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Archives For November 30, 1999

Whirlwind

Charles Kiser —  December 12, 2007 — Leave a comment

The last couple weeks have been exactly that: a whirlwind. I’ve just gotten over lying on my back for four days straight with sickness. It’s good to be alive again. It’s also good to be a Cowboys fan.

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I helped move the Porches into Uptown Dallas yesterday. They have a great place with a great view. It will be perfect for throwing parties for the lost. I’m particularly excited about times of prayer with them on the patio that overlooks Uptown’s West Village. One more thing: Ryan Porche is such a good man. Let’s just say that practically no part of their moving experience went according to his well-conceived plan (not for any fault of his own). He remained gracious and calm in his interactions with people through it all.

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The Porches’ move makes me think of points of prayer for the transition that has already begun. Please join us in praying that:

  • The Porches will continue to transition smoothly into their new home
  • They’ll make significant first impressions with their new neighbors
  • The Kisers will find a great housing option and be able to move in the first week of February
  • God would stir in the hearts of the lost and broken we’ll come into contact with
  • God would continue his work of spiritual formation in our own hearts
  • God would raise up partners in the gospel to join us in starting the new church
  • God would continue to put resource people in our path to teach us about Dallas
  • God would provide financially for our remaining project costs

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Here’s the picture that’s on my desktop currently. It’s one of my favorite pictures of Ryan. You can read the story behind it on Julie’s blog.

Ryan Thomas

In Family, Prayer
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The First Thing

Charles Kiser —  November 11, 2007 — 4 Comments

I came to the conviction in August that the last stretch of my apprenticeship (which ends in January) would have a different focus than the first part. During the first 12-14 months, I was consumed with ministry contexts and skill development. Julie and I have learned so much from Christ Journey and Sunrise, particularly in the area of creating communal pathways of spiritual formation for followers of Jesus. The Marvelous Light and City on a Hill retreats are two products of that training.

But I had a realization at the beginning of the fall: in the midst of all my labor and productivity, I had neglected my own spiritual well-being. In the process of facilitating spiritual formation in the lives of others, I had sidelined my own.

I’m constantly reminded of Robert Clinton’s thoughts in The Making of a Leader. The gist is that young leaders are often focused so much on ministry fruitfulness and productivity when the most important thing at the time is the image of Christ being formed within them. Yep, that’s me.

As a response to this realization, I decided to press into my own spiritual formation for the last six months of my training. I’ve created a host of spiritual formation projects—things that need to be fixed or formed in me by God.papa-prayer.jpg

One of my projects concerns my prayer life. I’ve been reading a book by Larry Crabb called The PAPA Prayer. It’s a guide for approaching God on the basis of relationship rather than on the basis of petition (asking for stuff that I want to get). Crabb’s thesis is that if one makes it his primary purpose to relate to God in prayer, all the other stuff falls in place.

Relating to God, according to Crabb, takes the form of Presenting yourself to God, Attending to how you’re viewing God, Purging yourself of any obstacles to relationship with God, and Approaching God as your ‘first thing’ (thus the PAPA acrostic).

The last A in the acrostic was the source of a spiritual epiphany for me today. In short, I had to admit to God that he had not been my ‘first thing’ in a long time. Other things had taken God’s place: aspiration for success in ministry; desire for happiness in my marriage; concern for my own peace of mind and psychological well-being. If I’m honest, God has been the means of reaching all of those ends; God has not been the end. I’ve been missing the Provider for the provisions.

I can’t tell you how freeing it was to admit that to God, and to approach him again as my ‘first thing’.

In Prayer, Spiritual Formation
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