Joe Aldrich, a life well lived

Dr. Joe Aldrich, former president of Multnomah University, was called home to be with the Lord last week. 

Fundamentally, Dr. Joe was a pastor eager to multiply health and life among leaders. Whatever influence he had or whatever positions he assumed over the years, he used toward that end; the multiplication of leaders who were healthy. People got a glimpse of that back in the 1970s when he pastored Mariners church in Newport Beach. But I think it really became apparent as president of Multnomah and the chief initiator for the Northwest Renewal Ministries, or what later became known as International Renewal Ministries (IRM)

Dr. Joe had the gentleness and tenderness of a grandfatherly sort of leader, even though I don't think he was 60 when he retired. But there was a "wisdom beyond years" on him. And there was a gracefulness about him that was like a background tone to his life. Even if you disagreed with him, he was comfortable enough in his own skin to give you grace in return. Undoubtedly, he was a man that sought regular opportunities to be filled with the Spirit afresh.

He was president during a major transition in the institutional life of Multnomah, in which he helped move the institution's identity from being a Bible Institute to being a Bible College & Seminary that was thinking toward WASC accreditation (Dr. Dan Lockwood, Multnomah's current president, accomplished the latter).

But here's what really wow'd me about Dr. Joe, which I only really understood until after leaving Multnomah: he got the church in all of her beautiful diversity, he understood leaders (Luis Palau can tell you about that), and he really got the importance of multiplying leaders so that they would be full of health and vitality.

Thus, with the authority of Multnomah, especially coupled with IRM, Multnomah became a powerful force in the Northwest for the good of the church and therefore for the good of the city; it was an institution that unquestionably became a home for leaders, both seasoned and emerging, regardless of denomination. But her success was rooted, I think, in realizing what is God's heart for the church, and what is his heart for "parachurch" outfits intended to tangibly serve a region of churches and her leaders.

Similarly, Dr. Joe had a keen sense of what a college or university can or can't do best in relationship to the church and her call, or what it should or shouldn't do in relationship to the church's call. Some (including myself at the time), saw such "limitations" as even an inability to think or dream big, educationally. Some of that might have been true. But most of it was wrong. I now think that Dr. Joe had discernment rooted in prudence about what are the realistic limitations of a Christian institution's capacity to effect real change in a community and culture in light of what Jesus wants for his church.

With John Wimber's "Jesus wants his church back" in the 1980s, I tend to think that Dr. Joe had in mind respect for that sense of God's heart as he governed and envisioned Multnomah in relationship to the church and her influence in culture.

Christopher Laurie

Today Christopher Laurie was killed in a car crash. His father is Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, CA (a Calvary Chapel affiliate). He was only 33, and left behind a young daughter and a wife who is expecting another baby girl in the fall. I never met Christopher, but I have a connection with Calvary Chapel. My family starting attending a Calvary Chapel affiliate church in OR when I was 17. After high school, I went to Calvary Chapel Bible College in southern CA, where I heard Pastor Greg speak on several occasions, and visited his church a number of times as well. My husband and I were married at the Calvary Chapel we attended in OR. When we go to OR to visit, we always make a point to visit friends and attend church there.

Every year Greg shares the gospel message with thousands of people at the Harvest Crusades. This year, there are 3 - CA, PA, and NY. The CA event is in just a few weeks, August 15-17, at Angel Stadium.

I am grieving for the Laurie family, and praying the God of all comfort will comfort them and pour His healing balm on their souls.

Steven Curtis Chapman

Click here to read about a tragic accident in Steven's family. Their youngest daughter Maria died this week after an accident at their home. Click here to see a fun video of her. Steven and Mary Beth founded Shaohannah's Hope, a ministry to help families in the adoption process. They have 3 adopted daughters, Maria was the youngest.

I have been listening to Steven Curtis Chapman's music since I first became a Christian. His lyrics are some of my favorite, and express a heart longing for intimate fellowship with God and communion with His people. I can't imagine the sorry and grief they are experiencing right now. I pray the Lord's mercy and grace are theirs in the this painful time.

Muslims coming to Christ in mass numbers

Check-out J.P. Moreland's website and blog about how Muslims are coming to the LORD!

Pretty exciting news here>>

J.P. talks more about these matters in his award-winning Kingdom Triangle

Enjoy!

How to Forfeit Easter: small lord + a small spirit = a small life to live

Here are some initial questions and encouraging thoughts to consider about the relevancy of the risen LORD, and the indispensability of his life to the sort of life that we are created to live, including how we are to maximally live it:

Do I honestly think that the risen LORD Jesus is relevant to my existence?

Do I mostly "live" by striving to make it through what seems to be an unimportant and unempowering sort of life?

Do I feel, think, and choose as though Jesus came, died, and has now left all his followers alone in order to fend for ourselves and attempt to live meaningful sorts of lives until we ourselves die and go to heaven?

Might there be a connection between a shrunken view of my life and its purpose along with a small view of Jesus' life lived in and risen by the power of the Holy Spirit?

A few years ago I discovered that it had been a habit of my own thinking to live my life as though the importance of Jesus' life only amounted to him coming to earth and climaxing his life by dying on the cross for my sins. That's it. And that somehow was maximal good news to proclaim as gospel. A wonderfully sacrificial and a tenderly gracious choice by Jesus to be sure! But I lived my life as though the resurrection of this same Jesus was just a divine afterthought, a sort of "plan b" or at best a mere effect of a cause.

Similarly, I found that a shrunken view of the resurrection unquestionably left me with a minuscule view of the Holy Spirit and his ministry to us today. The New Testament declares that it was the Spirit of God almighty that raised Jesus from the dead! Should it be at all surprising that if I had a malnourished view of the relevancy and importance of the risen Jesus that I would almost inevitably live as though the Spirit's work somehow died and was buried with Jesus?

To say it differently and perhaps more theological, I lived as though Jesus' life, ministry and teaching were simply intended to absolve us of guilt, impute justification and forgive our sins. Of course, I believe that his merciful work on the cross did do that perfectly. But that, thank God almighty, is not the end of the story.

Hallelujah! The LORD has risen!

And Jesus has risen not just as a miraculous fact of human history, but as a triumphant despising and ridiculing - a full blown championship! - over the power of death, the power of sin, and the power of hell itself. This is the "for all nations" blessing of good news intended for all peoples!

A power-oriented first-century culture of Jesus' time understood this power-oriented significance. Their worldview was not raped by a preoccupation with what could only be detected by sight. They understood and lived in a wise knowledge of reality that testified about the realism of demonic activity, angelic forces, and a supernatural, trinitarian God who performed supernatural, trinitarian activity in real-time with the involvement of human persons.

Thankfully, this same God is not some construct of the first, second or third century. This God is alive and fully intentional in his interactive relationship with human persons that are made in his image. As Francis Schaeffer said many years ago,

"God is here and He is not silent!"

Tis true.

Yet so often we live in the shadow of the cross alone, where God does not appear to be here and he is seemingly silent. Granted, there are seasons where God does remove a feeling of his presence from us in order to mature deeper habits of character in us (Read St. John of the Cross, for example). But the ways of God tend to be such that He is a constant presence that enriches our very existence with his relational interactivity. Yet, even a baby can genuinely experience the constant, if not background presence of a mother without being perpetually breastfed.

And so, how do you not forfeit the blessings of Easter?

1. Confide, with maturing knowledge, in a really truly good God, a Father who honestly loves people for who they are not for who they should be (Brennan Manning).

2. Follow after - no, run persistently after! - and seek to adopt in order to adapt your life to the sort of flourishing life that you are created to have, a life that is in the power of the risen Jesus.

3. Mindfully live in the reality that the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is honestly present to you in order to enable you to access the fullness of Jesus, the fullness of his life-giving-life, the fullness of his ministry, and therefore the fullness of stepping into and remaining in the God-soaked reality of the Kingdom of God.