The apostle Paul gave us this promise: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

I love how Paul says that God will surround us with His love through our most vulnerable times. And I’ve learned that He does, but nothing like I expected.

I thought God might reach down and wrap His arms of love around me. I assumed this was something between me and Him. You know, like your best friend.

But it was so much bigger.

What I discovered was that God’s love showed up through people. Ordinary people like you and me. People who have their own pain but by God’s grace reach past it.

I’ll never forget the friend who offered to cancel his family vacation in Mexico to be at my side. Or those who showed up to quietly sit with Annette during surgery. There were many others who connected regularly until they were sure I was back on my feet. Add to that thousands of Caring Bridge visits and hundreds and hundreds of guest comments, emails, texts, calls, and letters.

As my son Clint said: “Our family is not special or privileged above others, but the efforts and prayers of you all were special. How pleased must God be to see you all supporting us in our time of need.”

As Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “I pray that they may be one…”

Because of the obedience of others, I felt a oneness. I was one with them, but more importantly, I was one with God. And I am convinced that nothing can separate us because God is love, and His people are as well.

I’ll never forget that night, driving to each of my kid’s homes to drop that death sentence on them. I knew that as the leader of the family I had to be strong. I had to show faith, hope, love, and courage.

But these Hold Me Jesus song lyrics from Rich Mullins express the real thoughts ricocheting off the walls of my heart that night:

Well, sometimes my life 

Just don’t make sense at all

When the mountains look so big

And my faith just seems so small

So hold me Jesus, cause I’m shaking like a leaf

You have been King of my glory

Won’t You be my Prince of Peace

We often wonder in times like that if we’ll be left shaking like a leaf. Will God actually show up and be our Prince of Peace?

My “death sentence” has taught our family that He will.

He equipped us to peacefully accept His lead, regardless of what was to come. Miraculously, I also escaped with a cancer-free, fully-functioning pancreas.

In all this, I learned that God fulfills His promises.

He has promised us that we never again have to be a slave to fear (Rom 8:15). He promises that if we call upon Him in the day of trouble, He will deliver us (Psalms 50:15).

He only asks that we follow Him and give Him the honor and glory (Psalms 50).

To Him are all the praise, honor and glory…today and forever.

Our family hopes you have a wonderful “New Years” and 2012 is filled with an abundance of joy and peace.

Clint had worked at our company after school since seventh grade. We loved to be together and to work together. But now Clint had finished his freshman year of engineering at Purdue, and he had to make the choice between Civil Engineering in order to come back to our company or Biomedical Engineering with the plan of applying to Med School.

The “Parable of the Talents” rattled around in my heart. Could I be so selfish as to persuade him to come back home when I sensed that his gifts needed a bigger platform? I knew that medicine would provide the opportunity to save lives and honor Christ in the process. I knew I had to let Clint go. I felt like Hannah dropping Samuel off at the temple.

Today, Clint is a Urology resident at IU in Indianapolis. His days involve removing masses from cancer-ridden bodies. So when my recent Cat Scan showed a mass in my Pancreas, he sprang into action like a trained soldier. Within hours he was plotting a strategy with the top surgeons at IU.

It just so happens that IU does more Pancreas surgeries than anywhere else in the country. Because of Clint, I have immediate access to the top Pancreas surgeons in the world. Skilled surgeons and timeliness are keys to beating cancer.

Ten years ago I could have never imagined that a life my son would save could be my own. Or that I would work alongside him after all, as we battle cancer together. Thank you, Clint. I owe you everything.

I am also thankful for my two son-in-laws who have been a key part of getting me in a position to win. Two weeks ago, Luke Schafer (ER Dr.) instructed me to get a Cat Scan for some abdominal pain unrelated to the cancer. Without his wise council, I wouldn’t know that this silent killer was stalking me. And Luke Gutwein (General Surgery resident) has been invaluable in planning our course of action with Clint.

But most of all, I’m grateful to God for keeping His promises.

And let us not be weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.  Galatians 6:9

They were the most devastating words a man could hear. My head dropped. I couldn’t look up. The world stopped.

After conquering heart disease 30 months ago, I now have a new attacker. And this one is far more deadly. Don’t Google it and read the mortality rates, or you’ll have me buried before you finish this post. I had myself buried before I left the doctor’s office Wednesday evening. It seemed hopeless.

It was heartbreaking traveling from house to house that night to tell my kids. We were all crying. My girls were cuddled up with me on the couch, trying to relive a safer time in their dad’s arms.

The kids then followed us back to Lafayette so we could all be together. Our world had changed forever. We were all trying to grasp the reality. We prayed together and agreed that we wouldn’t complain. We wouldn’t fail to trust God. We would still be thankful when all seemed lost.

We hoped we could be.

The next morning I began to call family and friends. Emails came pouring in. The response was stunning. I was surrounded in spirit by those that love me. Grown men were crying and telling me how much I meant to them. Friends were praying with me on the phone. Friends from Atlanta, South Carolina, Virginia, Dallas, Phoenix, and all across the Midwest. They offered to fly and drive in to support me. It was clear that they would do whatever it took to be there for us.

And my spirit began to change. With each expression of “perfect love” from the people in my life, the clouds were nudged further back and the sun’s rays began to poke through. By Friday I sensed hope again. I developed a will to fight. I developed a passion to fight. I developed a resolve to win.

And for the first time, I fully grasped God’s promise that “perfect love casts out all fear.” The “perfect love” of my family and friends had pushed the darkness away. Hope quietly but confidently resurfaced.

I was humbled as I grasped how casual I have been about showing my own affection toward others. I now realize how important it is to daily express to my wife, kids, friends, and others just how important they are to me.

Please, go do that now with the people in your life.

I have a long road ahead of me. The first step is this Tuesday (7:30 AM) when I have surgery to remove the tumor. Please pray that the cancer hasn’t spread. Please pray for my family.

Because of your “perfect love,” I will fight regardless of what happens. I will fight to win this battle. And there is a real chance since we caught the cancer early. There is a chance because I have such remarkable emotional and prayer support. There is a chance because I’m young and healthy. There is a chance because I love you all and you deserve my very best.

We have set up a Caring Bridge web site at caringbridge.org/visit/edbahler if you’d like to stay in touch.

Preparing for the Breakthrough/Calamity…

That’s what we spend most of our time doing. The breakthrough speech that will change everything, or the giant insight that opens every door. We fret about the apocalyptic ending, the big crash, the slam climax as well.

Of course, it almost never happens that way.

Products and services succeed one person at a time, as the word slowly spreads. Customers defect one person at a time, as hearts are broken and people are disappointed. Doors open, sure, but not all at once. One at a time.

One at a time is a little anticlimactic and difficult to get in a froth over, but one at a time is how we win and how we lose.

That’s how we win and lose in ministry as well. It’s not the big event. It’s the little daily wins.

What “little win” can you have today with someone that matters to you?

It seems we innovate or are at risk. But where do we discover good ideas and how do we discern what to focus on?

Researcher Steve Johnston discovered that there are no brilliant “flashes of insight” or “grand epiphany” moments. Instead, reinvention comes from “slow hunches” that incubate over time in messy, chaotic environments. Those hunches connect with other people’s hunches and they get cobbled together to create something new.

Success and security favors the connected mind. That’s when ideas fade into view!

Here are five keys to the reinvention of you or your organization:

1. Always be curious and ask questions.
2. Keep a journal and record your hunches.
3. Get out of your comfort zone and get connected with people different than you.
4. Trust others and share your hunches freely.
5. Cobble hunches together and create something new.

What would you add to the list?

But Emil has this simple plan:

1. Have a vision and a strategy
2. Define reality
3. Give hope
4. Execute

Each step is critical, but leaders struggle the most with execution. As Pastor James Emory Wright shared:

I recently tweeted about the importance of having a bias for action. Too often we have a “ready, aim, aim, aim…” mentality.  Fire your dang gun!  There comes a time to pull the trigger on action and decision.

Leaders, especially church leaders, hesitate to fire their dang gun because when they do the “CAVE” men come out. Every church has them. As my friend Rex Miller says, they are the ones that are:

• Consistently
• Against
• Virtually
• Everything

CAVE men could kill Emil’s plan at Wendy’s, and they can kill the plan at your church.  There comes a time for action and decision. Without it we become overrun by more courageous and decisive organizations.

Are there CAVE men in your church?

What is a Christ-like way to address their concerns while staying on the move?

Thirty years ago Bill Hybels launched Willow and the “Seeker Sensitive” movement from a theater. It was all about being fishers of men by lowering the barriers to introducing people to Christ.

It was now cool to use secular music, video clips of Hollywood movies, drama, smoke machines, contemporary worship or whatever drew people and helped connect them to the gospel. Today Hybels is a household name. The church attracts 25,000 on a weekend and baptized 2,000 last year.

By any measure, that’s successful fishing! But it’s a new day.

Darren explained how young people now seek something deeper, more permanent, and more transformational in their lives. In their swirling digital world, history and context matters. They’re turned off by the “alpha male” leader and desire engagement, authority of the scripture, prayer, and discipleship.

To connect with this new way of thinking, Willow Creek has dropped the seeker sensitive bells and whistles and instead sings hymns and focuses on scripture. It’s no longer about being hip but about being the “salt and light” in an increasingly confused world.

In Darren’s words:

If we lose our saltiness, we are worthless.

I was surprised by such a dramatic shift. How about you?

Just a few weeks ago, on a Thursday afternoon, a young woman came by the office to give me something. She was going to put it in the offering plate, but decided to just hand it to me. I was in a meeting, so she left it at the front desk. On the outside it said, “Jim White,” and underneath, “Be careful…sharp objects inside.” On the back it read, “I thought I was going to put this in an offering plate but I think it would be best to give you directly.”

I opened the envelope, and inside a plastic bag were razor blades. And a letter she later told me I could share.

“I have been coming to your church on and off now since I was in 5th grade.  I am now 23…When I was 12 years old I started cutting myself.  Now my arms are covered in an overwhelming amount of scars, but I am proud to say there are no open cuts.  I have not cut for probably a year now, but I still have razor blades that are hidden around my room…

I quit when I was about to cut one day but heard Jesus in my ear saying, ‘I bled enough.’ He took my pain on the cross and I no longer needed to take it out on myself.  But I realized by holding onto razor blades I am not fully letting go of the pain and addiction to cutting.  I want to fully let it go now…

It says in the Bible, Cast all your anxiety on him for He cares for you.  So I’m doing that today.  This is an offering plate and I am offering to Jesus today more than any amount of money I could ever offer Him.  These are all my razor blades that I have kept hidden around in different places out of my reach just in case.

I am handing it over to God and I trust you also with this as well.  Thank you for all you and this church have done in my life…”

And then she signed her name.

And now I am holding her razor blades in my hand, instead of her holding them in hers.

And that is why I do what I do.

There are stories waiting to be created and told all around us. Make one happen today!

That kind of challenge has been lost in our sincere efforts to lower the barriers to reach the unchurched. But Spurgeon’s passion is surfacing again.

Austin Stone is a missional church in Austin, TX which has grown to over 7,000 people in 8 short years. They are a partner in our Future Traveler effort to develop missional ministries from large church platforms. I was there recently and was stunned by how they’ve raised the bar as Spurgeon challenged. To become active in their ministry, you must sign and live by this 14-point partner agreement:

As a Partner at Austin Stone Church I Will:

Worship Christ

• Habitually spend time with Christ through the reading of scripture and prayer
• Follow the example of Christ in my personal life
• Financially support the mission of the church, starting with a 10% tithe
• Be or have been baptized as a believer
• Participate in community with Austin Stone

Live in Community

• Actively pursue biblical community within The Austin Stone
• Be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit
• Not gossip, but instead use my words to give grace

Get Trained

• Serve the body of Austin Stone
• Get trained for ministry with the Austin Stone
• Not teach beliefs contraty to our Affirmation of Faith
• Build disciple relationships with other believers

Make Disciples

• Pursue intentional, transparent relationships with non-Christians
• Be involved in living out and sharing of the gospel both locally and globally

That is a high bar in any contemporary church today, yet over 1,500 have signed up. There is little room for imposters here. However, the more they raise the bar at “The Stone”, the more people show up the next weekend.

Are you an imposter?

Why do think more people keep showing up as they raise it higher?

What would happen at your church if they raised the bar this high?

It’s easy to say “no” when there is a deeper “yes” burning within you.

Covey explained that success is often a result of a clear, deeper “YES”  within us that empowers us to say “NO” to distractions.

During those same 20 years, our “Seeker Sensitive” ministry efforts seem to have taken us in a different direction than what Covey was advising. Even though lowering barriers successfully helped introduce thousands to Christ, it seems we have minimized expectations as well. Unfortunately, this means that we may have also minimized the deeper burning “YES” within young Christians.

Could that be the reason that a recent poll by the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy discovered that 80% of  Evangelical Christians between 18-20 have had sex?  The Guttmacher Institute also discovered that 30% of unmarried Christians become pregnant and 40% of them end their pregnancy with an abortion. That’s 650,000 Christian abortions a year, even though 76% of Christians believe premarital sex is wrong.

Research now clearly shows that premarital sexual relationships lower our ability to develop the critical long-term bonds necessary for a healthy marriage and healthy families. Could it be our young people are failing to claim a deeper burning “YES” and are therefore ill-equipped to say “NO”?

Is it time to once again challenge young Christians to a higher purpose?

Aren’t Christians clearly called to be the light on a hill to a dark, hurting world?

Is it time to throw away the lower standards and equip Christians with a deeper burning “YES”?

Content from Relevant magazine

Recently, Hybel’s “Reveal Study” highlighted surprising trends. A large part of his church failed to become disciples once they were introduced to Christ. Even more troubling, the 20% that matured into disciples had become disconnected and dissatisfied with the church.

Other studies suggest claiming to be a Christian, but not acting Christ- like, hadn’t gone unnoticed. Throw in an increasingly diverse faith culture and the response has been a growing cynicism. To grow a church today, we must learn to connect with cynics who now make up 50-60% of our communities.

Cynics aren’t all that influenced by cool music, charismatic speakers or fancy buildings. They’re not all that interested in how attractive your Sunday worship is. They’re interested in whether you’re willing to send people to heal their community.

Recently, a young cynic told me he left his church of over 30 years because they had embarked on a multi-million dollar building program. He could accept a fancy new building if the building was a resource for a far bigger vision outside the church, but it wasn’t. Ten other families left with him.

“Cynical Sensitive” ministries focus on equipping and sending people to the doubt and pain in the community. And, cynical sensitive facilities must scream mission, a mission far more important than the building. That is why equipping and sending resources must be front and center.

And, the facility may need to feel more like FedEx Kinko’s than Starbucks.

In fact, wasting time is a key part of our lives.

Wasting time poorly is a sin, because not only are you forgoing the productivity, generosity and art that comes from work, but you’re also giving up the downtime, experimentation and joy that comes from wasting time.

If you’re going to waste time (and I hope you will) the least you can do is do it well.

Could this be how Christ and our pastor feel about us on Sundays? With hectic schedules, 100 channels, 24-hour news, Facebook, Twitter, and endless Youtube videos, our minds are kept continuously shifting. To keep our attention, many churches feel compelled to offer fast-paced services packed with videos, dance, and ear jarring music.

However, in a recent Christianity Today article, Richard Foster (author of best selling Celebration Of  Discipline) suggests that silence and solitude are among the most important spiritual disciplines for today. Unfortunately, these disciplines are thought of as impractical extras for the super Christian. Not so!

William Penn said,”Religion doesn’t take us out of the world. But it pushes us into the world and excites our endeavors to mend the world.” I believe that this practical endeavor could create substance often missing in the fast-paced, consumer-oriented church.

What if we believed that every day was a serious walk with Jesus to mend the world?

Could it drive us to deeper reflection and make us better dates on Sundays…and maybe even on Fridays?

They’re “Digital Natives” while we struggle as “Digital Immigrants”. What they want from church is very different as well.

Here is research data from Dave Tonen regarding what the 18-30 year old crowd want from you and I at church:

1. Community
2. Authenticity
3. Mentorship
4. Passionate Leaders
5. Interactive Environment
6. Involvement
7. Relevant Engagement
8. Intellectually Challenged
9. Technology and Internet Presence

This is real stuff.  Last week I experienced it first hand at an annual family camp we attend.

I had the opportunity to share a power point with video clips in an attempt to step into the world of the high school and college kids.

One of the videos was a passionate, tearful  plea from pastor  David Wilkerson (Author of the The Cross And The Switchblade). David poured out his heart about our lack of anguish.

Anguish:

Bearing God’s heart, passion and burden so deeply it provokes us to act.

I wondered if they would connect. Would they care? Could their hearts be stirred?

When we finished nobody moved. It felt like an hour of deep, quiet reflection. Tears were common throughout the room.

Does that surprise you? Have we underestimated our young people?

Check out Wilkerson’s video: