Wethair

By Phil Scott

WETHAIR is a departure from the traditional elementary-level what-we-believe studies for new Christ followers. It is a relational conversation between a new believer and a seasoned believer who has shared in the process of helping thousands of new believers get traction for their journey. Many new believers feel overwhelmed, find themselves easily distracted, or sadly duped into shallow promises of success. WETHAIR will toughen you, equip you, and motivate you to never give up.

Though in Christ we are forgiven and adopted into the family of God, we will experience wilderness and dark nights of the soul. We will need guidelines in order to examine our lives without being beaten down by regrets. We will learn to shape our testimony as we see God continuing to work in our life. We will evaluate our visible and invisible habits. We will discover how much urgency and energy we are applying to our appetites. We will pursue new avenues for getting involved so that our service makes our faith real, and we will wrap these steps together with daily relentless restlessness. Never lose your Wethair.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512770513

Phil Scott

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Copyright © 2017 Phil Scott.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-7053-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7054-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7051-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016921546

WestBow Press rev. date: 2/16/2017

CONTENTS

W         WILDERNESS

E         EXAMINATION

T         TESTIMONY

H         HABITS

A         APPETITE

I         INVOLVEMENT

R         RESTLESSNESS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Words fail me to adequately thank the thousands of believers who have entrusted part of their spiritual journey to me. I believe the Holy Spirit whispers through experiences, speak through fellow Christ followers, and shouts through His written word. I am deeply grateful for my godly parents, Robert and Cecil Scott, my wife June, and our children Krystal, Tiffany, and Austin, my brothers Dan, Mark, Tom and Tim, and the hundreds of elders, deacons, staff, and brothers and sisters in Christ who have been part of my journey and have encouraged me in my dark nights of the soul.

A Special thanks also belongs to the three Christian institutions that endured me as a student. At Ozark Christian College, Joplin, MO, I was driven deeply into understanding scripture. Though I had been raised as a preacher’s kid, I discovered at Ozark Christian College that there was much more to faith than just repeating Bible facts. At Lincoln Christian University (formerly Lincoln Christian College and Seminary), Lincoln, IL, I was sharpened in my understanding of contextualization. The message of faith is far more than just being obedient to certain guidelines. At Lincoln Christian University, I began to grasp how systems, assumptions, and methods can bless or destroy the work of God. At Bethel University, St. Paul, MN, I was challenged to harmonize how the early Christ followers changed the world with how the church today is shouldering the challenge to impact the world. At Bethel, many of my core values were refined and reforged. All three of these colleges/universities insisted that biblical faith leads to practical obedience, not just intellectual comprehension. I pray that all three institutions will thrive for generations to come. In the same way that there is a difference between boxing and a street fight, I am eternally grateful to the grace of God for seeing in me something worthy of transformation so that a hardened rebel could still be used in advancing His kingdom.

Dr. Phil Scott

INTRODUCTION

The blood ran hot in my veins … but no one knew. A godly elder, for whom I had great respect, had just suggested that, We need a new members class for all the people who have joined the church in the past year. I knew there was a certain rightness to his proposal. Most pastors would have rejoiced that the church was growing with new converts and that the elders were striving to train those who had been receptive to the gospel. But my soul was convulsing. I had been on this road many times before, and I knew how discouraging it could become. I knew that even if we found a passionate teacher to lead such a class and provided the resources, this effort would have a miniature impact for good. Endure my pessimism for just a moment, but if I’m right, I may be saving you from a dark journey on a road you may want to avoid.

Before I could even cool my blood, this brother in Christ said to me, What do you think of that suggestion, Preacher?

Well, I love it and I hate it. I have a personal friendship with almost every one of our newest converts. I want very much for all of them to grow in Bible knowledge, the disciplines, in service, and in obedience. I have taught such classes in the past. I have used printed curriculums and at other times I have written my own material. But before I explain why it troubles me, let me ask you guys to discuss two questions, and allow me to eavesdrop. What key themes should be covered in such a class, and how will the teacher bridge the enormous cultural gap between those who are expected to participate?

As the leaders began processing my questions, one of the other elders asked, Preacher, I have some suggestions for the first question, but I’m vague about what you are asking for the second question.

Consider the list of our new converts. [I’ll change the names for you, the reader, in order to protect their identities.] Tad is eleven years old and being raised in a Christian home. He accepted Christ this summer at church camp. He’s somewhat shy, but could be a leader in the youth group in the next few years. Brenda is thirteen years old. Neither of her parents is committed to Christ. Her dad has huge issues with the church because of some childhood experiences. Brenda comes with her grandmother who has never placed her membership in this church. Garvey is sixteen years old. He’s discovered girls and puts a lot of energy and money into impressing them. I think his car accident motivated him to think about eternal things. He has very little Christian support at home. Tess and Levi started attending our church before they were married. They have two children together, and Tess has a son from a previous relationship. Neither of them have any Christian memories from childhood. They don’t really have a working knowledge of the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. After they got married, Levi lost his job, and it opened the door for me to explain the gospel in the context of letting Christ be the center of his life. Last week the son was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Ben is about forty-nine years old. He is a recovering alcoholic, divorced, sports junky, and makes his living trading stuff on eBay. Tammy is retired and has a long history of church life but never was baptized until she went with our women on a weekend retreat. She could probably teach half the classes in this church. That’s about half of the folks who should be on our list of potential students for a new members class. I think even the most gifted teacher would feel overwhelmed trying to connect the material to such a group, let alone getting them to actively participate.

After a pondered silence, the elder who had asked the previous question took the next step, I see what you mean, so maybe we will need three or four new converts classes in order to adapt the material to the spiritual needs and backgrounds of the participants. How are we going to find that many teachers?

Before I could respond, the first elder spoke up. Wait. We’ve uncorked a bigger problem. Our discipleship and evangelism program is primarily relationship driven, not just dispensing information. I don’t even know some of our newest members. Trying to tell or coax our new converts to be in a special class to help them grow in Christ may send a lot of mixed messages to them and to the rest of the church. As long as we’re on the subject, let’s wade into the first question as well. We may have a very diverse set of expectations as to what such a class should cover.

I could sense that these leaders were beginning to wrestle with more than just launching another class for new converts. I began making a list of possible subjects that could be helpful to new converts (not alphabetical and not in the order of importance). Most believers should be able to explain the following:

• how to witness to those who are lost

• what is and isn’t worship

• how the church started and how it has shaped history (overview of the book of Acts)

• the meaning of the Lord’s Supper

• how to pray

• how the Old Testament and New Testament relate to each other

• the timeline of the Bible and its major themes

• what the Bible teaches about giving

• how our church differs from other churches and cults

• how we got the Bible.

The chairman of the leadership team brought our discussion to a close by suggesting that we all make this subject a matter of prayer and reflection before our next meeting. Additionally, he recommended that we put in writing any thoughts that might lead us toward a conclusion.

I wanted to feel that my input in this discussion had been profitable in opening their minds to consider a more strategic approach for connecting converts, but at that moment I felt as if I had sabotaged or devalued an essential discipleship component of the church. As I drove home, I wondered if some folk in the church would only get the rumored version of the meeting that I was opposed to offering a class for new converts and that I didn’t believe this church had anyone qualified to teach such a class. I knew it was time for a shift in our collective approach to new converts. I knew it was time to merge and melt together the feelings and struggles new converts have in the first year after their baptism with the important teachings of the Christian faith. Many new converts have felt overwhelmed, even intimidated by not knowing what to focus on, what to change, and how to express some of the new convert feelings.

Whether this book is used in a classroom format, for private Bible study, or among friends who have been used by God to bring a person to Christ is completely in your hands. You may notice there is diversity in the way illustrations and ideas are presented. You will notice there is a conversation I am having with a new convert, and I represent this friend’s thoughts by using italic print. Really? Yes, like that. You may notice that sometimes I use different genres or stories to illustrate one central thought. You may notice that I included important disciplines like giving, prayer, worship, witness, communion, and the study of scripture as steps toward healthy faith, not the final destination. As a novice sailboat enthusiast, I know that reaching the destination requires the navigator to make tack maneuvers, adjust to currents, trim or drop the sails, and feel the stability of the boat in the water. Likewise, in this book, you may notice some conversations are indirect, subtle, or like a parable, unlike straight-line, lecture-style teaching.

Those who have been believers for many years often forget how raw, guarded, curious, and inconsistent new converts can be. WETHAIR is an acronym. Each letter describes a facet of the experiences and feelings new converts want to talk about in the first year following their acceptance of Jesus Christ. May I say again, they want to talk about feelings, but they aren’t sure if they should say anything. They want some tangible targets to focus on that will help them measure some progress. Woven into their questions are doubts, fears, observations, and a strong desire for community. New converts are worried about lost family members and what happens if they sin again, not who wrote Hebrews or the significance of Philippi being a retirement city for soldiers of the Roman Empire. WETHAIR believers need to know it’s okay to have doubts, missing links in their knowledge, and most of all it’s okay to ask hard questions.

For those who have gotten their hair wet by being buried with Christ in baptism and have come up out of the water in search of new life, and for those who long to see the kingdom of God grow stronger, welcome to WETHAIR.

W

WILDERNESS

The heart of the word wilderness is wild. It conjures up feelings of places that are uninhabited, untamed, mysterious, and dangerous. A wilderness can be a desert as barren as the moon where only a shrub or a vulture can survive the scorching heat, the scant moisture, and the scarce hope of better things. A wilderness can be a frozen arctic tundra of impenetrable glacier ice, miles of driven snow, jagged cliffs, and deadly creatures endlessly driven by a survival instinct. A wilderness can be a sweltering jungle swarming with strange creatures and lethal vegetation. In every case, the wilderness requires—it demands—a keen sense of survival against diseases, creatures, elements, and even mysterious forces.

Satellite photos can chart with amazing detail every square foot of the earth’s wilderness areas. Developers and real estate brokers can transform swamps, deserts, and even frozen mountain ranges into neighborhoods, shopping centers, resorts, playgrounds, and even theme parks. It is in the process of transformation that the wilderness loses its wildness. The process of taming a wilderness requires a desire to change a multitude of outside influences and resources. But transformation is much more than just a process of changing this something into that something. Transformation is also a partial surrender of what has been and the birth of what could be. (Hold that thought for a few moments.)

The word wilderness also has figurative