Avoid Being an Idiot

My wife had an interesting comment about her new boss at work. She mentioned how in a meeting, the new boss was telling all the staff of an after-school program to do things that she does not do herself. To emphasize things that she does not emphasize herself.

It got me thinking.

In many regards, I am trying to lead people in their faith where I have never been before. Or to a place I have visited, but not camped out.

I want people to live a more missional and compassionate life. But many times, if not most of the time, I am selfish with my time and resources.

I want people to live lives of prayer, yet there are many days where I don’t pray at all.

I want people to study and love Scripture, yet there are a lot of mornings where I just read so I can say I read.

Why is this? Why can’t I go where I want to lead people and stay?

God has been stirring in me the last few days that I must be intentional and disciplined to make sure I am living what I am preaching.

How about you? Do you live where you want to lead people?

From 12/27/06 on a plane from Cincinatti to Washington, DC…

“You can see a lot with a view from the top. Roads. Traffic. rivers. Trees. Fields. If we could just look at life with a view from the top–God’s view–then life would be a lot better and more exciting. But to see life high, like God, we must first have a high view of God.“

Today I would add that a view from the top helps us not commit the sin of anxiety. That’s where I was yesterday. I needed a view from the top.

I haven’t journaled in a while. But with some things going on in my life right now, I figured today would be a good day to start back. That way I can look back in several months and see how God answered prayers and proved faithful. So I pulled out the old moleskine. Before I wrote some tonight I read some old entries. Below is an exerpt from 9/15/06. It spoke to me tonight.

(Just as a note, at the time I was journaling my thoughts as I read Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline)

Foster makes the comment that to pray is to change. If we really want to be holy. To be righteous. To be like Christ, then we must make prayer a priority. It is the avenue which God uses to change us. To transform us. When we pray, God sets us free from any evasive actions.

Prayer is life for the disciple of Christ. Foster catalogs the prayer life of the spiritual giants. It makes me feel quite trite to be honest. How little I pray. But then Foster reminds us that praying is learned. It is a trained exercise that we start where we are (God meets us) and progress.

If you are not a senior pastor (and since this blog is for those beginning ministry, I doubt you are), then this is a good word for you. It was for me.

Follow your Pastor.

I know there are some things that you would do differently if you were the HPIC (the head preacher in charge). Yeah, you would be more creative. You would blog. You wouldn’t use the KJV. You wouldn’t tell “preacher stories.” You would ____. You wouldn’t _______.

But the fact is you’re not the Pastor. I’m not either.

So, we have a choice. We can do our own thing in our particular part of ministry. Pursue our own dreams. Cast our own vision. And secretly wish we were in charge of the whole she-bang (is that how that is spelled?).

OR

We can put all our energies into joining our Pastor in the mission and vision God as given him. We can submit to his spiritual authority in our lives. We can do everything we can to make him look good. And it may mean doing some things differently than we would do.

In the former, we undermind the whole operation and develop the poor habits of distrust, arrogance, and impatience.

In the latter, we forge in our lives the desirable qualities of humility, loyalty, and obedience.

Friends, follow your Pastor!

Creativity is born out of necessity.

Cuteness is born out of a lack of creativity.

Churches and organizations are most creative when they have to be. When there’s enough money. When their target audience isn’t paying attention.  When the norm just isn’t cutting it.

Their leaders seek creative ways  to communicate their message. To gain and keep attention.

Other churches who have plenty of money and resources are very creative (with more expensive toys), but it stems from a deep desire to continue to be better at what they do. They want to stay fresh. And have an even bigger impact.

I applaud these churches and organizations.

What I don’t applaud is cuteness.

There is a difference. Creativity is come from a need. Cuteness comes from a desire to appear creative, but never addresses an actual need.

Its the difference between a church creatively branding a sermon series to communicate more effectively (think Elevation Church’s Bringing Sexy Backseries last year) and a church trying to stay hip with the youngsters and doing a series called GodPod or Gracebook (not actual series from actual churches that I know of…just some of the most ridiculous I could come up with).

Is it just me or are many of our sermon series just a 21st century version of church signs.

And the difference is important. When we are creative, people understand the Gospel more clearly. When we are cute, people roll their eyes.

So what say you? Are you being creative or just cute?

This probably should have been my first post, but since it wasn’t I figured I will post it now. With millions of blogs out there, why in the world should I start one?

Well, the short answer is somewhat selfish–I enjoy writing and it gives me an opportunity to flesh out some ideas and develop clarity.

I have made several other attempts to start blogging over the last year. I never really told many people about it or tried too hard to publicize them. Because deep down I knew its fundamental flaw: I did not have anything to say. I had nothing to offer to the worldwide conversation.

Basically, I just parrotted what my favorite bloggers wrote. I was just not needed.

I’m under no illusion that this blog is really needed now, but several weeks ago I had an idea. I was thinking about where I am now and what I am experiencing. I’m young, just married, and starting out in ministry. I want to be a part of God’s movement on this earth. I want Him to use me to advance His Kingdom and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I want to last in ministry.

But I’m just beginning. So I thought I would write about mistakes I am making and things I am learning along journey. I hope it may help some other guys and gals who are also just beginning their ministries. So most of the content will be directed at those who are at the beginning of their ministry, but, hopefully, will be beneficial to all who read.

It is my hope and prayer that this blog will add to the conversation by encouraging, challenging, and resourcing you. And I hope it stretches your thinking.

 So thanks for stopping by and please leave some comments. Its more fun when you participate.

What other blogs/resources have you found helpful when beginning a ministry?

On Friday I asked the question, What are they talking about when they leave? I tried to make the point that if your people leave the worship service talking about anything other than Jesus, then you have missed the mark.

Today I want to suggest the easiest way to make sure people leave your church talking about Jesus…

You (or your Pastor) talk about Jesus while you’re there!

There is a temptation to talk about many things during a worship service. You can talk about politics. Or values. Or sports. You can show a clip from the latest movie. Or open the service with a new rock song. You can talk about how to get out of debt, how to raise your kids, or how to become a better person. You can even preach against having sex outside of marriage.

BUT…

If you don’t preach it within the context of the Gospel…If you don’t preach it within the context of Jesus, the God of the Bible…If you don’t preach it within the context of God’s great grace and free gift of mercy…

Then you will get a church-full of people talking about the presidential election, good morals, SportsCenter, Hollywood, Top40 radio, stocks and interest rates, the kids’ soccer game or dance recital, motivational books, or the decline of western civilization.

But they won’t be talking about Jesus.

The whole Bible is about Jesus. He says so here and here and here. Why substitute anything else for Jesus as the subject of our sermon and worship?

So go ahead Mr. Jean-Wearing-Goatee-Sporting-Dark-Glasses-Ultra-Hip church planter, only talk about your creativity and constantly defend how you do church (I’m thinking that the people who show up to your non-traditional service are probably OK with it). Go ahead Mr. Stuffed-Shirt-Southern-Drawl-KJV-Only Senior Pastor, only talk about abortion and the homosexual agenda to kill your family.

But don’t expect anyone to talk about Jesus when they leave.

I began trying to process this question  yesterday so I figured I would write about it today.

What do people talk about when they leave your worship service?

Do they talk about the band? The stage lights? The music? The choir? The ”special music?” The catchy sermon title? The atmosphere? The building? The preacher? The graphics? The bulletin? The video? How hip and cool the church is? How traditional the church is? How creative the church is? How big the church is? How small the church is?

These are good things. They can be great tools for ministry.

But if people don’t leave talking about Jesus then we have not accomplished our assignment from God. If people don’t leave talking about Jesus then we have exalted something else higher than Him. And we make it the object of our worship instead.

Sometimes we exalt creativity. Sometimes relevance. Sometimes reverence. These are great qualities, but lousy gods.

Let’s exalt the real God–Jesus. And when people leave our worship service, let’s hear them talking about how great Jesus is and not how great the new praise song (or favorite old-time hymn)  is.

How do you make sure people leave talking about Jesus?

A few more of my favorites…

Preachers/Sermons:

Mark Driscoll-Mars Hill Church

Matt Chandler-The Village Church 

Steven Furtick-Elevation Church

Perry Noble-NewSpring Church

Craig Groeschel-Lifechurch.tv

Theology:

The Resurgence

Tim Keller Resources

9 Marks

Parchment and Pen

Miscellaneous:

Seth Godin

Church Marketing Sucks

Church Relevance

A picture is worth a thousand words.

A good graphic might cost you a thousand bucks.

Hands down, the two best sites I have found for photos or graphics are:

Stock Exchange

CreativeMYK

And the best thing? They are free.

What are other photos/graphics sites you have found?