Meet Brittany & Kammie

It's been a while since we welcomed new members to the talia family. We are happy to do so today. Brittany Kauflin hails from Gaithersburg, Maryland (just outside Washington DC) where she is a member of Covenant Life Church, sitting under the pulpit ministry of Josh Harris. Brittany works at the church on the admin team for the youth. She is also involved on the music team doing tech work and singing from time to time. Brittany is in love with Jesus Christ. She dwells on His character and work. We look forward to hearing from her as well as seeing her photographic work that she will also be sharing with us.

"My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace; Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God." These are Kammie's words (via Frederick Brook) about herself. You'll hear these quotes, as well as verses and hymns from Kammie pretty often. Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks... and she is overflowing with a captivation with her Savior. Kammie is originally from the Victorville/Hesperia (desert) area of California but is now a student at the Master's College as well as a member of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles where she is involved in a ministry to the art school Cal Arts.

Free Grace Church Meets Calvary Baptist Church

photo credit: jenny james

Not too long ago I mentioned that our church was presented with the opportunity to merge with another church. Both of our churches are relatively small in number and a merge might perhaps allow us to be of greater effectiveness in our community for the gospel and kingdom of Christ. The glory of God in the gospel of Christ would be the only reason that we'd ever consider merging with another church. It's not always a given, but a group of 70-80 might perhaps be more effective than two smaller groups. To be able to pull personnel and resources together in order to be more effective in gospel ministry would be fabulous. And so we are pursuing this opportunity.

Yesterday we took another baby step in this direction. Our church went over to the other church's property and we worshipped together. Since we are taking baby steps, our primary goal was simply to meet and greet the members of their church and to minister to them through the preaching of God's Word. The Pastor of their church and I agreed that I would preach on this Sunday and lead the congregation in a few songs of worship.

Each and every week I pick out the music that we'll sing on Sunday morning. My first consideration when picking songs to sing has to do with the content of the sermon. Since I preach verse by verse, I typically know what the theme of the songs are going to be from week to week. I try to have the song content match the sermon content so that there is one uniform theme in the service. It's not always easy to do this, but generally it's not a problem because the gospel is central to all of Scripture. Being that my next passage of Scripture was from Matthew 20:29-34, where Jesus heals the blind men, I picked two hymns that hopefully the other congregation knew: Be Thou My Vision....and Amazing Grace (was blind but now I see). A brother in the Lord asked me if I chose those songs because of the other church...and the answer was partly "yes." I wanted us to be united not divided this Sunday and so I tried to pick a couple of songs that hopefully everyone knew. Turns out that the other church was not familiar with "Be Thou My Vision." We tried. But again, my first consideration in song selection has to do with sermon content before any other consideration.

Because their Sunday School class meets in the main auditorium, we had only a couple minutes to do a sound check. So the vocals didn't come out that clear. Of course, these things are minimal issues and have little to do with spiritual significance. I know that technical difficulties and sound issus are big deals to some people, but to me they really don't matter.

After an opening prayer and an initial song, we recited Romans 5:18-21 together. Again, I wanted us united and what better way to be united than to recite the gospel together and remind ourselves of the grace we've been given. I am a firm believer that the gospel unites when preached properly. I read recently and I forget where, but someone said that the NT letters basically shows that the answer to all problems in church is the gospel. That is the problem solver for all issues in the church. And I say "AMEN" to that.

The version of Amazing Grace that we sang was Chris Tomlin's version. The added chorus is fairly simple to sing and I was quite sure that our sister church would be able to pick it up fairly quickly.

Before the sermon, the offering was taken and there was about a 10 minute greeting period. The length of this time was probably longer than normal because of the sheer amount of new faces we were being introduced to. It was nice to be able to do that. There's no doubt that I'll never remember all those names this first week. But again, it was a chance to begin a new relationship. Prior to the greeting, the Pastor had my family stand so that his church could see us. Then he had our entire church stand so that we'd be identified. This brief line of division was drawn so that it could be quickly erased. It was not done to embarrass, but to help us see who we should be intentionally meeting during this time. Helping to identify who was from what church would enable everyone to go and meet those they didn't know. It seemed to have worked.

We took the offering, then sang another song together. Then it was time for me to preach. The text I selected was an easy choice. I merely picked up from where I had been preaching for the past year and a half. I did this for a couple of reasons. I wanted their congregation to know that I didn't come with any agenda on my mind other than to bring the Word of God to them. Preaching the next passage in succession would let them know that I was being subservient to the Word of God, not my own ideas, preferences or hobby horses. Whatever the topic was, based on the passage, would be fitting for all since all of God's Word is pertinent all the time.

My message was titled, "Was Blind But Now I See." There were three main points that I derived from the text: (1). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is The Messiah, (2). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mericful, (3). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mighty To Save.

(1). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Messiah: The blind men called Jesus the Son of David. The OT prophecied that when Messiah came He would open the eyes of the blind. Calling Jesus the Son of David didn't necessarily make Him that, but His miracle proved that what they said was true. Knowing that Jesus was the Son of David, the text called for us to believe that fact. The question arises, "How can we believe that when we didn't see the miracle?" The answer is that the authors of the NT were concernded with truth telling. There are varying accounts of this passage that some would say are contradictory, but they are not. Rather they are differnt vantage points from which the authors witnessed this miracle. Their varying stories show that they were only concerned with reporting what they saw exactly as they saw it. If there were a conspiracy to fabricate truth then we would expect all of their details to be exactly the same. So we must believe their report. Christ did heal these blind men. Therefore, He is Messiah. Believe His message. Believe in Him.

(2). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Merciful: In this point I contended for God's Sovereignty over His mercy. Just as He is Sovereign over His grace, so too, He is over His mercy. The importance of grasping this is equal to grasping the importance of Sovereign Grace. We have no claim on God's grace or mercy. To say that God is duty bound or obligated to give us either is to erase the very foundation of what it means to be saved by grace. If mercy is earned or required of God then it is not mercy, but merit or wage. That leaves room for boasting in self. Soli Deo Gloria cannot be a reality if God is required to give mercy. Yet He freely gives it to show His glory. I later pointed out that as those who have been shown mercy, we must too show mercy. To be a bitter, unmerciful, unrelenting, punishing Christian is an oxymoron. A merciless Christian is no Christian at all and I dare say that such a person has understood their sin and the gospel properly. As God has relieved our physical and spiritual misery through mercy, so we must relieve physical misery, but more importantly, spiritual misery through the preaching of the gospel.

(3). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mighty To Save: In this last point I contended for the doctrine of total depravity, although I did not use that phrase. Just as a dead man cannot give Himself life...and a spiritually dead person cannot give themselves spiritual life, so neither could a blind person give themselves sight. My point was that we are spiritually blinded by our own hearts, the deception of Satan and the curse of God from Adam's sin. God must come and relieve our spiritual blindness if we are ever to see our sin condition, see the magnificence of the cross and resurrection and trust in Christ to save us. The fact that God opens our eyes in order to cause our salvation is marvelous. Therefore, we are to be worshippers, lover and those who treasure the Lord Jesus.

We had a final hymn after the sermon and a final prayer of blessing and benediction. Then a family from our church, my family, the pastor's family and a couple other families from their church went out to lunch to fellowship. We had good conversation and we were able to talk a little about our first meeting together. The door is open for us to meet together again although we have not decided on when to do this. We will talk later in the week to set a date. For the time being, we both wanted to talk to our respective congregations to get their input and concerns, if any.

Last night we met up at a church member's house and had some food and talked with several of the families in our church. We primarly talked with those who had children because that is one of our biggest concerns. We intentionally chose to keep our children with us in the service because we wanted their church to see us--"warts and all." I hope you know that's a figure of speech and in no way do I consider children "warts." Our kids are a blessing to us and our church. That's just my way of saying that I wanted them to see us "as we are, with no pretentions." During lunch that afternoon, I talked with Pastor and asked him if the next time we met if it would be alright to have a children's class where they could learn on a level appropriate to them and so that the children from both churches can begin to know each other. The reply was a resounding "YES!" That told me that they are indeed a flexible and "other-oriented" fellowship and not just concerned about themselves. What a blessing. I did inform our church of this last night and they were pleased to hear that. We want our adults and children to be taught in the best way possible during the little time we have together. Although we sing together, pray together, recite Scriptures together and take communion together, for the young ones we feel it is appropriate to teach on a level that they can appreciate, apply and come to know the gospel. That is our goal...not to make them show off their best manners in church by sitting stiff during the sermon. I'd rather have saved children who loves the Lord and coming to church than ones who are struggling to understand and hate coming. Please understand me...I am not advocating a program-driven church, but rather teaching in a way that everyone is able to feed on the Word of God.

The rest of our time together, during dinner, was spent sharing each other's thoughts on our first service together I few questions were asked. Some dreams were shared about what could be. This was good, but I wanted to assure everyone that we are taking baby steps and that their big dreams were just a tad ahead of where we are right now. It was great to hear of their big dreams. That means that their hearts are hungry for God to do great things through us. That is the spirit that we want. I believe that is the heart that God wants, not one of negativity and griping and selfishness. I didn't sense any negativity or concern or poor attitudes. I think that everyone was able to see the potential of what could happen versus the actual condition of our churches. I did try to stress that very much: actuality versus potentiality. We are not...and they are not what we COULD BE if we lovingly come together to serve each other, to serve God and to serve our community. Like a marriage, there will be things that bug us about each other, but we will no doubt compliment their weaknesses and they will no doubt compliment our weakeness. That is why I said that our churches should merge if it serves God's kingdom purpose better.

I left that house last night feeling very relaxed, excited and confident that God has some fun stuff planned for us. Of course there will be some pain. There is always some pain in change. But babysteps will help. Slow is good. God is not in a rush. He's got it all under control. His plan is unstoppable. We're not going to mess it up. So we're going to take a deep breath, continue to pray, move forward deliberately but slowly and we'll continue to see what God does and if this is His will.

At this point, I'm wondering if I should call ABC or NBC to do a reality show on us called, "WHEN CHURCHES MERGE." If you have a better title, let me know. I kid. I kid.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Quote of the Year

Read slowly with the eyes of your heart. This is the foolishness of the gospel, and its glory:

"That Christ should come from the eternal bosom of his Father to a region of sorrow and death; that God should be manifested in the flesh, the Creator made a creature; that he that was clothed with glory should be wrapped with rags of flesh; he that filled heaven and earth with his glory should be cradled in a manger; that the power of God should fly from weak man, the God of Israel into Egypt; that the God of the law should be subject to the law, the God of the circumcision circumcised, the God that made the heavens working at Joseph's homely trade; that he that binds the devils in chains should be tempted; that he, whose is the world, and the fullness thereof, should hunger and thirst; that the God of strength should be weary, the Judge of all flesh condemned, the God of life put to death; that he that is one with his Father should cry out of misery, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"; that he that had the keys of hell and death at his girdle should lie imprisoned in the sepulcher of another, having in his lifetime nowhere to lay his head, nor after death to lay his body; that that head, before which the angels do cast down their crowns, should be crowned with thorns, and those eyes, purer than the sun, put out by the darkness of death; those ears, which hear nothing but hallelujahs of saints and angels, to hear the blasphemies of the multitude; that face, that was fairer than the sons of men, to be spit on by those beastly wretched Jews; that mouth and tongue, that spake as never man spake, accused for blasphemy; those hands, that freely swayed the sceptre of heaven, nailed to the cross; those feet, 'like unto fine brass,' nailed to the cross for man's sins; each sense annoyed: his feeling or touching, with a spear and nails; his smell, with stinking flavour, being crucified about Golgotha, the place of skulls; his taste, with vinegar and gall; his hearing, with reproaches, and sight of his mother and disciples bemoaning him; his soul, comfortless and forsaken; and all this for those very sins that Satan paints and puts fine colours upon! Oh! how should the consideration of this stir up the soul against it, and work the soul to fly from it, and to use all holy means whereby sin may be subdued and destroyed!
...when we consider that sin hath slain our Lord Jesus, ah, how should it provoke our hearts to be revenged on sin, that hath murdered the Lord of glory, and hath done that mischief that all the devils in hell could never have done?
It was good counsel one gave, 'Never let go out of your minds the thoughts of a crucified Christ.' Let these be meat and drink unto you; let them be your sweetness and consolation, your honey and your desire, your reading and your meditation, your life, death, and resurrection."

-taken from Thomas Brooks', Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, 36-38

An Update On Church Life

For those of you that don't know me, I'm not a big sports fan. I rarely crawl out from underneath my rock to see what's going on in that world. As such, it was February 4th, 2007, that we had our first church service. Later that day I found out that it was Super Bowl Sunday. Not exactly what you would call a great marketing idea. But then again, the cause of Christ is bigger than grown men fighting to move an oblong ball pumped with air down a green field. I have to admit though, it was an accident on my part, but one that I look back on with a smile. I often think, "How funny!" That was almost three years ago. Time flies!

Fourteen. That's the number of people that were present in our first service. Several of those people were dear brothers and sisters that were faithful members of their own churches that wanted to be there to encourage and support us our first Sunday. It was an exciting morning because none of us knew what to expect. We just knew that it'd be chaotic from time to time and that we'd have to make due with what we had. We also knew that the Lord would provide as He saw fit.

The first two years were rough. But then no one ever said ministry was easy. There were times when the only ones present were my wife, my daughter and yours truly. On those particular Sundays we'd have a short devotion and then go out to have breakfast and then I'd head to work a little earlier than normal. Those days were tough to rejoice in the Lord. There were a few times when I felt like calling it quits on the whole church-planting. I imagined that I'd take my family to an already established church that perhaps needed help with preaching. Then I'd grab the phone book and see that there weren't really any churches up here that held to a Calvinist/Reformed belief system. Because I know the grace teachings that flow from these beliefs, it troubled me that maybe only one or two churches in this whole desert area were like ours. So I put the phone book down, confessed my selfishness to God and then went right back to sermon preparation and evangelizing those whom God put in my path. This whole doubt thing with the phone book has happened on about five or six occassions.

The first two years were like a roller coaster. Many of the people that attended our church were from the dealership that I worked at. If you're not familiar with the car business, let me just say that the employment turnover is high. Not coincidentally, our church suffered the same turnover rate. It was always a bummer to lose someone because of schedule changes or relocations, but I still keep in contact with those dear brothers and they are growing strong in the Lord in their current locations. For that I praise God.

The first two years were spiritually transforming. I continually reminded our congregation that a right preaching of the Scripture and administering of the ordinances were the marks of a true church. Regardless of how big or small we were, we were a legitate assembly of believers. The building, the programs, the size, the resources were irrelevant to whether or not we were a true church. I tried to stress the importance of faithfulness to God and not success by outwards standards or indicators. And let me tell you, that is a tough one to break. Sometimes numbers matter more to pastors than anything and that is a difficult thing to remove from one's thinking. God used John Piper's book, Brothers We Are Not Professionals, to play a huge role in reshaping my ministry understanding. I will say that numbers are not unimportant, but neither are they the ultimate indicator of the health and success of a church.

The first two years+ have been a big blessing. For ten years I was in full-time ministry and received a regular salary from my brothers and sisters in the church. Because our current church was/is just starting, I preach for free. I don't think I've ever enjoyed preaching so much. It's been the greatest blessing to be able to feed the flock of God without having to be a financial burden on them. The Lord has graciously provided for my family through secular employment.

Our time together has been a blessing because we've seen some unbelievers regenerated and come to faith in Christ. That has been the biggest blessing of all. I have long since moved away from decisional regeneration and have simply focused on sharing Scripture (publicly and privately) and letting God do the converting through His Word. I'm not so quick to ge a "decision" out of someone just so that I can say "We had one saved!" I'm genuinely more concerned to see someone truly born again by the Spirit, thus we have no altar calls or decision cards but rather a call to repentance and faith each and every week during the preaching of God's Word. There are no "just pray this prayer and you'll be saved" kind of stuff. There are biblical and theological reasons why I don't do this anymore; the main reason being that the biblical response to the gospel is "repent and believe" not anything else. This summer we baptized several that have confessed Christ as Lord and given evidence of regeneration. It was totally awesome.

Over the past couple of months, some interesting things have happened. We have about thirteen new people start attending. That's exciting because several are unsaved and we are praying for their conversion. It's also exciting to see believers (who were looking for a church) now growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. We have some newer singles, seniors, married couples and children coming. What's great is that Christ has united us (those that are saved) regardless of ethnicity or age. What's great is that our unsaved visitors are being brought because of Christ. They know exactly why they are coming and what they should expect to hear. None are hoodwinked into thinking that they are coming to get entertained and then blind-sided with the gospel. There's no bait-and-switch. I love it. Just the reality of God and His Word.

A few weeks ago, another interesting thing happened. I became friends with a Pastor of a church that is about five miles away. Recently, I preached at this brother's church on a Sunday night. The reason I preached was because we are slowly (and I means slowly) talking about the possibility of merging our two churches. My new friend has been wanting to retire for some time and is seeking a replacement. Being the founding pastor of the church, he is the only pastor this church has ever known for 35 years. They're a small congregation--only about 40-50, but so are we...about 25-30.

Having never been a part of something like this, I have many questions and concerns. Ultimately, the glory of God is what I'm most concerned about. If our churches merge in a hastily fashion and factions forms, I do not want the gospel mocked in the community because of a church split. Secondly, I'm concerned for the members of both churches. If factions form and the church splits after a merger, I do not want the faith of any believer destroyed. So I'm very hesitant to go through with something like this. Yet I don't want fear to drive our decision...I want the glory of God to. And sometimes that is a risk worth taking.

My first criteria in deciding whether or not we merge is our theology. It's going to take some time to really see where they are. It's going to take some time for them to really see where we are. Hence, we are slowly setting up opportunities for me to preach at their location. I already mentioned that I preached there one Sunday night. Though the attendance was minimal, it was a wonderful opportunity to share God's Word which was received well.

The pastor and I have agreed that our churches should meet on Sunday, October 25th. That same morning I will be preaching to all and leading the entire assembly in a couple of spiritual songs. This meeting will serve to let their congregation know a little bit about our theology and will serve to help our church evaluate the second criteria of whether or not our churches should merge. Our second concern is brotherly and Christ-like love and submission (to each other and to the Word). If their church is not teachable, it would be a tough merge. If their church is turned inward and not receptive to others, it would be a tough merge. I don't imagine that is the case, but that morning will give us the chance to see if their church is characterized by glad submission to the Word and to other believers.

If things progress from here, I imagine that more preaching times will be scheduled and some sort of plan or map will be laid out for a smooth merge and transition from one pastor to the next. I have also talked with all of our church families and they are cautiously hopeful of the situation. My desires is that we be in complete unity when it comes time to make a decision either way. Either we merge, if the Lord wills...or we continue doing what we're doing, if the Lord wills. Either way, we will rejoice in our Lord for bringing two churches together or for allowing us to become friends with another local church.

Again, my biggest concern has to do with the theology aspect. The church that we're considering merging with is just like the church I grew up in. Having spent some time with the pastor, I am almost 100% sure I know what they believe. We even went to the same Bible collge. That may sound like a good thing, but I no longer hold to some of the beliefs I grew up with and learned in college. I am a former Calminian...part Arminian, part Calvinist. I sort of chose the things I like from both sets of theology. Now I am a fully convinced Calvinist. My fear is that if I come out and say "Calvinist" that the stereo-type of a Calvinist will cloud their thinking and prevent meaningful dialogue and progress. When most people who do not hold to Calvinism hear of a Calvinist they are automatically taken to the stereo-type of a Hyper-Calvinist, which is rank heresy. And they are often transported to the word "predestination" or "election" as if that is the only thing a Calvinist believes or is focused on. Truth be told, everyone Christian has to admit that both of these things are a reality because they are in God's Word. The only thing is whether a Christian wants to come out and actually say what these things really mean. So all Arminians and Calvinists belief in these doctrines...they just have different understandings of them.

When I left my former church in Los Angeles there were things that were said about me that had everything to do with Hyper-Calvinism and not Calvinism. I don't want that same faulty understanding to prevent any meaningful progress in a potential church merge. Therefore, I am going to avoid labels and instead focus on preaching the Word. I am not ashamed of what I believe or afraid to confess it, I just know how people responds to labels. My prayer is that the love of God in our church would shine forth brilliantly to show that we have a heart for God, for the church and for the lost.

Well, that is where we are in the history of God's redemption plan. I have on idea what the final results will be from our perspective. But somehow it will end in God being glorified.

Where Have All The TALIANS Gone?

Hey Everyone,

I hope you're all doing ok. Just wanted to drop and line and say that I miss everyone's occassionaly post. You all have had good stuff to contribute. And they've always been an encouragement to me.

I know everyone's probably super busy with school, work, family, church, eating and sleeping...and thus you probably have very little time to contribute. And that's ok! I just want you to know that whenever you do post, it encourages me and teaches me something.

God bless you in whatever He has you doing. I'd love to hear what God is doing in your lives. Maybe we can rejoice together.

If I never meet you face-to-face on earth, then I'll see you in the new creation...I think we'll have a little time there to share about the greatness of our God. -- Josh

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Keith Mathison

My experience in churches over the last twenty years gives me reason to believe that many pastors tend to forget that even believers need to hear the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, as often as they gather together. I'm not speaking about altar calls or evangelistic appeals. I'm speaking about the good news that believers have forgiveness of sins. I'm speaking about the good news that believers are justified and that the ground of our justification is not our own good works, our church attendance, our giving, our witnessing, our praying. The ground of our justification is the perfect righteousness and merit of Christ, which is imputed to us. Even as Christians we have a tendency to fall into a Pelagian mindset. And week after week of "bootstrap" sermons contributes to that mentality and subtly causes us to trust in our own good works. On the other hand, week after week of "berating" sermons usually tells us something we already know full well - namely, how utterly wicked and sinful we are. Obviously, sermons have to fit the congregation and the circumstances. There are those in every congregation who are not sufficiently impressed with the sinfulness of sin - particularly their favorite one. But once this issue (the law) is dealt with, the remedy (the gospel) needs to be clearly expressed. We need to be constantly reminded that it is by grace that we have been saved, that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, that the ground of our justification is Christ's righteousness, not our own.

As far as an encouraging word, I would remind the vast majority of pastors who faithfully serve in small churches, who will never publish a book or speak at a conference, that the church has spread around the world because of God's use of men like them.