Stop the Dysfunction

I thought this comment from Lance Witt on Tony Morgan's blog regarding things to stop and start in 2012 was very insightful...

What’s one thing that leaders and/or organizations (businesses, churches, non-profits, etc.) should consider stopping in 2012? 

LANCE:  Stop ignoring the dysfunction.  Many churches and ministries suffer from what I like to call “terminal niceness.”  We just aren’t very good at hard conversations.  For the most part we are polite, sensitive and we hate conflict.  This causes us to beat around the bush and make nice.

Sometimes you just have to be courageous and have the hard conversation.

Check out the whole post.

Made to Be Courageous

I recently watched the movie "Courageous" with my family. Wow! Courageous is a powerful movie inspired by everyday heroes who long to the be the kinds of dads that make a lifelong impact on their children - by being the type of Christian men desires us to be. I was deeply moved by watching this, and here is a part of a prayer I wrote that evening...

Lord - help me be courageous. In little things and in big things. Help me courageous to always  choose the right action, the action that honors you, serves others, and draws me closer to your Son. My words and my actions matter. Not because of who I am or anything special about me, but because of what God is doing through me, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of the Father, in the name of the Son. My actions matter because every act comes either from believing the truth leading to obedience and growth in Christlikeness, or from believing a lie, leading to sin, and grieving somebody. Every opportunity. Every act. It draws us to the Father, or pulls us away. Surrender is key. Not partial surrender. Not giving up one thing while holding back another. Total surrender. God is holy. He and He alone is utterly worthy of our whole life, and nothing less. 

My words and my actions matter, because so many eyes, including four very, very special ones, are on me, wondering if the Christ I preach is real, if the Bible I teach is one I follow, if the Spirit I say lives in me, works through me. Does God really matter in my life? Do they matter? My actions and words can encourage, they can build up, or my words or actions can wound. Wound horribly. May it never be so - Lord, help me be courageous. 

Afterwards I was wondering what the Bible had to say about being courageous, and I remembered II Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." (NIV84)  As I looked more closely at the words translated timidity and self-discipline, I noticed something pretty cool. Timidity could well be translated cowardice. Cowardice (deilos) is not simply fear (phobos), it is allowing fear to stop you from taking an action you know is right. Self-control is more than just willpower or an aptitude for self-discipline beyond our control, but it is a sound mind and sober thought that allows us to take the tough action we know is right. In this context, it could be considered as a call to be courageous. To be courageous is not to be fear-less, but to choose to act according to what is right or called for rather than to give in to that fear.

Will you ask God today to help you live a courageous life?

Made For a Purpose

Do you ever wonder... what am I here for? what should I be doing? what will make me happy? I have, and I at times I still do. I've heard these questions from several friends recently and so it was natural to close out my recent sermon mini-series on stewardship (of opportunities and of finances) with stewardship of talents. But the driving force behind it are these two questions:

What am I here for?
What will make me happy?

The following is not a statement everyone will agreement, but as I see it the Bible teaches that it is impossible to know your true purpose in this life apart from knowing Jesus Christ. It is impossible to find real happiness by pursuing happiness as your main goal. And it is impossible to find the deepest fulfillment in your life apart from serving others. A key reason is that one of our main purposes, something common to all of us, is to have a loving relationship with God. And because He is the one who made us, He gets to decide our specific or unique purpose. We will over time discover it, but not create it. And that purpose involves serving and loving others and modeling Christ's love. That's not in a cookie-cutter way, but in a way that is completely unique to us - at the intersection of our passion, our skills, and someone else's need. In the message we look at passages such as Ephesians 2:8-10, John 15, II Corinthians 8, and Ephesians 4. The bottom line...

We come to discover and life out our unique purpose in life, and find true fulfillment in the process, by serving others according to the unique way God has designed us, our SHAPE. Get to know the One who made you, take steps to understand your SHAPE, and set your heart and hands to serving others as a loving response to what God has done for you. If you have any comments or questions on the sermon, let me know!

Financial Joy

At Calvary we are big on Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace program. It's a nice word picture - the ability to have a less stressed view of your finances, by applying solid (and biblical) principles for handling the money He has entrusted to our care. For most people, financial peace is a result of external circumstances - your monetary ducks all being in a row. But how do you find Financial Joy?

You might think that Financial Joy is an upgrade to Financial Peace. You're not just peace with the state of your finances, but you're thrilled about it. If so, the pathway is more money, right?

That's not what the Bible has to say about the pathway to Financial Joy. Almost the opposite. In the Bible, Financial Joy comes from excelling in the grace of giving, and is completely independent of the state of your checkbook. Check out this passage from Colossians as Paul describes some amazing brothers and sisters..

"And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving." (II Cor 8:1-7, NIV)

Did you catch that? Severe trial -> overflowing joy. Extreme poverty -> rich generosity. It gets better. These very poor and very persecuted Christians were literally begging Paul for the privilege of being allowed to donate money towards some people in Jerusalem going through a terrible famine. It couldn't be any different from those who think joy comes from having more stuff.

Financial Joy comes when you Excel in the Grace of Giving. 

To learn a lot more on this, please listen to my sermon delivered on Jan 8th, 2012 at Calvary Baptist Church. 

Making the Most of Every Opportunity

Happy New Year!! Many people are starting off the new year talking about hopes, dreams, resolutions, grabbing the brass ring and reaching for new opportunities. This morning at Calvary I was privileged to be able to share a message in our Sunday morning services. We took a look at what it means when the Bible encourages us to make the most of every opportunity, teaching from this passage in Ephesians 5...

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph 5:15-20, NIV)

The word translated 'opportunity' in this passage is kairos - a special moment in which the Spirit of God is looking at act through us. Paul is instructing us to walk around with our eyes open to what God is doing in the world, in our life, in the lives of others - and to respond by asking and doing what God would please God in that moment. This spirit-filled life is contrasted with a life on auto-pilot, never considered how God may be present or looking to act in the situations we're in. It's a very powerful passage - and a great opportunity for us to live according to the Spirit, and make the most of every opportunity in this New Year.

If you're interested, the sermon has been posted online - check it out and let me know what you think :)

Review - What is the Mission of the Church

I was very happy to get the chance to get a complimentary copy of a book from Amazon dealing with a question that is profoundly important:  "What is the Mission of the Church?: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission" by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert.

DeYoung and Gilbert do an outstanding job at addressing a question that is completely fundamental to the Christian faith, simultaneously profound and challenging, yet not often discussed in churches. What exactly IS the mission of the church? It's a question that is intimately associated with the question what is the gospel? Is the mission primarily or exclusively to proclaim the gospel of salvation in Christ and save souls? Is it, as some many recent authors and pastors suggest, much broader than that - including joining God in His mission to restore the world, to bring Shalom, and to labor hard for social justice? The answer to this question is not easy, but the authors have made a strong case for the Great Commission really providing the answer to the question of the mission of the church. They don't downplay the importance or value of seeking to do good and bring justice, especially when individual Christians feel a strong call to do so, but they don't see attempts to 'broaden' the gospel as fruitful or Biblical. They also don't steer away from touch questions: does "social justice" as the phrase commonly means today, have much to do with how the Bible looks at justice?!

The real strengths in the book are the careful examination of what Scripture has to say on this question, and on the respectful pastoral heart displayed by the authors, which seek to affirm those giving their lives to important causes carried out in the name of Christ, while saying true to their understanding of the Bible.

For the person strongly interested in this topic there are two must-read posts I will point out. One is a great review on this book by Ed Stetzer, and the other is this thoughtful response by the authors.

What is the Mission of the Church is definitely worth reading, especially along with supporting and contrasting books such as What Is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert and The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons.

Review - God at Work

In "God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life", author Gene Veith has done a nice job at addressing an important and challenging issue concisely and fairly clearly. He shares about the doctrine of vocation from a distinct viewpoint - that of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. The 'priesthood' of believers was an important outcome from the reformation, and Veith takes the view that this message translates as: "The priesthood of believers did not make everyone into church workers; rather it turned every kind of work into a sacred calling." This view was in strong opposition to the previous view of vocation as something reserved for a chosen few - priests and missionaries. The thrust of God at Work is that every area of our lives is a chance to respond to the call to God. "Our vocation is not one single occupation... we all have callings in different realms - the workplace, yes, but also the family, the society, and the church."

The only minor issue with this approach is that it might be bit too much of a swing in the opposite direction. If everything is a calling, then nothing is. If the term vocation refers to all we do, is it a useful term? (The reader interested in this subject may also want to read The Call by Os Guinness.) The teaching of the book will be of great benefit to many who fail to see how important their work is to God, and how much they can honor Him by fulfilling their purpose in the workplace. Hopefully they won't at the same time see a busy job in the workplace as a reason to ignore the great commission as somebody else's job. Overall, a good read.

Hanging Up the Leisure Suit

Sometimes a church recognizes something isn't quite right, or wants to fix a certain program. At such times it's helpful to step back and take a system-level look at things. Are there healthy systems in place? Is everyone on the same page? Are we making disciples and equipping them? Tony Morgan takes a look at these questions in his "Leisure Suit" series of (free) eBooks. The first is "The Leisure Suit Trap - 8 Reasons Your Church is Stuck". This week Tony released the next in the series: "Hanging Up the Leisure Suit - How to Get Unstuck." But first let's look at how a church can get stuck. We get stuck 'wearing' a system or approach that at one time was amazing, trendy, cool, effective. Now... it's like the old leisure suit in your closet. Here are eight reasons Tony unpacks why your church may be stuck.

1. You Lack a Leadership Empowerment Plan
2. You Are Unclear About Your Vision and Mission
3. You Blame Outsiders and External Factors
4. Your Structure Inhibits Growth
5. You Worship Your Past Success
6. You Focus on Activities Instead of Outcomes
7. You Fail to Equip God’s People
8. Your Ministries Ignore People Outside the Church

The eBook is so short and well-written I won't even comment on them here - just read the eBook yourself :)

In Hanging Up the Leisure Suit, he switches gears to consider How to Get Unstuck. There are six sections, and in each the focus is on making necessary changes to bring different results, bridging strategy to implementation, building strong foundations, and creating healthy systems for your church. What is a healthy system? Tony shares "Within the context of a church, a healthy system is a simple, replicable process to help people move from where they are to where God wants them to be."

1. How Do We Get Different Results?
2. Mind the Gap
3. God Uses Systems to Accomplish His Purposes
4. Building a Healthy Foundation
5. When Teaching Creates Barriers to Change
6. Eight Characteristics of Healthy Systems

Again, it's short enough you can just read the eBook rather than have me try to explain it. But I'll share one of the more interesting quotes I found from the book:
"One of the great myths in ministry is that we have the power to change behaviors by teaching more... We’ve fallen into the trap of thinking the only way people will take a next step is if we teach at them more."

My only minor disappointment with the eBook was that it didn't get much into how to modify (or replace) existing systems to establish more healthy ones. Perhaps that will be the topic of the next book in the series, or perhaps it is meant to be left as an exercise for the reader.

How Do Churches Successfully Encourage Growing Disciples?

Greg Hawkins (Executive Pastor of Willow Creek) shares some things via the small group show which they have found in researching how a church can be effective at growing fully devoted followers of Christ.

Five Factors Seen in Churches Doing a Great Job Growing Disciples 

1. They get people moving (on a discipleship journey)
   - Clear first steps, strong intentionality and vision
2. They embed the Bible in everything
3. They create 'owners' in the congregation (volunteerism on steroids)
   - They give away ownership in ministry, with accountability is high on the backside
4. They pastor the local community - ministry is not just within walls of church
   - That includes partnering with other churches, with local government, and
     highly encourage their people to be deployed outside the church in ministry
5. Senior leader and senior leadership team consumed with making disciples

These factors and others are described in more detail in "Move" - a new book from the Reveal study. You can watch this trailer about the book.

Knowing Then What You Know Now

Today on Michael Hyatt's blog was a guest post by Adam Donyes in which he asked several senior leaders "What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were thirty?" His list...

1. The most important person you can lead is yourself.

2. Nothing is more valuable than relationships.

3. Maximize the moments with your children.

4. Listen—you will never find the pulse of your family or organization if you don’t learn to listen.

5. Worrying is temporary atheism. Rid yourself of worry.

6. Become a better steward of your financial resources through investments and wise decision-making. The older you get the more you’ll want to give away, being able to do so begins with the financial decisions you make today.

7. Balance—the words “No” and “Not now” are empowering when accompanied with wisdom.

8. Spend time reading and receiving the Truth every morning, because the world will only lie to you the rest of the day.

9. Saying “I’m sorry,” when spoken from a genuine heart, has great healing power.

10. Character should always trump talent.

11. Retreat and Rest—if ships don’t come back to the harbor, they’ll eventually sink.

12. Don’t stop learning—you’re not as smart as you think.

13. Learn to value patience. You’re likely to learn more while you wait.

14. Time management—without it time will control you.

15. Develop authentic and deep relationships with men who will sharpen you and see through you.

Some really great pieces of wisdom in this list! Several things that came to mind immediately for me were on this list, including the first four. That fifth one, ouch - that's a hard one. A few items on the list I've seen people nod their heads "Yes, that's true" and proceed to do the opposite - ignoring rest, not taking care of yourself, hiring talent over character.

The other things I would have told a 30 y/o version of myself: You know far less than you think you do. Head smarts is only one kind of smarts, value people with different kinds of smarts. Relationships take time to develop; they may not seem like it always, but there's no investment with a higher long-term dividend. In the corporate world you never 'arrive' - life is always as stressful as you allow it to be, and will get worse if you don't take steps now to change that.

What would you say to a younger version of yourself?