Category Archives: Pastors
To Rant or Not to Rant?
Rants. Some are good and some are just noise. I have a few rants that I’d like to write about, but I’m afraid I would just make noise and not be beneficial to anyone. For instance, I would love to tell you how I think that too many of us believers use the phrase “I’m praying about it and waiting on God” as an excuse to be lazy and disobedient. Or how our flirting with sin and not KILLING that sin is causing us to sin. There there’s my general frustration as a church planter with the spiritual darkness of the city we’ve planted in. But I won’t go there. That’s some good stuff I’ll save for a Sunday.
Unfortunately, I’ve exposed myself to a lot of negativity lately dealing with our city, people’s spiritual disobedience, and even with a denomination that is known lately more for what they’re against than what they’re for. I’m a glutton for punishment I suppose.
My goal is to take all this, let God turn it into something positive for His Kingdom and come out of it smelling Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Tomorrow I’m heading out for a day of solitude and prayer. This will be the first of many where I’m going to get away, unplug, do some praying, and a whole lot of listening. To say I’m looking forward to it would be an understatement.
Theology….Why Bother?
I’ve been having some really good conversations with our Lead Team at the Ridge lately about things that we were taught growing up in church about the character of God, the person and work of Jesus, and things that just plainly were not true. So much of our conversations have went like this….
” I was taught and had always heard that___________. But then as I STUDIED SCRIPTURE I saw that just wasn’t true.”
More and more over the last several years, I have continued to better understand and see the importance of knowing theology as I preach and teach those around me. Many years ago, I would had told you that deep theology was a waste of time. I was a fool. All I needed to know was Jesus and Him crucified. Which, in the grand scheme of things, that matters greatly. But as a teacher, preacher, and church leader, I better know a few more things and have a clear understanding of a few more things. It’s amazing to me now that I look back, my lack of deep, meaningful, study and understanding of theology. I can’t say that I haven’t learned anything over my years of teaching, but what I can say is that I didn’t dive in deep enough. Times are changing.
It’s important to me that our staff, our volunteers and even the attenders of the Ridge Community Church understand scripture, basic the0logy, and how all of scripture tells the story of Jesus and the Gospel. So for starters, I’m having our Lead Team and a few other leaders read Mark Driscoll’s Doctrine book. I highly recommend this book, especially if you want a crash course on some solid theology.
Don’t ever believe that you’ve learned all you can about God. Because then you’ll STOP learning. That’s a dangerous place to be.
Speak to the Rocks
Last week Jeremiah 1:17 (The Message version is a little more harsh!) really spoke to me. In fact, I shared it with our production/worship team this past Sunday morning, to remind them that God wants us to say what He puts in our hearts to say and not hold it in. Just yesterday, my coach Pastor Perry Noble talked about that same verse HERE and had several questions as a leader you need to ask yourself. This post may be an extension of what he’s already said, but I feel like it needs to be said. God put it in me…so…here we go.
As a young pastor, just starting out, I used to preach for the crowd and not for the bringer of the crowd. In my second sermon ever, I was basically told that the crowd I was preaching to would let me know if I should keep preaching, or if I should just go home. I believed them. And that ruined me for a long time.
I spent a lot of time crafting messages that would wow a crowd, make people feel good at the end of it, and I would even hold back saying things that seemed offensive, brash, bold, and strong for fear of making someone feel uncomfortable. I saw other pastors do the same things, so I thought I was doing what would make God feel good. Then I remembered in Numbers 20 where God told Moses and Aaron to gather the people, SPEAK to the rock and tell it to yield forth water. Instead, Moses struck the rock and then God proceeded to tell him in Numbers 20:12…
12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.
Do you think Moses liked hearing that he would NOT enter into the promised land? After all that he had been through with them, for them and all the time he had spent leading them, God spoke powerful, painful truth to Moses and told him he would not be the one. I don’t think it made him feel very warm and fuzzy on the inside, but it needed to be said.
As pastors, God has told us to speak and to say the things that He has written on our hearts to the people we are entrusted to….the rocks. (Some of you really do feel like you speak to rocks every week!) Sometimes the Gospel is offensive and sometimes it doesn’t give us warm fuzzies at first. Scripture is sometimes for correction, and reproof, but it’s always profitable.
I don’t ever say things just to be brash or just to be “controversial”. But I do say things now that sometimes the people don’t like to hear, and to be honest, I don’t care if they liked it or not.
When God tells me to say something to the rock, I’ve gotta say it. Do you understand how high the stakes are if you DON”T SAY IT? To borrow from Perry’s last question he says..
God doesn’t play games…and basically tells Jeremiah, “If you aren’t going to be my leader then you aren’t going to be a leader–period!” We are called to honor Him…and in doing so we MUST understand that times will get tough (Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern!)
BUT…the reason He called you is because He trusts you to do HIS will. When He speaks we must understand that He isn’t doing so for our convenience…but rather for our obedience. What we do in the church MATTERS…the stakes are high…and ONLY through complete surrender to HIM can we really make a difference!
Pastor…teacher…leader….SPEAK TO THE ROCKS AND SAY WHAT HE TELLS YOU TO SAY!
Perry Noble Coaching Network Round 2
In September, I got together with the other pastors in our network along with Perry Noble, for our monthly coaching network. Here are a few of the MANY things that I took away from it. Check HERE for round 1
- Every church is one or two changes away from doubling in size and blowing it out of the water
- There’s no exact formula for growth. Each church has different changes to make
- The early church had to make some serious changes! When they did, well…read the book of Acts to see what happened
- If you want a less than average church, never change anything
- Don’t lead/change out of boredom. Let Jesus put a vision in you as a catalyst for change
- Change comes from a reflection of Jesus
- If you follow the heart of Jesus, you’ll never get bored
- Challenge the people! Some of those people will not want to be challenged and they will leave sometimes
- Be Jesus driven and not series driven
- Read the parable of the sower….not everyone will get IT on every Sunday
- Stop trying to force Christian community. Let it happen naturally
- Recruit volunteers with vision and not with guilt. Never throw out a need, but throw out opportunities
- We SHOULD do it better than Disney World! Walt Disney had imagination….we have the HOLY SPIRIT!
- Everyone has the same access to things that help us grow such as blogs, books, and podcasts. Teach yourself to help yourself grow!
- You can’t be a fully devoted follower of Christ and it NOT impact your wallet
- If you don’t believe in tithing, you don’t believe in the bible.
- If we wait to have the money, we’ll never have it
- You don’t always have to find the right person for the job, just the best person and help make them the right person
- Duck tape the Gospel do not match
- What are the risks we are wrestling with but too afraid to vocalize?
- In your church or ministry, what is the first change a respected leader you know would make?
- We need to be willing to receive anything God throws our way and in doing so, knowing we’ll be uncomfortable
Thoughts From Thr3e Part 3
Pastor Steven Furtick is what I like to call a distant mentor. He’s not a superstar or rock star pastor to me. I’m not infatuated. In fact he is just a man who happens to be called and annointed by God to preach His word, just like me. He’s what I would call my distance learning pastor. I don’t go to Elevation Church. I don’t even have a direct connect or tie to Pastor Steven. I have however learned a great deal from Pastor Steven over the last several years through his blog and the Elevation messages, which I watch every week along with many others. The only pedestal I put Pastor Steven on is the pastor pedestal. I honor him as a man who has spoken the revelation of God into my life and as a person that has invested in my leadership developement from a distance. I’m a better leader and pastor because of Pastor Steven.
On Tuesday, I had a moment at Thr3e that it is hard to put into words. I had a personal opportunity to honor Pastor Steven by being able to give the guy a hug and tell him thank you for allowing God’s revelation to flow through him and speak into my life. I shared with him my struggle of feeling inadequate when I give invitation, much like the one he experienced as a young pastor. Pastor Steven then blew my mind, took me aside and prayed over me that the power of God would flow through me and that I would flat out sling it when preaching and giving the invitation. It was a powerful moment and one I’ll never forget. Defining.
No more weak messages. No more weak invitations. Time to “let the wild hog eat!”
