Are you a Church Planter?
Those that read this blog with any regularity know that I am passionate about church planting. And while that is true the reality is that I am passionate about the local church in general, and its mission to glorify God and make Jesus famous in whatever context she finds herself.
In order for the local church to function properly it needs strong male leadership. Without qualified male leaders the church will flounder and fail to achieve its mission of being a powerful gospel influence in its city.
The article is entitled Ten Qualifications of a Church Planter…and while its focus is church planting, the principles therein apply to all men who desire to lead God’s people. (more…)
Great Trip
My family and I just returned from a quick trip to Fort Collins. Well our time actually spent in Fort Collins was short but the 18 hour drive each way made it seem like a journey.
We had a great time meeting with people, looking at homes to rent, and exploring the area. The kids absolutely love it there and Andrea and I are becoming more familiar with the city with each visit. On Tuesday we traveled up to Estes Park in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. All I can say about that is wow!
I had an extremely busy week meeting with contacts and people that are interested in the church plant. Each visit we’ve had there has been full of divine encounters that continue to serve as confirmation for God’s call upon us to pull up stakes and begin a new work in Northern Colorado.
One of the most amazing things about Fort Collins is the unity amongst the pastors in the city. I have met with a few of the pastors, and have received several emails from others, and one thing is consistent among each of them; they are Kingdom minded. Not one of them has said, “Fort Collins has plenty of churches.” or “What do you think you’re going to do that we aren’t already doing?” I applaud these men for putting Jesus and His Kingdom first…it’s sad that it’s so rare but in a church climate where pastors fight over church hoppers like two dogs with a bone, these men stand out as unique examples of what the Church should really look like. One such man is Reza Zadah. Reza is the young adults pastor at Timberline Church in Fort Collins. He has gone out of his way to welcome me to the city and offer his help in whatever way he can. Thank you Reza!
Oh…on the home front we did find a house to rent that is available at the perfect time, and the owner is allowing us to live in the house for 2 weeks rent free! The home is located in West Fort Collins…about 5 minutes from Old Town and 5 minutes from Horsetooth Reservoir. Perfect!
I anticipate that the next 6 weeks in Prineville will go by extremely fast. Rory and I will work together in transition for about a month. It should be a great time working together and learning from one another. I hope that I can pass a few things along that I’ve learned in my time here and then before you know it we’ll be off to our next adventure.
It’s sad, exciting, and scary all at the same time.
What If?
For the last few months my preaching in the gospel of Luke has centered on the concept of mission. That is being on mission with God. As someone who has been involved in pastoral ministry for over a decade now, I think it is safe to say that many Christians are not on mission. They’re on a mission…career advancement, more money, bigger house, living vicariously through their child’s athletic achievements…but it’s not God’s mission.
What if every Christian, or even most Christians, were on mission? What if Christians were as passionate about Jesus and the gospel as we are the myriad of other activities that choke the life out of us (can anyone say farmtown?).
Please don’t get me wrong…I love sports (just ask my wife). I’m passionate about the things I enjoy but what if we could direct some of that passion toward the Kingdom?
My family and I are moving to Fort Collins to plant The Bridge Church in mid-August. Part of my focus is going to be reaching young men, getting them on mission, and then setting them free to use their God given masculinity, drive, and passion to further the Kingdom of God in Northern Colorado. I’m praying for 100 young men to make Jesus famous in Fort Collins and on the campus of CSU.
Will you pray with me? Will you join us in being on mission with God in your community? Will you begin investing your God given time, talents, and treasures in things that will advance His Kingdom instead of your own? (Luke 12:13-34)
What if…
Something I've Noticed
I have had the privilege of late to meet several Calvary Chapel pastors who are being transformed in much the same way I have been over the last several years.
I see this trend developing in three main ways -
1. Openness to divergent views - It is easy as a pastor to become locked into a stream of thinking at the expense of learning from gifted people outside your own tradition. This has certainly been the case in the Calvary movement, but I have noticed recently that God is really broadening the horizons of many of our men and I’m looking forward to watching the fruit blossom in the years to come. Clearly we need to use discernment and wisdom in what we are reading or listening to but as a lead pastor you should be able to sift through the rough to glean the diamonds. If you are only being influenced by those you completely agree with you are limiting God from teaching you new things that are outside your perspective.
2. Dedication to the text – As Calvary Chapel pastors we have been given a wonderful legacy of simply teaching the Bible simply. However many of us were never given the tools to teach the Word accurately which has resulted in many sermons that simply are not faithful to the text. The end result is not heresy but it’s not rooted in the text either. While it’s certainly creative to twist John the Baptist’s beheading into a charge against “getting ahead” in life, that was definitely not the author’s intended meaning. The text cannot mean today what it didn’t mean when it was originally written. It is the duty of the preaching pastor to determine what the text originally meant then, so that they can tell their listeners what it means to them now. I am absolutely stoked to see many Calvary guys getting this; forsaking the creative, allegorical, “I’ve never seen that before” sermon for simply teaching the text and bringing the Spirit’s intended application from it.
3. Giving up control – One of the weaknesses of our movement has been the abuse of the Moses Model. The Moses Model essentially states that the Senior Pastor is in full control of the church and that his assistants and elders are simply there to implement his vision. He hears from God and then disseminates this revelation to the people. This model (which many men have exercised with no abuse) has lead to some controlling pastors who are running rough shod over their people. However it has been a great joy for me to meet several Calvary pastors lately who are sharing leadership with their elders and allowing these men to help shape the vision and direction of the church. As lead pastors we should simply be a leader among equals. If our leadership simply exists to rubber stamp our plans and serve as a buffer to blame hard decisions on; then we should be honest with the church and let them know that we are an autonomous pastor with no accountability. Of course this sounds ridiculous which is precisely why I’m advocating that more Calvary pastors relinquish their grip on the church and allow God to speak to them through the men He’s raised up around him.
Oregon Pastor's Retreat
Andrea and I just returned from a three day pastor’s retreat at Lake Bradley Christian Camp in Bandon, OR. I was asked by Steve Hopkins (CC Salem) to help plan the retreat and to teach one of the sessions; both of which were an absolute pleasure and privilege to do.
We had about 20 couples from around Oregon attend the retreat, and I don’t think any of them were disappointed in the slightest. In fact I’m not sure the retreat could have gone any better. From the teaching (through the book of Ruth), to the sweet times of worship, to the great fellowship, and of course the amazing food put out by the staff of Lake Bradley it was a beautiful retreat that lived up to its name…Refresh!
It’s sad…really sad but most of the time I go home from pastor’s gatherings, bummed and discouraged. But this wasn’t the case here. Because this retreat wasn’t about who has the biggest church, nor was it about worshiping some “big gun” speaker, it was about Jesus. In fact this retreat passed my ultimate test for Calvary Chapel pastor’s events…whose name did I hear more; Chuck Smith or Jesus and there is no question that the name of Jesus was exalted and He was absolutely the focus of our time together!
Andrea and I with Steve and Debbie Hopkins.
Evangelical Untouchables
Michael Spencer who blogs at Internet Monk is going to write a series of articles about the Evangelical Church and I am going to be writing from the Calvary Chapel perspective. His desire is to give people a glimspe of what is going on in different corners of the Church by allowing pastors from different flavors of Christianity to describe what they and their churches are doing to further the Kingdom and spread the gospel.
Reaching Young People
One of my passions is reaching young people, and young men in particular. I believe if we can effectively reach young men we will continue to be successful in reaching future generations with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In light of this I wanted to write some of my thoughts regarding Calvary Chapel as it relates to reaching younger generations.
It is a concern of mine that our movement is becoming increasingly irrelevant to young people. This is not unique in Church history as every “movement” throughout Church history has reached a point that it’s methodology no longer related to the current culture because the paradigm that was created within that movement was rooted in its origination decades in the past.
Calvary Chapel and its culture is rooted in the Jesus Movement of the 1960’s, and unless we desire to die a slow death with the baby boomers we must be willing to change our methods and philosophies in order to be relevant to our modern context.
This paradigm shift will take pastors with guts, vision, and the leadership ability to get older men and women to die to themselves and their ways of doing things in order to reach younger people.
There is a question that is begging to be asked.
Why is it that Calvary Chapel is becoming irrelevant to younger people?
I believe there are three main reasons:
1. Rooted in the past - We have become a movement that is being defined by events that happened 40 years ago. I routinely visit CC church websites and under their “history” or “about us” pages are paragraphs about the Jesus Movement and the events surrounding the explosion of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Should we be proud of the legacy that’s been handed to us? Absolutely! Is it wrong to include that in the history of a particular CC, no of course not but what is God doing in your church in your local context at this time? We’ve got to move on. Young people don’t care about what happened when their parents or grandparents, in many cases, were young. They crave something fresh, they desire to see God work among them they way He did amongst previous generations.
2. Rules and Regulations – Somewhere along the way our movement has become what it originally set out to change. The Jesus Movement was born out of a need for young people to have the freedom to express their faith in a fresh and relevant way. Now as we fast forward 40 years we have created our own traditions and ironically enough are forcing young people to look elsewhere to express themselves. We must break this legalistic proclivity if we have any hope of reaching young people today. One such issue that is at the center of this legalism is, alcohol. The consumption of alcohol is typically looked down upon in our movement and while certainly the abuse of alcohol that leads to drunkenness is forbidden in the Scriptures, the moderate use of alcohol is actually encouraged. Another such topic is entertainment. We have bought into the world’s rating system as our litmus test for what is appropriate and what isn’t, meanwhile making ourselves hypocrites as we have to explain why it was permissible to view The Passion of the Christ. Young people are taught to think critically about these issues and realizing that there is no biblical standard for much of these rules and regulations is making them flee to churches where there is more freedom in these gray areas.
3. Restriction of thought – “We don’t need no education…we don’t need no thought patrol.”
Pink Floyd is not the only one who thinks this is a bad idea. We’ve got to quit being so afraid of the bogey man that lies behind the pages of books that have been deemed taboo by hack apologists. It’s perfectly acceptable to read books by authors that you don’t agree with! That’s how we learn. It helps us to think outside of the box. Reading books you already agree with does not enable you to grow. Young people don’t want to be force fed their theology by grumpy old men they want to have the freedom to read books by a wide variety of authors and be given the opportunity to make biblical decisions about what is sound and what is questionable or in some cases what is heresy. Good pastors and church leaders will be available to help young people make these decisions, but paranoid pastors and leaders will restrict this type of learning wanting their people to only read “approved” books meanwhile cutting off the stream of fresh thinking that will allow their young people to flourish.
I have written this article out of my love for this movement and with the understanding that many Calvary Chapels are doing a phenomenal job of reaching young people. I speak in general terms in light of what I’ve observed over the last decade or so. I don’t write this to toot my own horn, and while we are reaching many young people in this small and predominantly “older” town I do not claim to have it figured out. I, like many Calvary pastors, simply want to reach as many people as I can before Jesus returns.
Here is a link to a video on “movements” by Mark Driscoll, a pastor who while very controversial is also very passionate about reaching young people and is doing so quite effectively in one of the most godless cities in America, Seattle.
We are a Movement – Mark Driscoll teaching at an Acts 29 boot camp for church planters.
Catching Up
Hey all I just wanted to pass along a few links to you and catch you up on some things I plan to write.
Mark Driscoll’s short book on porn – This is very well written and to the point. I encourage every man, especially young men, to read this.
Art Azurdia’s “How to Study Your Bible” class at our church – The audio from all four sessions and a pdf of his notes are available there.
Spurgeon Fellowship Journal - Helpful articles for pastors and preachers.
I plan to write the second part of the Women in Ministry post early this week.
I also hope to write some of my thoughts about some recent events within Calvary Chapel including a new CCOF website.
Women in Ministry (Part 1)
The role of women in ministry is a hot button topic in the Church today.
In light of this I wanted to take some time to explain what I and our church believe.
There are three basic views in regard to this subject:
*1. Egalitarian (liberal)
Men and women are partners together in every area of ministry. All ministries and offices are open to men and women. Gender is not a relevant distinction for excluding any person from any church office.
2. Complementarian (moderate)
Men and women are partners together in every area of ministry. All ministries in the church are open to all qualified men and women with the singular exception of the office of elder, which the Scriptures require to be a male-only office. Women can serve as deacons, teach, lead worship, serve communion, be in full time paid ministry, etc.
3. Hierarchical (conservative)
Women and men are created to operate in different spheres of ministry within the church. Women are not permitted to be an elder or deacon, serve communion, teach men, lead worship, pray or speak in the church service, etc. Women should focus on building ministries for other women and children.
*These definitions taken from A Book You’ll Actually Read on…Church Leadership (Mark Driscoll)
I personally believe that the NT teaches the second of these three views.
I believe the other two views to be extreme and unbiblical. The liberal view must ignore passages such as 1 Timothy 2:12
“I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.”
and other passages such as 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. This view has sought to placate the culture by adopting feminism instead of gleaning their doctrine from the Scripture.
However the conservative view ignores passages such as Galatians 3:28
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
It has declared that men are superior to women and has adopted old school traditional values over the Word of God.
I personally believe there is only one office/position in the church that women are not called to hold; that is the office and position of elder/pastor/bishop/overseer or whatever else you want to call that senior leadership role in the church. However there is no reason women cannot function in any and every other position within the church.
I will talk more about the roles of men and women in the church in part 2 of this post.
Conference with Gayle Erwin (Day 2)
I know I promised to post about day 2 of the private conference my wife and I attended at Calvary Chapel Olympia
But we didn’t make it the second day so I don’t have anything specific to add…sorry!
I will however post some thoughts that Gayle made regarding preaching during the conference. These highlights were actually written by my friend Jim Jacobson on another blog.
Here are five points that Gayle made:
1. Look for walls that separate you from the people and get rid of them. He used the huge pulpit as an example. He even brought up the way we sometimes bring up “the greek” and how that separates us from the “uneducated” people.
2. Preach confessionally, be open about your own failings. Instead of showing the people how they sin, use your own life failings etc.
3. Throw away your “illustration books” and use your own life experience for illustrations.
4. Make the bible your story. Put yourself into the text. Point out things the obvious things that many people miss.
5. Make sure you are an invitation to receive grace.
According to Jim, Gayle had some great insight about ministry and marriage on Saturday as well. This was kind of the theme of this conference and there was some great discussion on Friday afternoon about this subject.
Some of the points that were brought up.
1. Men…your ministry begins when you walk into your house after all day of ministering to others.
2. Women…remember that the sacrifice of your husband and his time is an opportunity for you to minister to others.
3. Men…put dates with your wife and “buying flowers” into your calendar.
4. Women…don’t feel pressured by the church to be anything other than who you are.
In the little time that I was able to spend at this conference there was some great stuff shared that I definitely need to hear.
blessings…ryan
Conference with Gayle Erwin (Day 1)
I am currently attending a private conference hosted by Pastor Chuck Lind and CC Olympia
The speaker is well known author and teacher Gayle Erwin
The conference is very casual…almost like sitting around a living room listening to your grandpa tell stories from long ago.
Gayle has been pretty candid about his opinions regarding worship, preaching, and the direction of Calvary Chapel as a movement.
In Session #1 of Day 1 Gayle spent a great deal of time dealing with worship. He believes that worship has become too slick and professional. Too many lights, loud sound systems, and songs no one but the leader knows. Some of this is opinion based upon his age and background. But we would be wise to evaluate our corporate worship to ensure that we aren’t losing the simplicity of adoring Jesus in the midst of our techy show. He also pontificated about plants and pulpits in the sancturary. He believes that we should remove any barriers between us (the preacher) and the congregation. Apparently that includes the cheesy fake greenery that is as much a fixture in evangelical churches as a cross. Personally I like to use a pulpit. We are in the process of having a new one made out of metal that will be much more modern than our current wood model so I think I will just agree to disagree with Gayle on this one. As to the plastic plants…yeah those should be burned along with any and all Left Behind movies.
In session #2 Gayle shared about preaching. He believes pastors should employ humor but only humor that doesn’t make anyone besides yourself the brunt of the joke. This pretty much puts my humor out of business. 
He recommended puns and slap stick. Hmmm. I don’t think I am willing to stoop to that level to get people to laugh. I will just stick to my sarcasm and self-deprication.
He made some great points about connecting with people; making the Bible come alive by placing yourself in the story, using personal illustrations instead of canned stories from a book, and keeping things simple so that even children can track with you. Gayle has always modeled these principles well in his teaching and it was a good reminder for me in my desire to make the Word come alive for each and every person listening to me.
In the last part of the second session Gayle talked at great length about the Calvary Chapel movement and his desire to see us return to simply loving Jesus and pointing others to Him. He doesn’t understand why our movement is so infatuated with the Emerging/Emergent Church.
“If it wasn’t for Calvary Chapel their 15 minutes of fame would have been up a long time ago…we’re keeping that thing going by talking about it all the time.”
I couldn’t agree more. Just preach Jesus and Him crucified. Let Jesus take care of His Church.
He also warned against being content with what has happened in the past and not pursuing our own move of God in the present. Amen Gayle! I don’t know about you but I wasn’t even born during the Jesus Movement. And while I praise God for the heritage I’ve been given, my desire is to see God do something amazing and fresh in my own generation.
Stay tuned…Conference Day 2 tomorrow.
little church that does BIG things (Part 1)
My wife and I came to Prineville in the fall of 2001 to start a Thursday evening Bible study that would ultimately become Calvary Chapel Crook County. (we named it that because the area is known by the county more than the city)
Our first Sunday morning service was held on May 5th 2002. We had about 30 people that first Sunday and we quickly grew to 50 people crowding into our little elementary school library (the chairs were Lilliputian made for people without years of carbs in their backside).
After our move to Crook County Middle School in the fall of that year we grew to about 75 people and like most church planters I thought we were going to have a mega church in no time.
However after a few years in the Middle School, and several original families gone for one reason or another, we were still about 75 people and I was getting discouraged.
Why isn’t the church growing? Why do new people come once and never return? Why do key families have to leave the church? Why is this so stinkin’ hard?
It was about this time that the Lord spoke to me and gave me the focus and vision that is at the core of who we are as a church to this day. A vision that looked beyond the 4 walls of our church to a lost community that would much rather sleep in and watch football on Sunday than sing songs to a God they don’t know and listen to some young punk teach a book they don’t believe.
The Lord showed me that He doesn’t need a lot of people to accomplish this plan. He could reach our entire community with a few people who were on fire for Him.
“I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.” (Isaiah 45:5)
He began to put big ideas upon my heart that we didn’t have the man power or budget to pull off.
One of the ideas was an outreach to sportsmen. Hunting is huge here…(shocking right). For this area where less than 10% attend church hunting is the god of choice. I would say that 80-90% of the men (and many women) in this community hunt. Therefore what better way to reach this community with the gospel than by appealing to what is closest to their heart. Quest Outdoors was born out of this vision and several conversations with one of our leaders, Shawn Jones, who owns and operates a hunting/fishing guide business called Go West Outfitters.
Shawn and I had the idea of creating a banquet that would look a lot like other sportsman’s banquets (like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, or Oregon Hunters Association).
The first Quest Outdoors banquet was held in 2004. We put together an awesome catered dinner, a top notch speaker in the field, world class taxidermy and thousands of dollars in prizes. There was no way a church of 75 people should be able to pull this off. But not only did we pull it off but we had about 250 people come our first year and it has doubled since. Each year men and women who would never darken the door of our church come to this event and hear the message of the gospel in a way that meets them right where they’re at.
This local outreach which has become a yearly event has motivated our church to do several other events and outreaches in our community…and has given our church the reputation of the “little church that does big things.”
I remember when I first heard someone describe our church this way. I was offended. Calling a church planter’s work small is like kicking him in the groin. But as I thought about it I realized that it was perfect because people were giving God the glory as they recognized that our little church with puny numbers and a tiny budget couldn’t possibly pull this off without divine intervention.
1 Cor. 1:26-31
Over the years our church has grown but we continue to take steps of faith taking risks for the sake of the Kingdom.
Many of these outreaches and events have bombed big time…some of them have been incredible successes. I will talk more about these things in Part 2 of this post.
grace…ryan
Instilling Vision
Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine who used to be my assistant pastor and is now planting a church in Walla Walla, WA.
I am on his board helping him make financial decisions while his church is being established.
I was encouraging him to begin to instill in his small group of people the vision that he has to grow the church and reach the community with the gospel. Often small churches suffer from the “I don’t want a big church” syndrome. The reason we came here was due to the size. We like the small atmosphere and that we know everybody’s name (and their birthdays…and their social security numbers)
The tendency for small churches in small towns is to get comfortable with the few families that are coming and to never want that to change. As a pastor of a small church you must begin to instill your vision to reach the community early on because the longer you wait the more difficult it will be to convince Mr. and Mrs. home school parent that this is a good idea.
Here are some practical ways you can do this.
1. Talk about it from the pulpit (or music stand or folding chair turned backwards) – duh! Share your heart for the lost as it comes up in Scripture. Encourage the people to see themselves as missionaries in their neighborhoods, workplaces, and families.
2. Think big - Encourage the people that you can reach this community with the few people you have right now. God doesn’t need a thousand people to make an impact. I have been saying this since our church first began. As we’ve grown from 25 to 50 to 75 to 100 to 150 and beyond I’ve been telling our body that we can reach this city right here, right now.
3. Pour into men – Without solid mature men with leadership gifts your church won’t be healthy so begin meeting with 1 or 2 guys that have potential for leadership. Share your heart with them. Tell them your vision to reach the community. Bounce stuff off of them. Listen to their ideas. Get their opinions. Pray with them.
4. Start small – Often small churches with tiny budgets and small minded pastors get intimidated to do outreach. “We can’t afford it!” “We don’t have enough people!” Yes and if you keep saying that it will continue to be true. Think of creative ways that your small fellowship can reach out with the love of Jesus. Maybe it’s raking leaves in a local neighborhood and sharing the gospel with the people as they stand on their porch dumbfounded that someone is willing to do what they’ve been dreading for weeks. For more unique ideas see Steve Sjogren’s book 101 Ways to Reach Your Community.
In my next post we are going to look at how little churches can do big things.
Planting a Church in a Small Town
I remember pouring over the map trying to decide where I wanted to move my wife and I to plant a church.
I wanted to go to a big city…because lots of people equals big church and every church planter wants to have a big church. Not to mention big cities have cool stuff to do.
However the Lord didn’t open up doors in any big cities instead he directed us toward a very small town about 20 miles from where I was a volunteer assistant pastor.
Prineville, OR. population 10, 190 (you know you live in a small town when you know the exact number of residents)
It was actually about 8,500 people when we moved here but it’s growing…or at least it was before the economy went in the toilet.
So over the last six plus years I’ve learned a few things about church planting and pastoring in a small town that I would like to share with you if you’re interested.
Here are four things I’ve learned about church planting in a small town-
1. Be authentic – small town folks can recognize a phony from a mile away (from one end of town to the other). Be real. Be genuine. Be yourself.
2. Be realistic - every church planter wants to have a mega church…but if you’re planting a church in a town smaller than many megas you might want to reevaluate your measure of success.
3. Be patient – even though it’s a fruit of the Spirit us pastor types tend to be pretty impatient. We like to see instant results but planting a church in a small town can take years to establish and to see substantial fruit.
4. Be broad (in your focus) – As a small town church planter your vision should be to reach the entire city. You aren’t trying to reach a certain part of town, or a specific demographic. You need to instill in the folks that are coming that you can reach this whole city right now with the few people that are coming.
I plan on writing more thoughts on church planting and pastoring in a small town so stay tuned.
Interview
Stewart, our worship leader, and I put together an interview today regarding the history, vision, and philosophy of ministry of Calvary Chapel of Crook County. Go here and click the play button on the home page.
You can also listen to the interview here on the teachings page of the church website or in iTunes under Calvary Chapel of Crook County.
Tom Stipe Interview
(This picture may be a little old…kind of like Realtor’s pictures on their business cards)
Michael Newnham of the Phoenix Preacher recently interviewed Tom Stipe, a Calvary Chapel Pastor with whom I deeply respect. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Tom at the NWPC and what a privilege that was. Tom is intelligent, funny, and humble. Three things that pastors typically aren’t…wait I’m a pastor
Tom is a great man and a voice that I wish more men in our movement would tune in to.
You can read the interview on the PP here…or I’ve included it below as well.
Defining Success
Defining successful ministry can be difficult. Too often a ministry is deemed successful purely on the basis of how many people attend.
How was church? Becomes code for, how many people were there?
Now don’t get me wrong…I believe that numbers are important because each number represents a person for whom Jesus died. In fact in Acts 2 Luke records that 3,000 people were added to the church. Apparently numbers are important to the Holy Spirit as He inspired Luke to give such a detail.
However I don’t think the Holy Spirit intended for us to define success solely on this basis. And it’s services like we had today that remind me of this truth. (more…)
NW Pastors Conference
I just returned from Washington where myself and 7 others from our church attended the annual NW Pastors and Leaders Conference hosted by Pastor Wayne Taylor and Calvary Fellowship in Mt. Lake Terrace, WA.
Of all the Calvary Chapel conferences that are offered this is my favorite. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Olympia and therefore I know many people that attend the conference but I think it’s more than that. It’s the fresh speakers that Wayne invites, it’s the awesome times of worship and prayer, the Spirit led afterglow on Tuesday evening, and most of all it’s the fact that I don’t sense that the NW pastors are there trying to impress anyone.
No one is walking around like they’re a big shot or with that look on their face that says, “hey look at me I’m really important.” Not one pastor asked me that famous conference question, “so how many ya running these days.” I don’t think anyone cared because many of these guys, like me, are pastoring small churches in small towns and they understand that success rarely has anything to do with numbers.
I like that about this conference. No big shots. Just Jesus and a real heart to see pastors and leaders built up and refreshed by the Holy Spirit.
This year’s speakers were Britt Merrick, Tom Stipe, and Ricky Ryan.
Britt Merrick of Reality in Carpentaria, CA. spoke about staying close to Jesus and that true ministry always flows from intimacy. He spoke twice and I had heard the first message previously but I was still deeply impacted by his exhortation toward a real relationship with Jesus. It is so easy to put the ministry between us and Jesus and Britt’s call was to never allow yourself to fall into that trap. Always keep Jesus between you and the ministry. Great messages Britt! The stories about your kids really brought your points home.
However I do question your interpretations and how you arrived at some of your conclusions. For me it was the classic Jon Courson school of hermeneutics…as long as the end result is Biblical then it’s all good. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way and your interpretation of Exodus 29 was both really cool and seriously lacking in good Bible interpretation.
Tom Stipe of Crossroads Church in Denver, CO. gave some great messages on practical ministry. One of the most profound things Tom said was, “Judas wasn’t any different than the other disciples…they all blew it. Peter turned his back on Jesus as well but the difference between Peter and Judas was that Peter allowed Jesus to deal with his sin.” Tom’s point was that as long as we allow Jesus to deal with our sin we will be just fine in the ministry.
I have a great deal of respect for Tom because of all the “big boys” in the Calvary movement he gets it. He’s not drinking the kool-aide and he’s willing to admit that their are some issues in our movement that need to be addressed. He spoke candidly about the elitist mentality that exists in Calvary circles. This arrogance that gives some pastors the notion that Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel churches are the only ones who are actually teaching the Bible and loving Jesus. I’m stoked that guys like Tom are fighting against this mindset and challenging Calvary guys to be free thinkers. Tom challenged the pastors to find out where God is blessing others and to glean from those people and movements for the benefit of our churches and people.
Ricky Ryan from Calvary Chapel in Santa Barbara, CA. was true to form. He only spoke once but we heard from him during the entire conference as he would give each speaker a rousing introduction and periodic “black gospel church” style encouragement during their messages. Ricky is by far the most charismatic, both in personality and theology, of all the Calvary Chapel pastors. It’s not really my style and his constant outbursts during conferences kind of bugs me but I respect him and think he’s a great assest to our movement. Like Tom Stipe, Ricky is not afraid to challenge our movement and to learn from others that God is blessing. Ricky did a wonderful job of leading the afterglow on Tuesday evening. He is truly in his element in those situations and both my wife and I were extremely edified through the time of worship, prayer, and operation of the gifts that he led.
Wayne…thank you for putting this conference on year after year. You and your staff do a wonderful job and I know that many including our group were blessed big time!
The Perfect Church
Ok we all know that doesn’t exist, but what about the perfect size church?
Is there such a thing? Obviously lots of people like mega-churches (5,000 or more) or there wouldn’t be mega-churches.
Transversely there are a tremendous amount of people who enjoy small churches (100 or less) as there are thousands of them throughout the world. In fact the average church in America is about 75 people.
I’m really enjoying the current size of our church, on Sundays we typically have 150 adults and 50 kids in attendance. There are probably 200 adults and 75 children who are regular attenders. (more…)
Can't we all just get along?
Christianity is not very complicated.
Christians like to make it complicated but it’s really rather simple. For centuries those that claim to follow the Carpenter from Galilee have taken the simple truths of our faith and muddied them up. In light of this convolution the Church is now fractured into a myriad of groups that are divided by such minutiae as which version of the Bible to use.
I wonder what would happen if the Church in America was persecuted like the Church in the book of Acts. What if we had to gather in dark underground cellars crowded around one Bible. I don’t think Christians in Red China are too worried about what version of the Bible their underground Church uses. I’m pretty sure that Peter and the boys were not too concerned with Church politics while Nero was chasing them down and torturing them. (more…)
Pray for Ken Sutton and Calvary Everett
Please pray for a friend of mine, Ken Sutton, as he plants a church in Everett, WA. The church will officially launch on Sept. 21 (my birthday no less) as they begin a Sunday night Bible Study in John called “Thirsty”
Ken has planted and helped plant several churches in the US and abroad and most recently was on staff as the men’s pastor at CCCM.
Ken was asked by Kelly Taylor (CC Lake Stevens) to come up and begin a new work in the Everett area and I’m excited to see what the Lord is going to do in and through him and his family.
The Proper Focus
As most of you know I’ve been involved in what you might call a “blog blowup” over the last few weeks. My article called “What Are We Afraid Of?” was read thousands of times and commented on hundreds of times on various blogs around the internet.
Despite my article being misconstrued and blown completely out of proportion by some I truly believe that it will cause others to evaluate their own ministries and why they do what they do and say what they say. As I’ve stated in a few subsequent posts my heart was not to throw the movement that I love under the bus but to simply challenge pastors to hear from Jesus and not any man.
That brings me to the point of this post…yep Jesus.
In Colossians 1:17-18 Paul declares,
“And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.“
I’m currently teaching through Colossians on Sunday mornings and Paul’s main point in that letter is to focus the believers in Colosse upon Jesus. They were getting sucked into false teaching by weirdos who believed they had a deeper knowledge. The Gnostics, as a group, don’t exist anymore but their doctrines and proclivities live on today repackaged to appeal to this generation.
It is super easy for us to lose sight of Jesus. To make something else the focus of our life. You don’t realize it initially. Then the reality of our error hits us one day and we realize, “I’ve been focused on the wrong things”
Whatever side of this whole “What Are We Afraid Of?” blog war (or shall we call it a misunderstanding) you’ve fallen on I want us to refocus our attention upon Jesus and His amazing love.
We all have families to pour into…wives to love…husbands to submit to (I had to throw that in there) …children to love on. Many of us have churches to pastor…whether big or small those people that call us their pastor need Jesus and not some impostor. Are we pointing our people to Jesus? Do people leave each week reminded of what Jesus did for them or are they constantly being told what they need to do for Him?
Where is our focus? Who is preeminent in our lives and ministries? If it isn’t Jesus then something else will take His place. Maybe it’s our undying devotion to a movement or a man. It could just as easily be our unquenchable hatred for the same movement or man.
I love to write and will continue to do so candidly as the Lord leads. But my primary focus must be Jesus or I will have nothing to offer any of the people who look to me as their leader.
Interesting
I recieved my “CC Senior Pastor’s Conference” packet in the mail the other day. Each year at this time I begin to get excited about heading down to Murrieta to…hear great teaching, fellowship with like-minded men, worship the Lord with 800 other pastors, and hang out with some really close friends.
This year’s topic is “Pastoring in the Last Days”. Seems like an interesting topic that could really go anywhere and hopefully it won’t go where I think it will and that is into a 4 day diatribe about pretribulational eschatology.
Now before you cut me in little pieces and send my body parts out to all the CC affiliates let me add a disclaimer…”I am pre-millenial and pre-tribulational”
There now we can all let out a collective sigh…see doesn’t that feel good.
Calvary Culture
Calvary Chapel has its roots in Southern California. If you didn’t know that now you do.
In light of that I think there is a definite So-Cal surf culture feel to our style of ministry. Laid back soft spoken pastors, casual dress (can you say tacky Hawaiin Shirts and flip flops…well the flip flops are cool but the Tommy Bahama shirts have got to go!), comfortable atmosphere, services that start late (Calvary Time), the perpetual use of the apparent pronoun Dude, etc.
But does this So-Cal feel work everywhere? Not the philosophy of ministry (teaching through the Bible, balance theologically, simplicity, so on) but the whole surf culture…does it work in let’s say Des Moines, Iowa…Little Rock, Arkansas or Prineville, OR?
I would say no.