journal of a new lead pastor
Worship Leader vs. Worship Pastor
Got into an interesting discussion this past week with a buddy about worship leaders and worship pastors. After we made the requisite metro jokes – we got serious for a moment. Here were some of thoughts….
A worship leader (wait for it….) leads music and song whereas a worship pastor leads people into experiences that collide them with God.
A leader plans and practices transitions from song to song whereas a pastor looks for holy interruptions that could send us deeper.
A leader will make sure his part of the service is done well while a pastor focuses on the WHOLE worship experience.
A leader will be great with the music, a pastor will experiment with different disciplines (silence, prayer, readings, communion, video, etc).
A leader will evaluate notes and tuning, a pastor will evaluate the impact and response.
A leader will understand response as someone walking down the aisle, a pastor will see response as life change once the service is over.
A leader wants to run a smooth practice, a pastor wants to develop other worshippers.
What would you add?
Exposed and Protected
I need to tell this story about my day yesterday. This is the time of year where we enter budget mode at the church. We’ve been dreaming and seeking God’s face as a staff and leaders as to what He has for us in 2012. We’ve prayed through those and are continuing to pray through them, starting to put numbers to those dreams and then those numbers make up the budget.
But putting all of that together, keeping that juggling act of activity focused on Making disciples who love God, live connected, and serve all stretches me in areas that I didn’t even know I had. I love the dreaming and team building part. I love the putting steps in action to accomplish this. I love that more so than ever we have a more holistic approach to this process.
But when it comes to numbers and budgets, I just feel overwhelmed. As a leader, there is this huge temptation to be ‘good at everything’ that comes to your desk. Bible question? I gotcha. Counseling? Marriage? Kids? Sports? Politics? Budgets? As these questions and opportunities come flying at you, there is this evil voice gently whispering – “go ahead, fake it. You can be the expert.” And most leaders know enough about any subject to sound intelligent about for about 5 minutes. After that, the gig is up.
So I’ve learned to just punt that first 5 minutes. There is no sense in pretending, you’re going to get exposed sooner or later. Last night I was asked by a dear friend, ‘how are you really doing.’ I leveled with him – “This is the worst time of the year for me. I feel completely exposed as a leader and inadequate in this area of budgets. I can follow one, I can keep an organization under one. But creating and organizing?”
He just looked at me and said the exact words I needed to hear. “Grant…we’ve got people for that, right?” It wasn’t a question. He pushed me a bit more – “Just close your eyes, trust God and keep teaching the word.” Later that night he said something else that jolted me – “We need to do anything we can to keep bringing people to Jesus Christ. That’s the focus. Nothing else matters.”
Exposed and protected. That’s what I felt last night. What a great place to be as leaders in the church. This is the huge benefit of team leadership, in community with authenticity and humility. I’m off the ledge this morning.
Football Thoughts, Week of September 11
Alabama
The defense is every bit as good as advertised. The offense and special teams needs some work. Their next test will be Arkansas in a couple of weeks. The pundits are saying that the Tide is rolling towards another national championship. I’m thinking that may be premature. Every one in the stadium knows that #3 is getting the ball and that just isn’t a great recipe for a season long run to the Championship. AJ McCarron will have to develop as well as a wideout other than Maze.
Auburn
As Coop and I were watching the game wind down, I told Cooper that the right call would be to throw now with 10 seconds left that way MSU has two plays. MSU runs and Auburn’s safety makes one heck of a play. I’m not sure if MSU just choked away a win or if Auburn is that resilient. Either way, Auburn is 2-0 and while they aren’t as talented or dominant as they were last year – they still play hard, still play the WHOLE game.
Georgia & South Carolina
Uga now has a different meaning. Watching Georgia self-destruct in that game was painful even for me. Murray still makes those one or two bone-head plays a game that just makes you go – “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??” Which should totally sound familiar for South Carolina fans as they have watched Garcia…dare I use the phrase ‘grow up?’ Shame for Mark Richt – who will probably lose his job after this season.
NFL
The Broncos…here’s the deal. I’m not anti-Orton. It’s just that we’ve seen this ineptness the last 4 years. Dink, dink, short run, turnover, field goals instead of touchdowns, penalties, and unable to finish games. It is clear that Orton is an average quarterback who at times plays awful but generally speaking will play to the level of talent around him. He isn’t going to put the team on his shoulders and take them to the next level.
What we don’t know is what we’ve got in Quinn or Tebow. And since it is apparent that the Broncos are going to be in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, wouldn’t it be great to figure out what you’ve got with Tebow or Quinn? Maybe they do know what they’ve got and it’s so bad they are just trying to get as much as they can in trade value from the other teams. The 23-20 score is so deceptive. The game really wasn’t that close and it was a slow, ugly game. Penalty Bowl.
The cool thing? The Orange Jerseys!!! Love that look!
The only team that I thought looked worse than the Broncs this past weekend was the Chiefs. And unless there is a major attitude change in KC, they could be the worse team in the NFL. They didn’t look ready to play and completely out-coached on Sunday. Could be a long season for the Chefs.
Idea Overload
Went to Church 3.0 Conference today at Westside Family Church in KC with Mari and Gary. Neil Cole was the presenter. There was much I resonated with, much that confirmed the direction we are going at Western Hills. Much that helped me put words to thoughts.
I’ll be posting about some of those in the future. I’ve got pages of notes. But there were a couple of thoughts that I just didn’t get and didn’t see how in the world they were even relevant or could possibly work.
One of the head-scratching parts for me was watching Neil Cole basically deconstruct and critique the ‘centralized’ church versus the decentralized church. It was way to obvious what Cole’s bias was – decentralization – but what was frustrating for me is that I felt like I was getting more propaganda than substance at that point. It was one of those moments that I wanted to quote Shakespeare – “I think he doth protest to much.”
I’ve heard that sermon before – house churches, decentralized churches that are smaller with no overhead costs, with no paid staff are better for the advancement of the Kingdom than mega-churches or any organized church with brick and mortar. They spend their time and money on real Kingdom work.
It’s a great theory. And I’m sure there are examples of exactly that happening. I just don’t think the ratio of how many house churches that REALLY function that way is all that different from ‘big’ churches that do.
Most of the house churches I know of started because they didn’t like any of the larger churches or didn’t want the hassle of the Sunday morning experience. Or they were of the “anti-establishment” church. The idea of impacting their community for Jesus I think I can safely say was one of the last things on their minds.
And guess what? Big churches have the same stat line – a lot are started by groups of people who aren’t happy with their current church (music, preacher, color of carpet) and the idea of impacting their community for Jesus is the last thing on their minds.
I don’t really think the size of a church OR where that church meets is the ultimate determination of how they define themselves or understand their mission. There are inward-focused house churches as well as “centralized” churches. There are outward, Kingdom focused house-churches as well as centralized churches.
So what is the difference maker? I think it’s all a matter of the focus of its leadership.
At Western Hills, we are trying to figure out what it means to BE the church where we live – all week long. What does LOVE, LIVE, and SERVE look like on my ball teams, in my office, with my family, in my neighborhood? What does being the CHURCH, being the presence of Jesus looks like wherever I go? What does that concept of church do to my life choices now? How I spend my time and money?
We are not there yet by any stretch of the imagination but I have a hard time believing that a decentralized house-church would have been given access to the places we’ve been given access to serve this year. And I know that there are some places that we are never going to penetrate under the banner of Western Hills but some of our life groups will get to through them being Church.
We’re not a shining example of what COULD be. At least not yet but I think we are asking the right questions, on the right road, focusing on making disciples on a micro level that love, live, and serve where ever they go.
I understand that most organized churches don’t ask these kinds of questions. Most say something to the effect “Come here because we have the buffet of programs and services to make your life better.” I get the frustration with that kind of philosophy and how it just further feeds the consumer beast we have in the States. Believe me…I get it.
But I know of house church leaders who function much the same way, the only difference is they are selling the anti-establishment, not necessarily Kingdom living. It’s just as wrong.
I left the afternoon session wondering if Neil really believed that the smaller, decentralized church was the only way the Kingdom could be advanced? I wondered if he really thought these centralized churches were a danger to the advancement of the Kingdom.
I’m not sure. He left that impression. I reserve the right to have heard him incorrectly…it was the afternoon session and I wasn’t exactly locked in with laser focus. I just wanted more from the afternoon session than what I got…because the morning session was outstanding in so many ways.
Time to end this post. Let say this as sort of a wrap-up – I think there is a place (and need) for both the decentralized and centralized. (I think they can even exist under the same roof but I’ll save that for another post.)
I was reminded today that there just isn’t one simple answer to how to spread Jesus’ story. It’s about connecting people with the real Jesus and that is a messy proposition at best. And that’s okay.
Some people are going to get connected to Him in a living room under the name “house church.” Some are going to get connected in a large auditorium. Some are going to get connected over lunch with a co-worker. And others still will meet Jesus when we start being Church where ever we go.
And I think He’s okay with all of that…
What To Pray For…
I asked her “How do you want me to pray?”
She smiled. “Pray for healing….but….” She paused to look out the window. “I’m not afraid to die. I’m going to see Jesus. I just don’t want to suffer. I don’t want that for my family.”
She turned back to look at me. She was smiling with eyes bright and clear. There wasn’t a hint of resentment or bitterness. There was no dread or self-pity. Just a prayer that sounded a lot like Paul’s prayer – “for me to live is Christ, to die is gain.”
She didn’t sound like someone who’d been told that the tumor was cancerous and inoperable. She didn’t sound like someone who knew that her “homecoming” was near. And she then waited for me to pray.
I don’t want to pray for acceptance of this. I don’t want this to be the verdict. I can’t count how many meals we ate at her table or how many naps our kids took upstairs. How many football games in front of the fireplace? Or tears of laughter at her crazy stories? How many hours of sleep did we bypass for card games and movies?
She always had ice cream, she always had room for one more around the table. She modeled how to love others with the gift of hospitality. She had a basement full of playpens, high chairs, toddler toys, bouncy seats, sippee cups, small spoons, and bibs. She had that cool Fisher Price barn with the mooing cow barn doors and the hammer and big wooden nails bench. If you were a young family with small kids, she was a lifesaver. We could go over and not have to pack up the house to do it.
I don’t remember what I prayed. I didn’t make it very far before the tears started leaking in anyway. I feel so very inadequate in this moment. Small. Insignificant. As if I’m interrupting a private conversation. And this is as it should be because this moment is about her and Jesus.
There is a strength in her faith I do not yet have but hope to one day achieve. But for today…for now…I’m sad. And I’ll honor her prayer because I don’t know what else to pray for…
Why Not Every Sunday?
Life Group last night offered up probably one of my favorite moments of the whole weekend.
My good friend, who is a new believer, offered up this gem – “The most powerful words of the service this morning were “He is risen” then hearing the everyone say “He is risen, indeed.” I’d never heard that before. I just stopped in that moment and was just completely blown away by the reality of that statement.”
“Why don’t we do that every Sunday?”
The entire Life Group just stopped. Out of the mouth of babes…. I have absolutely no good reason as to why we don’t do that every Sunday.
Here is this new follower of Jesus and what he is going to remember most about that service – what had the most impact on him – was not the songs, the stage set-up, the sermon but the simple declaration of why we worship every Sunday, not just Easter.
This is another reason why I believe every spiritual leader needs to be in a discipling relationship with a new believer. They have so much to teach us.
Shaking the Monday Blues…
It’s snowing today and for the first time since we moved here….I miss Colorado. I miss stealing a day skiing with friends. I miss the first lift up, the squeaking of powder underneath my skis. I miss the way the sun hits the foothills in the morning and the last peak of orange before dinner.
For some reason, it’s hard to stay focused today and I find my thoughts continually drifting West. When I hear people complain about the snow here, I smile and nod. I understand that in can be a nuisance. It makes our cars dirty and it’s impossible to get the Christmas lights off the house. (I promise I’m trying…sort of.) It slows things down – you can’t drive as fast, stop as fast, get to where you are going as fast, or get ready to leave as fast because of the layers you have to dress in. But that’s another reason I love the snow. It slows me down.
And when I slow down, I remember things. Namely, I remember Camber wrestling with this feeling when we first moved here. I learned much from her watching her deal with moving. Last semester I had one of those moments that I’m convinced God orchestrated for my benefit. Cammy walks into the living room, plops down besides me looking down. I asked ‘You okay?”
She passionately told me that she loved her new school, her new friends, her new church, her new house and if only she could get new siblings to go with it, her life would be perfect. As it stood – it was not going to be perfect until they all moved out. I thought to myself – if we’re lucky they’ll all move out. “You think they might just feel the same way at times?”
She looked at me like I was from Mars. And I asked her at the risk of it blowing up in my face – so you don’t miss Colorado anymore?
“Oh no. There are days I do but there’s room for more than one favorite in your heart, isn’t there?”
I sat dumbfounded at the depth and wisdom of my quirky, funny, off-the-wall middle child. “Yes, Camber. You are absolutely right.”
So later today, I’ll be fine and I’ll see Camber and she’ll make me laugh.
But for a few moments this morning, I wish I could see Pike’s Peak.
Coaching My Kids And If That Really Is A Good Idea
I see dads doing it and I’ve done it in the past – being the Coach. I think it’s cool and good for dads to coach their kids but I learned something about me when I coached. I’m one competitive beast. I want to win. I coached to win. I want our team to win.
My favorite saying – “Take a beating, give a beating.” Let you read the backstory here. Cowboy’s upset at the Vikings for the last touchdown? Cowboy up. You didn’t take the foot off the gas for Philly – and you shouldn’t have. Take your medicine like men.
What is bizarre is that Cooper and Camber have gotten this competitiveness… Cayden…not so much. Watching Cayden play is like watching a Disney movie. She’s running around, skipping, playing, smiling…generally having a good time. Deer and bluebirds sit on the sideline cheering everyone on.
“Who won?”
“Dad, that’s not why you play.”
“Really? Why then do you play?”
“Because it’s supposed to be fun.”
“Winning is fun.”
“Dad – it’s not whether you win or lose – ”
“You see, Cayden, that’s where you are wrong. It does matter – ”
Amy from the kitchen – “GRANT!!!!!”
“Ok, Cayden…we’ll finish this conversation later out of earshot of your mother.”
Which is funny because Amy is one competitive beast as well. Maybe more so than I am but I’ll let her tell her side of the story on her blog. Oh wait…she doesn’t have one. Oh well, you’ll have to take my word for it. If you played one of Amy’s teams back in the day, their goal was to hit the floor at 400 mph and not stop…ever.
And Coop and Cammy are more in that vein. I like this. I really like this. Not everybody agrees…and that’s fine but I think this competitiveness translates well into spiritual matters. That’s why I like it. In sports, if you want something you have to go get it. Work for it. Practice. Invest in it. Seek it. Pursue it. It doesn’t just happen. And the pursuit can be fun or it can be work – depending on your attitude and focus. Athletes themselves know there is value in the journey as well as the destination. But the destination absolutely has value and drives the journey.
Are you catching all the spiritual tie ins? I’m mentoring a couple of guys right now and this insight has finally clicked for them – if I want to be close to God, have intimacy with Jesus Christ – I have to want it, pursue it, invest it, practice it. It doesn’t just happen. Showing up on Sunday isn’t enough. The pursuit can be fun or work, depending on my attitude and focus. There’s value in the process of pursuit but the destination – closeness to Jesus, spiritual transformation – has the ultimate value and drives the journey.
So yeah, I’m coaching my kids….just not on the court.
A Very Good Long Sunday
Sunday, January 10
7.30 am – alarm goes off. Didn’t exactly sleep great last night. We had some dear friends come into town and spent the night with us. Nate & Cathy. They are going to be my ‘Secret Shoppers’ at Western Hills this morning. Kids are asleep. Amy is sort of asleep. I’m not sure if moms ever really sleep, sleep. But that’s another topic.
8.00 am – Poke head in kid’s rooms on way downstairs to make coffee and bagel. Praying for Bryan over at TBC, Joe at FBC, and Matt over at First Naz in Oakland. Check my phone real quick…got a text from Matt. He’s praying for me. Heading to church.
8.15 am – Forgot that the last time I was in my car, AC/DC was playing and the radio is REALLLLY loud when I crank it up. Turn off radio in route to church. I always drive to the church in silence. Pray for the churches I pass and our ministry team leaders.
8.30 am – Park in my traditional spot…furthest from the door. Rumors around the church are I park there because I’m forecasting a day when we run out of parking. Funny story, just not true. I blame Gene Wilkes and my father-in-law for this habit. Before Gene was the famous author and speaker, he was a pastor of transitioning church in Plano, Texas and I was an intern. Fixing bathrooms, ceiling tile, changing lights, and whatever else that needed to be fixed. As the church was growing, parking was scarce. To make sure guests and others had places to park, Gene and Tom started parking out on the street about a block away. It was a simple but profound statement of servant leadership to me. Been a habit ever since – find the furthest parking space and park there.
8.40 am – band is warming up. Rick is back. Randi and Charlie are here as well. This is my favorite time of the morning. Listening to the band, sitting in the back of the dark auditorium…it’s not practice for me. It really is worship. I enjoy this. Listening to the team fix, tweak, change at the last minute.
9.10 am – The worship team is in the back praying and once again I’m caught in the lobby. It’s not a huge deal – I love connecting with people and I know the importance of being available, touchable on Sunday morning. I’m talking with a 5th grader about the NFL Playoffs. I got the Ravens and the Cards. Going for the clean sweep of the weekend as I picked the Jets and Cowboys. He’s got the Ravens and the Packers. Is this really a significant conversation? Absolutely. At least I hope it is for the 5th grader. I’m not a rock star, I’m his pastor and friend that he can talk about life, spirituality and yes, even football with. If I hurry, I might be able to catch the team…
9.20 am – Shane is coming out of the prayer room. “You missed the prayer time. Don’t worry. We prayed for your salvation.” Big laughs follow. Rick and I do the man hug/hand shake thing before he goes out. Why? I’m not sure. It’s corny really but we do it almost every Sunday morning. I don’t think it makes service go any better…then again.
9.37 am – After opening song and welcome, show the art piece and introduce the artist of the morning. In both services, spontaneous applause erupts. First for the art piece then for the artist. What most folks don’t know about the artist – he’s walking through one of the hardest seasons of his life. I’ve known this kid for all of 5 months and in a single instant…when it registers on him that they are applauding him…I see joy in him.
The piece of art is incredible. There are nuances and details that I still find after staring at it for a few days. It’s the perfect illustration as to what makes us human – worship. We love to worship. We were created to worship. Yes, we get distracted and at times worship the wrong things but that is the reason we stand and applaud beauty and accomplishment. Worship.
11.00 am – Second service starts. Full house. Where are we going to put these people that keep showing up?
12.15 pm – Newcomer’s Brunch. Once again, Angie and Gary and that team have outdone themselves. Soup, sandwiches, cookies…great spread. Room is full. Introduce leaders and life group leaders. Watching folks connect with our life group leaders, passing out addresses and emails. 25 minutes later, the ‘program’ is done but people are still hanging around and connecting.
1.45 pm – late lunch with friends. Lots of laugh and get to hear from their perspective what a first time guest experiences at Western Hills. I’ll write more on this later. Much to think on but overall very positive experience.
3.15 pm – Home. Youth starts at 5.30, have some of our life group coming over at 6 pm. Officially we will start next week to get off the youth schedule. Before that — got to get a nap. Watch the opening quarter of Pats/Ravens game I DVR’d. Good night….go Ravens.
5.15 pm – Back to the church for youth open gym. David Manner shows up to help us set up the volleyball nets. Good thing because I’m not sure I’d ever gotten them up right without him. Good to see him finally.
6.10 pm – As usual, got talking at youth and now I’m late to my own house. Check phone — missed calls. Dang. On my way.
6.17 pm – We bust out Band Hero on the Wii. No one is brave enough to sing. Too bad.
7.45 pm – Amy and kids are back from youth. Cayden and Camber will now be the lead singers for our Life Group Band. It’s awesome.
9.30 pm – Last of the life group is leaving the house. One couple hangs around and we end up talking for another hour. This is church too. The life on life stuff that doesn’t happen in a building on Sunday morning. It can’t happen there. This is too vulnerable, risky. This kind of transparency and life change could only happen in a living room, a home.
10.35 pm – I’m pretty spent. Amy and I finish up an episode of Burn Notice. Talk about the day and the upcoming mission trip to Brazil.
A very good long Sunday.
365 Days Ago
January 4, 2009 was my first service as Lead Pastor at Western Hills. As many of you know, I’m not really a sentimental type, unless the topic is Alabama football but I was reminded of something yesterday by some of our congregants. WH wanted to focus on three things in 2009 – prayer, stewardship, and leadership. They had made that decision before I ever got on the scene. Not a bad three things to focus on any year but for WH it was crucial.
I’m humbled by what God did through that focus in these last 365 days.
The ‘outer’ accomplishments/markers are fairly easy to list –
Adopted an elementary school, supplied volunteers and school supplies throughout the year,
Potawatomi Nation relationship blossomed with serving at Pow Wow and giving Christmas gifts to reservation.
We added Rick Stones and Darci Koci to the team and they’ve been awesome.
We’ve grown as a church this year – both numerically, financially, and spiritually. Saw $102,000 in debt retired.
Our vision was clarified and codified. After years of process the mantra of Love God, Live Connected, Serve All is not just the rally cry but our leadership structure was biblically redefined.
So many more ‘things’ that could be added to the list – ministry to the homeless, student ministry stories, Upward, Life Groups… all of which were foundations setting us up for an incredible 2010…an opportunity to see God unleashed like never before.
But for me what is most impressive and the most important to remember is how we made decisions this year. The common fabric in all of these decisions? They were made out of a seasons of prayer, after seeking God’s wisdom and voice.
What a great 365. Ready to start the next 365.
Resolutions of Sorts
I don’t do resolutions because I have enough failure in my life.
That may be putting it too harshly but then again, maybe not.
I read Mark Batterson’s blog all the time and this is what he threw down today…
“Moving forward, I feel like I need more margin. It comes back to this simple truth: if you don’t control your calendar, your calendar will control you.”
He then hammered out 7 keys for him to achieve this…
1) Put Your Family First
2) Guard Your Day Off
3) Don’t Check Email During Peak Productivity Hours
4) Get Out of the Office Whenever Possible
5) Start Your Day With Devotions
6) Put Together a Stop Doing List
7) Use All Your Vacation Days
This completely hammered me and my heart today…so I decided to have 2 resolutions this new year…
1. Read through the Bible using YouVersion.com on my iPhone.
2. Create more margin in my life with Batterson as my mentor.
And with that…this will be my last post for the next week as I take a week off my blog. Enjoy the new year…and Roll Tide till we meet again.
You Don’t Have To Sell The Whole Structure…
I think it’s awesome that God sometimes ‘themes’ our weeks. Like this week – I’ve had 4 different encounters with other leaders and as Divine Coincidence would have it, all of them centered around the same topic – discipleship, spiritual formation. How does your church do this? How do you define it? How do you ‘sell’ it to the congregation? Is it working? Here are the nuggets from these conversations…
The Difference Between Discipleship and Spiritual Formation
Hardest conversation to get my mind around because I think too much definition distracts from the actual doing it. Technically – spiritual formation is Christ being formed in you and this is a ‘job’ that only the Spirit of God can do. He will use disciplines, life experiences when we yield/partner with Him. To ‘make disciples’ is pre-Christ for the individual. Once believer, then it’s Spiritual Formation.
My take — I understand and can appreciate the difference I just don’t think it matters to most people. I think the only people that need to have this defined are those who grew up in church and understand discipleship as a program that you go to. How many people at WH have this understanding of discipleship — it’s a building or program you go to? I’m not sure. We don’t talk that way or function that way.
What’s Your Path?
Where are you or at least WANT to take a person when they come to your church? The process of seeker, believer, member, leader? How do you push that vision to your church?
My take — It’s important to have a path, a vision. But that’s not what I’m pushing. I’m pushing ‘Live Connected.’ It’s the lynchpin. Therefore, I don’t have to sell the whole structure. This key for me — Don’t Sell The Whole Structure!!! We push Life Groups because that is the key place to Love, Live, and Serve. It’s the key place to connect with Jesus. It’s the key place to receive spiritual care, encouragement, to serve. I think leaders who push Life Groups then a leader training then this project then this add-on make things more difficult than necessary.
I want people to connect with Jesus. The best place is Life Groups. But what about leader development and training? I don’t push that on the whole church, push that on our leaders. It’s why we want an apprentice with every Life Group leader. That’s the messy part of leader development – it’s not a classroom but the life on life, in the trenches ‘training’ that is invaluable. The entry point to that process? The Life Group.
Membership? They don’t have to believe to belong. They don’t have to ‘join’ to connect. Get in a Life Group. If after that experience, you have a desire to join the church — great. If not — that’s cool too. How to recruit people to do mission projects? Recruit Life Groups to serve together. So instead of ‘selling’ each and every aspect of the plan, sell the Life Group – the entry point, the most important piece of the puzzle — getting connected to Jesus and other believers.
A Christmas Conspiracy of Grace
We had over 35 volunteers drive up to the Potowatomi on Saturday to pull off a Christmas party for the Boys and Girls Club there. We brought 300 gifts plus chili and candy. Before this weekend, the most people that showed up for something like this was 5 or 6. Then over 200 children showed up plus another 100 adults. Last year, only 60 people showed up. The last cup of chili went to the last person in line. The last handful of candy went to the last kid in line.
We had some extra gifts at the end of the day when another agency showed up and asked if we had anything extra for some families that weren’t going to get any Christmas gifts this year. How many gifts did they need? 23. How many gifts did we have left? 23. At some point I guess I’ll quit being surprised.
We’ve sold ornaments made by the XX (closed country we are partnering with)
There is a life group that is providing food, shelter, and so much more for a homeless person.
We’ve bought an appliance for a family in need. We’ve provided two months of groceries for another. We’ve got another crew that serves the Rescue Mission.
There are more stories to tell but what is awesome is that at the center of each of these stories is a person (or group of persons) that made a decision to just do it. Different people coming to the same conclusion of – it is now time to stop talking about being blessing and just start doing it.
Becoming an externally focused church, a church that chooses to bless the city she find herself in – there is only so much programming that can be done. There are only so many ‘big event’ events that a church can pull off before it becomes another dog/pony show as opposed to ministry. At some point if a church is really going to be the hands and feet of Jesus around her, then the ‘church’, aka the people, have to be ‘infected’ by the vision of SERVE ALL and just start doing it. Unplanned. Uncontrolled. Unpackaged. Unscripted. Undirected by human means. Unleashed.
It has to get messy at some point. Life groups serving together, determining – hey, God’s called us to do adopt this person, serve this area and it’s time to do it. A leader seeing a need and meeting it instead of analyzing it. A group of people dreaming of a way to serve others and instead of focusing on all the ways it could go wrong choosing instead to obey the nudging of the Spirit.
It’s a good kind of conspiracy to grow in a church. And it’s awesome to watch it unfold here.
That Just Happened
She ran into the church, poked her head in my office and said — “Would you let a Catholic use your restroom?”
I laughed. “Absolutely. And we won’t even charge you for it!” Nothing like a little Protestant/Catholic humor to end the day.
On her way out, she poked her head back in my office and said — “Thank you. What would it take to convert you?”
I laughed again — “Probably not going to happen. It’s worse than you think. I’m the pastor here.”
Cue Twilight Zone music.
“Can I ask you a question?”
I was about to say yes but never got the chance. She just went right on talking.
“What makes you think you have authority to teach what God thinks on any given subject?”
I did a double take and cleared my throat — “Well, that’s an interest-”
She continued – “I’m part of the only true church – the Catholic church – and we have years of oral tradition informing us what God thinks on every subject – homosexuality, contraception, marriage, sanctity of life – and you teach none of that. I mean, you guys even believe in Purgatory. Do you know that the Jews believe in Purgatory? You don’t have the truth so how can you teach the truth? How do you know that what you teach is okay with God?”
This went on for 10 minutes. 10 minutes. I think she breathed. I couldn’t get a word in if I wanted. I did make a mental note to get one of those apps for my iPhone that makes a fake call. It could have gotten me out of this situation. Maybe.
She kept talking … “I mean we have the Pope and you have what? Who is your authority?”
I tried to answer — “Between the Scriptures and the Spirit-”
“See, I knew it. The Holy Ghost, right? That’s just fancy speak for your conscience. Your convictions are really temptations. Your insights are really lies.”
Her son walked in the room, turned around and walked right back out. Her sister/friend walked in saw her talking. She walked out.
Thanks for the help.
Friend/sister walks back in with cell phone. It’s a ruse to get her out of the office. I can tell. The friend looks at me with desperation. Like she’s trying to tell me “I’m trying…you think of something as well.”
Her cell phone rings. Thank you, Jesus…or her son in the other room…not sure at this point.
I stood up and walked out of my office to the lobby in hopes she would follow while she was on the phone. Hope unfounded. She stays put.
Her son was in the lobby looking humiliated. “I’m so sorry” he whispered. I asked – “Is this common?”
He was about to answer when she walked up. He walked away.
“He’s my son, 5 of 15 kids.”
I resisted the urge to comment. Bill Simmons, a writer for ESPN, has a 12% Theory. For every kid that is birthed, a mother loses 12% of her sanity until those kids are able to function independently. He says the birthing, weight gain, nursing, not sleeping, anxiety cycle of a new mom is something a man will never understand and that is why only the mom goes through the 12% rule. I’ll let you do the math here.
She kept going — “I mean you guys don’t even have the right Bible and you still haven’t answered me what makes you think you can teach what God thinks?”
I didn’t say anything. She was finally quiet. She entered my office at 4:24. It was now 4:38.
I smiled. “Well…have a nice day.”
She pushed “So are you going to answer the question or not because no pastor anywhere has ever answered my questions.”
“Did you ever give them an opportunity to answer?”
She stepped back.
I continued. “Ma’am, you’re questions aren’t that hard. It’s just that you’ve been here for 12 minutes and you haven’t given me one chance to answer any question you’ve asked. You don’t know what we teach here, you don’t know what I believe. You’ve attacked me from the very outset without giving pause for rebuttal or discussion. I don’t think you WANT to hear the answers…which is fine, just say that.”
She started the sermon again — “You don’t believe the right things, you don’t teach the right things. You don’t have the right Bible.”
I finally interrupted her – “Ma’am. Please, you’ve covered all of this. I heard you. You’ve yet to listen to me. I don’t think you are in any position to tell me what I believe. It’s not fair of you to say that. IF you want to converse, let’s converse. If you want to argue, I respect your tradition to much to do that with you.”
She finally paused and said “I’ll listen to your answer.”
“Our Bible is composed of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Since Judaism is the root of our faith, we accepted the same canon as the Jewish Church. They deemed these 39 books as canonical. Our current scriptures – all 66 books – are the exact Bible the Catholic Church used BEFORE the reformation. The Apocryphal books were added to the Catholic Bible in 1545. That’s when the Catholic Church officially added the Apocrypha at the Council of Trent.
Interesting facts about these apocryphal books – none of the books added were written in Hebrew, none of those books were accepted as canonical by Judaism. Jesus never referred to them as authoritative as He did the Torah, the Nevi’im, and the Ketuvim – The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.”
She gasped. “We have hundreds of years of oral tradition that prove they are canonical. Paul himself said they were and he said that oral tradition was important.”
“Really? I’ve spent most of my adult life studying Paul. Where did he say that? That’s news to me.”
“I don’t know where…but it’s true and you still haven’t answered the most important question of why you think you have authority to teach the Scriptures.”
“I wonder if you would accept that same reason from me – ‘I don’t know but it is true.’”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t think so but I’m compelled to accept it from you, right? Listen, I’m glad our bathrooms met your needs today. Hope your day goes well.”
“You’re not going to answer me, are you?”
“What is the point? I know I have authority to teach God’s word because I can read Greek and Hebrew, I can read the Bible in the language it was written. I read it in community with other believers and their writings. I’m called and gifted by the Spirit of God to do these things as He teaches in 1 Corinthians 12. It’s not rocket science. It’s a love letter from God to His kids. He wants us to understand it. It’s not in code.”
She was about to start up again when her son came in the room and pleaded her to leave. She looked over at him and as she was leaving said “You still didn’t answer the question.”
I just stood there. That just happened. Right there. Shake and Bake, baby.
The son came back in. “I’m so sorry.”
“No worries, bro…..You doing okay?”
He paused. “I think so.”
“If you ever need to talk…you obviously know where I’ll be.”
We both laughed.
Being Sick
Cayden was sick this weekend. It’s never fun to be sick, especially on the weekend. But there are some benefits of being sick.
First, you get to cuddle with dad.
Second, you get to be waited on hand and foot.
Third, you get to catch up on the old episodes of Mythbusters.
Oddly enough, this formula along with plenty of liquids is the sure-fire way to healing.
I meet monthly with some other pastors and the topic of ‘getting out of a spiritual rut’ came up. I got to thinking, this formula would work with this kind of sickness as well. It’s never fun to be drained or sick spiritually but if handled correctly it can be a place of great healing and comfort.
First, cuddle up with Dad. Get alone, get silent. Don’t ask for anything, just sit in His presence.
Second, let Him wait on your soul. Psalms, songs, prayers of others.
Third, catch up on the old episodes of Mythbusters. Those wonderful stories of how God proved His faithfulness over and over again.
I’m learning so much about following the Lord through my kids.
The Church Is His, Not Ours
Last Saturday night, a team of us went to Westside Family Church in Lenexa. We were there mainly to observe (steal ideas) their children’s ministry. Here’s my list of what has left an impression on me…
* Every staff member I’ve met has a “Kingdom” mentality. The Church is His, not ours. They ask the question ‘How can we help you be better at reaching others where you are?’
* Humility seeps through this organization. As large and ‘successful’ as Westside is, you don’t get the ‘we’ve got it down attitude.’ The people we’ve talked to have been honest about their failures in hopes others don’t make the same mistakes.
* Commitment to make the experience as understandable and enjoyable as possible. This applies to everything from the moment you walk in the door (one central entrance) to checking your kids in to worship. Everything is clear, simple, and neat. There is both a deepness and simplicity in the teaching.
These are just my initial impressions.
When 1 Metaphor Isn’t Enough
So I was pretty stuck Monday and Tuesday with the message for Sunday. Frustrating but fortunately I’ve learned to not be quiet about this when this happens. God will use other people to help if you let them all know you need help.
Enter Georges Boujakly and the Creative Team. Georges (is it a French/Canadian thing to put an ‘s’ on the end of perfectly good words and not pronounce them??) may be the shortest person I know but he is also the deepest. I told him about my stuckness. We had used the battleship vs. cruiseship metaphor in describing the church last week but there is so much more to the church than just this picture. Where to start? How to communicate this?
Georges handed me the book From Eternity To Here by Frank Viola, who I loved on This Old House. (Okay, not that guy.) He said read this…it’s going to help you. He smiled, hugged me and then said something I already knew but apparently needed reminding of –
“Grant…don’t start with the metaphor then go to the text. Start with the text. You’ve done your best teaching when you simply let the text speak and come alive.”
Well, no duh. Thank you, Georges. Creative Team listened to me ramble and was a place for me to think out loud with the ‘new’ information from Georges.
What was the ‘new’ information? Shockingly nothing new but something very ancient.
When speaking of the church, God uses three main metaphors — all them found in — wait for this — EPHESIANS! God has a ridiculous crazy sense of humor.
What are the metaphors? The Bride of Christ, the House of God, and the Body of Christ. All in Ephesians, all have OT roots, all adding a key piece of whyChurch. And that’s the fun that awaits us on Sunday.
Harvest Report
The journey of the Harvest thus far:
The Past 30, The Next 30
A Little Sacrifice Now…
Why The Debt And Why Now
Exodus 36:5
A Gentle Rebuke
So what happened Sunday? We had over 17k dollars come in towards the debt…which means there is 19k left…which means in the span of 9 months we’ve gone from 100+k in debt to 19k…which means we are on track to be debt free for 2010. Praise God.
The point of it all was not to just get out of debt to get out of debt – which would have been reason enough. The point is for us – the Church – to start putting our money where our vision statement says we put our money – helping people. Being out of debt allows the church to spend money on ministry, in people, helping others.
Next series – whyChurch?
A Gentle Rebuke
This Sunday is Harvest Sunday and as of right now, we have 42k on the debt. What does it mean if the debt is gone after this Sunday? It means we’ll spend 78,000 more dollars on ministry next year than we did this year without increasing our budget. Part of that will be for a full-time student pastor. The other part we want to spend on children.
What happens if we don’t meet the goal?
I was sitting in our Church Council meeting last night and this question was asked. I hedged. I blinked. I hesitated. I was about to give the good, spiritual, encouraging answer but it was painfully obvious I didn’t really feel that way. The leaders around me patiently waited. “So…Grant…what happens if we don’t meet the goal?”
I was honest with them — “I’ll be disappointed. I AM disappointed.”
A hush filled the room. It was the quiet before the rebuke. If the question was a test, I pretty much failed it. I knew it the minute the words left my mouth. I didn’t answer the question. I told them how I felt but how I felt wasn’t the question and how I felt (as often times feelings are) was out of sync with reality.
An older, wiser, deeper leader spoke first…gently but firmly. “You know, Grant…the worst thing that happens is we are now on pace to get out of debt in March of 2010. And we’ve done that in the worst economy in decades. And we’ve done it while only being 4% behind budget. And we have a vision for what God is calling us to do in 2010.”
I looked up. There wasn’t a frown in the room. They were smiling. And I got a much needed dose of encouragement and huge reminder why God calls us to lead in community.
This Sunday will be awesome…no matter what it.
why church? next series..
Here’s a sneak peak at our next series….which starts on November 1.
You Version Live Basics
LifeChurch has just recently published one of the coolest little things for the mobile phones. It’s called YouVersion Live. Basically, it’s going to allow those who have a web-enabled phone to read the bible, answer survey questions, respond to questions, take notes, get the speaker’s notes, and much more all from their phone.
Sounds great but how do you set all that stuff up? How do you run it in a live service? I’ve run into a couple of problems in getting it set up. This post is for those who come after me…allow me to save you a few hours of frustration. (I’ll add some screenshots later. If you have any other suggestions or helps, leave them in the comments.)
How To Start a You Version Live Event
First, go to youversion.com and sign up. The login is located in the upper right hand corner. If you need further instructions on how to sign up…just step away from the computer now and get help.
Second, click on Community tab. It should have this huge “New! YouVersion Live” call out. On the far right, there is a ‘Create a Group’ link. Click on that. My group name was Western Hills Baptist Church. You can make one for your small group, youth group, women’s group, men’s group – whatever.
Fill out all the stuff but there is something to consider. At the end of that form there is a “Keep This Group Private” button. I was tempted to click this because I hate S. P A. M. But if you do this…makes it very hard, ney – impossible for people who might be sitting in your audience to find you and join in. Plus, it will take a couple of days for your stuff to go live if you choose the private option. I chose to keep our group public, something to think about. Congratulations, you’ve created a group.
Next, click back on the community tab. You’ll have the following options as a sub-menu: Feed, Groups, Contributions, Likes, Tags, and Live. To create a Live Event click on the Group tab…NOT the Live tab. (I’m not here to explain the menu choices…just the navigator! ha ha) You should see the group you created in the list. Click on the group name.
It should take you to a screen that has the following choices on it: Manage Group, Create Live Event, Upcoming Events, View Group Members. We’re wanting to create an event so click on that link. The menu is pretty self explanatory but be careful with the time settings. It’s a bit finicky and you can’t just type away a time in there. It’s one of the funkiest drop down menus in the world. It will take a bit to get used to it.
The publish date is when you want people to start being able to find the event online or on their phone. You want to make sure this time is earlier than your start time to give folks a chance to find it. Duh, right? Hold is the opposite of publish. So if you want the even to disappear after you’re done with it, put a date and time here. If you don’t put one, it will stay visible afterwards. The significance is that people will be able to get the info that was shared during the live event but obviously won’t be able to participate.
Now the fun but awkward part. You should be looking at a screen with all these cool items to play with. All the stuff on the right hand column can be dragged/drug/whatever to the left hand column. Once in the left hand column, you can click and edit the settings. Things like Bible verses, questions, polls, you can even put a twitter box in there that people can tweet the event.
Notes are available to put up and the users can take their own notes – although I’m not sure how helpful that is on a phone. I guess if they are sitting at a PC during a conference, they could scream through some notetaking then upload it for the rest to see. Nevertheless, it’s a cool feature and one we’ll be playing with in the future. When you click the “Preview” button, it will show you what your stuff looks like on a mobile phone.
Then there is the DASHBOARD button. Dashboard does NOT do what you think it should do. It is not a dashboard that will allow you to fix and edit your presentation in real time. It’s just a window that shows you the results of your questions and polls. If you are going to use this in an audience to show the results, this would be the window you’d want to show on the projector. But if you want to edit your presentation AND have the results shown at the same time in two different monitors – you’re going to have to do a couple of extra clicks.
How Do I Edit My Live YouVersion Presentation?
Great question…and there isn’t a magic button that allows you to do this. First, notice the web address of your presentation when you clicked the “Dashboard” button. It should say something like – http://www.youversion.com/events/(4 numbers)1136/dashboard. The /dashboard is the key here. Delete it and instead put /edit at the end of address. That should take you right back to the ‘edit’ screen that will allow you to add, delete, and edit the presentation.
To put the Dashboard in one screen and the edit in the other, open another web browser window and put the event address in the presentation window, while leaving the edit address in the other.
Feel free to add any other hints or stuff I missed in the comments. Screenshots are coming.
Fields of Faith
I got the honor and privilege to talk to a bunch of high school students tonight at the FCA Fields of Faith event…which due to the rain and cold ended up being a Gym for Jesus. This is a shorten version of the talk last night:
“Every generation has a chance to change the world” U2 tells us. I believe that’s true but why then has so little of the world changed? The ’60′s generation tried to change the world by proclaiming what they were against. Didn’t really change the world because now they teach history in high schools.
The 70′s and 80′s come along and they tried to change the world be focusing on themselves and their lack of a clear identity – Generation X. The 90′s was about GREED. 2000 forward is you and the lie we’re trying to sell you is that you can change the world if you have enough information.
The problem is none of this has really worked and it’s not going to work in the halls of your high school. I think the secret to changing the world around you is found in John 9. The man was born blind. Jesus comes along and makes two mudballs big enough to cover his eyes with his SPIT. The man is blind, not deaf. He can hear Jesus coughing up spit to make these mudballs. He can FEEL the slimy mud made of another person’s spit on his face.
Disgusting. Right? Huge insult in that culture to put saliva on another person’s face. Even though the man was blind, he had dignity, right? This is the secret for changing the world.
The man wanted whatever it was from Jesus’ hands more than he wanted anything that he already had. Dignity. Blindness. Possessions. Whatever he had, as valuable as it MIGHT have been, he was willing to trade it all in for whatever Jesus had in his hands – as disgusting, messy, degrading, and nasty as MAY have appeared. He trusted Jesus that much.
If you want to change your home, start trading with Jesus with whatever of value you think you have for WHATEVER is in His hands. Follow him, trust him, desire him first. That will change your character which in turn will change your world.