Happy Memorial Day

We have a lot to be thankful for.

Hero - Becoming the Man She Desires

Waterbrook Press sent me "Hero, Becoming the Man She Desires" by Fred and Jasen Stoeker a few weeks ago to review. It's a book written with a younger audience in mind, and has good solid advice for what a true hero looks like. You may not agree with the intricasies of every point (Kari and I kissed before our wedding day, and don't regret that), but it is a great book challenging young men to lead in the area of sexual purity.

The book is not dumbed down like a lot of student material. In fact, in a couple of places the book may soar over a younger high schooler's head. However, it is a book worth reading.


One of the unique things about "Hero" is that it is written by a father and son. The father's struggle with pornography was well covered in his best-selling book "Every Man's Battle," and a portion of the book is dedicated to talking about how he steered his son clear of the addiction. It also talks about the father's secret fears and doubts about encouraging his son toward purity as the son neared college without finding a bride.


This isn't the book to gift-wrap and hand to your son for Christmas. This is the book for a father to buy his son and read with him. Meet on a regular basis and have honest heart conversations about the stuff the book covers. What should he expect as a young man? How should he deal with temptation? What lies should he be on the lookout to avoid? How can he think appropriately about women and sex - not devaluing or obsessing over either? Read this book with him while he is young. Talk about it as honestly as you can. Sure it may be awkward, but his future wife will thank you.

Singles

Yesterday I read something really helpful by Wayne Cordiero (HT: Ben Arment). Cordiero encouraged pastors to strive for the consistent base hit rather than the home run. No preacher, regardless of how gifted he is, can truly knock it out of the park every time he's up to bat. In fact in baseball, the higher your home run total the higher your strikeout average.

As a "Teaching Pastor" I get to preach about once a month. A lot of times I feel a strong (self-imposed) pressure to hit a home run every time I preach. If I don't "go long" this week, I have to think about it for a whole month. The problem is: that isn't sustainable. 

Cordiero has a much better way to think about preaching. Both singles and home runs move people around the bases. Strikeouts and pop-ups do not. Try too hard, and you will leave more people on base than you want. Hit consistent singles and doubles and you will feel less pressure, strike out less, and score more runs. 

Know the Judge

I meet with one of our non-staff church leaders once a week to talk through some discipleship materials. He's an attorney in the area who is the kind of guy I would want on my side if I was a business going into the courtroom. He is sharp as a tack. I'm learning more about thinking from him as he is learning about the Bible from me. 

The other day he made a passing comment that struck me for some reason. We were talking about a group he's representing in a smaller town, and he made the comment that he wouldn't go near the courtroom in the case for fear of losing the case for the business. Now, he's a successful attorney who has tried cases in significant courts. You would think he could ride into a small town courtroom and win the case without thinking much about it. But, he said he wouldn't touch it. Here's why: 

He said, "A good attorney knows the law. A great attorney knows the judge." 

There just has to be a good spiritual application there somewhere... (Acts 10:42-43)

Descent

Kari and I spent last Wednesday through Sunday participating in the LEAD program with Dallas Seminary. It is a four-day intensive Leadership Evaluation And Development (hence the name) program to help ministry leaders and their spouses be even more effective. 

I'm sure I'll unpack more of what we learned once I have had time to process it, but I can tell you it was a really great experience for both Kari and I. If you really want to serve your pastor or a mission partner in your church, talk your elders into forking over the $3500 to allow he and his wife to participate. Or, pay for it yourself. It is worth the investment. 

One of my "coaches" this past week articulated something extremely well that I want to pass along. George Hillman worked with Kari and I in the area of developing a "Life Dream." As we talked about leadership and the necessity of adding continued depth and character to our leadership, George said "What you really want to do is descend into greatness." 

Don't you love that image? 

The most majestic trees in the forest have the deepest roots. The most magnificent icebergs are even more majestic below the surface. And the greatest leaders are those who descend to get there. 

Most leadership books focus on characteristics and traits that are observable to others. Few focus on the traits and characteristics  which no one can see. But those are the ones that separate the influential leaders from the powerful leaders. Henri Nouwen says it this way: "The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross" (In the Name of Jesus, 81-82). 

A descent into greatness; that's what I'm after. How about you? 

Bible Idol

Quick question this morning:

If you had to do without either the Bible or the Holy Spirit, which one could you not do without?

For many people in my tradition (the Bible Church tradition), the tendency is to say "The Bible" first without thinking about that. After all, we're not the "Holy Spirit Church tradition." But that answer - even a tendency towards that answer - is idolatry. The Bible is not divine - it is divinely inspired. The Bible is not God, it is the revelation of God. It is not indwelling, it is something to be hidden in our hearts. The Holy Spirit, is Divine, is God, and resides within us.

The second question this morning is, "Why do you think evangelical Christians tend towards idolatry in this area?"

Systems Check

One of the important tasks of a leader is the creation and maintenance of various systems and processes that help make sure things get done in as efficient and productive way possible. Organizations have systems for almost everything, even if those systems are not clearly defined. 

The church is no different. We have systems for discipleship, mission, evangelism, teaching, stewardship, worship, and service. We also have internal systems for our staff: organizational charts, job descriptions, and communications processes are all systems designed to help our staff function as efficiently and clearly as possible. 

Often, systems become complex and convoluted to the point that they're cumbersome and more trouble than they're worth. Leaders have to always be at work refining and re-evaluating systems and processes to make sure they aren't counterproductive. The easiest way to evaluate a system is to look at the primary leader's own response to a system. If he or she is working around the process, it probably isn't a good system. I'll give you an example: 

We are currently in the middle of re-evaluating our process for making communications requests (videos, bulletin announcements, artwork, etc...). We had a system in place that most people were working within. But it was a complex system that involved getting a rubber stamp by two or three people and working your way through several different lines of authority before a request could be processed. There were many benefits to the system, but I began to realize that I (and a couple of other key leaders) were regularly skipping the system and going directly to our communication department for our requests because the other process took too long. 

It was a bad system. Other people were working within it because we told them to and we sign their paycheck. However, if the system doesn't work for the key leaders, why would we think it would work for anyone else? 

If the system is too cumbersome for you to work within, it is too cumbersome for the people who work under you. Simplify your system, and your efficiency will go through the roof. 

Placebo Effect

I heard a great sermon by Tim Keller this past weekend as I was driving to Lake Texoma to do some fishing with a few buddies. The message was titled "Who is this Jesus?" and was originally preached on May 1, 1994. 

One of the things Keller addressed that I think is important has to do with the way we prove the validity of Jesus. He says that our defense validity of the Christian faith must demonstrate that it is both "intellectually credible and existentially satisfying." That is, it has to be True and it has to be relevant.

Modern society has a tendency to look at the second half - the relevant piece - before we examine the rational piece. For many of us, the sole proof we offer that Jesus is real comes from our experience: "Jesus changed my life." Pastors work hard to make sure their churches are full of people who live visibly different lives because "the most powerful evidence of the proof of Christianity is men and women whose lives are changed by the Gospel." I've preached that. 

Here's the problem: The Placebo Effect. 

If I'm dying of a terrible disease and take some "medicine" that I sincerely believe will make me better, some of my symptoms will go away. I will feel better, even if the "medicine" I take is not medicine designed to treat my disease at all. I change externally, leading others (and myself) to believe I am better even though the medicine has had no lasting effect at all. 

Every religion - even the most bizarre religion you can dream up - has adherents who can say "My life has meaning, I have true joy and peace that I never experienced before. It works for me." 

The thing that sets Christianity apart is not just that it works, it is that Christianity is True. It is intellectually credible and it changes lives because it is True. We have to point to both. 

Not Here To Win

One of the truly great things about McKinney is our current group of elders. We have a group of guys who "get" ministry and who exercise extraordinary wisdom as they lead our church. This morning I had breakfast with one of those guys who has been an Elder for 26 years and is still excited about what God is doing at McKinney. He has seen a lot change over the past 30 years, good and bad, but still gets fired up about seeing people trust Christ and engage in ministry. 

He made one comment in passing that stuck out to me, and was worth recording here because I think it is one of the things that sets McKinney apart as a unique church: 

"Chris," he said, "We aren't here to win. We're here to serve in such a way that Jesus wins." 

He's right. 

It sounds simple, but it isn't. We love to be winners. We love to receive credit. We love to be the best. But we're not called to be the best.  We're called to be servants who do everything we do to point to the Best. 

We're just working hard to be the best at that.

Heart Thinking

In Biblical times, the heart was spoken of as the processing center of the body. A man would "think" in his heart (Genesis 6:5; Proverbs 23:7; Luke 5:22), connect with God in His heart (Genesis 24:45; Deuteronomy 4:29), love a woman with his heart (Genesis 34:3), remember with his heart (Deuteronomy 4:9), and feel emotion in your heart (1 Samuel 4:13; 28:5; 2 Samuel 6:16; Luke 24:32; Acts 2:26; Acts 21:13)

A few hundred years ago as mankind gained more information about how the body functions, we made a distinction in our metaphors in order to be more precise. Now, we "think" with our heads, and "feel" with our hearts as if the two functions are radically different.

However, both science and life experience show that the Bible might have been onto something.

If you want to persuade people, you cannot just speak to their "heads;" nobody makes life-decisions based on facts and information alone. Neither can you just speak to a person's "heart;" people are way too rational for that.

Thinking and feeling are never divorced. Our most rational thoughts always contain an element of feeling, and our most impetuous decisions are connected to rational thought at some point down the line. If you want people to decide something, whether in a sermon, a sales pitch, or a discussion with your teenager, you will have to appeal to their head and their heart.

On Vacation!

Please don't forget: if you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and can at all swing it, this Sunday will be an extraordinary Sunday at McKinney Church. You really won't want to miss it. 

Shortly after the luncheon to follow the 10:30 service, Kari and I will hop in the car with Casen and drive to Hot Springs to meet our friends Drew and Dawn and Jason and Joy for a week of doing absolutely nothing, together. 

I'm going dark, and will be back sometime after our vacation and the Pastors Retreat on May 4th and 5th. 

See you then! 

Measurement

A couple of things about measurement left over from yesterday. 

As you measure spiritual growth as a church, I think you're best off if you measure corporately as opposed to individually. Jesus' stinging rebuke to the church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-16) did not indicate there was nobody who was either hot or cold, but that the church as a whole had lukewarm. When we attempt to measure our effectiveness as a church we have to think in terms of the group as a whole rather than looking at specific individuals. There will always be outliers on both sides of the equation. 

Secondly, our criteria has to be biblical. We ski down the slippery slope to legalism if we manufacture a test for maturity that is not prescribed by Scripture. If we measure how many of our people have a 30 minute quiet time every day we measure the wrong thing. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). We have to flesh those out somehow, but need to leave enough room so as not to define "faithfulness," for example, too narrowly. 

Finally, we are measuring progress rather than static activities. I don't expect a person who is just growing in his faith to have completely mastered self-control, but I do expect him to have more self-control this year than he did last year. I don't expect my church to have arrived at goodness today, but I expect us  (as a whole) to be closer than we were yesterday.  

Measuring heart change is difficult because people are messy, and God does not complete a series of steps in the same order for each person when it comes to making us more like Him. It just doesn't work that way. 

How do you measure heart change?

I mentioned last week that our staff team did some brainstorming on how to measure heart change. We were realistic going in - many churches have attempted to measure their effectiveness, and to my knowledge nobody has stumbled on the magic bullet. 

In some senses, it is impossible to measure the heart because it is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) and only God truly knows it (Psalm 17:3; Acts 15:8). However, I'm convinced that there are ways we can measure our effectiveness. Paul knew the difference between a thriving church (Ephesians 1:15-16) and a dying church (Galatians 3:1; 1 Corinthians 4:21). So did Jesus (Revelation 3:7-13; Revelation 3:14-16). For them to evaluate various churches, there had to be some observable criteria. 

The danger is, observable criteria can almost always be replicated by religious people whose heart is not changed. 

Unbelievers have quiet times. Religious people show up to church, and small group, and Bible Study, and mission projects. An agnostic can pray, or give money. If we quantify our quantification too much, we run the risk of patting ourselves on the backs while we create religious people whose hearts are far from God. 

So I want to ask you the question we have been asking ourselves: Are there specific things we could measure in a person to see whether or not he or she is growing as a follower of Jesus Christ which could not be replicated by hypocrites.

I think I have an answer, but I'd like to hear yours first. What do you think? 

Small Things

Kari is out of town this week visiting her parents and dropping off the dog so the mutt doesn't have to stay at the vet's for several nights. We should all be as pampered as that dog...

Even so, her vacation gave me the opportunity to play golf yesterday evening with a buddy. Actually, after not having played in a month or so, I have played twice in the last four days.

Saturday, I played pretty well. Yesterday, not so much. 

While I was chasing balls all over the course, I had plenty of time to think about how golf is a great metaphor for life, ministry, and leadership in a lot of ways. The one most on my mind yesterday was the difference between greatness and desperation. 

The difference between a great golf shot and a terrible golf shot is about one centimeter, and a degree or two. If I hit the ball in the sweet spot of the club at the right angle, the ball goes where I want and I have a good day. If I miss by a centimeter or less, or leave the club face a degree or two too open, I have a day like I had yesterday. The problem is: I'm swinging the club at a pretty high rate of speed, and those details are hard to control.

Same thing in life, ministry and leadership. Life happens, ministry happens, and leadership happens at a high rate of speed; but the real difference between greatness and desperation is extraordinarily small. 

Choose a great leader. If you start looking for similarities between him/her and us, you'll find that at our core we have a lot in common. The difference is, most leaders do the small things exceptionally and consistently well.  

Faithfulness

Not long ago I read this great quote by Phillip Yancey about a documentary he watched on WWII:

"The soldiers recalled how they spent a particular day. One sat in a foxhole all day; once or twice, a German tank drove by, and he shot at it. Others played cards and frittered away the time. A few got involved in furious firefights. Mostly, the day passed like any other day for an infantryman on the front. Later they learned they had just participated in one of the largest, most decisive engagements of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. It did not feel decisive to any of them at the time, because none had the big picture of what was happening elsewhere.   

Great victories are won when ordinary people execute their assigned tasks - and a faithful person does not debate each day whether he or she is in the mood to follow the sergeant's orders or show up at a boring job. We exercise faith by responding to the task that lies before us, for we have control only over our actions in the present moment."

Gut Science

I just finished reading "Transformational Architecture" by Ron Martoia. I didn't love the book, but really loved this concept:

"Cultural historian Morris Berman has made a strong case that in eras gone by we had strong somatic knowledge; that is, our bodies registered when we sensed danger, had a "gut feeling," sensed that "something just wasn't right." These were types of knowing not associated with the mind but held in equally high regard in previous eras. He argues that our inability to pay attention to our quite literally, full-bodied knowledge transmitters has led us to being a culture that is impoverished and numb to the deep visceral wiring in our very design" (171).

Ignoring the evolutionary roots of Berman's point, I love that there is a science of the "gut."

So much of what I do as a young leader relies on "somatic knowledge." I think we move more toward rationalized thought as we get older and more mature in leadership because we are able to put a finger on the things that tipped off our gut initially, and evaluate our decisions in light of those circumstances.

Even still, the gut is an important tool. It is neat to know there is a science behind it.

Planning

Our ministry staff is heading out of town this morning to do some planning. When we do planning we stay on-site or go to someones house for a change of scenery, but we reserve our retreats for playtime. As a result, our "retreats" have been tremendously scaled back this year for perception reasons. Although our church is in a pretty good place financially thanks to some of the most generous people in Fort Worth, it just doesn't seem right to spend a bunch of money on pampering when everyone is tightening their belt. 

Although we've scaled back our retreats, we have ramped-up our planning. For months we have been working on the communication of our clear, common purpose as a church. We found that most people can get close to communicating what makes McKinney Church unique, but are working to help focus our communication in such a way that it makes it simple to communicate why we exist. 

Today, we will be drilling down into two huge topics: roll-out and metrics. How do we get the most momentum behind new verbage, and how do we measure our success? 

The last topic is the most tricky. It is extraordinarily difficult to measure spiritual growth and impact without becoming legalistic. People grow in different ways at different rates. Plus, some people do all the right things for all the wrong reasons while others do all the wrong things for all the right reasons. We recognize that God is more concerned with the heart, and want to be concerned about what God is concerned about. 

So today, we will try to answer the simple question: "How do you measure heart-change?" 

I can't wait. 

Leadership Models

If you have been a part of many churches (or corporations for that matter), you recognize pretty quickly that there are many different models for church leadership. I'm not even talking about church governance... I'm talking about church leadership. Churches have various ways of "getting things done," and most of them find at least some anecdotal support in Scripture. Here are some of the ones I think are most popular: 

The Hero Model:

There is a primary leader that everyone within the organization looks to. He is the gatekeeper for vision, direction, and change management. He is also the "face" of the organization. It works well when the Hero is a godly leader, but can be catastrophic when he falls, dies, or retires.  James seems to have been this kind of key leader in the Jerusalem Church (Acts 15:13-21). Moses was certainly this kind of leader, at least initially (Exodus 18). 

The Team Model: 

Two or more leaders share responsibility as the leader of the organization, something like Siamese twins. They lead together, and are seen as co-equals although they may serve different specific functions. Without one of them, the church/organization would lose its heartbeat. This works well as long as the team works in complete unity and humility, and as long as the leaders complement each other. However, errors in communication, challenges in perception, and confusion from subordinates can cause this leadership style to falter. Paul seems to have been involved in the Team Model a lot; with Barnabas (Acts 13-15), and Silas (Acts 16-17). 

Bottom-Up Leadership: 

The leadership is done by those involved in the organization at the bottom levels as much as the top levels. This is more than just servant leadership; it reflects a more congregational approach where everyone has a say in major decisions. This works best in small organizations where people are able to be intimately involved and are therefore able to make decisions with the big picture in mind. It fails when the vision leaks, or when the organization gets so big the "average" person is unable to know the big picture. Certainly the apostles worked this approach in the early days immediately following Christ's ascension into heaven (Acts 1:12-26).

Those are just three models, but they seem to be the most prevalent. Two questions: (1) Are you aware of others?  (2) Which do you feel is most effective in leading a church overall? They all have biblical precedent; which one is the most practical? Again, not in overall governance - that is a discussion for another day. Which model is best for managing the day-to-day operation and execution within an organization or church? 

What Happens When You Take a Friend to Church?

I hope you had a great Easter yesterday. We had a great day. The church service was meaningful. We didn't have any technical nightmares or anything that would distract from worship, and that's an overall win. We also got to spend Easter with my parents, which was neat. 

One of the most exciting things for me was that our neighbors came to church with us yesterday morning. They're a really cool couple, and we get along extraordinarily well. Kari and I have talked with them about spiritual things on multiple occasions, but it is still difficult to tell where they are when it comes to their faith. Kari and I have been praying for them for around a year, so it was neat to have them show up at church yesterday. 

If you haven't ever invited someone you care about to your church, you really ought to try it; especially if you are on staff at the church. As soon as someone you care about shows up, especially when that person is far from God, you gain a heightened sensitivity to everything that goes on. 

As a pastor (or regular attender), it is almost impossible to see things with the eyes of a guest. Inviting a neighbor lets you experience your church with brand new eyes. The positive things that you normally would take for granted (the clarity of the Gospel, the friendliness of the people, the clarity of instruction to guests) get contrasted with the negative things you have repressed without realizing it (awkward service transitions, bathroom cleanliness,  weird door greeters), and allows you to see things about your church in a new light. 

Because I'm a pastor, I don't get to experience this real frequently because the majority of my world is lived in the Christian bubble. There are things that I do to intentionally get out of that bubble, but by and large the bubble is a reality for me. However, I need to take advantage of that opportunity every chance I get, because it gives me a glimpse into what the people in the seats are feeling every week. After all, I encourage them to be bringing friends and neighbors on a regular basis, right? 

My experience yesterday morning has given me a fire in my belly to send off a couple of notes of encouragement to people who were friendly to my friends. It has also given me some renewed passion to shore up a couple of areas that need help. That's a good thing. 

Help?

I'm on my 5th iPhone, and even this iPhone isn't working properly. I'm having significant sync issues that the "Mac Genius" told me was a result of the fact that "Steve and Bill don't play well together." Great.

Even still, I love the technology. The thousands of apps available to the iPhone are wicked cool, and worth a little bit of trouble. I love the YouVersion Bible app from the guys at Lifechurch.tv, and some of the other apps that allow you to do find your car in a parking lot, recognize a song and artist on the radio, or watch the weather radar in real time. Pretty cool.

Here's the deal: I'm looking for a flashcard app that will allow me to enter text on my computer, sync it with my iPhone, and have flashcards  on my iPhone. I want to use it for Bible memory, so it would be equally cool if it interfaced with YouVersion or another Bible app to copy verses onto flashcards on my iPhone. 

There are a couple of flashcard apps, but they require you to type the text onto the flashcard from the iPhone's typing pad, and that takes way too long. 

Any computer nerds out there who could help me out? 

One of my life goals is to memorize at least one verse from every chapter of the Bible. There are 1189 chapters, so if I do a verse a week I'm looking at around 22 years total to reach the goal. I'm already a few years into it, but am tired of keeping flashcards laying around. Flashcards are made out of paper, and I'm in the middle of a paper purge. Plus, I think the convenience would help me do more than a verse per week. 

Keep your eyes open. If you find something that would work, or can write an app that would work, I would be forever grateful.