Things I Like and Things I Don't Like

My Dad's favorite singer was an old country artist named Tom T. Hall. He had a song about things he loved with lines like "I love old pick up trucks..." I was forced to listen to WPLO, the country AM station in Atlanta back in the day, while riding alongside him in his pickup truck. He had an air horn on the top of the truck that I got to pull every now and then and that was fun. But of all the old style country songs I was forced to hear, the one about things Tom T. Hall loved seems to be the one I remember most. I thought I would use it as my diving board and jump into things I like and don't like.
I like the Church. Not just my church, which happens to be the best one in the world, The Church at Mirror Lake, but I like every life-giving church in the world. I like churches that lift up Jesus, proclaim His Gospel, make Him famous in their cities, and love people. I like their leaders. I like those that are the fastest growing churches in the world and everybody knows them and those that are quietly transforming the lives of people in rural communities and nobody outside their community knows them. I just like the church. I like coming together for large meetings on the weekend and I like gathering in small groups. I like the church. I like Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Ed Young Sr. and Jr., Craig Groschel, Chris Hodges, Ben Brinkman, Hal Hodges, Chuck Angel, Troy Shaw, Pastor Cho, Tommy Barnett, Eddie Long, Creflo Dollar, Josh Roberts and all the pastors and leaders in the world that we know and don't know. I like the Church.

I don't like church bashing. I don't like blogs that bash the church. I don't like tweets that bash the church. I don't like emails, books, articles, phone calls, or any other mode of communication that puts down, ridicules, belittles, denigrates, negatively compares, or destructively criticizes the church. I don't like hearing people in the U.S. put down large gatherings and talk about how the "real church" is meeting at their house or their coffee shop. Isn't it odd that you never hear negative comments about large gatherings in buildings from people in countries where there is no freedom to gather in large gatherings in buildings owned by local churches? I don't like the "either-or" attitude. I like large gatherings in buildings owned by local churches AND I like small gatherings in homes and coffee shops. I don't like comments like "a mile wide and an inch deep" made by jealous people because somebody's church is rocking the world. How much deeper does it get than seeing lives transformed by the Gospel? I don't like seeing Christians criticize the church because we have enough opposition without attacking from within.

I like what Jesus said, "Leave them alone. If they are not against us, they are for us." (Mark 9:39-41) I like people who are for the Kingdom of God. I like reading what they write, listening to them speak and cheering them on. I like keeping my life free from static and clutter so I like not reading stuff that puts down the church, its leaders, and the Kingdom of God. I like it when Greg Surratt tells people to grow up and quit acting like 5th grade boys on their blogs, facebook and tweets. I like Greg Surratt.

I like people. I like seeing people fall in love with Jesus and with His church. I plan on spending the rest of my life on this planet helping people do that. I like other people who have that plan.