We're Moving
May/02/2010 Filed in: Church News
We’ve been incredibly blessed since our humble beginnings in August of 2008. We’ve seen our community really take shape in the last year and we’re excited about the opportunities a permanent home affords us. In the coming months we’ll be making a bigger push than ever to reach into the community, to help those cannot help themselves, and to continue furthering the Kingdom of Jesus Christ right here in Springfield. That has always been, and always will be, our only priority.
We invite you to be a part of our community at our new location: 5335 S Campbell Ave in Springfield, just south of the James River Freeway.
Shalom,
Josh Crain
Teaching Pastor
Milestone Church
Stripped
April/07/2009
Recently we’ve been doing a lot of thinking about exotic dancers at Milestone Church.
Last week my wife and I went downtown with some friends to grab some Mexican food and look at the art exhibits on display during the monthly Springfield Art Walk. I noticed one of the stores, Good Girl Art Gallery, had a few pieces that had been created by local exotic dancers. The pieces were interesting and fresh; they were honest and real.
And they made me start thinking about exotic dancers.
I’ve been living in Springfield for 9 months and I’m always surprised when I spot yet another strip club in town. For a city that has a mostly clean-cut, Bible-thumping reputation, Springfield has a thriving sex industry.
And I’ve heard plenty of stories about exotic dancers. One nurse told me that she helped an injured stripper a few months ago who kept referring to her boss as her “master.” She told me that the young woman seemed brainwashed and detached from reality.
And what’s the draw to this lifestyle? Typically it appears to be money, drugs, or both. The average exotic dancer makes between $30,000 and $60,000 a year. If they have a drug habit that needs to be fed, it’s not uncommon for club owners to help satisfy that craving as well.
Another nurse told me she was working in the Emergency Room one evening when an exotic dancer came in with her family. This family was bragging to anyone who would listen about how much money the girl was bringing in for them, even going so far as to show her portfolio to people.
As I began to think and talk about exotic dancers, a more clear picture of them began to emerge. Granted, it’s somewhat of a generalization, but many dancers are in it as a last resort. Many have low self-esteem and very little support system. Many of them have lived a hard life.
But they don’t need to be saved from stripping. They need to be saved from emptiness. They need Jesus.
The more I think about it, the more I wonder what Milestone Church can do to help exotic dancers in our area. I don’t think raiding the strip clubs or standing outside with picket signs are the answers. But I don’t know if there is any other church in town that’s willing to step down into the mire in order to help lift these girls out because it won’t be an easy or squeaky-clean task.
Maybe we’ve been called to get down in the dirt and show them Jesus.
Last week my wife and I went downtown with some friends to grab some Mexican food and look at the art exhibits on display during the monthly Springfield Art Walk. I noticed one of the stores, Good Girl Art Gallery, had a few pieces that had been created by local exotic dancers. The pieces were interesting and fresh; they were honest and real.
And they made me start thinking about exotic dancers.
I’ve been living in Springfield for 9 months and I’m always surprised when I spot yet another strip club in town. For a city that has a mostly clean-cut, Bible-thumping reputation, Springfield has a thriving sex industry.
And I’ve heard plenty of stories about exotic dancers. One nurse told me that she helped an injured stripper a few months ago who kept referring to her boss as her “master.” She told me that the young woman seemed brainwashed and detached from reality.
And what’s the draw to this lifestyle? Typically it appears to be money, drugs, or both. The average exotic dancer makes between $30,000 and $60,000 a year. If they have a drug habit that needs to be fed, it’s not uncommon for club owners to help satisfy that craving as well.
Another nurse told me she was working in the Emergency Room one evening when an exotic dancer came in with her family. This family was bragging to anyone who would listen about how much money the girl was bringing in for them, even going so far as to show her portfolio to people.
As I began to think and talk about exotic dancers, a more clear picture of them began to emerge. Granted, it’s somewhat of a generalization, but many dancers are in it as a last resort. Many have low self-esteem and very little support system. Many of them have lived a hard life.
But they don’t need to be saved from stripping. They need to be saved from emptiness. They need Jesus.
The more I think about it, the more I wonder what Milestone Church can do to help exotic dancers in our area. I don’t think raiding the strip clubs or standing outside with picket signs are the answers. But I don’t know if there is any other church in town that’s willing to step down into the mire in order to help lift these girls out because it won’t be an easy or squeaky-clean task.
Maybe we’ve been called to get down in the dirt and show them Jesus.
Ray Boltz Loves Jesus
September/23/2008 Filed in: God in the News
As I grew older and I began to follow after the way of Jesus, the messages of Boltz’s songs began to come alive to me, too. Thank You, a song depicting a dream in which a Sunday School teacher sees the impact he made on earth after he arrives in heaven, became an inspiration. I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb became a declaration of a desire to follow after Christ regardless of what hardships and persecutions may result from it.
Boltz had a lot working against him in his quest to leave an impression on my generation: his mullet/mustache combo, his musical style, and even the quality of his voice would never be considered stylish, chic, or sophisticated by most postmoderns. But what probably left an impression on many of us, regardless of whether or not we cared for his musical style (I didn’t), was his authenticity and his ability to explain Christianity through stories (an art form that desperately needs to be reclaimed by the Christian church).
Last week in an interview with The Washington Blade, Boltz announced that he is a practicing homosexual. He has ended his marriage of over 30 years.
In the midst of all this I fully expect that the Christian community, who have championed his music and awarded his excellence, will attempt to distance themselves from Boltz. They will express their shock and sorrow, they will feel a sense of betrayal, and they will likely be understood as angry and belligerent.
They will do this because they have no idea what the proper response is to homosexuality. We never have.
Make no mistake, the Bible is unwavering in its message that all sex outside of a monogamous relationship between a man and a woman falls short of God’s ideal. It is what the Bible refers to as “sin.” Practiced properly sex is beautiful and, according to Scripture, there is even something to be learned about God in the beauty of a sexual relationship.
But why has the church failed so miserably in reaching out to Ray Boltz and other homosexuals? What can we do going forward?
Our message is often that homosexuals should just come to Jesus and then become straight. This is much easier said than done. Regardless of what you believe about when someone becomes a homosexual (born that way, chooses it, or it is the result of a psychological abnormality), the feelings and desires of homosexuals are real. It’s just as difficult for most of them to be attracted to members of the opposite sex as it is for heterosexuals to be attracted to members of the same sex.
We have to be realistic and speak the truth: for many homosexuals who take Jesus seriously, the result will be a life lived in sexual abstinence because they can’t flip a switch and suddenly be attracted to members of the opposite sex. Can we please be honest as a church and say that this completely sucks for them?
If my wife, whom I love dearly, were to be tragically injured in a car accident to the degree that we could no longer have sex, I would abstain from sex. It would be difficult, it would be unfortunate, and most of you would probably understand if I got a little cranky sometimes. But because I love my wife and I take seriously the biblical mandate that sex is to be between a man and a woman in the confines of a monogamous marriage, abstinence would be my path.
In both of these situations we need to be honest that the choice of abstinence is a difficult one. We need to surround those who face these decisions with community who will show love, patience, and understanding in the midst their situation. We need to make the church a place where people can be open with their struggles and outloud with their questions. We need to help people like Ray Boltz.
A couple of quotes from Boltz paint a telling picture:
I’d denied it ever since I was a kid. I became a Christian, I thought that was the way to deal with this and I prayed hard and tried for 30-some years and then at the end, I was just going, “I’m still gay. I know I am.” And I just got to the place where I couldn’t take it anymore … when I was going through all this darkness, I thought, “Just end this.”
And this from his website:
A few years ago I made the decision to retire from contemporary Christian music. I had won awards, performed in front of thousands of people, and sold millions of records. Still, I believed that if people knew who I really was, I would never be accepted.
Boltz faced his darkness alone because he didn’t know where to turn. He finally turned to the gay and lesbian community because they seem to have a knack for accepting everyone regardless of their past or present condition. The church could learn a lot from them.
I thought about what to title this blog article for some time. “Boltz Comes Out,” “Ray Boltz Confesses Homosexuality,” etc., etc. I decided to title it “Ray Boltz Loves Jesus” because I don’t think that homosexuality is what defines Ray Boltz. I think his love for Jesus Christ is what defines him. It saddens me that when Ray needed the church the most, he felt like he couldn’t turn to it.
Pray for Ray Boltz. Pray for the church. They are both imperfect and misguided and only Christ can change that.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect. But I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Philippians 3:12
Why We Chose the Name "Milestone"
August/28/2008 Filed in: Church
I was wrong.
It was a nightmare.
For over a month we asked for suggestions, ideas, and prayer. We had a great response and quite a few solid suggestions. But we also faced some formidable challenges.
One thing we noticed is that many church names sound more like country clubs than communities on a mission: Scenic Drive Church (no, I'm not making that up), Ridgecrest, Glendale, Parkview, etc., etc. It's not that these are inherently bad names; they just seem more like places you'd go to play 18 holes than commune with Christ and live life with fellow believers.
And this was part of our challenge: to come up with a name that actually symbolized where we were as a church. I think we finally did just that.
In Genesis 35, God assures Jacob that the promises made to Abraham and Isaac will continue to be carried out through him. God promises that an entire community of nations will come from Jacob and He even gives Jacob a new name: Israel.
Sound familiar?
Jacob is so incredibly honored by the Lord’s promise that he builds a stone pillar on the very spot where God spoke to him. As it turns out, this wasn’t an uncommon practice in Jacob’s day; Noah, Moses, and Joshua all set up similar stone altars or pillars and they all had a similar meaning: God has spoken and nothing will ever be the same.
Today we don’t have much use for stone pillars. Altars are a thing of the past because of Christ’s offering on the cross. We do, however, have a term in the English language for describing life-changing events: the kind of events where God calls a group of His people to form a church and reach out to their community in a different way.
We are Milestone Church. God has spoken and nothing will ever be the same.