Lance Crawford

Dear Galatians, Jesus + anything = nothing. Jesus + nothing = everything. I love you morons. -Paul

Today’s excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest destroyed me (in a good way). I put my convictions in bold:

“Despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him.” Hebrews 12:5

It is very easy to quench the Spirit; we do it by despising the chastening of the Lord, by fainting when we are rebuked by Him. If we have only a shallow experience of sanctification, we mistake the shadow for the reality, and when the Spirit of God begins to check, we say - oh, that must be the devil.

Never quench the Spirit, and do not despise Him when He says to you - “Don’t be blind on this point any more; you are not where you thought you were. Up to the present I have not been able to reveal it to you, but I reveal it now.” When the Lord chastens you like that, let Him have His way. Let Him relate you rightly to God.

“Nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him.” We get into sulks with God and say - “Oh, well, I can’t help it; I did pray and things did not turn out right, and I am going to give it all up.” Think what would happen if we talked like this in any other domain of life!

Am I prepared to let God grip me by His power and do a work in me that is worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me; sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me, and He has to get me into the attitude of mind and spirit where at any cost I will let Him sanctify me wholly.

Forget good theology. This is why I love Francis Chan…

Married this girl 2 years ago today. Totally lucked out.

September 21, 2009 has etched a vivid memory in my brain. It was a Monday afternoon, and I was spending some time reading this book for the 2nd time. I don’t remember what page I was on or what I was wearing (as you should when having a spiritual epiphany), but I do remember God spoke to me so clearly, that there was no doubt in my mind I had heard from him. It was an instant, quiet, almost-audible voice that said, “Plant a church in Asheville.”

Let me go back a few years. During college, my wife (just my ridiculously good-looking friend then), Stephanie, and I had visited Asheville separately with our families. During the several times I visited, I remember thinking how weird it was. There were loads of local artists, musicians, self-proclaimed hippies. I loved it. Stephanie felt the same way. So, during our short year and a half of dating and engagement, we visited Asheville a couple times and completely fell in love…and not just with each other, but with the city, too! When we got married, we never considered Asheville as a future home for our family. Living in Asheville was more of a pipe dream rather than a possibility. Tallahassee seemed like a permanent home to us. That is, until September 21, 2009.

Back to my spiritual epiphany. As soon as I felt God speak these words to me, I was overcome with a large helping of fear and an equal dose of excitement. I had never really considered planting a church, being a lead pastor, or moving to Asheville. But, in that instant, everything changed. I walked out into the living room of our one-bedroom apartment and began to tell Stephanie what I had just heard. Her look matched her response: “Let do it.” We talked and dreamed for a while about what was happening. I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. I just knew I had to obey.

I called my dad that afternoon to share the news. I think I partly wanted confirmation from a wise man and partly wanted to share my excitement with someone who wouldn’t think I was out of my ever-loving mind. My dad delivered on both counts. He confirmed and shared that he knew I would be called to North Carolina. He seems to know a lot of things before I do. Go figure. I wasn’t sure what my next steps were, so I did what any good Christian boy called to start a church does: I applied to seminary. I also started reading anything I could get my hands on that had the words “church” and “plant” in the title. I was in over my head from Day 1, but was eager to see where God would lead.

My wife and I spent a month reflecting on what God had spoken before I shared it with my boss and pastor, Brian. He also confirmed the calling and the rest is history. I won’t lie, there’s been many scary/discouraging/doubtful/impossible/pathetic moments thus far along the journey. But the clarity of September 21, 2009, has always kept me continuing in obedience with laser-sharp focus. This is not something I chose to do. This is something God chose to do, and He has graciously allowed me to be part of it. I don’t know exactly what lies ahead. I just know I have to obey.

“A dear friend of mine who was quite a lover of the chase, told me the following story: ‘Rising early one morning,’ he said, ‘I heard the baying of a score of deerhounds in pursuit of their quarry. Looking away to a broad, open field in front of me, I saw a young fawn making its way across, and giving signs, moreover, that its race was well-nigh run. Reaching the rails of the enclosure, it leaped over and crouched within ten feet from where I stood.

A moment later, two of the hounds came over, and the fawn ran in my direction and pushed its head between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my breast, and, swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. I felt, just then, that all the dogs in the West could not, and should not capture that fawn after its weakness had appealed to my strength.’

“So is it, when human helplessness appeals to Almighty God. Well do I remember when the hounds of sin were after my soul, until, at last, I ran into the arms of Almighty God.” - A.C. Dixon

The beginning of a journey…

Jonah is a lesson in educating a person to be a missionary: it reveals the need for radical conversion of one’s natural tendencies and a complete restructuring of his life to make it serviceable for mission. - Johannes Verkuyl

Oh my dang! I typically refer to Jonah as the Old Testament brat, and I believe the American Church may be the modern swallowed Jonah. Praying God allows us to be thrown up soon. And that we’re a little less bratty.

More AVL footage today.

Met this nice man while shooting the Grassroots vision video in Asheville. He is a wounded veteran and his name is Happy. Awesome guy!