Here’s the dilemma facing Buck Showalter, Mark Connor, Jon Daniels and the rest of the Rangers brass on this off-day on the Rangers schedule: at what point do you consider supplanting Francisco Cordero as the closer?

Cordero blew back-to-back save opportunities on Tuesday and yesterday against Oakland. Tuesday night, his teammates bailed him out with a 9th inning rally. Yesterday, the Rangers lost in the 10th.

As Jamey Newberg astutely pointed out in his column Wednesday, the back end of the Rangers bullpen has been an unquestioned strength of the team for the past 10 years. But now, just 1/8th of the way through the 2006 campaign, that strength is teetering.

Here’s hoping Cordero gets out of his funk soon because the Rangers have begun to hit on all cylinders -- hitting, defense, starting pitching and middle relief – save for the guy who’s job description is to get the last three outs of the game.

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I’m really excited about getting to Brownwood later this evening and being reunited with some good friends. John Wiegand is the editor of the Praise For the Lord hymnal and has become a dear friend. In addition to his work as an attorney in San Francisco, John is a devoted disciple of Jesus, working with various Bay Area churches in general and the Pleasanton church in particular. Additionally, John is a rabid baseball fan –- his knowledge of the game shames me. But for his love for the Mets, we share so much in common.

I’m also excited about seeing my good friend, Kerry Williams, again. For the past three years, Kerry served the Early, Texas church as their Preaching Minister, before accepting the Preaching Ministry position with the Sherrod Avenue church in Florence, Alabama. Five years ago when I first spoke at the Tahoe Family Encampment, Kerry and his family took Mandy and I under their wings, showed us the ropes, and introduced us to a number of people who’ve become very dear friends.

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I have been asked to speak in a keynote session on the theme of “Pressing On…To Greater Service.” The current state of religious life in America is perplexing to me, given the drift in American Christendom from the roots of the first church. What began 2000 years ago as a servant-based mission in the way of Jesus has, in the course of time, degenerated into a more consumer-driven faith where attendees of church subtly see themselves as consumers of religious goods and services, dispensed by “professional” church staff.

Historically, the shift began with the conversion of Constantine, who made Christianity the faith rule throughout his empire. Once endorsed by the political establishment as an accepted part of society with Christians no longer forced to the margins of society by political and peer pressure, the face of Christianity shifted dramatically. No longer was the church based on the synagogue-model of worship and assembly, as was the case for the first 350 years of Christianity’s existence. No, because of Constantine, the church began to take on more of the Temple-model of worship and assembly, complete with elaborate ornamentation and a clearly defined role of “clergy” and “laity.”

Whereas once each Christian saw themselves as a vital part of the on-going mission of Jesus in the world, Constantine’s influence led the church into a spectator-based religion where the “laity” received the goods and services the “clergy” dispensed. The point of worship became not the formation of Christian character but an opportunity to critique and evaluate the performance of the worship leaders. The shift was so dramatic in disengaging the church from being the second incarnation of Jesus that it plunged the church into the 1000 year historical void known as the “Dark Ages.”

That said, even in modern-day America in 2006, Christianity hasn’t fully shaken the effects of the Constantinian fallout. A tension still exists in the modern-day church between whether Christians are consumers or servants.

As I think specifically about calling people to “Press On…To Greater Service” I think primarily about the absolute necessity to see ourselves as Jesus saw himself. If my calling as a disciple of Jesus is to live out the way of Jesus in my world, then I must find my identity and my mission from Him. His mission? “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served (consumer), but to serve (servant), and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10.45). Our calling to greater service can come in no other way than through the way of Jesus: the way of one who washed the feet of those who were undeserving, of dining and fellowshipping with those who were unclean, of upholding the dignity of those who were unlovable, of dying on the cross for those who were unrighteous.

My plea for us in the body of Christ in America in 2006 is a call back to the way of Jesus: to serve the undeserving, to interact with the unclean, to uphold the dignity of the unlovable and to boldly sacrifice for the sake of those who lives are characterized by unrighteousness. When society pushes a person to the margins, the people of Jesus should simply serve rather than analyze the stigma. Rather than judge others, Jesus calls us to serve others. Rather than fruit inspecting the tree on another’s life, Jesus call us to inspect our own hearts and motives so that we might be his hands and his feet of justice and mercy in a world of darkness.