The Scoop
Just wanted to give you a heads up regarding what is going on with The Bridge church plant.
In June I was contacted by Aaron Santini, a church planter planting “The Crossing” with CrossWay Chapel (a local church planting network associated with Mountain View Com. Church in Fort Collins), he wanted to meet like minded church planters and he had heard about me through Acts 29. After meeting a few times and discussing our vision, goals, and plans we began to discuss the idea of joining our efforts for the sake of the Kingdom. It is almost uncanny how similar Aaron and I are in theology, philosophy, and vision. So after a few months of praying and getting to know each other Aaron and I have decided to join The Bridge and The Crossing…in fairness to one another we have decided to change the name of the new church (which was really difficult for me because I absolutely love the name The Bridge =)
That is however a small sacrifice for what this joining of efforts is going to bring to the Kingdom. The new name will be “Missio Dei” which means mission of God in Latin. Both Aaron and I felt that this name encapsulates our theology and the vision of our church plant very well and will also create some great opportunities to share the gospel when people ask what in the world “Missio Dei” means. =)
The Crossing has been meeting in Aaron and Rita Santini’s home for about 6 months and they have about 40 adults and 20 children attending. Starting this Sunday evening we will begin meeting together at the Evangelical Covenant Church at 6pm. We will continue with our plan of holding a series of preview services (third Sundays of Oct, Nov, and Dec) and launching on Sunday January 17th at 10am at the TR Paul Academy of Arts and Knowledge. The joining of The Crossing and The Bridge will instantly give both groups critical mass and great momentum as we will now have approx. 60 adults and 30 children to launch the church with, not to mention the multiplication of servants, gifts and leadership abilities that both groups will bring each other.
Aaron and I are a lot alike but we are also very different in our gift sets. Aaron is passionate about small groups (we will call them Life Groups), discipleship, and pouring into men (the ground war). I am gifted as the big picture guy and overseeing things like administration, media (website, audio video stuff), marketing, and our mission will be my responsibilities (the air war).
Aaron and I will share the preaching duties and work together to formulate a preaching schedule ahead of time. We will teach through books or passages of Scripture so it will be very easy to keep continuity while also creating some variety in preaching style and perspective.
Aaron and I are both passionate about church planting and our vision is to plant churches up and down the 1-25 corridor and beyond. There are approx. 4.5 million people in the front range region and we believe that church planting is the most effective method in reaching these people with the gospel. In order to make this vision happen we must train young men to be pastors and leaders and therefore Missio Dei will have a Pastor’s School where men can be equipped to lead as elders both at Missio Dei and elsewhere as church planters.
Please keep Missio Dei and all that is involved here in prayer. We have some other big decisions to make in the near future and we are excited about all that God is doing and is going to do!
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…)
The Pastor Scholar
This article written by Dr. Philip Ryken, senior minister at the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, is a brief history of John Calvin and his amazing ministry. (more…)
A Worldly Christianity?
I wanted to pass along the latest entry in The Spurgeon Fellowship Journal, written by Dr. Art Azurdia
It’s called “A Worldly Christianity?” and it’s very good.
“The title of this issue of The Spurgeon Fellowship Journal—even posed as a question—may arouse a bit of consternation in some. In truth, it is not my intention to be provocative. It is my intention to capture a dialectic that defines the essence of authentic Christianity.
What do I mean? On the one hand, as followers of Jesus Christ we are exhorted to keep ourselves “unstained from the world” (Ja 1:27). Moreover, we are informed that “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (Ja 4:4). On the other hand, none of us can deny that God Himself loves the world (Jn 3:16). Nor can we ignore Jesus’ repeated self-identification as the one whom the Father has “sent into the world” (Jn 10:36, et al).
Do these statements seem a bit antithetical? Contradictory, perhaps? The apparent contradiction becomes even more glaring when one considers the various expressions of the Great Commission (each of which—it would do us well to remember—was uttered by the resurrected Christ):
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Ma 28:19)
Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation (Mar 16:15)
. . . the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations . . . you are witnesses of these things (Lu 24:46-48)
As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you (Jn 20:21)
. . . you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8)
At the risk of seeming pedantic, I draw these obvious references to your attention to establish the basis for a clear and simple assertion: the commission of Jesus Christ is to a worldly Christianity. In His mind, at least, these are not mutually exclusive concepts. To the contrary, as His followers we cannot hope to be authentically Christian without being meaningfully worldly. Acknowledging this, however, requires us to recognize that evangelicals in nearly every generation (including ours!) have repeatedly succumbed to two practical distortions that have severely undercut our influence in the world.
The first distortion is cultural gluttony. It is sinful compromise with the world—the consequence of being missional without being theological. Often masked in the guise of desiring to win the world, we rabidly pursue likeness to the world. Over time, unfortunately, the world’s values, objectives, and desires, become our values, objectives, and desires. Cultural gluttony is the act of consuming the culture until it forms us. The present condition of American evangelicalism serves to handily prove our susceptibility to this distortion.
The second distortion is cultural anorexia. It takes the form of a radical and decided withdrawal from the world—the consequence of being theological without being missional. Since we are determined not to let the world shape us, we isolate, insulate, and withdraw. Before long the Church evolves into a kind of enclave, a ghetto, an island of irrelevant piety, and eventually we lose the ability to speak to non-Christians. Worse yet, our hearts become filled with a compassionless indifference toward such people. Arrogance eventually emerges. Missionary endeavor finally disappears.
Can you identify with this experience? To succumb to such a distortion is an amazingly simple and subtle phenomenon. It often occurs unintentionally in the life of a pastor who, over time, becomes consumed exclusively with church ministry. The tyrannous demands of the pastorate allow him no time for meaningful engagement with unbelievers. Not uncommonly, this replicates itself in his congregation, which sadly comes to exist as a haven from the world rather than as leaven within the world.
Allow me to remind you, dear brothers, just as I must remind myself: The sphere of our mission is the world. At the very least this must mean that our reaction to cultural gluttony must never take the form of cultural anorexia, precisely because Jesus Himself commissions us for the world. It is, then, our great task as pastors to persuade our people away from fear; to convince them that it is a great day to be a Christian. We are alive at a time when people are being destroyed by sin as never before, and the truth belongs to us—the truth that can conquer any perplexity modernity or postmodernity may set before us. We have the gospel. We have the promise God made to Abraham that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. We have the fulfillment of that promise in Revelation 5, where we read that Jesus purchased human beings for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. Consequently, we must seek to inculcate into our people the biblically-informed confidence of the hymn-writer:
This is my Father’s world;
O let me ne’er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world;
The battle is not done;
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
and heaven and earth be one.1
At this critical moment in history we must not allow our congregations to lose their nerve and flee the culture, justifying themselves in expressions of pseudo-piety. We must convince them that it is Jesus Himself who sends us into the culture; not in service to the culture—in the sense of helping it achieve its own ends—but in a divinely subversive way, infiltrating the culture with the kingdom of God and the gospel.
As you are about to discover, all the features contained in this issue of TSFJ (articles, sermon, interview, historical reflection, quotes, book reviews) seek in some way to address this exceedingly complicated responsibility facing the church of Jesus Christ. Its conclusions/suggestions may not prove comprehensively satisfying. It is my prayerful hope, however, that they will stimulate your own critical thinking regarding this important matter . . . for the glory of God, the reformation of the church, and the good of the world.
So bear with the title—“Worldly Christianity.” Why? To imitate Jesus means a commitment to be authentically Christian and meaningfully worldly.”
You can read more of the Spurgeon Fellowship Journal here.
For a more developed look at this topic I recommend the book Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian
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.
What is good preaching?
Every pastor who spends any time in the pulpit or in small groups explaining and applying God’s Word should ask themselves this question constantly.
I found this article, written by Scott Thomas on the Acts 29 blog to be particularly helpful in answering this question. The article features the thoughts of men like John Piper, and Tim Keller as well as some feedback from people on Twitter, which I will also post below.
“I asked people on Twitter to share the characteristics of what they thought comprised a good sermon. I compiled their helpful thoughts and came up with 8 qualities.
1. Gospel-centered
- Leads to the cross and trust/surrender in Jesus.
- Uses the Scriptures to unearth the heart not behavior.
- Bringing people to repentance
- Did Christ need to die for this to be true?
- Having the main thrust of the passage explained & applied in a way that grips and changes me
- Missional/Evangelistic
2. Bible-based, exegetically-sound (Intelligent but not academically arrogant)
3. Empowered by the Holy Spirit
4. Preached through a passionately changed man
5. Relationally-connected
- Displaying honesty and authenticity
- Inspirational (not just informational)
- Challenging and encouraging
- Humbly and compassionately
- Engaging (not boring)
- Contextualized
- Winsome
6. Simple, memorable and concise with clarity of thought
7. Bible-generated points of application
- Answers the question, “So, now what?”
8. Leads to the worship of Jesus”
May we as preachers and teachers of the Scriptures never reach a point where we feel like we’ve arrived. The preacher who ceases to learn is an oxymoron. Let’s pursue our craft in a manner befitting the Subject matter. Keep growing, keep learning, keep pointing people to Jesus everytime you open the Bible.
“I standing vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge whether they are ready to or not. I will be called to account for what I said there. That’s what I mean by preaching.” (John Piper)
10 skills a church planter needs
I was reading the Church Planting blog and came across this article about the skill sets that are needful to be a successful church planter. In light of the fact that 8 out of 10 church plants fail, it’s probably good to evaluate your calling as a church planter to make sure you have the gifts, personality, and fortitude to do the difficult work of starting a church from scratch.
Here are the ten skill sets (the article linked above goes into much more detail about each skill set) -
1. You need to exercise a clear sense of the call of God on your life.
2. You will have to be a visionary.
3. You will have to be a good leader.
4. You have to be able to gather people
5. You will have to be able to communicate effectively.
6. You always need to be developing new ways to reach out to people.
7. You will need to be able to develop strategic plans for your church plant.
8. You will need to be able to handle financial matters competently.
9. You will need to have your family in order.
10. You will need to maintain a healthy spiritual life with God.
Jesus Wants the Rose
Matt Chandler is the lead pastor of Village Church in Dallas, TX. He is one of the hottest pastors going right now…not hot as in good looking (well maybe he is but that isn’t for me to say because that would be weird) but hot as in everybody and their brother is podcasting his sermons. His church is blowing up and he has a lot to offer the Church at large.
This video is a snippet from a larger message he gave at the most recent Desiring God Conference.
You can also blog about it here at the Phoenix Preacher.
[youtube o-zR3h2UsR4]
Evangelical Untouchables 2: Seeker Sensitivity
I have been doing some writing for the Internet Monk, a very well read Christian blog ran by Michael Spencer. The series of articles that I was asked to write for is called the “Evangelical Untouchables.” It’s basically a group of pastors from a cross section of Christianity that are answering a common question posed by Michael 3 or 4 days ahead of time. He then posts the answers on his blog and you can read 6 or 7 different guys giving their responses to a question that is relevant to modern Church life.
The second of this series of questions was…
“How has the “seeker” emphasis affected your perception of your congregation’s worship services? Are there changes you have made to accommodate and bring back seekers? Are there changes you would never consider, even if it would put more non-Christians in your service?”.
Check out the answers and the subsequent readers comments here.
Also Mark Driscoll blogs about Easter preaching here.
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.
Blew It
As many of you know we’re hosting a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class at our church on Wednesday evenings.
One of Dave’s axioms is, “sell so much stuff the kids think they’re next.”
In light of this my wife (and I stress it was her idea) thought it would be good if “we” sold “my” truck (2006 Toyota Tacoma).
So much to my dissapointment I placed an ad on Craigslist, thinking that no one would be willing to pay top dollar for my truck in this economy. Well to my astonishment I received several emails and phone calls. One such call came from a guy in Portland. His dad was in Bend on business and he wanted me to drive the truck to a local hotel (about 20 miles away) so that his dad could look at it.
Well I wasn’t really thrilled to drive the truck 20 miles for someone that may or may not buy the truck. But after being assured that this guy was very serious about buying the truck and that he didn’t care about the fact that it was filthy and that the back seat was stained I drove the truck the 20 miles to the Comfort Inn on the East side of Bend.
In talking with the father to arrange the meeting I quickly found out that he was a very blunt and offensive dude. But I wasn’t prepared for how rude this jerk would be in person. Upon arrival he gets outs of his fire engine red Chevy Suburban immediately receiving a phone call so he pretty much ignores me and begins to examine the truck. After a few minutes of him “kicking the tires” and talking on the phone he hung up and said, “those tires look like crap!”
Nice to meet you too.
“Well I told your son that it had oversized mud tires and a 3 inch lift”
“He is going to have to replace those tires right away and it really needs to be detailed.”
“Yes I understand that sir but I informed him of its present condition as well.”
This was his cue to call his son and begin speaking to him in a foreign language so that I couldn’t understand. After that brief phone call he said, “well I’ll give you $19,000″
A full $2,000 less than I was asking.
I was beginning to tire of his antics and his attitude so I said, “look I informed your son that I wouldn’t take less than 20K and he assured me that you wouldn’t play games…at this point you are wasting my time.”
His reply was awesome…”wasting your time, all I did was pull you away from your TV, you’ve got nothing to do anyway!”
This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I stormed off, got in my truck and honked the horn as I exited the parking lot. I then proceeded to call his son and gave him a piece of my mind about his dad. After hanging up from that super productive phone call the Lord began to speak to my heart.
“You just blew an opportunity to apply your message from Sunday.”
Oh man…I was busted!
We are going through the book of Luke on Sundays. Last Sunday we looked at 6:12-36 where Jesus commands us to “love our enemies” “do good to those that hate you” and to “bless those that curse you.”
Immediately I was struck with how ugly my flesh is.
Paul’s words in Romans 7 came to mind, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (vs. 24)
How thankful I am to have the answer to that question…”I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (vs. 25a)
Thank You Father for the gift of Your Son.
I am so grateful for your grace without which I would be absolutely obliterated by Your wrath and my own sense of guilt and condemnation.
What a blessing to write articles like this knowing that the people in our church do not need perfection from me…they need more Jesus, more gospel, and more transparancy from me to help them to look past their pastor toward Jesus.
I’m still trying to figure who to blame this episode on…Dave Ramsey or my wife. 
Oh and by the way I haven’t sold my truck yet!
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.
Interview with Dr. James Earl Massey
The following link is an interview with Dr. James Earl Massy, a distinguished African American pastor and author. The interview is conducted by
Dr. Art Azurdia for the Spurgeon Fellowship Journal.
click here for interview with Dr. Massey
If you are a pastor I encourage you to read this article as I think it has some great insight for modern day preachers and teachers.
Ministry 101 by James McDonald
James McDonald from Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago recently shared these simple truths at the Preach the Word Conference at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, CA.
He was asked the question…if the older James McDonald could speak with a younger James what would you share that you’ve learned?
James replied,
“I would heed the advice of my dad (who was a pastor)…
1. Feed the people
2. Love the people
3. Be quick to admit when you’re wrong”
Feed the people the Word of God…nothing more nothing less. Love the people with the love of Jesus Christ, being patient with them and extending the same grace that has been extended to us.
And when we fall short of these things we should quickly admit our wrong doing and move on.
Simple…but packed with truth that will make any pastor succeed.
Why Pastors Should Blog
I recently came across this article written by Abraham Piper.
It’s 6 reasons pastors should blog…good insight.
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.
Mark Driscoll on Nightline
Mark Driscoll is probably one of the more polarizing figures within Christianity. He appeals to young people like few pastors do but also offends people like few pastors do (yes there are pastors that ruffle more feathers than I do).
That being said I really appreciate Mark’s candor and his relevant approach to preaching and ministry.
This video gives a little glimpse into Mark’s style and what God is doing at Mars Hill Church where he pastors. It is my prayer that we at Calvary can reach our respective culture and context as effectively as they have.
For further discussion on this check out this link
[youtube 9oyHtsU5z9U]
New Year's Resolutions '09
Ok I know it’s already the 7th of January and this is a little late but here are my resolutions for this year. Let’s see if I can keep this past the 31st.
1. Lose 30 pounds (29 to be exact) – I currently weigh 209 lbs. Which wouldn’t be too bad if I was 6′ but I’m only 5′8″ and although I’m built pretty stocky this is “weigh” too heavy. I’m currently on an 1800 calorie per day diet which should help me drop about 10 lbs per month. I also plan on doing a fairly intense workout regimen. We’ll see how it goes
2. Spend more time in the Word devotionally…it is very easy for me as a pastor to substitute studying for devotions and fail to spend quality time with just my Bible, Jesus, and me…not thinking of how this would make a great sermon but simply seeing it through the lens of my own life.
3. More organized with my time - I am going to schedule certain meetings and appointments early in the week to allow for more study and preparation time later in the week. This is difficult to do as things come up but I need to say no, more often.
4. Read 12 books – I would like to read at least 1 book per month.
5. Take a day off – I take Friday’s off…it’s what we call our family day. But with a Blackberry and laptop I’ve got a mobile office and I need to be more disciplined about turning it off or leaving it at home so that my focus is upon my family and not the “urgent” phone call or email that just came in. This is completely my fault…I can’t expect life to stop on Friday but I need to make sure that I prioritize my life better.
Well that’s it for now…I think 5 is enough. If you feel led you can help keep me accountable.
blessings on your New Year!
9 things to watch for in the Church in 2009
2008 is now officially in the books and so rather than look back in nostalgia at the year that was I would like to look ahead to 2009.
Here are some, 9 actually, trends to look for in the corporate gatherings of Christians in 2009.
1. Mega-Churches will continue to lose numbers as people (not only young people) seek community and authenticity.
2. Due to the economy churches and church leaders will look for alternatives to the big slick attractional methods of outreach.
3. The emergent church will come up with some definitive answers or they will become even more irrelevant.
4. Christians will realize that blogs, facebook, and online teaching cannot replace real live people with whom God has called us to influence and be influenced by.
5. Churches to transition from spectator events to the living organism God intended them to be as church leaderships are forced to rely more upon volunteers to do the work of the ministry.
6. Pastors and churches will attempt to be more relevant and in so doing will become less Biblical.
7. Alcohol will become less of a big deal as Christians continue to realize that its use in moderation is not sinful.
8. Churches that focus on Jesus and the gospel will grow as hurting people seek hope beyond the struggles of this life.
9. There will be a simultaneous increase in division and unity within Christianity as the mindsets and practices that lead to both will perpetuate.
Happy New Year!!
Bible Teaching
My good friend Jeff Stewart from Calvary Chapel Pomona Valley and I talk frequently about ministry and one of the things that comes up often is Bible teaching. Both Jeff and I are passionate about teaching the Bible. It’s something that we’ve both dedicated our lives to and therefore something we think and talk a lot about.
I believe it’s incumbent upon pastors and Bible teachers to be teachable and to continually grow in their gift of teaching. This takes a humble heart that is willing to listen to critique and learn from it. Too often pastors in their stubborn pride refuse to change, but I believe this displeases God and goes against the very premise of the Book we’re teaching.
Jeff wrote an article about a year ago on his myspace page that we have recently revised and I wanted to make version 2.0 available here.
1.TEACH YOUR TEXT – It is not our job to make the Bible say something other than what it says. It is our job to extract the Author’s intended meaning and to make that applicable to our listeners. In our attempt to make the Bible exciting and relevant we end up using it as a spring board to say whatever we want. While this might be exciting and make people say, “wow I’ve never heard that before!” There is probably a reason they haven’t heard it before; it’s not there
2. DON’T BE A FLIPPER - Cross references can be great to clarify your text or substantiate a point, but don’t teach them (ie – spending more time in the cross referenced passage than in your text) and don’t have people flipping all over the Bible trying to find your cross-references. Quote the verse or passage or sum it up in your own words. Our vast knowledge of the Bible may impress people but it can be a very ineffective communication method.
3. STUDY YOUR TEXT BUT PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER YOUR APPLICATION – This is a common mistake, to spend all of the allotted time dispensing information and never telling people what it means to them personally. We must be more than a breathing reference book. There is a small percentage of people who love history, original languages, and big theological words but most people that sit before us are frazzled from life and just want to hear a simple truth from the Spirit of God.
We personally believe that this is a primary way the Spirit desires to use the New Testament gift of prophecy, “he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men”.
Yes the Holy Spirit can and will apply the text to each individual but he desires to use us in that process otherwise just hand everyone a commentary and call it good.
4. YOU CAN’T TELL THEM EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IN ONE STUDY – And if you can you probably shouldn’t be teaching the Bible you should be learning it.
This is common to young Bible teachers and guys that are just starting out, you want to be very diligent and teach the text thoroughly (which is good) however you will end up losing, or boring people , or worse…Both
As Bible teachers it is important that we have a firm understanding of our text. We must do our homework…word studies, history, cross references, etc. This does not necessitate that we dump all of this study upon our people. The hours of study and firm grasp of the text will come across in your teaching without you verbalizing everything you know.
5. BE ABLE TO CLOSE – Remember not everyone is as interested in listening to you as you are. Every pastor struggles in this area because we are so excited about what we’ve learned and we want to give it away. But if you’ve made your point, move on. If you are on point #2 and the Spirit is speaking powerfully to people it may be better for you to end the message at that point and give people more opportunity to respond to the Word. Too often we are bound to our notes and our outline and we feel we must tell them everything we have prepared…why? Know when to end…don’t ramble…don’t feel like you have to fill time…just shut it down and let the Spirit work His Word into their hearts.
6. KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING AND HOW YOU’RE GOING TO GET THERE – And then tell your listeners from the beginning so that they can track with you. This seems self evident, but sadly it is not. If I as the teacher do not know where I am going then chances are my audience won’t either, even when I get there.
7. BE CHRISTOCENTRIC – Ok it’s a big word, it’s a word we don’t necessarily need to use but should practice. It simply means to make Jesus the center and focus of our Bible teaching. Every time we teach the Bible we should be pointing people to Jesus. It is our job to see Jesus and the gospel in the text and then make Him come alive for our listeners. “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” (John 5:39)
8. AVOID MAKING STATEMENTS – This point may be difficult to articulate. The idea is that we shouldn’t be making statements intended to impress the audience. Statements that take people 5 minutes to process and by then they’ve completely forgotten the point. Bible teaching is not merely motivational speaking, it’s teaching the Living Breathing Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). If we allow it to, it will make plenty of powerful statements on its own.
9. BE HONEST – About whether or not you connected with the audience. If you did not connect nothing else may matter. Ask other Bible teachers you respect to listen to your teaching and allow them to critique you and then don’t defend yourself.
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.
You Can't Say That!
BrianD who writes a weekly linkathon post for the Phoenix Preacher turned me on to this lady, Anne Jackson who wrote a blog post called Keeping Your Mouth Shut where she gives people the opportunity to say things they would never feel comfortable saying in church or around other Christians.
So I decided to write a post where pastors and Bible teachers can say things they would never say from the pulpit or in their Bible study…or maybe things you have said but took flack for or regret.
Now I’m not talking about obvious filth…just things that might ruffle feathers.