Tim Harlow

Parkview Field

I was over in Ft. Wayne visiting with my folks for a few days and we went to a minor league baseball game (a lot like the last baseball game I went to on the North side:)

It’s the Ft. Wayne TinCaps.  Which just proves that you shouldn’t let stupid people name sports teams – am I right?  Tincaps you say?  What the heck?  Well, it goes like this.  Since Johnny Appleseed is buried here, they thought it would be good to have a mascot that represented the famous apple tree planter (they had to scratch to find something).  And legend has it that Johnny Appleseed traveled so light that he didn't even take a hat.  So he used his cooking pot for a hat.  Because, you know, who would want both a hat and a pan?

Thus, the Ft. Wayne Tincaps.

 

I have nothing brilliant to say about that, I just wanted to fill you in.

But Ft Wayne played against Peoria who is coached by Ryne Sandburg – who should be the next coach of the Chicago Cubs.  I think that would be a great win for the city – Sandburg is class and would do a great job.  And if you are a Cub fan -  you’re always hoping for some kind of spark, right?  It’s always about “next year” and all of that.  The future is bright even though the last century has been rough.

Segue -  Ft. Wayne Tincaps played Ryne Sandburg’s Peoria Chiefs in Parkview Field (pic)

 
 

Parkview is a big hospital here in the area.  My dad volunteers there.  They have an excellent reputation in the community and are expanding their services all over the area.

So it was kind of fun to be there and think about the future.  Not that we want a Parkview minor league team or a baseball stadium – but it did make me dream a bit.

What does God have in store for Cubs?  I don’t know.  Someone gave me a t-shirt that says “What did Jesus say to the Cubs – don’t do anything until I get back.”  I don’t know what God wants there.

But the future of Parkview?  I really can’t imagine.  I couldn’t have imagined ten years ago that we’d be where we are now.  20 years ago – I just wanted it to survive.  Ten years from now – I’d like to be like Parkview Hospital in Ft. Wayne.  I’d like to be expanding to continually have more beds available for more sick people who need us, spiritually speaking.

And maybe have a baseball stadium…

Tim

 

The Long Haul

The Long Haul

I made the extreme sacrifice yesterday and took Bob and Judy Russell to Wrigley

  

It was a great game – Cubs won right at the end, we had seats in the shade, and to my knowledge I was only spotted at by three Parkview people (I have a reputation to maintain).

Bob and Judy ministered at the Southeast Christian church for 40 years.  From a church of 150 to 20,000.  Now he is leading a ministry devoted to helping and mentoring young pastors.

Besides my dad and father in law, there were two guys who really mentored me along the way and Bob is one of them.  The funny thing is, he didn’t really know it.  I just listened to (and borrowed) a lot of his sermons.  And they had a leadership conference that was pivotal to the changes we made at Parkview to help us become who we are.

And he’s still mentoring me, because I want to figure out how to stay in this “game” as long as he did.

You may not know it, but this ministry gig is no cake walk.  There is a lot of pressure, staff issues, big decisions, people with messed up lives who depend on us, no weekends off, and a ton of spiritual warfare.

So if I’m going to make it another 20 years, I need to pace myself.  And that’s what I’ve been doing for the last several weeks.  I’ve been serving outside of Parkview during this break, and I’ve vacationed with my family, but part of this time off for me is about pace and longevity.  I need to be with God and my family in ways that I just can’t do in a normal week.  Sabbath – slowing down – realizing that God is God and he doesn’t need me.  These are hard for me to do in the thick of it. So you've been hearing from people besides me. 

And that's good on other fronts as well.  This church isn't about me - and the sooner you and I both figure that out, the better off Parkview will be.  This is Christ's church.

So come and listen to one of the finest preachers ever this weekend.  And next weekend Dave Stone is here (the current pastor at Southeast and one of Parkview’s favorites).

Then I’ll be back in August to do a 5 week series on Nehemiah, a guy who God asked to do something crazy.

And while your at it – pace yourself too.

Tim

Reflection on Connection

The NACC convention I was at this past week really wore me out. It was non-stop connection. I taught three times and Denise once and I went to just about every session. In between were luncheons and dinners and after session coffees. It was non-stop people.

Which is the point. They call this convention “the connecting place” for a reason. Many of these people I haven’t seen since last year or for several years. Many of our church building partners were there and church planting partners, and missionaries (including Mary Kamau from Nairobi).

And I connected with Tony Dungy (okay I met him for 2 seconds and got a picture) which was really cool for my goofy Colt’s loving father.



I’ve actually been to the NACC 44 out of my 48 years of life (if you include one in the womb). My parents always went, and Denise and I have gone almost every year of our ministry. It’s a highlight of my summer. But this was one of the best, if not the best, and I’m not just saying that because the president is one of my best friends.

 

The sessions were well planned, the worship was excellent (especially the sessions when Mosaic got to perform), and the speakers were all fantastic. Rick Warren was supposed to be with us on Friday morning, but had a family with a medical emergency so he went and taped his sermon and had it hand delivered to us. I think it meant more that he would go to the trouble to do that than if he would have been there in person.

All of the programmed stuff was top notch.

But the week was truly great because we connected, and the body of Christ needs to be connected. New friendships were made, mentors connected with mentees (it’s a word, look it up), missionaries raised awareness, and family members had an excuse to gather together.

There were no divisions of race, or gender, or denomination.

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! Psalm 133:1

It was good for my soul. It exhausted my body – but it was good for the soul.

Tim

 

BEYOND

For those of you who are linking to my blog from the NACC – welcome!

To those of you (both of you) who are normal blog followers, I’m at the North American Christian Convention. NACC   It is the annual convention for the churches we’re affiliated with, and I’ve been to 45 of them in my life, if you count the one just before I was born.  It’s been a vital part of my summer all my life.   They’ve asked me to blog and comment on the President’s message tonight.

So here we go.  First of all, Ben Cachiaras is one of my closest friends, a guy I share ministry life with on a regular basis.  So I wouldn’t rat him out (and believe me, I could).  Ben is too important to me.  But enough of the sap.

I know the amount of work he’s put into this convention and I’m really excited to be here this week.  He and his team have gone over and above to bring in Tony Dungy, Rick Warren, Francis Chan, etc. (and they are having Mosaic sing as well).

Ben got things off to a great start tonight.  Actually the worship team did.  Worship was incredible as we all were given the time to forget about our trip to Indy, and the problems with our motel room, and the hurried dinner with people we haven’t seen in a year – and come before the throne.

Ben sucked up to the Indiana crowd with a clip from Hoosiers, but he made a valid correlation in the minds of many worshipers in this crowd of thousands.  The reference was that even though this was a bigger crowd than most were used to, and there were 100 people on stage and we were in a convention center, the goal is still 10 feet high and free throws are still made from 15 feet.  I think that settled everyone down to talk about the topic.

“Beyond” is the theme of the convention this year.  Ben’s introductory sermon served as a way to tell us about the mini-themes as well as give us the over all picture of how we can all leave here on Friday and go (and take our churches) BEYOND where they’ve ever been before.  What would our churches look like if Jesus was physically here?  Would we change?  Would we take them “beyond” where they are now?

Beyond means following God and God is always on the move.  If you want to follow Jesus, you have to keep moving.  Ben asked us to pray a four word prayer, “Dear God, disturb me.”

I think God did that through the service tonight.  We studied Mark 1:14-17 where Jesus asked the disciples to drop their nets and follow him.  “Dropping your nets” means leaving the place of comfort and safety.  He quoted someone who said that growth comes more from subtraction than addition.  And then they followed, but it says “at once” they followed. 

Following Jesus beyond where we are now means dropping the things that have become comfortable in our hands – even for good reasons – and being willing to follow Jesus beyond anywhere we could imagine for ourselves.

It was a great message, and a great start to this convention.

I’m going to hit it and be ready for a great day.

Tim

Nimrods

 
I’m in Wisconsin in the Northwoods on vacation with 4/5ths of my family and I had to stop and catch a picture.

Nimrod was a mighty hunter in the Bible and the name means mighty hunter which makes sense in the Northwoods. But nimrod has also came to mean a silly or stupid person, which is what most of us think of when we hear the name. The actual mascot was nowhere to be found so when they have their high school football games, I can only guess as to whether or not they have a “mighty hunter” mascot or a Chris Farley mascot.

Evidently Jay Leno has even been up here to film a segment for his show, wondering what you do with so many nimrods.

The thought that crossed my mind was the word “Christian.” A lot of times when the world hears the word “Christian” they think “nimrod” (and not the nice one). Why? Because Christians can be nimrods, of course!

I received an email this week from a woman who grew up in a nimrod church and left her faith completely. I just spent several weeks on the topic WWJH-Barriers-Legalism. It makes me sad. Most people actually have a great impression of Jesus, but many of them hate dealing with his followers. I guess I’m in that category sometimes.

But have no fear, Nimrod is here. If the great people of Watersmeet (which is evidently where the waters meet) Wisconsin can redeem the mighty name of Nimrod – we should be up to the challenge of redeeming the name Christian.

How, you may ask? By living like Jesus and not like Nimrods. (Oh, I’m going to get a lot of mileage out of this one). Jesus loved everyone – but he ESPECIALLY loved the ones who weren’t religious. He didn’t condemn the sinners, he didn’t burn their books, he didn’t look down on them because he was better than them (and he was the only one who ever could have), he just loved them. And when they were mean to him, he turned the other cheek and kept on loving and forgiving.
 
I don’t know who needs to hear this today – but I hope God is calling you to redeem the name. Stop doing the stuff that gives us a bad name, and start redeeming the name Christian. Christ-follower. Don’t be a nimrod. 

J

God can help us to change the image. God is powerful enough to shine through us, he doesn’t need our help. We just need to let him flow through us.

It’s like me at Bond Falls.
 
The water doesn’t need my help, does it?

Tim

PS - Here is a video of my little friend Stevie who I talked about last week – doing his best PT Father’s Day imitation.  Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Stevie Transforming

 

Also Chase Bank has a Give $250,000 Away on Facebook Campaign.  Check out (vote if you want) the Krochet Kids – a Christian non-profit that teaches women in Uganda to crochet to support themselves. Here is their website and link to vote as well as a video. Krochet Kids   Vote

Are You a Wobot?

Ok – Father’s Day was awesome. Here is the link if you didn’t see the surprise entrance. Father's Day For 5 years now, we’ve been coming up with a creative entrance for me on Father’s Day. This one was the best.  Debbie Burk and her team made this costume. They tore apart a kid’s toy truck and made me into a Transformer. You have to see it.
 
So I’m at church yesterday, and my little, friend Stevie, who has Down’s Syndrome, comes up to me and is looking at me very strangely. And he says, "Are you a wobot?"

  
He’d been watching the video of me as a Transformer over and over again and he was unsure if I was still a robot. I’ve not laughed that hard in a long time.
 
I said, “No, Stevie – it’s really me.” And he said, “Tim – it’s you, Tim!”
 
You may ask why we do such goofy things on Father’s Day. Here is the answer from one of our staff:
 
The best part of the Father’s Day service for me was when I was sitting in the Café and overheard this obvious biker dude on his phone to who I think was probably his wife.  He says, “Well…I just decided to come inside for the 4:00 mass...pause…I don’t even know how to describe it…I’ll have to tell you in person…pause…it was really cool!”
 
Thanks to all of the team that made it happen. And be here to find out more about being transformed.
 
And thanks for letting me have Mosaic here. Here is a link for their radio performance on Shine (thanks Johnny)

And here is the link to iTunes if you’d like to buy their latest. Mosaic - As Long As It Is Day.

  
Pray for the Zirgaitis family. We did the funeral today for John. He was a great guy, great dad, great husband, loyal friend and huge supporter of his Lord and his church. It’s a tragedy today, leaving behind a wife and three beautiful daughters. And tragic in so many ways. But God will comfort us in our trouble. He promised. And he will.
 
John 11:25-26 Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

I Thessalonians 4:13-14 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

 

We Believe, I Believe, Liz and the girls Believe.  I hope you do.
 
Tim

I'm an Idiot

I’ve really been stressing this week about this sermon. And really the whole day. If you don’t know, Father’s Day is one of our big days at Parkview. We have the Car and Bike show Saturday, and I always do a big entrance, and we really pull out all the stops. And the message just wasn’t there.
 
I was away at an excellent retreat this week with Bob Russell (who will be preaching for us in a month) and it was really good for Denise and I to be with these other pastors and wives. But it meant no time for prep or normal work. So everything else suffers – one way or another.
 
Then I was listening to Shine.fm this morning and Johnny said, “Do you know how you sometimes go for too long without being into the Word on your own?” And I said, "Yes, I know that – I wasn’t in the Word for me this week.  I was doing other soul stuff, but not in the Word for me."
 
So instead of finishing up the sermon on my own and scrambling around to meet deadlines, I got into the Word for me. And I actually started reading, but it didn’t do anything for me. Until it hit me that I’d passed right over the thing God wanted to tell me today.
 
Luke 12:11-12 When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.
 
How long have I been doing this? Full time ministry for 27 years now. I’m still an idiot.
 
As I talk about being Transformed this weekend – one of the major points is that we don’t Transform ourselves – God does it.
 
We are being transformed into his likeness …which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  2 Corinthians 3:1

That was my point, but somehow I thought I was going to transform you with my sermon – duh. Or maybe that I was going to transform my own sermon. But the beauty of living in grace is that we have a mighty Father in heaven who transforms. Who tells us what to say (or write), if we will listen.
 
Right after the “don’t worry about what to say” passage, Jesus tells us not to worry about anything, because our Heavenly Father takes care of the birds and the flowers and he’s probably big enough to take care of us too.
 
I’m an idiot.
 
Be here this weekend. We also have Mosaic in to lead worship; my daughter is in the group. They will be on Shine.fm (89.7) sometime tomorrow morning at 9:30 am. And they have a concert for us on Saturday night at 7:30 pm. Their new worship album is awesome.
 
Father’s Day will be incredible – so don’t miss it.  God said he would be there!

Tim