I have become one of those people who enjoys having 5-10 minutes to wake up before I actually get out of bed each morning. An alarm is usually not necessary for me but I use one anyway. Since receiving a Blackberry from Todd on Valentine’s Day, this is what I use. As soon as I dismiss the alarm the emails and text messages download. Next I read any items that look good. It is a blessing that I am a fast reader. Always on my list…anything personal to me along with blogs/newsletters from folks such as Perry Noble, Mark Batterson, Dan Reiland’s Pastor’s Coach, etc. These leaders challenge and stretch me. I love this time of personal growth.
This morning I received a newsletter from Chris Conrad. Chris is a pastor and church planting coach. He is an amazing person (so is his mom) and the best friend a church planter can have. I believe today was his most powerful newsletter EVER. A big shout out to Chris! Today he shared his thoughts on what we preach about. And the difference between preaching our own personal vision and agenda vs. preaching Christ. Powerful! Such an awesome post. Can’t link you to his newsletter but if you want a copy you can email him at conradc@wesleyan.org.
Being a creature of habit I grab a cup of coffee (Todd gets up earlier than I and brews it) along with my Bible and journal. 90% of the time I choose my back patio garden area for my morning time with the Lord. Sipping my hot cup of joe I turn to John 14 this morning. Vs. 6 pierces my heart…I am the way, the truth and the life. I open another Bible and read I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. I’ve read these verses so many times but today I am struck by the simplicity of this truth, yet we (I) can so easily miss it.
Jesus is the #1 key to everything. Personal growth, relationship growth, church growth. Jesus is the key to every marriage problem. Jesus is the key to every decision you are in the process of making. Jesus is the key to your state of mind. Jesus is the key to building that dynamic youth ministry. Jesus is the key to peace. Not books, formal education, conferences or anything else, though these things can be good. JESUS is the key to everything.
Jesus was the greatest leader in the history of the world. His model of leadership empowers. When we look at Jesus we will be motivated to ask what kind of leader we are. If I have false ideas of my strength, Jesus will expose my incompetence. When I feel totally beyond what I am capable of, he provides for me God’s enabling power. When we look at Jesus we can become leaders who create vision and empower change.
Some leaders work within situations, transformational leaders change situations. Some leaders accept talk about change, transformational leaders change what can be talked about. Some leaders talk about benefits; transformational leaders talk about vision and dreaming big. Some leaders talk about what they can accomplish; transformational leaders talk about how “teamwork makes the dream work.” (borrowed from John Maxwell)
I believe the world is desperate for transformational leadership. When we look at Jesus we can become leaders who create vision and empower change. Through Jesus we can become a transformational leader. Are you a transformational leader?
Matthew and Aaron love superhero cartoons, movies and action figures. They had superman tshirts, swimwear and even underwear. At their request I decorated one bedroom in Spiderman and one in Justice League. Whether you have boys or even if you have not had children, I believe everyone enjoys seeing a good guy come in and take care of the problem.
Because it is our nature to desire harmony it is easy to feel the temptation to be a superhero. Especially a Christian leader. Have people ever expected you to be superman or superwoman, solving every problem on your own? How did you respond to these expectations?
A crucial ingredient to becoming the influencer God wants is to spend time with leaders who motivate and inspire you to grow. Who are you hanging with?
Today one of my FB friends, Penny Maxwell, posted this comment…”You know how much you value a relationship based on the level of discomfort you are willing to endure to see it progress and develop.” I love this! This is who Jesus is and what he did. She went on to share…Real relationships demand something from you. When iron sharpens iron sparks will fly. Have you felt sparks in any relationship lately? With friends? Family members? Spouse? Neighbors? Co-Workers? Do you really love those people God has put in your life? Or do you see your relationships as dispensible as a used kleenix? It disturbs me to see someone blow a person off. When we do this we totally miss who Jesus is to be within us. God tells us in I John 4 that we do not abide in Christ when we choose to respond this way. If we are Christians and do this we will sometimes attempt to spiritualize our actions. Deep down we usually know what we are doing but we put on a fake front that there is nothing else we can do to be a peacemaker. So we wash our hands of it so to speak and move on to the next relationship, until they do something to tick us off.
Over 20 years ago I attended a workshop in Colorado that I never forgot called Conflict is Positive. It was great and certainly changed my perspective. Do I still have conflict? Absolutely. Do I always respond the Biblical way God commands? Unfortunately not. Do all of my relationships end happily ever after? Sad but no. Sometimes you can try to work through an issue and the other person insists on holding onto the anger and will blow you off. I once had a friend blow me off because I told her our preschool teacher informed me her son ate 7 pieces of pizza at the school party. She was very sensitive about her son and refused to speak to me ever again. She was in the church we served for years but to this day refuses to speak to me and others who unknowingly have offended her. She never told me how I offended her even when I asked her. I heard that she was offended from others she had shared with. By the way, Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us God HATES it when we spread strife among people.
Can you imagine how our marriages would be if we refused to deal with conflict? I imagine we would all be divorced many times. Can you imagine if your children refused to deal with confict? Conflict is good. Unresolved conflict is not good. Micah Vanderburg commented on FB page that “people need to understand that the willingness to go through discomfort is for the development of the relationship and not the demise.
Is there anyone in your life today that you need to call? Meet with face to face? Don’t be a wuss and send an email or letter in the mail. Put on your BGP and do the right thing. Will every relationship you do this with develop? Many will but a few probably will not. Spiritual immaturity, dysfunction and our baggage will sometimes hinder our doing the right thing. If a person holds a grudge and blows you off then your hands may be tied. But you can pray for healing and live out how Jesus taught us we should value people.
Women of Influence is excited to announce our group of mentors this week for Exchange 20009. Today we share about Nancy Beach…
Nancy Beach is executive vice-president of the Arts for the Willow Creek Association and a teaching pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. A champion for the arts and artists in the church, she is author of An Hour on Sunday: Creating Moments of Transformation and Wonder and Gifted to Lead: The Art of Leading As a Woman in the Church.
Nancy Beach Bio
Nancy Beach is a speaker, author, visionary leader, and champion for the power of the arts and artists in the local church. She served for over 20 years as the Programming Director for Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago, a congregation known around the world for creating culturally relevant, biblically based services that make full use of the arts.
Dedicated to creating opportunities for artists in the church to use their gifts for effective ministry, her role at Willow included supervision of all aspects of the arts—including worship, music, drama, dance, photography, production, video, and design.Today Nancy continues her role as a teaching pastor at Willow Creek, while also serving as the Executive Vice President for the Arts at the Willow Creek Association, a not-for-profit organization serving over 12,000 Member churches and others, representing 90 denominations in 35 countries. This new responsibility allows her to focus the majority of her time on serving other church arts leaders and their teams in the U.S. and around the world, building a community of Christ-following artists seeking to serve God as they create transformational moments in Sunday morning church services.
A sought-after conference speaker, Nancy uses her teaching gifts to inspire, motivate, and cast vision, while skillfully relating themes of soul transformation with every day people and experiences. Her book, The Hour on Sunday, expresses Nancy’s core vision and values for effective arts ministries. Nancy and her husband Warren live in Barrington with their two teenage daughters and a cat named Elphaba.
A leadership coaching network exclusively for women. Revitalize your spirit and empower your leadership. 1 day a month Aug. – Nov.
If you’re a gifted and called woman in Christian leadership, join others like yourself for a coaching network. Walk away with a renewed energy, focus and passion after spending concentrated time with 4 national leadership mentors. Connect with other women of like heart and purpose. Choose intentional growth with a personal plan designed for you.
Have you ever run out of gas? I did once. I was driving a 2 hour trip from Birmingham to Madison and my mom was with me. Mom noticed the gauge was close to empty and suggested we stop. I didn’t want to stop on I65 for gas. My preference was a different location. We were already late and had an agenda. And I felt sure I could make it. We almost made it but the car stopped soon after exiting the freeway. Bummer. Running out of gas was a much bigger setback than if I had taken just a few minutes to fill up.
Driving on empty is not smart. Leading on empty is less smart. Did you know that the majority of Christian leaders burn out? The research is startling. Few finish well. Just as I had a choice to fill up with gas and avoid running out, you too can choose not to burn out in ministry. The choice is ours.
Make the decision not to lead on empty. Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint. Make the decisions today that will help you go the distance. Here are 6 decisions that are necessary to stay fueled…
1. Guard your time with God. Choose to make your time with God a priority over anything else. A daily devotional time with the Lord in prayer and His Word will enable you to minister from an overflow of your walk. Without plugging into the power source we minister in the flesh. Preparing for a sermon, Bible study or any other type of ministry is not a quiet time. I’ve known plenty of people in ministry burn out who were actively studying and teaching the Word but were not spending personal devotional time in the Word.
2. Choose your inner circle carefully. Everyone needs an inner circle. Finding one can sometimes be a challenge but it is a necessary part of refueling. The inner circle is a topic I will blog about next month.
3. Be willing to unplug at least once a year. I choose to go dark at least once every 12 months. During this time I don’t email, blog, twitter, FB, or take ministry phone calls. I totally unplug for an extended period of time. In case of a real emergency there is at least one person I trust who can reach me. The extra time this allows is great for refueling.
4. Protect one day a week. If we want to model obedience to God and His Word we will take one sabbath a week. If you are in full time ministry this will not be Sunday. You are cheating your family when you don’t do this. My children feel very loved and affirmed when I don’t engage in ministry on this day. Kids are smart. They know when you make them a priority and they know when you don’t.
5. Be willing to say no. You can’t do everything and do what God called you to do. If you don’t design your life other people will be happy to. Just say no.
6. Keep growing. What is your personal growth plan? A leader who stops growing stops leading.
These are what I feel are the top 6 decisions we can make to refuel. Which one is the greatest challenge for you personally? Our decisions will determine our destination.
Have you experienced burn out? Would love to hear what helped you to refuel.
The #1 difference between Habakkuk and his peeps was attitude.This is also the #1 quality that you will see in someone spiritually mature vs. younger in their faith. Habakkuk grew in his faith as he developed his intimacy with the Lord.He once felt frustrated and annoyed, with maturity he felt trust and peace. He once felt confused, he then had understanding.He once felt fearful, he then had faith in the future God had planned.The only thing that changed his perspective…time with God in prayer and His Word.This brings spiritual maturity. Without it we will be tempted to live driven by our emotions vs. character.
This week I have been reading through Habakkuk. From his example I continue to learn the the #1 job of a leader is not being a “doer.” As a prophet his job was to feed and guide his peeps but this was not his first priority. His #1 job was his own personal walk with God. I imagine to live that out he had to turn down several other ministries that he could have been involved in. He probably had to turn down time with people to guard his walk with God. Maybe he referred some counseling requests to others. I wonder if folks got ticked off at him because he did not do everything they thought a spiritual leader should? Maybe he went to bed before midnight so that he could get up while it was still dark to pray. Do you think he turned down watching much TV so that he could live out his priorities? I imagine the choices he made caused others to question what he was doing at times.
In the New Testament, we learn that Peter gave himself to the Word of God and Prayer. This is the #1 job of a spiritual leader.
I love Habakkuk. God called him to lead in troubled times. His name means to embrace. In the beginning of his ministry he struggled with God and the decisions He made, He felt that the Lord was not answering his prayers fast enough and was kind of ticked off about it. Have you ever felt that? This prophet questioned how God could be so tolerant of such a sinful and immoral Judah. Then when Habakkuk learns God is going to use a nation more wicked to discipline and correct Judah he freaks out. God, Do you really know what you are doing here? Through it all Habakkuk learns to trust and in the end of this book has developed a deep intimacy with God.
Are you or have you ever been in a situation where God does not seem to make sense? Maybe you feel the need to be rescued. Maybe you wonder why someone seems to be getting away with wicked behavior. Maybe you have circumstances where have been in a deep trial for a long time and just don’t understand why there is no help on the horizon. You may question what in the heck God is doing. Or why he does not seem to be doing anything. And life goes on. Through it all may we learn to trust the Lord and develop a greater intimacy with Him as Habakkuk did. Can I challenge you to read the book of Habakkuk? It’s filled with so many great life lessons.
Can I share some good news with those of you who haven’t found your God-ordained passion or dream,big audacious goal or one God idea or life mission? Here it is: God wants you to get where God wants you to go more than you want to get where God wants you to go. So that takes the pressure off of us. But there are some necessary prerequisites to knowing where God wants you. Here they are…
#1 Prerequisite – A Relationship With Jesus
Many of my readers have already accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and acknowledged Him as Lord.But if you have not made this important decision, most of what you read on this blog will have little meaning for you. Spiritual matters can only be understood by those who have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them (see 1 Cor. 2:14).
If you don’t know for certain that you are a Christian or have doubts, now is the time to settle the matter and accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord.Ask God to speak to you as you read the following Scriptures.
·Romans 3:23 All have sinned.
·Romans 6:23 Eternal life is a free gift of God.
·Romans 5:8 Because of His love for you, Jesus paid the death penalty for your sins.
·Romans 10:9-10 Confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead.
·Romans 10:13 Ask God to save you and He will.
To place your faith in Jesus and receive His gift of eternal life, you must —
·Recognize you are a sinner who needs a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
·Confess (agree with God about) your sins.
·Repent of your sins (turn from sin to God).
·Ask Jesus to save you by His grace.
·Turn over the rule of your life to Jesus, letting Him be your Lord.
If you need help, call on a pastor or a Christian friend for help.If you have just made this important decision, tell someone the good news of what God has done in your life. Email me at dseeley@winfluence.orgwith your address and I will mail you a free Bible. Then find a church that teaches the Bible and will help you grow in your relationship with Jesus.
#2Prerequisite – A Daily Time with God.
Can you imagine going on a trip across country without a map, GPS or road signs?Even with a good sense of direction it would be very difficult to reach your desired destination.Can you imagine going on a flight with a pilot who flew his plane by intuition?You could expect to crash. Same with life. If you don’t spend regular time with God in His word you will struggle with knowing where He wants you or what He wants you to do.You may often think God is distant or lack intimacy with Him.Scripture tells us Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. You can enjoy intimacy with the Lord.
To know God and what He wants to say to you personally you must prayerfully read His word.I hear people say that they spend daily time with God because they pray all the time…shower, car, while listening to music, on the subway, bus and at the office. This is good but to know God and what he has to say to you the Bible is a necessary part. And not just a devotional book or a book written about God or even a Bible study book that someone has written.A devotion or a quiet time is spending time with the Lord in prayer and His word. Not just praying in your car on the way to work.If you are in a Bible study ask the leader to personally teach you how to have a quiet time.
Until we know how to have a quiet time we will continue to make decisions based on our emotions vs. what God wants us to do and also be dependent on others for our spiritual growth. Even prayer regarding a decision will be influenced by our emotions vs. the Holy Spirit. A few years ago a pastor friend went to visit the wife of another pastor who was in the hospital with terminal cancer.He casually asked her How has the Lord been speaking to you through His Word?Long story short…the woman said she prayed all the time but admitted she had no idea how to have a devotion, no one had really ever taught her, nor had she ever heard anyone speak like this.Our friend spent time teaching her how this can be done and had a quiet time with her.At her funeral the husband went over and said to our friend…Thanks for what you did to help my wife spiritually. She said her last 6 months were the best she had ever had with God. The husband shared this to encourage and thank the co-worker but our friend felt very sad that this woman in her 60’s, married to a pastor, did not know who to have a quiet time and hear God speak through His word. When we know how to have a quiet time we will know how to recognize the Lord speaking to us and our spiritual growth will come from this daily fellowship with God.
#3 Prerequisite – Short Accounts With God and Others
The Bible is very clear that if there is sin in our heart against God or another person God will not answer our prayer (Psalm 66:18, Romans 12:18, Matt. 5:23-24).I had a friend who once said that spiritual maturity is not someone who never blows it but someone who is quick to confess and deal thoroughly with sin.Immaturity is one who attempts to justify or excuse sin.
Pride and a calloused heart will hinder us from keeping short accounts with God and others.I believe if we are in fellowship with a Holy God we will be convicted on a regular basis of sin. If it has been a while since you felt convicted by the Holy Spirit check your heart to see if it has grown calloused.
As you follow Jesus one day at a time, He will keep you in the center of God’s will.The Holy Spirit will be your personal teacher and the Scriptures your source of authority.
Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb.They worried out loud to each other, “Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?”Then they looked up and saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.~ Mark 16:2-4
Is there a huge stone in your life right now that you are worried cannot be moved? Maybe…
·A troubled marriage?
·Recovering from a divorce?
·A rebellious child?
·Death of a loved one?
·Cancer?
·Addiction?
·Death of a dream?
·Fill in the blank
Because of the resurrection your stone can be moved too.Lord, I pray for everyone who reads this post that whatever their stone may be, you give them the faith to believe you are bigger.
Strengths Finder is a resource that many churches and organizations have been using the past few years. I highly recommend it. It is a great tool to use with a spiritual gift assessment for anyone who is wondering what God gifted them to do in career and ministry volunteer service. This is a book that I often use with leaders to help them see if they are working out of their top strengths.
It saddens me when I meet someone who is 40 and really has no clue what their gifts and talents are. At the same time it encourages me when I can help someone determine what God created them to do.
If you don’t know your strengths then you may easily feel frustrated or annoyed at people or churches who don’t welcome your input on areas that are not your strengths. If you have found yourself in that situation consider asking if you are blinded as to why your efforts are meeting resistance. Maybe you have felt that your help was not valued or that a person or organization did not appreciate you. Have you ever been quick to judge an organization for this and assumed it was a control issue? It is a given that the majority of organizations and churches desire to grow. Be careful what you assume. I often tell my children that that assuming is the opposite of thinking. Think it through. Are you attempting to get a job or volunteer in an area not in line with your gifting?
My challenge today is to know yourself. Until you are confident of your strengths and gifts you will never know the joy and rewards of living out your design. When you know your strengths you will love what you do.
My children have been told that shut up is not a nice word that we choose to use but lately I have been bombarded with people who complain and whine on a regular basis about their employment. I’m not talking about the person who is on staff somewhere and considering if they should make a change. What I am thinking of is the person who dislikes their job and all their family, friends, FB and anyone who will listen knows it. This person may be on staff at a hospital, bank, school, law firm or church but they are negative and bring others down around them. Odd to me that they are so oblivious to how they come across!
I woke up this morning at 5 thinking about a meeting Pastor Perry Noble of New Spring Church in Anderson, SC had with his staff. It was bold, fresh and took courage, conviction and passion. Last November Perry had a staff BBQ. They had a time of worship and then he got up and said….If you are not working your dream job, please resign today. He went on to tell them that if they would resign within 24 hours he would provide them with a 3 month severance package. Wow! How much better would a business, church or ministry be if every one did this.
He went on to share…
We cannot afford to pay people who are bitter about their job situation.
We cannot afford to pay people who are trying to figure out what God wants them to do.
We cannot afford to pay people who wish they were someplace else doing something different.
Scripture teaches that everything we do should be for the glory of God. Do you know that your work is part of your worship? When you work with all of your heart at your job this glorifies God. Going on FB, checking email, balancing your checkbook, talking on your cell phone, shopping online other than on your break time is stealing from your employer and a lack of integrity. It is also very immature. If you are complaining and whining this is not glorifying to God and it is not worship. Wake up and stop living in denial. It would be better for you (and everyone around you) if you went to McDonald’s and flipped burgers while you decided what it is you want to do in life.
Please, for every-one’s sake, If you are not doing what you were created to do, you should resign today. If you’re not passionate about what you are doing, you should resign today. If you cannot commit fully to the mission of your organization, you should resign today.
Life is too short to just work for a paycheck. Figure out what God created you to do and go do that.
I can’t wait to share about something but I can’t do it today. It’s BIG. It’s Exciting and I get to be involved. Maybe one of you will be too. Yeah God.
A dishwasher made me think of the #1 Question You Should Always Ask Before Coming To A Conclusion. Out of every blog I have ever posted I believe this could be one of the most beneficial in everyday life if you apply it.I was taught this lesson from a godly mentor and it has served me well. This is so important because Christians are often critical and judgmental of people, situations and churches. This is usually due to dysfunctional baggage that we carry.The undeserving grace that we have received from God is not always given to others and a consequence is broken relationships.Not just between me and the person but to many others as our criticism is shared with others. Proverbs tells us that God hates this.
Last week we had a new whirlpool dishwasher installed. I was very happy and excited to say the least.I couldn’t wait to put the dishes in after dinner instead of washing them by hand. It was filled to the max and I turned it on. Wow. The sales person at Lowes sure wasn’t kidding about how quiet it would be. It barely made any sound at all. At the end of the cycle I open the door and realized all the dishes were still dirty. I called Lowes and they schedule someone to come take a look at it. Bad news.The motor did not work. They scheduled us for another dishwasher to be delivered the following day.Dishwasher #2 came out.I was happy and excited. After dinner I loaded it up. It was also quiet but Lowes said the new dishwashers are. After the cycle I open the door. The dishes are still dirty. No way. This is weird. After two that don’t work I begin to question if I really want a whirlpool.I’m thinking maybe I want something else. Then Todd reminds me of all the time he spent researching dishwashers with Consumer Report. He reminded me of the reputation that Whirlpool has and about a million other facts that I didn’t even know existed about a dishwasher. He then reminded me about Lowes and the high reputation they have. They will stand behind any product. He also reminded me about the refrigerator we purchased a few years ago and when the installer made a small rip in the flooring they sent someone out immediately to repair it. Todd reminded me to look at the reputation of Whirlpool and Lowes and also our experience with them.
This dishwasher experience reminded me of the #1question to ask before making a conclusion.The question to ask before coming to a conclusion is IS THIS A PATTERN?Told you it was simple. Yet we often don’t ask this because of emotion, anger, hurt or just the baggage we carry.This is not a godly response.It is spiritual immaturity.
Last summer there was a bogus article on the front page of my local newspaper about some friends of ours. We know these folks. We have broken bread with them, spent hours praying with them and spent time in their home and they in ours. They know the Lord and have the highest integrity. Yet this article blasted everything we knew about them. I imagine many who read this assumed it was true. We never did for a second. We know them. We called them the next day to see how they were doing and yes we did ask them about the article. We gave them the opportunity to explain and we took them at their word. A business competition started the inquiry and fed the press lies due to their anger of losing so much business to them. Our friends had to spend a small fortune on an attorney but they were proven innocent and the other party guilty. Yet a godly man had his reputation ripped in the news. We were disappointed that the newspaper did not post the conclusion of the story.
I share these stories to remind us the importance of the #1 Question To Ask Before Coming to a Conclusion….Is it a pattern? What is the reputation? What has your experience been?Not your experience with other people or churches in your past but with this one? I have seen many friendships broken, churches split and people hurt due to not asking this simple question. Is it a pattern?
By the way, Lowes said as far as they knew that this experience had never happened before.Ever.And to make up for our trouble they gave us a huge Whirlpool upgrade at no extra cost. What a blessing.
After all these years I am still learning to let go. Spent many years as a control freak. Can anyone out there relate to me? The most difficult venue for this lesson is with my children. When they were very young and another child was unkind to them my first response was to get in the other child’s face and say STOP IT. And sometimes if the behavior was a pattern I made the decision to decline those play dates. Today my oldest son is 13 and I am learning to let him handle his own affairs though I am still tempted to fix anything that causes him pain. This is difficult for me. Is it for you?
Being in full time ministry Todd, the boys and I visit various churches from time to time. Recently we visited a church Matthew had looked forward to attending because of a close childhood friend going there. My son is very shy but values friendship and is very loyal. New places, new groups, new people are not easy for him. He found comfort that morning knowing he would know at least one person. Living in NYC the past 3 years have been a sacrifice for my children. Leaving behind the security of family, home, close friends, good school and community was not taken lightly by us. But a decision we believe the Lord has honored. To my dismay when he and his father came to greet us he never even gave eye contact to Matthew or said hi. The friend is an extrovert and very outgoing. It was obvious to me that Matthew was hurt but I said nothing. I assumed when the service was over they would connect. After the service the boy walked over with his mom who greeted me and Matthew but again would not even look at Matthew who was standing right next to me and less than 2 feet away from him. My son was devastated and embarrassed. Good grief. What is this all about? These kids have been friends since preschool. I wanted to fix it. I wanted to tell his mom who I knew would attempt to fix it. She is a wonderful person. But I let it go. I did not want to let it go but I did. I am not good at this. My heart hurt for my son who is still just a little boy to me. I want to protect him from pain. Most people outside of our family have no idea what he has been through the last 3 years.
Is this behavior the norm for middle school kids? If it is then it reveals the need for youth ministries that disciple kids and not just provide social events.
The pastor gave an excellent message and worship was dynamic. But my son does not want to go back.
Yesterday at the post office a staff person asked me the spiritual differences I saw in people while working in different parts of the country. My experience is that The Main Thing was missing the majority of the time in areas of greatest spiritual need. The main thing being discipleship within the church and of course without. Regardless of age, how long a person had been a Christian or if a person was a leader in the church or even on staff at a church, discipleship is missing. Discipleship does not happen from the pulpit or in a class room. Nor does it happen from reading a book, seeing videos or attending a conference. And without discipleship we lose vibrant Christianity. I find it both sad and appalling that we use church attendance, church volunteer work, teaching doctrine, or even worship and think that people don’t really need New Testament discipleship. We rip people off if we communicate discipleship is just for new believers and allow our consumer culture of the contemporary church to water down the radical nature of following Jesus.
What I have found most encouraging in NYC other than people coming to Christ is when people have been saved for many years, or leaders, or a pastors wife or a staff member of a church will have the courage, humility and hunger to say they have never been discipled but desperately desire it. This is the opposite of pride. And pride keeps many from the abundant life Jesus desires for us.
If you feel a fire burning in your soul when it comes to discipelship, you know what I mean.
Many years ago I heard a seminary prof teach on the Holy Spirit and he shared one of the fastest ways to quench the Holy Spirit. I leaned over in my desk, pencil in hand ready to take notes so that I would not make that mistake in my own life…my jaw dropped to the floor as he said one of the fastest ways to quench the Holy Spirit in your life is to….complain or be critical. OUCH! I was expecting something as least on what I thought was the same level as adultery. But complain? Gosh. Knew I was guilty of that. Probably more often than I wanted to think about. From that moment on I began to take a mental note of when I did complain and attempted to quickly confess it. As someone who was preparing for ministry at that time, and today in ministry, the Holy Spirit is a basic for spiritual leadership. I love to grow and am always reading all I can get my hands on regarding leadership development but a person can know that stuff and still quench God’s power. I don’t want to be that kind of Christian. I want to live and minister with power! Recently the Lord reminded me that a follower of Christ and especially a leader must not forget the basics of the Christian life. No matter how long we have been born again we do forget the basics. That is why discipleship is so critical.
Recently we have been cleaning and repairing a home we rented for a few years. Before leasing the home was just a few years old and in excellent condition. Without going into many details (and complaining) I’ll just say that the tenant did much damage and did not clean, vacuum or mop once. Hard to believe I know but trust me. He shared a reason for this. His wife was out of the country. As I am cleaning one of the bathroom floors for the 4th time (not kidding) on my hands and knees trying to get the crud and smell off the floor of the toilet area Todd walked in to see how it was going. My response was one of complaint…I am too old to be on my hands and knees for the 4th time trying to clean this stuff (actually I said crap but stuff sounds better). Cleaning up after you and the boys is one thing….cleaning up after a Muslim man and his friends is a whole different matter. Was my response due to lack of sleep and fatigue and back pain or did this reveal something deeper in my heart? Nevertheless I was complaining. A few seconds later the Holy Spirit clearly (you know when it is God speaking to you) spoke to me and said “I died for that Muslim man and his friends.” Okay Lord, thanks for giving me the right perspective. Please forgive my complaining spirit. A better attitude would be one of gratitude that we have such a beautiful home to clean.
What about you? Is there anything you have complained about or been critical about recently?
