The Goings on and Work of Sam Mahlstadt

When we think about ministry and how to do church, the idea is often pushed that we should follow more closely to the early church. This comes in response to the power of unity and zeal shown by the leaders of the early church. They were riding a wave that revolutionized religion and spirituality. The early church leaders fueled the single greatest paradigm shift in theology with their faith-based movement of Christianity, following Christ’s resurrection. It seems like these men would be exactly who we would want to model ourselves and our ministries after. I know this is a popular and widely accepted notion, but I fear that we have missed the point.

I believe that if the leaders of the early church were to look in on our society and culture, they would discourage us from following too closely the way they did church a couple thousand years ago. I believe they would agree with me that when we try to set our aims on how men developed churches two thousand years ago, we are simply reverting. Reverting to how things were done in the past is almost always destructive, and rarely successful. There is a reason we are different today than we were two thousand years ago. People change, society changes and culture changes. We have the responsibility to build on what our predecessors accomplished and move on, not revert. I understand that unity and solidarity around the Kingdom is a must for ministry to be successful, but this is not grounds to recreate the early church.

Looking over Paul’s letters to the various congregations that comprised the early church, the dysfunction and chaos that plagued the churches is evident. The churches were filled with strife, envy, sexual perversion, false doctrine and division. The way we would describe this kind of congregation is spiritual immaturity. Paul so desired for the church to grow up, but I feel that we miss this when we look into Acts and read of the reckless abandon we wish we had the courage to embrace. You see, we are not as drawn by the early church as we are the qualities of their leaders. In the year 2008, we have some leaders in the church who are no less heroic and revolutionary than the men who helped develop the church. I am thankful that I serve under one such pastor, who has his eyes focused on what God has distinctly called him to do to develop and shape the church. By looking too hard in the rearview mirror, we may just miss what God has planned for us to do. As Paul wrote, we have been saved by grace so that we can accomplish what God has already planned for us to accomplish.

We launched the new worship service at Cornerstone Family Church, called 63rd and Park. We served food before service and created a space for people to interact with each other and relax. Following this theme, we maintained a space for people to hang out and share in their experience after the service. The success of this atmosphere surpassed all that I had hoped to see, and people really took advantage of the opportunity to get to know each other and, as we say around here, “do life together.” One thing that Saturday night confirmed to me was this; when you create an atmosphere for people share in their experience, they will. As we continue in this new ministry, we are excited for the opportunity to reach more people who are now unreached, and help ALL people find and live their lives in Christ, bridging ethnic, cultural and denominational lines.
Some things that resonated with me after Saturday:

• God is in this journey with us that we just embarked in
• Pastor was dead on when he cast the vision to bridge generations through a new service
• We have a tremendous pastor who continually proves his faithfulness to God and his staff
• Pastor trusts the team that he has assembled to carry out the vision of this church
• We will always be effective when we submit to authority that is submitted to authority

I am in Granger, Indiana at Innovate 08, an amazing conference for innovation in ministry. We have learned a lot: how to leverage technology and pop culture, strategies to improve technology in services, and how not to do praise and worship…
This came from Steven Furtick’s blog, who is a speaker at Innovate and pastor in Charlotte, NC.

Expectancy is the x-factor in ministry. As a Chiefs fan, I always enjoyed watching Dante Hall return kicks for Kansas City. He had a nickname in KC; he was known as the X-factor.

While we were in Ghana, our team traveled around the Volta Region and facilitated medical clinics. It was a great joy to bring the people who live on society’s fringes medical care that is not otherwise available. One particular day, however, the clinic went far beyond the physical body. We found ourselves in a village where four village chiefs were in attendance from surrounding communities, and only a handful of people had ever heard the message a Christ! We were there representing the love of a living God, and we were face to face with people who had never even been told of this God. After a local pastor shared the Gospel with a group of a couple hundred people, over sixty people received Jesus! I was afforded the opportunity to share with these people after they had made the decision to accept Christ, and it was incredible. A couple hours later, the crowd had grown due to the constant influx of people from surrounding villages, and people were getting restless. I mentioned to the pastor who delivered the first message that we should preach to them again. He smiled and agreed, and then said, “why don’t you do it?” I could think of a thousand reasons why I shouldn’t do it, but I nervously agreed. I taught the parable of the types of soil in Luke 8, which had jumped off the page the previous night during my quiet time. It was one of those moments where it was all God and none me. Absolutely incredible! After I was finished, the pastor gave an altar call and another 40 people came to Christ! It was the most amazing day I have experienced to this date.

I am back and recovered from Mission Ghana, a missions trip to Ho, Ghana, in the Volta Region of West Africa. The trip was unbelievable! The thought about the African nations is that if clean water is provided and education comes alongside it, the people will not continue to suffer as they do currently, without access to clean water and the knowledge of increased hygiene.
On our first full day, we traveled to villages and dedicated wells that had been recently drilled, over 70 wells funded through one church in Des Moines(imagine the impact we could have if we all took up a cause such as this one church did!). The custom in the area is to dedicate a well before it is tapped, which sent a profound statement to me. At first, I was shocked and upset by the fact that some of the wells we visited were locked up until a pastor could get to the village to perform a dedication. I maintained this mindset for several days, until it hit me; the people understand that water is a gift from God, and before they begin to drink it, they want to first acknowledge Him and His gift. This rattled my cage as I thought about all of the gifts God gives us, and we don’t even hesitate, let alone stop to acknowledge the gift giver before we dive into the gift. I felt like a total fool for flying through my pre-meal prayers of thanks in order to get to my over-portioned meal more quickly. Everyday, we overlook the Source in order to get to what the source produces.
Are we in love with God, or God’s blessings? The question was posed in Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love, and it got my attention. He asks further, “Would we still want heaven if there was no Jesus?” Talk about getting to the point. I encourage everyone to ponder that question, what are we in love with, God or the benefits of God? Do we desire an eternity free of pain and suffering or do we desire an eternity with Christ? There was flesh and blood put on these questions in the Volta Region of Ghana. My prayer for myself is that I see God in what he has created, but I seek after Him, not what he has created. May we truly seek first the Kingdom.