“BROKEN ALTARS”


A new year is just around the corner. What will it bring your way? What do you hope and dream will happen in your life in the coming year? What concerns do you have? In what ways would you like to grow, improve, and end next year significantly better/stronger/richer (and I don’t mean monetarily!) than you are right now, on December 31, 2011?

A recent writing in my daily devotional, “Magnificent Prayer,” cut me to the heart and challenged me to consider how I’ve been, how I’ve compromised my life, my faith, my values, etc. and how much I want to be significantly better/stronger/richer (and also deeper in my relationship with the Lord) than I am today when December 31, 2012 rolls around.

Here’s what I read. The author is Vance Havner, a popular preacher and conference speaker from earlier in the past century. I’m going to separate the various thoughts that he has for us, to create space for you to think and ponder what he has to say.

“And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.” (I Kings 18:30)


“We read that Elijah began the demonstration of the true God by repairing the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Never was there a revival that did not so begin.

And if today God answers from heaven we must begin to repair His broken altars:

•Altars of consecration, where once we gave ourselves to God and promised to do His will alone; where we offered Him our talents and time and possessions, ourselves…but with the years we have kept back part of the price and lied unto God until it is a wonder we do not drop dead like Ananias and Sapphira;

•Altars of dedication, where we gave our children to God…but later chose our way for them and denied God;

•Family altars, where once we gathered to read the Word and commit our way unto the Lord…but now abandon with the silly excuse that since times have changed, it is no longer practical;

•Altars of praise and testimony, where once the redeemed of the Lord said so…but sin and worldliness and neglect have closed our lips and stolen our song;

•Altars of service, where once we lived only, always, for the King…but have now deserted because we live for self and none beside, just as if Jesus had never lived, just as if He had never died.

Here is our task: to repair these broken altars. All our pious dodges and clever substitutes to avoid repentance will never avail. Stained glass windows and robed choirs and anthems and banquets and dramas and eloquence in the pulpit and elegance in the pew have never fooled God. He demands truth in the inward parts, and heaven will keep silent and no fire will ever fall until we approach Him with rebuilt altars in the name of the Lord.” (Vance Havner)

I think this devotional also struck my heart because of the situation here at Hilmar Covenant. For many years, people have prayed for revival. People have wanted the congregation to grow. People have wanted the church to be alive. We have tried new programs, new activities, new fads, new facilities, new staff...but to what end?

Through the Veritas evaluation process, we were shocked to discover that the health of our congregation was not real good. Instead of revival and growth, we had plateaued – and were even declining! We were a “critical moment” church. Deeper study showed some of the reasons for this.

Why the discrepancies between what we as a congregation desired and the reality that we were faced with?


I think it was because of “broken altars.” Some of the things mentioned in Havner’s comments. Some of the peripheral issues and concerns that we as a congregation got caught up in, expending our energy and emotion on secondary matters instead of focusing on our primary calling as a church: pursuing Christ and Christ’s priorities in the world. Things like worship style, music style, preaching style, length of worship, staff personalities, habits/traditions vs. change/new relevancies, people's fears, etc. became priorities and took our attention and energy away from the central, essential elements of being the church, like our relationship with the Lord, Bible study, prayer, worship, community/fellowship, acts of service, concern for those who do not yet know and follow Christ, forgiveness, grace, trust, and so forth. Being human got the best of us! American individualism triumphed over how we are to live together, serve God and others, and “be” the Church. Our culture’s insatiable thirst for personal satisfaction, comfort, security, and pleasure triumphed over putting other’s interests first, sacrifice, embracing the unfamiliar, and generously deferring to others.


There is only one way for revival to occur – in one’s personal life and in the community life of a church: PRAYER. Focused, committed, communal prayer. Tinkering with the outer things (worship, programs, stylistic choices, fun activities, minimal commitment, new staff, etc.) will never bring revival and true spiritual growth. Appealing to people’s preferences will never bring a church alive either, because the focus is 180° in the wrong direction: on people, and not on God! Prayer brings the necessary change of heart, known as repentance, and that brings a deep desire to repair broken altars in one’s life. The result will be revival.

I believe we at Hilmar Covenant have made good progress forward in becoming a more healthy congregation. We have addressed some of the issues that made us a “critical moment” church. For those of us who continue to be committed and active here, there is a sense of expectancy and hope for better days ahead.

However, the truth of the matter is that we have declined. The only way to reverse this process is through revival – which is the work of the Holy Spirit, not human efforts. And the only way to unleash the Spirit and bring revival to us is through PRAYER.

As the New Year begins, I want to call us as a congregation once again to prayer. For us to be a praying congregation – not just a couple dozen of us, but everyone; 100%! If you have an asterisk by your name in the church directory, you are a member of Hilmar Covenant. When you joined this congregation, you made a number of promises before God as well as before the rest of your brothers and sisters in Christ, and one of these was to pray for the ongoing life of Hilmar Covenant. Are you faithfully doing so? Or is this a “broken altar” in your own life?


If we want to see our church thrive and grow and erupt in excellent health, it is our responsibility, individually and corporately, to seek an active, alive, vibrant relationship with God. This is what it means to repair broken altars, personally and together as a church. If we get our priorities straight, if we will forgive and seek unity, make the Lord first in our lives, and PRAY, “we can approach Him with rebuilt altars” and the Lord will pour out revival in ways we have never seen before.

I close with another selection from “Magnificent Prayer:”

“Brethren, we must fight for the prayer time! We must have time to pray. If we wait until we have some leisure moments to pray, we will never have the chance to pray. We should set apart some definite time for prayer. ‘Those who have no set time for prayer,’ warns Andrew Murray, ‘do not pray.’ For this reason, we need to watch that we may get time to pray. We must also use prayer to protect this prayer time from being snatched away through the wiles of the devil.” (Watchman Nee)

PRAY ON!

FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN!


I hardly know where to begin…

I first became acquainted with this organization when FMSC was at CHIC in 2006 and 2009 and students and leaders packed hundreds of thousands of meals for hungry children around the world.


Over a year ago, Hilmar Covenant committed to hosting a “Feed My Starving Children” food packing event, after I learned that another Covenant church in New England had raised the money necessary to do such an event. Each meal now costs 24 cents, and to make the event cost effective, we had to commit to packing a minimum of 100,000 meals – which meant raising $24,000! I was apprehensive about this; with the economy the way it is (especially here in Merced County), the number of organizations and groups seeking financial support these days, and the many other ministry responsibilities that are on my plate, I saw a long hard road ahead, trying to make our FMSC food packing event a reality. We had a big publicity kick-off for our congregation in March.

Our food packing event takes place on January 20 and 21, 2012. Volunteers sign up for two hour shifts, and work in cells of 20 people, to assemble as many packets of food as possible. Children as young as 5 years old can participate, making this a tremendous intergenerational and family event. Students receive two hours of community service credit for their involvement. Businesses, schools, churches, clubs, and other organizations receive excellent publicity for helping to sponsor the event. Best of all, a food packing event is both FUN and meaningful, knowing that you are doing a very practical, hands-on activity locally and, at the same time, doing something to make a huge difference globally: feeding hungry kids.


Fast forward to today: Not only did we meet our minimum goal before the end of October, we are currently at about $40,000 – and 166,666 meals! Through matching grants, generous donations, advertising spots, an ingenious M&M tube program (fill the tube with quarters – that’s $14, and 58 meals!), and many solicitations, we have been stunned at the tremendous response to our FMSC event.

Last week, it was time for two of us on our FMSC committee to get trained in how to sign up volunteers for the food packing shifts in January. This took about 45 minutes. At the end of our training, the woman at FMSC headquarters in the Twin Cities encouraged us to consider going ahead and committing to our “God-sized miracle goal” of $72,000, 300,000 meals, and nearly 1500 volunteers! These numbers had been thrown out in one of our early committee meetings, and we have continued to keep them before us as a goal that was FAR beyond what our human abilities would ever be able to achieve. Our trainer kept offering us positive information and encouragement and…(gulp)…well…WE SAID YES!

It’s still rather unbelievable to me that these are the new numbers we are now working with, leading up to our January event. Yes, it does seem totally insane – impossible – irresponsible, even! But somehow, we are convinced that we’re being called to take this huge leap of faith and give God space “to do immeasurably more than all we could ever ask or imagine.” (Ephesians 3:20)

Also last week, I was interviewed by the biggest newspaper in our area, the Modesto Bee, about our FMSC food packing event. It made the front page of the Sunday “Lifestyle” section of the paper...

And since then, it’s been all I can do to keep up with the interest, the inquiries, talking with people, making connections, discovering new funding sources, registering volunteers, etc. all week long! New signs of support are popping up all over the place, including our local Hilmar public schools (which is very cool)! It’s almost like God is saying to us: “You did the right thing. You tested me in this, so now “see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it!” (Malachi 3:10b)


That’s why I have not had time to even think about writing another provocative blog post. Instead, I’m sharing my current, incredible experience with any of you who are now reading this so you will know what’s going on in my life right now. Click ModBeeArticle to read the Modesto Bee article, which is super! And if you would like to donate to this food packing event and be part of the miracle that God is doing in our midst, you can end your contribution to: Hilmar Covenant Church, PO Box 340, Hilmar CA 95324 (with “FMSC” on the memo line). We only need 288,000 quarters to reach our goal! And if you live close to us, why not sign up for a food packing shift and be part of this fantastic opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children around the world? Go to www.hilmarcovenant.org for loads of information about Feed My Starving Children, and to volunteer.


Finally, PRAY for us! The semi truck arrives on Thursday, January 19, full of everything we’re going to need to fill 300,000 bags with rice, dehydrated vegetables, vitamins and minerals (with chicken flavor), and soy protein. In the meantime, we have a huge financial commitment to reach and hundreds of people to organize for the food packing event. The whole thing is going to takes supernatural strength and action.

And I can’t wait to see what God is going to do as we keep stepping out in faith!