Just Shut Up

I am highly opinionated, overly observant and very analytical. As such, when things aren't right, or when they could be done better, I'll usually notice. If something in a minister's message isn't theologically sound, I'll usually catch it. If there is a typo in a publication, I'll usually see it. If there's an administrative process not working, I'll see a different way.

I know this about myself. I am learning how to respond to those things better. Lately I've noticed a lot of people who don't seem to handle this well, so let me share a simple thought that could have saved me a lot of trouble if I'd done it a little more often. Just shut up.

If you don't agree with a particular ministry, don't follow them. There is no excuse or justification for sarcastic mockery of their ministry. They aren't your servant, they don't answer to you, and frankly your opinion isn't going to change anything, so quit wasting your breath.

If something in your church isn't cleaned to your satisfaction, grab a rag and fix it, or stop complaining. If there's an area of ministry that's lacking, volunteer to help in that area or quit whining. People that are playing an active role find they have a lot less time to worry about what doesn't matter.

If you're finances are a mess, start tithing & get a budget, or live in your mess. If you won't even trust God enough to tithe, then you are a God-robber and shouldn't be shocked by the outcome.

If you're overweight, watch what you eat and go to the gym and quit blaming it on hormones, genetics, or your metabolism. If you don't, quit sobbing about it, you made the choice.

If it isn't important enough to motivate action on your part, it isn't important enough to talk about. Your mouth doesn't show what's important to you, your time and checkbook do.

Do something or shut up. Whining just annoys everyone. Be the solution instead of pointing out problems.

You'll be happier, your life will be better, and people will like you more.

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Wisdom from Harry

A lot of the church world takes great issue with the Harry Potter series. They think that a book with witchcraft can't possibly be compatible with Christian life. While watching one of the Harry Potter movies tonight, there was a great scene that I think contains a great application for us as believers.

The book series, for those who don't know, revolves around the struggle between Harry Potter and the dark wizard Voldemort. Voldemort killed Harry's parents, and in his attempt to kill Harry, was killed himself. As the saga progresses, Voldemort is brought back to life, and Harry is feeling isolated and alone as one of the few who believes he has returned.

In this movie, Harry is having a conversation with another student, and she tells him she believes him. When Harry responds that she is probably the only one, she makes a profound statement.

She looks at Harry and tells him that his feeling of isolation was probably exactly what Voldemort wanted, after all, Harry would be less dangerous alone. I started thinking how much emphasis the enemy of our soul puts into keeping us isolated and I think Harry's friend was on to something.

How often do we isolate ourselves from one another because Satan convinced us we are the only ones who struggle with our certain sin or insecurity? How frequently do we magnify what someone did to us and allow Satan to use that offense as a wedge between us and our brothers and sisters in Christ?

The book of Acts is proof of what can happen when a group of Christ followers unites under a common cause. We are far less dangerous to Hell when we are divided and isolated. Unlike the Rambo movies, renegades are not heroes.

Our unity is our strength. We will never impact the world as in the book of Acts in isolation. Our impact will be limited to our degree of unity. Fortunately, unity is one thing completely within our own control.

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Why Policy Matters in KidMin

As a church, we have recently placed a lot of framework and policies in place in different areas of the church. From requiring parents to have security tags to pick up their children to bottle policies in the nursery, we are creating structure. Some of these things may seem unnecessary or even ridiculous, but they matter. Here's why:

• Policy creates structure for growth. If we operate as a small church, we'll stay small. God will not send people to our door that we can't or won't take care of. As Jim Wideman says, if you'll do when you're small what you'd be forced to do if you got big, you'll get big.
• Policy creates safety. I know I will never have a child have an allergic reaction to peanuts if I don't serve peanut products. I know that I won't let a child be kidnapped from our ministry if every parent has to present a security tag to pick up their child. When little things are done right, consistently, they create safety.
• Policy creates uniformity. If we have a clear policy in place, there is no confusion. There is consistency among the entire staff.
• Policy defines boundaries. With no boundaries, your ministry is a swamp and chaos soon ensues. With the right boundaries, you have a river.
•  Policy limits offense. If this is the policy and it is enforced consistently across the board, then there is no opportunity for offense, because it isn't personal. A few may still be upset by the rules, but when they are reminded frequently and see it enforced with others, hurt feelings are minimized.

Policies aren't something to be hated or feared, they create room for growth and reap benefits in your ministry.

Careful Who You Pre-Judge

First impressions last forever. We've all heard that, and it really is true. What isn't as true is that first impressions are always accurate, fair, or justified. I think back to when I met our associate pastor. I was in youth and I knew he was coming to take over as youth pastor, and in five minutes of conversation I decided I did not like him. I don't remember what it was he said, but something about him just didn't sit well with me.

Like most of us, I automatically assumed my initial judgment was correct. I decided I didn't like him. I drudgingly decided I would have to put up with him until I turned eighteen and got out of youth. I left that first encounter disappointed, and nervous about how we would end up getting along. I had immediately closed the door to him having influence in my life.

Over time, I realized how wrong I was in that first moment. He became a mentor and friend, and one of the people who has most impacted my life. There are very few people of whom I am as appreciative.I wonder how many people God has tried to place in my life that I dismissed because of a bad first impression. Who is God trying to use in my life that I have tried to push away because they don't strike me as a likely candidate?

Sometimes when we pre-judge people by first impressions we may very well be pushing away the very people that God is placing in our lives to impact us, we may be rejecting the people God has chosen to bless our lives. I know I still do it, and that's something I am working on. Hopefully, as we are more aware, we will all give people a fair chance, instead of rejecting their impact because of something as fickle as a first impression.

Litter

All over town you come across litter along the roads. People just discard their waste wherever they decide they want to. Now, I'm not an environmental activist, but really, dispose of your trash properly. That aside, I think people are as careless with their spiritual lives as they are with their natural things.

We discard relationships because something else seems better from a distance. We throw out a church because someone hurt our feelings. We throw away jobs because we decide we don't like it, then complain when we can't find work. We jump ship from our helps roles at the church because we don't feel valued.

It seems like in just about every area of our lives, we get spoiled to this way of thinking that another opportunity is right around the corner, and that we can just throw away what we've worked for and replace it. I guess it comes down to the fact that America is a prosperous nation and a land of opportunity.

While those things may be true, it is a foolish thing to discard what you have for the hope of something better. Whatever little thing you don't like about what you have is most certainly going to be the same in whatever you get to replace it. Or, something even worse.

Value relationships. Value people. Value your God-given assignment. These things are not replaceable. It will only end in pain for you if you throw what God has given you to the side of the road like a piece of garbage under the mistaken guise you could do better.

Keep the right perspective about people and roles in your life. You never know when you might be throwing away the very thing God has placed in your life to build your future.

The Main Thing

There’s a saying that goes around in leadership circles that goes like this: the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. We get the implication in leadership, but I think the sentiment has major implications in our witness to a lost and dying world. I think a lot of times we confuse morality with transformation. We confuse political ideals with spiritual truth.
We sit around and talk about the “moral decay” in America. We look at the scantily clad woman in Wal-Mart or the sexually explicit joke on a TV show and we turn our nose up with some ignorant superiority complex. Morality is good. I applaud networks and organizations that uphold firm values and morals. I support politicians who share my values.
However, let’s get this straight. You can be moral and be lost. You can have the best of principles and still be on a path to split Hell wide open. Beyond that, any morality we claim to have as believers is not the result result of our own efforts, it’s because of Christ’s work and is not something we can boast in.The moment we begin to treat morality as the goal or as the problem or lack of morality as the problem is the moment we elevate the temporal over the eternal and make our fleshly accomplishments higher than Christ’s finished work. Ultimately, focus on morality means we’re neglecting the real condition of man’s soul.
Sinners are going to sin, it’s par for the course and we can’t act like it’ some intentional offense to us. It’s simply the nature of the beast. Until their soul is touched by the compassion of Christ, that will not change. If we would make our attitude more closely resemble that of our Savior and not run because our morality is affronted, but rather love and accept people, maybe we can see their behavior change because we finally made the main thing the main thing.

Are you bleeding?

Very few believers would deny the immeasurable pain and sacrifice Christ endured on the cross. Most will tell you of how brutally He was beaten and how the nails were driven through His hands. They will gladly tell you about the crown of thorns being driven into His skull. They will recount these stories in fairy-tale like fashion as if there is no more power in this sacrifice than in the Cinderella story.
While they acknowledge that the redemption of man required pain, sacrifice, and blood, they seem to think that the Christian life won’t require them to bleed. We look at the first century church and think, “Why did they have such results?” We want to know what differentiated them from us. I think the answer is not what we’d like it to be. The difference is they bled.

In the first century, being a part of a church cost you something. Every day, they lived with the reality it could at any moment cost them their lives. Ask the average American where their faith is costing them something and see what happens. I think the responses you hear will show you why we have the nothing results we have today.
Jesus bled and died for us, He bled from virtually every orifice on His body, but the average Christian today isn’t even sacrificing enough for a paper cut. If your faith isn’t costing you something, if you aren’t sacrificing something, then your comfort is your idol and you by your lack of action are condemning the world to remain in its lost condition.
I am not advocating working so hard you lose your family in the process or some other extremes, but if you aren’t giving the Kingdom as much time as you give the soccer club, then your priorities are seriously out of order. Let’s start bleeding just a little more, sacrificing just a little more comfort, and start making a bigger impact. Where are you bleeding today?

Theology on Theology

There is right and there is wrong. There are absolutes. No matter what my opinion or interpretation, it doesn’t matter. I look at it this way, it I start walking toward the edge of a tall building, jump off and say “I can fly”, the end result will still be the same, regardless of my opinion or what I believe about the situation.
That being said, none of us has the slightest clue whether our view of the truth really is or not. We may have reasons for our convictions, we may have Scriptures, but the truth is so did the Pharisees. There are things from Scripture about which there can be no debate. Jesus is the only way to heaven. The only way to believe otherwise is to reject red letters. I don’t budge on that. Whether you want to sprinkle or dunk on the other hand, that isn’t an eternal question.
I have theology I hold to be true, and it goes much further than eternal issues. However, I could be wrong. In fact, I’m most certainly wrong on some of it. You are too. I am not discounting the value of a deep foundation of theology, but my point is that I will choose not to sacrifice a relationship over something I could be wrong about. I will not lose my ability to co-labor with other believers to reach a lost and dying world because they sprinkle and I dunk.

Christians around the world have split into more sects and denominations and left good churches because of petty arguments over opinion, ignoring the admonition of Christ to be one body. I just look at it all and think that, when we get to eternity, we will realize how little some of the stuff we made such a big deal about really mattered.
You and I will disagree from time to time. If we don’t, one of us isn’t doing any thinking. Disagreement is not an indication it is time to break fellowship, it’s an opportunity to expand our thinking and grow. Basically, as long as we can agree on the basics, the rest of my theology is adaptable, because I have to be willing to change as I learn.
Anything short of that is making an idol out of my theology, making it higher than God’s word. Let’s find the points on which we agree, work together to accomplish something great for Christ in our lifetime, and maintain an attitude of acceptance on the areas that don’t matter.

Community pt 2

It seems like you can't talk about friendship and intimacy with other people without someone in the crowd bringing up some story of their long lost friend who betrayed their trust, hurt their feelings, and crushed their soul so badly they just can't put their heart out there again. I think everyone has a story of a friend that either hurt them, or you just drifted apart when you thought you would be friends for life. Proverbs teaches us that as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens his friend. We all like that verse. You hear it every time there is a push at church for a cell group meeting or some fellowship event. We all like that verse, until it starts happening in our lives. Iron doesn't sharpen iron by being gentle. The only way that iron will be sharpened if it is rubbed the wrong way. Relationships aren't always supposed to be gentle and comforting. Sometimes, a friend will tell you the truth when it hurts. Sometimes, they have this one little annoying trait that just drives you up the wall. Sometimes, they will let you down, breach your confidence, or hurt your feelings.  It's naive on our post to assume any different. Expecting to not be hurt in a relationship is holding your friend to a standard you won't even meet. If we are ever going to reap the benefits of relationships, we have to be willing to sow a little love and forgiveness when it is tough. Otherwise, you get so caught up in your own bitterness you lose sight of what matters. Here's the point: relationships aren't disposable. When you remember that people aren't a commodity you throw away when it doesn't suit you, and when you choose to focus on all the times they were there for you instead of the one they let you down, you set your self up to experience the benefits of friendship. Keep your focus in the right place and don't allow bitterness over your past steal the joy you could have in your present.

Community

I have become a huge fan of a sitcom on NBC called Community. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, it stars Joel McHale who plays a former attorney who got disbarred because he faked his education, and now he has to start over in college. Except it's community college. He quickly forms an odd but absolutely hilarious friendship with a group of people in his Spanish class to study together and try to survive, but they quickly become so much more than a study group.

Like Joel McHale and his misfit friends, we all need somebody. I really don't know where we came up with this idea that isolation is godliness or that us and God is all we need. Neither is true. Let's go back to the Garden of Eden for a few moments. Adam was in the garden in perfect fellowship with his creator. Sin had not yet entered the world. Adam could walk with God in the cool of the day with no barrier between them. God looked down on Adam and made a startling statement. He said it was not good for man to be alone.

If God was all we needed, Eve would have never been created. Adam could have remained in perfect fellowship with God, but God knew we needed more. Even from creation, we were hard wired to need people in our lives. Community.

If you take cues on faith from monks secluded in some mountains I couldn't even spell, you are missing the best part of your life. Although there are times to be alone, God never intended for your life to be alone. Who are you doing life with? What role do friendships play in your life? 

Getting Started

I read a Twitter recently that struck me pretty hard. This guy, a published author, said that each day the internet is in existence it becomes harder to publish a book without a platform. Blogs create a platform where people read your stuff and decide whether or not you are good enough to merit additional time. His simple advice was to start a blog. That's what I'm doing.

I've had this blog for about a year and didn't use it, but now is time to take a leap and start blogging on a regular basis. Whether or not I'll have anything you want to hear is still to be determined, but it's a step.

We know from the Bible that the steps of the righteous man are ordered by God, not the leaps and jumps. So, I guess this is my baby step. Here we go.