Change

For as long as I can remember my tribe has pretty much functioned in isolation from the rest of the religious world. They did their thing and we did ours. Over the last ten or fifteen years that has been changing and I believe it is a positive change. This direction has not been accepted by the majority, but a few brave souls have realized that if we don’t continue to grow in our understanding and outreach, we are going to die, and rightly so. There are some things that should never change. Those eternal truths from the Father "once for all delivered" to us should never change, but our application to an ever changing culture will, or we will not relate. The Gospel is ever new wine. Holding on to old wineskins is sure to bring disaster and ineffective outreach. We are finally realizing that the mentality that we "arrived" during our heyday back in the 50’s and 60’s was flawed. We who argued then for others to be open minded enough to see the truth, have finally realized that that challenge applied to us as well. Restoration will be our challenge for as long as the world stands. It is strange that we who said that the Reformation movement stop short of its goals, were apart of a Restoration movement that did the very same thing. I listened to a old tape by Rubel Shelly the other day, and he told a story that Tom Warren had shared with him about how isolated we had become. The story went something like this. There is a huge stadium where thousands have gathered to watch the Super Bowl. Cheers, shouts and excitement fill the stadium. At the same time near there is a small back yard ball field with a few people playing nerf football. This small group played as if they were the only game in town, as they ignored what was happening in the stadium. That story is so sad, but so true. That was pretty much a picture of my tribe in that back yard field for so many years. And tragically, there are still many continuing that mind set, but things are changing. There is a fresh wind blowing. More and more I see the shackles falling off. Change will not come without causalities, freedom isn’t free. "Father may we always lean on you and your word. Change us Father and make us like Jesus."