Lessons From Watoto

Recently it was our privilege as a church family to host the Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda. This was the third year in a row for us and each time we host them the church is packed. Listening to their songs, seeing their joy and watching as they dance before the Lord in thankfulness to Him is inspiring.

However, having them in your home is another issue altogether. The children come in groups of two or three with one of their adult chaperones. We provide sleeping space and some food as an exchange. This time because we were hosting them on a Sunday night we had them in our homes for two nights as their rule of thumb is to take Mondays as a day off from traveling and performing. They arrive at our homes Sunday night after the performance and clean-up are finished. They leave Tuesday morning after a full day off when they do laundry, school work and sleep in. This gives a little more time to visit and to play with them. The first questions our guests asked my wife was whether or not we had children. They love to play with other children on a day off. They were disappointed when she said no but happy when she said we have grandchildren that they will get to spend some time with.

The girls are orphans who live in a Watoto home with a mom who creates a new family experience for up to eight children per home. It is a wonderful thing that Watoto is doing. If you don`t know much about them go to their website: www.watoto.com. It is very impressive what they are accomplishing. However what I have noticed is that these girls crave a father-figure`s attention. Give them a bit of time to get to know you and they want all the attention you can give them as a man. The girls sat on each side of me Sunday night with a book asking if I would read to them. Monday night when I got home I had to leave for another meeting but I promised the girls I would see them before they went to bed. I arrived home around 9pm and was tired. I said hello to the girls then turned on the TV to watch the last bit of the hockey game when all of sudden two girls are right beside me. One takes the remote out of my hand and turns off the TV while the other one grabs my hand and says, “Come play with us.` Obviously you deny what you want in order to play with two girls that you may never see again.

Later, God spoke to me about what had transpired in my home. Their hunger for my attention is exactly what God wants from me. God wants me to desire Him in the same way they wanted my attention. Play with me, read to me, talk to me or just spend time with me was their heart`s desire. God wants me to have the same heart desire for His attention. He is always available. He is always waiting. He is never tired or busy or wanting to do something else with someone else. He constantly watches me. He is always available to me. Crazy to think that I`m the one who gets too busy or too tired or too distracted or would rather spend time with someone else and ignore the creator of the universe but its true.`

The other lesson was a bit more pointed than that one. I arrived home and the auntie who was staying at our place asked me how my day had been. She was standing in my kitchen washing dishes and cleaning up. I told her how I rose at 5:30, started my day with a breakfast meeting at 6:30 and ran a full day before arriving home at 4:30 only to head out to another meeting at 5pm. Honestly I was whining about how hard I was working even though it was not that hard of a day. (in my defence I was also battling a cold…I know I know its not much of a defence). This woman, born and raised in Uganda spending her life rescuing, raising and rebuilding the lives of orphaned children listened to my sad lament. Once I was done this was her response to me. She stood in my kitchen with her arms extended at her side gesturing to the house I live in and said this in response to my complaints, `Pastor Russ, to whom much is given, much is required.`

That took guts but it was like the voice of God Himself speaking through this wonderful African woman saying to me don`t you dare complain about your life. Look at how much I have blessed you. You have more than you will ever need. You are blessed to the extreme. Don`t you dare complain about what I have called you to do.

I got in my car, drove to my next meeting but I couldn`t shake the image of this wonderful African woman being bold enough to confront me about my complaining in regards to serving God. I am blessed. I have an abundance. I have nothing to complain about. My God is a good and generous God. I am trying to live with this as a constant awareness in my day to day life.

I can`t wait for the next time Watoto shows up. I know God will use them to speak to me again.

Lead Pastor Blog

Today as I write this post we have two teams in two different parts of the world helping people build and/or rebuild their lives. The people they will help they have not met before. Not one of them will be paid anything for the work that they will physically perform. For some of them this is their first time doing something like this but for others they are veterans of such trips. Some of those first-timers will go again. For some of us once we get a taste of this kind of help we just can’t stop going back to help again and again.

As the Lead Pastor here at Cornerstone you have no idea how proud I am of each one of our teams as they head out on these kinds of trips. I`ll explain more of that but first let me tell you about a meeting I wasin this past week. I am on a few different boards both locally and nationally. This past week I had to make a quick trip to represent one national ministry that is in negotiaions with another national ministry in regards to working more closely together. The leaders of both ministries consistently talked about what was best for the Kingdom of God. They spoke about working together for the good of the Kingdom of God. They had been dreaming about new ways to impact our country with the great news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Their independent conclusions were that they could do more together than they could individually. It was not about which ministry was going to benefit more but rather it was about how the Kingdom of God could be best served. It was an honor to participate in that meeting.

Jesus talked a lot about the Kingdom of God. In fact in Matthew 6:33 He went so far as to say that the Kingdom of God should be our central focus. There He tells us to seek first God`s Kingdom. In other words this should be what our lives are all about if we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ. God`s Kingdom is not a side-issue for Christians. His Kingdom is not about something that we do on Sundays. It is not about going to church or throwing a few bucks in the offering plate. It is not about trying to be good.

When I seek first the Kingdom of God it means that God and His plans are the central focus of my life. I don`t fit them into my life I make them my life. In other words I take my life and essentially ask God how does my life fit into your Kingdom plans.

In the meeting I had this week that was what these two ministry leaders were doing. They took their own ministries and submitted them to the plans God has for His Kingdom.

Getting back to our teams that are out in our world working right now. Many of these people have had to use their own holiday time to do this work. I already mentioned that not one of them will be paid for this work that they are doing. What is happening here is that each one of these team members have submitted their lives to the plans God has for His Kingdom. This is why I am so proud of our teams. Our lives are not about us. When we have that eternal moment when our spiritual eyes are opened and we realize we need to ask for God`s forgiveness and enter into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ our lives take on a brand new purpose. We are now about the Kingdom of God. Our church is about the Kingdom of God. We are helping people and ministries in other parts of the world that have no direct connection to our church in Saskatoon outside of the one great fact that the Kingdom of God connects us. It is true that some of the people we will help do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ but that does not negate the fact that what we are doing is Kingdom work. God wants the world to know He loves them and we become the hands and feet that take that message to people hurting and in need.  Our church will continue to work with other churches or ministries that want to do kingdom work.  It is not about us but it is about God`s Kingdom.

On another part of our church website you can click on `mission trips`and read the stories of the team that is currently in Haiti as well as stories from previous trips. These are stories about the work of the Kingdom of God and I could not be more pleased.

Lead Pastor Blog

Passion is a word used frequently in our contemporary culture. We say that people are passionate about photography or jogging or any number of healthy habits. People can have passion for their family or their sports team or their pet. But what does it really mean to have a passion or to be passionate?

The online free dictionary defines passionate as “capable of having or dominated by powerful emotions.” Another definition says this, “having, compelled by or ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling.” So with these definitions in mind what does it mean for us as Christians to be passionate about worship or passionate about following Jesus Christ or passionate about the scriptures? Let me tell you what I witnessed recently and see if I can’t draw some conclusions for us.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to watch my wife’s nephew play in a baseball tournament for fourteen year olds in the United States. They were the only Canadian team in this American tournament. Coming from Canada they had not played baseball all winter save for a few trips to the batting cages to get some rust off of their baseball swings. The team was put together by invitation for the coming baseball season but this was their first time playing together. After the first day I was impressed that they held their own against their American opponents. Many of the teams at the tournament were in their fifth or sixth tournament of the season already. When you live in Arizona or Texas or parts of California you can literally play baseball 12 months of the year. That was one difference I noticed but there was something else too.

As the tournament progressed and I watched more games I noticed our team didn’t seem to mind losing. They were excited about the adventure of being in the tournament but the actual game of baseball seemed almost secondary to them. I walked by their dugout during the game and the boys on the bench were talking about 14 year old boy stuff but their conversation was not about baseball even though they were right in the midst of a tournament. This stood out to me when I walked by the dugouts of some of the other teams playing.

There was an intense game going on between teams from California and Nebraska at the same time as our team was playing. When there was a break in the action of the Canadian team I would quickly walk over to this other game. I stood by the dugout of the Nebraska team. Their converstaion was all baseball all the time. When their team was up to bat the whole team was standing in the dugout watching and cheering. Every hit was important. Every out was significant. Every play was watched and either cheered or groaned about.

These 14 year old boys from Nebraska were passionate about baseball. Our boys from Canada were playing baseball. To me that`s the difference. When we won it was okay. When we lost it was okay. The emotion of the experience did not vary no matter what happened on the field. It would not be accurate to say that our Canadian guys were passionate about baseball. They probably enjoyed it. They had a certain level of committment to come all the way to that tournament but it would be inaccurate to refer to them as being passionate about baseball.

These other teams talked and acted like basball was the only thing that mattered to them. The sense you got from them was that they ate, drank, slept and played baseball.

I think we can see the difference. I believe God calls us to be passionate followers of Jesus Christ. I believe we should passionately engage the scriptures as the way to discover how to live in this world. I believe we have every reason to be passionate worshippers of our God. I`m just not convinced that we all get it.

I think some of us are like the team from Canada in the American baseball tournament. We are participating but we aren`t passionate. We are engaged but it would be inaccurate to refer to us as being passionate followers of Jesus Christ. We are playing the game of spirituality but we have a lot of other interests outside of our spirituality.

I recently read these words from Judges 21:25, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.“ That was not a good time in Israel`s history. The people had lost their focus and in losing focus they certainly lost their passion for following God. Today let`s take some time to evaluate ourselves. Let`s examine our passion levels when it comes to our relationship with our God.

After watching the tournament I was inclined to believe that spiritually speaking I wanted to be more like the boys from Nebraska who were on the edge of their seats with every pitch, every hit and every play in their game. Those boys had passion!

Comfort vs. Challenge

We’ve spent a fair bit of time here the last few weeks at youth, in church on Sunday, and in the office throughout the week coming back to this idea of “tensions”.

The concept is simple:  Far too often we use the word “balance” to try and wrestle with faith questions, when in reality “balance” in this sense becomes “compromise”, and looking for the lowest common denominator.  ”Balance” puts the focus on us–we become the subject.  ”How do I make this work for me?”

“Tension” seems a more appropriate word.  We talked about it a few weeks ago in reference to the idea of God’s sovereignty, and our right to choice.  Somehow we have to hold the two in tension–because to simply try and balance them diminishes them both.  The same goes for the idea of “losing your life to gain it”, and that we saved by works and by faith.  Not always an easy thing to do!

And so when a wonderful friend asked the question this week–”should we pick a church for comfort and relationship, or challenge and vision” I was intrigued by the responses.  Many tried to find the balance.  To uphold both.

But I don’t think there is any tension here…. because it shouldn’t ever be about us in the first place.  For the record here was my response:

One of underlying questions is what are we talking about when we talk about church, no? Relationships matter, but the point of coming together as a community of believers is to worship in community – so it really should have nothing to do with us, to a certain extent. (and for that matter, if vision is centered on scripture it SHOULDNT change. Practical avenues of ministry to accomplish unique aspects of ones context might, but the big pictures shouldn’t). Relationship is an important dynamic in a community of faith – but I also question how quickly it can develop, and how deep it can be in the 15 minutes of human interaction we share with most of the people in our churches on a sunday morning. No one goes to the movies once a week and then gets annoyed when they don’t make any significant relationships in the lobby on their way in and out, and yet we often have that expectation on a Sunday morning. Most significant relationships we DO have with people from church come out of different circumstances than “foyer flirting”: shared life experience, working side by side on a project, serving together. Something beyond sharing a pew connects people, and relationship develops and deepens. But even then, that is not WHY we go Sunday morning… its why we live in community with each other throughout the rest of the week.

As a western church culture, we are incredibly concerned about the relational side of “church”.  But i’d be willing to go even farther and suggest that relationship is actually a by-product of obedience.  It happens because we choose to follow and be obedient.  Scripture is pretty clear:  Our lives are no longer our own (Gal 2.20), and so our chief pursuit must be Christ.  At times this will be lonely, and at times full of joy, but-at the risk of sounding callous-that’s irrelevant.  All that matters is God.  C.S. Lewis has a great quote:

 ”He who has God + (fill the blank with whatever you would like) has nothing more than he who has God and God alone”.

I love my friends honesty in asking the question, and wrestling with the idea.  I wish we were all willing to evaluate our motivations like that.  But I do hope and pray that as a people we pursue God first, and allow the “comforts” to develop as by-products of obedience.   Not the main event itself.

Lead Pastor’s Blog: The Tale of Two Men

Let me tell you about two men I know. Both men would profess to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Their independent journeys to find Christ are different but the destination is the same. The one man I know significantly better than the other man but let me tell you about them.

They were in a meeting together and the one man wore a button down collared shirt. The other man wore a faded tee shirt. One man wore jeans that had a hole in them by design. The other man wore jeans that had holes in them because they were worn. One man had well made shoes that matched his wardrobe. The other man had running shoes that had seen too many miles. When they were leaving to finish their respective days the one man put on his leather jacket and the other man slipped on a well-worn winter jacket.

One man walks to a lot of his destinations as he shares a vehicle with his wife. The other man drives in his newer model car and his wife drives in her own car. One man has a staff that works for him and the other man has a few co-workers working with him. One man has a curiosity about the inner city in which he lives. The other man has a passion for the people of the inner city in which he lives.

One man’s hands will touch drugs, puke, homeless people, weapons, dirt, empty bottles and backpacks in any given day. The other man’s hands will touch a laptop, iphone, ipad, books, bibles, office furniture and a personal coffee thermos on any given day.

One man’s hands will touch people in such a way as to be the hands and feet of Jesus. The other man will talk about the need to be the hands and feet of Jesus. One man will look into the face of one person at a time and tell them they are valuable and loved by God no matter what their circumstances might be. The other man will look at hundreds of people and remind them that because God loves them they need to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who don’t know that God loves them.

One man’s heart is broken by the brokenness he sees in the people he serves. The other man’s heart is broken by the hardness of the hearts of many of the people he serves. One man touches the poor day by day. The other man reads about the poor once in a while. One man knows the poor by name. The other man knows the rich by name. One man stops and has a conversation with the poorly dressed person on the street. The other man walks around and avoids the poorly dressed person on the street. One man fights for the welfare of the disadvantaged. The other man fights to keep what he already has.

One man read Matthew 25:40 and had no problems because he was doing good to the least of these. (“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”) The other man read those same words and shuddered wondering how he could explain the words in such a way so that they would not apply to him.

Two men living two lives in the same city serving the same God. Something has got to change. We must stop looking at the people who are actually serving the poor as the weird, oddballs who have a strange calling. We must come to recognize that God “calls” each and every one of us who dare to call ourselves followers of Christ to serve those less fortunate than ourselves.

These days as I look into my own spiritual mirror I do not like the image I see of myself. I do not like the image of the church I see. Something has got to change……in me. What about in you? I came across this prayer recently. Will you pray it with me? “Here we stand, Lord. Purify us. Here we kneel Lord, we lift you up. Here we lay, our faces down. Wreck us, Lord. And do a mighty work.”

May God do a mighty work in me…and in you.

Where Does Jesus Fit Into Your Life?

Christmas, it is such a great time of year. It’s a time for celebration. It’s a time for feasting. It’s a time for parties. It’s a time for concerts. It’s a time for family. It’s a time for giving. It’s a time for pageants. It almost seems like it’s a time for everything but …… Jesus. Don’t get me wrong I love Christmas. Seriously how can you not like the idea of giving or getting gifts.

I know for some people it is a painful time of year due to losses of a relational nature. I will not try to solve or even identify with those realities which I by the grace of God have not had to deal with. Depression is another real factor at this time of year. It seems that this season of “Good News of Great Joy” is not experienced right across the board. The calendar turns to December and some people slide into a funk which cannot be cured by mere words or a hug. I honestly feel for these people.

However, for countless others Christmas presents an annual challenge. For Christians it presents the challenge of celebrating the birth of our Saviour without losing our minds. These weeks leading up to Christmas can be among the busiest of the entire year. The shopping and baking and churching (we will just throw in a new verb here) and hosting and traveling and working, well you get the picture. There is a lot of stuff going on. This year it gets even more complicated because Christmas actually arrives on a Sunday. The nerve of Jesus to have His birthday celebration on a Sunday.

As a general rule we, the Christians, carve a few hours (one or two) out of our hectic weekly schedules to worship Jesus on a Sunday. Actually new statistics tell us that even the most regular and committed followers of Jesus have an average attendance rate of 1.8 Sundays per month. In light of that we are carving out of our month a few hours to worship Jesus but I don’t want to get sidetracked with these details. So, Sunday rolls around and we attend the church of our choice a couple of times a month. In other words we fit Jesus in a couple of times a month. Now I can hear some of us saying I don’t have to go to church to serve or worship Jesus. My answer is both yes and no to that statement. If church was the only place I could worship Jesus then that would leave me with a once a week at best opportunity. Obviously I can worship Jesus outside of church. In fact I better be worshipping Jesus when I’m not in church or else something is amiss. However I am clearly called in the scriptures to assemble myself with other believers for the express purpose of worshipping as well as serving God.  So yes I can worship without being in a church but I better be in a church regularly to worship as well.  It is not either/or situation.  It is a both/and situation.

Back to Christmas falling on December 25th.  Is it possible to honestly, strategically, intentionally and passionately worship Jesus on December 25th this year without attending a church service?  The answer is yes.  But what is the problem with bundling up the family and making the trek to church after you open the gifts?  What better day to explain to the children that not only do we say this is the birthday of Jesus but we actually make Him the focus of the day by attending church?  I know you have to get the kids ready and they want to play with their gifts and there are (big) meals to prepare and well the list could go on.  Honestly, what is Christmas about?  Is about the gifts?  Is it about the food?  Is it about your family?  Nothing wrong with any of those things/people but Christmas is about Jesus.

Here is where I think we can see what we do with Jesus throughout much of our year…we fit Him in where we can.  We fit Him in if we have time.  We fit Him in where we think He fits.  In the book of Luke we see Jesus chatting with a few people who wanted to follow Him but they had some questions.  In Luke 9:49ff we read, “He said to another man, ‘Follow me’.  But the man replied, ‘First let me go and bury my father.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’  Still another one said, ‘I will follow you Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’  Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’”

Here is the deal with Jesus, He doesn’t fit into our lives.  Either He is the focus or He is nothing.  Either we serve Him or we don’t.  Either He is the center of our life or He isn’t.  Jesus does not accept second place.  Jesus does not accept a minor role in our lives.  Read the gospels and you find people deciding this was too much.  They walked away.  They decided that they would not follow Him because He was asking too much.  Jesus has not changed.

He doesn’t fit into our lives.  He must be our life…even at Christmas.

Lead Pastor’s Blog

This is a follow-up to my last post and some of the comments and meetings I have been part of since that post. Recently in a meeting I was leading one person asked me this: “Russ what are we doing? What have we accomplished?” Great questions!

My personal journey in this area has now been years in the making. As I look back over my life I see God at work in sometime subtle ways and sometimes blatant ways opening my eyes to the state of our world. It has been a steady progression of Him grabbing ahold of my heart on these issues and not letting me go. At times I am thankful and at times I wish I could go back to my “I didn’t know” stage of life. God does not seem the least bit interested in letting me go back. It is clear to me that this is a jorney forward not backward.

In November of 2010 our Friday morning men’s breakfast heard from Rick Langlais of Hands On Ministries which for now I look back on as the impetus to move us as a church forward into the arena of poverty awareness. We were confronted with the reality of abuse, poverty, lack of education, generational problems and prostitution right here in our own backyard of Saskatoon. We were not dealing with social issues on the back side of the globe we were now aware of incredible needs a few blocks from our own church.

I believe this information of a local nature has awakened many of us. The truth of scripture from Matthew 25 in the story of the sheep and the goats took on a new application…a personal application. We began asking ourselves, “what am I doing to help the least of these?” So let’s review what has transpired in the past months understanding it has been less than a year since Rick spoke at our church which I’ll use as our starting point.

1. We started a monthly grocery collection to help the inner city of Saskatoon. The church has responded very well to this initiative.
2. We had a traning session on volunteering in the inner city and now a significant number of people from Cornerstone now help out at various agencies in our downtown core.
3. We have hosted a couple of different ministries which then gave us the opportunity to begin sponsoring children in developing parts of our world. For some this was a new venture while others were already engaged in this support ministry.
4. We assisted the local ministry of Habitat for Humanity this summer by providing meals and snacks every Wednesday through July and August.
5. Lynette Sawatsky has started a children’s choir for kids at one of our inner city schools. She has the blessing of the school principal and the choir happens during school hours.
6. A small group of young men from our church responded to the urgent call for men to help build a wall around a children’s village in Haiti with Haiti Arise.
7. I have been making contacts with various ministries that deal with the very real issue of Human Trafficking in our world. My hope is to host a conference in 2012 on this issue.
8. I met with Dr. Cory Neudorf, Saskatoon’s Chief Medical Health Officer, to discuss poverty related issues in Saskatoon after hearing him speak at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.
9. I met with Jordon Cooper of the Salvation Army after reading several of his articles in the Star Phoenix newspaper regarding the local sex trade and its accompanying issues.
10. I have a long distance phone conversation lined up October 17th with Commissioner Christine MacMillan who is the Director of The Salvation Army International Social Justice Commission. I will be speaking with her about the issue of Human Trafficking.

This is not a complete list at all. I hear stories from time to time of ways in which people from within our church are taking the hope of Christ and engaging our world. Each one of us can play a part. As was stated in our church bulletin recently, “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try spending the night in a closed room with a mosquito.”

You can make a difference and we are making a difference. Keep it up. The cause is worth it and eternity is at stake.

And The Congregation Applauded

We have spent the summer pouring over the book of Nehemiah and honestly we have only scratched the surface. This is a rich book that is incredibly relevant to society today. This past Sunday we were in chapter 5 where Nehemiah gets quite peeved (read: angry, verse 6) with his own people. Why? It was because they were oppressing the poor. The more time I spend in the Bible it seems God keeps pointing out that He is rather fond of the poor.

In Zechariah 7:9&10 it says, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.’” One writer referred to this group as the quartet of the vulnerable. I like that phrase because it helps me be focused. If this is the people God is concerned about then it needs to be the people we are concerned about. Nehemiah was miffed that his people not only weren’t concerned they were in fact the oppressors of this group.

In our world we have all four of these particular groups that Zechariah mentions. What that means for us is that we need to seek where it is God is leading us to be involved on their behalf. How does God want us to assist the widows, the orphans, the aliens (immigrants) and the poor? Maybe for you it will be something local like helping out at a foodbank or Salvation Army or some place  like a soup kitchen. At Cornerstone we have 7 young men who have felt the call to go and help Haiti Arise build a wall around their Children’s Village in Grand Goave.   They will leave us in mid-October and come back different people. You see when we step out and interact with the quartet of the vulnerable God does something within us. He begins that important process of changing us from the inside out. He begins to take our hearts and shape them into hearts that look like His heart. Is there anything more satisfying than to have our hearts become more like God’s heart?

Many at Cornerstone have been giving to one of our local ministries as each month we take up a food collection. Lately I have noticed the donation amounts getting bigger. This is one way to be involved, one way to engage the quartet of the vulnerable as well as one way to see that you can make a difference. I have heard other stories of people just engaging their own neighbours in a way that says they get it. They understand God calls us to help those in need and quietly people at Cornerstone are doing it. Some of you have other ways that you want to help. One way of being involved is not more important than another way. It is just important that we get involved.

In the days ahead we will be bringing you more information about a Children’s Choir someone is looking at starting in the inner city. That may be a way for you to be involved using the gifts God has given to you. Others may want to help directly with the girls working our streets. Listen for updates on ways in which you can play a part. We have a few things simmering on the burner that we are waiting for the right time to announce.

Everyone has to do something but no one can do everything. if you continue reading in chapter 7 of Zechariah it says that the people would not listen and the people made their hearts hard. We read these words in verse 12, “So the Lord Almighty was very angry.” God got mad when His people would not listen. Are we listening to the voice of God through the scriptures these days? Are we hearing how much He cares for the quartet of the vulnerable and do we long for our hearts to be the same as His? I came across this quote from Frederick Buechner: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” I want to exist right there don’t you? Knowing that I am exactly where God has called me to be and by being there my joy and the world’s deep hunger engage.

I cannot tell you with words how deep this is running in my soul these days. I cannot find the words to explain that God will not let me go. He keeps pointing out people and books and statistics and ministries and opportunities that are only connected by the quartet of the vulnerable. Words fail me as I try to motivate the church to embrace this call from God. This urging deep down inside of me will not go away, it will not subside, it just keeps burning. This past Sunday I went home and wondered if I should apologize for how strongly I put the need in front of my church. I struggled with the joy of sharing God’s Word and the sadness of knowing many still have not responded. I wrestled with how much is enough or have I gone over the top with my concern for the quartet of the vulnerable. I just don’t hear enough voices crying out on their behalf so I still hear God telling me to say it again so I typed this blog.

The title: On Sunday when I rather loudly stated that we are going to stay the course, we are going to walk this road and if people don’t like it then they can find another church to attend….the congregation applauded.

Lead Pastor’s Blog

I love my city. Saskatoon is just such a beautiful city situated in the middle of the prairies. Our entire province has been blessed by economic success in the midst of a world-wide recession. However for all the good that we can see in our city I believe we have a Nehemiah type problem.

All summer long we will be diving into this relatively short book called Nehemiah. It is essentially the story of one man who loved his home town but discovered there was a significant problem. The city walls were in ruins and the city itself had been devastated. He assesses the situation and then by God’s grace and strength goes to work rebuilding the walls of the city.

I love my city but I believe the ethical, moral and spiritual walls of our city are broken down. Let me share some of what I know to be true of our city.

We have over 250 girls under the age of 16 who work our streets as prostitutes. Let’s be clear about a couple of things right now. When I say, “work our streets” I mean they are forced there by someone else. It could be a pimp or even a relative but they are not there willingly. Secondly, when I say, “work our streets” what I mean is that there are grown men who rape these girls each and every day of the week because there is no such thing under Canadian Law as consensual sex under the age of 16. I have been told that Saskatoon has become an international destination for businessmen looking for under-age prostitutes.

Dr. Cory Neudorf who is our city’s Chief Medical Health Officer has told our staff that he is aware of girls as young as 9 who have been diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases here in our city. Our ethical, moral and spiritual walls are broken down.

Our city has locations called “break-houses”. What happens in these houses is devastating. Young transient girls under the age of 16 are picked up off our streets by gangs and taken to a break-house. There they are strapped down to a bed where they will be injected with drugs every several hours around the clock for one week. At the end of that week they will do whatever they are asked to do in order to get the next “fix” their little body is now addicted to. There is a brokenness in our city.

In October we have invited Dr. Cory Neudorf to come to Cornerstone and share some of his research findings on the disparity between the rich and poor here in our city of bridges. He will explain some of the health problems of our city’s poor and his findings will shock us.

There is a racisim within our city in regards to many of our own poor. There are racist attitudes when people discover the sexual sickness of our city. One person observed that most of the under-age girls working our streets come from a First Nations background as if that excuses the horror they experience on our streets. One local mission worker was sharing at a church event the abuse many of the girls experience on our streets. A man came up to him afterward and asked, “didn’t you say these girls were First Nations?” The answer was yes but what difference does that make? The man commented, “Aren’t they used to it?” I ask you what eleven year old girl ever gets “used to” being sexually abused? There is a brokenness in our city. That question was asked by a Christian man. Do we really think that Jesus doesn’t care?

I am looking for a Nehemiah for our city. I am looking for someone who will assess our city and announce the walls are broken down. The ethical, moral and spiritual walls have collapsed and evil runs free. I was at a ministerial meeting recently and I listened but no one mentioned the poor of our city. No one talked about justice or even injustice. We talked about “church stuff”. Nehemiah was not heard weeping for our city. I attended a political function a few months ago. I listened and they mentioned the poor but in a very nice sanitized kind of way. It sounded like we had a real handle on the problem. No one mentioned what our newspaper recently said when it carried the truth that prostitution is a 24 hour a day issue here in our city. If you swing by 33rd and Idylwyld at 8am young girls are ready to service clients who are on their way to work in the morning.

I am looking for a Nehemiah who will lead us to weep over the condition of our city. A Nehemiah who will stand up and announce free condoms and needles do not solve the problems of our core neighbourhoods. I want to hear the voice of the prophet Micah reminding believers here in our city that “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Today I add my voice to the voice of both the ancient prophets and the contemporary prophets. God is watching. He calls us to be a just people. He calls us to defend the weak. He calls us to action.

This summer we will be challenged by this man Nehemiah. We will be forced to examine our own response to our own city. Nehemiah is coming and the status quo will not do. The walls are broken down.

The first thing Nehemiah did was weep over the condition of his beloved Jerusalem when he heard the news. Right now a little girl is tied to a bed and an abuser is standing over her injecting her little veins with drugs so that she will be the next prostitute here in our city. Picture a 9 to 14 year old girl that you personally know strapped to a bed.  Picture her getting a needle stuck in her veins.  Maybe she is your daughter or granddaughter.   Truth is this girl is someone’s daughter.  Are you weeping yet?

Something is Bugging Me

The following is a guest post by Bryan Ens which was originally posted over on his blog here

Last night, as my wife and I were watching TV, our program was interrupted with the breaking news bulletin that “Osama bin Laden is dead”.

Without doubt, bin Laden was a wicked man who did much evil.  I would even agree that the US military had the right to use deadly force to stop this man…which is exactly what they did.

So before I explain what’s bothering me, I have to clarify a few things.  I’m not bothered that bin Laden is dead.  I’m even somewhat relieved (although I’m also realistic enough to realize that there are most likely others who will gladly step into his shoes, and I doubt that terrorism against “the west” died with bin Laden).  I’m not bothered with how bin Laden met his death.  He lived by the sword, and he died by the sword.

I am bothered, however, by the video that I saw on the news last night.  This video portrayed Americans celebrating in the street that bin Laden is dead.  So why does this bother me so much?  Watch this video now.  My question is this…how is it any better for Americans to celebrate the death of the wicked bin Laden any better than Muslims celebrating the deaths of “the wicked infidel”?  Breath a sigh of relief?  Absolutely!  Celebrate death?  CELEBRATE??? I have to say that the idea that we celebrate death makes us little better than those that we fight against.

Perhaps I’m not bothered so much by the fact that Americans are celebrating a man’s death, but that I realize in myself that I’m not entirely innocent myself.  Being a Canadian, I suppose that I can take a step back from the 9/11 attacks and bin Laden’s part in them (although I am still horrified by this senseless act of terrorism), but when I think of other historical events, I can think of a few other wicked people whom I suspect I would have celebrated the deaths of had I been alive at the time…Hitler for example…

I’m bothered by this celebration of death that I see in others…but even more so that I see in myself.  Christ said in Matthew 5:44  “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”  In fact, in light of the fact that the people of Jerusalem, to large extent, rejected Christ.  He could have considered them his enemies, yet when Christ prophesied Jerusalem’s destruction (Lk 19:41-44), he did not celebrate, but he wept over the city.

So my question is this:  should we not be weeping over bin Laden’s lost soul, rather than celebrate his death?

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