Dad

As many of you know, my earthly father passed away last Saturday.

Dad was born Thomas H. Crews (he became Thomas H. Crews, Sr. after my older brother was born) but was known to his friends as "Tom."  Dad was a complex man.  He came from humble beginnings -- a Louisiana boy -- but pursued and conquered the "American Dream."

As Dad was conquering the American Dream he found the game of golf.  Dad loved all things golf.  He played golf, he watched golf, he talked golf and he dreamed golf.  Dad would play 18 plus holes on Saturday and then again on Sunday.  Then he would watch golf tournaments on T.V., which he had been taping while he was playing.

For years we gave Dad golf stuff for his birthday.  But a day came when there was simply no more golf stuff to get him.  Once he had all the golf stuff there was we pretty much stopped giving him anything for his birthday.  It just seemed like there was nothing else we could give him that he would like.  Some of you probably think I am exaggerating.  I'm telling you the man LOVED golf.

Dad was far from perfect -- just like the rest of us.  He was impatient and could have quite a temper.  For example, going out to dinner with him at a restaurant required a seat belt and a strong stomach (not because of the food!).  If Dad didn't like the service or the meal (an all too often occurrence) the waiter or waitress (I guess now they are just called "servers") was going hear about it.  If Dad really didn't like the service or the meal pretty much everyone at the whole restaurant was going to hear about it!!  Sometimes those stories were funny in retrospect.  Sometimes they were not funny even then.  Again, some of you think I am exaggerating.

But Dad was also a very generous man.  He loved and valued family.  He desperately wanted the best for all of us.

Later in life Dad gave up part of his Sundays on the golf course and started attending church again.  My mother had become very active in the church, and I guess Dad figured if she was going to be that involved he might as well at least start attending too.  Somewhere along the way Dad and God got reacquainted.

Dad had grown up in a minister's home, but I guess over the years his focus drifted away from God and on to other things.  Not that there was a time when Dad didn't believe -- it's just that there was a long period of time where Dad really didn't give God much thought.  But in these later years Dad's faith became extremely important to him, and I think God changed him.  Dad became a more gentle person.  I don't think there was anything that he wanted more than for the whole family to have faith in Jesus.

It was not always clear what Dad was thinking, but I believe there were two things that made Dad proud of me.  The first was my wife, Pam.  I think Dad was shocked that a girl like Pam (beautiful, smart, ... did I day beautiful yet?) would be interested in a guy like me.  So, he encouraged us to get married quickly before she could change her mind!

The second thing I think Dad was proud of was my calling.  It's funny, but while I think Dad respected my career as a lawyer, I don't think he was particularly proud of it.  Dad never had nice things to say about lawyers.  But I do think that my ordination as a pastor meant a great deal to him.

In my last few days with him, Dad wanted to spend most of our time in prayer.  The first day, Pam and I prayed with Dad countless times during the day, and again when my aunt Jackie and cousin Beth arrived to visit him that night.  It was amazing how natural it felt to pray for my father and to see God comfort him.  I was grateful for this time together, and that God (and my time at Heartland Church) had prepared me for that moment.      

We live in a time when it seems like everyone wants to blame all their problems in life on their parents.  I don't think that's biblical, and most of the time I don't think it's fair.  We are supposed to honor our parents.

I have not been a perfect father for my kids, and Dad was not a perfect father for me, my brothers or my sister.  But Dad was a good man who loved God and who loved us -- and I would not trade him for anyone.

I love my Dad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx1inqsFmIU&feature=related

 
                                            Proud Grandpa

Right to left:  Dad, Mom, Uncle Morris, Aunt Jackie, Uncle Bill  

Under Construction

I had planned to write today about the second goal we have at Heartland Church for our partners -- which is "Invite and Invest". Invite and Invest is really the essence of the Great Commission, and I will come back to that soon. But, I think I want to talk about something else today.

It has been a difficult week, and sometimes challenging times lead us to, remind us of, or make more clear simple truths. This is one of those times.

As you might imagine, working in a church gives you plenty of opportunity to see both the best in people and the worst in people. When some of the "less positive" parts of someone's character come out Pastor Sherry will be one of the first to say that she tries to see beyond the present and instead to see God's finished work.

Seeing ahead to the finished work is not always easy. It is particularly difficult when the "less positive" parts of someone's character cause you pain personally. Sometimes it is hard enough to forgive -- let alone to see the potential in that person -- to see the person that God sees.

The fact is that we are all "under construction". Hopefully, we are all striving to reach the potential that God has given us -- although I recognize that is not always the case. Some people have never found God, others are standing still, and still others have hit some type of crisis in their life that may even have them moving backwards.

On the other hand, the world tends to think that people don't change. I don't believe that. People can change. I have seen it happen. God can change them. Ask the Apostle Paul!

Some of you may be wondering who was the inspiration for this blog. Well, it's not any one person. It's probably a lot of different people, including myself.

I guess I am just saying that the next time someone offends you, the next time you lose patience, the next time you decide that someone will never amount to anything, try to remember that they, just like you, are under construction. It may be that things will never change -- that's always possible. But it also might be that God has big plans for that person. It may also be that God put you in their path for such a time as this.

I Love My Church

If you attend Heartland Church you know that Pastor Dan is currently doing a series called "I Love My Church." Well, I love my church!! And, no, its not just because I am on staff!

I love Heartland Church for most of the same reasons our partners do -- the unbelievable worship, the excellent children and student programs, the insightful messages, and so on. But, let me mention a few things that personally stand out for me -- in no particular order.

1. I love our Lead Pastor. Pastor Dan will be the first to tell you that he is not perfect, which is one of the things I love about him. But, Dan loves God and he loves people with all his heart. To me, that is the best compliment you could ever give any man or woman. I will also be eternally indebted to PD for dragging me into the ministry -- although some days I want to smack him for that too! Enough said.

2. I love our staff. We have a great team that just wants to serve God with excellence. I am particularly indebted to our executive team -- Pastors Dan, Sherry, Dave and Dusty. God has stretched and tested me many times over the last three years. But, He also surrounded me with this group of incredible people (including my wife Pam, of course) who are determined to see God's purpose for my life fulfilled. What a blessing!

3. I love our congregation. Time and time again visitors tell us how welcomed and loved they feel while visiting HC. That feeling they have while they are with us is not an accident. The reason for it is simple -- our congregation genuinely loves people and does an incredible job of showing the love of Christ to everyone who walks through the doors of Heartland Church. On a personal note, I just want to say thank you to our partners for your support and encouragement, and for embracing me as a pastor at the church. You are a big part of the reason that I can't wait to get to church on Sunday mornings.

Let me say one more thing about why I love Heartland -- and its a big thing. We are a church that does not want anyone to settle for a casual relationship with Jesus.

Last week Pastor Dan focused in his message on the first of our four goals for our HC partners -- "Take Your Next Bold Step". Taking your next bold step is our way of asking our partners to diligently seek to know God's purpose for their lives and then to have the courage to submit to His will. For some, taking the next bold step may mean making a decision to put their faith in Jesus. For others, it may mean volunteering as an usher or working in the nursery on Sunday. For others, that next step might be becoming a full time missionary or going to Bible college or seminary. It might mean starting an inner-city ministry, working with the homeless or fighting human trafficking.

Heartland Church has been in Carrollton now for a little over a year and a half, and I think it is time for the church itself to take it's "next bold step" as well. In part, that next step for HC means expanding our parking and facilities to allow for our continued growth. And, I believe those projects are really important -- especially because they impact our ability to prepare the next generation to serve Him.

But, expanding the parking and facilities doesn't mean that much at the end of the day unless Heartland Church is able to impact the world around it. And, impacting the world around us -- in Carrollton and beyond -- is not just the responsibility of the pastors and the staff. It is the work of the Body of Christ; which means you. In other words, the simple truth is this: that Heartland Church cannot take it's next bold step unless you take your next bold step right along with us. We are in this thing together.

I hope you are ready Heartland partners. If you're not wearing them already, put on your seat belts!!

I love my church. How about you?

9-11-01: Where Were You?

I was a full time lawyer in those days.  I was at the University of Chicago getting ready for a full day of interviews.  I would spend the day chatting in twenty minute increments with law students eager to land their first jobs.  But first, I had a quick conference call to take care of.  My friend, Jon, patched me into the call.  Before adding the client, he mentioned that he had gotten an e-mail from his wife saying that an airplane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers in New York.  We were both thinking "Cessna."

The call ended and the interviews started.  Jon's comment about the plane and the building in New York had quickly passed from my mind.

After I had gotten through several interviews it became apparent that something more significant had taken place than I first realized, and I found myself in a crowded break room watching the coverage on T.V.  Like most people, even then I did not realize the magnitude of what I was seeing.

As the day progressed, I would periodically run downstairs between interviews to see what was happening.  Oddly, only one law student "no-showed" that entire day.

In some ways, as I was watching the coverage on T.V., the events of 911 seemed a world away.  To others near me, though, the event was all too real.  There was a man in the interview room next to mine who was interviewing students for his law firm in New York -- which happened to be located in one of the World Trade Center towers.  The man was understandably in shock -- remarking several times that he didn't know whether he still had a law firm to recruit for.

One of the young attorneys who was with me that day was from my firm's Washington D.C. office.  This young man was in the firm's appellate group, and had apparently done a fair amount of work for one of our partners named Ted Olson.  Less than a year earlier, Mr. Olson had successfully represented George W. Bush in the "hanging chads" case against Al Gore before the United States Supreme Court and was now the Solicitor General of the United States.  At some point during the day we learned that Mr. Olson's wife, Barbara, was on the plane that hit the Pentagon.

As the day unfolded my thoughts naturally turned to my own family, and I had a desperate desire to get home.  As law enforcement began to put the pieces of the puzzle together the media began to stir the pot with speculation about whether the attacks were finished or whether there was more to come.  I needed to get home.

I decided to head back to Dallas the next day.  But, of course, all air travel had been suspended and there was no telling when flights would resume.  So, I took a cab to a car rental place near the airport.  The lines for rental cars were, not surprisingly, extremely long.  I finally made my way to the counter only to be informed that nothing was available.  I mentioned to the lady behind the counter that I had seen a rental car with a Texas license plate, and asked if she was sure that I couldn't take that car back to Texas.  For reasons I will never know, the lady told me to get the space number where the car was parked and that she would let me have it.  I remember nothing about that drive home -- except that I was thrilled to be on my way and that I drove straight through.

Hours later, I pulled into DFW airport to drop off the rental car and pick up my own car.  I took a bus from the rental car place to the lot where my car was parked.  I was the lone passenger on that bus. 

I have been to DFW airport literally hundreds of times.  It is one of the busiest airports in the country.  But as I got off the bus and started walking to my car it was like a scene out of the "Twilight Zone."  The parking lot was full of cars but not a single person aside from me.  There were none of the normal sounds of this busy airport -- no sounds of cars and buses, jets landing and taking off or people talking on cell phones.  Aside from the sound of the gentle breeze -- only silence.  If I had been blindfolded and had to guess where I was, I could have easily thought I was in the middle of some undeveloped prairie far away from any city.  It was eerie, but it was good to be home.

One thing that I remember about the aftermath of 911 was that for a brief period of time church attendance in the United States surged.  I don't fully understand the reasons for that.  It was obviously a time of great reflection for us as a nation and for most of us individually.  For some, perhaps going to church then was motivated by fear or a feeling of loss of control.  For some, maybe it was a loss of confidence in the things of this world in which they had put their faith -- things like law enforcement, government, money, etc.  For others, maybe that time of reflection reminded them briefly of a time when they thought that there must be some meaning to life beyond personal happiness, personal ambition or even simple survival.  Whatever the reasons for the surge, within a short time church attendance returned to "normal" levels.

Ten years later and we find ourselves in yet another crisis -- an economic one.  Many of the same people who accounted for the brief surge in church attendance after 911 again put their faith in government, in the stock market, in their jobs, and in worldly goods and pleasures.  It is a faith that, as we learn time and time again, ultimately disappoints.

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

'Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.'"

Hebrews 13:5



Please feel free to leave a comment with your recollections of 9-11.

Are You A Fundamentalist?

A number of years ago I was talking with a friend of mine about a Bible study he was involved in, and as we talked it became apparent that our ideas about Christianity were dramatically different.  He attended church regularly -- like I did.  He also read the Bible regularly -- like I did.  He was involved in a Bible study -- like I was.  But, that is where the similarities pretty much ended.

We were discussing something -- I think either the resurrection of Jesus or the virgin birth -- and my friend said something that made it clear that he did not believe that either of those events were literally true.  When a puzzled look appeared on my face, he stopped and said something along the lines of "oh, you're a fundamentalist."

I was aware of what is called liberal Christian theology at the time, but honestly I had never given the idea serious thought.  Liberal theology includes a broad range of beliefs, but I think its fair to say that it commonly refers to a belief that the Bible is not inerrant, that biblical accounts, particularly of miracles and similar events, are not literally true, and that the Bible contains the basis for a sound philosophy that centers on love for one another.

I personally don't understand why anyone would want to pursue a liberal Christian philosophy.  If I believed that God was not really the God of the Bible, that Jesus was just a really smart philosopher, and that the Bible was just a collection of writings by men with human agendas, that would not be terribly appealing to me.

Fundamentalism, on the other hand, does not refer to a particular denomination.  It just means that you adhere to a set of basic beliefs about who Jesus is, why He came, and what He did for us.  Without being exhaustive, it means believing in the inerrancy of the Bible, the literal truth of the Bible (particularly with respect to the creation story, miracles and so forth), the virgin birth of Christ, His resurrection and His substitutionary atonement on the cross.  So, I guess I'm a fundamentalist.

But, I am also a fundamentalist in another respect -- which is really what I want to talk about today.  So, since both the NFL and college football are about to kick off, let's talk some football.

For the past number of weeks or months (or however long training camps go) football players of all ages and levels have been preparing for the season.  (You're probably thinking "what's with the sudden shift to football."  Well, hang in there just a minute and we'll get it connected).  And, there is something that these teams all have in common this time of year -- they all go back to the basics.  In other words, they all start with the fundamentals.  Coaches, as I understand and remember it, talk a lot this time of year about "blocking and tackling" -- although there are other fundamentals to talk about as well.

The idea is simple -- if teams don't concentrate on the basics they simply won't execute in games.  You can have the greatest athletes in the world and brilliant coaching, but if the players don't perfect the basic skills -- running routs, blocking, tackling, snapping the ball, kicking, etc. -- they just are not likely to win.

I believe that concentrating on the fundamentals is critical to our walk with God in very much the same way.  The difference is that our faith is not a game -- its a war.  The battle is very real.  Of course, "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."  Ephesians 6:12  This is why we are instructed to "put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."  Ephesians 6:13. 


I believe sound preparation means going back time and time again to the fundamentals -- the study of God's Word, prayer and fasting among them.  This kind of preparation is obviously critical to new believers, but I believe it is just as critical for those who have been around a while.   When we are not constantly focused on the fundamentals we become weak and distracted.  It's just that simple.  


Call me a fundamentalist if you like.  It's fine with me.  How about you?