Foundations of Leadership

The question of identity is huge, who am I in God? I'm I important? Does God accept me? What is the proof of that? I think every leader must go through this struggle. Through the years I have watched young men who believed that if they were an elder or a teacher then God must be pleased with them. They would sacrifice time, energy to pursue the gold ring of position only to find that it does not meet the need in their heart. It is through our personal relationship with God that we see our value. It is not based on what we have done or what we bring to the relationship but on His generosity toward us. Moses went through 40 years of obscurity to discover that God was for him. It prepared im to stand firm in the face of tremendous difficulty. Think of Joseph, Elijah or David, or even Paul. They all had a great sense of call and promise, but needed to see deeply that God's call was not a sign of affirmation but all call to sacrifice. Consider John the Baptist; he was called to lead a nation to repentance. He had a huge following, both religious and secular. Crowds would search him out in droves, kings took note, and he was center stage. Then the cumulating event of his life call took place, Jesus came. Even though John knew in his heart this day would come he was deeply distressed when he was thrown in prison. Shaken he saw his disciples leaving to follow Christ. As he sat in prison he sent a delegation to Jesus to ask if He truly was the one that was sent. Jesus asked John not to lose faith, to remember the call, to remember that it was not about ‘John’s ministry’ but the purposes of God. God was pleased with him; he had fulfilled his mission. The circumstances of His surroundings had nothing to do with God’s perception of him; he still was God’s man.

I have seen so many that have washed out of ministry. The rigors of ministry life are difficult. People question your motives; friends get offended and leave. What looks from the outside, as a life of honor and appreciation, is really a life of sacrifice. Many come to the conclusion that it is just not worth it. They become embittered, as they feel unappreciated. The bitterness descends into anger toward God. The seeds of pride come to full fruit.

Jesus said that the greatest would be the servant of all. It is not a means to greatness, but the fruit of a soul who knows their God and senses His approval. To young leaders, get the foundations right, check your hearts often. To seasoned leaders, remember that your position is temporal; things can change in a minute. The real pay off is in eternity.

Church Built on Grace

I have been pondering why so many are discouraged regarding church life. A friend of mine once said “the answer to bad leadership is good leadership, not no leadership”. I believe the same can be said of church life. I believe church can be a place where we celebrate the grace of God in our daily lives and in our corporate life together. Individuals recognizing that we have nothing to offer God except our hearts. Our serving God springs from the well- spring of thankfulness for what he has done for us. We love Him because He first loved us. We were God’s enemy, yet He searched for us and made a way for us. Everything we do should be springing from this root of right relationship with God. Grace sits central in our relationship with God. In the Greek the word translated as grace carries the idea of God’s influence on the human heart and its reflection in the life; including gratitude (Strongs) A grace based people hear God and at its root is a charismatic people, we hear His voice, He speaks to us, and we follow Him not from the root of trying to earn God’s favor, we have that, but over flowing with gratitude that we have been drawn into right relationship with Christ. When we have been captured by His love and grace, church can be a people united by mission, committed to loving God, to be known by our love for others, and to be a voice of hope. These are values that endure the test of time and lead to a productive life and productive church. These values are overarching themes of the New Testament. These values are inferred as well as plainly taught. I believe that becoming a Christian is not the end of the story but the beginning of a whole new life with a new set of challenges and victories to be had. At the church I am a part of we have a saying, “Christianity is a journey not a destination.” I believe that Christianity is about loving Christ and learning to be like him and to love his church. Grace leads me to the conclusion that I am to glorify God, to bring him joy and pleasure. As I look in the New Testament God reveals three great themes of what it means to journey with God. I am to be like Christ, to take on His character and to reflect His nature. I am called to community and to give myself to building up of the church. All the exhortations to godly character are worked out in the context of a local church. Unity is held up as the sure mark of Christian maturity. As believers we are called to live a missional life, Jesus has called us to co-labor with him in reaching every tribe and tongue. These are the things the Apostles believed and gave their lives for. This is foundation that the Church is to be built on. After 32 years of serving God these values still stir my soul, they still capture my imagination. I am thrilled to be in the game.

Death, Faith and Hope

It has been a very busy time and I have been under the weather so to speak. This last week I officiated two funerals and was struck how life is so short. One was for a 27 year old lady who lost her battle with diabetes and a 39 year old man whose heart just quit. I understand why the scripture describes death as an adversary. I sat with the extended family of the 39 year old for 12 hours in the ICU waiting room as events marched to the finial decision to end life support. It was clear that some had a quite confidence of faith and others could only see loss. The parents who have now seen the early death of two of their children sat in shock and quiet strength. There is a real and tangible pain in these moments. It is where the reality of faith is demonstrated. As I preformed the first service it was clear that some of the family had faith in Christ and that tempered their sorrow with very real hope. Their conversations were not filled with platitudes but with a strong conviction that the grace of God would prevail in the deceased life. Others struggled with the reality of death and the finality of it all. The same was true of the second funeral, the family took great comfort in the diaries of their daughter where she wrote of facing death with a brutal honesty and some times dark humor, but in it all there was a deep conviction that she would see Christ her savior. Through all of this the apostle Paul’s writing took on greater significance. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
(Rom 5:1-5 from New International Version)

Birds and Vision

I have been connecting with some old friends lately. I am so thankful for the foundations that many sowed in my life. It is a little disconcerting to see so many lose their sense of mission and love for the Church. When I am in the presence of God I sense His heart and love for the Church. It is like I can hear all of heaven cheering for God's people. When I study God's Word, I see the passion and commitment of the early church to planting and reaching out. How is it that so many become so discouraged and disconnected? The platitudes we so often use don't answer the question for me. These are good people who love Jesus, yet seem to be defined by disillusionment versus vision. I am more convinced of the call to build up the Church now than I have ever been. I remember Jim Durkin Sr. who in my opinion was a great man of God to restore and energize a generation told a story. He said, "if you want to grow in the purpose and vision of God then you must feed it. It is like a bird that sits on your front porch. You feed it when you go out and come in, day after day, week after week, year after year. One day you go out on your porch and the bird has grown large and swallows you." That is the story of my life. My early years in ministry were always viewed through the lens of how I personally felt about MY ministry. As I have served Christ these last 30 years I see that most of the disillusionment that I have experienced is because of a wrong focus. I remember a quote from a dear friend, Rob Barnes, "the answer to bad leadership, is good leadership, not no leadership." The failures of the Church or leaders are just that, failures of people, me included. I'm convinced that it is the Lord's heart for us to be part of the solution. It takes no skill or commitment to identify problems, but it takes great faith to love God's people who gather together in what is called the church. It is my conviction that God loves the Church in all its local expressions. It is an over arching theme of the Scripture. I can only hope that many who have become discouraged will find a renewed love for the purposes of God and shed the bonds of personal discouragement.

New Year Musings

Here I sit contemplating the coming new year. There is so much that I want to see come to pass. The growth of the church I lead, the deepening of friendships, the wonders of seeing my daughters enter adulthood. Life is such an amazing journey. In looking back at the last year; I can celebrate so many victories and I can also see some real disappointments as well. Life is like that, good and bad, extraordinary and mundane. Much of our outlook on life is based on what will we give the most weight too. Will we focus on the failures and disappointments or will we celebrate the victories God has given us. Most of the great men of God that I have known through the years have an unshakeable belief that God has never wronged them, never a hint of victim thinking. They counted their blessings and chalked up the failures to their own shortcomings.

So much of life’s blessings depend on how we process the events around us. For example, being a sentimental guy, I was lamenting how sad I was that my oldest daughter was not able to be with us during the holidays. The Holy Spirit gently reminded me that I had five of my children and one lovely daughter-in law and three spirited grandchildren in my living room. I would be so easy to miss the blessing right under my nose.

What is the point of this rambling? In my opinion much of life’s challenges are designed to give us fresh insight into the graciousness of God. We may be heading into some difficult times ahead. All ready some who are close to us are experiencing job loss, health problems, the list can go on and on. Yet God is still unchanging, His purpose and intent for our lives are still in place.

These are not platitudes to just make us feel better; they are the very building blocks to a faith-filled life. God speaks to us in Romans 8:28-3: “and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? God is involved in our life to the point of working everything to our good. It gives me great comfort to know that I am not at the mercy of random events. It is faith in the graciousness of God that gives context to the difficulties of life. Again in Romans 5:2-5 “we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” God works all things for my good, and all the circumstances of life can point me to hope, and that hope leads us to confidence in God. I choose to celebrate the goodness of God, to recognize each and every blessing. It is a choice we all have to make. We must rehearse the faithfulness of God, remembering the small and great things He has done for us. If all we ended up with out of this life is a relationship with God and eternal life, which would be more than anyone could ask for. YET LOOK AROUND, He has given us so much more. May your holidays be filed with the blessings of God.



(Scripture quotes from New International Version)

Doing

It has been a while since I last posted. Life gets so busy.

Recently I was visiting with dear friends who lead churches. Our conversation turned towards the Bible and our approach to it. Questions arose like, do we interpret the scripture through our experience or do we accept it at face value? Is the Bible culturally relevant? I must confess that I was a little put off by the tenor of the discussion. I believe that the Bible is THE word of God. It is the measure of all things. It defines what is true and doesn't need our experience to validate it. Before the critic jumps in, I know that there are difficulties, but the problem is not in the scripture but our understanding of it. It is my conviction that we miss the mark when we sit outside the Bible to evaluate what is true. Let me explain, David in Psalm 1:1-2 writes, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.” (NASU)

The phrase “in His law he meditates” strikes me as the posture that we should hold as we approach the Word. David is suggesting that the scripture drives our very meditations. It is where we derive the premises that drive our thought life. To often we read and then evaluate what we will accept and what we will reject, instead of letting the scripture define what is true and then embracing that truth. To many times we will say, “the scripture says, but…” and then excuse ourselves from what it says

Jesus was very straightforward on this issue. “The one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."
(Luke 6:49 from New International Version)

James writes, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.” The word receive in the Greek is more than
give ear to, it involves embracing, making it one's own, and being careful not to reject it. He goes on, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:21-25 NASU)

It is in the embracing and doing that we get insight. If we wait until we understand the word, we make ourselves slaves to our carnal mind. We are “to receive the word implanted”, in faith, which is able to save our souls. David understood the importance of the scripture when he wrote, in Psalm 119:9-16:“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of Your mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and regard your ways. I shall delight in your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.” (NASU)

I want to be a doer of the Word, a man that receives and agrees with God, one who builds on a sure foundation.

Psalm 119:144
Your testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live. NASU

Times of Trouble

Another day of bad news, stock market falling, banks closing, and politicians operating out of their own self interest. I know that my retirement account has lost 50% of its value. Yet in light of eternity it is not that significant. It is easy for believers to get caught up in this world and to succumb to the spirit of fear. Difficulty comes, does that mean God’s attitude towards you has changed? Is he less pleased with you? The reality is that outward circumstance is not the measure of God’s intention for us. The Apostle Paul would write “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
( Rom 8:35,37 NIV)

I personally believe insecurity and fear comes because we lose sight of what our lives are to be about. Self-preservation is a powerful motivator in human nature, yet we are called to live according to a higher reality. Jesus taught his followers right up front that they were being called to live for something greater than themselves, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt 16:24-25 NIV) Six times this admonition is given in the gospels. Self-preservation is not the highest value in the Christians life. Jesus in the parable of the sower warned us not to let the cares of this world choke out the good seed of the Word of God. Jesus clearly wants His followers to understand that difficulty in this life is the norm, not the exception. The best investment we can make at this time is to make sure our personal foundations are built on a clear view of eternity and not on the shifting sands of the temporal. We are called to be a missional people, focused on the Kingdom of God.

If our country is to sink in to very difficult times and God’s people can come to grips with the larger issues of mission vs. self, there is unprecedented opportunity for the gospel.