A Melting Pot Church

 The Lord spoke a word to me this morning. It is the term Melting Pot. He made it clear to me that the Door church in San Antonio is in a real sense a melting pot church.

The idea of a melting pot as it applies to people is summed up in this definition.

"The melting pot theory has been used to describe societies that are formed by an assortment of immigrant cultures that eventually produce new hybrid social and cultural forms. The melting pot theory holds that, like metals melted together at great heat, the melting together of several cultures will produce a new compound, one that has great strength and other combined advantages."

Our church is made up of many different kinds of people. Some were saved here, others were saved somewhere else. Some are native to this area, others came from somewhere else. We have Spanish speakers and those who cannot speak Spanish. We have blacks, whites, Hispanics, and who knows what else. But we all are joined together by a bond of the Holy Spirit and by our common faith in Jesus Christ. And by committing to this church we become different people than we were before coming here.

One thing about a melting pot is that it takes heat to make something new out of different ingredients. And it takes skill, both from the pastor and from the saints. As I have lived here I have noticed how God is forming something new out of dissimilar ingredients that have been melted together. The result is a church that is bigger and stronger than any of us would be on our own.

Some churches are small and stagnant simply because they are too narrow minded and too narrowly focused on only one group of people. They only want a certain race or a certain language or certain political ideas or who live in a certain part of town. Growth and influence comes with a willingness to embrace people who are different than you.

The word for today is Melting Pot. This is something that has built this church and this is something that will continue to build this church.

Song Service Revelation

 I rarely listen to modern religious radio. I usually don't care for the style of music or teaching that they broadcast. And i am not a fan of entertainment posing as worship. But recently I listened to a so called Christian radio station and I heard the songs that we sing in church here. And then I began to understand something. I understood where our church gets some of it's worship music. I also understood why we sing songs the way that we do. We are singing songs that coming from Christian radio!

I never asked about where our songs came from before. We had hymnals. We had tradition in Foursquare. And occasionally someone would teach us something new. And that is true in this church as well. We sing songs that have been sung here for a long time. The only time a song is wrong is when you change it to suit your ability or when you think you remember how it goes but you do what you think works. This only happens when the song leader is not musically inclined.

Religious radio is not a blessing to me. But if it helps me learn our songs then I will listen more.

Bible Study Thoughts

 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said unto you." John 14:26

We talked about this verse in our home Bible study last night. We talked about the Holy Spirit. Here are some of my thoughts.

First, why is the Holy Spirit called the Holy Ghost in some translations? Maybe we don't understand what the word ghost meant a long time ago?

Second, In this one verse we see the trinity. the Son, referring to the Father, and talking about the Spirit. 

Finally, every denomination and many religions have a doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Do they have the reality of the Spirit in their lives and in their churches?

The Bible never gets stale or irrelevant.

Pastor Greg in San Antonio

 It was a blessing to have pastor Greg with us yesterday. He did a great job ministering to us in the morning. Then, in the evening, we had a full house as the area churches joined us for a great night with many saved and many healed. Tonight pastor Greg will wind up his visit to San Antonio with a time of ministering to men.

I told pastor Greg while in Prescott that it was funny that He did not preach at all while I was there but I had to come home to hear him preach in Texas.

They tell me that pastor Mitchell used to come every spring to spend time in San Antonio. I am grateful that pastor Greg followed the pattern and spent time with us this year. 

Just As I Am

The Conclusion Of The Matter

 Now that I am here and now that I am a part of this church I realize that it is I who must change. I am not trying to change this church. That is pastor's job.  I live here, so it is my responsibility to change to adapt to how things are done here. 

It is easy to visit a new place. but once you live there and once you decide to call that new place home, the differences begin to emerge. Different culture, different liturgy, different style of conducting everything. The differences almost made me give up and move on. But my trip to Arizona made me realize where home is and that means making the best of what had been a bad situation for me.

I am grateful to be here. I am grateful for my pastors. I am grateful for new friends. I am grateful for new food to eat! And, God willing, I intend to live out the rest of my years right here. 

As I learn to deal with you as you are, please treat me the same, and learn to deal with me as I am.

The Importance Of True Worship

 My recent trip to Arizona took me to church in Tempe and in Prescott. It was interesting to note the difference between church services in Texas and church services in Arizona. In Texas we are about emotion and excitement. In Arizona it is about the Holy spirit and heart-felt worship. We hype the song and repeat the song over and over and when it is time for the church to vocally worship it is weak and quiet and short lived. In Arizona the church worship is louder and longer and deeper than ours is.

Emotionally stirred is not the same as Spirit filled. Rattle is not revival. The real test of worship is what happens when the music stops and the people open their mouths in praise to God. Real praise is vocal, not hand clapping.  Real praise is spiritual, not emotional. No one has to stir up or hype the Prescott church to get them to worship. They know how, and when, and they do it unaided.

Pastor Mitchell used to preach on worship often. He saw the threat coming from the religious world and he saw the need to clarify what worship is and to protect us from what it is not. It seemed strange to me when pastor Mitchell would preach on worship. But now that I am here I can see better why he felt that worship was important and why he felt the need to defend true worship from error.

Not everything is spelled out clearly in the Bible. I have my experience to guide me and I have seen what happens in real revival. Worship based on discredited church groups and their false doctrine songs is a recipe for deception. Singing a lie may make it pleasing to the ear, but it is still a lie. Basing our worship on religious radio and singing songs written and preformed by unsaved people is not the way to worship a risen savior.

PS: no one where I recently was stands during the worship service until the song leader has them stand towards the end. It is not spiritual to stand for the entire song service. I have been brought to my feet by good music and by great ministry. Give me a reason to stand and I will. Or else I will stand because y'all do.

Let God be true, and every man be a liar. Amen. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!