Think Opportunities, Not Problems

I’ve just about finished the book Mastering the Management Buckets, by John Pearson, former director of the Willow Creek Association. Early in the book Pearson quotes management guru Peter Drucker, saying, “Results are obtained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems.” In one sentence, Drucker nails a common problem with so many church leader’s linear way of thinking. Let me elaborate.

• Thought #1: The church is not doing well because we have problems.
• Thought #2: If I can just solve the problems, the church will do better.

The results we want (for us at Jubilee this means Connecting People to Jesus, Resulting in God-honoring Life Change) are never gained through solving problems. They are gained by “exploiting opportunities”. So why do so many leaders set around thinking about what to do with the problems they face? We need to be spending our time praying and thinking about the opportunities before us. Let me give you an example from my situation here in Wentzville.

In the month of March our attendance plateaued, which is obviously not where a new location wants to be long term. There are some reasons on the surface, but there could be some underlying reasons of which I’m not aware of. Rather than analyzing the situation to death, I began to think of opportunities for connecting with more people in Wentzville. With volunteerism at an all time high, why not put together some sort of program that joins local volunteers with local nonprofit organizations that need volunteers? I’m in the early stages of discovering the volunteer needs of the community, along with opening up lines of communication with city officials and people in the school district (some high school groups require community service). When it’s all said and done, I hope to have an ongoing program in place that will offer people community service opportunities, while at the same time help make Wentzville a better place to live. Through it all I’m hoping and praying that Jubilee Church in Wentzville will experience an increase in the number of connections we have in Wentzville, with the ultimate goal of helping others connect with Jesus.

So what do you say? Quit spending all your time thinking about your problems and start praying and thinking about opportunities.

Loving Leviticus

Don’t you wish some parts of the Bible weren’t there?

Many of us are practical Marcionites. Marcion was the second century heretic who ditched most of the Bible, as he didn’t like the God it portrayed. Marcion was denounced then, and since, by the Church, but the reality is that many of us act like him in our reading of the Bible.

I have a confession to make – whenever my Bible reading plan gets round to Leviticus I feel a sense of inner dread. I know that it is going to be hard work, that it is going to frustrate me, and that it is going to make me angry. I also know that at some point I am going to have to preach through it, if for no other reason than to get clear in my own mind what it is all about.
Recently someone on our Alpha course came in all steamed up because she couldn’t make sense of the instructions for dealing with rape given in Deuteronomy. “How did she get hold of that?” I asked. My colleague who runs Alpha responded, “Someone did something stupid – they gave her a Bible!”

Compare this response with William Tyndale’s declaration about Deuteronomy that, “This is a book worthy to be read in day and night and never to be out of hands. It is easy also and light and a very pure gospel whose message is a preaching of faith and love.” Tyndale’s attitude always amazes me. He made this comment having lost all his translation work in a shipwreck and then having to spend months more redoing all that work. Months and months in the Pentateuch, while living under the constant threat of betrayal and martyrdom, and finding it “light.”

Perhaps our struggle with Leviticus, and Numbers, and Deuteronomy is that we just don’t give them enough time and attention. In skimming through these books as fast as possible to keep up with our Bible reading plans (or in ignoring them completely) we fail to see the gospel in them.

The key to understanding these books has got to be understanding the story of God’s dealings with the earth.

A key scene in this years Oscar winner, Slum Dog Millionaire, is the deliberate maiming of children who are sent out into the streets to beg. It is an ugly and horrific scene. I have four children. I found this scene hard to watch. But the movie needs that scene – without it the story wouldn’t hold together.

When we get to Leviticus we see something similar. In Leviticus we are confronted with the ugliness of sin and the gulf of separation there is between ourselves and a holy God. All those laws and commands – all of them point to the problem of sin, and the way to resolve it. There is no way that sinful humans should be able to worship YHWH, but he makes a way for this to be possible. And in those rules and commands we see something prophetic, a pointing towards Christ who by his own sacrifice will finally and fully defeat death and make real worship possible – make it possible for a sinner like me to become part of the people of God.

Leviticus is an important part of the story. We can’t cover our eyes or fast–forward through it. We need to learn to love it.

Bible Reading as Works Righteousness

Discipleship and disciple-making is somewhere at the core of what it looks like for the church to live out Jesus’ mission in our world today. And because of this we ought to find ourselves submerged in the Scriptures. At it’s essence discipleship is simply the process of becoming more and more like Jesus in our motivations and actions (cf. Mark 3:14-15).

But somewhere along the way a subtle or not-so-subtle problem can arise: we can mistake discipleship for the mechanics of discipleship. What happens is discipleship can become defined by very helpful and even vital activities that foster growth and development in our lives such as prayer, silence, solitude, evangelism, fasting, and even Bible reading. All of these activities are vital to the process but none of these in themselves are discipleship.

What can happen if we confuse the mechanics of discipleship for discipleship itself is we begin to view these activities as the means by which we become righteous before God, even if unknowingly. So we can begin to see our faithfulness to these activities as the measuring rod for our spiritual growth and maturity. But this will inevitably lead to self-righteousness arrogance or defeat. We’ll become defeated because we’re not living up to our built-in standard. Or we’ll become arrogant and look down on others who do not live up to our built-in standard.

Instead, where all our Bible reading must begin is the Gospel itself. We must discover that our outward adherence doesn’t, in and of itself, guarantee that we will look more like Jesus in our motivations or actions. We don’t become righteous by adhering to some imposed standard. We become righteous through faith in Christ’s death on our behalf. Here is a sampling from the NT:

Romans 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it– the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

Romans 4:4-5 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

Philippians 3:8-9 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

The Scriptures are God’s revelation to us, displaying who he is, what he’s concerned about, and how we can relate to him. But it is not merely reading the Scriptures or even obeying them that causes us to be accepted by him, as if we can somehow force God’s hand. Rather, it is Jesus horrific death in our place that does that secures our acceptance before God. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This is the place that our Bible reading must begin, a radical commitment to the Gospel. If we confuse discipleship for the mechanics of discipleship we’re in danger of reverting to the Christianity as Religion, using Scripture reading as a means to find acceptance before God. But in the Gospel we find great freedom to submerge ourselves in the Scriptures not because we have to but because we desire to become like the one who sacrificed himself in our place.

Good leaders are good readers

So, you think you can be an effective leader without also constantly studying and learning? It’s so easy in a leadership position to find excuses for not being a reader:

• Too busy to read
• I read enough in college to last a lifetime
• There is nothing else I need to know to do my job effectively
• People should be learning from me, rather than me learning from others
• I’m being paid to lead, not to read
• Reading to study from others is a sign of weakness and incompetence
• I don’t have the attention span to read an entire book

When I was in the corporate world in senior management, I never read anything relating to management or business. I led from a very instinctual style using my motivational and people skills to get things done. However, as a pastor I truly believe that there is no way I could be an effective leader without being a good reader. Christian ministry is not the same environment as the secular workplace. Your leadership methods must transcend the ordinary!

But, what should church leaders read? Here are some recommendations for types of reading that will help you to grow as a good leader in Christian ministry:

• Read the Bible Daily- Without question, we must first read and know the Word of God in order to lead God’s people. Find a consistent time every day to devote to the study of God’s Word. Find a translation that helps you get the most you can out of this personal time with God.
• Read a few books on Christian leadership each year- One of the things that we are seeing is a decline in church attendance. The old ways aren’t connecting with as many people today. Even if your ministry is moving along positively at the moment, always know that things change. By reading how other leaders are doing things, it gives you a fresh perspective and a source for new ideas.
• Read the news often- We are called to share the good news of Christ to the world so we need to know what is going on outside of the church. How is the economy affecting people in our communities? What tragic events have occurred that resulted in real needs of others? What people are out there being examples of Christ that we can use to encourage our membership?
• Read blogs- With technology being so easily accessible to us, there is no excuse not to read what other leaders are posting on blogs. Blogs tend to be more personal with leaders being much more transparent when writing than they would be in a book. No matter where you are at in your ministry, there is always someone experiencing a similar situation. Through reading blogs I get great new ideas, words of encouragement, opportunities to comment and share with others, and it gives me a sense of being in a brotherhood with others—I’m not in it alone. Find an RSS reader and update blogs daily. Read what interests you; skip what doesn’t.

The key to growing and becoming an even better leader is directly related to your efforts to read the work of others and the Word of God on a consistent basis. Don’t be fooled into thinking you know it all already! Remember what is written in James 4:6: “…God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Walk away from the manual

If I hear another church leader refer to the Bible as a “Manual for life” I think I’m going to throw up in my mouth.  A manual for life; are you kidding me?  If the Bible is a manual for life it’s a very bad manual.  For example, today I made the decision to fix my 196,000 mile Camry rather than leave it alone and let it ride off into the sunset.  It would have been helpful to have a chapter and verse out the Holy Manual that would have helped me make a sure-fire, can’t miss decision, but it just wasn’t there.  Believe me, I looked. 

Aren’t manuals supposed to help us fix things when they break?  Therein lies one of the problems with this perspective.  Allow me to elaborate.

1. If the Bible is a “Manual for Life” we develop a mindset that we really don’t need it till something breaks with our life.  Honestly, when was the last time you read your refrigerator manual?  Do you even know where it is?  Manuals aren’t needed till something goes wrong, and unfortunately that’s how many people respond to the Bible.
2. When the Bible is regarded as a “Manual for Life” it makes “me” the center of life.  The whole reason for going to the manual in the first place is so that “I” can know how to live, so “I” can get things fixed in my life, so “I” can do better, so “I” can experience life to the fullest.  The manual becomes a means to an end and the end is always bettering self in some way.
3. Manuals are boring and irrelevent because they are informational, and informational is never transformational.  The Bible is one big story of God’s desire to connect with humanity for the sake of His glory.  The main character is God and He can be found on every page of the story.
    
4. There is a subtle legalism that comes with regarding the Bible as a “Manual for Life.”  Following Jesus is reduced to principles that we apply.  You have a problem, follow these principles!  If the problem persists, you obviously did something wrong becasue the principles work.  In the end the relationship and the mystery of following Jesus is taken out of the picture.

If you hold to the “Manual for Life” perspective of the Bible, my suggestion is that you walk away from the manual and ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your heart to see that first and foremost the Bible is about God and not you.  And the thing about God is that knowing Him comes only through revelation, not information.  That’s where the manual just won’t cut it.

Who’s Following You?

Social media is the hot thing right now. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks are growing exponentially. More and more of us are “life-casting” our every activity, thought and feeling via YouTube, Ustream, and blogs. We are becoming a very public society.

I want to ask you a question. “Who’s Following You?”

I get multiple friend requests on Facebook and dozens of new follower notices from Twitter each day. Many are friends from High School or College. Several are church planters and other Pastors from across the country. A growing number of followers however are people who live and work around me. Some are from the church but most are people who follow me because of my association with the local Chamber of Commerce or because I am Portland Trailblazer fan or because I tweet about technology.

I’ve noticed an interesting phenomena taking place. This week a couple of non-Christians I had a Chamber of Commerce meeting with joked about my sermon on tithing. How did they know I had preached on the topic? They follow me on Twitter and I tweeted, “Church went well. Only one person walked out when I started talking about tithing.” Last week a 70 year old Christian woman started a conversation with me about how many coffee meetings I have each day. How did she know that? She reads my Facebook status updates. Now when I call my mom to tell her what’s been going on she says, “I know. I read that on your blog.” My wife even changed her Facebook status to say: “Is it sad that I have to check Facebook to know where my husband is?”

We live in a new age! There are many applications that can analyze your Twitter influence or grade your blog. I’m not so concerned about the number of your followers but I am concerned with what they see. As they follow you what do they see? Do they see an arrogant, uncompassionate, know-it-all or do they see a humble, empathetic, struggling-to-figure-it-all-out follower of Christ?

My prayer is the same as Paul’s in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (NIV) I want my followers to see the real me. I want them to see my struggles. I want them to see my faith in tough times as well as good times. Most importantly I want them to see Jesus!

Followers are young and old. They are Christians and Non-Christians. A caution in this always-connected world is to be careful what you post because you never know who’s following you!

Seize Your Life! Part 1 – Finding Space in Life for the Word

This will be the first of a three part series, called “Seize Your Life!”  Its theme is how to seize your whole life to do what God wants you to do.  It is written out of my own experiences, seeking out what God wants of me in my life. 

I’ve always pondered Psalm 37:4  - “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Since coming to Christ at age 16, I have long struggled with finding the space for pursuing him in the busyness of the life that he has given me.  I would find myself in my teens and 20’s, struck by something and convicted that I need to read the Bible more.  I’d pick it up and voraciously read chapter after chapter – sometimes even book after book.  I’d stop and say to myself, “Wow, that was fantastic!  I feel so great when I read the Scriptures!  This was good for me!   I need to do this more often!”  And then, months would go by before I did more than read the quoted verses on the Powerpoint during the sermon.

The world is about distracting us from feeding on the Word, like the Bible teaches.  There is always something else to do, someone contacting us (especially if you’re a social media butterfly like myself), some other urgent duty calling.  I needed to really remember that it is not a faraway deity that I had claimed as Lord, but a friend; a brother.  Jesus needs to be my best friend, my boss, my blood.  That doesn’t happen – it can’t happen unless I am willing, and actually want to spend my time on him.

I don’t have a hard and fast, “This is how you do it” post for you.  But I do have three things that I have grabbed onto as I recognized I needed to get the space for God into every day.

• I got a Dog.  Serious!  A dog needs walking right?  Suddenly I had extra motivation to get up early before work, and take her for a walk.  But guess what?  That gave me the space to start reading a chapter of the Bible every morning and a page of “My Utmost for His Highest”, plus I found myself with a 15 minute prayer walk with the dog, every morning!
• I looked for technology to help.   There are a number of really neat tools you can get to help you with spiritual disciplines.  I encountered Prayer list programs for mobile devices, integrated into Bible programs even.  I found that you can have the Bible sent to you through many different means, from emailed daily readings to RSS feeds.
   
• I began to take a bible everywhere with me.  Even without electronic media, there are a wealth of “Daily Bible” books you can pick up.  Just carrying one around with you allows you to pick it up and hammer through a bit on a moments’ notice.  Going to the Dentist?  You’ll be waiting in the waiting room for a bit.  Commuting to work?  If traffic grinds to halt behind an accident, what else are you going to do?  But there is another benefit to doing this.  It gives you a chance to give away your Bible.   You’re walking around in one of the most unchurched cultures in the world, right this minute.  There are millions of people in North America who think they know who Jesus is but have never read the Bible.  What if your Bible was the one they read?

The point of all this is we really do have space in our life for what we aren’t doing.  I have become convinced by my own experience that there is no excuse for not pursuing the Word diligently every single day.  When I was at a youth snow retreat last month, the speaker, Dave Bogue, had a brilliant analogy which compared the Bible to a love letter.  Someone tells you they love you.   You send them all kinds of letters telling them more about you, your likes and dislikes, what your family is like, and where you envision your life is going with your love at your side. But in return they simply came up with excuses day after day, week after week about how they just “didn’t have time” to read your letters.  Would you really believe they love you?  How long would you deceive yourself into believing they did? Now, the Bible isn’t just a love letter.  It actually teaches us how to love.  If we refuse to read it, how long can we lie to God and ourselves?

Singing The Bible

I was talking with someone yesterday who was expressing the all-too-common sentiment that he finds it hard to read the Bible. I don’t know how many people I’ve spoken to over the years about the importance of Bible reading, and had this response.

In contrast, its not often though that I find someone who finds it hard to listen to music.

Just today I have loaded Spotify on to my computer. This application enables me to listen to music online – for free, and legally! I have gone through my Amazon wish list of all the CD’s I want but can’t afford and now have them set-up as playlists on my Spotify account. Sweet.

We love music.

Perhaps the reason we so often miss the power of Scripture is because we are reading in our heads rather than singing it out loud. It is only in the last 500 years that people have started reading silently in their heads. Before that, when people read, they read out loud.

And sang.

We see this most clearly with the Psalms. We all know that very often music has the ability to connect with us far more powerfully than words we read silently in our heads, or even words that we speak out loud. That’s why when we teach children things they need to remember we often do it by song – A,B,C,D… – and why we find it easier to remember worship songs than memory verses. And this is why the Psalms have been so powerful for worship – they are crying out to be sung.

Struggling with the Bible? Try singing the Psalms.

One way of looking at the Psalms is to compare them with the letters page of a newspaper or magazine. In a letters page there is some similarity about all the letters – they all have a beginning and an end, they all try to make a point, they are all recognisably letters. But different letters have different purposes – some letters will be letters of complaint, others will be letters of praise or thanks, some will be making a humorous observation, others will be asking for help or advice.

The Psalms are somewhat similar. They are all recognisably Psalms, but there are many different kinds of Psalm. Some are Psalms of complaint – “why is this happening to me God? Why don’t you do something about this situation God?” Others are Psalms of thanks – “God you are so good, so worthy of praise, you have treated me so well…” Some are Psalms of praise – “God is king, let’s all worship him.” Some Psalms are full of confidence while others are full of doubt; some are angry, others are happy. Many are petitions – “God won’t you please do this for me” – while others describe loss and heartache. Some of them are instructional or devotional – they are meant to teach us about God and his character. Some Psalms are very personal, very individual, describing one persons desires and longings. Others are very communal, expressing the hopes and dreams of all the people of God. And there are other types of Psalm besides.

To my friend who was struggling with Bible reading I suggested getting an MP3 audio Bible download. Perhaps even better advice would have been to sing a Psalm.