Tim Harlow

20 Years

I have to try to say thank you to you all for the wonderful celebration of our 20th anniversary. I can’t tell you how touched we were, and still are (we’re still reading cards as I write this). The elders and staff really out did themselves giving us a surprise party on Friday night. Bringing in so many of our family. It was unbelievable. I can’t tell you how meaningful it’s all been.  And the video and love shown us in the services was amazing. I wept every service – and a bunch of you did tooJ.  
 
I can’t tell you how much it meant.

 
In many ways I can’t believe it’s already been 20 years. And in other ways I can’t believe it’s only been 20 years. You know how that goes, right? It’s been a lifetime for my family. And I wouldn’t have traded a bit of it. There were some very difficult times. But they were there for a reason. And I’m having so much fun now; it’s not ever a job to me. Denise and I always wanted an Acts 2 church, and now we have one. For awhile there it was more like a church from RevelationJ, but we love it now. I don’t care if Forbes magazine just rated Chicago as the 10th most miserable place to live in the U.S. – they don’t go to Parkview!
 
The thank you cards have been amazing.  Most of you thanking us for sticking it out and letting God make Parkview happen. Well, I want to thank you for the same thing. All of you make this what it is. Whether I know you or not, you make this happen.
 
My prayer is that of Paul in 2 Thessalonians.
 
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.

2 Thessalonians 1:2-3

Your faith is growing and your love is growing.  We’re changing our corner of the world with love and faith! I love that.
 
Honestly, the only analogy I can think of is farming. A faithful farmer plows the field every year. He does what he can to make the field ready for God. I think that’s what we did here for many years. And now the harvest is amazing.
 
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  I Corinthians 3:6-7

It’s very important to me that you all understand that God did all this. Not Tim and Denise. We don’t want any of God’s glory. We want you and God to be good. That’s all.
 
And it’s important that I recognize that there are lots of team members in this deal. Lonnie is celebrating 15 years soon, and we have a lot of great, long term, staff here. Vickie has been here longer than me! And Bill, Wayne, and our management team are the ones that really keep the rows straight on our farm. Our entire staff is amazing.  I love them all.
 
I also want to say thanks to the group of elders who have served alongside of me over the last 20 years. They have been amazingly patient with me and amazingly full of faith in our God.  

 
I really can’t ask for any more. Like I said this weekend, I’m the most blessed guy on the planet. And I know that my blessing is not for me, it’s for you.
 
I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the next 20 years.
  
Paul told my namesake, Timothy:
 
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 1Timothy 1:12

I couldn’t have said it better myself.
 
Thank you for loving me and my family the way you do. I’m still flying high!
 
PT

On Casting Out Demons

I’m really excited about a conference we’re having next week. The idea was born out of the What Would Jesus Hate series I did last year. One of the things I think Jesus would hate about the landscape of the 21st century church is our division. We’re working against each other.

 

One of his last prayers was for unity.

 

For "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:20-21   

 

How did we do? Are we one? Did the Lord ’s Prayer get answered? The 2001 edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia says that we have over 33,000 different denominations of Christians in the world. We done good! Don’t you think?

 

One ……………33,000.  Pretty close

 

Maybe you saw this battle of the church signs.

 

It’s funny – because it’s not true. It would NOT be funny if it was true. There is actually a website where you can make funny church signs.

 

But it wouldn’t surprise me if it was true. This sectarian spirit started right from the beginning even during Jesus ministry. It’s human nature.

 

“Teacher,” said John,”"We saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.” Mark 9:38-40 (NIV) 

 

C’mon you guys, he is casting out demons, ISN'T HE!

 

What was their problem? JEALOUSY. You see earlier in this same chapter we see that someone brought a boy to the disciples for them to cast out a demon and they couldn’t do it. And Jesus kind of got on them. 

 

“O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied,” "How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” Mark 9:19 

 

OUCH. Jesus was disappointed with them.

 

So then they find these other people who ARE casting out demons and they were jealous – and they told them to stop!

 

They couldn’t put their jealousy of the work of the Spirit aside and rejoice that the DEMONS WERE OUT!!!

 

And honestly, I know the feeling. In our early years at this church, when the demons were staying inJ - I would often find myself fighting jealousy over those places where God was moving. And now that we’re at a place where the demons are flying out left and right, I want to make sure to reach out to all the churches around us and make sure we’re doing everything we can to help them cast the demons out. I want to work together like Jesus prayed.

 

So we’re bringing in Mike Breaux from Heartland Community Church and we’re providing lunch and materials and doing it all for free. So if you know staff at another church around here, please invite them to sign up and come. We’d love to have them.

 

Below is the video invite I did last week.

 

And please be praying for us and “Synergy” next week.

 

Tim

 

P.S. - The Tape Ministry Booth will have Don Piper DVDs this weekend in case you missed him or want to share his experience with others.

 

Synergy 2010 - Pastor Tim Harlow from Parkview Christian Church on Vimeo.

 

SYNERGY 2010

For those fellow pastors and ministry leaders who follow my blog from other churches, I wanted to invite you to something cool that we’re having at Parkview’s Orland Park Campus on Tuesday, March 2nd.

Synergy 2010 is a free, one-day gathering for all pastors and ministry leaders throughout the Chicagoland area who are interested in getting together to share ideas, resources, experiences, and support for one another.

Hey…why don’t I just tell you about it!

 
Please REGISTER YOUR MINISTRY TEAM by Thursday, February 25th...hope to see you at SYNERGY 2010!

Tim

Here's Your Sign

 
This was at my gate in Dallas today. I know air travel has become more low-tech, but this is ridiculous.
 
If you are reading this – it means the pterodactyl that I’ve been riding on made it safely to Chicago, so all is well.
 
I just had to take this picture and laugh. This is what we’ve come to. I have to tell you I’m pretty hooked on new technology. I don’t want to go back to standard def anything. I don’t want to go back to snail mail. I like the 21st century.
 
I also like the 21st century church. I was with some pastors last week and some missionaries this week, and it never ceases to amaze me how so many Christians and churches get stuck in the “old.” I was really sadden by my conversation yesterday with one of the missionaries we support in a Latin American country. I really didn’t understand how much they were saddled by a 20th (maybe 19th century) paradigm in doing their ministry. I really thought that missionaries just had “missionary stuff” to deal with. Dangerous places, persecution, no money, etc. I thought that was missionary stuff. But amazingly to me, some missionary stuff is also the same as American church stuff. “But I like the way we used to do it.” “I like handwriting the Airline Destination sign; I like the old songs, the old version, the old whatever.”
 
Seriously, it makes my blood boil. Who in the heck is going to come to an old fashioned hymn sing? OLD FASHIONED HYMN SINGERS! Is that who Jesus came to save? NO, he came to seek and save the lost.   
 
Parkview, listen to me. We’re not going to stop changing and trying new things to reach those who are far away from Christ. As a matter of fact, we’re doing a Ne-Yo song next week – and if you don’t know who Ne-Yo is – just know that it’s going to connect with someone you don’t know either.
 
I got an email this week from a person who told me about their messed up life and signed off saying, “Don’t write me back if you don’t have time – you probably have an inbox full of f…ed up people like me.” I don’t think they even knew that this choice of words was probably not appropriate for an email to the pastor.
 
But that was the best email of the year so far for me! I do have an inbox full of ….messed up people. And a church full of messed up people. And that’s EXACTLY what Jesus wants.
 
And I will go through hell and high water and technology and new methods to reach them. Jesus would – Jesus did.  
 
I don’t know why I’m telling you this. You know it and I love you for it. You are willing to do whatever it takes. I love it. I love that when I asked you to come on Saturday night last week – you did. Actually last weekend, our 11 am service had the most room of any service! Because you are good and your love endures forever.

 

BTW – we had 8200 people here for Don Piper, and he said he loved his experience with us. From the moment he walked in the door, he sensed something was happening here. He said the staff and volunteers were some of the warmest and friendliest people he’s ever worked with. (I guess Lonnie was gone tooJ)
 
I guess I just need to rant on this every once in a while. FIX THE SIGN!  THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO NEED THIS MESSAGE.
 
See you this weekend,
Tim

A Glimpse of Heaven

This weekend Don Piper comes to share his life-changing story.

 

On his way home from a church conference in 1989, Don Piper’s Ford Escort was struck head-on by an 18-wheeler. Don was pronounced dead by four different sets of paramedics. But God worked a miracle and sent Don back to a broken body. To date, 34 surgical procedures have taken place. He walks only as a result of many miraculous and medically unexplainable circumstances.

Since the release of his bestselling book, 90 Minutes in Heaven - A True Story of Death and Life, Don has traveled across the country and around the world sharing his amazing story.

Don’s message is simple...we can have a better life now, and an eternal life someday, through faith in Jesus Christ!

Invite your family and friends – and come on Saturday please. We need to make room so others can be with us in Heaven.

Tim

 

Reproduction

I left church this weekend to join up with my youngest daughter and wife in LA to look at colleges.  Becca is just a junior, but we’re trying to get a jump on this deal. For some reason she thinks that God might be calling her to go very far away to college. Not (I don’t think) because she doesn’t like us, but because she’s ready to be on her own and go change the world. And she will!

But man, did it hit me when I left. I had to come to Austin for a church planting thing. So I had a nice, long, lonely flight to think about how I all of a sudden got to the place in life where I’m going to be an empty nester! And how much I miss my kids.
 
So now I’m in a meeting with the New Thing Network, which Parkview is a part of, strategizing about how to reproduce churches and leaders.
 
And I’m thinking about how glad I am that I’ve poured my life into my children. Now that two of them are out of the house and the last one is flying the coup, I’m realizing that my and Denise’s influence as a believers in Jesus is growing exponentially. And that may/will be more important to the overall kingdom of Christ than anything we do personally. That’s why God gave us these kids in the first place. They will lead and reproduce others who will lead and reproduce others and on it goes.
 
And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable (wo)men who will also be qualified to teach others. 2 Timothy 2:2
 
When Denise and I are dead and gone, the ministry of Rachel, Lauren, and Becca Harlow (insert name here) will go on. It will go on with their children and go on through the ministries that they have been involved in.
 
So Bill and I are sitting here trying to figure out how all of that works in the church.  
 
What we do locally at Parkview is incredible. I love the stories and the rapid growth is phenomenal. But if we’re not reproducing leaders and reproducing churches, we will get to the “empty nest” stage and realize that it’s only been about “us” and now we’re done.
 
That would be selfish, and it would be wasteful. There is so much potential and so many people that need Jesus. Why would we just keep this to ourselves? The “offspring” from Parkview will live on long after we’re gone.
 
Honestly, it’s not an easy conversation. But now that my own kids are gone (almost), I’m thankful for every minute that I decided not to be a self-serving person and decided to pour my life into my children. Now they will do the same, and the dream lives on.
 
Tim

 

Losing It

We have our consultant, Carl George, in with us for a few days. He always helps us figure out our next steps with staff, building, etc. One of the wisest men I know.

So we’re sitting there yesterday talking about the maximum amount of people we’ll ever be able to get on our Orland property which honestly is a weird conversation. Because even though we have more buildings to build and more land to acquire, there IS a limit to the amount of traffic we’ll ever be able to support. We can probably still double in size, but that will be all we can handle here without having services every night of the week (which might be an option at some point).  All of this discussion is just a way of realizing that there has to be more sites and many other options of ministry OTHER than Saturday and Sunday at 183rd and Wolf Road.

It’s crazy to think that in 5 or 6 years we might literally be out of options here at this place. I LOVE IT. I love the discussion. The whole discussion was based on the fact that we’ve just jumped another thousand in attendance (again) and we’re still one of the fastest growing churches in the U.S. But we won’t be able to throw dirt and bricks at it forever. We’re going to have to continue to be creative like we were at Lockport. And we need our chapel YESTERDAY.
 
But this conversation stood in stark contrast to the trip I made to Uptown Chicago last week. I visited the Peoples Church, because we’re involved with a homeless ministry there through a very good friend of mine, and our three new Chicago church plants are going to be working with them. One of them will be in the area, and we were looking at the possibility of using part of this six-story, beautiful, old church building for services.
 
   
The really sad part about this church is that it has an auditorium that seats 1500 people and only about 30 worship there. 
 
I wish I had a copy of the picture of the auditorium that hangs in the hallway to show you from 1930. The place is packed; there is not an empty seat.
 
What happens to a church over the course of time that leaves it empty? It’s a good question, because we’ve already got a lot of building here and we’re going to still have more.
 
There are lots of answers. The community has changed a lot in 80 years; the sociology of the situation is understandable. But many churches are able to withstand the change of community and thrive. Moody Church is not far away.
 
Peoples Church still cares about the people around them. There are several ministries that use their facilities – 18,000 meals a month are served from within their walls. God told us to take care of the least of these, and they do a great job. So what’s the problem?

Simply – they belong to a denomination that forgot what church was supposed to be. They have lost their purpose. Jesus said that his purpose was to “seek and save the lost.” And they just stopped worrying about that along the way.

Helping the poor and being nice to everyone and offering a sense of “spirituality” to people is all well and good. But it’s a fast way to kill a church. Because Jesus didn’t come to help people feel good. He came to save them.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! Romans 10:13-15

I guess the contrast has really struck me. Just because we have too many people to find a seat for doesn’t mean we’re right either. Wrigley Field is usually sold out. J

But I find it really sad that a church would decide that giving a person a meal is good enough. The ministry in the building that we are connected to doesn’t operate that way. We know that giving a person a fish is not enough. But neither is teaching them to fish! We are to be fishers of men.  
 
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers; Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:18-19

So let’s not forget our purpose. We can’t forget to keep the main thing, the main thing. I hate it that so many churches forget their responsibility to care for the poor and the “least.” But we can easily lean too far the other way. If we take heaven and put it in the “urgent” box in our lives, we will realize that one minute after we die – only one thing will matter; WHAT WE DID WITH THE GOOD NEWS!
 
Tim
 
PLEASE get out of the 11 o’clock service! We’re being strangled to death in there.