By Jim Hobby

Amid confusion, concern, and pain, distinguishing between God's sovereignty and God's providence can bring a sense of peace. God's sovereignty is His rule over all things. Jesus' Good News was the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. God has all knowledge and all power. This means (among many other things) that nothing takes Him by surprise. He never gasps, or sighs, or cusses under His breath because He has been surprised by human decisions or doings. He is in control. In every circumstance we can embrace and affirm God's sovereignty.

His providence, however, is something we discern over time. Providence is the unfolding of God's plan. Imagine a graph with one dot on it. What algebraic formula produced that answer? You have no idea. It could be a formula for a line, or a parabola, or a circle, or a sine wave. You have no way of knowing. What about two dots? You still don't know. With three dots you begin to rule out possibilities. A formula for a circle and a line won't include the same three points. Now imagine 10, or 50, or 1,000 dots on the graph. With that much information you begin to have a clearer sense of the shape, and the formula that produced it. Likewise, God's providence reveals itself over time, point by point. Joseph's life, as he goes from being Jacob's favorite, to Potiphar's slave, to Pharaoh's vice-regent is a good study of discerning God's providence.

In any moment, then, whether it is a moment of confusion, pain, anxiety, frustration, or grief, we can confidently affirm God's sovereignty. He is in control. But, in that moment His plan may be mysterious. We may wonder, "What is God doing in this?" And it might take a while, even quite a while, to unfold. While it unfolds, however, we trust His sovereignty.

By Jim Hobby

Why is planting a multi-ethnic congregation so hard? Because challenges abound when seeking to create real community among people of different ethnicities and cultures. Here is a short guide to the challenges.

First is the challenge of cultural particularity in getting at biblical truth. Jesus "became man," not in some ethereal, generic sense, but in a very particular temporal and cultural setting. Likewise, the Scriptures were written in unique settings. God in His infinite wisdom chose to embed biblical truth and faithful discipleship within specific cultures. When I read the work of some theologians, I often feel that heart-of-hearts they wish that God had given us a different kind of authoritative book. Instead of the messiness of the Bible, it seems that their preference would have been a tidy systematic theology textbook that boils away all the cultural stuff to discover the pure principles or propositions that can be universally applied.

While discovering principles applicable beyond the original cultures is crucial, honoring the original culture is likewise crucial. Jesus came "in the fullness of time." God chose the time when, the place where, and the culture within which He would most fully reveal Himself. We, therefore, need to take the context of that revelation seriously to handle the challenge of cultural particularity.


The second challenge is our propensity towards individualism and cultural insularity. We read the commentaries and do the exegetical work to put Scripture in its historical and cultural context. We then apply it to ourselves within our own culture. This is great…as far as it goes.

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By Jim Hobby

"Where did I come from, Daddy?" While Johnny's dad reconfigured his expectations for a lazy Sunday afternoon, six-year-old Johnny stared, unblinking, waiting for an answer. Though Johnny's dad thought he would have a few more years before taking on the question, he was ready. "Well, buddy, when two people love each other …," he began. After 10 minutes of careful explanation (including lots of Latin loan words), Johnny, startled and wide-eyed, said, "Andy said he came from Cincinnati." Swing and a miss!

Now imagine that the person sitting next to you on a plane turns to you and asks, "What is the Gospel?" You, like me, would probably tell the story of Jesus (birth, death, resurrection, ascension, and promise to return) or the broader story of Creation, Fall, Abraham (and Jewish history), Jesus, the Church, Second Coming, and the New Creation. But that could be a bit of a missed opportunity because the Gospel is more than simply the story. The story has personal meaning beyond the facts, which is likely what our friend was looking for.

The Gospel speaks to deep longings that we all have; and is Good News because it does!

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By Jim Hobby

The bus pulled off the road in the middle of the woods in Northern Wisconsin. Ten of us were told to get off. Two young men (who looked too young to buy alcohol legally) appeared from behind some trees, introduced themselves, and welcomed us to what they hoped would be a life-transforming adventure. The bus left.

That was 46 years ago, at the beginning of an optional 3-week wilderness experience that the college I attended offered to in-coming freshmen. Our little "band of brothers" spent the next two days hiking into camp, sleeping under a piece of plastic, and learning the basics of orienteering in a wilderness without trails. We later applied those skills on a ten-day adventure in the woods of Upper Peninsula Michigan.

To find your way through unfamiliar territory (which this season of leadership certainly is!), you need four things: a goal, a map, a compass, and an accurate assessment of your starting point.


A GOAL

At breakfast on the fifth day of our 10-day excursion, our leaders told us that the goal of our hike that day was the food drop where we would find our food for the next five days. While that was a highly motivating goal, it was also quite a small target. How do you find two duffle bags of food in hundreds of square miles of wilderness (before GPS and cell phones - remember, 46 years ago)? It was quite a specific goal.

Most pastors serve churches that have carefully avoiding setting specific goals for years/decades/centuries. When I ask congregations to assess what they accomplished the previous year, they usually tell me what they did the previous year, as if activity is accomplishment. We shoot our arrows and then run to paint bullseyes around them. If you are in the woods for a day hike, pretty much any direction will do. If you are looking for tomorrow's lunch, you need a specific goal.

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