across the street that is part of the elementary school is used by prostitutes at night to service Johns.  This was made very clear to me when our Community Group pick up trash a few months ago and threw away over 15 condoms.  While riding my bike, there have been a few times that I’ve nearly ran over hypodermic needles.  I live less than a mile from a gay cowboy bar (I don’t even know how that works).  Five cars were stolen in the neighborhood last month and now homicide can be added to the list.

I live in this weird tension of loving and hating the neighborhood that I live in.  I love the progress and culture of my neighborhood, but hate the sin and depravity that is here.  The thing that keeps me from selling my house and moving to suburbia though is Jesus.  In a weird way, I love knowing that I live in a neighborhood in Albuquerque that needs the gospel the most.

Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” – Mark 2:17

Instead of getting mad when I find used condoms by the curb, I find hope.  I know that I’m in a neighborhood that needs Jesus.  I know the gospel gets to shine the brightest in the darkest of places.  My heart is breaking for the family of the little girl that was shot.  My hands are shaking in grief and anger as I type right now.  I take peace in knowing that the full wrath of God will be poured out on the man that shot that beautiful little girl.  But I ultimately hope that for the man to trust in Jesus so that wrath that he rightly deserves will be taken out on the cross.

Please pray with me for my neighborhood.  That God would be glorified as family after family are changed by Jesus.  Pray for me that God will open doors in this neighborhood for the gospel to be proclaimed.  Pray that God would send and raise up more leaders to reach this neighborhood.

While Jesus is fully God, he lives in relationship with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as a member of the Trinitarian Godhead. Paul consistently presents Jesus as fully God, but he also presents Jesus as the Son of God. This doesn’t make Jesus any less of God, because Paul clearly articulates Jesus’ deity. But Paul distinguishes Jesus’ role and relationship within the Trinitarian Godhead. According to Bruce Ware,

The Son, then, is fully God. He is not one-third God, but fully God. Yet, it is not the Son alone who is fully God, but he eternally exists along with the Father and the Spirit, each of whom also possesses fully the identically same divine nature. Because of this, what distinguishes the Son from the Father and the Spirit is not the divine nature of the Son. This–the one and undivided divine nature–is also possessed equally and fully by the Father and the Spirit. Therefore, what distinguishes the Son is his particular role as Son in relation to the Father and to the Spirit and the relationships that he has with each of them.[1]

Throughout the epistle to the Colossians, Paul shows the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. Paul’s first reference between Jesus and God the Father is in Col. 1:3 when Paul gives thanks to “God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul establishes that there is God the Father and God the Son. Continuing in Colossians, God the Father delivers “us to the kingdom of his beloved Son^” (Col. 1:13). Paul declares that it is “the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in [Jesus]” (Col. 1:19, NASB).

Paul also makes known that the Son’s role is in submission to the Father’s authority. Jesus was used by the Father “to reconcile to himself all things” (Col. 1:20, ESV). “God [the Father] made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses” (Col. 2:13). Jesus’ role as the Son is to be used as the Father’s agent of salvation. Jesus is the Father’s agent of creation as “all things were created through him” (Col. 1:16). The Father also “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [Jesus]” (Col. 2:15).  Lastly, Jesus is our mediator to the Father. Paul says that the Colossians are to give “thanks to God the Father through [Jesus]” (Col. 3:17). Through Jesus, the Colossians had a relationship with the Father.

While Paul makes several references to God the Father, there is only one reference to the Holy Spirit in the epistle to the Colossians. In Col. 1:7, Paul speaks about Epaphras being a “faithful minister of Christ” to the Colossians. In the same sentence, Paul says that Epaphras has “made known to us your love in the Spirit” (Col. 1:8). While this doesn’t give us much of an understanding of the role and relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit, it does let us know that the Colossians would have known there is a third person of the Godhead. The Colossians would have to rely on other epistles from Paul that would eventually circulate to them, the gospels, and the teachings of Epaphras to get a better understanding of the rich interaction between Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

[SIDE NOTE: To have a better understanding of the Trinity, go buy Bruce Ware's book "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance" right now and read it immediately.  It is the best book I've read on the Trinity to date (not like I've read a lot...but it's really good).  Don't wait...go do it.]

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[1] Bruce A. Ware, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance (Crossway Books, 2005), 69.

I’ve only been a dad for about a year-and-a-half, but I must say one of my favorite things to do is to pray for Asa before he goes to bed every night.  If you don’t pray for/with your kids every, I would highly recommend it. I thought I would take a moment and share with you what I pray for Asa every night before we put him in his crib.

Father,

I thank you so much for Asa and the blessing that he is in our lives.
I pray the you help him to fall asleep quickly and to sleep the whole night through so he can get the rest that he needs.
I pray that you keep him safe through the night and send your angels to protect him and keep him safe.
I pray against Satan, his demons, their works and effects, and in the name of Jesus I demand that any demons that are in the house or in this room leave immediately and go to  pit for which they destined for all eternity.  I pray this by power and authority of Jesus Christ.
I ask Father that you would send your Holy Spirit to enforce this.  I pray that you would fill our house and hearts with your Holy Spirit.  I ask that your Holy Spirit would work in Asa’s heart; regenerating it and drawing him to You.  Make him a child of yours.
I pray the same thing for his future wife, and that the two of them would stay pure til the day they are married.  I pray that they would become parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who raise their children to be lovers of Jesus.
I pray the same thing for me and Shannon.  Fill us with your Holy Spirit and give us wisdom and strength to raise Asa to be a lover of Jesus.
We pray this all in the name of Your Son Jesus.
Amen

Shannon and I have developed this prayer over the past year-and-a-half.  The words aren’t always the same, but the general concepts are.  We’re constantly adding and changing it.

Do you pray for your kids every night?  Do you have a regular prayer, or do you play it by ear?

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ² And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. – Ephesians 5:1-2

In the beginning, God created us in His image.  Like a mirror, we were created to reflect God’s glory to the world around us.  Unfortunately, sin entered the world and our reflection became distorted.  Our mirrors became bent and broken.

The story doesn’t stop there though.  Jesus entered our world and imaged the Father perfectly.  He reflected God’s glory to the world perfectly.  Everything he did showed us a perfect image of who the Father is.  Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”[i] Jesus imaged the Father.

We are called to image Jesus in the same way that Jesus imaged God the Father.  As disciples we are being conformed into the image of Jesus.[ii] Bruce Ware describes our imaging this way:

Created and finite representations (images of God) of God’s own nature, that in relationship with Him and each other, they might be His representatives (imaging God) in carrying out responsibilities He was given to them.  In this sense, we are images of God in order to image God and His purposes in the ordering of our lives and carrying out of our God-given responsibilities.[iii]

In the next three weeks we will focus on three distinct areas in our lives in which we are called to image God.  We are called to worship Jesus with all of our lives, live in gospel-centered community, and be on mission in the world around us.  For now we will simply focus on the thought of imaging God.

Now that our identity is in Jesus, our lives are called to be a reflection of Jesus.  Our mirrors are being repaired so we can image Jesus in everything we do, think, feel, and say.  This is only possible because of the relationship that we now have with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit as we are continually purified into the image of Jesus.

As a disciple of Jesus, it is our goal that every aspect of our life would reflect God’s glory.  Our families should reflect God’s glory.  Our finances should reflect God’s glory.  Our relationships should reflect God’s glory.  Our jobs should reflect God’s glory.  Spend this week focusing on how you are called to be an image-bearer of God.

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[i] John 14:9 (ESV)

[ii] Romans 8:29

[iii] Wayne Grudem, Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood (Crossway Books, 2002), 79.

So where does our journey begin?  Jesus.  It all starts with Jesus.  He is the creator of all things.  He is ruler over everything.  He holds everything together by His power.  He came to earth; humbly born of a teenage virgin girl in a dirty barn in the Middle East over 2,000 years ago.  He lived a perfect life by the power of the Holy Spirit.   He was betrayed by one of His closest pupils.  He was beaten to a bloody pulp and died a brutal death on a wooden cross for our sins.

It is in the work of Jesus on the cross that our relationship with God the Father is reconciled. Because of the sin of our father Adam, we were separated from God.  In our sin, we ran as far away from God as possible.  Before Jesus, we were viewed as sick-wicked-evil-despicable-depraved-sinful people.  God the Father was ready to pour His wrath out on us.

But God, in His grace, came after us.  He pulled us out of our sin and placed us in Christ Jesus.  For those whom God has called to Himself we are now viewed “in Christ.”  We are now “holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”[i] God the Father no longer sees us.  Instead he sees his Son Jesus Christ.

This happens in what Martin Luther called the great exchange.  On the cross, Jesus took our sin upon himself, and in exchange he gave us his righteousness.  The Apostle Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”[ii] In Jesus, our sin has been exchanged for His righteousness.

But it’s not just about the removal of our sins; everything we do as Christians is “in Christ.”  We are sanctified in Christ.[iii] We serve in Christ.[iv] We are redeemed in Christ.[v] We are made alive in Christ.[vi] We are no longer condemned in Christ.[vii] We are one body of believers in Christ.[viii] We are a new creation in Christ.[ix] We are reconciled to God in Christ.[x] We have freedom in Christ.[xi] We are spiritually blessed in Christ.[xii] We are created for good works in Christ.[xiii] We are encouraged in Christ.[xiv] We become mature in Christ.[xv] We are strengthened by grace in Christ.[xvi] Even our physical death is in Christ[xvii] (and this is just the short list).

If you have put your faith in Him, you are now in Christ.  We no longer have our old sinful identity.  We have His!  We have received His righteousness as our own.   We now have a loving relationship with God the Father by the blood of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Spend this week focusing on your new identity in Christ Jesus.

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[i] Colossians 1:22

[ii] (ESV)

[iii] 1 Corinthians 1:2

[iv] Romans 16:3, 9

[v] Romans 3:24

[vi] Romans 6:11, 1 Corinthians 15:22

[vii] Romans 8:11

[viii] Romans 12:5

[ix] 2 Corinthians 5:17

[x] 2 Corinthians 5:19

[xi] Galatians 2:4

[xii] Ephesians 1:3

[xiii] Ephesians 2:10

[xiv] Philippians 2:1

[xv] Colossians 1:28

[xvi] 2 Timothy 2:1

[xvii] 1 Corinthians 15:18, 1 Thessalonians 4:16

As you saw from my post on Monday, I am in the begining stages of planting a church in Uptown Albuquerque, NM.  Over the past few years I have made some good friends who are also planning on planting churches in Albuquerque and across the U.S.  I thought I would take the next few days to introduce you to these guys so you can pray for them and follow them as they are on their own respective journeys.

I met Los a couple of years ago when we were going through Ed Stetzer’s book “Planting Missional Churches” at City on a Hill.  He is the director of the college ministry, The Well, for Desert Springs Church here in Albuquerque and is the chaplain for the Lobo basketball team.  He is an amazing husband, fantastic father, big reader, and a true UFC fan.

For as long as I’ve known him, Los has had a huge heart for the UNM campus area and Downtown Albuquerque.  His heart is to one day plant a church that will reach the lost of Downtown Albuquerque for the glory of God.

If you are interested in learning more about Los and his ministry, you can meet him at the Well every Tuesday night at 8:07 pm at Desert Springs Church.  You can also read his blog or follow him on twitter.

As you saw from my post on Monday, I am in the begining stages of planting a church in Uptown Albuquerque, NM.  Over the past few years I have made some good friends who are also planning on planting churches in Albuquerque and across the U.S.  I thought I would take the next few days to introduce you to these guys so you can pray for them and follow them as they are on their own respective journeys.

Clayton Bell and I met through the interwebs a little over a year ago through a certain Christian beer blog.  Although I’ve never met Clayton in person, I consider him a good friend.  Through reading his blog and a few online chats, I know that he is a wonder husband and loving father.

About four years ago, Clayton felt the call to plant a church.  Like me, about a year ago he felt that God was calling him off the bench to start his church plant.  This last Sunday, He left his job at Every Nation, Tallahassee, where he served as Family Pastor for the past year and is moving to the Tampa/Trinity area of Florida to start Trinity New Life Church.

If you live in in the Florida area and want to join Clayton on God’s mission to reach the lost of Tampa, you can email him at info@trinitynewlife.com for more information.

Please be in prayer for Clayton, his wife, and daughter as they follow God on this wonderful journey.

If you’ve been keeping track, Shannon only has 10 more days until Asa is due to enter this world (June 1st…make sure to put your guess in for the pool). With this on my mind I’ve been noticing a lot of fathers-to-be on twitter. These are guys that have either just had a kid or are in the pregnancy stage. It’s like there is baby boom in the twitterverse.

So on this Tech Wednesday, I thought I would compile a quick list of all the twitter dads that I know of to date. These are either links to their dedicated blogs or their twitter accounts…whichever one they have.

Erik Anderson – Any man that has more grills than children is ok in my books. Erik has a 2-year-old and another kid due in September.

Joe Day – Joe is a pastor at Mars Hill in Seattle and is about to have twin girls. I’m freaking out about having one…may God give you the strength Joe.

Dustin DeKoekkoek – Dustin’s kid isn’t due until August, but he already has his own twitter account.

Jack Moffitt – Jack’s son was born in January and has already started blogging.

CJ Mills – CJ’s wife just had their son Asher on the 16th….oh yeah…Asher was two month early and they were on vacation. You need to go to his site and read the story. Also pray for Asher and his parents as you can imagine all the things that go along with having a kid that premature.

That’s all the fathers-to-be and recent-fathers in the tech world that I know of right now. If I missed you on the list, make sure to let me know in the comments below. It’s cool to know that I’m not in this crazy process alone.