Surgery without the Anesthetic

Training Camp at AIM Headquarters.  Oh, the memories! 

I’ve spent the weekend here in North Georgia with about 40 really diverse, spiritually attuned and hungry Mission Project Leaders and Staff.  The AIM DNA is alive and well.  I’ve been reminded of a lot of things- things I needed to be reminded about like:

·         my Identity in Christ.

·         the Authority Christ has delegated to me.

·         releasing sins that entangle me and surrendering them at the Cross.

·         peeling back the lies of satan about me and revealing the Truth of God about me.

This thought occurred to me earlier today: This is all good for me but it’s a heck of a lot harder than just being a good Baptist church attender.

Here’s what I mean:  I’ve been a member of one Church or another since I was a teenager.  I’ve sat under several Pastors.  I’ve been to ALL the conferences and camps- most of them were great.  I’ve heard about and learned about Identity and Authority and Surrender, etc … but I don’t know if I’ve ever been confronted with all that the way I am when I’m playing in AIM’s backyard.

Here- it’s not an academic proposition, it’s not a sermon aimed “at” me- what is it?  It’s a challenge to me to respond.  It’s an expectation that I’m going to respond.  I’m not left to walk an aisle at the end of the sermon nor am I left to ponder what I’m going to do with all this new information.  There’s space- right then and there- to deal with it.  There’s someone right then and there ready to process it with me and pray with me and pray over me.  That kind of action leads to transformation.  Information alone does not equal transformation and that’s mostly what I’ve experienced in most “church” contexts.

And it’s painful as heck and a lot harder than being a passive pew sitter.  It’s surgery without the anesthetic.  I spend part of the time wanting it and part of the time looking for a chair to hide under but you can’t hide from the Holy Spirit and in a room of 40 people experiencing the same thing, well, you can’t hide from them either. 

So you deal with it.  You confess your sins, not just to God but to somebody in the room.  You renounce the lies you’ve believed about yourself and repent- you change your mind and heart and begin to believe the truth.  You accept help from the community and you offer your hand and head and heart.  You wash feet and you get cleansed.  You experience brokenness, and healing, and community and communion and deeper faith.  And you face the realization that you may need to go through it all again tomorrow.  But the community will be there to help you do it because we weren’t designed to do it alone.