Category Archives: Red Letter Christians

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.)

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 and Part 14.

Let’s say that we conduct a survey of every Christian in America, asking, “What do you believe is the number one duty for church pastors?”

Do you have any ideas on what their responses might be?

Well, I would guess that 95% of the Christians would say something like, “Feeding the sheep.” And of course, what this really means is, “Pastor, bring on the sermons.”

What’s the scriptural logic behind this answer?

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to him, “Lord, You know all things; you know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.” (John 21:17 NKJ)

Out of this single discourse between a newly resurrected Jesus and a broken, discouraged Peter has grown the tradition of pastors preaching sermons in today’s traditional churches. So ingrained is this tradition that few of us even question its scriptural validity.

But wait a second! What was Peter’s calling? Pastor. No!

Peter was one of the original twelve apostles, chosen to be a part of the foundation for the Church, with Jesus being the corner stone. He was never a pastor, restricted to a local assembly; but instead, He was a traveling, church-planting apostle. This is an important point, one which is usually overlooked when this section of scripture is studied.

So, what was Jesus’ main purpose in His “Feed My sheep” discourse with Peter?

I believe our Lord’s main purpose was restoring and reconfirming the apostolic calling on Peter’s life.  Do you want to know why I believe this? The answer can be found in a prophecy spoken by Jesus to Peter a few days earlier:

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren. (Luke 22: 31-32 NKJ)

How would you like to receive a prophetic word like this? And then, have it come to pass? Wouldn’t you be so discouraged that you’d believe your calling had been tossed out of the windows of heaven? Forever and ever!

This particular discourse between Jesus and Peter is the most personal and intimate conversation recorded in the New Testament. It reveals the compassion and love the Head of the Church has for an individual and his unique calling.

But yes, there are some other scriptures with a “Feed the sheep” theme.

(Continued in Part 16).

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 and Part 13.

What peerage titles come to mind when you think about the Kingdom of God? Prince? Princess? Duke? Duchess? Baron? Baroness? Earl? Countess? Lord? Lady?

Probably none of these, right?

We only think about the King, the Lord Jesus, when we consider the Kingdom of God.

But as you know, the Kingdom of God is not a democracy or a dictatorship. No one is ever elected to head it or can take it over by a coup d’etat. It is an ongoing, never-ending kingdom with the King being the supreme ruler and authority over His royal monarchy. And royal monarchies usually have peerage titles, right?

So, this being the case, what are the various titles for all the different citizens of the kingdom of God?

But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

The only title given in Scripture for a citizen of the Kingdom of God is son. No other hierarchical or peerage titles are mentioned at all, as in none, zero, nada and zip.

And guess what?

Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  (Matthew 25:34)

The Kingdom of God was a part of the Father’s plan when He created the world, even before the creation of the first man.  How awesome is that?

And yet, the Father’s plan only includes a King and His sons. No other hierarchical levels were ever envisioned by our Father, as in never-ever-never!

Every believing reader, or at least 99.9% of you, would most likely agree with me so far, right?

Then, if the above is true, why would the King allow feudal fiefdoms known as traditional churches to exist in His kingdom, with lords in the pulpits and peasants in the pews? Is it possible the Kingdom and the Church oppose each other, as in America’s separation of church and state policies?

The answers are simple: the Church was created along the same lines as the Kingdom of God without any artificial hierarchical separation known as the clergy classes or the laity classes. Period.

After all, what is the message of the Church?

This gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

The word gospel is a shortened form of the phrase the gospel of the Kingdom of God. This is the church’s message to a hopeless world.

So, admittedly, we Christians do not really understand the calling of pastor or the role of leaders in the Kingdom of God or the Church, right?

(Continued in Part 15.)

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 and Part 11.

In early 1994, I drove back to Illinois to attend a high school friend’s funeral. It was held in a small church and I sat with my parents in a middle row of the sanctuary.

As I sat there on the wooden pew,  listening to the pastor, the Holy Spirit interrupted my thoughts and blanked out all noise from the service and the people around me. I was there, but I wasn’t. Then, He spoke to me:

“My Church consists mainly of a bunch of nice losers,” He said. “They pray for the sick, and if the person dies, they aren’t angry and don’t really feel that bad about it. After all, they did their religious duty.

“Now, in Major League Baseball, both the winning teams and losing teams want to win; it’s a part of each player’s make-up. But after a while, the losing teams’ players don’t really mind losing anymore. They still receive large paychecks and enjoy all the fantastic benefits of just being a Major League player. So, losing is not such a big deal to them.

“But this is not true for the winning teams’ players. Each of these players hates to lose and will do anything and make whatever sacrifice is needed to win games. They absolutely hate losing!

“I want My Church to hate losing!”

The conversation ended and I began weeping so hard I thought I was going to vomit. My sister leaned over. “Don’t you think that you should get a hold of yourself? You’re making a scene,” she whispered.

I shrugged my shoulders. There was nothing I could do, nor did I care what others thought of me at that moment. I was devastated by the Holy Spirit’s description of the Church:  “a bunch of nice losers.“

Now, what’s funny is that I was upset with God for allowing my friend to die. I had witnessed to my friend over the years. Prayed for him. Fasted for him. Invested time in his healing. But still, he died and I was mad at God as I sat there in the pew!

So, wouldn’t you think that God would have corrected me about my anger at Him? And yet, He didn’t. Instead, He redirected my anger toward the Church’s losing attitudes.

From whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:16)

(Continued in Part 13.)