During the weekend we talked about the question, “How do I share Jesus with my friends without being intolerant?” this questions was texted to me.  “What do I do about my friends that claim Christianity but really don’t live it at all and I worry about their salvation?” The short answer is, keeping loving them and living your life as a fulfilled follower of Jesus so they can see what they are missing.

Now, the long answer.

First, discern whether or not the behaviors they are exhibiting that look “Christian” to you are in fact fruit of a heart that is not following Jesus. This is not so you can present a list to your friends of their “sins” and produce guilt with your confrontation. I said “discern” not “judge”. This step is for you. You and I learn a lot when we need to read the Bible so that we can help others. Does Jesus say the actions that concern you are in fact those of one not following Him? Are these actions in the category of “deadly sin” (I John)? Deadly sins are those actions of a person who denied Jesus ever existed. Do your friend’s actions defy God’s love and reject the serving of others and concern for the poor and oppressed?

Pray! Once you have discerned what you need to be concerned about, begin to pray daily for your friends. If they are followers of Jesus who are standing still in their faith – they have decided to follow Jesus, but are not actively doing as He did – pray for the Spirit of God to touch their hearts and reveal to them their special and vital place in the Kingdom of Heaven. Ask God to call them close to Him. Ask God to give you the right words and thoughts and actions so you can serve as His partner in leading your friends. If you discern they are not following Jesus at all – remember, this is for you only and not for you to talk about – pray that God would lead them to Jesus and use you as a guide to Christ’s love.

Third, be a leader in the actions of a Jesus Follower. Ask your friends to join you in church, serving the poor, caring for the oppressed, going on a mission trip, or building homes for homeless. Ask them to join you in a Bible study. Seek out conversations with them in one-on-one situations and serve them for all you are worth. Be a source of joy and encouragement to them.

Last and hardest, when you must, excuse yourself from activities that are harmful. Do so with gentleness and grace. Do so with love and charity. If you can be part of the activity and be Jesus and light in the midst of darkness without being drawn into behavior that is harmful, then stay and be a shining beacon of hope. But there are times when our absence speaks louder than our words ever do. If you do leave, call your friends the next day and connect and care for them.

Blessings as you serve all those around you. Remember – love God, neighbor, self and enemies just as Jesus loves us!

Last month, foster families and families that have adopted children and all their kids gathered at Ridge Point for a picnic and games. This was a way we could say, “Way to go” to the families that have stepped up to “care for the orphans” in our communities. It was a riot watching them enjoy one another and a fun afternoon. We partnered with other churches and adoption agencies as well as counties and governmental offices. As always, we have no desire to make Ridge Point the focus. We just want the orphans to be cared for as Jesus instructs. No kid should be without a family.

I received this e-mail this week …

Here is a snapshot of stories from the Foster Care/Adoptive family picnic hosted by Ridge Point in June:

We had one teen girl that was able to “reunite” with a prior foster family and I got to hear the great stories of how much they meant to each other.  There was nothing like the beaming face of this teen as she heard her prior foster mom reiterate how much she loves her and praised her for how much she’s grown up and learned to make good decisions. 

There was lots of face painting for little ones that wouldn’t speak otherwise.  There was a little girl that couldn’t wait to show me her picture for the sidewalk chalk contest because it was a picture of “her family”. There were also a few foster families that connected with each other, who just were really feeling alone, but were excited to hear there were other families ready to walk along side them. 

It was super fun to watch the agency staff interact with the families on such a great level – able to because volunteers from Ridge Point and First Baptist in South Haven stepped up to bless them by running the various events and activities. 

If God is touching your heart concerning the 6,000 kids in the state of Michigan that are without a family willing to adopt them – their biological parents’ rights have been terminated – e-mail me (jiml@ridgepoint.org) and I will put you in touch with Wendy Cheek – our volunteer leader in this area. No kid should be without a family!

One of the highlights of my trip to Honduras was my meeting with the leadership team of the local pastor’s association. We talked and ate with a dozen pastors as we began our friendship and partnership. These men and women represented half of the 100 churches in Comayagua. This association is recognized by the local and federal government and is consulted by the civic officials on issues affecting the electorate.

We heard about all their churches. Most of these men and women pastor more than one church and teach in several locations weekly. They walk to their churches – at times up mountain sides – to teach from the Bible and love their faith communities. The churches are filled with loving folks who make very little and need a lot. Most of these leaders – like in all developing countries – get very little in the way of salary. It doesn’t matter – they sense a calling from Jesus to lead, teach, and love and they trust God will provide for them and their families. God always does.

We began our conversations about a pastors’ conference where we will bring together the spiritual leaders from Comayagua and the surrounding areas for three to five days of worship, learning, and strategic planning. We are working together to take what we know and deliver it to the pastors in the way they need it. Over the next several months, I will work with this leadership team to prepare a learning and refreshing experience tailor-made for our friends in Honduras.

Pray for us – anyone want to come and teach with me?

It seems to be a universal concern. Whether I am at home in Western Michigan or in Belize, Honduras, or Africa, the concern of teenage girls becoming pregnant and raising babies is evident. Our young ladies are becoming moms way too soon – leaving behind their innocence, childhood and adolescence, and taking on adult responsibility before it is fair. These young ladies need their youth – they need their freedom. They now need our help.

The other concern that is cross-cultural and in every country is the way young men avoid fatherhood and responsibility. For every baby there is a dad but for every family there doesn’t seem to be a father. Before we become critical and judgmental, let’s ask, ‘Why do these young men feel absolved from the task of keeping the women and children in their lives safe?’ How have we communicated to the young men of our world that “you can have sex and walk away – only to have sex with another young girl?” They have heard this message somewhere. If nothing else, they haven’t heard the message about responsibility, the joys of manhood and fatherhood, and the fun being a dad is.

In West Michigan and in most parts of the USA, young moms can get assistance, at least materially. They are not being mentored and cared for by older women and their children are not receiving wholesome and healthy love from Godly men.  But that is another blog …

In most other parts of the world, however, most teenage moms are on their own and often leave their kids at an orphanage – forced to say goodbye to a baby they will never see again. These young ladies then deal with pain and guilt the rest of their lives as they wonder about the outcome of their babies’ lives.

This is what I saw in Honduras – all over. This is the issue the pastors talked to me about the most.   They asked, “How can we help the teenage moms?”  “How can we teach young men to do the right thing and care for their kids?” “How can we teach our youth to stay pure – or at least to use contraception?”  Where there is sexual promiscuity, there is not only pregnancy but also terminal diseases. Honduras has the highest HIV infection rate of a typical developing country.

We can help with this. We have seen teen pregnancy rates go down in the USA and in West Michigan. Studies show that teens having sex is going down. We know how to do this. We need Spanish speaking people passionate about caring for teens so that they avoid sexual activity and retain their youth and purity. Is that you? It might be …

I fell in love with Honduras in only three days! It is a lush and green country and the people are smiling and kind. The pastors I met with and prayed with are passionate for Jesus and Hondurans and they work with all their might to see the brokenness fixed. Once you leave the “beaten path”, the poverty becomes very evident and stark. The average wage is very low, the unemployment is very high, the family unit is fragmented, and crime is high.

The purpose of our trip to Comayagua was to find a local church that Ridge Point could pour into so that it could find its potential in Jesus and transform a community. God has called Ridge Point to work hard in one spot so that a model for other churches can be developed and then the lessons learned can be transferred to an adjacent community. Our desire is to build a network of prevailing churches that are used by God to reach lost people and move them to full life in Christ. Ideally, the Hondurans never know we are there – they only know their local church loves them and following Jesus is the key to vitality and fullness.

God brought Pastor Hector into our path last week in Comayagua. He pastors a church in Canada, Honduras, just outside of the city. His unique vision involves the development of a day care that educates, feeds, and disciples children while their single moms work during the day. Hector’s church meets in an indoor soccer facility right next to the daycare and his family’s home. His church dug a well and the whole village can come there for water – clean water.

Hector knows that if the church can help these single moms, the kids won’t end up in orphanages but will be raised as a family. English, computer skills, welding, and electrical work are being taught at the daycare so that the kids will learn skills. Hector dreams of the day when doctors, nurses, and teachers will come to help the children. He prays for the day when the church can be part of economic revival so jobs can be available. Pastor Hector looked at me and said, “Ridge Point is an answer to prayer.”

How cool is that? You and I can be an answer to prayer! Are you ready for that?

More to come about Honduras!

I should never be surprised when God does this because He does it all the time. I sat here in this beautiful setting with sadness yesterday because I sensed a lack of urgency for spiritual renewal and perceived a group of people who were in despair but thought they were experiencing paradise.

The unbelievably blue water, the swaying palms, the white sand, and the protective reef with every color of fish you can imagine seemed to mask the unattractiveness of human hearts attempting to quench their thirst with the salt water.

As I wrote yesterday, I started the day with my questions for God, “Is there anyone urgent about the need for joy here on the island – a joy that can’t be taken by a tropical storm or hurricane?”  “How can we start people on a path to Jesus?”  “Does anyone see the lostness and loneliness of the ones who wash the dishes and clean the rooms and prostitute themselves to eat?”

WOW – God answered our prayer. We had several conversations with people on the island yesterday, including pastors. We learned about what was happening here and what was needed. We became friends with Jesus followers who share our passion for seeing people think, love, serve, and live like Jesus.

The highlight was our time with Pastor Marvin. He is a pastor who came to San Pedro from Guatemala 15 years ago. He met his wife here and then met Jesus. He fell in love with both of them - gave his life to Jesus and his pledge to his wife. He started a church 12 years ago with just his family. Today, they have 175 members and 50 children. They have a little building in a poor part of the island. We sat with him and a young business leader who came to Jesus a year ago and they told us all about their discipleship process and their small groups. They are focused on teaching believers to follow Jesus closely and to reach lost people. One could say they intentionally reach lost people and move them to full life in Jesus so that they can reach lost people and move them to full life in Jesus. I was and am so thankful – God revealed to us a church with passion.

Pray for our meetings this afternoon. We gather with the owner of a local Christian radio station with a heart broken for this island and who so wants to see God’s Kingdom come here. He is influential and a capable leader. Also pray for a meeting we have at 3 pm (5 pm at home). This one is really cool. We had no plans to do this one. It was set up for us by a local businesswoman whose daughter is at the camp Ridge Pointers are helping with right now. Although this gal does not attend a church and would not call herself a Jesus Follower, she sends her daughter to camp and used her influence to assemble business leaders and town council members to meet with us and talk about the way to best bring positive change in the lives of the island’s youth. How cool is that?!?!?

We head out to camp (a 10 mile boat ride) for dinner and an evening of worship and teaching and we will be home tomorrow night! Wow – I just love being a follower of Jesus and being involved in the adventure of revealing God’s love and grace that is here because of Jesus. I love following the Spirit as He moves – having a plan from Him and then flowing with His leadership every second. I love being God’s kid! I want everyone to know what a joy it is.

Help me tell everyone!

Love you all,

Jim

I never thought it possible to sit on the Caribbean in the shade of swaying palm trees, watching the waves roll in off aqua blue water, with a sense of despair.

The picture is idyllic and romantic. There isn’t any sense of hurry or urgency as people sit in the shade and wait out the heat of the afternoon, watching the boats bob in the surf. About half a mile out, the waves break over the reef and the water between here and there is calm and crystal. The surf is intoxicating. The mood is tranquil. The horizon is off a postcard. Yet, I am sad.

What’s my problem? It is too tranquil and peaceful and calm. There isn’t any urgency among the people here in San Pedro, Belize. “Life is good, Mon.” But it isn’t. I find myself among a culture that is using the tranquility of this sanctuary God has provided to escape the terminal nature of life on the island. Substance abuse is sky-high. Teenage pregnancy is very common. Abortions and STD’s among young teens are accepted. Affairs are accepted. The church of Jesus is mostly non-existent. There isn’t a need – it is a kill-joy and a crutch. It cramps a care-free lifestyle that marks a deep concern about one’s mortality and well-being. Today seems good but tomorrow is frightening.

We met with a local pastor today who is passionate about reaching the island. His little church is English speaking and tries hard, but is considered irrelevant. Women and children come to church but “once the boys become teenagers, they leave and don’t return.” He prays that men will come to church but his hope is waning. We met with a missionary from the U.S. who has been in Belize for many years and is trying to fix the problem of Belizean churches being dependent on foreign churches to survive. He feels it is threatening the future of the Christian Church in Belize – the whole country. We will meet with another local pastor later today – his church speaks the local dialect of Spanish.  We need to continue to listen to the leaders of the church that is here so we can know how to help them overcome the “way laid back” attitude and introduce the culture to a Jesus that desires to lead them to change designed to rescue and restore them.

About 10 miles north of where I am typing, there are 40 children gathered at Son and Sea Camp where Ridge Pointers are serving this week. Last night, as we had dinner with the children and joined them for singing, I experienced the birthing of a movement that will be vital and key to transforming this island. Ridge Pointers and counselors from literally all over the world – the drummer was from London, England – shared Jesus with these kids and the joy was palpable. I watched “church” happen as they sang, laughed, praised Jesus, loved on one another, and expressed a sense of holy urgency about knowing God and following Jesus. Not panic – urgency that combined with the gentle breeze of the Caribbean to create a calm that was elevating.

We need a church for these kids to go to after camp. Right now, the kids are experiencing Jesus one week a year. Their parents – who have no regular exposure to following Jesus, love sending their kids because they come home different and delightful.

Tomorrow, we meet with the owner of the local radio station.  He is a follower of Jesus, a Belizean, and excited to talk with us.  We will also meet with another church leader from the mainland and possibly the mayor of San Pedro. Pray for these meetings and ask that the Spirit would translate for us so that we might know our responsibility and be willing to assume it. 

If we all do what we can, it will all get done.

Thanks for praying. I feel joy knowing we are all doing this together – Ridge Pointers and Jesus!

Love you all!

This summer, Ridge Pointers will be all over the world serving the “least of these” in practical ways that display the Good News of Jesus.

We will have teams of Ridge Pointers serving locally and as far away as Belize – Africa will come this fall and winter. Just like in West Michigan on our three campuses, our focus is to intentionally reach spiritually lost people and lead them to full life in Jesus. The further away from West Michigan we get, the more we see that people can’t listen really well when they are hungry, ill, homeless, oppressed, or discouraged. So, we – that’s every Ridge Pointer, not just the ones going on the trip because we make all of it possible as a team – seek to meet practical needs in ways that can be sustained as we prepare to tell them why we are serving them. Once they see Jesus in our actions, people always want to hear about Him.

Wherever we are partnering with a group – locally or globally – we are always seeking to build up the local church in that area. Our teams are only “on the ground” for 7 to 10 days and the needs are there 365 days a year. Our ongoing influence is found in raising up a local church to be our partner and to serve all year. More and more we are looking for community partners – Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) like USAID and local business partners. God has called us to mobilize the church, the community, and commerce. We can see – and are seeing in Zambia – lasting change when we engage all three of these sectors.

I will be in Belize in June when one of our teams is there serving at a kids camp. We partner with Son and Sea camp on Ambergris Caye in Belize (http://sonandsea.com/). While our team is there assisting in leading the camp for kids who won’t otherwise hear about Jesus, I will be meeting with potential partner organizations in order to start a church on the island. Right now, there isn’t a church we can tell these kids to go to after they find Jesus and there isn’t a church that can help them introduce their families to Jesus. Pray that we can get a church started.

Later in June, I will spend time in Honduras. I will be there right after our RP48 (our Allendale Campus) team is there. We have an orphanage in Comayagua, Honduras that we partner with so that children will have a home, food, an education, and hope. Arvil and Miriam Smith serve the children there and our teams come along side of them to make a home for the children. We are currently seeking a solid church partner there and I will be spending some time there in order to seek out a solid body of Jesus followers to carry on 365 days a year as an extension of Ridge Point.

Pray for these two trips. Ask God to keep the teams safe and to cause me to make the connections I need to in order to strengthen the local church and the business community.

I will also be journeying to the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Ridge Point’s behalf sometime in the near future. Stay tuned. I will give you details of that trip soon.

Last week, this question was sent to me via our text Q and A.  How do you get rid of addictions?

First, understand we all have addictions. The difference is that some of us can hide ours or we are addicted to things that our culture says are good things. Many people around you are addicted to coffee. “I can go without coffee!” Maybe so, but in the process, you will have a headache for a couple days and/or feel sluggish in the mornings until your system is “detoxed.” If you have a physiological reaction to ceasing the ingestion of a chemical, you were addicted.

Personally, I am a workaholic. I can work all day, every day. I will neglect God, my wife, and my kids in order to work if I allow myself because I gain a huge amount of self-approval and I get all kinds of affirmation from those around me when I work and work and work. This is one of those culturally celebrated addictions. We never hear someone boasting about all the extra time he or she has but it is a badge of honor to be busy. The “high” I get from “getting things done” and hearing “well done” is a drug to me. I need to practice self-discipline and say “no” to unhealthy work habits.

Second, you never “get rid of” an addiction. You will go into recovery and be sober but you will always have the potential to be addicted to the same level you are now and more. That is not a bad thing – it just is. I would rather have you celebrate being a recovering addict as a sober person than hide from that reality only to find yourself using again. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to his friends in Rome writes, “It is not the good I want to do that I do but it is the wrong I don’t want to do that I do. Who will save me? Jesus?” Paul admits who he is and is thrilled that Jesus is there to rescue and redeem.

Find an AA or NA group – or a group that is about your specific addiction. RP can help you with that. We have over two dozen AA, NA, and Porn Addiction recovery groups that meet on or near our Moran Park Campus weekly. There is a group for you at whatever time you need. Please let us help you find one.

Admit you are an addict and find a mentor to walk with you. You need to be able to call a friend anytime day or night when you are tempted to use your particular “drug.”  A mentor (or sponsor) is one who has been there and knows how he or she journeyed and can advise. This is a humbling action – admitting to someone that you need help and that you can’t do it alone. It is also the bravest thing you will do – you will let someone else in where the hurt is so they can help heal and bring hope.

Give up trying to “make it work” yourself and release all you are and have to Jesus. There is much work to do to build a “sober life.” As you ask for forgiveness, change your peer group, forgive others and yourself, begin to mentor someone else, and see life through sober eyes, you will need to feel forgiven and live knowing you are a child of the King. Outer healing only takes place following inner healing. That comes when you own and enjoy the forgiveness and joy that comes as you grow in Jesus – think, love, serve, and live more and more like Jesus every day.

In my opinion – work the 12 steps knowing that your “higher power” is our loving and gracious Heavenly Father and that our community is the Church of Jesus, living and moving and serving as guided by the Holy Spirit.

Know there are many, many people here at RP who are recovering addicts.  Some lost everything before they began to recover. Some avoided that scene but journeyed through hurt and pain to get to health. I would love to introduce you to some of them. They can walk with you and guide you and cause you to find your way to sobriety.

This question was texted to me during a weekend service: ‘What’s the point of praying for healing if God’s just going to do what He wants anyway?’ Great question – do we change God’s mind when we pray or does God change ours?

I believe that the most powerful aspect of prayer is that it prepares us to watch God act. He knows the ‘beginning from the end’ and does know what will happen tomorrow. Prayer gets us aligned with what will be and our time with God brings us the awareness of His presence in each minute of each day.

When we pray, we exit the natural and experience the supernatural. We open ourselves up to communication with God Himself in a two-way dialogue with our Heavenly Father. We are called to make all our requests to Him and trust Him. As we exercise the other part of prayer, listening, we do hear the Spirit leading us. We might not be asking for the outcome that will bring us the most joy. We might not be asking for the right timing. We might not be asking for something we are ready to have. God takes all those variables into account and in His non-linear experience of time, He prepares us for what He has already seen to be tomorrow and the future. Prayer aligns us with the power of God.

Our greatest struggle is that we don’t participate in the listening part of prayer. We just ask for things. The answer to ‘why pray?’ is so that we can hear and see what God knows and understands and allow Him to prepare us to be victorious and joyful in what the future holds.