Five Dangerous Faults

Yesterday I started reading Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" which is from the 6th century BC.  I have wanted to read it for some time, but it is not my typical genre.  I am half way through and it has given me some insight as a leader of "spiritual warriors" but mostly caused me to look at how I am trying to go about starting a church.  I am aware that our enemy is not of this world, but have gained some personal insight that I am just going to share and hopefully it will cause you to think as well.  About half way through, he relates the 5 major dangerous faults of a General.  I have taken these each individually and applied them to the areas of ministry that I deal in.  I have not edited for spelling or content, so take these random thoughts as Joel's personal application and make your own.

There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general:

(1)   Recklessness, which leads to destruction;

Recklessness as a pastor would look like what?

      Preaching

                  Not preparing adequately

                  Not praying

                  Not planning a comprehensive preaching calendar

      Pastoral Care

                  Not watching what you say

                  Not saying thanks

                  Not keeping your word

                  Not feeling their hurts

      Leadership    

                  Over extending with time, ministry or money

                  Letting anybody start whatever ministry

                  Not screening leaders

                  Not sticking to procedure

      Personally

                  Not guarding your heart from sin

                  Being alone with a woman who is not your wife

                  Drifting from your time in Prayer and Bible Study

(2)   Cowardice, which leads to capture;

Cowardice as a pastor would look like what?

Preaching

Not standing up for truth, and solid doctrine, and against sin

Pastoral Care

Not telling someone what you know they need to hear, but don’t want to hear.

Leadership

Not stepping out in faith to obey God

Not leading your people to personally step out in faith

Personally

Not leading in your own home, with your wife and kids

(3)   A hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;

A hasty temper as a pastor would look like what?

Preaching

            It is easier to preach against sin than for holiness

            Don’t allow your pulpit to become a bully

            Never defend yourself when you should be preaching Christ

Pastoral Care

            Hurt people hurt people, don’t take insults personally

            Never add insult to injury

Leadership

Do not allow the insults of your enemies to cause you to come down from your wall to fight on their turf.

Never make rash vows

Be motivated by love, not hate

Personally

                        The king of the mountain makes for an easy target

                        Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath

(4)   A delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame;

(Those who seek after victory should be careless of public opinion.)

Preaching

            Tell it like it is, do not scratch ears

            Be Transparent, Nobody listens to an inexperienced expert

Pastoral Care

            Compliments, like perfume smells nice but don’t swallow it.

            Don’t drink from “The World’s Best Pastor” Coffee mug.

Pastoring is about the help of the sheep, not the honor of the shepherd

Leadership

            Don’t be tempted to put on Saul’s shiny new armor

            Pride is what caused Satan to fall and Eve to bite

Personally

            Remember you serve an Audience of one

At the judgment you will stand before God alone, not the board, or the crowd, or your peers.

(5)   Over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.

(The danger of sacrificing any important military advantage to the immediate comfort of his men.)

Preaching

            Do not be afraid of their faces

            Too much milk causes one to vomit.  They need meat too.

            Be careful preaching that causes people to think that they are holy.

            Be careful of setting goals that are too easily attained.

Pastoral Care

            Do not break up every fight and band-aid every scratch

            Do not pamper your people, provoke to love and good works

Leadership

            Someone has to be on the front lines

            Don’t care so much for your troops that you forget the war

We are not here to build shelters in which to hide from the world, but bases from which to go into all the world

Never let church become about the church

Personally

            Be careful of the undisciplined life.

            Never ask more from your staff or people than you ask of yourself.

                       

                        

Methods of Personal Evangelism

I mentioned in the service that I would post some how to methods for leading a person to faith in Christ.

ABC’s / Romans Road

a.      Admit

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

b.      Believe

Romans 10:9 - 10 (ESV)

⁹because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

c.       Call

Romans 10:13 (ESV)

¹³For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Way of the Master

1.      Do you consider yourself to be a pretty good person?

2.      Do you mind if I ask you a few questions as a test?

3.      Do you think you have kept the ten commandments?

4.      Have you ever coveted or been jealous of something that did not belong to you? #10

5.      Have you ever told a lie? # 9

6.      Have you ever stolen anything? # 8

7.      Have you ever committed Adultery? #7

8.      Have you ever murdered anyone? #6

9.   If God judged you according to these laws, would you be guilty or innocent?

Four Spiritual Laws

* Just as there are physical laws that govern the physical universe, so are there spiritual laws that govern your relationship with God.

1)      God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life

John 3:16 (ESV)

¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 10:10b (ESV)

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 

2)      Man is sinful and separated from God, therefore he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life.

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3)      Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin.  Through Him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life.

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

⁸but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

John 14:6 (ESV)

⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

4)      We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.

John 1:12 (ESV)

¹²But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 
Ephesians 2:8 - 9 (ESV)

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

The Church Advances as the World Retreats

One of the things that is obvious in almost every segment of society is the new value of security against global economic collapse.  The papers and news channels are full of stories of layoffs and pullbacks and every church I know of is bracing for this coming economic earthquake.  I have to tell you frankly that churches cutting back right now really ticks me off.  I know that the economy is crashing, and that people who tithe will have less to give, but our trust is not in the offering plate.  Right now, as the ways of the world display their lack of ability to meet the real needs of people, the church needs to advance.  It has been our message for years that people not put their trust in temporary physical things of this world, and to store up for themselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt, and markets do not fall.  Now is the time when many churches, rather than pulling back, need to move forward.  I am not suggesting that they blow the bank account, but the church of Christ is the medic that runs against the flow of the retreating army to meet the real needs of people who have been wounded on the front line.  Here are some things that we can do:

1. Teach "Koinonia" Fellowship - The church exists to meet the needs of the body.  This is the time when the people can come together an meet one another's needs.
2. Show Some Love - Benevolent giving should increase to meet the felt needs of the community with the hopes that they will realize their true need for Christ.
3. Preach Heaven - We are not of this world, and in fact we were created for eternity.  Preach about the need to know we have a home in heaven and how this world will not satisfy.
4. Teach People How to Live by Faith - They are ready to listen.
5. Missions - Recession in America means going to basic cable.  Show them the rest of the world.


Cornerstone, we refuse to run.  This economic downturn and fear of recession means that church becomes more important than ever in our community.  I believe that much of the numerical growth we have seen in the last month is due to people returning to God, and we as a church must and will be ready.  We will not retreat just because the rest of the world is, in fact we will advance.  I believe that these may be dark days for our generation, but our community has never needed the church and its message of salvation through Christ more.  We need all hands on deck as we move forward. 

No Business Being Here!

I once attended a meeting where there was no meeting.  Now before you jump to conclusions, most of those in the meeting thought that the point of the meeting was meeting.  There was no fighting over resources, there was little reporting of accomplishments, there virtually no planning for action.  Essentially, we had no business being there.  Unfortunately, churches can slip into the meeting for the sake of meeting.  Sundays come and go without the Services take place, ministries go through the motions.  One of the things I constantly have to fight against is doing things for while not considering WHY we do things.  It is too easy to get into a routine, a rut, to go through motions.  Activities, for activities' sake will kill any organization.  

Through this lens, a simple baby shower takes on purpose.  We are not getting together with friends, we are celebrating a new life with a working mother of two who works 12 hour shifts as an RN in ICU then comes to church to teach preschoolers about the love of God.

Through this lens we are not throwing a Jail House Rock party for the kids, we are sending 1000 invitations to local students and building a bridge that will transform their lives and make an eternal impact.

Through this lens we are not simply teaching theology,  but we are laying the ground work for a relatively  new believer to have a 2 hour conversation with a lost family member who is now seeking Christ.

Through this lens we are not having church, we are coming together as a believers to love and support one another through the temporary trials of this life and to provoke one another to love and good works.

The church has no business having no business.  There ought to be meetings today, where there is not enough money to accomplish the plans, there is not enough volunteers to accomplish the ministries, where there are competing groups who are passionate about reaching a common goal.

Today we had a great staff meeting.  Today, we looked again at why we do the things we do.  We cannot have church stuff for the fact that churches have stuff.  And by God's Grace, we won't!

Swarm Theory and Church

Scientists have been studying swarm theory for many years, and today I came across this article dealing with how they are now applying that same theory to human behavior. I want to ponder some of the conclusions they came to and apply them to our church experience.

1. Harmony – Swarms are such because a group of birds or bees or fish find benefits to harmonious relationships. Church has been likened by some to a herd of porcupines, but Jesus still thinks of us as sheep. I like that.
2. Instant Messaging – Under this heading National Geographic gave three simple rules. (referring to a school of fish)
1. Stick together – I know this because when we would fish for Mahi-Mahi in the Keys growing up, you always left one fish on the line until another was hooked. The school had a no fish left behind policy. I wish our churches would learn that.
2. Avoid collusions – I am sure that in every situation, collusions happen. But they should be avoided at all costs.
3. Swim in the same direction – Kind of a no brainer, but how often do we see churches divided over individuals expressing themselves, rather than expressing Christ. For this purpose we strive to get every newcomer into a 6 week “who we are” class so they can opt in or out.
3. Natural Leadership – Under this photo researchers state that wildebeests “may be able to follow a migration route even if only a few of them know the way, … Never mind that the informed animals aren't trying to lead. The rest follow anyway.”
1. What many believers fail to realize is that they are leading people. Even if they do not try to lead, others take cues from them. Some ways that happens in church may be…

i. Evangelism – You may be the only Bible some people read.

ii. Attitude – Bad attitudes in church are very contagious, by the way, so are good ones.

iii. Worship – One of the best ways to arrive at a place of worship is to realize that others around you are worshipping. I am not saying that we close our eyes and raise our hands for show, but when someone observes it in authenticity, it definitely transfers.

iv. Generosity – Have you ever been to a fundraiser where some guys got into a bidding war over a cake. Duncan Hines box cake sells for $50. Why? Because of natural leadership.

Well, that is all I have time for this morning. I will try to do a few more later this week. I’ve got a high level meeting with some other pastors this AM. We have an 8:30 appointment with God, that I cannot miss.

3H

No, I am not talking about some knock off farming club for kids, or the pro wrestler HHH, or the gas guzzling SUV. The three H's refer to how I approach my preaching. Around 3 this morning as I stared into the darkness I thought it might be something to share on the blog. Though it is a bit formulaic, I think it would help you to know how sermons germinate.

#1 - Heart
Preparation - I ask God to break my heart over a reality that shouldn't be. I may also ask him to fill my heart with a dream that should be. In this way, I am asking God to grip me with a message that must be preached.
Delivery - The first step in a good message (IMHO) is that it touches the heart. I truly believe that the emotions are the gateway to real change and though they can often be manipulated, that is no excuse for abandoning them.
Example - This week my world has been rocked by several deaths. One of members had his son die of an aneurysm, I wept. A classmate from college died unexpectedly of a sinus infection of all things leaving a wife and toddler, another person told me Wednesday night that her ex-husband and his entire family were killed in a car accident, and then news broke yesterday of Steve Curtis Chapman losing his daughter Maria. This has caused a great deal of emotion to well up inside of me. As anyone would, I have been wondering what God's greater purpose might be.
This emotion has opened the door for me to move to the second H.

#2 - Head
Preparation - As I prepare this second part of my message, I am asking God for His Word on my reality. We cannot stay in emotion, we must move to the intellect. I want God to show me what that simple truth is, so that I may understand and know Him more. The only reliable source of God's truth is His Word. That is why all of our preaching must be from the Bible.
Delivery - It is my goal to have the entire sermon summarized in one simple phrase. If someone asks what was church about. I want them to be able to quote it. Getting God's truth into people's heads is my life ambition.
Example - I spoke to a group of students this week and afterward a girl came up to me and said "Eight times" I asked her what she meant and she told me that I had said "choose today who you will serve" 8 times. Now my goal was not for her to count, but for her to get it. I think she did.


#3 - Hand
Preparation - Practicality is the difference between preaching and teaching. Too many churches gather every week to listen to teachers. don't get me wrong, teaching has its place in church, but bang for buck preaching is where it is at.
Delivery - The climax of every sermon for me is the point when we turn the corner and begin to see what we must now do with the emotional energy and intellectual truth from God's Word. We want a message that we can take home and use.
Example - Growing up in church world we had "quiz teams" churches used to compete their kids against each other and took pride in how much details their kids knew of the Bible. I remember studying things about the Bible that were far from practical and again (in my humble opinion) would fall into the endless genealogy category. I am all for Bible study, but let's study something we can use.

Now, why am I showing you my play book? Because we are on the same team. As we gather for worship this weekend, I want you to know that God has burdened me with a message that you need to hear. He has given me an insight into why bad things happen to good people from John 9, and I want so much for you to get this truth into your head. Because I know that armed with this simple story of the man born blind, and the reason for it, that you will be better equipped to deal with your own tragedies and to bring glory to God in the midst of your pain.

I know it is Memorial Day weekend, but you have got to come to church! I have something that I need to tell you. Something that will change the way you deal with tragedies.

The Deconstructionist's Ethic

I am having a conversation right now about some fundamental changes occurring in fundamentalism. I am not ready to go public with the story because I believe it to be at a very sensitive time and many that I talk to don’t even understand the question. There are times when, in order for fundamentals to remain, the structure that houses them must change. However, deconstructing the box that holds our valuables is often seen as an attack on the value itself. Here is an example…

Let’s say that you have your photos in one of those nice albums with the stick paper and plastic coverings. One day, you arrive to see your friend tearing the plastic covering from the book and taking the pictures out. “What are you doing!” you exclaim. To which he replies, “I am saving your valuable pictures.” He then takes them to the computer and scans them to digital format.

In reality, he was destroying the container that once preserved the valuable for a time, but that would not survive indefinitely. The struggle is to know when the right time for deconstruction arrives. When is it no longer appropriate to carry our valuable gospel in a box that is no longer practical to the point that it erodes the valuable that it once held?

I spoke to one pastor recently who asked “why do you need to tear one system down to build another up?” This was a very valid observation and I quickly agreed with him. However, on second thought, a new system can not be fully installed without first removing, or abandoning the old. Here is where the rub is and the sparks fly and names are called. Attacking the old system for its present shortcomings are never the end, but a necessary part of building the new. And perhaps, there will be some who will successfully defend the system and go down with the ship.

If this will be the case, when do we abandon ship, and who if anyone do we try to rescue. Promoting our answer to those on the ship would no doubt be labeled as mutiny, and yet to leave a brother onboard while we truly see the water rising is no good either.

So I ponder. I sit at the keyboard and write to think. I rehearse again what I believe to be the deconstructionist’s ethic and how if at all something needs to change in fundamentalism so that the fundamentals will survive to the next generation. As a young fundamentalist I am pulled from the right to “not remove the old landmarks”, and from the left to adjust to globalization and the way things are. I know deep down that hard decisions will have to be made. So today I ponder the deconstructionist’s ethic.

I have no use for "Volunteers"

I met a friend for prayer yesterday. Church is exciting, plans in the works, good things happening, praises abound. Then with exasperation he mentioned his prayer request, I have a couple, who are not reliable. They both serve in vital ministries and when they are not present, the whole church suffers. When I talked to them, they indicated that they were "volunteers" and not required to be there, and excused their absence.

From time to time, people in the church see themselves as volunteers rather than members of a body. Christ never describes our service for him as voluntary. In fact, the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, that the love of Christ compels us. There is nothing voluntary about being compeled. This same word in the origional Greek is also translated "arrest." We are not volunteers by a long shot, we are arrested by the Love of Christ and placed in His service. What "volunteers" fail to realize is that their lack of faithfulness actually hurts the whole body of Christ. Often, we think that it is only the faithfulness of the pastor or staff, or deacons that affect the church, but more often it is the faithfulness of the people that make or break a church. I pray for my friend, and I pray for our church as well. In today's world, there is no use for volunteers. God's church must be served by faithful members of the body, so that it can function properly and remain healthy.

Andy Stanley's 3 keys for Sermoneering

Years ago, Andy Stanley spoke at the C3 conference at Fellowship Church and while I did not attend, I did order the CD's and these three rules for delivering messages have changed the way that we think about sermoneering. I looked for it on the internet, and could not find the outline, so I thought I would post these three key questions we must ask before making any presentation.

1. Is the context appealing
Much has been said recently about contexualization and the need for us to understand that not every program or presentation is universally accepted or for that manner effective. If we are to be missional in our approach, we have to ask ourselves the context question. Is the context in which we plan to speak aiding or detracting for the listener's ability to receive the message. Everything from strange sounds and odors to dirty floors and burned out light bulbs can all detract from our message getting across. Our dress, the use of multimedia all come into play. Is the context appealing for my listener. It too must be mentioned that the context may change as the listener changes. It is also important to note that context does not mean good or bad. The context of Chuck-E-Cheese is a great context for a 5 year old's birthday party and a hospital is a great context for a sick person but neither are great environments for the other. Before we go to speak, we must ask ourselves if the context is appealing.

2. Is the presentation engaging
The first book on preaching taught that attention is something you pay. We need as communicators to understand that it costs our listeners (and readers) time and effort, and if we begin the habit of wasting their time they will begin the habit of going elsewhere. Every message of Christ was engaging, it grabbed the attention of the listeners and left them wanting more, not realizing where the time went. It is a sin to take the most interesting book in history and proceed to bore people with it, but unfortunately we often do. To fight this we must tell stories and interact with the crowd as often as possible. We live in a narrative society and stories engage.

3. Is the content helpful
Andy says in his talk that comedians are engaging, but they are not helpful. Comedians have trained themselves to ride the wave of the crowd and know when it is time to go deeper and when to move on. And although very engaging, comedy is not helpful. Our task as communicators of God's word is to engage the crowd in a conversation that will in the end help them to take spiritual steps. We must always look at it from the critic's phrase "so what's your point!" A great environment and engaging delivery are only as good as the content is helpful.

Elevate!

You heard it here first. Our theme for 2008 will be "Elevate!" It is our goal this year to take our church to the next level of effectiveness. In order to accomplish this we will seek to elevate Christ, elevate the people of the church, and elevate our community. The story began last fall as our leadership team sat down to discuss making our purchase of land a top priority for 2008. We spent several months evaluating and talking to outside leaders about where we are at as a church and what it will take for us to raise sufficient funds to purchase land in this market. We realized along the way that although land is an important goal, that it should not be the main goal, but only a tool to achieve the main goal. Our main goal as church is to elevate Christ, in our hearts and in our community, and Jesus has promised that if He is lifted up (elevated) He will draw all men unto himself. On Sunday we will have our annual vision meeting, but it is not just any vision meeting. I really see it as a turning point for our church. I believe that if we spent the last 5 years of our infancy focused on surviving, we must spend the next 5 on thriving. We will lay out the 5 year plan that will elevate our church to the next level of effectiveness, and will call us up to a great level of service to our Lord and to our community. If you have anything to do with Cornerstone or the Four Corners Community, you CANNOT miss this Sunday.

Soul Winning

· I grew up in a tradition of soul winners. We would go soul winning every Thursday night and Saturday. Sometimes we would go and stand in front of the movie theater and pass out pamphlets, or at the entrance to the mall. We had training on all the proper techniques and proven formulas for converting everyone from atheists to Catholics to faith in Christ alone.
· Some would come back with stories of doors slammed in our faces, or tracts crumpled and tossed at our feet. We were taught that some would reject God’s plan of salvation and they rejected Christ after all.
· Some were really good at it. Once, I was with a preacher who had a couple praying to receive Christ before I knew what was going on.
· I was never too good at it, Oh, I had a few, but in reality I have always been ashamed at my win/loss percentage. Maybe by sheer determination, I could make some converts, but I have never felt comfortable with the idea of selling Jesus like a door to door vacuum salesman. You come in throw some dirt around, show how their vacuum does not fully cleanse, but how ours can make you whiter than snow.
· I never liked the debate either. As if I could by my power of persuasion convince people to accept Christ. I wish there was a better way. One where I did not feel pressured to “win” people to Christ, one where I did not feel like I had to pressure people into making a spiritual decision, and hoping that they stick with it.
· I believe that the frustration of the church today is that we are adopting the world’s system of conversion. We are trying to spread the good news by army and argument. We teach our kids to sing “I’m in the Lord’s Army” and send out the troops to make disciples. And they come back wounded from the fight, discouraged from the failures of making people become disciples of Christ.
· I wonder if somewhere in this process of sharing our faith that we have taken the good news of Salvation through faith in Christ and are using the world’s system for conversion to spread it. Like broadcasting TV signals from a Radio tower, our message is not getting across because the methods we choose are the system of the world.
· Man’s system is to convert by conquering, whether it be the ancient Babylonians or the modern Islamist, the sword is awfully effective in getting people to adopt religious systems.
· Christianity is better than that you say. Yes there were the crusades, but we are more civilized than that now. We convert through superior argument. We go out to win them over by pointing out the shortcomings of their faith and leading them to Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life.
· When did we adopt this mindset that we are to be soul winners? That it is our Great Commission to make disciples by conquest and convincing. Is it not the Holy Spirit of god that does the winning? Is it really our place to make converts? When did we begin to equate witnessing with winning? Are we commanded to argue people to Christ or tell what great things God has done for us?
· These are the questions that we will wrestle with this coming weekend.
· Don’t forget, we will be having three services this weekend.
o Saturday 6:30 p.m. – Current Style Worship Service
o Sunday 8:15 a.m. – Classic Style Worship Service
o Sunday 10:45 a.m. – Contemporary Style Worship Service

Missional Fatigue

I read this from Ed Crepes today and thought it applied to us at Cornerstone. What are your thoughts?

When I visit casual contemporary and traditional churches these days I’m meeting what could be called “a new kind of Christian:” believers who used to attend aggressively missional congregations elsewhere in town. Often a thirty-something couple with two or three elementary age children, these transfers sometimes seem motivated to explain to me their presence in more inwardly-focused settings. In the telling of their stories some patterns have emerged...

Stage 1: intense involvement in the start-up or ongoing ministry of a missional congregation (however defined), often as key leaders

Stage 2: weathering the financial emergencies, ministry shortfalls, and discipleship pressures that inevitably accompany this kind of enterprise

Stage 3: realizing that the stress of serving in a climate that one friend of mine called, “a miracle on the verge of a disaster every day” is never going to end

Stage 4: identifying a gracious exit strategy, often explained as the need for better children’s or teen ministry

Stage 5: transitioning to another high-quality church that is more family-focused.

Stage 6: feeling somewhat guilty over abandoning the missional scene to do more conventional church

When did Macaroni become pasta?

I receive an email subscription from this guy and he poses the question about when macaroni became pasta. What a great question. While eating at TGI Fridays a couple of months ago we noticed that the macaroni on the kid's menu was $5.99 and even more than chicken fingers. Not to chase rabbits, but I thought chickens with fingers were rare. Here is what he had to say about the whole macaroni/pasta controversy.

“Macaroni became ‘pasta’ on the same day the hobo became ‘the homeless,’ the trailer house became the ‘mobile home’ and stock-car racing became ‘NASCAR. It would appear we’ve chosen to celebrate the mundane, elevate the ordinary and idolize the average."

It makes me ask how much I fall into the trap of hype in my ministry, where I over emphasize things that really are not eternal. If we are not careful we will busy ourselves with secondary or maybe even "non" important things.

Watermelooza Schmooza

What a fun event. Everyone was so helpful, from Extreme Jumpers who provided the water slide, to Larry the HOA president of Westridge subdivision who hosted the event. We were able to give away 100 melons, but we had to cheat a little at the end by sending our volunteers home with up to 5 or 6 to pass out to neighbors. I learned some valuable lessons last night about ministry.

1. People don't trust the church (in general)
We are often as guilty of the bait and switch as the business community so much that to give something away totally free is met with skepticism. It requires a total reprogramming of what the church is about.

2. It is always best to meet people on their turf
It would have been very hard to attract people to come pick up melons if it was not right there in the subdivision where they live. We need to be more mindful of taking the good news to the people.

3. FREE doesn't matter to some people
Whether it be free watermelons or the freeness of salvation, some people will always turn it down. We heard excuses for why people couldn't receive a free melon. two great ones were, "We are on vacation." (I didn't know that was a rule) another excuse was "we just ate" (like they would have to take it straight home to eat it.) In reality, some people just didn't want it no matter the cost. Sadly, they tell this to the one who gave His life for them too. It is our job to help them discover their true need for Him.

4. We have some of the best volunteers ever
I am so proud of the way that our volunteers worked to pull this off, then came back out to meet the guests and open the door for sharing Christ. Jodie and Shawn Ciccarello really shined bright and I am proud to be part of their church.

5. Not very many people are aware of Cornerstone
Putting the signs up on Saturday and taking them down on Sunday means that there is a very small window of opportunity for people to find our church. It teaches me that we as a church need to raise the awareness of our presence in the community and the best way is for every member of the church to love it so much that they invite others to come.

Dealing with Departures

Today I will be preaching to a group of preachers. It is a bit intimidating for a young pastor to address such a audience, but God's Word will do all the teaching, all I have to do is expose it. As I prayed about what these men need to hear and God laid a burden on my heart about people leaving the churches they pastor. It is an all too common occurrence and painful for anyone trying to build a ministry. After reading scripture on the matter here is what I learned.

1. Many disciples left Jesus - Jn 6

- If many left Christ many will leave you. And when that happens it is natural to withdraw and question even your most loyal followers, but ministry marches on and some faithful will stay true to the vision and some devils will stick around too. Many quit Christ, many will quit you.

2. Godly ministers disagree - Acts 13 & 15

- John Mark wimps out on Paul's first missionary journey and it drives Paul and Barnabas to separate. In the end, ministry goes on and is actually multiplied. When this happens we must guard ourselves from bitterness, and you never know when that John Mark might come in handy. 2 Tim. 4.

3. Fellow laborers will fall - 2 Tim. 4

I think every pastor can identify with Paul when he said "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me" Ministry can be lonely at times, but we still have His promise to never leave us or forsake us. When Demas fell back into the world's grip Paul had to continue on. The plain truth is that others in ministry will fall away. Their failure cannot determine our faithfulness.

So, what do we do about it?

1. Refuse to fall in love with another man's bride.

- In truth the church is not ours. She belongs to Christ. Too many of us as pastors fall in love with the ministry to the point that we develop an unhealthy relationship.

2. Refuse to be more concerned with who you are losing than who you are winning.

- The temptation of most churches is to chase down absentees and runaways at the expense of those who have never been. Unfortunately when this happens we are usually wasting out time on people who have already decided that our church is not the church for them. We must let them go and take the gospel to the undecided.

3. Refuse to judge the success of ministry based on the number of people in the pew or pennies in the plate.

- When we look at these gauges as soon as the service is over, we are keeping score in the wrong game. A worship service is about worship of God, not worship of numbers. Number are important but they are not primary, and probably not even secondary.

4. Refuse to believe you have the ability to build it or break it.

- Pastor, you did not build the church. Jesus said He did. And if the gates of hell cannot destroy it then neither can you. Stop taking credit for everything both positive and negative.

5. Refuse to change your mission based on who gets on or off the bus.

-Pastoring a church is like driving a bus. Bus drivers do not base their driving on keeping people on the bus. They just drive their route. Along the way people will get on and people will get off, but we must keep driving because that is what we are commissioned to do.

I know that many of those who read the blog are from Cornerstone, and hopefully this will be helpful for you to know. To you church planters and pastors hang in there, and stay focused on your mission!

No Staff Meeting Today!

Tuesdays are our usual day for staff meeting and I canceled it for today. We meet religiously, well as religiously as a bunch of Baptists can, every Tuesday. In staff meeting we will walk through the ministry blueprint and go from room to room checking on things, planning events and dreaming. After everyone arrives at either my house or Gabe's house (Gabe has better food) we open with prayer. The first room we look into is our Foyer. The Foyer is the place where people enter the house and for us it is our Sunday worship services. We will begin by noting guests and absentees. A determination will be made on who and how we will follow up with each. As a church we value people and they are our first priority. After people we will look at positives. Last week we began by asking the question "what happened Sunday that made you feel successful in ministry?" (Got that one from Andy Stanley) Then we look at problems, what did not work, here we will dissect every element of the service and evaluate its effectiveness so that we can either improve it or kill it. The second room we enter is the Living Room, that is the place where people get to know one another, for us it is our Bible Fellowship Activities. We know that by having activities, our small groups will help people integrate into the group for a deeper experience down the road. These activities serve as the stepping stone into our Bible Fellowship Tables. We will both review recent events as well as plan upcoming events. The next room we talk about is our Dining Room, for us the Dining room is the Small Group Bible Fellowship Tables. This is where our people come together as family and are fed spiritually. Everything we have done to this point is to direct people into a small group where they will be loved and cared for. We will look at what we can do to move certain people into small groups, evaluate upcoming lesson series, and work on leadership development. The next room we talk about is the Kitchen, this for us is ministry. Wednesday nights is focused on the kitchen and we spend a lot of time training people in ministry and hopefully giving them the tools to serve. We will talk about upcoming outreach events and how we can improve our standard of service. We will wrap things up by talking about the Office, (No, not that one) and taking care of any inner office things such as finances, purchase orders, and other internal stuff. So there you have it. A typical staff meeting here at Cornerstone. I will say that we have a great team of leaders and I look forward to meeting with them each week. They are the workhorses. Sue, have a great day; Gabe, enjoy your parents; Chuck, drive safe; Seth, congratualtions; and Bruce, come back soon we miss you!

thoughts on pastoral transition

I've not blogged much this week, and for that I am sorry. But I am working on a message for a pastor's meeting coming up and thought I would take one of the rabbit trails that I hope to avoid on July 9th here.

I am a big advocate for church planting. New churches have the opportunity to identify with the culture right from the start. A planter will come into a community, identify a subculture and begin a church designed specifically for the people of that community. This is why I believe that new churches usually grow faster and win more lost than long established. They are not weighed down by years of "history" and "tradition." They are free to meet people where they are without much resistance. However, I have come to understand that the same thing tends to take place when a church is seeking a new pastor. Yes, there will always be the crowd that wishes to remain in the "glory" years, but to find a new pastor with the same stance as before is nigh to impossible and as a natural result that church is forced to adapt. Therefore with each new pastorate, the church changes, and each time it realigns, it moves closer to its community. This is probably most notable in an area where the neighborhood around the church has changed. The DNA of that church changes ever so slightly and the church also changes, it adapts to better suit the present membership. Please do not take his the wrong way, I am in no way endorsing church hopping by pastor or pew, but just wanted to point out a positive benefit of pastoral transition.

Hello my name is Joel and it is my first time

While on vacation I attended my sister-in-law Michele's church in Athens GA. I was reminded of how terrible that it is visiting church for the first time. Now, don't take anything I say as a commentary on this particular church. My only goal here is to think through what it is like for our first timers. I often try to put myself in the shoes of our guests, and we go overboard trying to best handle our guests. However, there is no better way to put on the shoes of a guest than actually being a guest. So here goes...

1. I got there early... much time to find the back row, but also stood out. In hindsight, I would have wanted to come late and leave early.

2. The people were friendly, and the pastors shook my hands and talked to me. I know that if it had not happened I would have been bothered, but even that made me feel uncomfortable.

3. Interviews - I hate job interviews, and small talk can really turn into one if it goes to long. One thing that I will take away is to not grill the guests on where they are from and what they are doing in town. I have a tendency to do that, and last night I did not like it when I had to explain myself to everyone.

4. the gauntlet - I know pastors are supposed to guard the door on the way out of church, but I caught myself slipping behind pastor #2 without really wanting to interact. I am sure that he would have shaken my hand and thanked me for coming, but I avoided him. I really don't know my psyche on that, but nevertheless I did it. I am not proud of what I did either.

5. I did not know the program - I know we curse the bulletin checklist of what happens next, but I found myself wanting to know more of what is going to happen next. How long will it be, what should I expect etc.

6. A few last thoughts. It would have been even more awkward if I had been alone and not with family. At least I had someone to talk to. Also, I knew the songs, they were country and old school, but I knew most of them from my childhood and that probably made it more comfortable. Also, I knew what to expect as far as the general beliefs and practice of that particular tribe of Baptist. Not knowing the culture would have been a killer.

All in all, I gained a greater respect for those who venture to church for the first time. I was reminded that it is not easy, and that it takes a lot to get me to go to a church where I know I will feel like I did last night. I also know that the more I attended that church the more comfortable I would feel. I don't know that I can criticize anything that they did, other than have me raise my hand as a guest; that we don't do. Even then, I am going to rethink how we treat our guests and how we can do a better job of removing any obstacle to them getting in and worshipping God.

Every Member a ...

This Sunday we will be talking about expectations at church and it has me thinking about what I expect out of the people of our church. As part of a church planting school that I attended a few years back, I learned that I often have overly optimistic expectations of other people. I am still not happy being told this, because for me, they should all just step up.

However, there are some times that I can see where I have put too much stock in the abilities of some who ended up hurting the church as they were unable to accomplish the task. I remember one time having a teenage boy sing a solo on a Wednesday night youth meeting and feeling sooooooo bad for him as he took a great song and destroyed it. The bad thing was that he knew he was killing it and it was killing him. Where I thought he had room to grow, and that I could develop him in the area of music, actually turned around to embarrass him and teach me a lesson in the process.

So what is too high of an expectation or a misplaced expectation? What should we as pastors expect from God's people the church? I will say without a doubt that our expectations should line up with the pattern laid out in the Bible. Therefore, as a leader, and recognizing that people are all at different stages of growth, the end goal is still Christ likeness. My expectations of the people of my church is that they are becoming more like Christ every day. It is not too much to expect a level of devotion to God that is better than before.

A few years ago the phrase "every member a minister" began floating around church world. We realized that there is no room in the church for people who just want to leach ministry from the body like a cancer, but that every member should be involved in giving back to the ministry. This is a great step for most churches as the age old statistic says that 20% of the people do 80% of the ministry. If we could flip those numbers imagine the amount of service we could do!

However, our expectations cannot end there. Remember that Christ likeness is our goal, and that takes more than ministry. We must now go beyond "every member a minister" to the new step of "every member a missionary." Missions is ministry but with two distinctives.

First, mission is simply ministry that takes place outside of the church. Where ministry watches babies in the nursery, mission watches the baby next door. Where ministry is a friendly greeting and cup of coffee to a guest at church, mission is a friendly greeting and cup of coffee to the homeless. It moves from self serving to serving others.

The second distinctive is that mission is ministry with purpose. We become missionaries when our babysitting is done to share Christ with our neighbor; when our coffee and greeting leads to a conversation about God's love. If we do ministry without this purpose then we have failed to do mission.

2 Cor. 4:5 - 6 (NKJV)

For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bond servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

So what do I expect? I expect that everyone who is a member of Cornerstone will be in the process of becoming more like Christ, in holy living, and in action. Namely that we will reach the goal of "every member a missionary!"

Heckler or Helper

Have you ever gone to a ball game and sat next to a "Big Fan?" I mean the kind who is always yelling as if among the 30,000 other people, their voice would stand out. From time to time in ministry we all will be cheered and jeered, and sometimes it is hard to know one from the other. When that happens, I must ask myself a few questions.

1. Is the person in the stands or on the field?

- A team mate or coach is more likely to give helpful comments than some drunk guy in the bleachers who is just sitting there seeking entertainment. In ministry when I get recommendations from the stands more often than not, it is from those who are not part of the game, though they may care about the wins and losses of the team, they usually do not contribute to the victory. Anyone in professional sports can tell you that they, in order to be effective, must drown out the fans. Don't believe it when they praise you, and don't listen to their criticism.

2. Do they know the why?

- Ignorance is not always bliss. Sometimes people on the field will make changes that the people in the stands do not agree with. It is important, especially in leadership that you make the best call for the team, in spite of the misunderstandings. When a manager calls a pitcher from the bullpen, it is not a lightweight decision. He has been watching all of the pitchers practice throughout the week, he has read the Dr.'s reports and has been scouting the opponent. He is the best one to make the call because it is his job. They plumber in the stands can read the sport's page and think he knows best, but in reality hindsight is 20/20 and for leaders we deal in the now. In addition, it is not his responsibility to answer all the whys. Often we are tempted to answer all the critics, and as this is sometimes necessary, it is always distracting and the team always suffers.

3. What's their motivation

- I once went to a game and sat in foul ball territory. As there were not many people in the stands that day, I felt I had a good chance to catch the elusive foul ball that we all dream about. Unfortunately, I found myself wishing that my team would hit foul balls just so that I could get what I wanted. Forget what was best for the team, forget that it counts as a strike, I wanted a souvenir and was willing to cheer against my team in order to get it. In ministry everyone you serve will have needs. They will all want you the lead pastor to meet those needs. Just as I would want the top surgeons performing my operation. Understanding that, there will be times when people want you to take your eye off the ball and give them what they want. In the end however, they often go away disappointed because the team lost....Oh, and by the way, someone else caught the foul ball.

4. Who do I play for?

- In most cities the fans believe that they own the team. Baltimore realized only too late when their Colts moved to Indianapolis in the middle of the night on March 29, 1984. As leaders, we must realize that the fans think that they own us, that we work for them. In reality ministry is not to people but to God. We are God's servants and as soon as we replace Him and start serving people we are in trouble.

5. Know your role

- Ball players and coaches are very important to the community where they work. Charity functions, and sick children, and ribbon cutting, and so on always "need" their support. In ministry it is key to know your role. There is always someone who needs to learn something, the key to effectiveness is to lead leaders and not followers. Jesus often taught the multitudes, he even paused to heal the sick, but in truth he spent the vast, and I mean vast majority of his time coaching the twelve. He understood the ministry multiplication and that if he was going to accomplish His father's will that he could not heal everyone. If they were all healed, then who would have Peter and John healed? Know that your role is to raise up leaders, who can multiply ministry.

6. Teach them their role

In high school I started for JV and Varsity basketball in my 10th grade year. It was all good until we changed schools in my Junior year and I did not even make the team. Even though I did not make the team, I still wanted to have a part, so a group of us guys got together and formed a club/group called the 6th man. We dressed in all black, and made it our goal to disrupt the other team as much as possible. We saw that both teams had specified people to be cheer leaders, but we were counter opts. We would do everything we could to subvert the success of our opponents. As leaders we need to help the fan in the crowd to find a way to get in the game. It is not okay for the average church member or attender to cheer from the sidelines, they must get in the game. We must help them turn their energies on the opponent, and off our team.