Why I Value Holy Land Tours

Next March (with the lovely Robin and others) I will be taking my fifth trip to Israel. I can't wait.

I honestly look forward to every trip as if it's my first. It's a trip I honestly believe every follower of Jesus should take. And even more so, every pastor--as early as possible in their ministry. My first Holy Land trip was in 1987, when Robin and I borrowed money to make the trip, believing that initial investment would pay rich dividends in our years of ministry to follow--and it did. Since then, I have come to value my travel to the land of Jesus, the apostles, prophets, and patriarchs beyond my ability to express it. But I will try. Here are six reasons:

Sunset on the Sea of Galilee

1. The sites and sights of the land of the Bible revive me spiritually. Never fails. This is partly due to the way the lovely Robin and I approach our trips, as prayer-and-Scripture pilgrimages.We don't go as tourists, we travel as pilgrims. We pray in the Garden of Gethsemane and at the Western Wall (and insert tiny folded prayers into the cracks in the wall, like many, many others). We read Scripture aloud in the very places where they were written and the places they describe, such as standing in the city gates of the Old City and reading Psalm 122:2 ("Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem") or stopping at the caves of En Gedi and reading of David sparing Saul's life there (1 Samuel 24). We meditate silently on the Beatitudes at the site of the Sermon on the Mount. We sing and pray while floating on the Sea of Galilee.

The lovely Robin and me atop Mount Carmel

2. It energizes and informs my Bible reading and study. Words cannot describe what happens to a person's Bible reading, studying, and preaching once you have sailed the Sea of Galilee, and been baptized in the Jordan. Or taken an early morning journey starting at the Gihon Spring, in the City of David, and traversing the actual tunnel of Hezekiah (dug underneath the Ophel in Jerusalem about 701 B.C.) and ending up at the Pool of Siloam. Or the side trip Robin and I and a half dozen good friends took our last morning in Jerusalem, when we took a cab to the village of Bethany, and walked the Palm Sunday route Jesus took from the traditional site of Lazarus’s tomb to the Temple Mount (see photo above). The topography and scenery of that three-mile walk will stay with me forever, and springs to my mind, of course, every time I read of Bethany or Palm Sunday or Lazarus, Mary, and Martha in my Bible. You can hardly take a step in Israel without touching something of Biblical significance. And it lasts long beyond the time in Israel; Robin highlights and dates in her Bible places she's been, so memories constantly inform her reading.

The "seat of Moses" in the Chorazin synagogue

3. I learn something new every single time I go. In fact, after my last journey (the fourth, remember), I listed twenty new things I learned on that trip (see here). I could easily have listed twenty more. Every time. And on our next trip (see the full-color brochure here) we'll be visiting some places I've never seen, such as the Valley of Elah (above, where David triumphed over Goliath), Emmaus, Jacob's Well, the Herodion, and more. And even beyond those new experiences, if the pattern holds true, I'll learn still more at every place we visit.

Julie, "sitting in the gate" of Megiddo

4. I love the people we travel with. Time after time, we've started and enjoyed and deepened some of our most valued friendships with people we may never have known (or known so well) otherwise by traveling with them through the land of Jesus. And there is a special bond we share forever after, a delightful fellowship of co-pilgrims.

Prayers at the Kotel, the Western Wall

5. I love the people of Israel. Israelis and Palestinians. Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and others. I laugh every time someone says, "You from America? I have a cousin in Cleveland!"

The steps Jesus traversed from the Upper Room to Gethsemane, then back after his arrest

6. Beyond the "facts" and details I learn on each trip is a less quantifiable but more valuable kind of learning I derive from each trip. Every time I absorb more of the culture, topography, spirit, and truth of the place. It opens my mind's eye to more and deeper ways of approaching and understanding God, the Bible, Jesus, and myself. It is hard to describe, but anyone who has been there knows--and especially those who have been more than once. It is a place like no other, with application to my life like no other.

For all the richness of my educational and training experiences to date, I rank our trips to Israel as the most transformative of my ministry. They have made me a better reader, student, and preacher and teacher of Scripture. They have been worth many, many times the money I've spent on them. And I gain so much from every trip that I immediately make the next trip a high priority.

From the Garden to the City

John Dyer has written an entertaining, thoughtful, and tremendously helpful book in From the Garden to the City (The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology). His expert understanding of technology (he is a web developer who has built tools for Apple, Microsoft, Harley Davidson, and the U.S. Department of Defense) and his insightful Bible exposition (he is also a ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary) shine through in this book. Perhaps most impressively, he manages to discuss technology, philosophy, history, and theology in a thoroughly and constantly engaging way.

I loved the relatable way he defined technology, and then pointed out its use in Biblical descriptions of the Garden of Eden and the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus (and restoration of Peter) by the Sea of Galilee. I highlighted whole sections of the book, which I rarely do, and transcribed many of his lines, such as, "Sinfulness is amplified all the more when we attach something as powerful as the internet to our hearts" and "Our task as believers is to work against the tendencies built into our devices, and to in effect become a predator of the media in the ecosystem of our lives." Man, those two statements (which appear back-to-back in the book) are worth the price of the book. As well as the statement in the next-to-last chapter that, "We must continually attempt to view technology through the lens of the story of God and his people, with the resurrected Christ at the beginning, middle, and end of that story. It is his life, work, and promises that should inform our value system, shape the way we see the world, and transform the way we live in it."

Dyer's book has already helped me to begin doing that, better and more consciously. I hope it does so for many, many others--particularly pastors and church leaders.

For more information (and to read sample chapters from the book), visit http://fromthegardentothecity.com.

Why I Value Practical Preaching

Many preachers today seem to be reasonably adept at exhortation, telling their listeners what they should do, must do, need to do, etc. That is a key element in the preaching task (in fact, exhortation is a gift of the Spirit, according to Romans 12:8).

But exhortation alone isn't enough.

Exhortation without identification, inspiration, and application, is unlikely to produce life change in the listener. And, of course, that is the goal (or should be) of all preaching. Let me explain what I mean by each of those terms.

Identification - Preacher, in the first few minutes of your sermon, your listener needs a compelling reason to pay attention, and there is no more compelling reason than for you to identify with his or her need. What John Watson (pen name: Ian MacLaren) wrote is true of church-goers, too: "Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." They enter your church with many needs, some of them huge: a faltering marriage, a wayward child, unemployment, a scary diagnosis, etc. The preacher's earliest task is to identify with a person's need in such a way that holds out a promise that he or she may just be better off in some way by the time the preacher concludes.

Inspiration - Another often neglected task in contemporary preaching is inspiration. That is, the preacher neglects to touch my emotions. It is good to smile or laugh, but it is better to feel my eyes water, my heart leap, or my soul shout. I'm not talking about emotionalism, but inspiration. The former is empty, the latter is critical for the preacher who wants to see lives changed.

Application - Finally, preacher, please give your listeners a helpful, practical way to put your exhortation into action. If you preached on loving one's neighbor, challenge me to show that love in some practical way today or this week--perhaps by learning my neighbor's name or mowing a neighbor's lawn. If you preached on prayer, invite me to pray for ten minutes each morning this week. If you preached on baptism, have the baptismal full and ready for a response. Urge an action on me. Give me a tool to live out your message through the coming week. Call it homework. Call it life application. Call it whatever you like, but please don't let me leave church without having at least one answer to the question, "What am I supposed to do with this information--this week? Today, even?"

A Letter to the North American Church

I'd like you to read this post on Ann Voskamp's blog, A Holy Experience. Seriously, please read it.

And then cry out with me, "Pray for us, African Church. Pray for us, South American Church. Pray for us, Asian Church, Haitian Church, Syrian Church, Mexican Church. Pray for us the American Church, who haven't yet learned love and life and Christ."

The Impossible Mentor

"Nearly everyone is willing to acknowledge Jesus is a worthy role model, but almost no one seriously believes it is possible to live up to his example."

So says Ray Hollenbach in his recent book, The Impossible Mentor: Finding Courage To Follow Jesus. He makes the case that Jesus is not an "impossible mentor," but that anyone can live the Jesus life--if we resign from "the fellowship of low expectations" and instead pursue the presence, grace, and purpose of Jesus in purposeful ways.

The book is divided into three sections: "Four Problems," "Five Answers," and a five-part "Putting the Answers to Work" section. While the Kindle version had some irritating errors (missing words, the repeated use of "it's" instead of "its"), the book was rich in content and helpful in insight and application.

The author lives in central Kentucky, where he served for fifteen years in a pastoral role at Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Campbellsville, Kentucky. He now travels and speaks on personal spiritual growth and discipleship. He blogs at StudentsofJesus.com.

Why I Value Professional Counseling

It's not just because my wife is a gifted professional counselor. And it's not just because I'm a tad crazy (okay, more than a tad). But there are numerous reasons I value professional counseling--especially for those in the helping professions, and even more so for anyone in ministry.

Here are seven reasons I have long valued professional counseling, and particularly during my decades of pastoral ministry:

1. Smart people advise it. For several years, while being coached as a church planter by my friend Steve Sjogren, he would ask in probably more than half of our meetings together, "Are you seeing a shrink yet?" At that time, my answer was no. But he, with wisdom borne of years of successful ministry, continued to promote to me and my co-pastor the importance of self-care for pastors, which includes having a counselor to talk to.

2. It is wise preparation. As I told my first counselor when he asked me in our first session, "Why are you here?," I sought out counseling when I wasn't in crisis because I knew (as I myself had counseled many) that the best time to seek help is before a crisis hits. And, boy, did that ever prove wise.

3. Ministry invites spiritual warfare. The burdens of leadership and ministry are so heavy at times that it is so valuable just to have an outlet, a pressure release valve, someone who isn't a member of the church, and who can offer comfort and counsel and wisdom and perspective.

4. It sets a good example for the flock. It is one thing to recommend counseling to people from some position of supposed superiority, and a much better thing to model the fact that a person doesn't have to be crazy to seek counseling (even if I am).

5. It is a key part of an accountability network. My counselor has helped to expose my blind spots and ask the hard questions of me. I hate that. But it is helpful and necessary.

6. It provides spiritual partnership and direction. I chose a counselor who was also a qualified spiritual director. So he has often helped me get better at listening to God and discerning what God is trying to say to me (most of the time, it's "Hey! Anybody in there?"). The value of spiritual direction is not mainly in answering my questions, but in questioning my answers.

7. It clears the clouded head. Often, after seeing my counselor, I have experienced a renewed mental, emotional, and spirituality clarity as a result of offloading some of the confusing and conflicting thoughts in my head. Turns out such clarity is an asset for a pastor. Who knew?

These are, of course, just seven among many reasons I value professional counseling...and recommend it. Especially, as I said earlier, for those in ministry.