Archive - September, 2009

21st Century Ministry and 2 Corinthians (Part 3)

September 29, 2009 in Ministry with 2 Comments

Many of us have ideas about the way ministry ought to be. Perhaps as we reflect on ministry, we should begin by examining our own integrity.    200909301032.jpg

You may know what it is to have the best intentions and yet be misunderstood. In 1 Corinthians 1:12-24, Paul explains why he did not come to Corinth as he originally intended. Because of the situation of the church in Corinth, he decided that it was best to not go to Corinth at this particular time. Now, some evidently have seized upon this occasion, to accuse him of being fickle, lacking in integrity, and saying “yes” one moment and “no” the next.

This gives him the opportunity to speak about his personal integrity as it relates to his ministry. He speaks of his personal holiness and sincerity that comes from God (1:12). His own integrity is grounded in the work of the triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (1:18-22). For Paul, referring to God (as related to his ministry) is not a mere formality or a nice religious footnote. No, Paul understands that the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are critical to his ministry and the ministry of the body of Christ in that city.

What about ministry today?

Our personal integrity is no less important today. Note that Paul ties integrity to holiness and sincerity as being from God. Ministry is more than doing all the right things. It has to do with the holiness of my life-even when no one is looking. Why? God’s character and integrity shape our own character and integrity. Since God is faithful, everything about us must reflect such faithfulness.

This has many implications for ministry in the 21st century. Ultimately, I believe this suggests that our own integrity is very much tied to the character of God. Our churches and ministries can be creative, technologically savvy, and relevant to our culture. Something is wrong, however, if our lives do not reflect the character of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I love this quote by Gordon Fee ( God’s Empowering Presence, p. 289):

It should be noted, finally, that this is one of the most God-centered, God-focused paragraphs in the Pauline corpus. As such, it is a clear reflection of Paul’s essential theology and is even more telling because it is such an ‘off the cuff,’ non-reflective moment. Paul’s integrity-and their own existence in Christ that is so integrally tied up with that integrity-ultimately rests in the character of God (his trustworthiness, whose promises have been realized in Christ) and in the saving activity of God, which is but an overflow of his character.


The Take-Away

1. Ministry cannot be divorced from one’s own personal integrity.

2. Our ministry is tied into the character and saving activity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

3. God is faithful! What a difference this reality makes in the conduct and character of his people.


Questions

In what areas of life and/or ministry have believers sometimes done a poor job of reflecting the character of God? In what ways could believers take personal holiness more seriously?


Begin the Week by Paying Attention

September 28, 2009 in A New Week, Starting the Day with 4 Comments

Do you ever begin the week in a fog? fog.jpg

I feel this way sometimes. I sometimes begin a new week and am not aware of what is really taking place in my life. Consequently, a few days will go by and I will realize that I have really not been attentive or aware of an important dimension of my life. This lack of awareness can actually intensify conflict or worsen the neglect on my part.

I typically become aware of what is happening in these dimensions of my life by finally paying attention.

There are several dimensions that need my attention. Quite often, the areas that we overlook involve our relationships with people, our emotions, our physical body, our time, and most importantly, our relationship with God. The following are a few suggestions regarding areas of life that need regular attention:

1. Pay attention to what you are feeling emotionally. There are some days when I feel down or even sad. Why? Sometimes I have no idea. At other times these feelings are connected with physical fatigue. Unfortunately, sometimes I do not pay attention to my feelings and consequently allow them to color the way I view other dimensions of life. Instead of being aware that I am feeling sad or down, I start to see all my life as one bleak, dark, gray cloud. Through such a lens, everything looks negative. The reality, however, may be that I am just having a down day.

2. Pay attention to your physical body. Am I aware of how tired I feel? Am I aware of how a head-cold might impact the way I see my week? Am I eating too much sugar or drinking too many caffeinated drinks? Do I eat a heavy lunch and then wonder why I have such difficulty concentrating in the afternoon? Could it be that my sluggishness originates from a lack of exercise?

On the other hand, I have noticed that when I exercise regularly and eat food that adds fuel to my body, I feel better and am more energetic.

3. Pay attention to your relationships. Am I connecting with my wife or husband? Or, are we just functioning in our roles? Am I connecting with my children? Or, are am I just checking on homework and game schedules? What about my friends? Am I paying attention to these relationships?

4. Pay attention to your time. What does your week look like as you survey your calendar? What do you already have scheduled? Do you have any deadlines or due dates that must be met this week? Do you have meetings scheduled? Do you have certain events already scheduled that are energy depleting? Do you have some events scheduled that are energy producing? It helps me to look at my calendar at the beginning of the week and ask these questions.

My energy level tends to be very high in the mornings. Consequently, I block out the mornings for work that challenges me to think and to be creative. I read, reflect, and think best in the mornings. My energy level in the afternoons is much different. I am more likely to schedule meetings, time with people, etc. I have learned to pay attention to my energy level and to adjust the kind of work I do accordingly.

5. Pay attention to your relationship with God. Do you ever get to the middle of the week and realize that you have gone several days without praying or reading your Bible? Perhaps you have had conversations, sat in meetings, gone to church, etc. and have yet to give little more than a polite nod to God.

Question:

What do you need to be attentive to this week?


Beauty in a Housing Project

September 23, 2009 in Encouragement, Family/Marriage with 8 Comments

(The following post was written by my younger daughter, Jamie, who is a social worker. She recently witnessed a beautiful marriage–in a setting you might not expect.) sad_man.jpg

My job as a home-based social worker allows me the opportunity to see very unusual or difficult situations on a daily basis.

Once, for example, I walked into a home and witnessed three men getting tattooed at a kitchen table. In another home, a chicken was running through the house. In still another home, the police came and picked up the person with whom I had an appointment. This work, however, also allows me the opportunity to witness unexpected and encouraging moments in life.

I recently visited a client at the home of her aunt. My client wasn’t there yet, so her aunt talked with me while I waited. When I walked inside the house, I breathed in the usual aroma of incense that was typical in this home. The grandfather, mid-50s, was lying on his pallet on the couch. The nearby coffee table was strewn with medication. On other occasions, I had witnessed the aunt carrying her husband up the stairs into their home and setting him up on the couch where he spent the day. I would often talk with her as she fed him, gave him his medicine, and even held his cigarette for him.

Over these few months, I had witnessed his health rapidly decline. She told me that this had gone on for a couple of years. Her husband was a war veteran and was now suffering from a variety of ailments: a blood clot on his lung, liver cancer, and so on. She had left her job to take care of him and his daily needs. Caring for him had become her full-time job.

As I spoke with her this day, she grew quiet as big tears welled up in her eyes. She told me that the hospital had given her husband two weeks to live. She began to tell me that she didn’t know what she was supposed to do with that information. She took care of her husband, and he was her life. She didn’t know how she would live with him gone. She went on to say that her brother had died in a car accident the week before. She asked why God was testing her like this. “How do I live without the only thing I ever knew?”

During this tender moment, her husband called out to her for water. About the same time, my client walked into the house ready for her appointment.

It was only 9:00 a.m.

Did I mention that this couple was deeply imprisoned by poverty, one had literally been in prison, had taken care of their three toddler grandchildren while their child was in jail, had survived on the man’s benefits from the VA, and had allowed my client (their niece) to live in their home?

This family has helped me question my life and whether or not I am living to the full extent of its potential. Their giving hearts reflect the attitude of Christ. They have very little, but that doesn’t stop them from trying to help as many people as they can.

You never know who you might impact. You never know in whose life you will make a difference. You never know who will make a difference in your life. I hope you live every moment conscious of your reflection to the outside world.

Sometimes, I catch myself stereotyping people long before I even know their story. This aunt helped me see that people are more than what I might see externally. Things aren’t always what they seem.

Finally, this woman knows what it means to be married to someone “in sickness and in health.” Maybe all of us should take a good look at her example.

5 Suggestions for Dealing with Schedules, Time Pressures, etc.

September 23, 2009 in Ministry, Starting the Day with 0 Comments

Be sure to check Scot McKnight’s blog, “Jesus Creed” today. He has created a post out of a comment that I recently left on his blog. This might be particularly helpful if you are a minister, pastor, church leader, etc. Or, it may just be helpful regardless. Thanks!

You can find it here.

21st Century Ministry and 2 Corinthians (Part 2)

September 21, 2009 in Ministry with 5 Comments

Don’t miss the four realities of ministry listed below.2corinthians2.gif

Every would-be minister, pastor, church planter, missionary, or church leader ought to read 2 Corinthians.

Why? In this wonderful epistle, we have the opportunity to look over Paul’s shoulder in his most autobiographical book. We can learn much about ministry by observing this apostle as speaks to these people about his ministry and his relationship with them.

Ministry is tough. Don’t let any one tell you any differently. Now admittedly, what I have just said may baffle some. Some may perceive of ministry as simply the work of a career minister. Some look at ministry as simply one more career choice. “I thought about being a doctor, a lawyer, or a CPA. In the end, I decided to be a minister. i’ve always liked public speaking and leadership.” There is something about this approach that seems to have lost any sense of a calling.   

I want to first emphasize that all believers in the body of Christ are called to ministry. We are both gifted and empowered by the Spirit for ministry. Yes, there are some who may be called to lead, preach, teach, etc. in a congregation. There are certain leadership gifts and roles within the body of Christ. Maybe we should examine our own expectations regarding these roles.

Paul describes some of his experiences in this opening chapter:

  • Suffering (1:5-6)
  • Distress (1:6)
  • Hardships (1:8)
  • Under great pressure (1:8)
  • Despaired of life (1:8)
  • Felt the sentence of death (1:9)
  • Deadly peril (1:10)

Now do these words describe every ministry? No. Yet, something is wrong when we act as if we should somehow be exempt from discomfort, difficulties, and trying times in our ministry. Some ministers respond to the difficulties of ministry by constantly griping, complaining, and talking negatively about the congregation. Or, perhaps we talk about another minister or one of the elders and demonize the person. Perhaps, some of these difficult times are actually opportunities to share in the sufferings of Christ (1:5).

Now let me suggest this to you.

As a believer, you can find great encouragement in your daily ministry as a child of God by reading 2 Corinthians 1:1-11. Are you a pastor, minister, church planter, elder, or a church leader? Pay close attention to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1.

The following are some wonderful realities about ministry:

1. God comforts us in all our troubles and in turn allows us the opportunity to treasure his character (1:3-4) After all, he is “… the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort …” (1:3).

2. God ministers to us in our trouble. Consequently we are able to minister to others (4-6). He brings a new capacity for ministry into our lives.

3. God gives us the privilege of sharing in the sufferings of Jesus (1:5). What an honor!

4. God desires that we rely on him and not on ourselves in ministry (1:9). Such reliance is a proclamation of where we have set our hope (1:10).


Question

Which one of the four realities of ministry means the most to you?

  

Places I’ve Been

September 18, 2009 in Places I've Been... with 2 Comments

William Webb   “Influential Books and Authors: F. F. Bruce and Others” (video)

Read John Stackhouse “What Good Are Theologians?”

coffee40.jpgScot McKnight is in the middle of a series on the book Deep Church . Part one, part two, part three, and part four.

Spent some time looking around Alister McGrath’s home page.

Read Michael Spencer on this important topic: “Why Doesn’t the Church Talk About Domestic Abuse?”

Thom Rainer on his recent visit with 90-year-old Billy Graham.

Very interesting post by David Fitch, “If I Just Preach a Good Sermon, They Will Come: Three Dying Myths (of Christendom) about Preaching.”

Read it this morning. A nice post by Karen Spears Zacharias, “Would the Real God Please Identify Yourself?”

Jeff Berryman has written a good post, “Kierkegaard’s Eleventh Hour.” Reflections on Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing.

See this video on Mike Cope’s blog. Dad catches a foul ball and his little girl throws it back. I love his reaction. Looks like a great dad.

Michael Hyatt has posted a video interview with Donald Miller. Part one, part two, and part three.

Life on the Pedestal

September 17, 2009 in Family/Marriage, Leadership, Ministry with 9 Comments

We place some people on a pedestal, high above all others. pedestal.jpg

I first realized this many years ago when Charlotte and I were in the home of a young couple who lived in North Alabama. They were newly married. She was a Christian and he was not. We were in their home that evening because he wanted to ask some questions regarding Jesus, the Bible, Christian faith, etc.

At one point in this conversation, this young woman referred to her dad, who was a long time minister in our area. She said, “My dad has never done anything wrong.” I then asked her to explain what she meant by that. She went on to say, “I have never known my dad to say or do anything that was wrong. He never mentioned that he struggled with anything. He never apologized for anything. I just assumed for all of these years that he was perfect.”

Now I know her dad. He was a good man. Perfect? No.

Sometimes we put people on pedestals. Some of us place fathers, mothers, and other family members there. Many Christians place their minister or other church leaders on such a pedestal. Our expectations of such church leaders are incredible. Some feel very uncomfortable when they realize this is where they have been placed by . On the other hand, there are some people who seem to relish being there. Yet, the pedestal is a dangerous place to live.

Beware of living on a pedestal.

1. The pedestal does not invite a life of daily repentance. Instead, it can all too easily accommodate secrecy, distance, and rationalization.

2. The pedestal invites unreal expectations. While I may admire someone, to place them on a pedestal is a set-up for major disappointment.

3. The pedestal creates either delusion and arrogance (maybe I really am as great as they say I am), or loneliness (there is no one who I can talk with about my humanness).

Sometimes ministers who have been placed on such a pedestal find themselves living with impossible expectations. Consequently, many feel very defeated. Yet, some ministers seem to desire the pedestal. Complicating this even further, some Christians seem all too ready to place them in such a position. Perhaps it is a way of vicariously living as a Christ-follower through the minister. “I may not be doing very well in my walk with God but you ought to see my minister.”

Pedestal living can create a spirit of arrogance and entitlement. For example, the minister may live among the congregation as if he is entitled to special treatment because of the role, etc. Such a spirit of entitlement can powerfully influence a person toward making decisions that are unwise and even immoral.

Pedestal living often becomes cocoon living where one feels isolated and alone. Instead of a lifestyle marked by ongoing confession and repentance, this minister feels that he must hide and keep to himself his struggles.

We were never created to live on a pedestal nor do we do anyone any favors by placing them on one.

Questions:

What are the costs of being on a pedestal? In what ways do we place someone there? Why would someone desire to be on a pedestal?

     

What Do You Pray For?

September 16, 2009 in Prayer with 1 Comment

When I think about the people who mean the most to me …

Sometimes I think about my future, my wife’s future, the future of our children, and the future of the church. Very often, these thoughts begin as prayer as I bring their names before the Father.

Regarding Charlotte and me: I think about the kind of people we will be. I want to do whatever I can to make sure that we remain optimistic and cheerful people of faith. There are a number of people who are a few years older than I am that I just don’t want to be like. I don’t want to have that spirit of crankiness and complaining. I will sometimes hear younger people refer to a certain older woman or older man as a “grouch.” What a waste! Here is this person in her later years that people are trying to avoid instead of drawing near.

Prayer-Lookout2.jpg

I would much rather become like the couple I visited with on Monday. In their 70s, they are dealing with some very serious health issues. Yet, in the middle of a very difficult time, they speak of how they are blessed by God. They smile at one another and at others. They speak of the goodness and mercy of God. Their love is deep and rich.   

Regarding our daughters and son-in-law: They have each graduated from college and are working. My older daughter is married to a wonderful guy, and they live in middle Tennessee. Our younger daughter is single and lives in an urban area in another state. She is also going to graduate school part-time. They each love God and love people. All three of them have a heart for people who struggle with life.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about them and pray for them. Hardly a day goes by when I don’t speak to them on the telephone. I pray for their future — for their marriages, for their children. I pray for them in times of temptation. I pray for them that they will have a heart for the things that really matter to God. I pray that they will pass on the story of Jesus to the next generation.

I pray they will not get caught up in materialism. I pray they will never get more passionate about the things they can buy and wear over how God can use them for the sake of his honor for kingdom purposes.

Regarding our congregation: I am a part of a wonderful group of people. I think about their/our future. How critical it is that we think and dream about the future and that we think about how God might use us during the few years that we are on this earth to make a real difference for the sake of the kingdom of God.

Yet, we do face dangerous times. Our greatest danger is that we will be content with the status quo and that our comfort and ease will be the priorities that we hold above all else. A commitment to such ease has a way of putting the brakes on what God otherwise wishes to do through the church.

I pray that our congregation might be what God is calling us to be. I pray that we will take our cues from Jesus and not from the world.

Questions:

As you think about your spouse (if married) or your children (if you have them), what concerns do you have regarding the future?

As you think about your congregation, what has your heart? What do you pray about regarding these people?


Congratulations!

September 13, 2009 in Books with 0 Comments

Brad Cox and Jerry Tackitt are the two winners in the recent drawing for copies of Pilgrim Heart by Darryl Tippens. Autographed copies will be sent to you in the very near future. Thanks to all who left comments during the week of the interview with Tippens.

Don’t miss the new post on “21st Century Ministry and 2 Corinthians” (see below).

21st Century Ministry and 2 Corinthians (Part 1)

September 13, 2009 in Leadership, Ministry with 2 Comments

2corinthians2.gif
Ministry in the body of Christ may look very different from church to church, depending upon your context and setting. It may look differently in a 21st century setting than it did fifty years ago.

Nevertheless, anyone involved in any kind ministry in the body of Christ would do well to read 2 Corinthians–again and again. In particular, those of us who function in a leadership role of some kind should read this book.

Here is a sample of what you might find in 2 Corinthians regarding ministry:

  • Ministry takes place in times of weakness not just in times of strength.
  • Ministry comes through living authentically in the body of Christ not simply as a professional who keeps a safe distance from the congregation.
  • Ministry is about relying on God who raised Jesus from the dead, not on one’s self.
  • Ministry is sometimes painful, pressure-filled, and difficult. At times, very little may be happening that is encouraging or which meets the minister’s “career goals.”
  • Ministry takes place as God ministers to us and then we are able to minister to another.

Yes, more could be said, but I would like to stop for now.

For the last few months, I have spent much time with 2 Corinthians. This is a deeply personal book that is autobiographical in nature. At times, Paul seems to struggle and his life and ministry are difficult. (He describes his life as one of “… great pressure” (1:8). He even “… felt the sentence of death” (1:9). I suspect that he would be very uncomfortable with the pedestal on which some of us have placed him.

Reflecting on Paul’s words in this book has helped me as I reflect on my own ministry. Maybe this will be helpful to you as well.

Some of you will read these reflections and relate them to your ministry as a Christ-follower in the body of Christ. Each one of us has been called to ministry in the body, both gifted and energized by the Spirit.

Yet, I am also thinking right now about that person who may be designated as a leader within a church. Far too often the church approaches this role much like an organization in the marketplace. In fact, a church might even think that its future hinges on how much money it is willing to offer a potential minister. To complicate this even more, a minister may even look at ministry through the same lens, ultimately selling out to the highest bidder.

Do I think most churches and ministers think this way? No, I do not. Yet I do know there are elements of marketplace thinking that may not be that helpful as we seek to live out the kingdom of God through the church.

Churches sometimes use the language of the marketplace (hiring, firing, employment, bosses, etc.) when referring to the ministers.

Far too often these ministers use this language themselves. “Is this in your contract?” or “Are you going to apply for that preaching job?”

I wonder what kind of baggage we bring into the church when marketplace language begins to replace biblical language as we speak of ministry?

(to be continued)


Questions

I would love to hear your thoughts regarding this. What concerns do you have regarding ministry as it is sometimes approached in the 21st century?


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