The Book is better than a Cartoon

My first exposure to J.R.R. Tolkien was the Bakshi films from the nineteen seventies.  I was in elementary school and they had hobbits, dragons, dwarves, orcs, and wizards; what could possibly be better?  They awoke in me a curiosity for their source material so in 6th grade, I read The Hobbit and in 7th grade, I read The Lord of the Rings.  Over the years I have read the original material, including The Silmarillion, over a dozen times; I’ve even taken a college level course on the works of Tolkien.  

Today, I find Bakshi’s animated interpretations of The Lord of the Rings barely watchable.  The cartoon is but a mere shadow of the actual text.  Where The Lord of the Rings is the most fully realized world ever created in literature, the animated films have plot holes the size of a Boeing 747.  The older I get the more depth and richness I find in Tolkien’s Middle Earth; I could study it for a lifetime and not plumb its depths. The same could not be said for Bakshi’s films.

Wouldn’t it be sad if my only exposure to Tolkien and the epic of The Lord of the Rings had remained the Bakshi films?  I would have outgrown them by the time I was a freshman in high school.  How about if I was to have a debate on the merits of the works of Tolkien with a true Tolkien scholar, and my only exposure had been the Bakshi films?  Though the names and characters might be familiar, it would be as if we were talking about entirely different stories, because in essence, that is exactly what we would be doing.

As a pastor for over thirty years, there have been many times I have had this same experience when chatting with people about the Christian faith.  Many people have had the Christian story communicated to them by hardcore fundamentalists. In this version, we read about an angry god, who like Santa Clause, is making a list and checking it twice, finding out who has been naughty or nice, and if you have broken any of the rules then he sent his son and had him killed for you, so that if you have said that you believe in him you don’t spend eternity being burned alive but can do whatever you want to because you have gotten the get out of hell free card (I’ve oversimplified this belief system and have been a bit tongue in cheek).

That story is to the Christian faith/Biblical Christianity what Bakshi’s film is to The Lord of the Rings; a cartoon.

Many times when I’m discussing the Christian faith with individuals I find that they have real issues with the cartoon but that they really have no exposure to the actual story.  These are people who have often grown-up in the church and know the stories of the Bible from Sunday School, but they have been interpreted through the lens of biblical literalism and fundamentalism (by literalism I mean taking things that are clearly allegory and/or imagery and interpreting them literally).

Now I am not a Bible scholar, just a pastor of thirty years with a background in English Literature.  I have been a serious student of the Biblical text since 1987. I’m going to be writing a series of blog posts on how I see the Biblical narrative.  You are free to disagree with me, ask questions, and bring critique. Remember, this is my take on The Bible, and how it has shaped my faith.  I’m not writing in some official capacity.  I’m not trying to change you, I’m not even saying I’m right (Actually, I know that I’m probably wrong about several things...I just don’t know which points they are) I’m just sharing how I see and understand what I’ve studied.

What I love about The Vineyard - The Theology of the Kingdom of God

John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Movement, used to liken the Kingdom of God to the D-Day invasion of Normandy.  When the allies took the beach in Normandy, Europe had effectively been taken for the allies, defeat of the axis powers was assured, and it was just a matter of time before the war was truly over.  However there was a time between the inauguration of this reality on D-Day and the consummation of this reality on V.E. Day (Victory in Europe).  Though the war had been effectivley won on D-Day the time between the inauguration of that victory and its consumation was the bloodiest period of WWII.  This is analgous to the church's present reality.

Jesus, through his life, death, and resurrection has planted the flag of the rule and reign of God firmly on the earth.  Victory is assured.  One day what is true on heaven will be true on earth because of the work of Jesus.  However, we live in a time between the cross, God's decisive victory through Jesus, and the Kingdom's final consummation where all things will have been set right through Jesus at his second coming.  In the Vineyard we call this the "already" and the "not yet".

There are times when we literally see heaven touching earth and we get a picture of what life will be like when the rule and reign of God is fully realized.  This video from the Vineyard Church in Cincinnati I think illustrates what I'm trying to say:

When we experience the "already" of the Kingdom we get a taste of what its like to live under the rule and reign of Jesus.  When Jesus reigns in all his fullness those who are forgotten are remembered, the sick are healed, those who are oppressed by darkness discover the light.  The poor are cared for, generosity flows freely, goodness, beauty, and life fill the earth or at least the place where we are experiencing the taste of Christ's Kingdom.  It's those times when we know God's victory is coming, where faith becomes reality.  I love the already!

Yet the "already" is not what we always experience.  There are times when it seems like our prayers fall flat.  When we pray for the sick and they remain sick.  When racism, materialism, consumerism are revealed to be present even in the church.  It's the "not yet"  The church lives within the tension of the "already" and the "not-yet" of the Kingdom of God.  This is the tension we live in.  The Kingdom of Darkness is fighting like a cornered animal for another day of existence and it plays for keeps.

The work of the church is to serve the Kingdom of Darkness notice that its days are numbered by undoing its works through the power of the Holy Spirit like Jesus.  Where we see sickness we minister healing, where we see racism we model reconciliation and inclusion, where we see injustice we bring justice.

This is what Vineyard Bryan/College Station will be about.  Giving our community tastes of the "already" in the midst of the "not-yet" so that people will look forward to the day when Jesus rule is all and all!

Listen to how our National Director, Phil Strout, puts it

What I love about The Vineyard - The Theology of the Kingdom of God

John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Movement, used to liken the Kingdom of God to the D-Day invasion of Normandy.  When the allies took the beach in Normandy, Europe had effectively been taken for the allies, defeat of the axis powers was assured, and it was just a matter of time before the war was truly over.  However there was a time between the inauguration of this reality on D-Day and the consummation of this reality on V.E. Day (Victory in Europe).  Though the war had been effectivley won on D-Day the time between the inauguration of that victory and its consumation was the bloodiest period of WWII.  This is analgous to the church's present reality.

Jesus, through his life, death, and resurrection has planted the flag of the rule and reign of God firmly on the earth.  Victory is assured.  One day what is true on heaven will be true on earth because of the work of Jesus.  However, we live in a time between the cross, God's decisive victory through Jesus, and the Kingdom's final consummation where all things will have been set right through Jesus at his second coming.  In the Vineyard we call this the "already" and the "not yet".

There are times when we literally see heaven touching earth and we get a picture of what life will be like when the rule and reign of God is fully realized.  This video from the Vineyard Church in Cincinnati I think illustrates what I'm trying to say:

When we experience the "already" of the Kingdom we get a taste of what its like to live under the rule and reign of Jesus.  When Jesus reigns in all his fullness those who are forgotten are remembered, the sick are healed, those who are oppressed by darkness discover the light.  The poor are cared for, generosity flows freely, goodness, beauty, and life fill the earth or at least the place where we are experiencing the taste of Christ's Kingdom.  It's those times when we know God's victory is coming, where faith becomes reality.  I love the already!

Yet the "already" is not what we always experience.  There are times when it seems like our prayers fall flat.  When we pray for the sick and they remain sick.  When racism, materialism, consumerism are revealed to be present even in the church.  It's the "not yet"  The church lives within the tension of the "already" and the "not-yet" of the Kingdom of God.  This is the tension we live in.  The Kingdom of Darkness is fighting like a cornered animal for another day of existence and it plays for keeps.

The work of the church is to serve the Kingdom of Darkness notice that its days are numbered by undoing its works through the power of the Holy Spirit like Jesus.  Where we see sickness we minister healing, where we see racism we model reconciliation and inclusion, where we see injustice we bring justice.

This is what Vineyard Bryan/College Station will be about.  Giving our community tastes of the "already" in the midst of the "not-yet" so that people will look forward to the day when Jesus rule is all and all!

Listen to how our National Director, Phil Strout, puts it

Things I love about the Vineyard - Jesus is King!

When I was eighteen years old my best friend convinced me to be a part of a small bible study.  In that study we learned about Jesus.  We learned about his life, his teachings, the miracles he did, how he was Israel's true king and the world's true Lord.  I learned about how he was the fulfilment of the hope of the prophets from the Old Testament.  I learned that in some mysterious and powerful way his death upon the cross reconciled me to God and provided forgiveness for my sins. That through his resurrection he destroyed deaths grip and that now he setting all things to right through his reconciling love.

I learned that because Jesus is King, I needed to make a decision to bow my knee and pledge myself to him and his Kingdom.  I learned that pledge came through faith and that faith looks like trust and obedience.

On April 19, 1987 drunk and lost in the back of a subdivision I bent my knee and declared Jesus to be my king.  Since then I have made more mistakes than I care to think about.  Sometimes I've been a good representative of Jesus, sometimes a poor one, but something at the deepest level shifted in my life on that date and Jesus is my King.  I have never regretted following him and every time I've followed his lead it has brought richness, love, and depth into my life.  My faith is in Jesus.

Since that time I've learned the gospel, the kingship of Jesus, is more all encompassing than I could have ever imagined.  I will never plumb it's depths or fully understand it's mysteries.  But at the Vineyard Church of Bryan/College Station all we do will center on Jesus.  It will center on his kingship realized in our lives.  This will be a place where we proclaim that Jesus is King and lovingly challenge all those who come within our influence to know the rule and reign of Jesus and his Kingdom.

I bent my knee on April 19th, 1987 and have remained his servant for the last 29 years.  My prayer is that the Vineyard Church of Bryan/College Station will help many others discover that Jesus is king as well.

I love that in the Vineyard Movement Jesus is worshipped as king.

Speaking of worship here is one of my favorites!

Beauty for Ashes

I have a friend, Jamie Stilson, who pastors the Cape Coral Vineyard in southern Florida, who wrote a book called the Power of Ugly.  Jamie shares that Jesus can take ugly things, and through his grace, make them beautiful.  I believe that is true with all my heart.  I think God does that with the difficult times in our lives.  I think he can do that with people, with marriages and families, with cities and nations.  I think God loves to take the ugly, apply his grace, and make it beautiful.

When I think of God transforming the ugly to beauty in my own life, I think about learning to see, and make space for, the beautiful and transcendent in my everyday life and routine. We all know that our daily schedules can get pretty ugly.  It is so easy to let the busyness of ordinary daily life crowd out the joy, beauty, and peace of being in relationship with Jesus.  The beauty of God can be bursting out all around us yet we are to absorbed by the pressures of the day to notice it.

Life will always have its pressures and stresses.  Life will always be full of things we have to do. Life will always throw us loops that can interfere with our sense of peace.  The real key to experiencing God's peace is to allow ourselves to be filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit during the ordinary routines of life so that which seems profane (ordinary), can become sacred.  That which feels ugly can reveal its beauty.  That which feels God-absent can show itself to be God-filled.

The Jewish people and the early Christians were great Sabbath keepers.  Think about Sabbath for a second.  We have a God, who when describing what the created order is like builds in a vacation every week.  A time for rest, peace, and thoughtfulness.  What does that teach us about God and his character?

The church for many years had a liturgy for daily living.  When the faithful awoke they spent a little time in prayer, when they broke for lunch they spent a little time in prayer, before they went to bed they spent a little time in prayer.  In many places these hours of prayer were experienced in community.  Now this can become religious activity (a duty we perform to try to be more excepted by God) which is the spiritual kiss of death, but if instead of seeing it as a duty we see it as an opportunity, an opportunity to experience Sabbath during our day, little vacations from the ordinary pressures of life where we can discover God's peace and beauty, then Sabbath becomes a well of life flowing from God to us.

Doesn't Sabbath sound beautiful and appealing?

What if the church made it's central mission to help people experience the beauty of a relationship with Jesus by teaching people how to reconnect with the rest and peace of God?  What if they made their central mission helping people get to know the Lord of the Sabbath; the king of rest, of peace, and of wholeness.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  (Mt 11:28–30).

What if those words are actually true?  What if that truly is God's nature?

What a Wild Several Months!!

Almost 17 years ago I planted the Chattanooga Vineyard and it is easy to forget what it's like to pioneer a new church.  Let me fill you in on some of the exciting things that have happened.

1. We left Chattanooga the week before Christmas and arrived in Houston in time to have Christmas in Texas for the first time in 16 years.
2. I enrolled at Texas A&M to begin finishing my degree that I had left undone for nearly 30 years.  I took 12 hours and made a 4.0.  I now have about 19 hours until I'm finished!  Being able to sit and learn, to get to know A&M again and meet lots of new friends was WONDERFUL.  I got up everyday feeling like I needed to pinch myself.  Who gets to do this? My college-aged friends do not take this time for granted!  Learning for learning's sake is a precious gift!
3. Kellie got a job teaching at the Brazos School and is finishing her certification to teach in Texas.
4. Though we have made less money than we have since the time I was in my early twenties (try a 40K hit to your income, it smarts) God has provided.  Our dear friends Jon and Denise Bowden allowed us to live on their farm/vineyard in Anderson Texas.  It was a truly wonderful time and getting to hang out with Jon and Denise on the weekends was soul-restoring after nearly 17 years of ministry.  The property was amazing and I can tell you the stars at night are big and bright deep in the heart of Texas.
5. Anderson was about 40 miles from Bryan/College Station so for the last 5 months we've commuted.  This last week both the Peils and Anderles moved into the Bryan/College Station area. We are renting a little 1920's bungalow style house three blocks from downtown Bryan, and the Peils got a great place near College Station High School in College Station.  Everyone (the Peils and Anderles) is in and out during July but we should get into a rhythm starting in August.
6. In August we will begin bringing people together and setting the culture of the church that will be the The Vineyard Church of Bryan/College Station. 
7. There are so many things that I am so excited about when it comes to my relationship with Jesus and what it means to live in Christ-centered community.  I will be posting about those things a little bit each week.

Here's how you can help.  Pray that our core team develops a unified vision and culture for the church.  As always, we can use your financial support.  You can give to the pioneering work of The Vineyard in Bryan/College Station by clicking donate.  Thanks we appreciate your support and prayers!

Texas Here We Come; Plans are Finalized

 

Getting to Texas:

Well, it's official we will be moving to Texas during the week of December 18th.  I will be starting classes at A&M on January 19th.  I'm going to try to load my classes on Tuesday and Thursday and substitute teach on Mon. Wed. and Fri.  Both of these avenues should give me the opportunity to build lots of relationships with people in College Station.  Our hope is that Kellie can get on at the University as an academic advisor.  This is the job I want to get when I complete my degree next year.  We feel like there is no better bi-vocational gig in town for a church-planter than working at the University.

The Initial Strategy

My plan for launching the church is to begin with starting several "Discovery" bible studies within strategic relational circles in the Bryan/College Station area.  The Discovery Bible Study is a type of small group that is bearing incredible fruit in the third world specifically in the 10/40 window.  I've experimented with them in Chattanooga myself and have been impressed with the results (impressed enough that I'm willing to use it as part of our gathering strategy).  The idea is that you take the bible (we will be using the gospel of Mark) and you gather three or four people.  In the study you read a passage of scripture and ask a couple of questions.

1.  What does this teach us about the God

2.  What does this teach us about the human condition.

3.  What is one concrete action that I can do this week to demonstrate obedience to what I've learned

4.  Who does God want me to share this truth with this week

Its a very simple inductive bible study strategy.  It requires one resource, the bible and the goal is to get each person in the group leading their own group within 6 months.  The groups can meet anywhere.  I do mine in coffee shops at 6:30 in the morning.  It's a disciples making disciples strategy.

In conjunction with this we will begin with a low key worship service run out of a home initially.  We are going to really try to capitalize on the relational strength of a small church plant.  We will do a potluck breakfast, low key acoustic worship, and a time of equipping and training, followed by Vineyard style ministry of course.  As we out grow the home we will move to a larger venue, and with each move up we will create the systems that accommodate the larger gathering (greeting, children, assimilation, ext.). 

We will also host parties on Friday nights, at least once a month (possibly even more frequently than that) the idea behind these parties is that will be low key relational events where people can invite their friends and the different folks who are part of the church will have an opportunity to connect with each other's friends thereby building relational connections.

This is the strategy to gather the first 100.  Once we get to that size our structures will begin looking more like a small church. 

My heart is to build a really solid foundation based on disciples making disciples and strong Christ-centered friendships.  I'm intentionally using an inside out model of church planting.  Which means that we use relationships to gather people not a highly produced worship service.  It might be a little slower on the front end but the foundation is more stable, and the depth helps reproduce depth.

Prayer Needs and Need Needs

Our first need is financial of course.   We need people who are committed to seeing a church planted in College Station who will financially partner with us to see this happen.  I am not a spring chicken just beginning life, I'm 47 years old with two daughters in college, and my youngest son will be joining their ranks in the not to distant future.  The Vineyard Chattanooga is not able to do much for me at this point.  We just finished a major building campaign and the church is trying to get its financial feet back as it walks through the transition of losing the only pastor its known in its 16 year history.  So I need people who love A&M and the Vineyard to financially partner with us to make this dream a reality. 

The Vineyard College Station has a financial board made up of:

Raymond McDonald - Senior Pastor of the Cleveland Vineyard

Michael Lehman - Senior Pastor of the Trinity Vineyard

Geoff Bynum - Senior Pastor of the Katy Vineyard

Jeff Anderle - Senior Pastor of the Chattanooga and soon to be College Station Vineyard

Brian Fox - Executive Pastor of the Cleveland Vineyard

Steve Anderle - My father who is an accountant with over 50 years experience

This board is in place to oversee the financial and ethical integrity of the church.  You will receive quarterly giving statements and all gifts are tax deductible.

Make checks payable to:

The Vineyard College Station

20226 Needle Walk Lane

Spring, TX 77379

One of our greatest needs at the moment is a reliable car.  I have not had a car payment in over a decade but our minivan has 291,000 miles on it.  I have kept it well maintained and my plan was to save up and get a new one after our building at the Chattanooga Vineyard was built.  Well the building is built but my income has changed dramatically.  A good reliable vehicle would be a great help.

So Pray for a car, for cash, and for favor as we get ready to launch this new work.

Thanks and God bless,

Jeff Anderle