Nov 09

Contender or Pretender?

Christian Life, Contending (Jude) 2011, Theological Musings No Comments »

On Sunday, we began a new series called Contending. We’re spending the month of November in the letter of Jude. My big question from Sunday’s message (“Contending for Jesus”) was: What does it mean and what does it look like for us to contend for Jesus and the gospel in our lives?

Ultimately, you have two choices… being a Contender or a Pretender. I want to help you think through these two choices in your relationship with Jesus, in your family and friendships, and in our church.

1. JESUS: When you think about your relationship with Jesus there are two directions to go—Identity & Freedom or Idolatry & Fear.

Contender: Identity & Freedom. When you contend in your relationship with Jesus (not against Jesus), as you allow Jesus and the gospel to press further into your life… further into who you are, it becomes about identity and freedom. Contenders find their identity in Jesus and that brings freedom… increasing freedom from the power of sin… increasing freedom to be who we really and authentically are because we know that we’re loved and secure in our relationship with Jesus.

Pretender: Idolatry & Fear. But pretenders go to idolatry and fear. Idolatry is anything that becomes more important to us, anything where we find our meaning, purpose and identity other than Jesus. We “pretend” that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. But if we’re really honest, we often look to other things and other people for our identity. That’s idolatry, and it generates fear. If you give the key to your identity, meaning, and purpose to something or someone else, you will live in fear, praying and hoping that it isn’t taken away from you. You name it… money, sex, power, success, relationships… if you are looking to those for identity and purpose, at some point they will let you down. You know it. And so you live in fear, dreading the moment that it’ll actually happen.

2. FAMILY & FRIENDSHIPS: When we talk about the relationships within our family or with our friends, we’re either Proactive or Passive.

Contender: Proactive. Contenders are proactive in their family. Contenders are constantly thinking about and actively pursuing how Jesus makes a difference in their relationships in their marriage and with their kids. When we contend for our marriages, we’re vigilant about relational health. We keep short accounts with each other. We seek to become students of our spouse and kids. We pursue selflessness and a sacrificial spirit. We ask for forgiveness when we act out of selfishness. When we contend in our home, we pray for our spouse and our kids. We are constantly, proactively asking Jesus to give us wisdom and grace with each other. The same thing goes for our friendships. We pray for grace, for understanding, for the humility to be like Jesus and love our family and friends like He loves them.

Pretender: Passive. Pretenders are passive. They shift life into neutral. When marriage begins to struggle, they run from the problems. They’re so consumed with themselves and don’t care or notice when apathy and isolation sets in. Or there is a fear of causing waves and change that is needed to grow healthy. Pretenders are passive with their kids. Sure, they want their kids to be good, moral kids… but there’s a passivity about it. Almost an “I sure hope they turn out okay. I sure hope the Children’s and Student Ministry is teaching my kids about Jesus.” In that passivity, there’s not a proactive desire to help our kids really see the how Jesus and the gospel affects and impacts their lives, their decisions, and their relationships. In friendships, pretenders have no desire to take relationships deeper… to initiate and model vulnerability and transparency. Let’s just keep it superficial because I’m not willing to risk going deeper. Let’s just pretend.

3. CHURCH: When it comes to our church, our attitude is one of two things—Service or Serve Us.

Contender: Service. As contenders focus on Jesus and the gospel, we realize that the call to follow Him means the call to serve like Him. Contenders fight against that inward, selfish focus. Contenders pray for a love that manifest itself in sacrificial generosity as we use our time, talent, touch, and treasure for the good of other people. Contenders give of themselves and take care of people within the body of Christ. And contenders also have compassion and are focused on those that don’t yet know Jesus. In the church, contenders ask how they can give of themselves to impact and change their world, locally and globally because it’s all about the heart of Jesus and the heart of service.

Pretender: Serve Us. Pretenders on the other hand are all about “Serve Us.” With pretenders, it’s all about “What do I get out of it? How are my needs being met?” Pretenders give of their time, talent, touch, or treasure when it’s convenient and when there’s a surplus. But they usually don’t because it’s rarely convenient, and there’s rarely a surplus. But pretending doesn’t happen all at once. Churches start off being contenders… all about serving each other… all about mission and evangelism. But that focus slowly turns inward, and we begin to take care of ourselves more than the world around us. We stop contending for Jesus in our world, and it becomes about us. Service becomes serve us.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be a contender, not a pretender. I want to learn to fight the good fight and surrender more and more of my heart to Jesus. I want to understand the good news of identity and freedom in Jesus more and more every day. I want my family and my friendships to be fueled by the radical, sacrificial love of Jesus. And in our church, I want to contend for Jesus’ mission. I want to contend for boldness and courage to serve the people in our world, locally and globally, for the cause of Christ. I want us to be contenders, not pretenders. Fight the good fight. Contend earnestly for the faith in your relationship with Jesus, in your family and friendships, and in our church. “May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 2).

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Sep 29

Notes From an Evening with Rick Warren

Leadership Development 1 Comment »

As part of Leadership Network’s Next Generation Learning Community, we had the opportunity to spend an evening with Rick Warren at Larry Osborne’s home. Here are my notes from the evening…  30+ years of his life and ministry wisdom condensed down to a blog post :)

rick warren (12 sep 11)

1. life is like twin rails… hills & valleys simultaneuosly… good & bad at the same time.
- don’t focus on trends… focus on what doesn’t change
- don’t focus on being cool

2. adding staff at 10 year increments to reach multiple generations
- farm league

3. what is my wife sensitive to… the voice of the Holy Spirit

4. plateaus… everything stops at some point. the average church grows 15 yrs. start a new bell curve by:
- physical: addition bases… church planting or campuses
- spiritual: the longer someone is a Christian, the less effective they are at evangelism (they are more & more involved in “church”)

5. build your church on a process
- bring them in
- connect them
- train them
- send them out

6. you will succeed at what you emphasize… you cannot emphasize everything
- signature issues: what we want to be known for

7. intentionally overemphasize evangelism… the larger a church gets, the more self-centered it gets.
- balance community & evangelism
- but the pastor MUST emphasize evangelism because entropy is towards internal/community
- “service” becomes “serve us”

8. mentoring – pick mentors to teach you a specific thing & different things

9. Jesus’ ministry – a look, a word, a touch

10. if you want to be effective for God, you must get control of your time.

11. the difference between ministry & leadership
- ministry: responding to someone’s need
- leadership: you take the initiative to meet with/disciple someone

12. be strategic in choosing your friends
- choose friends in different tribes

13. humility is not denying your strengths but being honest about your own weaknesses

14. integrity, humility, generosity – the only antidotes to Satan’s greatest temptations to leaders
- lust of the flesh (hedonism)… the temptation to feel good… you deserve to feel good… temptation to serve self (antidote: integrity)
- pride of life (secularism)… position… the temptation to show off & live for the applause of people (antidote: humility)
- pride of the eyes (materialism)… possession… the temptation to have (antidote: generosity)

generosity – the only antedote to getting is giving

rick’s personal generosity: raising % of giving… breaks the grip of materialism… & I become more like Jesus

Rick, thanks for modeling generosity with your time!

 

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Aug 17

Highlights from Summer Sunday 2011

Northshore Baptist Church 1 Comment »

Over 1,200 people on a beautiful Sunday afternoon

410 lbs of pulled pork

500 hot dogs

240 lbs of potato salad

75 lbs of carrot sticks

Who knows how many cookies (mostly half-baked chocolate chip… thank you!)

+ 17 baptisms for Jesus

___________________________

= ONE amazing celebration of ONE Lord who has formed us into ONE Church and called us to ONE Mission

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Apr 09

Book Review: Sticky Teams (Larry Osborne)

Book Reviews, Leadership, Leadership Development 1 Comment »


Larry Osborne’s latest book Sticky Teams is a great book for all levels of leadership within the church. As a much expanded and updated version of his book The Unity Factor, Larry dives deep into all things leadership for senior/lead pastors, boards, staffs, and congregations. He is a seasoned leader who gives practical, common sense, counter-intuitive, and often “contrarian” wisdom on leading at different levels within the church. There were numerous nuggets of wisdom, but five stood out:

1. Philosophical unity is a must. Osborne sights doctrinal unity, respect & friendship, and philosophical unity as the litmus of team stickiness. All of these are a must, but as he writes, “If you think about it, most church fights aren’t over theology or even ministry goals, they’re over priorities and methodology” (p. 31). And if (and the “if” is key) you operate in a collaborative leadership culture and environment, it takes time to get people to agree on philosophy of ministry, method, and mission. Take the time. If you don’t, get ready for conflict and disunity. If you do, then key decisions will be much easier to make.

2. Growth changes everything. The structure that was once great for a church at one size can be constricting, stifling, and even disastrous at another level of church growth. Leadership teams and congregations that fail to grasp and adapt to these changes “invariably experience unnecessary conflict or shrink to a congregational size that best fits the structures and patterns they cling to” (p. 61). Osborne reiterates his sports analogies of track star, golfing buddies, basketball team, and football team. These clarifications of size and “style” have been hugely helpful for our staff team as we’ve grown from a church of 2500+ over three decades. People who were used to being golfing buddies are often in for a “relational shock” when the church grows and the game changes. Osborne gives two important indicators that the game has changed: relational overload and increased miscommunication. “The larger the team gets and the more hectic the games becomes, the greater the need for special meetings, chalk talks, and film sessions to get and then keep everyone on the same page” (p. 69).

3. Roles of the Board. For those of us that function with a board (elders, deacons, directors, etc.), Osborne’s identification of four changing roles of the board is helpful. In small churches, the board is all about doing. As the church grows, the board then shifts to approving. But as the church continues into the next stage of growth, the board needs to be about reviewing. Finally, in larger churches (i.e., mega-, especially 3000+), the board must be all about setting direction and boundaries vs. micromanagement and preference management. Osborne points out something critical: “This final transition can be particularly tough for board members who successfully manage their own staff or who own a business. They tend to forget that the church staff is not their staff and the church is not their business” (p. 105). In all phases of growth and changing roles, the board is there to give wise counsel because pastors often need a voice from outside the day-to-day ministry to see and evaluate the whole picture.

4. Roles of the Staff. As churches grow, the role of the staff changes, and some staff can adapt while some can’t. The most noticeable changes in staffing centers around moving from generalists to specialists and from doing to empowering. In smaller to medium churches staff operate as generalists, wearing numerous hats being a “jack of all trades” and sometimes “master of none.” But as the staff grows, their roles change predominately to specialists. Osborne shares a harsh reality: “Frankly when a church hits this stage, there’s not much a generalist can do except find something to excel at or find another small church in need of a generalist.” Secondly, staff members must move from doing to empowering. If staff leaders don’t empower others to do the work of the ministry, then they become a bottle-neck and put a ceiling on their ministry and the church’s growth.

5. Making room at the top. This chapter is subtitled “Why Young Eagles Don’t Stay” and is aimed at encouraging especially senior leaders to identify young emerging leaders, invite them onto the team, and let them fly. Osborne asks three key questions: (1) Are young eagles empowered or platformed? Platformed means we give them face time on the “platform” (and not only when we’re out of town and need a fill-in). (2) Are young eagles in the loop or at the meeting? Young leaders need to be included in the meetings, not simply waiting outside to hear what decisions were made (i.e., “in the loop”). (3) Who gets to ride shotgun? Leadership in key roles can’t simply be on a first-come, first-served basis. If it is, we’ll never make room for new, and often younger, leaders. Osborne writes: “Shotgun churches are easy to recognize. Just look for a church where all the good and influential seats on the leadership bus are filled by old-timers… When tenure is the primary determiner of who sits where on the leadership bus, a church is headed for trouble” (p. 121).

There are many more great themes and subjects dealt with in Osborne’s book. I highly encourage anyone in senior staff or board leadership to read this book. Then take the time to discuss it in the context of team. The discussion is bound to be clarifying for many teams and churches. Thanks Larry for another great book!

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Mar 19

4 Things About Next Generation Pastors

Leadership Development 1 Comment »

This past week I was in Dallas, Texas participating in Leadership Network’s Next Generation learning community.  It was a great time with 16 younger senior pastors (under 40) in churches of 1000+ from around the country.  This was the first of four meetings over the next two years.  The meetings were facilitated by the LN folks, and the mentors (Larry Osborne of Northcoast Church, John Jenkins of First Baptist Church Glenarden, MD, and Bill Hoyt of NexStep Coaching) helped us process through the myriad issues we face as young leaders in growing churches.  After a day of rest and reflection, here are four things that I learned about next generation pastors:

1) This next generation of pastors exalt Jesus.  Even though much of the discussion centered around church leadership issues, you could truly feel the underlying sense that Jesus Christ is Lord of the Church and reigns supreme.  Jesus was present in every aspect of our conversation, even as we talked about church leadership, vision, and management. I got the sense that we truly want to make Jesus look great among our congregations and communities.

2) This next generation of pastors thinks externally.  You could hear every one of these pastors’ heart beat for the world around them… local and global.  Some are adopting orphans from Ukraine and Ethiopia.  Some have moved into poor neighbors to share the love of Jesus.  Some are reaching the marginalized and disenfranchised in their own cities.  So much of our conversation centered around what we can do to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to our world.

3) This next generation of pastors can “mentor” Boomer & Builder pastors. “Reverse mentoring” is a term that has been coined to capture this two-way, reciprocal relationship.  That’s the uniqueness of the learning community model… more mature mentors led us through great discussions, but I do believe that the learning was two-way.  Reggie McNeal (Present Future) writes about Earl Creps’ book Reverse Mentoring, “The world has ended about four times. It happens every time there is an information revolution. New technologies and processes for handling information make the old world obsolete, quickly. When this happens an unusual dynamic asserts itself. Younglings mentor the elders into the way of the new world.”

4) This next generation of pastors is diverse. When you show up in a group of young pastors, you’d expect them all to have faux hawks and cool embroidered shirts. But this wasn’t necessarily the case. There were young pastors from the uber-hip A29 network (I love those dudes), traditional suit-and-tie Baptist Churches, middle of the road non-denom churches, and everything in between.  It was really cool to see the diversity of “style” and heart of my new friends.

It’s encouraging to see Jesus using all of the generations to join Him in His great kingdom work of seeking and saving the lost so that He might be made much of (to use the phrase of a favorite 60something pastor).

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Feb 15

You Asked For It #6: What’s the Church’s Role in Politics?

Sermons, You Asked For It 3 Comments »

Here’s the audio for the message

This is the question that I have been the most “anxious” about in this whole YouAskedForIt series.  This question frequently intersects our lives and has the potential of being divisive within Northshore and within the larger evangelical movement.  Here’s the question: What’s the Church’s role in politics?

A lot of people sent me questions, rants, and mini-novels about how we as Christians and the Church are to respond to the pervasive ills in our culture and how we can address these through political means.  So my goal is to give a theological, biblical, and pastoral framework on how we can address this big question.  Now with all of that being said, what I am going to share is my personal and pastoral vantage point.  Let me explain that a bit more…

Personal. I have an interesting background when it comes to the issue of politics.  I served in the Army as an infantry officer, and we were expected to have an “a-political” mindset, which meant that the President was our commander-in-chief.  We were to submit, drive on, and do our mission regardless of our political leanings.  I know this is overly simplistic, but it formed and still forms some of my personal perspective.

Pastoral. I took over as senior pastor in 2008 during a perfect storm… one of the most heated Presidential elections among evangelicals and the worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression.  Some of you thought I didn’t talk about the election enough, some of you thought I talked about it too much, and some of you thought I talked about it “just right.”  I led us through that season with my personal, pastoral, biblical, and theological convictions.

Back to our question, “What’s the Church’s role in politics?”  Here’s how we’re going to address this question: 3 Passages, 2 Kingdoms, 1 Conclusion

3 Passages

I have intentionally chosen to focus on three passages within the New Testament… and specifically, three passages from epistles or letters that were written to churches and Christians living under the rule of the Roman Empire: Romans 13:1-7, 1 Peter 2:13-17, and 1 Timothy 2:1-2.  There are many passages I could have chosen from the Bible, but I have a couple of reasons for focusing on these three.  First, in the Old Testament, Israel was a theocracy.  This means they were the chosen people of God, and even though they had a king, their ultimate national Leader was God.  So, in the Old Testament, even though there are great things we can learn about just, righteous laws and “politics,” I believe that Israel’s relationship with God is fundamentally different than the U.S. and even the Church.  Even though I do believe that the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and ethics, we as citizens of the United States are not the “people of God” as a national entity.  And the Church is a worldwide multi-ethic, multi-cultural movement of people who confess Jesus Christ to be Savior, Lord, and King.  The second reason why I’ve chosen three passages from the NT epistles is that the cultural context we find ourselves in has great similarity to the cultural contexts of Paul and Peter’s day.

Background to 3 Passages.  In all three of these passages, the Roman emperor was Nero who reigned AD 54-68.  Romans was written somewhere around AD 55-57, 1 Peter was written somewhere around AD 64, and 1 Timothy likely around AD 66-67.  And here’s some background on the Roman Emperor Nero. Nero is one of the most infamous Roman emperors. He is best known for murdering his entire family, including his mother, stepbrother, and both of his wives.  In AD 64, an enormous fire destroyed most of Rome and it was rumored (but never proven) that Nero set the fire.  In order to deflect suspicion, he is said to have blamed the Christians in Rome for the fire, and he as a result, many Christians were tortured and executed. Tacitus (A.D. 56-117), a Roman senator and historian who lived during this time, wrote this about the torture and execution of Christians during Nero’s reign in Annals XV.44:

In their deaths they were made the subjects of sport; for they were wrapped in the hides of wild beasts and torn to pieces by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set on fire, and when day declined, were burned to serve for nocturnal lights.

So Nero was not a nice guy… and all three of these passages that we’ll address were written while he was emperor.  Now it is true that we live in a democracy which is a fundamentally different form of government, but what these passages address and how they address it still have bearing on our lives as followers of Jesus even though we live in the United States some 2000 years later.

Passage #1: Romans 13:1-7.  In v. 1, Paul commands “every person is to be in subjection (or “submit”) to the governing authorities.”  And here is why, “For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”  And remember, who is the governing authority when Paul is writing this?  Nero.  So this applies to all rulers and governing authorities, whether they are good or bad.  I believe that Paul is writing this passage in such a sweeping, unqualified way because he wanted the Roman Emperor Nero to get the message that God is over him and that there is a God-given moral law above the laws of the states and states are to act this way.  That’s what Paul means in v. 4 – “for it [the governing authority] is a minister [or servant] of God to you for good.”

Now this begs the question, “what if the government is not acting in a manner which is contrary to the moral law of God?”  When is civil disobedience appropriate and allowed?  John Piper in his exposition of this passage has been hugely helpful in this area (see below for links to the 4-part series).  Here’s how he explained the possible grounds for civil disobedience:

1. The grievousness of the action sanctioned by law. How atrocious is it? Is it a traffic pattern that you think is dumb? Or is the law sanctioning killing?

2. The extent of the unjust law’s effect. Is it a person affected here or there? Or is it millions?

3. The potential of civil disobedience for clear and effective witness to the truth. This is the question of strategy, and there will certainly be room here for differing judgments about whether a particular act of civil disobedience will be a clear and effective statement of what is just.

4. There is a movement of the spirit of courage and conviction from God in people’s lives that indicates the time is right. Historically, there appears to be a flash point of moral indignation. An evil exists for years, or perhaps generations, and then something strange happens. One person, and then tens of thousands of people, can no longer just get up and go to work and say, “I wish it weren’t this way.” A flash point is reached, and what had hung in the air for years as tolerable evil explodes with an overwhelming sense that this state of affairs simply can no longer be!

So this is where we have a different political freedom than the Christians of Paul’s day.  They lived in a totalitarian regime under Nero, and we live in a democracy.  We, as Christians can and should be involved in helping to overturn unjust laws.  And I’ll qualify this more as the message progresses.  But I want to remind that there is no authority except that which is from God.

For a great 4-part exposition of Romans 13:1-7 by Pastor John Piper titled “Subjection to God & Subjection to the State”

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Passage #2: 1 Peter 2:13-17. Once again, Peter, who is writing around AD 64-65, quite possibly after Nero has burned Rome and is now torturing and executing Christians, still tells us to “submit [ourselves] for the Lord’s sake to every human institution… whether to the king… or to governors.”  His inclusion of “for the Lord’s sake” echoes Paul’s command since the Lord has established their rule but it also adds the element of our witness.  How we respond impacts our witness of Jesus Christ in our world.  In v. 17, this is where Peter concludes his passage: “honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”  The word “honor” means “to respect.”  It’s the same word that is used in “honoring parents” and “honoring the Lord.”  I think we need to keep this in mind as Christians, even when some of you don’t like or don’t agree with our President.  Some of you might say, “he’s not the king,” but you know what Peter is saying… respect and honor those in authority.  I have heard comments and read emails where Christians, of all people, are disrespectful towards the President.  I’ve heard some Christians even quote Psalm 109:8 – “Let his days be few; Let another take his office.”  Read the next verse, “Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.”  This kind of disrespectful behavior is dishonoring and is out of bounds regardless of whether we agree with our leaders’ political positions or not.  We completely have the freedom to disagree with political leaders, but we do not have the freedom in Christ to do it in a dishonoring, disrespectful way. Exercise your freedoms to vote people in and out of office, but once they are in there, be respectful and honoring, even if you disagree with them.

Passage #3: 1 Timothy 2:1-2. In our third passage, we are commanded to pray for our leaders.  We are to pray for wisdom for them and for God to move their hearts so that they might recognize His authority over and in all things.  Paul says that we are to pray so that “we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”  Once again, this letter to Timothy is written around AD 67 and Christians are experiencing persecution, torture, and execution at the hands of the state.  And our lives and how we even respond to the state are to be with all godliness and “dignity” (behavior that is respectful).

2 Kingdoms

The biblical and theological reality is that we live in the midst of two kingdoms… the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world.  So let’s take a moment to focus on these two kingdoms.

The Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God over all time, space, and history.  This is the kingdom that Jesus came to proclaim and invite us into (see John 18:36).  The centerpiece of the kingdom of God is the person and work of Jesus Christ… the salvation and redemption of humanity through His death and resurrection so that we might be brought back into relationship with the God who created us and love us for His greatest glory and for our greatest good.  We are to seek first this kingdom. This is a statement of priorities… we are first and foremost as Christians and as the church always to be centered upon the kingdom of God.  This kingdom is our first allegiance.  We are first and foremost citizens of this kingdom.  Here’s the way Paul puts this in Philippians 3:20 – “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  We are citizens of the Kingdom of God.

The kingdom of the world. In contrast to the Kingdom of God is the kingdom of the world.  It’s not a simple contrast between good and evil… as we’ve seen in our passages, God gives the governments of the kingdom of the world power to carry out the service of law-keeping and order in a fallen world.  But the contrast between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world is fundamentally two different ways of doing life… to different mindsets and belief systems.  The kingdom of the world trusts in the power of the sword and seeks to control behavior, while the kingdom of God trusts in the power of the cross and seeks to transform lives from the inside out.

Charles Coulson in his Kingdoms in Conflict explains the difference between the two kingdoms like this:

Nothing distinguishes the kingdoms of man from the Kingdom of God more than their diametrically opposed views of the exercise of power.  One seeks to control people, the other to serve people; one promotes self; the other prostrates self; one seeks prestige and position, the other lifts up the lowly and despised.  It is crucial for Christians to understand the difference (274).

Once again, we are citizens of a different kingdom while still being citizens of our country.  But the way in which we engage our world is to reflect the Kingdom of God much more than the kingdom of the world.  And whenever the church and Christians try to wed the two together, history tells us that the values of the kingdom of the world tend to eclipse the values of the Kingdom of God… power and prestige tend to corrupt us.  As we talked about in The Story of God series when I presented 2000 Years of Church History in 40 Minutes, in my interpretation of Church history, whenever the church cozies up too closely with the reigning societal, cultural, and political powers, we lose our ability to clearly and powerfully see and speak Jesus into that societal, cultural, and political landscape.  Let’s just be honest, we like power.  As fallen humans who like to build our own kingdoms, and in doing so, we are drawn to power and prestige… and in doing so, we look much more like the kingdom of the world than the Kingdom of God.  So in this we must be very careful.

For more discussion and critique on the 2 Kingdoms view, see “Two Kingdom Theology and Neo-Kuyperians” (Kevin DeYoung)

1 Conclusion

Let me tell you up front, what I am about to say is the conclusion that I personally and pastorally arrive at when it comes to the Church’s role in politics.  Some of you might not agree with me and some of you might… but here’s my one conclusion: There is a difference between what the Church should do as an “institution” and what Christians should do as responsible citizens. Let me explain it by what roles I believe that we should take as we engage our culture, which includes politics.

The Church. Here’s what I believe the church’s role to be as we engage our world in the cultural and political arena.

1. Prophetic Voice. As the Church we must always keep ourselves free of anything that compromises our ability to clearly, powerfully, and prophetically speak Jesus Christ and His life-transforming gospel into all areas of society, culture, and politics.  Let me explain “prophetic” by the next role…

2. Proclaim Truth. The role of the Church (and therefore my role as a pastor in the church) is to preach, teach, and speak God’s Word and God’s Truth.  I have said this numerous times from the pulpit… I will never tell you how to vote, but I will always proclaim the Truth of God’s word about what He has to say about the issues, which present themselves in our culture.  As the Church, we are not to promote any political agenda… we are to promote the truth of God and His Word.

3. Point to Jesus.  Going back to the reality of two kingdoms, everything that the Church is called to do is to point to Jesus Christ and His Cross.  Our mission as the Church is to preach Christ crucified and risen so that lives are transformed from the inside out for God’s glory.  That is our focus. We are to be on a mission to broken world, calling people to repent of building their own kingdoms and come to the God who changes lives through the power of His kingdom.

The Christian. Now it is true that we as Christians, as followers of Christ, make up the Church.  While I truly and wholeheartedly believe that the Church is prophetically proclaim truth in our world and therefore never to be aligned with a political party or movement, I do believe that as followers of Jesus who live in a democratic society, we should exercise our liberties to make a difference when and how we can.  Here are a couple of things for you to keep in mind as you engage in the political process.

1. Be Gracious & Respectful.  As you have conversations with people of different political persuasions, be gracious and respectful.  We do not live in a Christian culture, especially in the Northwest, and if we are going to have any audience and influence upon people, we first need to listen to other people, and then we need to present our vantage point with grace and respect.  That grace and respect communicates that we actually care about the other person.  And if you don’t care about the other person, then you’ll tend to lack grace and you’ll come across as disrespectful and you will have no influence for Jesus or for His Kingdom.

2. Think Biblically. Think through the issues biblically.  The Bible does not address every cultural and political issue that we face, but the Bible does teach us the heart, character, and nature of God and as we pray to see our world and the issues we face through His eyes and with His heart, then our vantage point on issue will have a greater grounding in God’s Word.  There are issues I believe that the Bible is very clear on and there are issues that aren’t so clear in the Bible.  Have the wisdom and the humility to know the difference.

3. Think Holistically.  Think through all of the issues… there are numerous issues in our culture that God really cares about.  And yes, those do include the killing of the innocent in abortion and euthanasia, as well as racial genocide.  And God cares also about how we take care of the poor locally, nationally, and internationally.  God cares about how we take of His creation (we are called to be stewards after all).  God cares about how we engage in foreign policy and wars.  So we need to think through all of the issues biblically and holistically.  In this way, as followers of Jesus, we can interact, influence, and vote how the Holy Spirit leads us.

Let me close with a final admonition… keep Jesus Christ and His gospel central in all you do.  I make it my one aim to keep Jesus central at Northshore… in everything we do.  It will only be through His gospel, His power, and His grace that lives, nations, and the world change.  He uses His people to be and bring the change as we live Him out in our unique callings in our world.  We are all called to be influencers and ambassadors for Jesus… in our families, our neighborhoods, our schools, our communities, our workplaces, our cities, our state, our nation, and our world.  And we do that best as we keep Jesus Christ and His gospel central in all that we are and in all that we do… as we allow His Holy Spirit to transform our lives and lead us… for His glory and for our good and the good of a broken world that badly needs Him.

For some additional resources on the interaction between the Church, culture, and politics, read:

(Disclaimer: Although I find these resources helpful, I do not agree with everything within them.  As you read, read critically, biblically, and theologically)

“How can Christians Have a Positive Influence on American Politics” (Pastor John Piper)

“The Church and Politics in America” (Pastor Mark Roberts)

unChristian (David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons) – especially Chapter 7 “Too Political”

God’s Politics (Jim Wallis)

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Dec 10

the glorious inefficiency of team

Leadership Development No Comments »

there’s the old saying, “if you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself.”  I would add (and I know this is incredibly brilliant): “if you’re going to do it yourself, you’re going to be doing it by yourself.”  i’ve been leading teams of people for 20 years, first in the U.S. Army as an infantry officer and then in ministry as a college/singles pastor, worship pastor, small groups pastor, staff development pastor and now as a senior pastor.  and over the years, i’ve experienced (and still do) the tension of the glorious inefficiency of team.  the bottom line… team takes longer.  it takes more energy to collaboratively develop vision, strategy, and execution.  it takes a long time to involve the different “layers” of teams on a church staff and lay leadership.

at northshore baptist church where I pastor, we’re an “elder-led, staff-driven church.”  our elder team (of which I am a part along with our executive pastor) discerns and develops the “30,000 ft.” vision, our senior staff team (we call it our ministry management team) develops the “20,000 ft.” strategy, and then our pastor/director team develops the “10,000 ft.” implementation plan along with their ministry leadership teams.  but all along the way, there are the circles and spirals of collaborative conversations, brief-backs, check-ins, and mid-course re-alignments.  and the bottom line again… it takes much longer to do this.  but the glorious bottom, bottom line… there’s often much more buy-in because everybody has had some hand, heart, and head in the process.

here’s a theological thought on inefficiency and team.  think about God’s “divine inefficiency” as I like to put it.  think about how “inefficient” it is to use a bunch of broken, sinful people who He’s redeemed to get the word out there about the glory of the Creator God and His glorious gospel.  couldn’t He build His kingdom much more efficiently?  couldn’t He make a much more effective “delivery” system to spread the gospel?  many a day, I can’t believe that God would involve me (and others) on His gospel-spreading team… the glorious inefficiency of team.

but back to some praxis on team.  here’s a brief snapshot of how we do team and vision/strategy planning at northshore (with a calendar of our planning cycle during the year… our ministry year runs september to august):

  • november – elder retreat to determine vision points for the following ministry year (so in november 2009, we’re thinking at the 30,000 ft. for 2010-11 ministry year and beyond).  we’re determining the big things that we see, hear, and discern God calling us to do.  before this retreat, we’re hearing from Jesus… from our leaders… from our people… from our community on where Jesus is calling us to go, truly for His glory, for our good, and for the good of our world.  a lot of listening happens before, during, and after our fall elder retreat.
  • january – the senior staff team (ministry management team) goes on a retreat and takes the elder team’s vision points and begins to put some flesh on the bones… begins to hone in what this looks like in terms of strategy and goals for the following year’s ministry action planning process.  we typically come out of this retreat with 3-5 major “headline” goals for the year that we’ll take to the rest of our staff
  • march – the pastor/director team goes on a retreat, taking the 30,000 ft. vision points for the following year and the 20,000 ft. strategy and begins to talk about how it specifically impacts their ministry areas and how we’ll all share in the big goals together.  necessary adjustments and tweaks are happening here… feedback is going “up and down” the leadership channels.
  • may – after the pastor/director team retreat, the pastors and directors  take everything that we’ve collaboratively done together to their ministry teams (which includes their lay leaders) and begin to collaboratively develop specific, concrete ministry plans (with metrics, timelines, teams, people, budget, etc) for that next ministry year.  in the middle of may, each pastor and director on our staff brings that “collaborative” ministry action plan and presents it to the ministry management team for the final “thumbs up.”  it’s a collaborative process where we speak into each others plans, making sure that we’re all moving in the right direction together.

all along the way, there’s continual and intentional communication and feedback “up and down” the pipeline of leadership teams… making adjustments along the way… getting feedback from the different levels of leadership.  it’s a blend of organic/structured leadership and ministry/mission development.  and for right now, it’s working… we’re all heading in the same direction together (imperfectly, of course).  silos are slowly disappearing… teams are having to work together… people are sharing larger goals together.  we’re completely willing to change and adjust as necessary.  it takes a long, long time to go through this process… and some days it feels very inefficient… but in the end, when we’re executing together in the best of what team is supposed to be and lives are being changed by the power and the glory of the gospel, it’s a joyous experience.

i’d love to hear how you do and lead teams to accomplish what God is calling you to in your world.

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Dec 09

“meditations” on francis chan’s crazy love

Book Reviews, Spiritual Life, Theological Musings No Comments »

as a pastor, i’m usually the one “pouring out” myself to other people whether it’s preaching, praying, counseling, leading, etc.  and in the process of that “pouring out,” Jesus is so gracious and kind to pour Himself back into me… whether it’s through His Word, solitude and prayer with Him, or the love and grace of His people in my life.  and one of the “tools” that Jesus uses in my life is other pastors… especially books they have written.  as of late, Jesus has used oswald chambers (who died in 1917) and pastor francis chan (who’s very much ALIVE with a great passion for Jesus, the church, and the world).  i just finished chan’s book crazy love.  here are some of the things that Jesus used in chan’s book to work me over and to encourage me to keep going…

1) full surrender to Jesus… in the introduction, chan writes, “I hope read this book will convince you of something: that by surrendering yourself totally to God’s purposes, He will bring you the most pleasure in this life and the next.”  this so resonates with what Jesus has been doing in my life over the past couple of years.  treasuring Jesus Christ above all else, desiring Him, delighting in Him, longing for Him, seeing Him, savoring Him… this is the greatest joy we can experience.  As we see Him for who He fully is and as we surrender our lives (every aspect of our lives) to Him, there is much joy, love, and grace that we experience.  pastor john piper puts it this way, “God is most glorified in us as we are most satisfied in Him.”

2) profile of the lukewarm… here’s what Jesus says to the lukewarm (revelation 3:15-19):

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

chan has an intense list of attributes and profiles of what it looks like to be lukewarm…

  • choosing what is popular over what is right
  • caring more about what people think than what God thinks
  • giving money to charity and to the church as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living
  • not really wanting to be saved from sin, only the penalty of sin
  • people who are moved by stories about people who do radical things for Christ, yet do not act.
  • lukewarm people call “radical” what Jesus expected of all His followers

3) profile of the obsessed.  “obsessed = to have the mind excessively preoccupied with a single emotion or topic.”

  • people who are obsessed with Jesus give freely and openly, without censure.  obsessed people love those who hate them and who can never love back
  • people who are obsessed with Jesus aren’t consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else.  obsessed people care more about God’s kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress
  • people who are obsessed with Jesus live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another.  obsessed people believe Jesus talked about money and the poor so often because it was really important to Him
  • obsessed people are more concerned with obeying God than doing what is expected or fulfilling the status quo
  • people who are obsessed with Jesus do not consider service a burden.  obsessed people take joy in loving God by loving people

if you get this book, be prepared for the uncomfortable call of transformation.  read it slowly.  meditate on the Scripture passages chan includes.  spend time to stop, pray, repent, rejoice… whatever and wherever the Spirit leads you.  I truly want to be obsessed and not lukewarm.

Lord Jesus, help us to love You back with the crazy love with which you love us… for Your glory and kingdom… for our good… and for the good of a world that desperately needs to know and experience Your crazy love!

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Nov 28

some great quotes & thoughts on leadership

Leadership Development No Comments »

I ran across this post from mac lake, pastor of leadership development at seacoast church in south carolina.

Leadership Thots I’ve Been Thinking, November

Here are a few of the leadership thoughts I’ve tweeted throughout October.  If you would like to follow me on Twitter you can find me at www.twitter.com/maclake

  • 10:04 Nov 26 Many times organizations build their organizational structures based on relationships rather than reason.
  • 2:13 Nov 25  As the leader I have to learn to ask not only the right questions but the tough questions.
  • 1:25 Nov 24  When leader falls into maintenance mode he plays it safe, postpones decisions, procrastinates on projects and paralyzes the organization.
  • 1:15 PM Nov 19  Understanding the strengths of your staff enables you to effectively position them for success.
  • 1:15 PM Nov 18  When starting new Lead Dev efforts dont start with the place of grtest need, start with the point of grtest influence, that way it sticks.
  • 1:19 PM Nov 17  Passionate leadership gives people faith to believe despite obstacles.
  • 1:15 PM Nov 16  The ability to articulate your ideas is just as important as the ability to create ideas
  • 1:15 PM Nov 15  Many churches are doing leadership development to meet a need rather than to develop leaders.
  • 7:44 AM Nov 14  Leadership development is usually the 1st thing to go in leaders busy schedule or budget crunch…remember that doesn’t help the situation.
  • 9:59 AM Nov 12  Fear is the leaders opportunity to break through to a new level of faith and leadership
  • 1:39 PM Nov 9  A great equipper is one who takes the messy material of one’s failure and shapes them into life-changing learning experiences.
  • 2:15 PM Nov 5  When a leader shines the light on himself he takes the light off the vision
  • 4:15 PM Nov 4 When your organization does leadership development it communicates to employees “We want to invest in your success”
  • 1:15 PM Nov 3  Cast vision with passion or others wont be convinced that you’re convinced
  • 1:15 PM Nov 2  Leadership development requires patience, grace, and understanding
  • 12:05 PM Oct 29  Insecure leaders insist that people follow, secure leaders inspire people to follow

Some great thoughts from a great leader and leader of leaders.  Continue to grow in your own leadership.   Continue to seek out people who can help you grow.  And continue to seek out people to whom you can pass on some of your own leadership experiences.

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Nov 23

the utter urgency of prayer for the mission of Jesus Christ

Northshore Baptist Church, Theological Musings No Comments »

I am so convinced that we are in the battle of our lives!  As we are called more and more as individuals, as families, and as a church to share the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ in our world, we are getting deeper and deeper into the battle.  I see it all around us… and prepare yourselves… more is coming.  And you can’t go to battle if you don’t know your weapons.  And in this battle, since it’s not against flesh and blood, but against the evil one himself and all of his wicked forces of death and darkness (read Ephesians 6:10-12), our weapons are supernatural.  And first among those weapons is PRAYER.

Here’s a call to the utter urgency of prayer for the mission of Jesus from Pastor John Piper:

So I do not tire of saying to our church, The number one reason why prayer malfunctions in the hands of a believers is that they try to turn a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom.

Until you believe that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for. Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission. It is as though the field commander (Jesus) called in the troops, gave them a crucial mission (“Go and bear fruit”), handed each of them a personal transmitter coded to the frequency of the general’s headquarters, and said, ‘Comrades, the general has a mission for you. He aims to see it accomplished. And to that end he has authorized me to give each of you personal access to him through these transmitters. If you stay true to his mission and seek his victory first, he will always be as close as your transmitter, to give tactical advice and to send in air cover when you or your comrades need it.’

But what have millions of Christians done? They have stopped believing that we are in a war. No urgency, no watching, no vigilance, no strategic planning. Just easy peacetime and prosperity. And what did they do with the walkie-talkie? They tried to rig it up as an intercom in their cushy houses and cabins and boats and cars – not to call in fire power for conflict with a mortal enemy, but to ask the maid to bring another pillow to the den.

The battle is on!  Don’t stay on the sidelines, continuing to pray with a domestic intercom.  Pick up the wartime walkie-talkie, praying to God for souls won back to Him!  Pray for protection as He uses us, His soldiers, to go fight the battle of faith in a world that is sick, dying, and desperately in need of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Jonathan
a fellow soldier in the battle…

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