Relevance

As I sit here in the ASU library, I am reminiscing on the events thus far from my day, and the one word that I can’t get out of my mind is relevance. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about relevance to my culture. As a Christian, there is nothing that I desire more than to be like Christ, but how can I be relevant in this world with conflicting interests? All of my passion is to bring glory to God, and one way of doing this is by being a relevant light amidst this culture of darkness. However, I frequently find out how I fall short in so many ways.

About two hours ago, I ended up going to the MU Burger King, and while I was in line for my double cheeseburger combo, I happened to run into a guy that I know from my rock climbing class. This is a guy that I’ve gotten to know a little bit, and so I ended up having a quick lunch with him before we both had to hurry off to our next class.

He asked me how my weekend went and what I did. So I told him, and then asked him about his life and what was going on with him. I found out that today was actually his 21st birthday and he said that he had gone out at midnight to celebrate. This is where the whole relevance comes in . . . upon hearing of his 21st birthday celebration with his buddies, I couldn’t think of anything to say in response. I was desperately praying and asking for wisdom, but no words came out, and so he finally said. . . “I can tell you don’t approve.” Though I didn’t say anything bad or negative, my absence of words made it appear as though I were super-religious instead. I sometimes find myself wishing that I could just somehow take a pill that would make me think more like Jesus, and would give me the words to say to people in that perfect time. However, I know from II Peter 1:3 that God has given me everything that I need pertaining to life and Godliness. So, I rest in the fact that God is using moments like these to sanctify me more to the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ.

Though I will never be perfect, God will use times like these to make me understand how dependent I am upon Him for every word that comes from my mouth. On my own, there is not a single thing that I could say or action I could do that would profit the kingdom. Yet, by the grace of God, He sent the Holy Spirit to live in my heart and guide my life so that I would be a vessel that would bring Him glory. I am so grateful that God has allowed me to be his child, and the conversation I had today only reminds about how blessed I am to be called a Child of the King.

“Dear Lord,
By your grace, please allow me to live a life that looks set apart, but one that is also relevant. I deeply long to make your name known and to show the world that only in you is joy truly found. I am so comforted by the fact that in my weakness you are strong. So I pray dear Lord that you would make me useful for your service even through my own inadequacies. Make me useful, relevant, and set apart. For your glory alone and in the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.”

HERMOSILLO MEXICO

The original reason I started this blog was to describe the many ways that God is sanctifying me in the process of living life—and yikes, this last week I got a taste of sanctification. Being that it is spring break from school, I had an opportunity to go to Hermosillo Mexico with Pastor Mike Paasch, Josue Lopez, and their families for 3 days. The trip served a number of purposes, but for me, it was a preface trip to see whether God would open the doors for me to go and be a missionary to Hermosillo for 2 months this summer.

Being in a country that I don’t know much about, don’t speak the language, and don’t know many people was very humbling. As I was desperately trying to learn the language and be a part of the lives of people for this short trip, I found myself extremely inadequate and felt like a baby at times. As I was in “conversations” with people over there, I desperately wanted to be able to communicate more effectively, and I wanted to share my love for them and my love for my Lord. However, it was so difficult, and as my brain was hurting terribly from trying to think of the right words in Spanish to say, I would quickly have to run to God in prayer. Thus, I can see why God is opening up the doors to go this summer . . . it is causing me to depend on Him.

In this process of deciding whether or not God would have me go to Hermosillo, I have been having a conversation with myself:

“Brent, why in the world do you think you should go to Hermosillo this summer?” “What about your junior high guys, friends, and the ministry that you have here?” “Why don’t you just jump into a job after you graduate and start making money instead, that would be much easier?” “There’s non-Christians here in Chandler!” “It’s going to be like a million degrees plus humidity and very little air conditioning there, stay in your nice 3700 square foot house with 75 degree AC and take it easy this summer.”

Having had many of these thoughts and more, and having heard about the ministry that will be in Hermosillo this summer, I have told God that this summer will be my offering to Him. Though it would be easier to stay in AZ this summer, I am so excited that he has given me this opportunity to go and be a witness, to show the Spanish peoples the love of Christ, to help out with a few different churches and organizations, to lead a Spanish team on a evangelistic missions trip to Caborca for a week, and the many other things that He has in store for me.

Though there will be many things that I will not be able to do in the U.S. this summer, I look forward to being stretched, grown, and put out of my comfort zone. For me, I am the type of guy that can easily get into a routine of life without thinking hard about the kingdom of God. I am praying that God will use this trip to radically impact my life and His kingdom.

Please be praying for me in the months to come as I prepare for this trip, and for the time that I will be serving in Hermosillo from June 1st till July 31st. If you would like to be a part of sending me on this missionary trip, I would be extremely joyful. Please email me your name and address to brentklontz@yahoo.com and I will send you information on how you can help send me.

All that I can say is praise be to our God and Father who has saved us and called us into the wonderful light. I want to live only for Him, no matter the cost.

Dear precious Father,
Thank you so much for allowing me the grace to have arms, legs, a mouth, and most importantly, my salvation. You have given these to me that I might make known the glorious riches of your grace. Use me this summer for your glory as I give you my life as an offering of praise. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

SHEPHERD'S CONFERENCE

I don’t even know how to express how amazing this last week of my life has been. Being in the Training Center at East Valley Bible Church, all of the year one students were required to attend the Shepherds Conference at John MacArthur’s church in California. So, this last week, I had the pleasure of having five days of incredible fellowship with men who love the Lord with their whole hearts. Though, I had the opportunity of hearing some great speakers like John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Al Mohler, Rick Holland, Dan Dumas, Rob Iverson, and others, I was most encouraged by the fellowship of the T.C. guys, and our own Shepherd and instructor Chris Mueller.

Here are some things that I was most encouraged by:

1. Tom Christie reminded me that ministry is not about a position or title, it is about ministering to others. A program or title can always be taken away, but the ministry and impact that we have on others will never be taken away. For me, I desire to have impact on the lives and hearts of people; though I would love for God to use me in full-time ministry, I now desire just to use my gifts in service to the body of Christ. I don’t need a position to minister to others, I need the heart of Christ.

2. I was incredibly encouraged by Andy Ambosia, and how we are brothers and friends even though there is a big age barrier between us. He is such a man of God, and I am so blessed by his friendship. We had some great late night conversations and even missed the music to one of the seminars because we were in such a great time of mutual accountability, fellowship, and prayer.

3. Michael Ly reminded me that I should strive to have deep fellowship in my life. For me, it is so easy to just go about my busy schedule and neglect hanging with believers outside the church setting. Michael and Tom both reminded me that I should desperately desire to have guys and girls in my life that I hang with on a consistent basis. I’m so thankful for brothers in the faith like Mike Paasch and Isaac Weinhausen for their fellowship and accountability, yet I desire to even take more time to build deeper relationships with my other brothers and sisters in Christ.

4. Chris Mueller showed by example what it looks like to be a good shepherd. As small as it may seem, he bought me and the T.C. guys ice cream. Also, he disciples us, teaches us, and just has a heart of love for us. I desperately desire to be as loving and selfless as he is; I long that I would be this kind of example to the guys that I disciple.

5. MacArthur, Sproul, and Mohler all showed me what humility looks like. Though these guys have so much knowledge and wisdom, they just exhibited the heart of Christ as they humbly preached the Word and exhorted us in love.

6. All of the other T.C. guys were also so encouraging. I learned something from each of them. Truly God is so good to have put such great guys in my life for the next two and a half years as we are all trained and equipped to be pastors, elders, or lay people that use our gifts to serve the body of Christ.

7. Another great part about the Shepherd’s Conference was that all of the 3300 shepherds received a Caravelle by Bulova watch, and 17 free books. . . I’m going to have my reading material for quite sometime.

Well though I could go on for a lot longer, these are just a few of the things that I was encouraged by over the last week. To all the guys that were involved in my sanctification over this last week, THANKS A TON!!!