There is this deep, inky black-hole within all of us.
We can pretend,
we can play the charade..
we can place masks upon our faces…
and ignore that it is there…
That everything is “okay”, and yet, when it is late at night
and the sun has set on our false pretenses…
when the T.V. has been switched off and the vacuum of sound descends…
when electronic devices and cellular phones, with their glowing ambient light reflected in our zombified eyes have all been powered down…
it is then that we truly feel its ache within us.
the missing piece.
the black-hole within all of us.
We know that something is innately missing –
that our hearts are not as full as they should be.
That, despite our comforts and daily groanings –
we. are. still. empty. inside.
so we hide it.
we play hide and seek with it.
we bury it deep,
we attempt to just “live with it”…only to dig it back up when the silence is near
and care for it once more.
Could it be that we were meant for more than this?
Could it be that this black-hole is all that we were ever intended to be
and yet we ran from it?
that underneath it all – our prime directive was to fellowship
to walk with
to lean on
to spill our guts to
to share our secrets and dreams and hopes and yearnings with
to confide and love and cherish and soak up the divine in His eyes?
Could it be that this black-hole, this missing piece
IS all the difference
in the world?
Hate into Love
War into Peace
Night into Day
Sin into Holiness
My God,
my God,
why did I
forsake you?
This –
is to love lost…
and found again.
Outward Mission 
Lead With, Not Over
sustainable path for your corps. Riving that which is on the fringes of death is not easy. This component relies on leadership both from the divisional level as well as the territorial level to see the benefits of longer appointments. Of course there are multiple variables within officers length of appointments. Questions like- are they are good fit? Will this corps be able to afford their family? Do we need their skills elsewhere? The wonderful thing is, many divisions and territories now see the benefit of investing in longer appointment terms. The CO must also see this benefit. It should be a cautionary tale to mentioned that COs need to remain focused on the present appointment and not peering over the fence at potential future appointments.
soldiers and adherents. Without this shared vision, as mentioned before, when the current CO leaves, the vision either dies or is shifted. A strong core group within the mainframe of the corps can provide stability and structure even if the corps officer leaves or is gone. With a shared vision and mission, which is agreed upon by local officers and constituents, EVERYONE knows that needs to be done. Talk about your vision. Keep it at the forefront of everything you do. Emphasize it, and keep talking about it from the pulpit to the visitation of soldiers and friends.
This might sound offensive to some of you. Some might say, “that’s not fair, we are dependent on God.” I am too. But there is a temptation to worry more about finances and where the next funding source will come from to pay for the bills of the corps, than how God is going to provide. Yes, we work hard to secure funding, but be careful that the funding doesn’t become your measure of success in the corps. Financially secure corps can become spiritual graveyards too. There are different types of corps death, and a corps worshiping their wealth can be one of them. It sounds ridiculous, but it can happen. Don’t allow your focus to become solely on what you have or need. Remember the One who sustains us and will provide what we need when we need it. Yes, pray about tithing. Yes, pray about grants and funding sources, but don’t let them hamstring what you can and can’t do for the Lord in your community. Even those with limited financial resources can do wonders for the Kingdom!
Study your neighborhoods. Find out what the issues are. Ask important questions to those you serve. Get out of your buildings and talk to people. It’s really not about being seen, but as we do these things we will be seen. In order to revive our dying corps, we have to continually explore the shifting needs and wounds of our community! Each community is different, as are their needs. What may have worked in a previous appointment might not be what this present appointment needs. So Corps Officers, even though you may have an awesome blueprint for things that were successful in your last corps, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be automatically successful here. As a team – local officers, soldiers, adherents, friends – study, ask, explore and then meet the needs currently not being met in your community.
then be passionate about growing our spiritual levels. What do I mean? I fear that sometimes our corps are still in the kiddie pool of spiritual growth and without challenge they will never wade deeper into this faith. We have to continually challenge, speak, live and teach holiness. This is spiritual development and growth. This is vital to sustaining our corps members from the inside out. Without holiness, we run the risk of becoming another social service club that hangs out on Sunday mornings and just does good works for people. It has to go deeper than that. We have to keep each other accountable and emphasize the desire to encounter a continuance of salvation. The Holy Spirit doesn’t want us to remain static, and when we are, I fear corps death will surely follow. He will raise up others if the we remain in the kiddie pool. Wade out there, don’t be afraid to ask difficult questions, seek Christ’s image in all aspect of your living. Then…go!
I remember when I was a young boy. We had a small dining table located in the kitchen. We didn’t have much. My parents were missionaries and so we lived off of what was provided to us. We were happy though, and the simple pleasures of life often occupied our small household. At that breakfast table in the kitchen we had our humble meals. Many times we ate fish at least five times a week. But one thing was constant in that small room in which we gathered for our meals. On that breakfast table sat a clear plastic stand with cards in it. The cards were nestled in their place, they were small, sometimes multi-colored. These cards looked like playing cards of one kind or another, but in fact they were scripture readings and a devotional thought for the day. Most days my father or mother would select one of these multicolored cards, sometimes my sister and I would help pull them from their place. Usually my father would read the card selected for the day. My sister and I would listen,though admittedly as children tend to be, I was often fidgety and sometimes would not hear what was being said. But those devotional cards directed our day. After the reading was finished we would pray. Right there in that little kitchen, my sister and I first encountered this discipline of prayer, which was being modeled for us by our parents.
At the other end of the spectrum is the ignoring and tolerance of sin issues in your corps. Be mindful that we are not the judge of our world, but we do hold a high standard for our fellow brothers and sister in Christ who wear this uniform. This almost seems to be in complete conflict with the first point, but it is not. Galatians 6:1 clearly reminds us as it did in Paul’s day – “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”
Officer(s). Yes, they have had training, yes they are leaders, but they cannot lead properly without the core leaders to help them. A shared vision and delegated group will be better equipped to handle opportunities and threats that come to your corps and community. If you don’t currently have core leaders, begin by praying and asking God to reveal potential leaders to you. Prayer is never a last resort, but a constant conversation. Don’t limit your search to just the older members, the younger generations will eventually replace us at some point, so begin to invest in them. Begin to disciple them, and display for them what leadership is all about! Gather one or two influential people with common sense to help you in your corps. Remember, that we are an egalitarian movement – both men and women are equal, so do not limit your leadership search to just men or just women. Without a core group of leaders, the vision and movement will be limited.
and what we do as a corps, that we begin to have no need for the “outside world”. We stop looking out into our community and we become self-reliant and self-focused. In this danger, what happens when our congregation gets old and dies? Will there be youth to raise up and take our place? Will be just be a group of inbred soldiers? I don’t mean to sound crass, but the reality is, we need to stop being afraid of our communities. We need to stop treating the people outside our buildings as “those people” with a sense of superiority. We must squelch the desire to just remain in our buildings and selfishly focus on “us”. What about the great commission? What are we fighting for if we only fight for ourselves and our traditions and self-interests? If we are all-in and inwardly focused, we will slowly die away…and no one will care when we’re gone.
This is probably a rare thing, but perhaps not. Perhaps there are some corps that have so many services to the community that worship and all things “Spiritual” are an after thought, and then you come to Sunday and it just becomes a “thing we do”. We focus all of our energies on the outside, on meeting human needs but we seldom meet those needs “in HIS name” anymore. We might as well be just another social service agency or a humanitarian group, because we will have forgotten our first love and the “body” will be just bits and pieces pulled and stretched so thin that it doesn’t resemble Christ any longer.
vision and goal because “they have been set, and we don’t alter these goals”. Goals should never be so rigid that there is no looking back and re-evaluating what works and what does not work, whether it be in evangelism, discipleship, or corps fellowship growth strategies. Remember what worked 100 years ago, might not necessarily be the best method to use in an ever evolving culture. Not to say we adopt our culture, but we ought to consider what works and what does not work any longer and not be so rigid that we refuse to ever change how we plan and how we enact a strategy in our corps. Rigidity can kill your corps, and stifle any potential growth you might see.
If you corps does not understand Holiness, and or it is never preached on spoken of, perhaps this might be an indicator of a terminal issue. I am not saying that holiness is the end-all be-all of the corps, but what do you do with Salvation after receiving it? Where does one go after initial sanctification? Does the Holy Spirit still desire to transform us through and through? Does He not want us to be the very reflection of Christ? Yes. There needs to be continual conversation about our surrendered life and how that looks in the real world.
emulating elders we respect, this is becoming more than who we are now. Walking in the footsteps of saints and in so doing, we too become saints within this great army. If your corps does not have this vital element, closely connected to holiness, you could be facing extinction. Recognize this need, and do something!!
to be in the bygone days. We can rest comfortably on financial resources and riches we have been given from various places, and never take another risk again…and if we do this, we. will. die. I cannot stress it enough, in order for God to change our Army, we have to become uncomfortable again. We have to take risks and forget what the rules and regulations say. We have to close dead corps, move to places of need without bureaucratic red tape hamstringing us along the way. We have to get out of our pews and put feet to our professed faith. It’s either put up or shut-up. Seriously, we can talk a good game, but if we can’t back it up, then hung it up and quit already. We don’t need fans in the stands not doing the work. We don’t need complainers and criticizers telling it us it can’t be done – because the risk is too great. If we don’t do something, we might as well put our corps on life-support right now. There is a sad trend that is taking place in our corps around the USA, and our corps are not statistically growing anymore. We are not busting out of our corps buildings anymore. Yes, perhaps it’s across the board in all denominations, but could it be that we are so comfortable now that we have stopped ACTUALLY trying to reach our communities? Could this be an entire systemic issue of spiritual laziness? Forgive me if I offend you today, I can’t help but feel alarmed at how swiftly our corps are dying. And I can’t help but wonder what the next 50 years will hold for this movement? If we do nothing, we will not be here in 50 years…not like we have been, not like we should be…and then perhaps, Lord forbid, God raises up someone else to do what we should have been doing.
comers into our midst? Don’t be too quick to dismiss this assertion. Don’t rush to say, “well we are always friend”…those kinds of generalities do not always paint an accurate picture. It is true, even in the The Salvation Army, that change is not always easy to embrace. Change can be big stresses like moving corps buildings, but it can also be lesser stresses, yet still considered “change” such as inviting new members into you fold.
One of the dangers of wearing the uniform and serving the corps can be “power”. We might not do this consciously but perceived power while in uniform can bring us from humble to prideful in a heartbeat. It is very easy to complain that the dirty, disheveled person coming into our Holiness meeting is just looking for a box of food and anything we will give them. We then hold the power, we then, whether we see it or not can assume a place of superiority of that “wretch” in need. Even the disciples had moments of superiority – sometimes attempting to run of children who wanted to hang out with Jesus because they didn’t want to disturb their teacher. We can fall into this “I’m better than them” mentality if we are not careful. One of the chief dangers in becoming a close knit family in our corps is that if new people come, they are outsider and not truly welcome. Special concerted effort must be given to avoid this trap.
Pastor's Ponderings 