Monthly Archives: November 2009

Click on following for earlier articles: Part 1 and Part 2.

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his generation, fell asleep…(Acts 13:36)

Not too long ago, a young girl was suffering through her first night working at the pizza delivery store where I work. She was nervous and self-conscious. And worst of all, it was Friday night. We were busy!

My manager brought her to me. “Just listen to Larry on the phone and do it the same way,” said the manager to the girl. Then, the manager left.

The phone rang; I picked it up. I greeted the customer,  introduced myself and entered the name on a computer. Then I added, “So, where have you been, we’ve been waiting all evening for your phone call? What’s your excuse?”

I continued throughout the whole phone order in this light-hearted banter. When I finished, I looked at the young girl. She broke down crying. “I can’t be like you. That’s not me.”

And of course, she was right. She needed to be herself.

This experience illustrates a major problem with us American believers, and probably most western ones.  Christianity desires standardization. We want cookie-cutter callings, stamped and approved by some well-respected college, Bible school or mentor.

Wait a second! I’m not against all Bible schools or mentors, okay? Just maybe 90% of them; but at least, this allows some leeway in my thinking.

“Why?” you shout.

“Good question,” I reply.

Who mentored Charles Finney, William Booth, Maria Woodworth-Etter, Evan Roberts, Billy Sunday, William Seymour, John Lake, Aimee Semple McPherson, Smith Wigglesworth, Jack Coe, Kathryn Kuhlman and hundreds of other pioneers? No one! Each sought the Lord and brought forth a special uniqueness, unlike any other,  for his or her generation.

To be honest, our generation does not need another Finney, Booth, Etter, Roberts, Sunday and so forth.  Not at all. We need callings of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher who are totally new and will reflect what Jesus wants done in our age.

And this can not be carried out by standardized, cookie-cutter methods where one size fits all. It must be unique for each person, guided by the Lord and suited to the uniqueness of the individual.

My personal beliefs on training people for their callings is much like General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army:

Here’s a Bible. There’s a place on the floor over there where you can pray. Tomorrow morning, you will be out on the streets ministering and preaching to people.

Would people make mistakes under my system? Yes; maybe lots of them. But all the problems can be talked out over supper at the end of the day.

Oh! And by the way, this is the way the early Christians did it. They called it church.

(Continued in Part 4.)

Click on following for earlier article: Part 1.

As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. (Matthew 9:9)

Matthew (also known as Levi) was a tax collector. Because of his profession, the Jews considered him a guttersnipe, an outcast, a reject and probably one of the last persons in the world God would ever choose to be a disciple.

None of this deterred Jesus. Why?

It states, Jesus saw a man named Matthew. By this, scripture indicates the Lord saw who Matthew was at that time and who He could become in the future. Thus, Matthew’s calling was based on his upside potential, not on his then present spiritual condition.

Bingo! This is the basis on how the Lord calls people to be His apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers…on their upside potential.

As for me, my calling from the Lord came through a nighttime vision. In it, I was standing at the rear of a packed auditorium. I had trouble at first seeing why there was such a crowd because of the tall people standing in front of me. Finally the people sat down, and I was able to see the stage and the person standing upon it. It was me; I was ministering to the crowd.

Okay, I knew I was called to preach or teach or something. But how? I had no clue!

At the time, I was a two month old Christian, living in a small Iowa town and attending a Catholic Church. I listened to Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, R. W. Schambach, Marilyn Hickey, Malcolm Smith and others on the radio and read piles of books as fast as I could.

But there were no strong prophetic voices nearby. No one who could understand and encourage me with the problems I was encountering on an almost daily basis. I felt like a sheet hanging on a clothes line, blowing whichever way the wind blew.

Thus, I made mistakes. Yikes! Lots of them!

One morning, I was jogging outside on the streets of the town where I lived. As I ran, I said, “Lord, why didn’t you call Bill instead of me? People like him and he doesn’t make the mistakes I do.”

Have you ever seen a New York Stock Exchange ticker tape, where a corporation’s symbol and number of shares move across a narrow screen? Usually, it’s in black letters on a white background. This is how the Lord spoke to me.

The message ran from right to left across my mind. It said: “I called you because you are enthusiastic, zealous, determined and have a big mouth.”

Now, if you think about it, the Lord’s four reasons for calling me would also be the same reasons He would call anyone. Right?

(Continued in Part 3.)

Click on following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16 and Part 17.

As with most walks with the Lord, my journey out of the traditional church system has not been a straight line. There have been a few left and right turns along the way.

One such detour happened in the fall of 2001.

Honey was selling furniture in Yorba Linda, California, and a Christian couple invited her to attend their church for a Sunday service. She wanted to please them and felt we both should go.

Now, the couple’s church was the mother church for a denomination which is famous for worship music, casual dress and laid-back style. The denomination’s founder had recently passed away and another had replaced him. And to be honest, the denomination was one which Honey and I usually searched out in the many cities we had lived in.

So, I was eager to visit the church.

The couple greeted us at the door and led us inside the sanctuary to where they were sitting. As we sat down, the husband leaned over and said, “The new pastor mentions finances a little more than our founder did. It’s probably because the church has dropped from 5,000 in membership to 3,500. ”

My antenna went up, as did the hairs on my neck.

The service began with worship music, followed by the taking of the offerings, a few prayers, and then, the pastor strolled to pulpit. He was forty-ish, dressed in Dockers and had a pleasant voice.

“I was going to speak on prayer today, but I felt a pressing need to speak on a different subject,” he said, looking around the sanctuary.

Now, what subject do you think had jumped over prayer to the top of his sermon docket? Was it salvation? Or healing? Or love? No, no, no!

It was finances!

The pastor explained how the church had just spent millions of dollars to purchase a parcel of land next to the church for planned expansions in the future. The additional expenditures increased the church’s total debt to $13 million. $13,000,000.

“As always,” said the pastor, “our goal is to help the poor, but until we pay off our debts, the poor will have to be put on the back burner. Then, when the debt is retired in twelve years or so, we will be in a strong position to help the poor and others.”

Yipes! Yuck! Yowie!

Now, you might be thinking this left turn experience is the exception for the traditional church system, right? Sadly, not so!

The Barna Group which is known for their extensive surveys on Christianity and churches has conducted yearly surveys on church finances. Their findings for all of the Protestant churches in America are that 85% of the tithes and offerings are spent on mortgages, construction, salaries, building upkeep, special programs and miscellaneous. Less than 10% is given to the poor or foreign missionaries.

For me, this last church experience was the dot at the bottom of the exclamation mark after the words, “Pull the plug!“

(Starting Monday a new series will begin on the callings. Stop back if you’re interested.)