Sep 19

Anything But Typical

Gospel of Mark 1 Comment »

Following Jesus is anything but typical. And let’s be honest, we like typical. We want typical. We want safe. We want comfortable. But with those words of Jesus, “The kingdom of God is at hand” and “Come, follow me,” He launched a dream, a revolution, a mission. And it’s anything but typical.

Maybe he’s calling you to walk across the street and share the gospel with your neighbor. Maybe he’s calling you to go out of your comfort zone and reconcile a relationship that’s broken. Maybe he’s calling you to take a stand for Him that definitely won’t be popular at your school. Maybe he’s calling you to humble yourself in your marriage even if something isn’t your fault. Maybe he’s calling you to be more generous with your schedule or your finances so you can be more about His revolutionary kingdom work. I don’t know where He wants from you, but I do know this: you will need the vision to see the world through Jesus’ eyes, the strength to follow where He leads, the courage to act upon what He says, and the dependence to hear His voice through the Holy Spirit as you live Him out in your world.

Where is an area of your life that Jesus is calling you to be and do the anything but typical? And what stories are flowing for your willingness to be and do the anything but typical?

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Sep 18

3 Questions for Young Lead Pastors

Leadership Development No Comments »

I spent this past week in Dallas, TX for round 2 of 4 in Leadership Network’s Next Generation Pastors Learning Community. The learning community consists of 13 younger (under 40) senior pastors in larger churches with 4 seasoned mentor pastors of larger churches (Larry Osborne of Northcoast Church, John Jenkins of First Baptist Church Glenarden, MD, Bruce Miller of McKinney Fellowship Bible Church, & Charles Anderson of University United Methodist Church). It’s a time to learn, to be challenged, and to glean wisdom from guys who have walked the road before us. Here are the top 3 questions I took away from my time in Dallas:

1. What is it that only I can do? I am the only one who can live in and live out my relationship with Jesus. I am the only one who can be married to my wife. I am the only one who can father my son. No one else can do that. In ministry, the needs and expectations are many and often overwhelming, but if I constantly remember what only I can do, that helps me prioritize. The question also applies to my role as senior pastor. Out of all of our staff and congregational leaders, what are the things that only I can do as the senior pastor? I’m in the process of learning how to answer this question. This leads me to the next question.

2. How can I live in the rhythm of life vs. living a balanced life? This was one of the most personal “ah-ha” moments of the week. We often strive for balance, which I am discovering is impossible and according to Bruce Miller unbiblical. Bruce shared the basic thesis from his book Your Life in Rhythm. We need to embrace the seasons and rhythms of life and seize the opportunities that each season holds versus trying to precariously balance all of life and ministry (as if everything could actually be held in balance). This is crucial as a husband and father. I don’t want to miss where He has me in my marriage and parenting because I’m giving it all on the “altar of ministry.”

3. How will I/we develop leaders? This has been a personal and pastoral quest for a long time. Conventional wisdom says, “find 10 people, they find 10 people, then they find 10 people…” With this model, you’ve developed 1000 leaders. The problem is: it rarely works out this way. It’s like the “whisper the message to your neighbor” game. By the time it comes around full circle, the message has often changed. Everything is not going to translate as clear and concise as we’d like. A realistic goal a leader developer should be spending more time with fewer people who have the calling and capacity for higher levels of leadership. It’s much more organic than liner. Another leadership development moment came as Larry Osborne said that the content is often irrelevant (i.e., books, tools, etc.). It’s necessary, but it’s there to foster conversation. Leaders often get overly excited about curriculum and miss the moments of what the curriculum creates in conversation. The goal is application and engagement in leadership and ministry.

Many thanks to Leadership Network (especially Linda Stanley) and the mentor pastors for investing in young dudes who are trying to love Jesus, our families, and the church with all that we have.

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Sep 16

Balancing the Extremes

Bible, Gospel of Mark, Theological Musings 1 Comment »

We are prone to extremes.  We have a penchant for an “either/or” mindset, especially when it comes to wrestling through something in the Bible or our theology.  When we choose an “either/or” mindset instead of trying to find the precarious balance of a “both/and” mindset, our conclusions often leave out what the rest of the data says. Here are a few examples…

  • The Kingdom of God – Now vs. Future: Is it already or not yet?  It’s “both.”  The Kingdom has already come with the advent of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:14-15), but there is a future final consummation. An overemphasis on the “already now” often results in an optimistic triumphalism that doesn’t square with reality and experience. This leads many to disillusionment because tribulations still abound. Yet an overemphasis on the “future not yet” aspect of the kingdom may lead to defeatism and despair in the now of life, neglecting the reality that Jesus has accomplished victory over sin and death. The now and not yet must be held in tension.
  • Calvinism vs. Arminianism: Does God choose me or do I choose Him? I understand all of the theological and philosophical tensions inherent within the argument, but somehow in the mystery of God it seems to be a bit of both. Some will say it can’t ultimately be a “both/and.”  Some will site the law of non-contradiction… that two opposing answers can’t be both right at the same time.  I respond with the reality of human finitude. We will not completely figure it out on this side and quite possibly not on the next side either (because we’ll still be finite).  When I was preaching through Ephesians 1 (all of the fun “predestined, adoption” language), here’s what I said: “I have this uncanny ability to peacefully co-exist right in the middle of two opposing theological systems.” I have learned to peacefully exist in the tension. And my response at the mystery and tension (much like the Apostle Paul’s in Ephesians 1) is worship… fully enjoying the mystery of the God who has so lovingly and graciously included us in His huge plan of redemption.
  • Jesus (the Gospels) vs. Paul: The kingdom or the cross? This seems to be a favorite in the emergent vs. emerging debates. The emergent folks favor the Gospels and the ethics of the kingdom. The emerging reformed crowd favors Paul’s epistles and focus on the cross (especially substitutionary atonement, propitiation, expiation, etc.). It’s both… the kingdom and the cross.

Bottom line… I don’t think I have to have the tensions resolved.  It’s not intellectual laziness or apathy that leads me here. It’s a spiritual understanding that my finite, limited perspective will never be able to fully comprehend the unlimited vision and plan of the Ultimate God. So I’m learning to live in the tensions. I’m learning to balance the extremes.

Sep 09

The Evolution of God & Religion?

Theological Musings No Comments »

On August 30th NPR aired “Is Believing in God Evolutionarily Advantageous?” on the show All Things Considered. The basic thesis is that believing in God is evolutionarily advantageous for societies and cultures because it stops cheaters and promotes the common good. Implicit within the discussion is that cultures created the concept of a supernatural being:

In the history of the world, every culture in every location at every point in time has developed some supernatural belief system. And when a human behavior is so universal, scientists often argue that it must be an evolutionary adaptation along the lines of standing upright. That is, something so helpful that the people who had it thrived, and the people who didn’t slowly died out until we were all left with the trait. But what could be the evolutionary advantage of believing in God?

Of course, the argumentation is intricate with a lot of sociological and anthropological data to substantiate the hypothesis. I must confess, I do enjoy listening and reading these kinds of studies. I like to hear what the world around us is wrestling with, especially when it comes to belief, God, and culture.

But here’s one thing that wasn’t considered (ironically enough on a show called All Things Considered): perhaps God actually exists. Perhaps God actually created humans and civilizations to work best when a transcendent Being is acknowledged, worshiped, and served. Perhaps there is actually a moral consciousness hard-wired into humanity as part of the image of God.

I am amazed at the lengths we will go to explain that God couldn’t possibly exist and then tell everybody the evolutionary advantage of belief and religion is actually a good thing.

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Sep 08

The Gospel of Mark

Gospel of Mark, Northshore Baptist Church 2 Comments »


“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” ~ Mark 1:1

With these words the Gospel writer Mark invites us into a new adventure… a new beginning with the greatest news the world has ever heard… the good news that God has come through Jesus Christ to bring His perfect rule and reign to earth. And God’s rule and reign calls us to be and transforms us into people who are servant-hearted & kingdom-minded.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for man” (Mark 10:45). This is the key verse in the Gospel of Mark. This is the verse that gives us a vision of the mission of Jesus Christ, the God-Man. Matthew’s Gospel shines the light on Christ as Messiah King. Luke’s Gospel shows Jesus as the compassionate Savior to all. John’s lofty gospel focuses on proving to the whole world that Jesus is fully God.  But Mark’s picture of Jesus is earthy… focusing on Jesus as the Servant, the Son of Man, who came to give His life as the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53).

The shortest of the four Gospels, Mark’s style is quick and compact. His style focuses on the action taking place in the stories of call, confrontation, and change. But as we get to chapter 11, it all goes into slow-motion as he fixates on the Passion Week and the Cross… the ultimate place of call, confrontation, and change… the place where the Son of Man, the Servant of God does away with sin and death and gives all of earthy humanity the opportunity to join God in His great kingdom mission… the kingdom where the first are last and the last are first.

Ultimately, Mark’s great Gospel is a call and challenge to be servant-hearted & kingdom-minded. Will you answer the call and live in the challenge?

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Sep 05

The Prayer for Wisdom*

Ecclesiastes: Meaning of Life, Spiritual Disciplines 5 Comments »

(*The pattern of prayer explained here is taken from Gordon Smith’s The Voice of Jesus)

One of the most incredible miracles of being a follower of Jesus is that we have the Holy Spirit, God Himself, living inside of us guiding, directing, and leading us towards wisdom and discernment. There’s a process to what the Holy Spirit does in our lives, and our response to His movement brings us to a place of wisdom and discernment. There’s a character to our prayer. That character and pattern of our prayers is: Gratitude, Confession, Meditation, and Discernment. It’s a pattern of prayer that responds to who God is and what He does through the Holy Spirit.

Gratitude is our response to the Holy Spirit’s assurance that we are loved by the Father. We must always start here… the love of God for us. Nothing is so fundamental to the Christian journey as knowing and feeling that we loved by the Father. It is from the experience of God’s love that we know the grace of God and live out every other dimension of our Christian faith. So the Holy Spirit begins by assuring us of the Father’s love for us, toward us, in us, and through us. And our response is gratitude for that love.

Confession is our response to the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin. When we know the depths to which we are loved and known by the Father, then our sin becomes all the more “despicable.” I don’t say that to take us into deeper places of self-loathing and shame. I say that to ask, “how can we walk away from that love in our sin and disobedience?” The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and then disciplines us because He loves us… because He wants to remove all of the barriers and roadblocks that prevent us from seeing and experiencing the Father’s love. Our response to the Spirit’s conviction of sin is confession.

Meditation is our response the Holy Spirit’s illuminating our hearts and minds through Scripture. Knowing that we loved by the Father, having confessed our sin and rebellion against Him and His love, we are now ready to come to God through His Word. Our minds and hearts are clear to hear His voice and to see His character and plan as revealed through His Word. And the Holy Spirit illuminates (shines light on) the Word, and our hearts are changed in the process. Our response to that light is to meditate upon it.

Discernment is our response to the Spirit guidance in times of choice. Now that we are beginning to know and experience the assurance that we loved by the Father, convicted of our sin in His perfect love, and having come to His Scriptures to shape our hearts and minds in light of who Jesus Christ really and fully is, now and only now are we ready to hear the voice of Jesus through the Holy Spirit as He leads and guides in times of choice.  The problem is that we often jump immediately to wanting the Spirit’s guidance in times of choice. When we go here without having practiced gratitude, confession, and meditation, we short-circuit the process and cannot clearly hear the voice of Jesus through the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we know we are loved, if we know we are forgiven and freed from our sin, and if we know the heart and character of God as revealed in the Scriptures, then we are much more likely to make the right choices through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Try praying with this pattern and see how the Holy Spirit develops wisdom and discernment in your life and experience.

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Sep 02

Time, Seasons & Eternity

Bible, Ecclesiastes: Meaning of Life, Sermons, Theological Musings 2 Comments »

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” ~ Ecclesiastes 3:11

Everything ultimately matters, so how we use our time, journey through the seasons of life, and spend eternity ultimately matters.  This is what the ancient philosopher and king Solomon discovered on his quest for meaning of life. There is a time for everything, and there is a God in heaven who rules over an all-encompassing plan of life and eternity. The invitation to us on this side of heaven is to allow the God of time, seasons, and eternity to shape our time, seasons, and eternity

Time. How are you spending your time? If you allowed someone to look at your calendar, would it sync with what you say is most important? If not, what do you need to change in your day, your week, and your month to live out what is most important?

Seasons. Do you recognize the season of life you’re in right now? What’s best about it? What’s the greatest challenge of this season? How can you find someone who has walked this season before to help you navigate it well?  If you’ve been through a particular season, will you be generous with your heart and time by helping someone else walk through that season?

Eternity. Ultimately God has placed the longing for eternity, the longing for more, in the human heart. And the God of eternity longs to have us be with Him for eternity. That’s the great hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ… that our sin would be done away with by His cross, the barrier removed, our weapons laid down as we come to Him. His death for ours. His life for ours. But death could not hold the God-Man in the grave. He is risen, and He invites us to everlasting, eternal life with Him… forever. And forever is a long time.

Make the most of your time and seasons on this side of eternity, and make the most of the opportunity to be with God on the other side of eternity.

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Sep 01

The Life I Planned vs. The Life I Needed

Book Reviews, Literature, Theological Musings 1 Comment »

One of my favorite summer reads was Cormac McCarthy’s The Sunset Limited.  It captures the conversation of two characters: Black and White. Black is a recovered addict and former inmate who found Jesus, and White is an atheist professor who tries to kill himself. The whole book is a conversation in Black’s kitchen after he’s rescued White from a failed suicide attempt. The conversation ultimately is a theological one that centers on the hope or hopelessness with or without God in the equation of life. And it’s written in McCarthy’s terse, sparse language that gets straight to the heart.

Here’s one of my favorite points of dialogue:

Black: If this ain’t the life you had in mind, what was?

White: I don’t know. Not this. Is your life the one you’d planned?

Black: No, it ain’t. I got what I needed instead of what I wanted and that’s just about the best kind of luck you can have.

So often we try to define and control what we want life to look like… the life we’d plan for ourselves. But for some reason, it doesn’t turn out that way. And there’s a tension in perspective here. In McCarthy’s story, White didn’t get the life he’d planned so he gave up. Yet Black, shaped by a far different perspective, sees the grace of God in giving him the life he needed. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). And in the abundance of life that Jesus gives, it’s always the life we truly need but not always the life we’d plan for ourselves. Such a marvelous mystery in the adventure of faith.

(P.S. Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones will star in the HBO debut of The Sunset Limited in February 2011)

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