Culture Shock

As most of you know, Fort Worth and Dallas are only about 20 miles apart in proximity. But I told someone the other day, sometimes I feel like someone airlifted me into a foreign culture and dropped me off. It's a different world over here.

I snapped this picture at a barbeque restaurant some of the guys took me to the other day in Fort Worth. This sign reflects the sentiment of most of the people in Fort Worth.

I've recently discovered that I no longer live in "Dallas/Fort Worth." That name is an insult to people in Fort Worth. Fort Worthers don't care to be identified in the same sentence as Dallas. When they find out you moved over from Dallas, they're quick to point out a more laid-back atmosphere, the lack of traffic, better food, and lower property taxes. In fact, on more than one occasion when I've mentioned I just moved over from Dallas, the response has been "What took you so long?"

It is a little more laid back over here. There isn't traffic like in Dallas. So far, the food does seem to be better. But those are not the only difference between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Fort Worth thrives on industries like Lockheed-Martin, Alcon, and the railroad industry. Dallas thrives on smaller, more entrepeneur-type industries. As a result, the people in Dallas have a much more independently creative type mindset while people in Fort Worth think like engineers. That's reflected in our church big-time. The worship services are more structured, rigid (in a good way), and to-the-point than most of the worship services I've been a part of in Dallas.

It's interesting that both the church I served at in Dallas and the church where I'm currently serving in Fort Worth are functioning at an extremely high level, but neither would work in the other culture. Fellowship Bible Church North would not function well as it is in South Fort Worth. McKinney Church would not function well in a Dallas atmosphere - even though they're only twenty miles apart. And I think that's a good thing. Both churches have such a laser focus on the culture they're attempting to reach that if they were ripped out of that culture, much of their effectiveness would be lost.

Coachability

Great post from Seth Godin today about coachability:

A friend is wrestling with his ability to be coached. For the coachable, "Turn right at the light" is seen as a helpful suggestion for someone lost in a strange town... the advice goes in, is considered and then acted upon. For someone wrestling with coaching, though, it's like surgery. It's painful, it has side effects and it might lead to a bad reaction.

Coaching happens all the time. Most often, it's not from a boss or a professional coach. In fact, the best insights and advice usually come from informal or unexpected sources.

In fluid marketing and organization environments, where the world changes rapidly, coachability is a key factor in evolving and succeeding. Not because all advice is good advice. In fact, most advice is lousy advice. No, the reason coachability is so crucial is that without it, you don't have the emotional maturity to consider whether the advice is good or not. You reject the process out of hand, and end up stuck.

Symptoms of uncoachability:

- Challenging the credentials of the coach
- Announcing that you're being unfairly singled out
- Pointing out, angrily, that the last few times, the coach was wrong
- Identifying others who have succeeded without ever being coached
- Resisting a path merely because it was one identified by a coach

Years ago, at the great Bolshoi Ballet, auditions for the troupe were conducted among 8 year old girls. That's because it took ten years to become great. How did the auditions work? The teachers weren't looking for the best dancers. They were looking for the dancers who took coaching the best. The rest would come with time.

The great Howard Hendricks from Dallas Seminary always calls this trait "teachability." I would argue that without this trait, our lives and ministries are destined for obscurity. I don't know where Seth is spiritually, but the main focus of his blog is secular marketing. I don't know why, but it never ceases to amaze me that good wisdom in one's spiritual life and ministry always translates to good wisdom and practices in the "secular" world.

It's a topic for a future blogpost, but I think the major reason is that from God's perspective there doesn't seem to be a dichotomy between secular and spiritual in the same sense that we draw the lines.

Why do you do what you do?

I've compared this week - the first on the ground at the new church - to being airlifted into a foreign culture where you know almost nothing. You have to learn a new language, new traditions, new customs, even a new clothing style. It isn't easy to figure out why people do what they do, they just do them; even in ultra-contemporary type churches who try their hardest to spurn tradition and customs... they have an identifiable culture too.

Slowly but surely, I'm learning the culture at McKinney, and beginning to observe some of the things that make things tick around here. I'll try to identify a few of them over the next couple of weeks and talk about them because they're interesting, to me at least.

Today I had a conversation with the executive pastor, and he mentioned a little about the philosophy of ministry that pastors work by at McKinney. I'd heard it before, but he put it especially succinctly today.

"You see it two ways: Some pastors believe people exist to help them have an extraordinary ministry. Other pastors believe they exist to help people have an extraordinary ministry. We want to be the latter."

That's good stuff that most pastors would nod their head in agreement with (at least any pastors who are familiar with Ephesians 4). But how many of us is really comfortable in that kind of role? I know a lot of pastors who are interested in making a name for themselves - for all the right reasons. They love God, love people, and truly want to do great things. But along the way they use people to help their own ministries be extraordinary. As a result the pastor's ministry isn't nearly as extraordinary as it could be, and the world suffers from a limited number of extraordinary ministries.

It works in corporate America too. You see a lot of corporations that exist to make a CEO look great. Those corporations will always be limited by the vision, gifts, and personality of the one leader in charge. But when the CEO exists to help employees have extraordinary influence, that corporation is unlimited in its potential.

So what kind of leader are you? How do you view the people around you? Why would they say you believe you exist?

Every had a day like this guy?

Wow. I've argued balls and strikes before. But I can't imagine ever losing it to this degree. Phil Wellman, manager of the minor league Mississippi Braves went bonkers on Thursday, and put on a show that is worth watching. At least he didn't say "buns."

Chuck Swindoll has a Potty Mouth?

In the "sometimes I'm ashamed to be identified with other Christians" file, the loonies at VCY Radio Network have dropped Charles Swindoll's - yes, Chuck Swindoll's program "Insight For Living" from their radio lineup because of "crude" "vulgar" and "from-the-gutter" language. The words in question? "buns," "heck," "balls," and "crap." You can read a portion of the press release here.

It seems to me that VCY Radio Network was looking for something to get their panties in a wad about. I wish they had called me - I can think of several things that offend me a lot worse than the word "heck." Pharisaic legalists who legislate extra-biblical offenses just to make sure nobody in the world is attracted to the people or God of the Bible come to mind...

Moving...

We closed on our house today around noon. We clean tomorrow and move in on Saturday. Thus begins a whirlwind of a week of unpacking, finishing up things at Fellowship, and launching things at McKinney.

I'll be around, but if I post anything it will be short and sweet. Just didn't want you to start wondering where I went.

UFC and Me

What do I have in common with Dana White, the President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship? (My mom will be so proud!)

Besides the obvious hairline similarities, and the fact that his biceps measure roughly the same as my thighs, nothing... except that Ryan Dobson talked about both of us on his podcast this past Monday. Granted, White gets the lion's share of the broadcast, but at least I got a mention.

Who knew evangelism on the golf course could be the application for a podcast about UFC?

If you have a couple of minutes, check out Ryan's site. He's doing some really great stuff in the area of helping young men be men. I could blog for weeks about the problem of pacificity in today's men, Dobson is doing something about it.

Thanks for the discussion Ryan. I'm jealous to not be a teenager anymore - the man camp sounds like a blast.

Transitions

I'm by no means the expert at pastoral transitions, but I have done it a couple of times. Being as I'm in the middle of one right now, I thought I'd share some of my observations.

1. The leaving pastor usually overestimates the amount of time the church will need him on staff to transition. When we left the church in Arlington to come to Fellowship, we gave them almost 30 days notice because we wanted to make the transition easier. In reality, that makes the transition a lot harder for everyone involved - it's like ripping a band-aid off a little bit at a time. Once you've announced your transition, you need about a week to pass the baton and a week to say goodbye. Beyond those two weeks, it's virtually impossible to do any good.

2. Even if you're not planning a transition now, you should be planning for your transition now. All of us is going to transition out of our role at one point or another. If you truly care about the ministry you're leading, you should always have one or two people trained to the point that things could go off without a hitch if you keel over tomorrow. As I look back at some of the ministries I've been able to be a part of in the past, it's pretty obvious where I've done this well and where I've done a lousy job. You don't want the ministry to take a giant step backwards when you leave, so start preparing leaders now.

3. Leave on good terms. Even if you're leaving a ministry because of conflict, you should leave as best you can on good terms. There's never a reason to air your dirty laundry to the congregation or others. You don't have to lie to someone who asks, but be general enough in what you say that you don't become a diviscive force as you leave. "This just isn't a good fit for us anymore" is a much better answer than "Pastor Larry is a crook." Pastor Larry will still be around after you leave with the power to clear his name of anything you say about him. You won't have that luxury. If there's a major issue that the governing body at the church needs to know about, by all means let them know, but after you've resigned, you have a responsibility to let them decide whether or not to go public with that information.

4. Clean up before you go. One of the worst experiences of my ministry life was starting a ministry where the guy before me started all kinds of projects and left them for me to finish. He thought he was doing me a favor by planning all kinds of events so I wouldn't have to, but I ended up executing the events that he planned. Finish everything you can so the new guy/girl can start with a clean slate.

5. Offer your assistance, but don't stalk your successor. In every position I've left, I leave behind a small folder trying to catch my successor up on the "state of the ministry." I leave him the previous year's calendar, pertinent phone numbers, and a list of activities and programs we've done with contact information in case he wanted to use it. I top that folder off with a letter from me that includes my current contact information. If he needs my help, I invite him to call me. Otherwise, I leave him alone. Believe it or not, I had one predecessor who called me once a week for four months at a past position just to see if I needed any help. Those conversations were weird, awkward, and completely unneccessary.

Transitions can be great for both parties involved, provided they're handled in a careful and professional manner. If I get time later this week, I'll talk about transitions from the other side - how to transition in to a new role.

Tagged

Normally I'm one who hates these kinds of things, but I must be feeling gratuitous today because I've filled out two of them in a twelve hour period. This is it though, no more. Don't bother emailing me your forwards - I have my email set to automatically delete anything with "FW:" in the subject line. But because Lisa is a loyal reader and commenter, I guess I'll oblige. But I refuse to tag anyone else except Drew since he sent me one of these forwards earlier today.


I’ve been tagged. I was asked to share 7 little known facts about myself and then ‘tag’ 7 others. The only problem is trying to come up with 7 things my blabber mouth hasn’t already told you all!

1. I don't like dessert. Seriously. My favorite desserts in the world are blackberry cobbler and my mom's caramel apple pie, but when it comes right down to it I'd rather eat a second helping of the main course than eat dessert. It works out well, since Kari is the exact opposite.

2. I don't sing in the shower. I sing everywhere else, and was even paid to sing at some points in my life, but I'm not a big shower singer. It's honestly because I'm afraid someone will hear me singing in the shower, even though I don't mind them hearing me sing at other places.

3. One of my biggest phobias - if you can call it that - is drinking after people. I'll kiss my wife, but I won't drink after her. It gives me the willies just thinking about it. Don't ask why. I think it's the whole backwash thing, but the whole idea grosses me out.

4. I hate working out, but like being in decent shape. So, I bribe myself with little things throughout the day in order to force myself to do other things that I like. For example: I do fifty pushups every morning before I get in the shower. If I do my fifty pushups, I let myself drink a Coke on the way to work. If not, it's water all day.

5. I looove yard work. I've been miserable for the last 18 months in an apartment where we pay someone else to do our yard work for us. We're moving into a new house next weekend, and I can't wait to move in because I'll get to mow the yard. I've even tried to scheme a way to get to the house before the movers so I can mow the yard before they get there. Yep, I'm sick.

6. I sang first soprano until my Junior year of high school. Two hundred years ago, I would have been rich beyond belief for keeping a high voice so late. This way, I just got tougher.

7. I eat Taco Bueno at least 5 times per week. I know where every Taco Bueno is within a ten mile radius of my house, school, office, and new office. That's right - I checked out TacoBueno.com to get the lay of the land before I even signed the job offer letter. I love that place.

A Lousy Day on the Golf Course is Better...

It was 82 and sunny today here in Dallas, with a slight breeze that kept the flies away - a perfect day on the golf course. Now if I could only hone in on my golf swing...

I had a boss one time that hated the fact that I love to play golf. He saw it as a waste of 4 hours that could have been spent in the office instead. Though I was sensitive to his position on the matter, my comment to him was, "I've shared the gospel more times on the golf course than in my office at the church."

It's true. Although I love to play with friends - especially with friends from the church, I try to never show up to the golf course with a full foursome, instead opting to pick up a random extra guy at the course. Other times like today, I enjoy being the random extra guy who joins another group because I know for four hours I have a captive audience.

I used to hate the first hole with an unfamiliar golf group because the polite thing to do is to introduce yourself. Then, someone asks the question, "what do you do for a living." I used to hate that question because I was afraid it would put a damper on my cigar smoking, f-bomb dropping stranger friends. Now I love the question. Usually, when the strangers find out, they'll apologize for their friends' language, and begin to ask more questions when I don't immediately condemn their friend to hell for the word he said after his sliced tee shot.

I've found I'm usually invited to share the gospel by the third hole. No, usually not in such obvious words, but I've found by the third hole someone nearly always asks me what made me want to go into ministry. So I get to explain the gospel by hole three, and spend the next fifteen holes talking them through it. And since you have to stop every four or five minutes to hit, the conversation never gets heated.

Today was a good day. I showed up by myself, picked up another guy at the clubhouse, and set out on our way. We were to the gospel by the second green. Then we spent the next sixteen holes talking through everything from grace and inerrancy to his questions about the Council of Nicea and his eastern mysticism view of Psalm 23. By the end of the day, he might have moved from an 8 on the "away-from-Christ" meter to a 6. He's not there yet, but maybe one of you will play golf with him one day and get to help move him closer. Meanwhile, pray for him if you think about it - his name is Forest.

Finished.

If you're one of the two or three people who reads this blog on a regular basis (thanks Mom and Dad), and you've wondered where I have been (sorry for not calling), you'll be happy to know that it's finished.

"What is finished," you ask? Seminary? The job search? The search for a place to live? My leftover muchaco and bean burrito from dinner?

Yes, yes, yes, and... yes.

It's been a pretty eventful couple of weeks in the Freeland household. Two weeks ago I preached my final sermon and turned in the last paper of my seminary career. I floated across campus, and straight on to a golf course where I played 18 of the most blissful holes of golf I've ever experienced. I didn't play particularly well, but I did not once feel guilty for playing golf instead of studying.

Additionally, a few weeks ago Kari and I accepted the position of Pastor of Young Adults at McKinney Memorial Bible Church in Fort Worth, TX. Those of you who know me know that this type of position wasn't really even on my radar a couple of months ago, but after a few conversations with the executive pastor there it became clear that this was the perfect opportunity for us. We'll get to serve in an area we know a little about, and I'll be able to be mentored by an established senior pastor who is at a phase of ministry where he's passionate about developing other future senior pastors.

This Monday, we signed a contract on a house and close in two weeks. That's a pretty crazy time frame for packing and moving, so we're going to be blowing and going for a while. My poor wife is going to start sporting a hairline that resembles mine. But we couldn't be more excited.

I'll be back - I can't wait to start thinking through a new phase of ministry with you, and telling you about some of the cool things going on in Fort Worth.

Thanks to those of you who have been praying for us over the past few months. It looks like we made it...

Happy Birthday P

I'll turn in the final paper of my seminary career this Friday. It's been a long hard four years (okay, five years), but we're finally here.

Over the past several months people have asked me several times about the thing I've loved most about Dallas Seminary. It's hard to answer that question because I've truly enjoyed so many aspects of my time here. But this morning in chapel we celebrated one of the things that makes Dallas Seminary truly great.

This semester on Wednesdays and Fridays I've routinely shown up for my 1:00 class about fifteen minutes early, but I'm never the first to arrive. Dr. P. beats me to class every single day. There he sits, alone in the room, for who knows how long.

Dr. P. turned 92 years old today.

Dr. P. is Dr. Dwight Pentecost. He's been teaching seminary classes for longer than my parents have been alive. He has been walking with Christ for longer than my grandparents have been alive. He "retired" several years ago, but teaches every semester. When he retired, he told Dallas Seminary he would continue to teach, but wouldn't take a paycheck. The accreditation service disagreed, so every semester Dr. P. goes to the business office and picks up his salary - a nice, crisp, one dollar bill. And then he pins it up on the wall in his apartment to spite the people who demand he be paid for what he does.

Because Dr. P. is one of the giants of dispensationalism - the system of theology that DTS is known for - many people throughout time have disagreed with his perspective. But nobody can deny that Jesus Christ oozes out of this man. And every Wednesday and Friday, Dr. P. opens his Bible and begins to teach about the life of Christ. He doesn't just know the text... he knows the Savior.

The opportunity to be surrounded every day by men who, like Dr. P. have dedicated their entire life to walking with Jesus Christ and teaching others to do the same is a one of the privileges I'll truly miss when I pull out of the parking lot for the last time. They've made me who I am. I stand on their shoulders. And I hope in seventy years to have an ounce of the impact in the lives of others that they have had in my life.

Happy birthday Dr. P.

The Blasphemy Challenge

Lisa put me on to this thing the other day, and just now I saw it posted elsewhere too. It's called "The Blasphemy Challenge" and offers a chance for young people all over the world to upload video that is promised to "damn your soul to hell." It even contains instructions:

It's simple. You record a short message damning yourself to Hell, you upload it to YouTube, and then the Rational Response Squad will send you a free The God Who Wasn't There DVD. It's that easy.

You may damn yourself to Hell however you would like, but somewhere in your video you must say this phrase: "I deny the Holy Spirit."

Why? Because, according to Mark 3:29 in the Holy Bible, "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." Jesus will forgive you for just about anything, but he won't forgive you for denying the existence of the Holy Spirit. Ever. This is a one-way road you're taking here. Of course, how likely is it that there actually is a sky God who has a son who will take you to Heaven if you don't insult a ghost? Isn't it just as likely that there is a sky god who has a son who will take you to Heaven only if you do insult a ghost? Sure, we just made up that scheme, but it is as equally supported by evidence as the first one.

All we're saying is, you're taking chances either way. So why not get a free DVD?

A couple of things here:

1. Watching a couple of these videos made my stomach turn almost as bad as watching the video of the Virginia Tech killer's tirade. Some of these kids have obviously been damaged by "Christians" in the past, and abused by churches who haven't taught these kids well.

2. If you are going to develop a campaign for kids to "irrevocably send their soul to hell," you probably ought to do a little research into exactly what you're talking about. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is not saying "I deny the Holy Spirit exists." In fact, the Pharisees in question never said such words. Their sin was the sin of attributing the works of Christ on the earth to the work of Satan rather than the power of the Holy Spirit. And their sin was the last straw in their formal rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

3. I've seen the movie "The God Who Was Not There" that is sent out to every kid who sells his soul online, and my guess is subsequent releases of the movie will be titled "The Logic That Was Not There." Although the documentary is well-received by unknowing viewers who watch it with a preconceived attitude against Christianity, anyone with half a brain who takes the time to think through the movie's claims will notice logical fallacy after logical fallacy in addition to blatant lies which are reported as fact.

4. The bad news for these kids is really good news. They're not in actuality more powerful than the love of God. And one of these days, YouTube will start publishing videos of these kids who recognize that Christianity can't be defined by the heinous behavior of Christians. And someone, somewhere will point them to the Gospel.

Music Style

As a former music pastor at two churches, I've done a lot of thinking about music style. I'm not sure I know anything about it, but I have sure done a lot of thinking!

No doubt you've heard or been involved in some of the controversy regarding music choice and music style. I know I have... I was born and bred for that conversation.

I grew up in a traditional Southern Baptist church complete with hymnals, choir robes, piano and organ. In college, I became the worship leader of a church that straddled the fence between traditional and contemporary music. I led music from a keyboard, and occasionally a guitar. We had a choir, but they only sang on "special occasions" (translation: the Sundays we knew nobody would be at church). They weren't bad or anything - they just didn't fit the style of the church. But they were faithful people who loved what they did, and showed up regularly to practice. So we encouraged them as best we could.

Following college, I moved to a church who wanted help moving from very traditional to semi-contemporary. They had virtually zero young people, and gambled by hiring a young kid to transition the music ministry, hoping it would attract more young people.

It didn't. And I'm convinced that that kind of strategy doesn't work. (Of course, I didn't tell them that... I needed the paycheck).

The only people who you will "attract" to your church simply by changing the music are the people who are already churched and disgruntled with their own church for their particular music style. You'll get consumers who show up to church to be served - to have it their way. And as soon as it isn't their way anymore, they'll move along to the church down the street. Those aren't the people you want to be a part of your church.

We change our music style around as an evangelism tool. We reason that if we sound more like the music a fallen world culture is listening to, they'll want to come join us and we can introduce them to Jesus. But that logic is flawed. If they've already got their style of music in secular society, why would they want to come to your church for it?

People are not attracted to your church because of the music. People are attracted to your church because of the people in your church who know them and invite them. If your church members are serious about building relationships with the lost, and live contagious Christian lives, people will want to meet their Savior not hear their music.

People will flock to your church because they see something they need in the lives of believers. And when they get there, they won't care whether you have two guitars and drums or a piano and an organ... as long as you can point them to Jesus.

Today, Kari and I worship at Fellowship Bible Church North. Our music could best be described as "Contemporary meets Gospel meets Funk meets Jazz meets Soul meets Rock meets Hip-Hop." And people are pouring out of the woodwork. Seventy-five percent or more of the people who join our church for the first time are either previously unchurched or just coming back to church after decades away. But it isn't because of the music... it's because the people in the church are devoted to evangelism and outreach in their community. People are attracted to the Savior, not the drums.

Blatant Rip Offs

Yesterday evening I was watching "The Office" and saw the McDonalds commercials advertising the new Southern Chicken Sandwich... Breaded chicken, pickles, and a bun. The sandwich is obviously a blatant rip-off of the Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich.

It was a good commercial. It made me hungry. So we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner.

I'm not an advertising guru, but it would seem if you're going to blatantly rip off another person's idea, you might want to be a little more creative so that you don't end up simply advertising for your competition.

Cool idea

Apparently I was a little hard on search committees in my next to last post. So today, I'll tip the scales back in the other direction.

In the post on pastors' salaries, I mentioned the questionnaires that churches send prospective pastors, and how different they can be. And aside from asking a variety of questions, they tend to vary dramatically in length. They are a necessary part of the candidating process, because it's the easiest way to get a feel for the guy who wants to be your pastor, and to diagnose "big issues" before you develop any kind of connection with him at all.

From the candidate's perspective, it's kind of a daunting thing to have five or ten questionnaires on your desk that need to be returned in a timely fashion, because virtually none of the questionnaires asks simple "yes" or "no" questions. They take a lot of time and thought, and can be particularly daunting when the candidate doesn't feel he has any real chance of being hired at the church in question.

Several months ago, I filled out a one-hundred question questionnaire for a church, emailed it back to them, and recieved a reply within five minutes stating that they didn't agree with my answer to question #97, and wouldn't be considering me further. That can put a bad taste in your mouth for filling out long questionnaires... you wonder which question is #97 for the next church.

Today, I received a questionnaire from a church who is looking for a pastor to lead a new church plant. As I glanced through it, I saw that there were 89 questions on the survey, and immediately began to sense God's calling to a different church. And then, on the back page, was taped a Starbucks gift card and a hand-written note saying, "Chris, the first cup of coffee is on us. Thanks for taking the time to complete this."

It took five dollars, and less than five minutes to make me feel valued, and as though the search team appreciated the time it would take me to answer their questions. It really is the little things. Great work search team!

What's in a Name?

It's a great time to be on staff at Fellowship Bible Church North. If you hadn't heard, FBCN is right smack dab in the middle of a huge relocation project. We're moving a 5000 member church a mile and a half north of its current location. The church is currently landlocked, and can't add on the needed childrens and youth facilities it needs to continue to provide a safe and inviting place for people to connect to God. So, we're packing up and moving north.

We're literally replanting the church, but the new church will have about 5000 members.

As a part of planting any church, it is important to have discussions about values (what things will be most important to our church), vision (what things should our church accomplish), and strategy (how are we going to accomplish the vision). And every church plant has to decide on a name.

Fellowship Bible Church North started as a plant from Fellowship Bible Church in Richardson Texas somewhere around 25 years ago. The pastor, Gene Getz, was the founder of the "Fellowship Bible Church" movement - a movement of churches that emphasized freedom in form, but steadfastness in function. To put it another way, Gene believed that the church must remain steadfast in the things that are commanded for the church to do (i.e. to "make disciples). But he believed that the church had tremendous freedom in how that function actually played out in the worship service.

And the movement took off. To date, there are hundreds of "Fellowship Bible Churches" all over the globe.

A couple of years ago, when it became apparent that Fellowship Bible Church North would soon outgrow its facilities, the elders decided to purchase a piece of land a mile and a half north of our current location. About that same time, literally across the street, a different "Fellowship Church" built a satellite campus for its church. Fellowship Bible Church North and Fellowship Church would be next door neighbors.

That presented a branding problem for Fellowship Bible Church North (the other guys got their building up first, and get a lot more media attention). And although we plan to have a great relationship with the neighbors, the challenges are pretty obvious. Tell your friend you go to "Fellowshp" at 75 and Legacy, and they're likely to get a surprise when they show up on Sunday morning.

So our Fellowship had a problem on its hands. We knew we needed a name change, but what do you change? If you take out the word "Fellowship," it could be thought that the church was separating itself from its history, and most importantly, dishonoring Gene Getz. If you take out the word "Bible," it could be thought that you don't teach the Bible anymore. If you take out the word "Church," nobody knows what you do or how you're a different organization from the Lion's club. So the elders were left with "North," and that didn't look good on stationary.

So, two weeks ago, the elders and strategic team announced that Fellowship Bible Church North, when replant is complete, will be known as "Chase Oaks Church - a Fellowship Bible Church." For all intents and purposes, it will be "Chase Oaks Church," which is short, memorable, and identifies the location of the church. But when practical, the church will continue to identify and celebrate its history by using the tag line.

It was a cool process to watch the elders struggle through and present to the church. It was a delicate process, and one with the potential to cause some real problems. But thus far, people seem to understand that the answer to the question "What's in a name" is "nothing," and "everything" at the same time. I'll keep you posted.

Show Me The Money

Sorry to be so sporadic in posting recently. I did really well about a month ago, and posted two or three times a week for a couple of weeks, but now things are crazy again. Frankly, I haven't had much to say in the last couple of weeks other than preparing for preaching and Hebrew exams.

Beyond that, whatever energy we have has been thrown into the candidating and interview process at several churches who are seeking pastors. (And we've had some great conversations with some great churches). One of the things that has been interesting to me about filling out applications and questionaires for these churches is that each church asks completely different questions. Some questionaires are completely practical, some are completely theological. Some want to know exclusively about your work history and others want family information... except for one question: the question about money.

Every questionaire I've filled out so far (with the exception of one, I think) has a question about how much money I think I should make as a pastor in their church.

I hate that question because it's the hardest question in the world to answer. It's kind of like the question "Did you stop beating your wife?" There isn't exactly an easy answer to the question. You don't want churches to think you're a gold digger, but you don't want them to think your wife would be happy with Ramen and Rice every night. Here's the deal:

If a pastor comes to your church for the money, he'll go somewhere else for the money. You can't pay him as well as another church will if he is good at what he does. No matter how much money your church has, someone else has more. We want to be taken care of. We want our wives to be able to live in decent homes, and we don't want to dumpster dive for our kids' clothes, but if I wanted to be rich, I wouldn't have sent my resume to your church in the first place!

On the other hand, somewhere along the line it became shameful for pastors to have nice stuff. Several years ago, I bought a brand new truck. When I drove it into the church parking lot the first Sunday after I bought it, one of the deacons of the church said, "Wow. We're paying you too much." What he didn't know is that I had been saving for that truck for seven years, and that my salary at the church had nothing to do with it. But his comment reflected an opinion that a lot of church members share.

I guess we think our pastors should suffer for Jesus, and I'm okay with that... if the church members are willing to jump on board too. Because the pastor has the same calling as the other church members: make disciples of all nations. The fact that I'm paid by the church to fill my role doesn't mean that I have any less a right to live comfortably than the average church member who fulfills his calling in another role.

A general rule of thumb is to pay your pastor the median of the amount the board members make. That's probably a pretty good place to think about starting, assuming the board members' salaries are indicative of the area in which the church lives.

No honest pastor with whom I've ever come in contact wants to be rich. We don't all want to wear white coats and be on television sitting in gold-plated furniture. But we also don't want to survive above the poverty line.

Don't ask him "what's the bare minimum you can live on and still support your family?" (Yes, I have seriously been asked that question) It's honestly best in my opinion if you don't ask him the question at all. Instead, in your first or second conversation with him, let him know a ballpark figure of how much you believe you can afford to give him, and let him decide whether or not that's a good fit for him. In most cases, it will be... as long as you view him as a stewardship rather than a grunt employee. We love our job, and would do it for free if we could get away with it. But somewhere along the way, our wives decided they wanted to eat dinner!

Your pastor works hard. He's there in the middle of the night when you're in the emergency room. He's up in the morning preparing for the wedding of your daughter in addition to his other duties for the week. He's leading staff, preparing sermons, studying the Bible and the culture, counseling, praying, and ensuring that your local church is a light in the community for the Gospel. Pay him as well as you can, and feel good about it. He doesn't need any more.

Forget I Said Anything

If you haven't read my last post, don't bother. Apparently, the way to win an NCAA basketball pool is to see which mascot looks the meanest and pick that team. Until yesterday, the Canadian was winning our bracket contest. The Canadian.

I'm not even beating Nick "I don't know where I am half the time" Strobel, or Jeff "Eye'm frum Alabama" Jones. And yes, one of the Admins decided to join the game, and she's throttling me too.

If Oregon can pull through and win the National Championship, I might have a shot. Otherwise, I'm going to have to figure out a way to cheat.

Madness I tell you...

I loooove March Madness. Thursday morning I plan to take the day off, get up out of bed around 11:00am and move to the couch, where I will watch basketball until my eyes glaze over. I might get up to use the bathroom, but I'm still undecided...

You know, there's a reason they call it "March Madness."

And just in case you were wondering, my tentative Final Four bracket for the office "Fellowship Challenge" includes Oregon, Texas, Memphis, and Kansas. That's right, read 'em and weep.

I fully intend to win the challenge this year for three reasons:

1. As far as I know, none of the admins are participating. I always get creamed by the admins, because they choose the winner based on which uniforms are cuter, or which mascots look nicer. I actually pick with my brain, and usually lose badly.

2. Let's face it, the competition isn't that stiff. Among others, I'm up against Glen "Boilermaker" Brechner (our Adult Ministries pastor), Drew "I'm from Canada, what's a basketball" Leaver (our teaching pastor), and Jeff "I'd rather be sailing on a sea of chocolate and Diet Coke" Jones (our senior pastor). Not to mention Nick Strobel, one of the interns, who has a hard enough time getting his socks to match...

3. My Okie State Cowboys aren't even in the tournament. I always tend to pick them to win it all, and always tend to miss it by a mile. But you know what they say... wait until next year.

It's going to be a good month. And chances are, you won't see a lot of me until the tourney is over. But don't you worry... I'll be back to bask in the glow of victory in a couple of weeks.

What is your Church For?

I've posted before about the fact that we're currently looking for a place to serve after graduation. It's a little nerve-wracking for Kari, especially when we get calls from churches in really cold places. But I love this process. I love hearing about what churches are doing in other areas of the country. I love talking about my philosophy of ministry, my hope for the Church, and the things I believe God has placed on my heart to do.

My very favorite part of the process is the initial phone interview with a church. You can tell so much about a church by the initial contact you have with them.

For example, if the first contact with me comes from a layperson, I get some idea of the value a church places on non-staff leaders (or the absence of staff leaders in some cases). If the interviewer asks to pray at the beginning of the conversation, I learn something from that. (interestingly, and sadly, this has only happened once in twenty or so phone interviews)

I also learn a ton about a church from the questions they ask. And the most important thing I'm looking to find out is whether or not the church is for anything.

There are too many churches today that seem to exist because of the things that they're against. Every day churches are formed because a group of people are against the music of their former church, or against the government style of their former church, against a particular nitche doctrine, or against a particular political view. Churches are great at being against stuff.

I don't want to be the pastor of a church who is only against stuff. And they're easy to spot.

I had an initial phone interview with a church the other day, and the first questions the interviewer asked me were, (1) "Are you comfortable preaching against abortion?" (2) "Do you have any problem saying that homosexuality is a sin?" (3) "Do you believe in Hymns or those new songs?" That's a church who only exists to be against stuff.

Now of course, there are things that the Church should be against. The New Testament is chock full of examples of things that the Christian should oppose. But those things are not the reason for the church's existence. The Church does not exist in the world to fix homosexuals. The Church doesn't exist in the world to keep girls from having abortions. The Church doesn't exist in the world because God needed representatives on earth to be against stuff for Him.

The Church exists in the World for the purpose of pointing the nations to God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. We exist for a purpose, not against a purpose.

I want to serve a church that is for making disciples, for being a light to the world, for being ambassadors for Christ, for showing the world that hope is possible in Jesus Christ. There are plenty of things to be against, but I want to be known because of the things I am for.

Satan Hates Life

I'm sure you've seen the funny billboards that sprouted up several years ago with pithy sayings attributed to God:

"Let's meet at my house on Sunday before the game" - God

or

"Don't make me come down there." - God

Well, LifeChurch.tv is doing a billboard campaign of their own called "Satan Hates Life." They've taken a similar concept, but attributed short funny sayings about Life Church to Satan. Check it out here. You don't have to be the biggest LifeChurch.tv fan in the world to appreciate the creativity.

Vision

As you're probably aware, "visionary" people are the most celebrated people in the modern people. We want to see people who have a compelling picture of the future and can make us believe it's attainable. We want to be people who can point others in the direction of new frontiers, new ideas, and new concepts that propel the gospel of Christ into the future.

When we think about visionary people, we typically think of the guys who live in the future. They can project what the near future will bring, and position their organizations such that it will meet the needs of the future when the future arrives.

But I wonder if our current celebration of "visionary" people might be a little misplaced.

Let me first say that I consider myself a "visionary" person. I love to dream about the future, and think about strategy and goals for reaching others with the gospel in the future. But I see "vision" in a little different way.

First, being a visionary person demands being a student of history. There are some celebrated "visionaries" in the church today who threw the rear-view mirror out of their car several years ago. That's a problem for me. Because when we detach ourselves from history, we detach ourselves from thousands of years of people who all sought answers to the same problems we face today. We also detach ourselves from a community of faith that extends thousands of years earlier than the latest book from some 1980s pipe-smoking hippie who wants to solve the problems of the church. Only when we realize where the church has been are we able to see where the church should go in the future. Without our past, there is no future. To be truly visionary, you have to be a student of history as well.

Secondly, a lot of the "visionary" people we celebrate have a compelling 5 or 10 year vision, but not much beyond that. But I believe the visionary people who will do the most for the church are the men who are able to cast a vision that is bigger than 5 or 10 years down the road. Most of our "visionaries" today only think as long as they're going to be in ministry. They seek to patch up the current issues and leave the issues their fixes create for someone else to mess with. What if our most visionary people started dreaming about what the church could look like in 100 years? 200 years? What if we laid the groundwork for that kind of revolution and stopped offering culturally based reactions?

Don't Drink the Evil Coffee

Ever have those moments where something dawns on you that has been bugging you for months? I just had one of those moments, and need to share it to get it recorded before it slips my mind and bothers me for another several months.

I've been researching a ton of churches in the last several months as I contemplate my transition from seminary to having both feet in "the real world." I'm attracted to the types of churches that are doctrinally sound, but missionally minded - that is, the kinds of church who are internally healthy and outwardly focused. Believe it or not, it's rare to find both.

The easy (and way over-simplified) test to see whether a church is externally focused or not is to look at their calendar on October 31st to see what they do. If they throw a "Hallelujah Party" and invite everyone off the "evil" streets to come to the "not evil" church for a party about Jesus, the chances are they are inwardly focused. If the church locks the doors and decides to be living a witness out on the street with "the evil people," the chances are you're dealing with an externally focused church. (Again, that's an illustration made half in jest... please don't send the throng of irate homeschool moms my way)

To make a long story short, I like the externally focused model. I think the Church has the responsibility to be salt and light in the world (Matthew 5), and wonder how the Church can be salt and light in the world if the church never sets foot in the world.

Anyway, have you ever noticed that the new cool thing for all the externally focused churches out there is to put coffee houses in or near their churches? (Not just the place that's open Sunday mornings for people to get a cup of coffee on the way into the service - the type that is open all the time). That has always bothered me. Yesterday, I was thinking about Halloween and walking by a church coffee shop (don't ask), and it clicked. What message are we sending the world when we build a coffee shop in our church when there's a perfectly functional Starbucks right around the corner?

Don't drink the evil coffee.

There was a church coffee house owned by a church in the town where I went to college. It was the "cool place" for all the "I love Jesus, yes I do" people to hang out. It always drove me nuts, and now I get it.

I'm not sure the Church needs to be in the business of building "holy" coffee shops or other retail outlets inside their walls. I'm fairly convinced that the Church needs to put more people in the evil coffee shops, talking to evil people about the God who can fix their evil problem (But maybe using different words...).

It's so much easier to ask the world to come to us. "Come to our holy coffee shop." "Come to our Hallelujah Party." "Come to the movie at our church." What would happen if we invested the time, talent, and treasure it takes to build and run a "holy" coffee shop, and spent it training Christians to go into the world instead of begging the world to come to us? We'd have a lot more money left over to drink evil coffee, that's for sure.

Random Thoughts on Groups and Individuals

It's a scary thing when corporate identity is defined solely by the preferences of individuals. Groups that define themselves solely by the preferences of each individual in the group are destined to be fickle, unstable, and lacking in depth because preferences change based on circumstances and other variables that are ever-changing.

The United States is fast becoming a country defined solely by the preferences of individuals, which is a different kind of democracy than I read in the writings of the founders. The founders wanted the United States to be known for freedom and democracy, not for the particular outworkings of that freedom and democracy, and there's a big difference.

I was just listening to some of the coverage of the war on the radio. Frankly, I get tired of listening to the news, but I tend to listen because it gives me a barometer on the parts of society I wouldn't ever be able to see otherwise. Right now, as I'm sure you know, approval ratings for the war are in the tank. The funny thing is, as best I can tell, it has nothing to do with whether or not the war is going well. Instead, it seems to be about whether or not people feel as though we should be in the war. They're tired of it. They're bored. They're ready to move on. So they don't approve of the war. It has nothing to do with the ideals the war is seeking to protect (or destroy). It has nothing to do with an over-arching value, but instead is all about a personal preference.

I'm always in search of ways that the church can be visibly different from the culture without being weird, and this is one. As a church, our corporate identity is defined despite our individual preferences. In fact, we're challenged to lay aside our personal preferences for the sake of the group identity. Philippians 2:3 says "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves."

Frankly, this is why I have a hard time with a "congregational rule" form of Church government. It's not for strong biblical reasons, or because I don't think people should have a say in what happens within their church. But a congregational form of government can quickly dissolve into a process where the church as a whole defines its identity on the basis of personal preferences. That's a problem for me.

The church was never meant to be identified by the weighing of individual preferences. It was meant to be a group identified by the laying aside of personal preferences for the common good. Our society doesn't get how or why we would ever exist that way. And frankly, many of our church members don't get it either. But we are supposed to be different - united around a common set of values and goals found in Scripture. The particular outworking of those values are strictly a matter of personal preference, and we ought to be eager to lay those aside so that we can present a unified Body that is defined not by what we do or how we feel about what we do, but by who we are.

A Staff that Knows How To Have Fun...

One of the biggest things I'll take away from my residency at Fellowship is that you can't beat a staff that knows how to have fun together.

Fellowship currently has something like 60 people on full and part-time staff, and at least once a quarter we have a "Staff Fun Day." The ministry teams take turns organizing the events of the day (we also have a monthly "Staff Day of Prayer" which is similarly organized by ministry teams). Today, the Worship Arts team was responsible for staff fun day, which consisted of taking about 2 hours to view several of the short films that have been nominated for Oscars in the past. Then we threw our own Oscar party and let the staff vote on the best and worst of the short films. Past "Staff Fun Days" have included relay races, a trip to an arcade, and the transformation of the entire office building into a miniature golf course.

This staff knows how to have fun.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "What a waste of time. Don't these people have ministry to do?"

Yes they do, and that's the point. Ministry is about people. And a staff cannot take care of other people if they don't take care of themselves. At Fellowship, we have somewhere around 60 talented, highly functional, uber-driven people, many of whom would work 90 hour work weeks because they're so serious about what they do. Someone somewhere along the line realized that the staff that prays together should play together, and the staff that plays together stays together, and the staff that stays together will be able to do more good than the staff that is constantly adjusting to the turnover that comes as a result of burnout, wearout, or fallout.

It's a good thing to have a staff fun day every once in a while. (And if you're ever in need of a good short film suggestion, ask our Creative Arts Pastor John Maikowski, but be sure to specify that you don't want any that involve dog kicking...)

Anatomy of an Afterlife

My wife is hooked on "Grey's Anatomy," ABC's primetime soap opera that chronicles the life of surgical resident Merideth Grey and her life within (and occasionally outside) the walls of Seattle Grace Hospital. If you've never seen the show, think: Days of Our Lives meets ER and you'll be in the right ballpark. I'm not really in to the show, but I'm in to my wife who is in to the show, so I do my part and watch it alongside her so I have leverage when there is a basketball game on TV.

Tonight's episode was the third in a three-part series in which the lead character struggles with whether or not life is worth living, and ultimately falls off a pier during the rescue efforts from a tragic ferry accident, and finds herself in today's culture of the afterlife. In the afterlife, she is confronted by past characters on the show who died prematurely, and faced with the decision of whether or not to return to "real life."

Let me repeat: I'm not in to this show. But tonight's episode provided such profound insight into the mind of today's culture as it relates to the afterlife and spiritual things that I found myself glued to the TV. Here are a couple of observations about the anatomy of an afterlife, as preached by prime time television.

1. Everything you want is on earth, and the afterlife contains only moments of that thing.

On tonight's episode, Merideth met Denny - the deceased fiancee of one of her fellow residents. As she considered whether or not she wanted to return to earth where her own "true love" waited for her, Denny told her of his afterlife experience in which he is doomed to only experience moments of closeness with his fiancee. He feels her, and dreams that she can feel him, but warns Meredith that that's all there is to the afterlife - "passing moments."

If it is true that everything we want is on earth, and the afterlife contains only moments of that thing, where do we find hope? What is our source of confidence that justice will be served, mercy will be shown, and this life proven worthwhile? The Bible presents the exact opposite truth: Everything we want is in heaven, and the current life contains only glimpses of that thing. Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

2. The afterlife is relative to the person who experiences it. Furthermore, the afterlife is an experience rather than a destination:

At one point in the drama tonight as Merideth attempts to determine whether she wants to return to earth, she asks Denny "Is this really happening." His reply sent chills down my spine. "I don't know," he said. "This is your afterlife, not mine."

Not only is this type of worldview contrary to what biblical Christianity teaches, again it doesn't provide any source of hope for the future. If each of us faces a different afterlife experience, we cannot be certain that the God of justice will reconcile the fact that right now bad things do happen to good people. There is no hope for justice, or any hope period.

The idea that the afterlife is an experience rather than a destination is appealing because experiences change. And from the human perspective we have control over what happens to us in our experiences - although they may be the result of our decisions, we have the ability to "un do" the decisions in order to change our experiences. We get a chance to rectify bad decisions and make things right - no matter what the decision is.

Again, that's a different perspective than what Christianity brings to the table. We have been given the gift of life by an Eternal God, and have been given the responsibility to do good in this life. Since we have all chosen at one time or another to do bad with this life, God offered us justice and mercy at the same time - by sending His Son to pay the price we owed for breaking God's law. And God offers us eternal life by faith, but He's clear that the terms of His gift are to be accepted in this life. Death isn't the doorway into a new transitory experience over which we have a great deal of control. Hebrews 9:27 says "it is given for man to die once, and then the judgment."

So What?
Many in today's culture would have no significant problem with the way the afterlife was presented on tonight's episode of Grey's Anatomy. They wouldn't die for the portrayal, but would probably say something like, "Their guess is as good as mine."

As Christians - those who believe in One who returned from the grave - we're staring directly into the eyes of a world that has no hope. Hope that is found in this messed up world is no hope at all. This world is a good place. I have much of what I want, need, and desire. I have a loving wife, a great job, some terrific friends, an outstanding family, and much to enjoy on this earth. But even with that, I'm weary from turning on the news and seeing injustice, war, hate, tragedy, and death.

As much as my world is a great place, the world is no place to hope at all.

I'm looking for a city, whose builder and maker is God. I'm looking for a time when there won't be injustice. I'm looking for a day when I won't have to worry about which of the bad candidates will be my ruler. I'm looking for a day when I won't get sick, won't see death, won't have sadness, or pain, or tragedy. And I'm not going to find it here.

There is hope, but it's not in the fleeting moments of good I see here. I have an eternal hope, and it's found in the God of the Bible.

Ask me to do something great...

There's an old story about Abraham Lincoln. I'm not sure whether or not it's true, but I love the story so much I hope it is.

It is said that Abraham Lincoln, during a particularly difficult time in the Civil War, snuck in the back door of the church that sits down the street from his residence so as to go unnoticed. He sat through the music, and the sermon, and waited until the entire church had cleared out before he trudged back home so as to not cause a distraction for others.

When Lincoln returned home from the church service that night, his wife met him in their private quarters and asked him about the service. "It was okay," Lincoln replied, obviously unimpressed.

"Did you not like the music?" Mrs. Lincoln asked.

"Oh, I did" replied the president. "It was sung beautifully, artfully, and lifted my spirits beyond what I ever could have imagined," he said.

"Oh, then you must not have enjoyed the pastor's sermon," Lincoln's wife answered.

"No, he was articulate, well-informed, and eloquent. He was humorous, but not too much so; sober, but not too much so. The sermon was researched and presented well. But ultimately, it failed miserably" replied the war-weary president.

"It failed? After all that? How could it have failed?" asked the president's wife.

"It failed, because in that well-informed hour, the pastor failed to call us to do anything truly great," said Lincoln.


If this story is true, it seems as though things haven't changed a great deal in the century and a half since Lincoln left his church disappointed.

This is preaching week in two of my preaching classes. For the first several weeks of class, the professors lecture on good preaching style, the development of a message's content, and the proper form of the good sermon. After the lectures are complete, it is our turn as students to step into the pulpit and show what we've learned.

The result so far? Many sermons that are stylistically flawless, well-informed, and with a three-point outline that would make Billy Graham green with envy. And yet, I almost always leave class disappointed.

It's not different in chapel, where we bring the "best of the best" to speak to what are supposed to be the best of the best tomorrow. I hear lots of great speeches, and lots of great sermons, but more often than not I go away without anyone having challenged me to do something truly great.

Yet, when I read the Scriptures, I see a different kind of sermon. They're always theologically precise. They're always well thought-out, well outlined, and use excellent illustrations. But they don't stop with style and presentation. They take the next step of asking the listener to do something truly great.

I think it's time we re-think the purpose of our sermons. Do we expect to merely transfer information? Do we hope to change someone's thinking? Or are we hoping through our sermons to pierce the life of the hearer with God-honoring truth, and to challenge them to respond in a way that is not passive listening, but active trust and obedience in response to an encounter with the God of the universe?

I'm tired of listening to (and preaching) sermons that simply give the hearer something to know. I'm ready for someone to ask me to do something truly great.

Smart things Andy Said...

Tony Morgan's blog is one of the forty or so blogs I read every day on bloglines. It's one of my favorites, because Tony posts regularly, creatively, and with some degree of wisdom - three things I fail to do with regular frequency.

Several months ago, Tony posted a series of live posts from the Drive conference at North Point Community Church entitled "Smart things Andy Said." "Andy," of course was Andy Stanley, the Senior Pastor of North Point.

Today, Andy was the featured speaker at a day-long conference here in Dallas that the adult team from Fellowship attended. I originally thought I'd post a "Smart things Andy Said" post like Tony's, but my I figured it would make me look like I was trying to be like Tony (Not that there's anything wrong with that...) But instead, I want to camp out on one of the smart things Andy said, and wax eloquently about it.

The topic was "When Less is More," a topic that Andy talks a lot more about in his book "The Next Generation Leader." As a part of that conversation, Stanley makes the point that great leaders should, "Within the context of your current [leadership] responsibilities and core competencies, only do what only you can do."

The illustration was perfect: "I can juggle 3 balls, but not 4. When I try to juggle 4 and bobble one, I drop them all - not just the one I added."

Pastors are notorious for trying to juggle too many balls at one time. And unfortunately, boards of Elders are notorious for adding more and more balls to the mix and then firing pastors when their preaching isn't like it used to be.

What is it about your particular sphere of influence that only you can do? Another way to say it might be to ask, "How has God uniquely gifted you to serve His specific purpose at this time and place in history?" What about your staff?

But the question of what only we can do is not the hard question to answer. The hard question is, "Am I currently occupying space in an area that God has created someone else to do more effectively?"

There is nothing more frustrating as a leader than knowing you have the capacity to lead, knowing what needs to be done, but seeing some other leader who has tremendous leadership capacity in a different area screwing up an area that was custom made for you. And yet, there's nothing more tempting as a leader to get your hands in everyone else's business. After all - maybe they don't own the vision as well as you do. Maybe they won't do things the same way you would do them. Get the best people you can possibly find on a task, and let them do what they do. You wouldn't want them with their fingers all over your specific area of influence, would you?

So, as a leader, don't be the guy standing in everyone else's way. If you believe in a big God who has created little people to do big things - let them do what God has created them to do... even if means they won't do it as well as you. Even if it means they do it better than you.

One of the most important things we can do as leaders is learn that even though we have authority to act in an area, we may not have the expertise.

That's a smart thing Andy said...

Anniversaries

Four years ago yesterday I went on my first date with the woman who would become my wife. I figured it was safe to make our first date Valentines Day - it would keep me from having to buy multiple gifts, and would ensure that I never forgot the occasion. I was pretty sure I was going to marry Kari before our first date, so I needed to have my ducks in a row. The flowers, candy, dinner, and a movie that night turned into a pretty great investment.

I was pretty sure that Kari married me for my stunning good looks and charming personality until a year ago today. A year ago today, I was sitting in the ER of Baylor Medical Center Plano thinking I had suffered a stroke.

I'd been battling what I thought was an awful inner-ear infection that had completely immobilized me and confined me to life on the couch in constant excruciating pain. Needless to say, the charming personality went out the window. I wasn't a bad patient necessarily, but I'm sure I wasn't a lot of fun to be around. At least I still had the stunning good looks...

I laid on the couch for several days, only getting up to use the bathroom or to allow Kari to help me to the car for a doctors appointment. The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with my ear, or why it wasn't responding to medication.

A year ago today, as I laid on the couch in excruciating pain, I felt a weird sensation go through the right side of my face. I struggled to the mirror to find that the entire right side of my face was paralyzed. The stunning good looks had dissolved into a person who appeared to have been made of candle wax that was placed too close to the furnace.

We rushed to the emergency room, a year ago today, fearing a stroke or brain tumor. Instead, after being referred to an ENT, I was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome - shingles on the inside of my ear that had killed the nerve in my face that regulated all movement. I couldn't blink my eye, drink from a straw, or say the letter "P."

The doctor said if the nerve was damaged more than 90 percent, I would need brain surgery to regain any muscle movement. Tests came back at 88 percent. The good news was, no brain surgery. The bad news was, I was in pretty bad shape and the prognosis for ever smiling again wasn't good.

The wife who married me for my stunning good looks and charming personality stood by me when I had neither. She smiled for me when I couldn't, told me my melted face looked "cute" when I knew the truth, and never let on that she was as scared as I was.

I'm thankful for a faithful God and a faithful wife.

In the months since the diagnosis, God has amazed the doctor with my progress. We prayed that God would do something miraculous, and the doctor says He has. I've now got about 85 percent of my smile back - you would only notice the difference if you looked hard for it. My hearing is back to normal, my eye shuts on its own, and I can wink again at the wife who loved me through the whole ordeal.

This morning I visited with an older friend of mine who will be going in tomorrow for his first doctors visit following surgery for prostate cancer. He's experiencing many of the same anxieties and insecurities I felt following my own struggles. And here's what I told him:

If I could turn back the clock to February 14th, 2006, and do something that would prevent me from coming down with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, I wouldn't do it. Because today, February 15th, 2007, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we serve a faithful God who is with us even in our circumstances, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I married a faithful woman who didn't just marry me for my stunning good looks and charming personality (although, I might add, I've regained both).

Sometimes in our frailty and suffering, God reveals more of His goodness to us than we might have ever known otherwise.

Ways to Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity...

In keeping with the theme of my post here about Turbo Driving, I saw this today on Mark Batterson's blog and thought it was worth posting.

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point A Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

7. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

8. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

9. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

10. Sing Along At The Opera.

11. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

12. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

13. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

Making Disciples - Good Sermon

My father-in-law sent me the link to this sermon by Patrick Payton, pastor of StoneGate Fellowship in Midland, TX. My father-in-law's email was the first time I had ever heard of this guy, but I doubt it will be the last.

He does a good job articulating what I've been struggling through in my mind recently, and what our church staff has been thinking about also: What does the process of "making disciples" involve? The church in America, if you put any stock in statistics at all, has not done a good job in the past several years. The Baptist church has been especially weak in disciple-making.

Listen to Patrick Payton's sermon and let me know what you think. The following link will take you to the catalogue of sermons. You'll want the sermon from February 1st, and you'll probably want to skip ahead to the actual sermon at around 30 minutes into the video cast.

http://www.swbts.edu/events/chapel_archive.cfm

What do you think? Is Payton on the right track? Do you see blind spots in what he's proposing?

The Circle of Life...

I'm not by nature an introspective guy. Deep thinking about life issues does not come natural to me, so I don't usually notice the profound things of life, or think "deep thoughts" about the human experience. But every once in a while I have one of those surreal moments when life experiences pop out of the ordinary realm for me and cause me to think about things in a different way. This week I had one of those surreal moments.

On Tuesday afternoon, Kari and I traveled with my brother and his fiancee to Frederick, Oklahoma to attend the funeral of my 87-year-old grandfather. Less than 24 hours later we sat in a hospital room in McKinney, TX and held our new quazi-nephew Ethan Blake Leaver (the son of our close friends here in Texas, Drew and Dawn).

That 24-hour experience was surreal to me. Within one day we experienced first-hand the bookends of life on this earth. Late in the afternoon of one day we looked at the body of one who finished the race. Early in the morning of the next day, we held one who is only just beginning. And, (hold your breath), I think I had a profound thought or two.

1. Life is fragile - I've never been one for an open-casket funeral. In fact, I told Kari I wanted to be buried totally nude just to ensure that nobody opens the casket at my funeral. But my Grandfather's casket was open as we filed out of the service, and I remembered how frail he has looked the majority of my life. Then, as I sat in the hospital bed and held Ethan Blake for the first time, I couldn't help but notice how fragile he is in a completely different way. You know, I don't think frailty is something we grow out of and back in to - it's just something we learn to mask in different ways. We're all frail, fragile people, and without the constant and consistent provision of an all-powerful God we would be but dust.

2. Life is short - 87 years is a long time to live, but it isn't that long at all when compared to eternity. God gives us a relatively short amount of time on this earth. Ethan is lucky - he's still got 87 or so to go. If I live to be 87, I've got a little more than 50 years left to invest in the things that will last forever. It's not worth simply investing my life in the things that will last beyond me - I'll have to leave those things to my kids, and they'll probably squander most of it like everyone else's kids. I've got roughly 50 years to make an eternal difference. I don't know about you, but that gets my blood pumping. Limited time, maximum influence.

3. God still does miracles - Sunday morning, my grandfather stood face-to-face with the all-powerful, holy, majestic God of the universe. He was completely whole, and had no lingering effects from the hip surgery and strokes that caused the end of his time on earth. He isn't dead - he's more alive than he ever was here. Saturday night he was unresponsive on a hospital bed, Sunday morning he was singing, dancing, and enjoying every moment of life. Tell me that's not a miracle. Similarly, on Monday evening a brand new life emerged into the world. A new person was born who was created in the image of God. Monday morning, I couldn't hold him (well, I could have, but Drew would have been mad). Tuesday morning, there he was.

Okay, maybe they're not the most profound thoughts in the world, but they sure stood out to me this week. God is still working in our world. He's still working in our lives. Sometimes we wonder, because the things He does in our lives don't always seem as obvious as they do in a funeral home, or a maternity ward at a hospital. But He's there, and He's working. And that means no matter on what side of life we find ourselves - at a wake or at a birthday - we can trust Him.

What a weird way to quit church...

Just read this on Fox News. Apparently this chick was fed up with her church, and decided to go to great lengths to fake her death so she could get away from them. The hoax went well until she showed up at her own funeral posing as her bereaved sister.

Note to self... When you get ready to quit church, don't be stupid like this lady.

Here's the Link


"Here's some good advice for anyone considering faking their death:

Skip the memorial service.

Alison Matera of New Port Richey, Fla., should have done just that last Friday, but instead her ruse was exposed when she sat among mourners, listening to friends and family celebrate her life.

It all started, the St. Petersburg Times reported Friday, when the 27-year-old told members of her church choir that she was dying of cancer, and that she soon would start receiving treatments.

Matera then started giving her friends regular updates during her "treatments."
Then, near the end of last year, she told them she was giving up her fight and entering a hospice so she could die, the newspaper reported.

She "left" the church, but choir members said they continued to receive calls from a "hospice nurse" with updates on Matera's health. The same "nurse" then called choir director Timothy Paquin on Jan. 18 to say Matera had died. Paquin said he then received a call from someone identifying themselves as Matera's sister, detailing the family's arrangements for the body.

The strange thing, according to a report filed with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, is that all the choir members said the callers all sounded exactly like Matera.

Paquin said he called the hospice and local funeral homes, but none had ever heard of Matera.
Then, when the church family gathered to mourn Matera's death, a woman looking exactly like Matera showed up, claiming to be her sister, they said.

Choir members called the sheriff's office for help, and when deputies went to Matera's apartment she confessed the hoax, saying she needed to separate from the church community."

Turbo Driving

My wife's car is a Saab 9-3 Turbo. We were both attracted to the car for extremely different reasons: She loved it because it's a Saab. (Comfort, reliability, safety, gas mileage... all the things Saab is known for).

I was attracted to the car because it's a Saab 9-3 Turbo. Nothing says "big strong man" like a car with a turbo-meter next to the speedometer and odometer. I was hooked.

I love to drive that car, because I'm a Turbo kind of guy. It's a fun challenge to jump on the interstate and see how fast I can red-line the turbo-meter, and how long I can keep it at the red-line. It's a fun challenge, but it never lasts long. If I drove the car that way every day, one of two things would happen: I'd crash, or burn up the engine. The Turbo is supposed to be used for an extra kick when you need it, not for every day driving. Normal every-day driving needs to happen around 60-70 percent of the car's capacity, if not less. And that's a real drag.

I see a lot of myself in that little car. I love to push it. I love to red-line out, and challenge myself to do as much as I can as fast as I can for as long as I can. And ministry has a way of encouraging that kind of thing. Seminary has a way of encouraging that kind of thing. We don't do a very good job of teaching young pastors to live around 60-70 percent, if not less. And then all the sudden, when we're living at around 90 percent and something comes along that demands 20 percent, we don't have anything to give it.

But we feel guilty not being busy all the time. The folks that go to our churches already have the misunderstood notion that the pastor only works one day a week, and we are bound and determined to prove them wrong.

Many of us go to seminary because there we know we will get to spend 4 (or more) years learning the Word of God, and we want to give it all we've got. So we punch the gas and give it everything we've got. After all, we feel guilty taking less than the very best grade in a class because we feel as though it is a direct reflection of how serious we are about spiritual things.

It isn't. In fact, it's the opposite. I'm pretty convinced that our guilt-ridden attempt to red-line our ministries is a direct reflection of a small view of God. "

"I'd rather burn out than rust out," I heard someone say the other day. Where's the logic in that? Either way, you're out.

I don't want to be out. I want to be in. And that means, I'm going to be learning how to live at about 60 percent. I'm going to need that Turbo later and I want to be ready.

Quote Me...

Thanks to Mark Batterson for this quote by Len Sweet.

"Ask the grandparents in your church: how many of you would lay down your life for your grandchildren? Every grandparent will raise their hand. Then ask them: how many of you would lay down your musical preferences for your grandchildren?"

What would it look like...

Kari and I had a good weekend at Pine Cove as a part of a leadership retreat for a church in Palestine, TX. The primary speaker for the weekend was Gary Brandenburg, pastor of Fellowship Bible Church Dallas, whom I've mentioned before.

He spoke primarily from Acts 2 this weekend, about the activity of the early church, and did a tremendous job.

As you're probably aware, Acts 2:42 says the early church gathered in homes and "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." They shared everything in common with each other, and the passage records that "the Lord added to their number daily those who are being saved."

Many pastors I know point to these activities and say that they are the secret of church growth. If churches will study the Bible, fellowship together, and break bread together, they say, the church will grow.

The problem is, it doesn't work.

I know a lot of dying churches today that are committed to "teaching the Bible." I know a lot of churches today that could be characterized as "fellowshipping" churches - holy huddles of people who ought to just close their doors. And I know of a lot of churches that break bread together, but won't be able to pay the bills in five years.

Acts 2:42 isn't just a checklist of behaviors that cause churches to grow... even spiritually. There is more to this passage than a list of behaviors. Acts 2 records a general climate that the early church cultivated with the outside world. Verse 47 says the church "enjoyed the favor of all the people."

And yet they were different.

The church didn't become the culture. It didn't bow to the culture, but it attracted the culture. There was something about those people.

The church in America certainly doesn't "enjoy the favor of all the people." Why not? Perhaps because we've lost the identity of what makes us unique - and it isn't found in our list of rules. For too long the church has taken a negative view of what sets us apart: we don't drink, smoke, or chew, or run with girls who do.

But you can't define who you are by simply defining what you're against.

The Church has the greatest message in the world, but the world can't get past us to hear the message. That's a problem.

I'm not arguing for a loosey-goosey type of church, or a church that is soft on morality. But what would it look like to find a church that was agressive in showing the world what we are for before we gave them a the list of things we're against? What would it look like to find a church that lived out grace, as the church in Acts 2 did? What would it look like to find a church who modeled selfless sacrifice for others, as the church in Acts 2 did? What would it look like to be a church that had such a selfless passion for the good news that we proclaimed it as good news rather than something else?

What would that kind of church look like? If you find that church, let me know, because I want to be their pastor.

I Love These People...

Kari and I will be leaving tonight to be a part of a leadership retreat in Tyler, TX. We're excited about the opportunity to spend some time with the people of Grace Bible Church Palestine at that retreat. In addition, we're going live with a couple of big new programs at the church on Sunday. Add those together and you get my excuse for not blogging this week.

It's a sorry excuse for a post to post an excuse as a post, so maybe I can make things better. I saw this about a year ago, but Todd at MMI just reminded me of it. Check out my buddy John Daker singing an incredible medly of some of my favorite songs.

http://getupoutmy.biz/daker/video/daker.wmv

What's funny is, this kind of thing doesn't surprise me at all. Growing up in Columbia, Missouri there was a show that rivaled this one. Slim and Zella Mae singing southern gospel hits. Sweet people, I'm sure, but wow.

Total Truth

"Did you take a vacation from your blog?" "Did you quit blogging?" "Are you still alive?"

Yes, no, and yes.

I had every intention of writing up several blog entries over the Christmas break so that when my heavy class and work load started up this Spring I would have a queue of quality entries I could post. That intention got lost in a barrage of great football games, a couple of unexpected things at work, and a couple of trips I hadn't anticipated.

So here I am, embroiled in my hardest semester of school thus far, and I've got nothing ready to go. So bear with me.

Over the break I took an elective class at the seminary called "Contemporary Issues in Apologetics" that was taught by Probe Ministries . It was a one-week whipping I wasn't looking forward to, but turned out to be a very enjoyable and informative class.


One of the required books for the course was "Total Truth" by Nancy Pearcey. If you haven't read this book yet, it's worth picking up. Pearcey talks about the fact that the majority of Christians in the west live with a sort of undiagnosed schizophrenia; The worldview we believe we live (a Christian worldview) and the worldview we actually live (a secular/cultural worldview) are two different things. The vast majority of Christians today believe their faith has little or nothing to do with their occupation or lifestyle beyond defining certain moral codes. (We all know we shouldn't lie or cheat at work, but just those behaviors are not enough to call our worldview Christian).

One of the most helpful insights of Pearcey's book is that the majority of Christians begin their view of humanity too late. As we talk about theology, and even the Gospel, we begin with the Fall. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23) is the beginning of many of our gospel presentations. Pearcey argues that since the Bible begins with the Creation instead of the Fall, we should too. "Our value and dignity are rooted in the fact that we are created in the image of God, with the high calling of being His representatives on earth..."(page 87).

The message of redemption is one of restoration - we were created to have fellowship with God, and were created in the image of God to be His representatives on earth. The Creation account reminds us of God's power, character, and plan for His creation. Only when we realize those things are we able to better think about how we should live as believers today.

Interesting stuff.

About Me

I was born in Tulsa, OK but spent my "growing-up" years in Columbia, MO. For most of my high school days, I thought my life was headed toward a performing career on Broadway. I even took ballet lessons because someone told me it would help. Video evidence exists, but I'm sure you'll never see it. Then God got a hold of my life and everything changed.

I grew up Shi'ite Baptist. Not really, but I did grow up thinking that Christianity meant trusting Christ as Savior and Forgiver (which I did as a young child) and then keeping the rules for the rest of your life to make God happy. But I got fairly disillusioned during my teenage years because I started noticing that the people who made the rules didn't usually keep the rules.

When I went to college at Oklahoma State University (looking for my golden educational parachute in case Broadway didn't pan out), I kept going to church. I was, after all, a rule-keeper who didn't want to make God mad. On the first Sunday, I went to a church where the pastor was teaching from Colossians 2:6. When I realized I could serve God out of faith and gratitude rather than out of fear, my whole paradigm shifted. When grace "clicked," everything changed.

Over the course of my college years God completely changed my desires and transformed my life. The kid who once told someone "I will never be a pastor" all of the sudden couldn't think of doing anything else.

After graduation from Oklahoma State with a music education degree I headed to Dallas Theological Seminary where I received a Master of Theology but more importantly, where I met my wife.

Today, I'm the Lead Pastor at McKinney Church in Fort Worth, TX. I live in Fort Worth with my wife, our sons Casen and Cale, and our beagle named Sutton.