Dr. Rodney Plunket

Please follow along as I read some words of Jesus in John 15:12-17:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.  I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.  You did not choose me but I chose you.  And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.  I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

And now go back a couple of chapters with me to two verses read as part of our Scripture reading, John 13:34-35:

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

One year ago, on the final Sunday morning of 2002, I preached a sermon entitled, “Irresistible Community.”  Through that sermon Broadway’s focus for 2003 was introduced––a focus upon being a church family characterized by a deep love for one another, a focus upon being a church so full of love that “everyone will know” that we are disciples of Jesus the Christ.

As 2003 drew to a close, I wanted to find some way to determine if the experience of community among our members had indeed been deepened, enriched.  So I sent out an email on December 17 to every Broadway member for whom we have an email address.  My email message was as follows:

I would like for you to send to me, via a reply email, the means God has used to bless/enrich/strengthen your experience of community at Broadway during 2003.  This will help me look back and see what God has done to make us an “Irresistible Community” during the past year.

I received about fifty responses.  The responses which I felt might be useful to share with you this morning I copied and pasted into a single-spaced document that is now 21 pages long.  I also emailed the senders of those responses requesting permission to use their responses in a worship assembly.  All of them said that I could, but I suspect you will be relieved to learn that I also indicated that I was not sure which ones I would and would not have time to use.  I will not be reading to you all 21 pages.  By the way, my favorite response to my request to use one of these email replies was from Sandy Wright.  She wrote, “Wow, I don’t think I have ever been a ‘source’ for a sermon before . . .”

Sandy, it’s high time you were.  Here is what Sandy Wright wrote about her experience of community at Broadway in 2003:

Rodney, my immediate response to your email was my experience at the time of Louise Long’s death.[1]  That week I had left on Tuesday to attend a reading conference in Dallas and stayed thru the week-end.  After getting to Dallas I realized that I had not called anyone in my Sunday School class to tell them I would be gone.  When I got home there were many messages, first telling me about Louise’s death then increasingly more concerned as I didn’t return the calls and wasn’t in Sunday School.  Upon checking in with several class members, I found that I had been given until Monday morning and if no one had heard from me, they were calling my school to check with my principal.  This is truly a sense of the community that we as sisters in Christ experience on a daily basis.  It’s also the blessing of wonderful Christian friends.

Matt and Brittany Weaver are fairly new to the Broadway family.  Here is Brittany’s expression of their experience of community here:

Matt and I recently placed our membership at Broadway.  Everyone at Broadway has demonstrated a warm, welcoming attitude and invited us to different activities.  We have made wonderful friends through Wednesday night Bible studies and our Growth group.  I have also experienced a sense of community in the Tuesday night Bible studies.

Sincerely,

Brittany Weaver

Ted Dockery wrote,

I think what God has done to strengthen, bless, and enrich my sense of community has been my working with the shut-in’s.  I tried to not let Bill talk me into this helping him with the shut-in’s, but it seems that God led me in that direction and I am glad that He did.  I hope that we can do more for those who gave so much to the Broadway church through the years.  Looks like I was destined to work with “older” people!

Ted Dockery

Hedy Robinson, whose parents, Horace and Dott Coffman, have done so much to bless this church that it cannot be measured, writes as follows:

Dear Rodney,

First I have to say that a change in my attitude caused me to look for opportunities this year that I might not have taken advantage of before.  I have prayed that I look for and follow through in more areas of involvement.  I think the opportunities have always been there, but I was not “in the right place” spiritually or mentally to benefit from them.

I especially enjoy the spirit within my Sunday School class, Adult #2.  I hate missing the lesson and the time we have to spend together each Sunday, on the rare occasion that I have to be out.  My week goes better after having attended Bible Class.

Our Bible Class has “adopted” a family who lost their husband/father last year and we periodically take up money to assist them.  I have a real ownership of that family and look forward to helping them.

The ladies Holiday Brunch was particularly delightful.  Feeling responsible for my Mom’s transportation plus a special invitation from Terry Dennis assured my attendance.  Linda Gaither gave an uplifting talk.  I can’t wait for it to happen again next year.

Vacation Bible School was great!  Such hard work benefited so many children.  I found the opportunity to help clean up the building during that time especially convenient and fulfilling.

I appreciate all the opportunities we have to help out the youth and college groups.  The variety of foods requested makes it easy to participate even if I am not an industrious cook.

I appreciate the correspondence I receive via e-mail.  I have received e-mail from staff members and elders.

I turned in a green prayer request and got back a personal response from David Ruebush.  I received e-mail from folks expressing their prayers and concerns about Dad and his declining health.  I am looking forward to starting the small prayer group after the holidays.

I have been attending a Bible study one night a week for several months and have plans to start another one.  These studies are not with Broadway members, but have been very inspirational and educational times.

There are many of us, I suppose, who have literally grown up at Broadway.  It is my home.  Many of the members I have known all my life.  They have stuck by me during hard times and continue to love me.  I truly consider Broadway an irresistible community.

Love,

Hedy

Tim Oliver sent a longer reply, but in it he opens his heart and becomes so transparent that I just must share it.  Tim writes,

Rodney

My understanding of what the church is and how God intends for it to function has become clearer to me during the past couple of years.  Based on the teaching from my parents and my experiences while growing up, I think I had a fairly good understanding of the functioning of the body.  I knew that just “going to church”, “warming a pew” and “getting my ticket punched” was not what it was all about.  I knew it was a deeper, more spiritual thing.  But I did not understand it to the degree that I do now until this past year or so.

God has shown me that, even though I thought I had an understanding of the body, I actually had a very selfish view of worship and “church life”.  I had fallen into the trap of consumer Christianity.  My church life was centered on how I felt about any number of issues.  I was focused inward on issues such as our worship time, our Bible class time and our fellowship.  I looked at everything from the viewpoint of “how it made me feel”.  If the singing was sub par in my opinion, I felt uninspired.  If no one spoke to me I felt unappreciated.  If the Bible class lesson or the sermon was not what I wanted to hear, I felt let down.  It really had become “all about me”.

Thankfully God began to show me my selfish nature.  He has used several things to help me grow in my understanding of Community.  He helped me begin to deepen my relationships with several of my brothers spiritually.  Our informal men’s class on Wednesday night has blessed me tremendously.  Our “Experiencing God “ study was very revealing and challenging.  I meet with 5 other men every Tuesday morning at 6:00 AM to share our struggles and to pray for each other.  There are not words that can express what impact that has had on my life.  I was fortunate to be able to teach during our “One Another” Bible class series.  That was a profound study to be involved with.  I know it changed my thinking a whole lot more that it did the Body Builders Class.  Being involved with The Walk to Emmaus has helped deepen my relationship with God and has helped me see the power of being led by the Spirit.  Our Men’s Worship Weekends have impacted me greatly.  God has used these weekends to show me more clearly that we are very interconnected as a body and we need each other.

This past years emphasis on “Community” and God’s desire for it to be irresistible in nature has helped to reinforce some things that God has been impressing on my heart.  It seems like every time I turn around, God is using new situations, relationships and teachings to reinforce and affirm that The “Ecclesia” is about serving each other.  Its focus is to be on each other, not on ourselves.  I’m convinced that if and when we understand this, we will truly become irresistible to the world.  The world will want what we have and we will not be able to keep them away from finding the love of Jesus in our building and in our body.

Over the past year or so I have made it a goal to make my involvement at Broadway one of selflessness.  I have promised myself that I will use our short time together on Sundays and Wednesdays as a time to allow God through his Spirit to direct me to whomever he wants to touch through me.  My constant prayer is that God use me to be a blessing to someone who is in need.  A funny thing happens when you stop focusing on yourself and you start allowing the Spirit to focus you on other people . . . you stop worrying about the songs we sing and how good we sing them.  You stop worrying about not being “fed” by the teacher or preacher.  You stop focusing on a whole myriad of things but every song is beautiful, every word that is said is great.  Every person is special.  Every hand that is shaken or neck that is hugged is precious, because it is God working through me to serve someone or build someone up or comfort someone in His name.  Their is no time for worrying, gossiping, fretting, griping or complaining, because God has given me a higher and more pure purpose . . . serving one another in a community that is bound together in love.  (Of course this shouldn’t only happen on Sunday and Wednesday!)

Rodney, I hope this helps . . . I did no editing.  I wrote the words that came and I figure that however disjointed they are, they are from my heart.  Use them as you see fit.  Don’t be afraid to use the delete key!

Much Love, Brother

Tim Oliver

Dustin Gay is a twenty-year old who grew up at Broadway.  Here is what he writes,

Hi Rodney,

The Broadway community has had such a profound effect on my life.  Having been raised in the church, I have gained life long friendships and most important of all, a relationship with Christ.  Through love and support from the people at Broadway, I have chosen the path to which I believe in good faith is the right one.  As the years have passed, it has become clearer and clearer to me that Broadway is not just a “church,” but a body of God’s people.  I strongly feel that God has blessed and will continue to bless the Broadway community and the service it does.

One thing that will always stand out most in my mind is the Sunday morning service.  When the entire congregation stands up together and sings, I doubt there is one soul in that entire building that doesn’t feel the presence of the Lord.  That alone is one of the most humbling experiences I think any one could ever feel.  I praise God for the people at Broadway and the leadership that guides us on the path the Lord intended us to go.

God Bless you and your service,

Dustin Gay

This response came from Bob Barnhill:

2003 has re-taught me the importance of friends.  We need friends, not just acquaintances.  We need people we can share our dreams, our hurts, our hopes and our fears.  Too many people go through life never touching others, but more negatively, never allowing themselves to be touched.  Friends hug.  Friends hold.  Friends pick each other up.  With the fast pace at which things progress, all too often we fail to connect and allow ourselves to be nothing more than mist.  Christians must never fail to remem­ber that the person in the next seat is more than a shell, but a living soul longing to be noticed, acknowledged and loved.  We are never more alone than when we are in a crowd of people.  Broadway cannot become just another crowd.  During 2003, I saw how Broadway rallied around members who were hurting.  Cheering with people who achieved great things.  While we have not arrived, at least we have not forgotten how important Christian friends are to helping us truly discover Jesus.

Brooks Loveless sent this response:

Dear Rodney,

Describing this church community’s effect on me this year is close to trying to describe things that make the heart soar.  While these can be perceived and sometimes understood, putting them into words loses something in the translation.

Evidence of our Broadway community is seen in the leadership for the Children’s Home of Lubbock and the Texas Boys Ranch.  I am able to be amazed regularly with the way Broadway’s community offers wise guidance for these agencies.  The care of children in need is continually lifted up with personal encouragement, advice and selfless leadership which glorifies God.

Singing for funerals has time after time allowed me to glimpse the life stories of my Broadway community members.  I learn that many different roads led still to concern for others and love for God.  These are each an encouragement to my spirit when I look at the road ahead.

My growth group cares and gets involved in the joys and trials of each family’s life travels.  This has helped us go on this road trip thru life together.

My “Adult 2” class has been ever more concerned for others.  We look forward to learning from the Word more each week.  Our teachers have brought great views for us to see how awesome God is in our lives.

On Wednesday nights, my class has drawn me to a deeper understanding of men and women of faith and how God weaves his plan thru generations.  I am surprised by his unexpected solutions to our problems.

My brothers exhausted and uplifted me at our men’s retreat.  We learned how important each of us must be to the life of our Broadway community.  Our personal prayer for each other man was wonderfully exhausting, but the prayer of each other man for each of us was an encouragement that affected my spirit in an amazing way.  It had a way of increasing my joy when I wake each morning.

Worship team members have a common love for regularly trying to praise God in song in an excellent way.  Adam Looney was our mentor in this.  Even after Adam’s departure, we have continued to worship in uplifting and heart changing song.  This is another example where our Broadway community has truly stepped forward to serve each other.

Our friends that serve in mission works have blessed us by their examples.  God amazes us in his work over time to bless his children and change lives.  This is happening in each of Broadway’s mission points.  My relationship with the Washington, England congregation has affected how strongly God’s workings there have awed me this year.  I cannot stress how wonderful Washington’s news in 2003 has been.  It is not simply better results of what we thought Washington was doing before, but rather a blowing away of all the walls of the room we thought we knew.  Now I see that God was preparing these unexpected developments for a long time.  PRAISE HIM IN THE HIGHEST!

Your friend and brother,

Brooks Loveless

P.S.          You told us last year how much God loves to accomplish his plan in ways we do not expect.  2003 has shown me many proofs.

I had to save this next one until last, because I was not sure how if I would be able to read another one after reading it.  This one is from Kathie Davis, and I must begin by thanking her for the courage it took to write and the courage it took to allow me to share it.

I am happy to answer your email.  I have been very blessed of late from the very sense of community at Broadway of which you are talking.  Since my recent separation, I have felt the warmth and support from the Body like I have never before felt.  When this heartbreaking journey first started, I was very fragile.  I had a broken spirit and a broken heart and was not sure where my faith would take me or if I could even hold onto it.  As people started hearing about the separation, I had so many people comfort me and hold me up when I did not feel I could do it on my own.  I continue to be blessed with the love and support from the Broadway people.  I am still down on occasion.  This life that I now must lead is very hard and not one that I treasure, but I do treasure the community at Broadway.  I don’t like the circumstances that have happened but am continually amazed at where God has led me.  I know that God didn’t cause this tragedy in my life, but He is making me into a better, stronger person as a result of it.

Kathie Davis

I wish I could say that everyone has experienced in the past year what these and the other forty about forty members who responded, but I know that is not the case.  The data received via the Gallup survey has made it clear that we still have too many members who are not experiencing a warm and powerful sense of family here.  But the responses make very clear that we have improved; we are becoming an irresistible community.  And that process must continue.  Those of use who have such a rich experience of Christian community here need to reach out to those who do not.  And I hope that those who are not experiencing the warmth and power of Christian community here will seek ways to “join the family” in a genuine and joy-giving way.  Talk to an elder or staff member.  Become a member of a Sunday morning Bible class, a Growth Group, and/or a small prayer group.  Get involved in a ministry.

Broadway’s mission is “Discovering Jesus.”  I do not think it is possible to advance toward that mission without Developing Authentic Community as well.

Please listen again to Jesus in John 13:34-35:

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

May we all keep Jesus’ vision before our eyes.  May we all keep dreaming of being a family of Christians whose love for one another is so deep and strong that everyone can tell that Jesus is our Lord!

Many of you have seen the third and final movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  You may not know, however, that J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of the books, was a devout believer in Jesus.  Most of you will have heard of C. S. Lewis, a Christian writer whose works continue to bless believers all over the world.  Tolkien and Lewis had a long friendship; but, when Tolkien and Lewis first met, Tolkien was already a follower of Jesus but Lewis was an atheist.  A fairly recent issue of the magazine Christian History gives a brief description of Lewis’s conversion:

A long night’s talk in September of 1931 capped a months-long conversation.  On that night, the two friends [Tolkien and Lewis] strolled near Lewis’s rooms in Magdalen College, accompanied by Hugo Dyson.  Dyson was a young English lecturer at Reading University, and also a Christian.  The conversation soon turned, as it often did with Tolkien, to myth.

Tolkien argued that the Gospels have a satisfying imaginative as well as intellectual appeal, demanding a response from the whole person.  He accused Lewis of an imaginative failure in not accepting their reality.  A few days later Lewis capitulated, and became a Christian believer.[2]

Those of you who have read Tolkien’s work and/or have seen the movie, have you noticed the Christian themes in his work?  One of the most important is mercy.  Again I turn to the issue of Christian History focused upon Tolkien:

In The Hobbit, Bilbo had spared the life of the miserable, treacherous creature Gollum even when Gollum threatened his.  Near the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, the frightened Frodo says that it is a pity Bilbo did not kill him.  Gandalf exclaims, “It was pity that stayed his hand.  Pity, and Mercy:  not to strike without need” and explains at some length how these are to work.

Throughout the story, several characters show Gollum mercy and pity, even when they could have felt justified in killing him.  In the end, of course, Gollum does what only Gollum could have done, and in spite of himself destroys the Ring and saves the world.

That ending gave the story what Tolkien called “eucatastrophe,” the “consolation of the happy ending” that the reader does not expect.  This, he said, “denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world.”[3]

Mercy is absolutely essential to the destruction of evil in The Lord of the Rings.

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