What are you boasting about?

This is what the LORD says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken! Jeremiah 9:23, 24 (NLT)

There are lots of things we could boast about. There are lots of things we could be known for. God lists three of them here in Jeremiah. Most of us would love to be known for:

*our intellect, wisdom, or problem solving abilities;

*our strength, resolve, or power;

* our achievements, accomplishments, or possessions.

When we want to be known for these things more than we want to be known as a Christ follower, these things become idols in our lives! God says here that if there’s anything we should want to be known for, it’s our passion to know and serve Him.

Here’s my simple question for you today: What do YOU want to be known for? What is that one thing you want everyone to notice about you today? What will you be proud of at the end of this day? What will make you feel successful at the end of the day? What’s the best thing you could boast about when this day is over? I think you know. Reflect Him. Reflect His justice and righteousness. If you could live this way today, this could be one of the best days you have had in a long time.

Church busy-ness

Churches are busy—and proud of it, aren’t we? We love to boast about all we’re doing: whether it be on the Web, in worship guides, or even billboards. We’re often proud of “all we offer” to our community. One church I know of has boasted “over 152 ministries for you and your family.”

Most of us don’t go to these lengths to be a “user-friendly” church. However, if we’re honest, we all feel the tension to seek to provide ministries and programs for all ages. Everyone wants to know about our Children’s Ministry, Student Ministry, our College ministry, our Singles Ministry, our Senior Adult Ministry, our Bible Studies, and of course, our Men’s and Women’s Ministries. Parents want to know about our VBS, Awanas programs,  camps, and youth activities we offer. Before you know it, if we’re not careful, to meet the needs, we have our calendars stuffed with dozens of programs offered  every day of the week.

Here are my challenges with this approach to ministry in our churches. First of all, when it comes to discipleship, busyness doesn’t equal effectiveness. Even pastors have bought into the myth that busyness = value. We love to feel needed. We love being problem solvers and crisis counselors. We feel important when the phone rings a lot and we have a lot to do. We enjoy telling people how busy we are. We wear our busyness as a badge of honor. However, if we were honest, we’d admit that much of our activity is driven by the desire to be valued and needed; and deep down, we doubt if we’re making that big of a difference in the world. We may be right! Busyness does not equal effectiveness!

Secondly, what if I told you that our church’s busyness could actually be hindering the movement of God in our world? What if I told you that our church busyness could be insulating our church members from the very people Jesus wants Christians to be interacting with? What if I told you that the essence of following Jesus is leaving the church and going out into the world and being a “friend of sinners”? When Jesus told us to “Go” he didn’t complete the sentence by saying: “Go to church.” He said to “Go and make disciple of all nations.” This phrase “all nations” is literally translated “all peoples”.  How can we help “all peoples” become followers of Jesus if we’re down at the church building every day surrounded by other Christians?  If we’re honest, many of us have got to rethink what discipleship really means, and we can not define our ministry success by our church busy-ness.

Excerpt(s) from The Measure of Our Success: An Impassioned Plea To Pastors, available today on Amazon.

The Danger of Drivenness…

Ambitious. Self-starter. Entrepreneurial. Strong work ethic. Discontent with the status quo. Big vision. Change agent. Strong leader and communicator. Get-things-done type of person. Driven. All of these describe me.

For years I have held these traits up as a badge of honor. The church has so much work to do. Our mission is monumental, and our tasks are unending. Jesus told us to go. People need to be reached. Ministries must to be launched and stewarded well. Ministry must be done with excellence. I think pastors ought to be the hardest working people in the world, because our mission has so much on the line!

However, let’s be honest: we probably have the best of intentions, but sometimes our drive overrides God’s plans. Many times we unconsciously run ahead of him in our desire to be successful in carrying out the Great Commission. I have told our church many times that the greatest temptation I face is not stealing the offerings or having an affair; it’s substituting what I do for God for what I am with God.

One of the challenges I see with the most gifted Christ followers in ministry is this: Our greatest assets, outside of His Lordship, become our greatest liabilities. Being driven is a good thing, until that drive overrides the drive of the Spirit. Compounding the challenge is the fact that we don’t even recognize what’s driving us. We don’t often understand why we do what we do. If we could really see what’s in our hearts, we might come to the conclusion that what’s driving us, is often not the Holy Spirit, but just plain old flesh. The greatest battle we face is not a battle against our ministries. It’s the battle between our flesh and His Spirit.

I believe that gut-honest answers to many of these questions would often reveal that even though we preach against it, our ministries are often being driven as much or more by our flesh, not His Spirit. Paul said, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:5 ESV).

What does God really have in mind for your life? What does God really have in mind for your ministry? What if it’s different from what you always thought it would be? Are you willing to surrender your dream to His dream? Your willingness to wrestle with these questions may just determine whether you are ever really successful…in His eyes!

Excerpt from my book: The Measure of Our Success: An Impassioned Plea To Pastors, available now on Amazon.

Our Church’s Legacy:

One hundred percent of churches will leave a legacy. The question is: Will it be accidental? Or intentional? At Mountain Lake, we want our Legacy to be intentional! With that goal in mind, our church recently set some new goals for our future. We believe these goals will serve to strengthen our ability to fulfill God’s vision for our church, and leave the kind of legacy He wants us to leave. We call them our “Legacy Initiatives”. They are to:

• Invest more deeply in the family.
• Invest more deeply in the next generation.
• Invest more deeply in our Leaders.
• Invest more deeply in the Kingdom.

In the message below, I break down all of these initiatives into specific goals for our church over the next twenty four months. Short term goals clarify what our church is all about, and unify our church around the vision in ways nothing else can.  After watching the video, I think you’ll agree, new goals inspire, as well!

 

The Power of Vision (part 2)…

Vision is indeed powerful. However, for those of us who are Christ followers, we don’t believe in vision as much as we do “revelation”. The vision we have for our lives, comes from God! We don’t make up the vision for our life. We get it from Him! It’s a revelation from Him!

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Proverbs 29:18 (NIV) “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.”

When we started Mountain Lake Church, He gave us His mission from His Word!

Our mission: “Giving people a place to belong in a healthy relationship with God and others and become more like Jesus Christ each day.”

This mission comes straight from God’s Word! He said the most important things in life were loving Him; loving each other; carrying His message to others; baptizing people into the family; and helping people follow Jesus daily! (See Matthew 22:37-40; and Matthew 28:19-20).

When we begin to discover and then live out God’s vision for our lives, it becomes the most powerful force in our lives!

1. God’s Vision sustains us. When we want to quit (I want to quit about every seven days), His vision keeps us going.

2. God’s Vision guides us. What’s really important? What is the filter for everything we do? Vision keeps us going in a consistent direction.

3. God’s Vision protects us. Seeking and living His vision protects us from harm and even protects us from wasting our lives!

Do you know what God’s vision is for your life? Your family? Your business? Your church? You don’t have to make it up, you know. It’s there in black (and red) and white.

The Power of Vision (pt 1)…

Leadership and vision go hand in hand. Therefore, leadership must begin with a clear vision: whether it be for our personal life, our family, our church, or organization.  If people around us don’t know where we’re going and where we’re trying to take them, they will have a hard time making the journey.

A clear vision communicates three things:

1. Why we’re here: our purpose.

What “business” are we in? Why do we exist? Why am I married? Why do we have children? What is the purpose of our parenting? Why is our church here? What is the ormiary goal of this company?

A clear vision should express a higher purpose for a greater good that gives meaning to each person’s efforts. A clear purpose provides direction.

2. Where we’re going: a picture of the future.

Where are we going? What will our future look like if we accomplish our purpose? A clear picture provides motivation.

3. What guides us along the way: what we value. 

What do I stand for? What’s important around here? What governs our character and relationships?  Values protect and provide guard rails.

Without clear vision, we’ll never end up where we want to be, much less where we need to be; and neither will anyone else! That’s what God tells us:

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Proverbs 29:18 (NIV) “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.”

So how does this flesh itself out in our lives, families, churches, and jobs? That’s tomorrow’s post!