I've always wanted to learn Karate so I could break boards in a ninja-like way (and I realize Ninjas don't use Karate, but humor the dream of an eight year old wimpy kid). There is a helpful Karate principle that appropriately applies to life and ministry. It pertains to the ancient art of breaking boards (very important coming of age moment for young ninjas).

If one is attempting to break through a board and is aiming for a central spot on the board, he will almost always fail. In trying to process the goal, the brain understands the barrier-- and the potential pain involved-- and the physical reaction is that the ninja stops short of his goal.

In order to successfully break a board, the ninja must aim about 2-3 inches below the board. In so doing, the brain is able to see past the board towards the ultimate goal, and the board naturally breaks in the process.

In recent years, churches in the West have gone through various transformations in their focus and goals. Much has been said both positively and negatively about the Church Growth Movement, and I will publish some further thoughts on that in the coming weeks. While I do not totally jump on either bandwagon (love or hate), I think two important aspects to keep in mind are the goals of gospel fidelity and propagation.

More importantly: Growth cannot be the final goal.

While in many cases growth can be the byproduct of health and right focus, it is not always the best litmus test. I can think of very prominent, self-identified churches with tens of thousands of people coming each week who preach a loose gospel message of happiness, meeting personal needs, and positive-thinking. Some of those are growing quickly, yet I don't think their growth is exclusively a sign of the favor of God. (Side note: most megachurches are more conservative biblically and have a higher level of involvement than smaller churches, but my point is that big is not necessarily more faithful.)

As I stated earlier, gospel fidelity and propagation are the goal and, as just every good ninja knows, when the goal is big enough, breakthrough can happen in the process. Aiming at the gospel results in men and women being redeemed-- receiving new life in Christ-- and can bring about Acts 2 movement where the Lord adds daily to the number of those being saved. It can also bring about alienation, persecution, and even death depending on where the gospel is being preached. The key is aiming at the proper goal and allowing God to determine the numeric outcome of the lives changed.

There seem to be two extremes with proponents and opponents of church growth, however. One extreme is overly captivated with growth. The other is overly cautious of growth. I don't think either is the right course of action.

First, some are overly captivated with growth. One of the problems many have with the Church Growth Movement is that it has made growth the goal. Though fewer churches would identify themselves with the actual movement, they still are enamored with the same thing-- growth is their central goal.

Several in the next generation are now seeing some of the problems of that aim and are reacting accordingly. They're concerned, as am I, with some of the watered-down theology that can be present in the modern-day evangelical machine that can produce growth, but not necessarily the right kind of growth.

Second, some are overly cautious of growth. One of my main concerns with the second group is their reaction to the first group will be, well, an immature overreaction to their excesses. There can be a tendency to simply say, "If this is what organized, church growth is all about, then I don't want anything to do with it." That's a wrong attitude.

To this overly cautious group, I would implore them to have the wisdom and maturity to chew the meat and spit out the bone. Let's learn from leaders and thinkers who care about growth, but learn from them discerningly with biblical fidelity and evangelistic passion.

We can learn from others through research, glean what God is doing through their church to see what it can teach us, and seek to understand practical best practices. We can consider them through a biblical filter and a local context that leads to wise application.

Furthermore, as we focus on a goal of gospel fidelity and propagation, growth is often a byproduct-- and a good one. Growth is something we should want, plan for, and often see flow from our church's focus on the right things. Yes, we can and should make plans in such a way that can facilitate that growth-- all while focused on gospel fidelity and propagation as the bigger goal and focus.

Balance is the key for a mature and healthy response to church growth...and for ninjas as well.

After such an long week, I am excited to welcome pastors and ministry leaders today on The Exchange. Eric Geiger will join me to discuss Transformational Discipleship. As part of the Transformational Initiative, this new phase seeks to define how people really grow in Christ. He will also discuss the issues around his passion to help develop leaders in the church.

At its core, Transformational Discipleship describes the process that brings to life that kind of person described in the Bible. There's no magic formula here, but rather a substantive measure of research with churches and individuals who have wholeheartedly answered the call of Jesus to make disciples.

I encourage you to join us today-- and every Tuesday-- at 2:00 p.m. CDT, for The Exchange.

On last week's episode, guests Trevin Wax, author of Counterfeit Gospels, and George Guthrie, author of Read the Bible for Life, discussed the Story of Scripture. Here is a clip from that show. You can watch the entire episode here.

Today, we continue our series about the linguistic thread in scripture. This series is based on an exploration of the issue in a book Jerry Rankin and I wrote Spiritual Warfare and Missions: The Battle for God's Glory Among the Nations.

In part 1, I talked about the need for more speaking in tongues. In part 2, we touched on the Old Testament, watching God relentlessly pursue his people so they might praise him in the tongues of all the nations.

In part 3, we begin to see clearer pictures of what God wants through the thread in the New Testament.

The nations, scattered at Babel, were supposed to come up to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh. That was God's call to the Old Testament believers-- to go to the nations and bring them to Jerusalem. It was a centripetal mission: to take the scattered nations and gather then in Jerusalem for worship.

As I explained in the last post:

Between Babel and Pentecost we see Israel as the missionary to the nations. Yes, God called missionaries before the New Testament. He always wanted His people to make His name known among the nations. God's Old Testament agenda was that people would come up to Jerusalem, the city on a hill. Isaiah explained, "In the last days the mountain of the LORD's house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it." (Isaiah 2:2).

So, God scattered that at Babel so he could later bring them up to Jerusalem. The people of God in the Old Testament were to be on mission, going to the nations, to bring them with them to Jerusalem to worship him in the tongues of the nations.

Yet, something unique happened when people gathered for a Jewish festival called Pentecost. It is important to notice that there was, to some degree, the nations present at that Jewish agrarian festival. Some tongues, tribes, and nations were represented. However, this celebration took a surprising turn. Pentecost contained a surprise -- tongues. Acts 2:5-11 explains:

There were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were astounded and amazed, saying,[a] "Look, aren't all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that each of us can hear in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking the magnificent acts of God in our own languages."

Why all the detail? Why the list? Why the names? Because God cares about the nations-- He cares that He be praised in the tongues of the nations.

When the people of God did not bring all the nations to Him, He supernaturally brought the tongues of the nations to Jerusalem for a supernatural moment-- a fulfillment of His prior command a picture of his future victory.

The linguistic thread was evident again through the speaking of multiple tongues heard in one voice. Pentecost, and its tongues, were a sign. Regardless of your view on the gift of tongues today, and people have different views, you cannot miss the importance here. This moment was a spiritual fulfillment of the unfulfilled Old Testament mission command and a picture of the completed task.

So the Jerusalem tongues moment (combined with Acts 1:8 preceding the coming of the tongues of fire) is essential to gain an understanding of the mission of God and the linguistic thread. In the Old Testament, the nations came up to Jerusalem. In the New Testament, Jerusalem represented a turning point for the centrifugal (outward) mission. Now, the mission of God goes out from Jerusalem.

In Revelation 7, every tongue, tribe, and nation reunites for the last (and forever) time. The linguistic thread is seen complete around the throne. The mission of God is accomplished. God wins.

Missionary commissioning services and special offerings will no longer be necessary. In a sense, the mission age has ended and the worship age begins. God uses the fruit of earthly mission efforts and populates the ethnolinguistic celebration. A few thousand went out from Jerusalem after Pentecost. Billions will surround the throne in one voice though with many tongues.

Every tongue and every language will celebrate His greatness-- as was always God's desire and plan.

Don't miss my next post-- I will continue to address why all this matters and talk about a lesson from the thread.

The blog is back in business.

To those of you who don't know me, thanks for putting up with the updates on Kaitlyn. She is home now and making progress. We've had some problems this morning (vomiting and weakness), but not as bad as last week. We expected (and expect) some challenges over the next few days-- recovery takes a while. So, I am staying close to home (not traveling) as she recovers, but trying to get back to a bit of normalcy. I might share some things about Kaitlyn in the Morning Roundup, so please forgive the occasional personal update.

Here is today's Morning Roundup.

I'm concerned about the critical spirit so prevalent in certain wings of evangelicalism. I thought Trevin Wax provided a helpful analysis of the issues involved.

A Critical Mind vs. A Critical Spirit -- Trevin Wax

There have been times when my cultivation of a critical mind has led to having a critical spirit. When I was in seminary, I confided in a pastor friend that after taking homiletics (the art of preaching), I was having a difficult time hearing God speak to me in church because I was constantly analyzing and critiquing the sermon. My discernment radar was so strong that I could only hear my own thoughts about the sermon and not the truth the pastor was proclaiming. My pastor friend told me that recognizing this as a problem is the first step toward its resolution. "Trevin, a lot of guys never realize it's a problem."

By God's grace, I now ask for the Lord to speak to me through His Word - no matter who is preaching or what the sermon is. And without fail, God does. The sermon may not be completely tied to the text, biblically faithful in all its particulars, or well illustrated, but God can use it. And thank God He does! Otherwise, how would those of us who preach ever have the confidence to open up the Word and deliver a message?

This doesn't mean we should turn off the critical mind. It doesn't mean we no longer test everything according to the Word. It doesn't mean we just accept every sincere message as being helpful and positive.

It does mean that when we critique, we do so with a spirit of love. We overlook small flaws and winsomely talk to our brothers and sisters when we see big issues. We refrain from insisting on agreement for every jot and tittle of theological precision. We don't dismiss an idea outright just because it comes from someone outside our theological camp.

J.D. Greear answers a question that many have or will be asked.

Can People Be Saved Apart From Hearing About Jesus? -- J.D. Greear

I have read just about all of the major dissenting views to the one I shared on Sunday. I just found them unconvincing, and their ideas more based on human reasoning (i.e. "this is what I think God should be like..." "this idea about God offends me," etc) than deductive conclusions from Scriptural affirmations. I wanted (oh, how I wanted!) to believe in the escape-hatches and plan-B's, but just could not find allowance for it in Scripture. What I preached this morning was my conscience, and the most faithful interpretation, in my judgment, of Paul's thought in Romans. I think he builds up to a very weighty conclusion... namely, that they simply cannot believe unless they hear, and they cannot hear without a preacher, and we (the church) are the only preachers who can be sent. Ultimately, this is what the whole argument is about. Can they believe apart from our being sent? I think Paul's answer is unequivocally "no."

When I am urged to just "let God judge them," that is surely what I am trying to do. Paul has concluded that, in response to general revelation, no one has responded to the general revelation correctly. He even clarified, lest we doubt: "no, not even one!" Thus, all are without excuse; all have sinned; all are under the righteous wrath of God. Had God saved none of us (like he did with the angels) none could have faulted him with injustice.

The force of Paul's logic is, quite simply, the lost nations cannot call on one whom they have not heard, and they cannot hear unless someone is sent to preach. Where there is no preached word, there can be no faith, and without faith, it is impossible to please God. There is not even a hint of a hole in Paul's logic, and his conclusion is inescapable. There is no record of anyone in Scripture, ever, coming to faith in Christ apart from the instrumentality of the church.

And, from the irony department (and I agree with the White House Visitor's Office, btw):

No Birth Certificate Required -- National Right to Life

The Director of the White House Visitor's Office, Ellie Shafer, today distributed an email newsletter ("Tuesday's Tidbits") to many recipients, including Members of Congress, which gives detailed instructions on how to register an unborn child ("a baby that has not yet been born," as Shafer puts it) into the security system that is employed to arrange White House tours.

"We have received a number of calls regarding how to enter security information for a baby that has not yet been born," Shafer wrote. "Crazy as it may sound, you MUST include the baby in the overall count of guests in the tour. It's an easy process."

The newsletter then proceeds to spell out how "the baby's security information should be entered" into the White House system, including such details as: "GENDER: if the parents know put that gender down if not, you can enter either M or F as we'll ask you to update it at the time of birth." All of the information should be updated "once, the baby is born," the newsletter instructs.

"It is ironic that President Obama's staff recognizes the existence of unborn babies for purposes of providing security within the White House -- yet, there is no indication that President Obama has any problem with the fact that throughout the District of Columbia, abortion is now legal for any reason up to the moment of birth," said Douglas Johnson, National Right to Life legislative director. "Notably, the newsletter provides no guidance on what the staff should do if an unborn baby is first registered for security purposes, but then aborted. On May 17, the House Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee plans to hold a hearing on the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 3803), which would generally prohibit abortion in the sixth month and later in the District. If the President wants to provide for the security of the unborn child immediately outside of the White House gates, as well as inside, he should endorse this bill."

An important dialogue is going on about the role of insider movements. I thought this article was helpful, unlike a few others that don't get what is going on but feel the need to comment anyway:

How Islamic Can Christianity Be? -- J. T. Smith

"It was the best training that I have ever had on Muslim evangelism." My friend went on to tell me that we had been doing it all wrong, that we needed to change our strategies. Be doing so we'd see many more Muslims come to Christ. When I inquired as to what she was referring to, she explained how we can introduce Muslims to Jesus through the Qur'an and how Muslims don't have to stop being Muslims in order to enter the kingdom of God.

My wife and I had been working with Muslims for years and were aware of this training, commonly referred to as the Insider Movement. I listened to my fellow missionary and then began to share my concerns. I watched her countenance change. I felt like a spiritual killjoy. She was sharing her excitement about Muslims coming to faith, and all I could do was criticize the approach.

On reflection, I was probably a little harsher than I should have been. After all, when I first read about Insider Movements, I had the same reaction she did. I was hopeful and excited. I thought to myself, Could this be the tool that causes a spiritual awakening in the Muslim world? Over time, as we continued our ministry to Muslims in the Middle East, I realized the answer to my question was "No, it will not."

For a week, I've been blogging on Kaitlyn, her sickness, and now her recovery. In that long and multi-day post, I explained:

Last Saturday, Kaitlyn started to get a rash after five days of fever. Then, after ten different doctors, seven days in the hospital, five possible diagnoses, and a couple of scary moments, we are home and in the recovery and recuperation phase. That should take a week or so more, assuming all goes well.

Kaitlyn is now recovering at home. We will skip the last week of the school year so she can recuperate. But, she made really great progress lately-- actually ate a normal meal and played a bit with her friends yesterday. We were very encouraged at how quickly she is responding since she is home-- must faster than at the hospital. I am not traveling for a couple of weeks, until we are on the other side of any possible relapses or complications.

This morning, Tom Wilemon has a well-written story in The Tennessean on tick-borne illnesses. The story leads with Kaitlyn and give some helpful information about such diseases, particularly Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

Be sure to read the whole piece, but here are a few experts from the article:

Her parents never saw a tick or any indication of a bite, but 7-year-old Kaitlyn Stetzer spent almost a week in the hospital with what doctors believe is Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

She came home from the hospital Saturday...

Kaitlyn's recovery from Rocky Mountain spotted fever has been slow because she did not start taking doxycycline, the recommended medication, sooner, her father said. The classic symptoms of the disease -- a high fever, joint pain and a rash -- came later in the course of her illness. Doctors began administering the medicine before a firm diagnosis.

"If you wait for the actual confirmation, it could come when it's too late," Stetzer said.

Kaitlyn's fever peaked at just under 104 degrees on Wednesday at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. That day, Stetzer and elders from Grace Church, where he is the pastor, anointed the girl with oil and prayed for her healing. Stetzer also serves as vice president of research and ministry development for LifeWay Christian Resources...

"Everyone has heard of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but I had no idea how serious this was," he said. "You are having conversations about mortality rates and everything else. We've been pretty worn out, but right now we're just relieved."

Be sure to read the whole story here. It has more information about Kaitlyn and the diseases-- lots of helpful information and an infographic.

This will be my last blog post on Kaitlyn's health. We are assuming that this is behind us. Yes, we will be vigilant on a few things, but we feel good about where we are and where we are going. Thanks for all your prayers for Kaitlyn this week. We were strengthened and encouarged by them through the whole process.