I thought that I had blown it. Missed my opportunity.
Bill is a man in his 60's or 70's that I see him about once a month in a group that I am in. I've known Bill for about six months and we have quickly struck up a friendship. About four months ago Bill had surgery and he was in the hospital over night. Before his surgery I found out when he would go under the knife and how long he would be in the hospital. I did this intentionally because Bill doesn't have a church and I thought it would be a good way to reach out to him.
Surgery day came. I knew he was going under the knife that day, but stuff just kept coming up. I kept making excuses saying I'd go later and a week went by and Bill got out of the hospital. I didn't have Bill's number or email. I had no way to contact him. A few weeks later I got together with the group where I see Bill and I heard that he might not be meeting with us again. My heart sank. I missed an opportunity.
What opportunity did I miss? I'm not one who believes that Bill's spiritual experience hangs upon whether or not I follow through with what God is asking me to do. God loves Bill way to much to depend on my follow through. I do believe that I missed out on the opportunity to be used by God to impact Bill's life in a very positive way. Or so I thought...
Yesterday I got together with the group and Bill was there! I immediately started talking to him and seeing how we was doing. I wanted to apologize for not coming to see him, but I decided that would be more about me than him. I knew that God had given me a second chance to be a part of what God is doing in Bill's life so I spent some time specifically with him and God opened a door. He told me how he used to sing with a men's chorus but can't anymore because of his job. He really misses singing. My church has an AMAZING choir, so I jumped at the invitation to invite. Bill wants to come next week.
Our conversation continued and he told me about his recovery, 41st anniversary and passing of his uncle. All of these have happened since his hospital stint. I was able to truly be with Bill simply because I was willing to take the next step in our conversation and turn it towards Jesus.
Showing people the love of Christ is easy. It is showing up and speaking up when the opportunity arises. Some times we are even called to make the opportunity happen. Jesus isn't necessarily depending upon only me, but he is inviting me to be a part of an amazing journey. He invites you too.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
The Testament
This week I took the time to read John Grisham's book The Testament. If you have not read this book I strongly encourage taking the time to read it. It truly is a page turner that leads to a lot of self-reflection specifically around our struggles and the purpose behind our lives.
The book tells the story of a family squabbling over the fortune that their estranged and deceased father might have left for them. In the midst of children and ex-wives fighting every addiction and sin known to man there is a beacon of hope in a very remote area. A lawyer who is struggling with his own demons is sent to find this beacon of hope. Through out his search he deals with his own demons and finds forgiveness, reconciliation and a new reason to keep on keeping on.
For me the book provided an adventure. Not just an adventure through the most remote places in the world, but also the remote places of my soul. As the characters admitted, denied and struggled with their own demons "The Stumbling Messenger" dealt with his own and reflected on where the beacon of hope might lead. The last few chapters made me anticipate how we are all called to deal with our own demons and how dealing with them is a beacon of hope to others.
Every character in the book had issues. Some were hid better than others. Two of them became beacons of hope for others. After 400+ pages I hope to do the same...I think you will too.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the%20testament%20john%20grisham&sprefix=the+testament+j%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Athe%20testament%20john%20grisham
If you want to borrow the book I have it in my office...their is a catch if you borrow and finish we need to get coffee and discuss. I'll buy.
The book tells the story of a family squabbling over the fortune that their estranged and deceased father might have left for them. In the midst of children and ex-wives fighting every addiction and sin known to man there is a beacon of hope in a very remote area. A lawyer who is struggling with his own demons is sent to find this beacon of hope. Through out his search he deals with his own demons and finds forgiveness, reconciliation and a new reason to keep on keeping on.
For me the book provided an adventure. Not just an adventure through the most remote places in the world, but also the remote places of my soul. As the characters admitted, denied and struggled with their own demons "The Stumbling Messenger" dealt with his own and reflected on where the beacon of hope might lead. The last few chapters made me anticipate how we are all called to deal with our own demons and how dealing with them is a beacon of hope to others.
Every character in the book had issues. Some were hid better than others. Two of them became beacons of hope for others. After 400+ pages I hope to do the same...I think you will too.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the%20testament%20john%20grisham&sprefix=the+testament+j%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Athe%20testament%20john%20grisham
If you want to borrow the book I have it in my office...their is a catch if you borrow and finish we need to get coffee and discuss. I'll buy.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Confessions of a former youth pastor: Multiplication
"Hey Jesus...how many kids do you have in your group?"
"About 12, but I have a group of 120 that will show up every now and then. Not all of them show up all at once and a lot of them come and go. So mainly 12."
If Jesus was in youth ministry today I wouldn't ask him to lead youth minister trainings. I might even wonder why he would have a full time job for 12 people and I'd probably say he is someone I wouldn't hire given the opportunity. Why? The main reason is 12. I'm a numbers guy and through 11 years of youth ministry I focused hard on numbers and even as a pastor I pay close attention to our average attendance.
Numbers tell an important story, but Jesus wasn't really interested in how many people were following him. He was interested in his 12 and teaching them to do what he was doing...discipling.
"About 12, but I have a group of 120 that will show up every now and then. Not all of them show up all at once and a lot of them come and go. So mainly 12."
If Jesus was in youth ministry today I wouldn't ask him to lead youth minister trainings. I might even wonder why he would have a full time job for 12 people and I'd probably say he is someone I wouldn't hire given the opportunity. Why? The main reason is 12. I'm a numbers guy and through 11 years of youth ministry I focused hard on numbers and even as a pastor I pay close attention to our average attendance.
Numbers tell an important story, but Jesus wasn't really interested in how many people were following him. He was interested in his 12 and teaching them to do what he was doing...discipling.
2 Timothy 2:2
New International Version (NIV)
2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.
Jesus knew that he had a limited time in ministry so he had to duplicate himself. He had to make disciples.
Successful youth pastors and pastors find ways to disciple a core group of people or students and depend strongly on them to go and reach the masses. (See my post about the laity being better than me) Yes, there is a possibility of seeming that we have favorites. Jesus did have favorites. Even among the 12. It isn't about favorites, but it is about those that are willing to do the handwork of reaching out to their neighbors.
The process continues because these people take the initiative to disciple new people and a culture is developed. A culture of outreach and discipleship.
Most of the time I'm creating a culture of gimmicks that puts a butt in a seat or on a trip one time, but doesn't last. Jesus wasn't worried about butts in the seat. He was worried about feet that followed, hearts that were moldable, minds that were transformed and hands that could duplicate and multiply.
How have you seen discipleship work well in your ministry?
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Tomorrow's Coffee will be bitter sweet
I've said the same phrase to three good friends over the past month. "Man I wish we would have hung out more while you were in Louisville." Two of these friends are United Methodist Elders so this is the time of the year where every elder holds their breath. These two were in Louisville for 3 and 5 years respectively. I hung out with them at Conference Events, but I didn't take the time to get our families together or do something fun every once in awhile. I didn't do this, of course, until the last second when I found they wouldn't be around anymore.
I usually start my work day off by sticking my head into our church administrator's office and say, "Hey, lets walk down to the cafe and grab a cup of coffee." It usually takes about five minutes. I drink my coffee black like a man and he drinks it with all the sugars, creams, milks, etc like a girl. Great conversations happened in those five minutes, but tomorrow the coffee will be just bland and black b/c our church administrator has moved on to Missouri. This is a good move for him and his family, but it again makes me say, "Man...I wish the two of us had hung out more and gotten our families together."
I bet I"m not alone in not realizing what you've got til friends move on to other locations. Scripture notes over and over again the importance of having close relationships with the people around us.
I usually start my work day off by sticking my head into our church administrator's office and say, "Hey, lets walk down to the cafe and grab a cup of coffee." It usually takes about five minutes. I drink my coffee black like a man and he drinks it with all the sugars, creams, milks, etc like a girl. Great conversations happened in those five minutes, but tomorrow the coffee will be just bland and black b/c our church administrator has moved on to Missouri. This is a good move for him and his family, but it again makes me say, "Man...I wish the two of us had hung out more and gotten our families together."
I bet I"m not alone in not realizing what you've got til friends move on to other locations. Scripture notes over and over again the importance of having close relationships with the people around us.
- Proverbs 27:17 17
As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another. - Ecclesiastes 4:12Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. Acord of three strands is not quickly broken.Even Jesus took the time to have close friends. He was tight with all 12 of the disciples, but he was really close to three. Even Jesus needed friends.A national church leader shared with a group that he had to let 40 clergy members go because of immorality during his leadership in a certain area. A common thread in all of these clergy was that they did not have close connection with a group of friends to hold them accountable.When I think of these three friends I can say that my life is truly better for knowing all three of them. I wonder how better it could be if I spent more time investing in the friends that are around me like these three. I've got the excuses...time, money to travel, I didn't get your message, etc. All of those excuses lead to "man...I wish we had done this more while..."Who are those around you that if you spent time with them your life might be filled with a little bit more joy? Go get some coffee with them...whether you drink it like a man or a girl.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Laity...you got one up on me now that I'm ordained.
Last Monday was one of the best days of my life. I was able to celebrate God's story in my life and how others have had such a positive influence over me. Something else happened on Monday. Now I will forever be a pastor and for evangelism purposes this really hinders me.
When we use the word "evangelism" many people get nervous. In fact in the last church I served I was the only one identified through spiritual gift inventories to have the gift of evangelism. I think results can be very skewed by the negative stereotypes that are associated with the word evangelism.
I believe that I, like most pastors, are the worst evangelists in the church. I say this realizing that many people have started attending and making decisions in their faith at St. Matthews UMC after becoming friends with my family. Even though we have seen success in our evangelism efforts I would still say that my family and I are the least likely to lead unchurched people to Christ.
Why is this? It is because I'm an ordained pastor! I spend my days at church, in the hospital, preparing for sermons, planning missions and doing other church things. I'll spend most of my life doing exactly this and I have to get very creative on how I engage people outside of the church because a lot of my times is spent inside the church and its social circles.
This is why the laity are much more effective evangelists than their pastor. I wonder a lot of times if people share or not? When was the last time you shared your faith story with someone? When was the last time you invited someone to church or youth group? If we can't remember then we can't blame the decline of our church, youth group, etc on our pastor or youth minister. Pastor after pastor...youth minister after youth minister...the church stays the same size and we still hope that when the next pastor or youth pastor comes then it will click! No. Laity are in the workforce, schools, town groups, neighborhoods and laity have the natural relationships with people who need to know Christ. When a pastor shows up everything gets weird!
This being said I am not a pastor who sits in the office and waits for people to come to me. I go to the people, but you are with the people. It is natural for you to share your story with your coworker or neighbor. You have relationships all ready where you could extend and invitation. Do you? Why or why not?
Churches that depend on pastors for evangelism efforts will never reach their full potential. My job as a pastor is to be active in evangelism through developing relationships, but more importantly training lay people how to engage their world for Christ. I do this because you, laity, will always have a leg up on me. I'm ok with that!
When we use the word "evangelism" many people get nervous. In fact in the last church I served I was the only one identified through spiritual gift inventories to have the gift of evangelism. I think results can be very skewed by the negative stereotypes that are associated with the word evangelism.
I believe that I, like most pastors, are the worst evangelists in the church. I say this realizing that many people have started attending and making decisions in their faith at St. Matthews UMC after becoming friends with my family. Even though we have seen success in our evangelism efforts I would still say that my family and I are the least likely to lead unchurched people to Christ.
Why is this? It is because I'm an ordained pastor! I spend my days at church, in the hospital, preparing for sermons, planning missions and doing other church things. I'll spend most of my life doing exactly this and I have to get very creative on how I engage people outside of the church because a lot of my times is spent inside the church and its social circles.
This is why the laity are much more effective evangelists than their pastor. I wonder a lot of times if people share or not? When was the last time you shared your faith story with someone? When was the last time you invited someone to church or youth group? If we can't remember then we can't blame the decline of our church, youth group, etc on our pastor or youth minister. Pastor after pastor...youth minister after youth minister...the church stays the same size and we still hope that when the next pastor or youth pastor comes then it will click! No. Laity are in the workforce, schools, town groups, neighborhoods and laity have the natural relationships with people who need to know Christ. When a pastor shows up everything gets weird!
This being said I am not a pastor who sits in the office and waits for people to come to me. I go to the people, but you are with the people. It is natural for you to share your story with your coworker or neighbor. You have relationships all ready where you could extend and invitation. Do you? Why or why not?
Churches that depend on pastors for evangelism efforts will never reach their full potential. My job as a pastor is to be active in evangelism through developing relationships, but more importantly training lay people how to engage their world for Christ. I do this because you, laity, will always have a leg up on me. I'm ok with that!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Surrouned by a great cloud of witnesses...
Yesterday was an amazing day. I was able to celebrate seven-years of marriage to my amazing wife and also celebrate my ordination with friends and family. As people greeted me and drove miles to celebrate with me I was reminded of how important people are in our faith journey. While I was greeting people after the service I shook hands with:
- The person who prayed with me as an eleven year old to give my life to Christ
- The person who prayed with me as a middle schooler to accept a call to ministry
- The first pastor I served under to who this day still emodies "Loving God and People" better than any person I have met.
- A pastor who mentored and put up with my shananigans for over six years.
- A pastor who has taught me amazing things about leadership.
- My parents who presented me before the church in 1981 to be baptized and have walked with me every step of the way for the past 32 years.
- My amazing step-daughter who shows the love of Christ to people on a daily basis.
- My amazing daughter who smiles with the smile of God.
- My wife who pushes me to be better than I ever could be on my own.
- A church who has invested in me over the past two years and has decided to dream big in how to reach Louisville with the Love of Christ.
- My sisters who have been there encouraging me all the way.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Confessions of a former Youth Pastor: Part 1
Every summer I start to wonder, "Why did I decide to leave youth ministry?" During the summers I miss the white water rafting trips, camps and other fun things that only youth pastors get paid to do. I do have to admit that it is nice being home with the family during the summer though!
For twelve years of my ministry I was fully engaged in youth ministry. Some of my most exciting experiences in ministry were seeing the gospel click in the life of a teenager. Looking back on my years in youth ministry there are a few things that I would do much differently. Hindsight is 20/20, right?
One of the areas I always struggled with was losing teenagers the end of their junior and through out their senior year. I gave and I have heard all of the excuses of time commitments, priorities, etc, but I wonder if I had changed the way I was doing things if I might of seen different results? Through out most of my youth ministry I was looking for kids to show up. If we can just get them here something great will happen. This mentality produced many gimics and initiatives to bring friends that worked in the short term, but not in the long term. I always wondered...what else can I or we do in order to get kids here?
Over the past two years I have been convinced that attractional youth ministry is dying a junior and senior death. Middle schoolers are attraceted by fun games, loud music and flashes of light but juniors and seniors need something deeper. If you look at your average high school you will see kids accomplishing extraordinary things on the athletic fields, in the hallways/classrooms, and auditoriums. If you look at the average church and youth ministry you will see kids sitting and absorbing information and asking that it be put into practice in their lives. Sitting...absorbing. Maybe even standing, running, jumping and absorbing, but not leading much.
I wonder if simply changing or living into the name could change the focus of many Youth Ministries. What if it was called "Youth in Ministry" or really was "Youth Ministries?" I spent most of my time as a youth minister preparing the show for Wednesday or Sunday night rather than figuring out ways that middle and high school students could use some of their amazing talents to share the love of Christ with the church and the world. If I could go back and do it over I'd invest in students leading 100% of the ministry and programs. Developing student lead mission initiatives, choirs, bands, dramas, sport ministries, mentoring programs, etc. Yes, I would still have Wednesday nights, but I think it would look much different.
I want to hear from you...how does your ministry empower youth to use their giftedness to share the love of Christ? Have you seen juniors and seniors who are invested in this way stick around?
Maybe you are a youth who stayed or left after your junior year...can you let us know what made you stick around or invest in other places?
For twelve years of my ministry I was fully engaged in youth ministry. Some of my most exciting experiences in ministry were seeing the gospel click in the life of a teenager. Looking back on my years in youth ministry there are a few things that I would do much differently. Hindsight is 20/20, right?
One of the areas I always struggled with was losing teenagers the end of their junior and through out their senior year. I gave and I have heard all of the excuses of time commitments, priorities, etc, but I wonder if I had changed the way I was doing things if I might of seen different results? Through out most of my youth ministry I was looking for kids to show up. If we can just get them here something great will happen. This mentality produced many gimics and initiatives to bring friends that worked in the short term, but not in the long term. I always wondered...what else can I or we do in order to get kids here?
Over the past two years I have been convinced that attractional youth ministry is dying a junior and senior death. Middle schoolers are attraceted by fun games, loud music and flashes of light but juniors and seniors need something deeper. If you look at your average high school you will see kids accomplishing extraordinary things on the athletic fields, in the hallways/classrooms, and auditoriums. If you look at the average church and youth ministry you will see kids sitting and absorbing information and asking that it be put into practice in their lives. Sitting...absorbing. Maybe even standing, running, jumping and absorbing, but not leading much.
I wonder if simply changing or living into the name could change the focus of many Youth Ministries. What if it was called "Youth in Ministry" or really was "Youth Ministries?" I spent most of my time as a youth minister preparing the show for Wednesday or Sunday night rather than figuring out ways that middle and high school students could use some of their amazing talents to share the love of Christ with the church and the world. If I could go back and do it over I'd invest in students leading 100% of the ministry and programs. Developing student lead mission initiatives, choirs, bands, dramas, sport ministries, mentoring programs, etc. Yes, I would still have Wednesday nights, but I think it would look much different.
I want to hear from you...how does your ministry empower youth to use their giftedness to share the love of Christ? Have you seen juniors and seniors who are invested in this way stick around?
Maybe you are a youth who stayed or left after your junior year...can you let us know what made you stick around or invest in other places?
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