Overcoming Acedia

Pain Helps Us Jump Into God’s Lap

2012-02-02T03:58:00.000-08:00

This is the first time I have written my blog since March of 2011. As most of you know, I underwent three surgeries

in 2011. I also discovered that I have major cervical and lumbar spinal issues, which will someday need major surgery. I just got the OK today from my hand doctor to get back to normal activities, so I have decided to write once again.

I wake up, most days now, with pain. However, God created the human body to withstand and adapt to tremendous amounts of pain. It is a resilient piece of work, fearfully and wonderfully made. http://christiananswers.net/q-aiia/god-pain.html

I am studying the Torah, this year, and I happened to read, the other day, that Abraham circumcised himself when he was 99 years old. Do not dwell too long on that image. And he did it with what we would surely view as crude tools. Ouch! (Sarah says, "Abraham, what are you doing in there?") Yet this painful procedure brought the Jewish people into covenant with God.
http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4714-covenant

Today the action of circumcision takes place on our hearts. Is this as painful for you as the act of circumcision would have been in the physical form? Has the pain created from the surgery God is performing on your heart causing you to draw closer to the Father or become more distant?

Julian of Norwich, an English mystic (1343-1413), actually prayed that God would wound her soul. At 30, she was on her death-bed when God revealed Himself to her. The pain she suffered brought her closer to God for the rest of her life, which would have never happened without this near-death experience.
http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/julian.htm

My personal pain has forced me to sit more often in Abba Father’s lap. It is amazing what comfort and encouragement that can bring. Let’s not work on getting rid of the pain in our lives, but use it to motivate us to climb into our Father’s lap where we can be taught and comforted. We can learn a lot from that vantage point!

Relaunching

2012-01-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

My blog will relaunch in February! I recently got clearance from my hand doctor to resume normal activities (like typing). I am looking forward to continuing on this journey with you!

MTS

Until Further Notice!

2011-04-04T13:31:00.000-07:00

"Due to Mike’s two carpal tunnel release surgeries, he is temporarily not writing his blog until his hands are more in a recovered state. Thanks for your patience."

Why Are We All A Little Crazy?

2011-03-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

I am sure most of us by now have heard the popular definition of “insanity.” People are insane when they expect different results while doing things the same way as before. In other words, if I want different results, while not changing my means, methods, policies, etc., I am insane.

We could use this axiom in any facet of life. For example, if I continue with the same Christian disciplines (Bible reading, praying, fasting, church attendance, small group attendance, accountability partner) in my life, and I haven’t grown much spiritually, but now all of sudden I expect different results with no changes to my Christian lifestyle, I am in fact “crazy.”

How many people do we know that do the same things day in and day out and aren’t growing spiritually, but today somehow miraculously they will take off without making any changes?

Another example, a church, let's say, that hasn’t grown over the past five years. This church continues with the same methodology that has contributed to its lack of growth over the past five years -- same leaders, same music, same small groups, same building, same outreach -- how can we expect growth to happen by not changing the way we did “business as usual?” We must be “insane.”

Maybe we could generate a new saying to replace the one we have always heard, “We've always done it this way”, or, "We tried that in the past and it didn’t work, so why try it again?”. The new saying could be, "We won’t change a bit, but our outcomes surely will.”

On a scale of 1-10, how crazy are you? If you are like me, insanity seems to fill certain parts of your life and not others. How can a person become more sane in the future? What in our lives should we change so that we can look more like Jesus? What in our churches should we change so that God might once again be able to work among us?

There is one thing for certain we cannot do if we are going to be on track to overcome acedia. We simply cannot keep doing the same things in our lives and expect different results.

I challenge you this month to take a look at your life and the life of your church. What is one thing you can change and maybe God will grant you some more positive results?

THE GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

2011-02-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

I have read both Good to Great and How the Mighty Have Fallen, by Jim Collins (on the web at jimcollins.com), who was yet another great speaker at the Summit who addressed specifically The Five Stages of Decline in any organization. This can happen to any organization, including individual churches. All of these stages are self-inflicted. As Collins states on his website, “Whether you prevail or fail depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you.” He sounds like a preacher!

Stage 1 is “Hubris born of success”

Hubris has been defined as, “excessive pride that brings the hero down.” Outrageous arrogance develops, and neglects all that is important.

The antithesis of this Stage 1 of decline is: it is not about them as leaders, and they never ever give up. They are Level Five leaders, cut from a different cloth. The signature quality that separated Level Five leaders from Level Four was humility.

That humility, a very special type -- burning, passionate ambition to do whatever it takes, no matter what, starts to evaporate in Stage 1 of decline, according to Collins.

Have you or your church become too proud from success in ministry?

Stage 2 “Undisciplined Pursuit of More”

The organization starts to think, “We are really good, therefore we can do more.” Not humble, overreaching, going too far, breaking David Packard’s law (Find Packard at www8.hp.com/us/en/company-information/executive-team/packard.html.) which states, “No company can consistently grow revenues faster than its ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth and still become a great company.” That's a founder of Hewlett/Packard speaking.

The antithesis of this Stage 2 of decline is: do we have all the seats filled with fantastic people? If not, we cannot move forward. We need the right people on the bus, then we can figure out where to drive the bus.

Have you or your church ever gotten greedy over a good thing?

Stage 3 “Denial of Risk and Peril”

A company starts to deny the signs of things that are not right. They keep moving in the wrong direction. On the outside you really look great, which makes it easy to deny. Are we a team on the way up or a team on the way down?

In the book Love and War, it addresses how POWs survived the torture in prison camps and were eventually freed. How did a prisoner survive, not knowing the end of the story? Admiral Stockdale (Find him on the web at admiralstockdale.com/.) is a POW in this story, and his secret of survival -- now called the “Stockdale Principle” -- was: never ever waver in the belief that you will get out. The prisoners who did not make it out were the "optimists," who thought, "We will be out by Christmas," but Christmas came and went, and they died of broken hearts. Never confuse faith and fact.

Have you or your church never confronted the elephant in the room?

Stage 4 “Grasping for Salvation”

The game is up. The risk you denied throws you over the edge and you are falling. The company went looking for a silver bullet that never was fired -- the revolutionary breakthrough that will save them. They even go outside the company looking for a savior.

Greatness is never a single event. It is a process. An organization needs to get back to the “flywheel principle” to overcome this stage. Turn upon turn, push upon push, disciplined and intentional -- that is how you climb out of this Stage 4 of decline. It does not happen any other way.

Have you or your church looked for a quick fix, or new hire to get you out of trouble?

Stage 5 “Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death”

This is the stage in which we give up. We have squandered everything away and the game is over.

Why are companies still standing? Why are they still strong all through the struggles? Because they had a reason to endure, so they thought. But if we measure success by money we will always lose. The question we should ask ourselves is, “What would be lost if we disappeared?”

You have to have core values that will not be compromised. Do not forget: the signature of mediocrity is inconsistency. To survive and be revived one must preserve the core values, and set big, hairy, audacious goals (BHAGs). This will in turn stimulate progress.

Have you or your church ever faced the inevitable situation of "Change or die"?

These are some principles to consider as we look at our own lives and the lives of our churches.

I encourage you to purchase Jim Collins' books (starting with Built to Last, which he co-authored with a fellow Stanford faculty member), and read further if this sparked interest in you. These stages of decline are all about apathy. Collins' books will help give you some answers as to how you might turn you or your church around before you fall. They are great principles, and, ironically, just like all great principles, I believe you can find a Biblical basis for each one of them.

The Global Leadership Summit

2011-01-08T06:45:00.000-08:00

I can remember reading the book, Winning, by Jack Welch, several years back. It was an instant success with me, probably because of my coaching background. Who doesn’t want to win? "Winning" souls is what the church is all about.

Another thing I liked about the book was Jack is a no-nonsense guy. Honesty and integrity are musts -- these characteristics are often missing in secular leaders as well as in religious sectors. You can find out more about Welch's philosophy and principles on the web at welchway.com.

Bill Hybels interviewed Welch at the Global Leadership Summit. They talked about "getting the right people on the bus" and the controversial “Differentiation Principle.”

The interview started out with a hodge podge of statements on leaders. Leaders have to be authentic people. You have to be comfortable in your own shoes. You have to be who you portray yourself to be. You cannot take on a persona of who you are not. If you are a leader people need to know that they can count on you. You will excite people around you to follow the vision. You will energize people in a meeting. The leader has to speak with candor not mincing words. (Sounds like the Biblical Principle of speaking the truth in love. I am always amazed at how these guys use Biblical Principles even though they might not know it.)

The Differentiation Principle basically states that there are three groups of people in every organization. The "A" people represent the Top 20% of the people in any organization. They are characterized by energy, are likeable, have good values; they have a gene in them that says I want people to grow and succeed. (A friend of mine's educational services business had this slogan -- "Advancing one advances everyone." That's "A" type thinking.) They are not mean-spirited, not cheap or stingy; they will hire great people and they do not have trouble with envy. You can never compensate these people enough in an organization. They are the people you want to get on the bus if at all possible. Do you have people like this in your church? Are they on your leadership bus?

The "B" people are the Vital 70% in any organization. Some of their characteristics would be that they are smart, good, valuable, hard working. Since most people are in this group, I would consider them the average person in an organization. They are vital in the sense that without them the organization would not exist. The major problem with this group is that there is a big difference between the top half of this group and the bottom half. I am sure we have these type of people in our churches. We might even have some of them on the leadership bus.

The "C" peole are the Bottom 10% in any organization. They are characterized by not being team players, suffer from acedia, pooh-pooh ideas, disrupt, hate "bosses," antagonize, and are just simply a pain in the rear. It is hard to shut down the negative noise caused by some of the "C" people. You have to try to stop the deadly meetings they organize after the real meeting.

You have to tolerate them and try to shape them up, or ship them out (not out of the church, but out of participation in leadership). You have people like this in your church. Are they on your leadership bus?

Where this theory gets controversial is admitting that we all do differentiate between people. Sports teams do it and pay the best athletes the most. We in the churches know who the A, B, and C people are. God has blessed all people with different gifts and abilities. Some are more gifted then others. We know that. How about when Jesus chose the 12, can you figure out who might be the

A, B, and C people in that group? In the battle of spiritual warfare, Satan would probably attack the A’s first, and so on?

In retrospect it seems like we would all want to be more like Jesus. Is that an A person? At the same time if I am in the B category, wouldn’t I want to continue to grow spiritually to become more like Jesus? And if I am a C person, shame on me. Overcoming acedia would be about becoming the best servant for God that we can be.

Compare the characteristics of the three groups. Which one seems more like Jesus? Which type do you want to at least be in the majority on your leadership bus?

What’s Your Angel's Name?

2010-12-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

What do you put on the top of your Christmas tree as a topper? Chances are, it is either a star or an angel. I have to admit, I enjoy putting our dominant, yet exquisite male angel on top or our tree. In the book of Hebrews, the first chapter, God has a few things to say about those heavenly winged (Are they winged?) beings. During this time of year we are reminded of the angels as they seem to come out en masse in every type of Christmas venue there is. They were also part of the mass celebration the night Christ was

born on this earth.

Hebrews 1:4 explains that angels are spiritual beings created by God and are under his authority. They also help carry out God's work on earth by bringing God's messages to people ( Luke 1:26, Revelation 14:6-12, etc.), protecting God's people (Daniel 6:22, Matthew 18:10, etc.), offering encouragement (Genesis 16:7ff.), giving guidance (Exodus 14:19), carrying out punishment

(II Samuel 24:16), patrolling the earth (Zechariah 1:9-14), and fighting the forces of evil (II Kings 6:16-18, Revelation 20:1-2). Most, if not all, of their duties take place in the spiritual realm. Because of all the descriptions here of what angels do, is it any wonder that we have images in our heads of angels as mighty warriors fighting for God’s Kingdom? They are very active, even though we don’t physically see them (or maybe we have), their presence to the enemies' forces would be unmistakable. Don’t you wish you could see into that spiritual realm and witness this war going on? Maybe not!

The angels are ministering spirits who are sent from God to care for those who will receive salvation. How many times have we heard stories of miraculous proportions about someone who, all of a sudden, has miraculous powers to come to the rescue in a certain instance or situation? Some of us might believe that this could be a case of being “touched by an angel”? Or on a person’s death bed an angel appears to usher them into the presence of God. There seem to be many examples in our lives of possible angel sightings.

The first chapter in Hebrews does address the subject of people worshipping angels with more dedication an appeal than they were worshipping God. Why such a big deal? Angels were hot back then and today they seem to have lost some of that emphasiss Angels bring messages to us. Should I be seeking a message from an angel? Angels protect us. Should I expect and be praying for more protection? Realizing that angels are present all around us, give us encouragement, give guidance, one wonders how is all this possible? Should we be asking them for guidance? As they carry out punishment, patrol the earth, fight the forces of evil, they are involved in all forms of warfare on our behalf. Why shouldn’t we put more emphasis on our “guardian angels”? I can see why it would be so easy to get trapped into thinking these angles are worth our worship. However, the angels' purpose is to serve while Christ's purpose is to reign. Amen.

At that same time we shouldn’t ignore this aspect of God’s plan as well. When we feel unloved or forgotten, we should remind ourselves that the angels are always there ministering to us. Because of God's love toward us, He dispatches His angels to help us out. I probably don't realize or comprehend it enough that those of us that will be saved probably actually do have guardian angels all around us. How awesome is that? As much trouble as I get into, sometimes there are probably a whole legion that follow me around.

There are many questions that swirl around in my mind concerning this topic. Lord, does you Holy Spirit use angels all around us as a way of ministering to meet our every need? Lord, should I be seeking, looking for, or asking for more assistance at times from your angels? Lord, how many angels surround me? Lord, do the angels assigned to me have names? How long, Lord, have these angels been with me? Do they come and go depending on the assignments you give them? Lord, can we pray for you to send more angels to others, not only for protective purposes? Should we be praying for signs, given to us through angels?

I am so thankful, Lord, that you do send ministering spirits to assist us, your children. Help me to be more conscious of their presence, and possibly appearances. If I need to learn more about these ministering spirits, Lord, please make it evident to me. Thank youfor all the times these angels have assisted me and will continue to assist me in the future. Help me overcome my acedia by being more aware of the spiritual realm that we are all involved with. Help me to hear the bells around me this Christmas season, as it might be an indication that another angel (It’s A Wonderful Life) just got his wings. Do angels have wings?

Leadership Summit

2010-11-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

Last year, after the Leadership Summit organized by Willow Creek Association, I wrote about different presenters. This event has gotten bigger and better and is now called the Global Leadership Summit. I would highly recommend and encourage you to be a part of this event next year (August 11-12, 2011), even if it is via satellite which is how I participated.

Bill Hybels, the Sr. Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, in South Barrington, IL, was the first presenter. His topic was straightforward and simple -- The Fundamentals of Leadership.

Fundamental #1

“Leaders move people from here to there.”

The challenge is, people like it here. It is familiar here, safe here.They decide we are staying here. What do we do when peoplesay we are staying here? We usually crank up the vision and burn ita bit hotter. We try to convince them that staying here is awful, butif we move to there it will be wonderful. The people say, “Why can’t we just stay where we are if it is working good here?” We just needto be persistent and keep building the case, point after point thatwe cannot stay here. This is important when it comes to vision casting. Staying here breaks the heart of God. Our job is to convince people we cannot and will not stay here. God has told us to go to there. Everything will be better when we get there!

Fundamental #2
“It takes fantastic people to move from here to there.”
One of greatest joys of leadership is assembling this team of fantastic people to get from here to
there. In team building, these individuals must have character, competence, chemistry and culture. When hiring, we are looking for that person who meets the four C’s. We need to get better at attracting and developing fantastic people who will flourish in our culture. The holy challenge of assembling this team is, do we view this as a privilege that God has given us?

Fundamental #3
“Mile markers and celebrations.”
How do we inspire people to stay with us on this journey from here to there? The part of the journey where the whole vision could be impaired is not the first three or four miles or when the end is in sight. The challenge is in the middle of the race. People in the middle forget how bad it was back there and they can’t see there. To get people to hold onto the vision we will need to keep refilling the vision bucket. Keep in mind that every person's vision bucket leaks. You have to celebrate every mile marker on the way to the destination. What keeps people on the journey is the sense that they are going to get there someday. We need to turn setbacks into celebrations, any type of progress celebrate!

Fundamental #4
“Hearing the whispers from God.”
We need to hear from God enroute or none of the first three fundamentals will happen (John 10:27). Every leader needs to be an incurable reader of the Bible. As we read we need to be listening for the voice of His Spirit. The Spirit puts thoughts in our minds that are not our thoughts. These are whispers from God! What would we miss if we blow off those whispers? If we are hearing these whispers it would change the face of leadership on this planet. If we would follow through in what God is telling us, it would change the face of leadership. God could be whispering in your ear. Don’t quit. Step up. Take the risk. Apologize now. Make the tough decision. Get help. Stop running from God. Slow down. Show your heart. Let others lead. Feed your soul. Bless the team. Do something more impactful. Come clean. Embody the vision. Celebrate the victories. Speak the truth. Pay the price. Count your blessings. End the secret. Check your motives. Set the pace. Give God your best. Serve your spouse and kids. Pray and humble yourself. Can we say, "Speak Lord. Your servant is listening."

There you have it, four basic fundamentals of leadership that will help us and the people we lead overcome acedia. Good luck on the implementation of these God given principles.

Do you like or pay attention to trends?

2010-10-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

Being a person who grew up in the 70s and is now 53, Retro seems pretty cool to me. In fact, in a recent remodel of our kitchen, a pumpkin spice orange paint was applied to a couple of walls. With Ice Mocha as our new linoleum of choice, pretty cool.

Then there is Hipster Faith. Recently Christianity Today featured many articles on this topic. The Trends Journal - trendsresearch.com, has some very interesting facts concerning forecasting for the future. Gerald Celente, for example, predicted the 2007 Great Recession.
Trend Hunter Magazine, on the web at trendhunter.com, would be more concerned with pop culture, technology, and fashions. I was really impressed with the turning signal backpacks for bicycle riders. People like Thom Rainer, at thomrainer.com, LifeWay Research, and George Barna - barna.org, have always provided the Christian Community and the Church with interesting facts and trends that effect the way we do church and also give us insight into Christian behavior and practices. Thom recently came out with the Five Major Trends For Churches in America.

Let's look at these and the impact they might have on all of us in Church. Since these trends are the result of American demographics, we must not transfer the implications beyond our own borders.

Trend #1

Our nation will see the emergence of the largest generational mission field in over a century. That is because only 15% of the Millennial generation (those born from 1980-2000) claim to be Christian. There are 80,000,000 of them - the first and only generation to have more people than the Baby Boomers (those born from 1946-1964) at 78,000,000.

Trend #2

The dominant attitude of the Millennials toward Christianity will be largely indifferent. Only 13% of this generation would consider spiritual matters important to their lives. Are they angry at us or the church? No, they simply ignore us because we are irrelevant and have no meaning in their lives.

Trend #3

Senior adult ministries in churches will experience a steep decline. Us proud Baby Boomers will resist any suggestion that we are senior adults no matter how old we get. Unfortunately, many churches are slow to adapt to new realities. The church will not be able to do ministry here as usual, unless they want to experience a train wreck.

Trend #4

However, the Boomers will become more receptive to the gospel. We will tend to become more interested in spiritual matters in general and Christianity specifically. This is counter to typical trends that tend to point out the older a person gets the less receptive they will become toward the gospel. This generation has

spent it’s whole life looking for hope and joy outside of Christ and come up empty. They may be more than ready to find the only thing that could fill their lifelong vacuum, Christ!

Trend #5

Family will be a key value for both of these large generations. Family is the most important value for Millennials. Eighty percent of all Millennials would list this as the most important issue in their lives. The Millennials also reported that they have very healthy relationships with their parents, who for the most part are Boomers.

Some churches say they are family friendly, but few actually demonstrate that value. Churches that reach these two generations will have to become churches that foster healthy family relationships.

Trend projecting is a meaningless exercise unless the Church attempts to Overcome Acedia. Each church must study these predictions and be led by the Holy Spirit to best meet the needs of these two largest and most dominant generations. These two generations will determine what the church will look like for decades to come!

Please, No Leftovers

2010-09-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

What is your opinion of leftovers? Do you enjoy them or detest them? Would you serve company leftovers? I have heard of one family that throws away all their leftovers, never eats them. Have you ever been to a church garage sale? I heard someone talking about this the other day and they stated, “Our church is not going to have garage sales anymore. I am tired of charging people for the 'junk' that our church people dump off and try to get rid of.” Ouch!

How about the refreshments at some church welcome centers? Now here is an area that could use some improvements! I have tasted some welcome center pastries that were at least a day old. They were too hard to even be used as good dunkers in coffee. Have you tasted the coffee that some churches serve up? Okay, I didn’t fight in any wars and I am not used to syrup in a cup that is as bitter as kissing a lemon. Not all church coffee is bad, but the issue that poor church coffee raises is deeper and far more troubling. The issue is, much of what we do as churches can often be described as substandard, second best, mediocre, or weak. Does God want our best, or is He happy with our leftovers?

We’ve all come across signs of slackness in church life: the 1950s decor still prevalent throughout the building (Green shag carpet is now back in. Don’t tear it out.), a computer used to run the PowerPoint presentations that has a Windows 98 operating system, what about notice boards still advertising Christmas services in February, no answering machine (If they do have an answering machine, no one returns your call.), ministers who are underpaid, live in crumbling, damp houses and drive cars that are so old you can’t find used parts for them anymore, worship teams that don’t practice and can’t sing on key and church websites that crash when you click on them, or haven’t been updated in 6 months? You know what I am talking about.

I'm not criticizing poverty in churches. There are many small congregations where few people are employed yet they somehow manage to do the very best with limited resources. And I'm not complaining about ministers who, through lack of resources, have to do more than anyone ought reasonably to expect. I still believe the hardest job in America is a minister that is the only staff person in a church of less than a 100 people. If you don’t think so, try it sometime. Have you ever tried to wear 50 different hats at once?

What I'm concerned about is a casual attitude to church life that accepts second best as good enough for God. This can happen in any church but is particularly troubling in churches where wealthy members seek quality and excellence in every other area of their lives. I have stayed in homes where God has really blessed this

family, but I then arrive at the church they attend and am transported to the slums. I believe Solomon invested much more sweat equity into his own house than God’s temple. The litmus test could be, would we live in the parsonages we supply for our ministers or in the churches we attend? I was personally so embarrassed one time for a minister because of the parsonage the church let this family live in, I was ready to tell the elders off before I left town!

Why do we have a quality problem?

In some Christian circles there is still a belief that nothing should be enjoyable, especially church. We were created to suffer and pick up our cross daily. Anything that smacks of pleasure is viewed with suspicion. In this perverse view there is virtue in hard pews, out-of-tune instruments and rambling sermons. Such things – and poor coffee – are supposedly good for the soul!

Today there seems to be an undervaluing of the local church. Today the local church is no longer automatically high on a Christian’s priorities. I tell people always lease space to meet in. Why build a building? You can’t get anyone to clean it or mow the grass. There are even some who consider the local church to be irrelevant and dispensable.

Do you know what your Spiritual gifting is? What is your passion? What skills do you have? What type of personality has God blessed you with? What has God called you to do for His church? Oftentimes we don’t achieve quality because we aren’t evaluating to determine what ministry God has wired us to do. Putting round people in square ministries will never bring out the quality that God has blessed them with and therefore bless His Kingdom. (For that matter, being round people isn't giving God our best, either, just our stomachs.)

When is the last time your church evaluated itself? Evaluated its ministries, its facilities, the ministers, and its leadership? How do we know if we are achieving quality if we don’t evaluate what we doing as a church? Is VBS working? Is our worship music attracting? Are the ministers calling and engaging with the culture? Are the carpet, chairs, paint, or decor worn out in our facility? Do the shepherds actually shepherd anyone?

All of the above is not exhaustive, but should get our brains thinking about some of the quality problems we might have in the churches we attend or minister at. The question then becomes, “Why should we pursue excellence?”

In a classic book by Bob Russell, “When GOD Builds a Church,” he dedicates a whole chapter (4) to excellence. In fact the subtitle of that chapter is, “Do your best in every area of service!” He lists Eccl. 9:10 and Col. 3:23-24 as scripture references for this chapter, along with a Southeast Christian Church slogan, “If it bears His name, it is worth our best”!

We worship a God who demonstrates excellence in all He does. He created the entire universe and then made that simplest and most satisfying of quality control statements: what He had made was good (Genesis 1). When faced with solving the problem of a human race that had rebelled against him, He chose the most costly of solutions: sacrificing His only Son. It is very simple, if we want to overcome acedia in this area of our lives, all we have to do is remember His Creation and the Cross!

Off With His Head

2010-08-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

The president ended General McChrystal’s command in a meeting that lasted only 20 minutes. According to one aide, the general apologized, offered his resignation and did not lobby for his job. This meeting was a result of an article in Rolling Stone magazine in which General McChrystal made statements that were critical towards the current administration’s efforts in the war in Afghanistan.

After a seesaw debate among White House officials, “there was a basic meeting of the minds,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff and a major player in the deliberations. “This was not good for the mission, the military and morale,” Mr. Emanuel said. I guess there is a time and a place to air dirty laundry and a public magazine article was considered not the time and the place. I have to admit, I have gotten myself in trouble with announcing truth in an unfavorable atmosphere. Must one know when to politicize something and when not to?

Mr. Obama has forced out officials before, including the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair; the White House counsel, Gregory Craig; even General McChrystal’s predecessor, Gen. David D. McKiernan. Maybe the president now has the right man for the job, someone that he can put his thumb on, someone who will agree with his agenda, someone who might not be so critical if the mission is not being accomplished? The question is, is this healthy, is it right, is it Biblical?

I am not trying to pick on the president; Lord knows there are enough people doing that, including Christians (What about Romans 13:1-6?). However, I would like to address this dilemma of making sure people on leadership teams, boards, staff, ministry

teams, and elderships always think alike -- that these teams would never challenge the status quo -- that people who are accountable to a group of leaders, to the best of their ability will always make sure to get individuals on their team -- that will always agree with them and never challenge their ideas, thinking, or actions.

Why do we seek a bunch of yes men for the team? Are we insecure? Is it a case of too much pride? Maybe we don’t need counsel, because we are always right anyway. I know that is true in my case. Ha ha. How would we process new thinking and new ideas, which would challenge our outdated thinking and old ideas? “I am in control and I am in charge here, no one can tell me what to do or what to think.” In reality, whether we like it or not we are all under authority and for us in the Christian realm that authority is ultimately God.

The high priest might even slap you in the face for such thoughts. Are we afraid of opposition that might cause us to think outside of our own box? Maybe we choose and formulate rah rah teams, because we just don’t want conflict, even though the Bible guarantees us that the storms of life will come?

I am responsible to a group of nine guys on my board, and ultimately, I am answerable to God. The latter frightens me more than the former. I am safe to say that because my board members never read this blog. Ha. We don’t all think alike, that is healthy. They don’t agree with everything I say. There is wisdom in counsel. I do accept their advice and guidance even though at the time it might make me angry, but as I swallow my pride, God really did use them to help NPEA become a holier ministry. I would not want to be responsible to a bunch of robots that always thought the same way and never challenged what we do here at NPEA.

I have also in my experience seen the negative flip side of a board always trying to keep the status quo and avoid conflict at all cost, never addressing the elephant in the room because of the fear that it might sit on them, and kill them, even though they are allowing it to kill the organization they are a part of. Why does a group of leaders do nothing when the leader is not following through with his/her obligations to the organization? Why does a group of leaders not make legitimate demands on an individual that is not doing his/her job? Why do a group of leaders seldom and sometimes never evaluate the individuals that work for them?

It is ironic that the business world probably does most of the above as far as boards are concerned. Most of the lack of follow through seems to take place in the Christian realm. Why shouldn’t God’s Kingdom have just as much integrity in this arena as the business world, if not more?

The ultimate answer to overcoming acedia is that we seek to develop and establish healthy, Biblical teams. Teams that work together to accomplish the mission that God has put on our hearts.

Teams that value accomplishing the mission more than they value making sure that we all stay friends. Teams that are secure and comfortable in their faith, which will allow them to be critical if needed in a loving manner (speaking the truth in love). Teams that aren’t afraid of conflict. Teams that will attack conflict and resolve it in a Biblical manner. Team members that will be loyal to the team at all times. Team members that will sell out to the goals and objectives of the team even though they might not have agreed with everything. (Once a decision has been made in the war room, whether we agreed or disagreed with it, our task now is to get behind the decision and accomplish the mission.) Teams that sincerely do love and care about each member on the team, so no matter what happens you won’t lose your head.

Basin, Water, Sponge, Towel in Hand

2010-07-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

Have any of you ever had someone write on your car windows' dust, “Please Wash Me”? The summer months tend to bring out the bugs at night on the road we travel. Don and I will get home from traveling on one of our adventures to present this ministry and the whole front bumper of the Buick will be lined with bug road kill. We haven’t figured out which state is the worst for leaving bug residue on our front bumper. Maybe you could send us your comments on this, if you believe your state could be the winner?

So you drive to the car wash and attempt to scrub these nasty little dead bodies (that are sometimes very colorful) from the front end of your car. Where I go sometimes to get the car washed the attendant will spray some hot cleaner on the bumper first and let it soak in. Then he takes the spray wand and puts in on maximum power and two inches away from my bumper and sprays away. It is so intense I don’t know how the paint stays on -- in all rights it should be coming off with the bug debris.

In Jesus’ day, washing people’s feet was relegated to slaves. Since this was a culture in which everyone walked everywhere on dusty roads and trails (with no $12 wool hiking socks) I am sure that some of these feet looked like the front bumper of the Buick. You could write the words, “Please Wash Me” on both soles of your feet as you removed your sandals. Not only were these feet dirty, but have you ever taken a whiff of your feet after you have walked for a day on a dusty trails with no socks on? The aroma might cause one to pass out or faint from the stench.

John 13:4-5 -- “so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” Here was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords performing a

common slave's service -- washing the feet of His followers. Why? The answer comes later on in the chapter: verses 14-17 -- “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” Amen.

Jesus washes feet, we should go and do likewise. As Jesus’ followers, have we come to serve, to wash others' feet? This could be a stinky dirty job, sometimes, unless, of course, we are selective about whose feet we wash. The grime on some feet might take days to remove. Do we have the patience and perseverance to hang in there and keep washing? How many feet have we been washing lately? What kind of feet do we tend to wash?

I got back from a recent trip on the road and was convicted at the church we presented in, that I didn’t do anything like foot washing. I believe I walked in, took off my sandals, propped my dirty feet up, and said, “Okay, you slaves take care of me. Meet my needs.” There was no foot washing on my part. “I am an Assistant Director of a Church Planting organization, don’t you know. I am entitled to be washed." There didn’t seem to be anybody there more important than me (in my own eyes). If there had been, I might have stooped down just a little to do the standard wash. The special wash or deluxe wash would have to be reserved for someone with a bit more esteem and prestige.

Do we do enough foot washing at home? I know I don’t (as my wife reminds me from time to time of how selfish I am). What about the sons and daughters that live with us? Is the prodigal getting washed as often as those that are riding high on doing God’s will? Then there are grandkids, aunts and uncles, your brothers and sisters, our parents and, even the dreaded mother-in-law. The homefront can

sometimes be more challenging than anyplace, as far as getting those dirty feet clean. A stooping servant's heart is what God demands of us, not a haughty self-serving heart!

Lord, I pray you would help us develop a better attitude about being a foot washers. Help us to take on the bondservant attitude in our hearts so it will carry over into actions in our lives. Instill in us the attitude that this is not about us, it is about your Kingdom, and bringing you honor and glory and praise. Lord bring into our minds whose feet we could wash this week, this month, this year. Help us, Lord, to overcome acedia by stooping down, picking up a sponge, a bowl of warm water and washing the feet of those in our lives.

And that this act would bring a renewed sense for relaxation and refreshment to those that our hands would come into contact with.

Recharge Our Batteries

2010-06-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

My current quiet time finds me in the book of John. I would like to concentrate on the following verses from John, chapter 1 (NIV):

:9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
:5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Have you ever experienced a room that was pitch black, and you couldn’t even see your finger if you placed it directly in front of your eyes? I remember doing this as a kid and coming away with the thought, “How could you not see your own finger if you put it one centimeter away from your eyeball?” I didn’t realize how pitch black darkness can be! It becomes so frightening that even the slightest bit of unrecognized sound emits pictures in our minds worthy of the SciFi channel! Darkness, in a Biblical sense, represents ignorance and sin. It is an active rejection of God’s will. It is a picture of unregenerate humanity under the influence of the world forces of this domain of darkness. There are people who not only do not accept the light. They often resist it in their lives. Those that are in darkness reject Christ, His light, and His followers.

How much darkness do you see around you? Is there evidence of it on our planet? How has darkness reared its ugly head in your community? Has it appeared like a vapor seeping under the door of your church? Have you noticed it creeping up your leg, gripping you, getting a foothold? Darkness is everywhere, but it cannot extinguish the light! No matter how black or how menacing the darkness, even a small light can drive it back. You light a small candle in a darkened room and there is instantly less darkness. Darkness cannot prevail where light is present.

The power of Christ's light overcomes any darkness in the world. Believers no longer walk blindly in sin, rather his light shows sin and the need of forgiveness, gives guidance, and leads into eternal life with him. John notes one of the greatest tragedies: the world —humankind— did not recognize its own Creator. They were blinded and could not see his light. When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

How can you not recognize the light? It seems so obvious, especially in our time. The Jews didn't recognize the light. The world is not recognizing its creator. How many people today follow false gods or no God? How do people become blind and unable to see the light? Were they born blind (inherited in some way) or did blindness strike them at a later date? Even though it only takes a little bit of light to offset the darkness, if people are blind and cannot see the light, how can we help them see again? In a dark room even a little bit of light would penetrate the darkness, even a sliver of light would get the one in darkness to acknowledge its presence. I believe this would cause a person to be more curious about seeking more light.

May the Lord help us realize how just a little light could convince someone in the darkness, to consider the existence of more light. What can we do that puts off just a little light? This isn’t rocket science and I don’t believe it would take anything spectacular on our part. A kind word or a kind deed might be the only light someone would need to see. The light can penetrate any darkness. This is a refreshing and comforting fact. "Lord, help us to share this good news with those in darkness." We rejoice and are thankful that nothing can extinguish this light; nothing can put it out. "Thanks, Lord. Lord help me to increase my prayers that people of this world, people I come into contact with would not be blinded by the darkness and unable to see the light. Help that light to shine beyond a doubt to those who are having trouble seeing it."

How will we be lights in the darkness this June? Pray that God will motivate us to turn the switch on. Get rid of dead batteries.

New Moon, Same Lies

2010-05-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

The Twilight Saga just produced it’s newest book in the Vampire-crazed literature scene -- New Moon, which is also the number one selling DVD in America. Before that we had the book Twilight and after New Moon will be Eclipse, then Breaking The Dawn. There is one thing true about capitalism -- if there is money to be made, we will exploit it and keep making the product. A Bing search of the word vampire produces 51,400,000 entries compared to Jesus at 101,000,000. At least the good guys are still ahead. From TV shows, to movies, to books, to blogs, to Facebook, to costumes and vampire paraphernalia, this fascination with vampires has bombarded our society like a lethal mine field that is killing, possibly millions of people. I am writing about this in view of the fact of the mass hysteria that has been created by the subject and because of a recent article I read from a woman who was one of the most prolific vampire writers -- Anne Rice, http://www.annerice.com/.

I said was. She started to write Christian fiction after the death of her atheist husband, Stan, who died of cancer in 2002. My recollection of her story was that she was the second daughter from an Irish Catholic background before her marriage. She says the fact her husband was an atheist did have an effect on her choosing to write vampire literature. I have personally

listened to her first two Christian books, Christ The Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ The Lord: The Road to Cana. I recently read her most current Christian fiction novel entitled Angel Time, which is the first book in a new series she is entitling Songs of the Seraphim. I am in no way debating her theology -- keep in mind these are books of fiction, but writing about God and His Kingdom versus Satan and his kingdom is a vast improvement.

In a recent interview, Anne confesses there is no rest and no peace without God. For 38 years, Rice was a “Christ-haunted atheist,” she says in a recently posted “I Am Second” video http://iamsecond.com/#/home/ Rice is the latest celebrity to give a video testimony on “I Am Second,” a movement which seeks to lift up Christ by declaring that He is first and we are second. Other celebrities who have given testimonies include former NFL Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, former lead guitarist/co-founder of the metal band Korn, Brian “Head” Welch, and Major League Baseball Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton.

Rice gained fame and wealth from her vampire novels (her books have sold 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history), but internally she was increasingly dissatisfied with “the world in which salvation was not a possibility.” And the reason for the dissatisfaction was simple: “I really believed in God,” she says in the video. “Not only did I believe in Him but I loved Him and I wasn’t admitting it.” Her vampire novels were a reflection of her internal struggle living in the godless world she created. The vampire, she says, is a metaphor for the outcast and the person who feels cut off from God.

As mentioned earlier, Rice grew up in a Catholic home, but she rejected her faith when she was 18 to gain freedom and search for knowledge. "I felt that there were so many things forbidden to me as a Christian … I felt a desperate need to be free,” she recalls.

In the “I Am Second” video, Rice says she was reminded again and again “that as long as you are denying God you will not know any rest. You will not know any peace. You can’t save yourself through art. You can’t save yourself through music. You can’t do it through travel. You can’t do it through wealth,” Rice shares. “All your attempts at saving and transcending through other means will ultimately fail. You save yourself or God saves you when you turn to Him.” And since we can’t save ourselves, I will use a title of a movie that was made from one of her vampire books, we will be The Queen of the Damned and King as well.

After nearly four decades of denying God, Rice says she was finally ready to surrender to Him. “I surrendered the doubts,” she says. “Imperfectly and contrite, I went back.” And returning to Christ has changed everything in her life. For one, she no longer feels she can work with the vampire metaphor. “I wasn’t a person in a godless world [anymore], far from it,” she says. Now Rice devotes her time writing books that are “directly to God and devoted to Jesus Christ. I have changed and I have to do this,” she says with determination. “I have to write for Him.”

Hear this all you New Moon fans, no one is ever cut off from God! That is the same lie Satan has been telling since the beginning of time. Jesus loved the outcasts of His day (Read Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. See it for yourself.) as well as today! If we desire to overcome acedia in this area of our lives, then we must come to the realization that there are not outcasts in the world we live in. Jesus said, "the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." (John 6:37) The Church has to do a better job ministering to the unclean. So why the vampire craze? Could it be a testimony of all the lonely hearts searching for acceptance and love yet not finding it? It’s time to shine the Light on this problem and watch the vampire craze slowly melt away.

Are You In Need Of A Healing Service?

2010-04-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you attended a "healing service," or have you ever? I remember, a while ago, attending a new church service and the pastor offered healing, afterwards, to anyone who would come forward and receive it. A friend of mine attended the service with me and had the faith to go forward to be rid of a nagging knee problem that he had from an old athletic injury. (If I would have gone forward, talk about old athletic injuries! He would have spent the day praying over this old body.) My friend still has the knee injury. Maybe it was because of his lack of faith, or maybe God wasn’t in a good mood that day and just didn’t want to heal him? Or maybe it was not a valid, biblical expectation to have of God. It’s amazing how we all want to be healed of something.

The above healing service wasn’t like the one held in Jesus’ day, previous to Mark 1:44, where Jesus performed yet another healing miracle (The person was actually healed.), yet didn’t want it advertised. There would be no mass marketing to advertise the amazing powers of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus didn’t endorse radio and TV ads proclaiming His miraculous powers. He didn’t even create a website and start a virtual church. He told the man that had been cured of leprosy to hush up now, or was it a little stronger admonition? After everyone found out Jesus was the real deal when it came to healing others, He could no longer stay in towns and speak in synagogues, because people would flock to be healed and the crowds were simply getting too big (lest we forget the 10,000 people on the hillside for the fish and chips dinner).

My first thought is - why wouldn’t Jesus want this man to go be a blabbermouth? Free advertisement. Think of the crowds Jesus could draw. Eighty some percent of people who attend your church service are invited by members. There would be more people to hear the message. The bigger the crowd, the more opportunities for people to be saved. While we might think so, Jesus knew better (Jn 2:24-25). Jesus’ mission was to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God. If crowds descended on him to see miracles accomplished, or to benefit from his power, they would not be

coming with the heart attitude needed to hear and respond to the gospel. They would just be seeking to have a physical need met through healing, instead of the much more important need of being healed spiritually. Jesus did not come to this earth to be a miracle worker in a sideshow. He came to save our souls.

How often do we pray for physical healing when, in reality, it is a cleansing of one’s soul that needs to take place? When I preached in Long Island, NY, the state medical facility (I believe in Suffolk County) invited clergy to participate in a group of meetings where the health officials not only entertained the thought, but actually believed, that some mental illness (like March Madness?) could be attributed to demon possession or oppression. These medical professionals were more progressive in their theology than preachers were in the churches back then. They realized maybe what some of these people needed wasn’t physical healing (aka, more meds) but actually needed to be spiritually healed to be cured of this dreaded physical disease. Can you imagine if we actually started believing more and more that He is the Great Physician?

In Mark 5:34, we read about Jesus healing the woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years. The doctors couldn’t fix her with all their methodologies. The word “healed” in the Greek actually means "saved." Here both physical healing ("be freed from your suffering") and spiritual salvation ("go in peace") are meant. The two also appear together in Mark 2:1-12 and 3:1-6. To be both healed physically and spiritually at the touch of Jesus! He would be the only one someone could touch and accomplish this feat. I take that back. The first century apostles also performed such twofold miracles. We need to understand and comprehend that spiritual healing was part of the process of being healed, not just a physical healing. Oftentimes we are supportive of missions or people that just meet the physical needs of individuals without addressing the true need - spiritual healing. Jesus is shows us an example where both types of healing need to be done for a person to be truly healed.

So how do we go about overcoming acedia in this area of our lives and in our churches? I think we need to get back to the priority of preaching the Gospel for salvation. We need to realize that what a person might need first is to be freed from sin, before we can address their physical needs. I am not advocating we forget about their physical needs. It’s just that I believe Satan has convinced us that if we just meet their physical needs they will be okay and become interested in what we can offer them for their spiritual needs, and we wind up investing too much in the former and neglecting the latter. But, no one is truly okay unless they have accepted the Good News and are truly healed spiritually! This has to be what God's people are to be about, first and foremost.

How’s The Whitewash Holding Up?

2010-03-01T06:17:00.000-08:00

Have you ever walked through a graveyard at night? You remember back in your high school days when someone just dared you to stay in the graveyard all night? Kind of spooky wasn’t it? Every little noise and our imaginations ran wild. Every little movement, we caught with the corners of our eyes. It could get worse, especially when you can’t see the gravestones and trip and fall because of the darkness, and then you’re lying on top of a dead person.

In Jesus’ day they used to whitewash the tombstones so they would be more visible, especially at night, because if a person stepped on a gravestone they became ceremonially unclean (Numbers 19:16). So the outside looked good, but obviously the inside was filled with dead man’s bones and many things that were ceremonially unclean.

In Matthew 23:27-28 Jesus gave the religious leaders of His day the “woe treatment” (I wonder if this treatment would work today. Did it "work" for Jesus?) for being hypocrites. They looked good on the outside (When the religious whitewash was working, they appeared to be righteous.) but on the inside, and in reality, they were full of wickedness and hypocrisy.

But, what happens, if like me, you don’t look good on the outside (As most of you know, I have no receding hairline, because I have no hair. There are plenty bald, ugly guys that inhabit the earth.) or the inside - a “double dilemma”? You can always use some whitewash (or Rogaine formula) on the outside.

Do you know what whitewash looks like? Could it be a religious checklist we go through each week, without having a relationship with Jesus. Could it be that we tithe, but then we beat our wives? Could it be that we are involved with a small group where marriage enrichment is the topic, but we are having an affair with another man? Whitewash is a cheap imitation.

As a the song entitled, "Stain Glass Masquerade," by Casting Crowns states, in a part of the lyrics, “Am I the only one that is trading in the altar for a stage." Sunday masks are a very popular item worn by all kinds of people in all kinds of churches. Since I am a pretty straightforward guy, sometimes in our travels somebody will ask me on a Sunday morning at church the famous check up question to determine my current spiritual status, “How are you doing?” If I don’t give the typical “fine” answer, people are simply lost for a response.

The truth is, there are times when I am not fine, not fine at all. And masks, don’t you get tired of wearing one? Jesus knows our heart. Why the dress up game? I know you’re a leader, or a leader's wife. You know spiritually mature people are supposed to be sinless, no problems? Right?

If I stopped and considered what I whitewash in my life, there would be quite a laundry list! I can whitewash my overeating, or better yet, eating too many sweets. (I do like those Casey donuts.) I can put the brush to my ability to put down other people and emotionally abuse them. I can get out a roller and really put a good coat of whitewash on when it comes to being judgmental towards others and other ministries. Whitewash kind of sounds like hogwash. (It’s the Iowa kid in me.)

How do we overcome the acedia in this area of our lives?

Honesty, humility, integrity, and being real! Let’s trade in the whitewash for some honest-to-goodness, godly turpentine! God says He can clean us as white as snow. That takes on real meaning where I live! Whitewash on the outside or made white by God on the inside. No comparison.

Are You Ready To Eat Rattlesnake?

2010-02-03T13:20:00.000-08:00

Don (my travel companion) and I recently got back from a trip to Hugoton, KS. We visited its First Christian Church and were invited to take part in a Wild Game Feed on Saturday evening -- a men only event (comparable to a baby shower?). Besides the food being excellent, I was asked to give a presentation on Leadership. In this case I addressed the Leadership Dilemma we have in the church, or should I say our Lack of Leadership Dilemma?

Anyway, back to the food -- wild game, possible road kill, etc. -- for a second. I ate, for the first time in my life, two items that were on the menu (which included many different varieties of wild game: elk, deer, salmon, walleye, various stews, etc.). The two new items for my palate were rattlesnake, and something known as "sheep fries" by those in the wild game feed venue. The rattlesnake did not taste like chicken (a common association of taste, made to anything that you have never eaten at a wild game feed) but more of a bland non-distinctive tasting item. The sheep fries were excellent! I can’t describe the taste other than they were excellent. Sheep fries (the nice generic name for this dish), which are actually . . . okay, don’t read the rest of this unless you want to be grossed out . . . this is a man’s thing -- sheep testicles were quite tasty. To eat such things, one has to be a bit radical.

Speaking of radical….
Matthew 4:19-20 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed Him.” Jesus calls and without praying, without seeking advice or counsel, without checking their calendars for upcoming fishing competitions, the disciples were radical and just followed Jesus. Radical discipleship, how would you define it? And once you defined it, would you qualify? And along with this radical obedience came a radical adjustment of their attitudes toward reaching out and sharing the Good News with the people they came into contact with. Evangelism was at the heart of the call, which would be radical in a lot of churches and disciples that we run into in our travels. Radical discipleship is further exemplified by the Master himself.

As I continue my reading in Matthew I find out as you would that Jesus did not hesitate to become “unclean” in performing miracles. Jesus does this on numerous occasions (just to mention the few I touched on in Matthew 7), the leper, and going to the home of a Roman centurion. Then you have to personalize the question, do I hesitate to become “unclean” when doing ministry, or when being a radical disciple? What does becoming “unclean” look like in practical terms? Becoming unclean in Jesus’ days were doing things that where culturally prohibited for the Jews. You would be looked down upon, scorned, and rejected. I don't think I have ever done anything that would lead me to become "unclean" within my cultural context how about you?

What would be some examples of personal actions we would perform that would be “unclean” within our personal cultural context? A Christ follower, giving his whole pay check to a homeless person in need? A Christ follower, giving a kidney away to save a complete stranger, who was gay? A Christ follower, selling his house that is worth $250,000 and moving into a house that cost $100,000 and giving the profits to God’s Kingdom? A Christ follower, praying for and loving His enemies? A Christ follower who would…. It just dawned on me that to become “unclean” in Jesus day would mean that we would break the law, the Jewish law.

Does that mean for us to become “unclean”

in our culture we would break the law of the United States?

How can we overcome acedia and become more radical disciples of Jesus Christ? I don’t think that eating rattlesnake or sheep fries would be against the law, but are you ready to try some?

Wiping Your Feet With Our Hair?

2010-01-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

I am cutting back to once a month on this blog from twice a month. I am trying to be a good steward of the time God gives me. If you would like to see this blog return to twice a month, let me know.

Let's examine John 12:3, this time: “Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance."

Did you know that Jewish women rarely unbound their hair in public, let alone to wipe a man’s feet with it! Mary's action represents an intense personal devotion to Christ. She was acting against all conventional wisdom and customs of her day. Wiping another person’s feet with your hair was an act of humble submission and devotion. We can hardly appreciate how dirty and smelly a person’s feet were in the ancient Near East. Roads were dusty. People wore sandals, and most people walked wherever they went. To wipe someone's unwashed feet with one's hair would have been rather disgusting -- dirt and sweat in your hair -- and thus would show great devotion and humility.

As I studied this passage in my quiet time the other day, and then further thought on it during the rest of the day alone with God, I was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit of the magnitude of this small passage! Mary's act of love toward the Savior was unconditional and unconventional! Her love for Jesus was counterculture.

I started to ponder: "Is my love for Christ counterculture?" I find myself loving Christ in the confines and boundaries our church society sets up as acceptable. "Has the genuine love we need to have towards You melted down to a ridiculous religious love toward You? A love towards You bound more by rules and regulations and less about a broken and contrite heart that seeks a Savior out of an unabashed need, versus a checklist of religiosity completed? This might be why it is hard for us to cry out to You from a full broken heart. Our humanness, has confined us to thinking and believing what our little brains can wrap around - not much faith here. My conscience started to reveal to me how much I am truly afraid of loving You."

The last thing I see in most churches and Christians is that they love God in an unconditional and unconventional way. Since love is action, what have we done lately in an unconventional or unconditional way to show the love we have for Jesus?

We need to cry out to God with tears that He can wipe and ask Him to help us to not base our love for Him on the expected norms of our day. We need to put on sackcloth and pour ashes on our heads and seek God’s forgiveness as we learn to love Him in a supernatural way versus the same old boring, worldly way.

As I was seeking His forgiveness for my lack of a more intimate relationship with Him, the Holy Spirit challenged me with this profound thought, “How can I wipe your feet with my hair in unexpected and extraordinary ways?” (This is even more profound, since, as most of you know, I don’t have a lot of hair, so I am going to really have to be creative.) My goal of overcoming acedia in the love department with God is a major goal I want to strive to achieve in this new year. Our goal: to love Jesus, like Mary did! Amen.

Climbing The Summit 25,000Feet!

2009-12-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

Chip and Dan Heath (brothers) presented a session on how to change when change is hard.

Their abbreviated bios off their web page http://madetostick.com/ include the following:

Chip Heath is a Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He is the co-author of the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, which has been a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller. Chip is also a columnist for Fast Company magazine, and he has spoken and consulted on the topic of "making ideas stick" with organizations such as Nike, the Nature Conservancy, Microsoft, Ideo, and the American Heart Association.
Dan is the co-author of the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Dan is also a columnist for Fast Company magazine, and he has spoken and consulted on the topic of "making ideas stick" with organizations such as Microsoft, Nestle, the American Heart Association, Nissan, and Macy's.

I am currently reading their book Made To Stick. The theme of the book concentrates on why some ideas survive while others die. To make ideas survive we simply have to make them “sticky.” However, their talk associated with this Christian leadership event dealt more with their book, Switch, which I happen to have a pre-released copy of. The caption on the cover states, “How to change things when change is hard.” This book I believe will be released to the general public in February, 2010. You cannot quote it or blog about it until January of 2010, but we can talk about their session at the Leadership Summit.

The first question we must ask ourselves when it comes to change in the church is, “What really needs to change: the individuals or a ministry?” In my opinion there might be times when it would be a combination of both. When we need to change, a battle starts to unfold in our brain. There are three competing systems in our brains that react when we are contemplating change:

the Rider (the rational side of us),
the Elephant (the emotional side of us)
and the Path (shaping the Path) the elephant should take.

This analogy comes from Jonathan Haidt, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, in his wonderful book, “The Happiness Hypothesis.” The Rider knows where he wants to go, but the Elephant might not want to go. So the Rider has to convince and appeal to the Elephant where to go, what path to take.

We need to provide very clear directions for the Rider. Sometimes what is perceived as resistance is simply a lack of clarity. Once the Elephant is listening to the Rider and moves, how can we keep the elephant moving? The Elephant can sometimes be skittish and lazy, often looking for a quick payoff over a long term payoff. When change efforts fail, it is usually the Elephant’s fault, since most changes we desire involve short term sacrifices for long term payoffs. Changes often fail because the Rider can’t keep the Elephant on the path long enough to reach the desired destination.

As we shape the path for the Rider and Elephant to take we must consider that what looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. Consider the environment we are in -- altering it will influence the way people behave, irrespective of their Rider and Elephant.

The job of the leader is to appeal to both the Rider and the Elephant. If we reach the Riders of our team but not the Elephants, they’ll have understanding without motivation. If we reach the Elephants and not the Riders, they’ll have passion without direction. If the two are not moving together on the same path is will be a disaster, but when they are working together change can come more easily.

We all have rational and emotional people on our teams. In fact, depending on the issue, there might be some role reversals within the same people. Sometimes your hot button is not my hot button.

If we are to overcome acedia we need to get all people on board and this will take time, prayer, and possibly purchasing Switch, once it is available!

Climbing The Summit 20,000 Feet!

2009-10-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

David Gergen, author of Eyewitness to Power, was the next speaker on the docket at the Summit. Gergen is currently a professor of public service at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Director of its Center for Public Leadership. He is also editor-at-large for U.S. News & World Report and a Senior Political Analyst for CNN. In earlier years, he served as a White House adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. (On the web at davidgergen.com). What can you say about a man who has been an advisor in the White House to four different presidents? His whole presentation was on leadership. The following are some sound bites:

Leadership

• is working with others in pursuit of shared goals.

• is about trust and communication.
• cannot be produced.
• principles can be shared.
• is a culture to be created, within a church, for example.
• thinks carefully.
• chooses big goals.
• goes after them tenaciously.
• does not have to be lonely.
• is no longer being The Lone Ranger.
• is in teams built to lead.
• can go fast, alone, or far, together.

Becoming a better leader

• is a must.
• means being a reflective practitioner.
• requires learning while in the arena doing it.
• means continuing to be self-educated.
• and reader – not every reader is a leader, but every leader is a reader.
• requires getting away to reflect on what you did.
• requires self-confidence to get away and get in communion with God and reflect.

He also shared the most admirable qualities of the following presidents, which I thought was historically amazing.

• President Nixon was the best strategist. He could look into the future 20-30 years and bend the forces of history to benefit the U.S. Someone that can look further back can see further ahead. (Henry Kissinger, for example – Nixon’s sidekick.)

• President Ford was the most decent one. You did not have to keep your back to the wall. “Nice guys finish last” is not true. Decent people are so rare that we prize them.

• President Reagan was the best leader in the White House since FDR. He had strong beliefs and principles. He had contagious optimism. He encouraged everyone to go forward.

• President Clinton was a very bright guy and had a very quick mind. His resiliency was remarkable. He was always willing to get back up.

Gergen also touched on some of the weaknesses in these presidents. He prefaced this by stating that we all have weaknesses. Amen.
• President Nixon had a very dark side that he could not control. He was the author of his own tragedy.
• President Ford was a little too naïve at times. (President Carter was the same way.)

• President Reagan was a little too detached at times. He entrusted too much.

• President Clinton paralleled Nixon as far as fundamental character cracks. He should have come clean and asked for forgiveness.

“Great leaders carry great flaws.” All leaders are flawed in some way, but growing and maturing is coming to grips with our flaws. Many people will not conquer their flaws, but we do need to make an effort to get them under control so they do not derail us. The key, in David’s opinion, is to integrate the dark side and the light side. For example, we may have to align our private behavior and public life. Martin Luther King was a great moral leader of the 20th century. In his private life, he was clearly a sinner, a very chaotic life; he never claimed to be a saint, always struggling to make that alignment. Nelson Mandella also had a very messy private life. However, he would get up every day and try to be better. David would tell us that we need to be more tolerant with public figures’ private lives. What if our lives were as public as theirs? We would need the great tolerance of others toward us, too.

Then there are personal habits of leaders that he considered. These matter a lot. A leader needs to be self- disciplined. They need to have regular habits, have control of their life and who they are as a person. We need to be physically fit. Build time into your day to reflect. Build time into your day to be with people who cherish you – the more loving relationships we have, the longer life we will lead. Do not expect to do everything in one day. And – read a lot. Well, how did you evaluate yourself in the light of all of Gergen’s lists?

The last area he touched on dealt with more of the spiritual side of things. For example, he stated that when a person drives into your church, they believe three things will happen in the service. 1. There will be help for finding inner peace. 2. They will learn something. 3. They will progress on their spiritual journey. Their spiritual foundation will help them find their moral compass. Church should be designed to give us a moral compass. A church should nourish this.

Also, from a spiritual perspective, he touched on the ego of a leader, and how that can be held in check. David says, “Your ego gets so big as you become a great leader that nothing applies to you anymore (e.g., “If the president does it, that means it’s not illegal.”) Religion would put this in perspective: There are so many things that are bigger than us. God is God and we are part of the grander scheme; we are not the scheme.

A good way to finish on a November blog is with a big slice of humble (pumpkin) pie, enjoy! (But remember what I said earlier about needing to be physically fit, too. If we could only Overcome Acedia concerning that!)

Climbing The Summit 14,000 Feet!

2009-10-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

This quote is taken right from Dave Gibbon’s website http://davegibbons.tv/ as he defines what “Third Culture” is: “Third culture is about the fusion of multiple cultures, the art of adaptation, dialogue rather than dictation, diplomacy over strong arm tactics, and the embrace of discomfort as part of the journey to real community. Third culture is the mindset and will to love, learn and serve in any culture even in the midst of pain and discomfort. In short, 3rd Culture is PAINFUL ADAPTATION." Dave Gibbons is the founding pastor of Newsong, a multi-site international third-culture church. His book, The Monkey and the Fish, would give you a more in-depth look at this fascinating topic.

Dave says that the two Greatest Commandments: Love God and Love Neighbor tend to impact most churches. Most of us would think our neighbor is someone who is like us (racially, economically, socially, educationally, etc.). In the homogenous principle, likes attract. However this principle has created churches that tend to be comsumeristic. Dave would advocate that we need to start churches that are abnormal, with the above being the norm. You would have to admit most churches you and I attend would have the same types of people in them, and now gray and balding.

The reason this will be a painful process is that we will have to start to love people that are unforgivable people, people whom we may even hate. I do believe Jesus is ahead of us here when He told us, “Love Your Enemies”! Who do we hate, dislike, or not want to be around? As thoughts enter your mind about who would make you feel uncomfortable, whose face appears?

The Third Culture Leader will start to develop the following characteristics. We will have to start to focus on the fringe, on the misfits and not focus on the masses. The people we would consider on the fringe, the margins in history, have traditionally led movements. Vision starts on the fringes and moves the people and leaders to that vision. We need to, as God’s people, start to love the margins in our society. Jesus here again was a man that lived on the margins.

Can we pinpoint what holds us back from living on the fringe? Maybe it scares us because there are a different set of metrics there? “Failure is success to God; it is the thing that the world connects with us on.” Our weaknesses and failures are gifts from God. It is what the world resonates with. They understand suffering. Our weaknesses will tend to guide us more than our strengths. We will soon realize that the best discipleship is life on life, not some program or more programs. Amen.

Third culture leaders will also learn to understand that obedience is more important than passion to Jesus. If we want to change the world, Dave asks us to consider four principles that third culture leaders must develop:

We need to strive for deeper collaboration. Spend more time working together with other bodies of Christ and take advantage of our strengths.
Experience more communal living within the churches we attend - hang out together more often and have open door policies in the homes of believers.
A house of prayer, that is what the church has to become. The church doesn’t believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. We don’t pray because we don’t believe in the power.
Adapt to a lifestyle of radical sacrifice - die to our own values of material possessions. Maybe we could try moving to another culture or visiting another culture to put our western wealth in perspective.

This was a hard pass to climb up to. Dave really makes you think outside the box and challenges all conventional thinking in terms of how we are doing church today. A blog hardly does justice to the many ideas and principles he talks about, so I would highly recommend further study on this topic.

Good luck on your exploration of 3rd Culture!

Climbing The Summit 10,000 Feet!

2009-10-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

Harvey Carey is founder and senior pastor of Citadel of Faith Covenant Church in Detroit, Michigan - citadeloffaith.org - the fastest-growing multicultural church in the region. He is known internationally as a dynamic speaker whose inspiring leadership and vision for urban renewal unites people across boundaries of race, age, class and culture. That sounds pretty good doesn’t it. Took it right off his bio on his webpage. Harvey took us all to the 10,000 foot level at the Leadership Summit with his talk on what we should do when the odds are stacked against us. It reminded me of one of my better half time speeches when I coached football. Ha-ha!

Harvey spoke from Ephesians 4:11, in terms of we are always fighting the odds. But his first of eight points was “We have to believe God’s word is true.” If you follow the thought process of Ephesians 4:11, we all know that God will win and we will overcome any odds. Satan will be defeated. Believe it. Celebrate it. Preach it!

Unlike some of the teams I coached, always hoping for a hail mary pass to bail you out (Okay, so you watched Brent Favre and the Vikings last week), “God is getting ready to show up” when we think there is no way we can beat these odds. He comes to the rescue and throws us a life line.

Another way Harvey talked about overcoming the odds is to “Equip the body to serve and equip others.” It will take the whole team to overcome the odds, not just the paid staff. Sometimes when we are facing extreme odds, we tend to circle up the wagons and get into a protection mentality. What we need is more troops in the cavalry who are ready and willing to help fight in the battle.

For churches to overcome odds, “the people must take ownership of the work it will take to defeat the odds, and then become genuinely engaged in that work.” If the odds are stacked against you, it will take hard work, determination, and discipline to carry through. Which leads to his next point, “Look at the Bible for examples God gives us of His people overcoming the odds!” The Bible is full of stories like this! These examples have to become real to us, not just "page 856, last paragraph on the right." God is using a bullhorn and yelling into our ears, "You can do this with My power!"

Whatever you do, if you want to overcome the odds, don’t put this item in a church committee. Things only get delayed and eventually die in a committee. Don’t even be on a committee. Join a task force, if anything. But more importantly, Harvey would say, “more prayer meetings and less strategic meetings.” Amen and amen to that. I couldn’t agree more! We are never going to overcome any odds without the power and concerted effort of massive amounts of prayer!

The church that overcomes the odds “realizes its potential.” I always get a kick out of a resume from a potential church planting candidate who has switched churches about every two years. Perhaps he has never realized that God’s body, no matter where it is located, no matter what the attendance is running, has POTENTIAL. It is, after all, God's body of believers. There are hidden diamonds in every church. We just need to spend some time digging for them and then harvesting them. Do you know of any church in the world where God doesn’t want to do great things with that body?

Lucky number 7 (of Carey's eight points) - the true Biblical answer: “Step out of the boat of complacency.” If the boat is sinking, don’t’ just stay in it and end up drowning. The reason you might be facing great odds is because of complacency. I believe the longer we are complacent, the more the odds build up against us, until we get to the point where we just sit in the boat, going down with it.

And last, but my favorite point of Carey's eight - “Stop making excuses.”

"If we only had a better building and a better location, we could grow."
"I don’t think I will ever be able to break that sin habit."
"Please God, just send us more money."
"If we had better leaders, this church might be able to overcome the odds."
"A good youth minister would solve all our problems we are having with kids."
"The poor economic times have really hurt us financially."

Hey. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. That'll work. It's not a gamble.

Climbing The Summit 8,000 Feet!

2009-09-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

The first time I heard Tim Keller speak at the National New Church Conference in Orlando, FL, I came away pondering how God could bless someone with so much insight. Tim has more knowledge and understanding in a hangnail on his pinky than I have in my whole body. His presentation at the Leadership Summit centered on his latest book, The Prodigal God. I have purchased the book and the discussion guide, but have yet to review the material. His presentation convinced me that I needed to tackle this subject. I have digested his previous book, The Reason For God, and highly recommend it from an apologetics standpoint.

What do you think is the biggest problem in the church today? According to Tim it is “spiritual deadness,” a lack of spiritual vitality. I could not concur more! I see this in my travels. One of the reasons for the deadness, according to Tim, is that

some of us resemble the elder brother in Jesus' story of the prodigal son. The elder son believes his relationship with his father is intact because of his goodness. And because of his goodness he believes he has leverage over his father. Elder-brother-types are insecure inside and judgmental outside. Their standing with God is based on performance. There will be no fruit of the Spirit. Marks of spiritual deadness will blanket their lives.

In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus is preaching to the religious leaders of his day. The parable is mainly about the elder brother. The younger brother represents the sinners who are around Jesus. The elder brother is like religious people in the church. Both brothers are alienated from the Father’s heart. The younger brother’s sin is very obvious. He follows money. The elder brother doesn’t love the father either. He doesn’t want to put a party hat on. Both love the things of the father, but not the father. The shocking ending: the father has to urge both of them to come into the feast - the bad boy is saved and the good boy is lost. He is lost because of his goodness, not in spite of it.

Are you angry when your life doesn’t go well? If someone criticizes you, do you go through a meltdown, or melt the person down that criticized you? Are your prayers mostly petition prayers,

where you just never enjoy God? Is there not much adoration or intimacy in your prayer life? Are you constantly loathing people? Elder brothers also have a hard time forgiving. The elder-brother-types stay angry and bitter because they feel they are superior to those that have offended them. Elder brothers are obeying God to get things. God is a means to an end. Gospel believers obey just to get more of God, to delight in God and to resemble God. The elder brother is a religious person - “I obey, therefore I am accepted, rather than a follower of the gospel - “We are accepted then we obey.” Churches are filled with too many elder brothers.

Unfortunately, to many of the above questions I personally would have answered in the affirmative, thus my own need to work through Tim’s book! Overcoming Acedia in our culture requires Overcoming Acedia in our own lives! Let’s pray that we as prodigals all eventually come home

Climbing The Summit 4,000 Feet!

2009-08-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

At one time Gary Hamel was ranked as the #1 influential business thinker by the Wall Street Journal. His book, entitled The Future Of Management, is one I purchased (not read yet) after the Leadership Summit was over. Gary is the next speaker I will try to unpack for you in this series on covering the Leadership Summit I attended, sponsored by Willow Creek via satellite feed. The theme was, “Lead Where You Are!”

Gary asked us a question -- “Is your church changing as fast as the world around us?”
Most of us already realize that the church is typically 10 -20 years behind the times. So it was, to my mind, a loaded question. Because of this fact, it was no surprise that his next statement was, “The church is losing market share in this world!” Here again, another no brainer; we have all known for quite some time the statistics that tell us the church of today is not very effective in reaching out to a lost and dying world. So what is one to do? Gary is convinced that it will take a crisis (Praise God for that. It is already happening.) and a change of the way leaders manage (That’s your call.) to turn the ship around.

Profound paradigm shifts are taking place in the world, and the church is not adapting to these. Our problem is inertia. Lots of organizations are going backward, including the church.

Here are three key imperatives that may help the church regain momentum and thrive once again.

Gary advises us to first of all, conquer denial. Denial oftentime rears its ugly head as dismissal, rationalization, mitigation, and a lack of honest confrontation of self. Face the facts. Deal with the elephant in the room.

Question our beliefs (how we do church or practices). Take some time to listen to the renegades and the dissidents. Let’s not be like the leaders of Jesus’ days. They rejected the radical, the revolutionary (Jesus).

Secondly, we need to generate more strategic options. Change needs to seem more exciting than staying pat. There is a need to deconstruct what we already know. If orthodoxy is crippling us, we need to examine that. Are we simply doing what every other church is doing and failing at it? Examine everything we have done at church and what hasn’t changed in the last 3-5 years. Jesus was radical and unconventional. Are we? Are we more committed to changing lives than doing church? Here is a test for all of us -- try sacrificing some of those churchy things we do that are getting in the way of doing what Jesus wants.

Do you believe it is dangerous for a few people to control the initiation of change in an existing organization -- when entrenched leaders prohibit needed changes? Top down structures are crippling many churches today. Is there an alternative?

Third, the church needs to get back to more of an organic church model of the first century. We need to reinvent the way we manage and lead, and base it more on the first century Biblical model than the latest corporate model.

There you have it -- more advice at overcoming acedia in our churches. We will advance to the Leadership Summit at 8,000 feet next time!

Climbing The Summit 2,000 Feet!

2009-08-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

As the mountain climbers approached the summit, their entire bodies were about to give in to exhaustion. The climb had been demanding and almost fatal. One wrong move, one piece of equipment failure, a lack of oxygen, inclement weather conditions, or a lack of training, could all result in the climbers not only not reaching the summit but possibly going home in a body bag. But once you get to the top and have conquered the peak, all the suffering you went through to get there is soon forgotten, as your mind is racing with thoughts of this achievement!

I recently attended my first Leadership Summit sponsored by Willow Creek via satellite feed. The theme was, “Lead Where You Are.” Like mountain climbing, trying to reach the summit, I found each speaker a little more challenging, a little more profound. But once the two day event was over, I basked in the refreshing winds that are blowing through my heart as I heard the voice of God speaking to my hungry soul.

It will be my task over the next several blogs to highlight some of the speakers and what the topics they addressed mean to the church. So let’s put on our climbing gear and start to head up the mountain.

Bill Hybels' topic (He founded Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL.) was “Leading In A New Reality.” He claims, as we all know, that the church has been blindsided by an economic rogue wave. With this type of storm there is a need for constant action at the helm or the ship will sink. Bill highlighted four lessons that will help us steer through these turbulent times.

Philosophically, we need to act quickly and decisively. We need to be the church no matter what -- an Acts 2 church! The question is -- do we still believe that the local church is the answer, no matter what the times are? We need to be confident that He will teach us lessons we will never forget during these sea squall times. There is nothing like the local church when the local church is working right! How is your church doing philosophically?

Secondly, consider Kingdom Economics. The math makes no sense from a human prospective. Jack Welch (the famous CEO with General Electric) states:”In a crisis, cash is king.” I am sure that the economic times have led to many a discussion in board rooms about what to do. Willow Creek has developed the following plan that may give us a starting point of discussion. In their new budget plan they have decided that there should never be more than 50% of total revenues going towards staff salaries, which means there will be a need for more volunteer empowerment. Ten percent of all revenue will be given away -- notice they did not cut missions. Ten percent will be poured into where the Spirit is working -- I like the freedom here, to keep in touch with God. Fifteen percent will go into ministry. And 15% will go into running the physical plant. Right now people are hungry to hear about money management God’s way! And people will still give generously and sacrificially to God’s red hot visions!

Thirdly, look up the peak into the relational front. In this lesson Bill concentrated mostly with people who are on staffs. There are many churches considering or already going through massive staff reductions. He did make a reference to Jim Collins' new book, How The Mighty Have Fallen. A good question to start with is, “How many absolute key seats are in your organization?” After answering the first question the second would be, “Out of X number of key seats, what percentage are the right people?” What is our plan for filling the rest of the keys seats with the right people? Are we developing backup people for the keys seats we have? Bill stated, “that a fired up, gifted person, that God will do something great through, is the key person!” Sounds like a church planter, eh?

On to the last lesson, which deals with the personal level, we need a replenishment strategy in place. Don’t get to the place in which you are doing God’s work but it is destroying God’s work in you! We need to reinvent a replenishment strategy for the new reality. Find out what fills your bucket and go for it. Get wired with God more! The replenishment of our bucket (Roman 8:6) can be energized by life and peace with the Holy Spirit. When we are filled up, we will lead best. The temptation during these turbulent times is to work 24/7. We need to slow down and listen to God, and He will whisper in our ears, “in My time not yours”. We need to develop rock solid God confidence! What do people see in us these days, “Exhausted and fearful or confident in God”?

Deal with it.

2009-08-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

We have all heard about missionaries who have been killed or subjected to extreme torture because of their faith. I expect persecution from those outside the church. I do not expect it from those inside the church. Right?

But in my recent day alone with God, the Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart the following two Bible passages, both in II Timothy 3 – 3:12 states, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” and 3:1 says, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.”
It’s not heads or tails, will we be persecuted? It’s, we will be persecuted!

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Why does it seem we are always persecuted?” Jesus, you told us they will hate us because they hated you. I shake my head and say to myself, “Why this attitude that I shouldn't expect persecution,
that ‘surely, when we became Christians, we were inoculated with a special serum that prevents this deadly disease from affecting us.’ Am I living under a rock? Don't I believe what your word says? Is there a reason why I shouldn’t expect head on collisions with the enemy – broken glass, sheared metal, blood, death?”

Satan laughs at the “World Wrestling Federation” spectacles that go on in churches between believers, which at times lead to divisions. Life gets difficult. We need more strength from God in these times and to not rely on our own steroids (What strength enhancing methods do you use?).

My first thought after God impressed II Timothy 3:1 on my mind was, “Why do I believe my street address is in Disneyland, that I won't meet up with the enemy at every other street corner, that I might as well give up because it's too hard, that I would rather slide back under the covers and not get out of bed, because I am too tired to face the bogey man?”

We cannot fight these battles on our own strength (unless we enjoy being a punching bag for the enemy) but have to rely on God's strength to get us through the difficult times. Don't throw in that towel. Don't give up. Never say die. Be strong and courageous (See Deuteronomy 31:6,8.). There will be – not there might be – difficult times.

Buck up, camper. Maybe we need to stop using God's armor for defense only and do some attacking, overcoming acedia in this area of our lives. “Persecution, schmersecution.” “Difficulty, schmifficulty." Deal with it.

Excuse Me, PLEASE!

2009-07-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

I recently read, Mirror To The Church by Emmanuel Katongole. It was a page turner for me. I finished it in one week. It is the story of the genocide
that took place in Rwanda in 1994, when the Hutus were told to kill their Tustsi neighbors. The slaughter that lasted for 100 days began on April 7th, the Thursday of Easter week. In that timeframe, some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed throughout Rwanda.

In 1994 I was 37 years old. How could I forget about almost one million people being slaughtered? Do you recall this tragic event?

The author recommends that the reader watch the movie Hotel Rwanda to get the visual impact of what happened, which I did check out from the local library.

The movie sickened my stomach and saddened my heart. We should keep in mind that in the midst of the genocide, an international hotel (Hotel des Mille Collines, the Hotel Rwanda) offered more good news than the nearest church. The author's hope, is that Rwanda can be a mirror to the church in the west. As we (the church) look in a mirror to see what we look like, Rwanda can help us see ourselves more clearly.

Emmanuel introduces the reader to three different types of postures that do not work in Christianity. The “Pious Posture,” The “Political Posture,” and The “Pastoral Posture.” He alludes to the fact that the “Prophetic Posture” is the only one that can save our world.

Mary is an example of this posture in Matthew 26:6-7. Mary dares to bring into question the social, economic, and political assumptions of her day in a single act. She is crazy enough to interrupt. Are we? Mary represents the “rebel consciousness” that is essential to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Wherever the gospel is preached, it must cause its hearers to be insane! It has to force us to question the social norms.
Jesus’ teaching puts us at odds with the economic and political systems of our day. The good news will force us to act, interrupting the world that makes pious people indignant. Emmanuel states, “The rebel consciousness of a prophetic posture teaches us to rethink not only our mind-set and our approach, but also our timing.”

The Rwandan genocide exposes for the global church, that "Christian expression throughout the world has too easily allowed the blood of tribalism to flow deeper than the waters of baptism.” You may be thinking, "What do you mean? We are not into tribalism in the United States. Don’t accuse us of that. We are a sophisticated and sufficient country." I won’t define the word tribe for you, but you may look it up and see if we, (white Anglo-Americans, or for that matter any people group in the United States) fit into that category.

How do we overcome acedia so this type of tragedy never happens again? The church is called to be a hopeful interruption to the death-bound reality of a broken world. We are the church. We are the people. So let’s make it a brighter day and just start being JESUS! And what about the timing of this? The prophetic posture always trusts that the time to worship Jesus and acknowledge him as our King is now. As George Allen (the long ago head coach of the Washington Redskins) used to say, “The Future Is Now.”

"'Restoration Movement,' what's that?"

2009-07-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

I am starting this month’s blog as I sit at a Starbucks between sessions across the street from the Kentucky Convention Center in Louisville as the North American Christian Convention (NACC) is in its second day of activity. The NACC is the only event that brings Restoration Movement Christian Churches together once a year at the national level.

The "Restoration Movement?" I am starting to wonder if many attending churches borne of the restoration movement even know what the term "restoration movement" refers to.

I was speaking at a church awhile back in a Sunday School class of about 20 people. I was explaining to them our mission of planting Restoration Churches. Half the class stared at me like a deer caught in the headlights. I started to explain briefly what this meant, as even one of the church's associate staff looked on, wondering.

At a church we recently spoke at, I picked up a brochure that had this slogan on it -- “Where the Bible speaks, we speak. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent." This is a slogan the Restoration Movement used (and some still use), yet half the people in the church had no idea what the Restoration Movement is about.

I received a resume awhile back that had the following slogans written down, “I believe that we are not the only Christians, but Christians only,” and “I believe that we should have unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials, and love in all things” -- more quotes the Restoration Movement has used over the years! I wondered whether this person understood, or was just using sayings to catch my “Restoration Attention”? (Please excuse my skepticism.)

At Cincinnati Christian University & Seminary, I was fortunate enough to take a Restoration History class under the legendary Dr. James North. Myself being an ex-Catholic who had no idea of the Restoration Movement, this class was monumental in enlightening me!

Without some type of Restoration Movement teaching, do people attending our churches really know what they are getting involved with? The bigger question is, “Why aren’t we introducing them to the principle of restoring the original church?" I am not insisting that new people read Union In Truth by Dr. North, but maybe some preachers should. Are we embarrassed to teach people what God has led them to? If you attend an Assembly Of God Church, you will learn about “speaking in tongues” and the “gift of prophecy” and the Assemblys' roots in the early twentieth century pentecostal movement.

Covering some basic historical facts and informing people about what they are getting involved with can be enlightening. We do not want to create “Campbellites,” and are careful to keep things in their proper perspective -- if the traditions of the restoration movement outweigh the scripture, we then become something less than the restored church of Jesus.

While we acknowledge and accept that we need to follow Jesus Christ only, still, learning about the period of time when the Campbells and their peers were discovering Biblical principles that had been ignored for centuries can help Christians appreciate just what exactly it is they have become part of -- the Lord's church, restored as she was in the beginning!

A 101 class, a new believers class, or a new member class would be an ideal time to introduce new Christians to some "Restoration history." The restoration era is not when the Lord's church was founded, but it is when she came out of "the wilderness" -- resurfaced in history. It's a good thing for Christians to understand that.

Pass The Q Tips, Please.

2009-06-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in a church service and halfway through the offering a pastor gets up and says, “Stop taking up the offering, we have more than enough money. Thanks for your generosity of going above and beyond the call of duty”? In my time alone with God recently the Holy Spirit impressed on me the following verses: “We have more than enough materials on hand now to complete the job the LORD has given us to do!” they exclaimed. So Moses gave the command, and this message was sent throughout the camp: “Bring no more materials! You have already given more than enough.” So the people stopped bringing their offerings. Exodus 36:5-7

Why were their contributions more than enough to complete the project, but we seem to never have enough to complete our projects? When is the last time you received an appeal letter that said, “Please do not send any more resources, we have more than enough"? You have never received a letter from NPEA like that!

Did the Israelites have more than enough because it was something God directly told them to do? Doesn’t God tell us to take care of the poor and widows? Maybe there is too much clamoring in our ears and we can’t really hear God. Or do we get into these games where we justify that it was something He told us to do, when, in reality, it wasn't what He told us to do at all? Maybe the voice whispering in our ear has a human face? Can we assume there are not enough resources because we simply are not investing in what God would want us to? How can we discern whether it is God speaking to us or other noisy parties? What else can we do besides pray, read the bible, seek counsel, fast, have extended periods of intensive prayer, and be better listeners, to know God’s timing, to determine it is His voice?

So why doesn’t NPEA, or for that matter, why don't Bible colleges, churches, missionaries, Christian radio stations, disaster recovery programs, etc., have more than enough? Is it because of a lack of listening to God's voice? Is it because some of these ministries should consolidate? Is it because we don’t have a generous spirit? Is it because some of these ministries should close? Is it because we are not committed to follow through, once we hear His voice?

I once said to God, “If you are the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills, why don’t you sell some and give me the cash?”

If He provides for all my needs, maybe some of my needs might be wants? Or you could play the good, better, best card in terms of what to support with His money. Did we create the shortage, or did He?

I am riding on my ox-driven cart with a choice load of lumber for the temple. My son is sitting next to me as we pull up to the unloading zone. And Moses is in charge of shipping and receiving. My son and I hear over a loudspeaker the voice of Moses, “We don’t need any more materials. You all have brought more than enough!” May we be challenged by their grateful generosity in overcoming acedia, that we could be halted because we were “doing more than enough”!

The Mission Field?

2009-06-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

I get away to a prayer chapel once a month to be alone with God. In this prayer chapel there are two massive posters of a gentleman and a young boy who are from different countries than the United States. These posters are to motivate us to pray for the mission field.

My first thought is, why isn’t there also a picture of people from my hometown, Fargo/Moorhead? Maybe because the majority of the people from the town I live in don’t have dark colored skin?

As we travel and speak, sometimes in the churches I visit there are various countries' flags in view from around the world. I assume the flags represent missionaries supported by the church and the peoples to whom they have been sent.

When there is a United States flag in a church, it is usually in reference to the government of this country, not to the people here who also need Jesus.

Do you often hear about people in churches, or get a support letter from someone you know, about a mission trip they have gone on or are planning to go on in the near future? I hear they are going to, or went to, Mexico, to Haiti, to Japan, to Bosnia, even to Israel, to walk where Jesus walked. These short-term missionaries usually travel to someplace that is outside the borders of the United States and is a plane ticket away.

These baffle me when I consider Acts 1:8. In this passage, the first place we are to share the “Good News” is in our own backyard. God is implying that where we live is a mission field! It is kind of unique that God’s plan would have us consider where we live as our first place to spread the gospel message.

If you are a missionary at “home,” you already know the language. You won’t have to raise support to leave. You won’t have to get cultural training (although we do need to understand unsaved postmodern people a little better). You will have time to disciple those you lead to Christ rather then get decisions and then have to leave the country. You won’t need to get a passport or work visa. You might already be employed.

Why is it so easy for us to dream about and envision taking the gospel across the ocean,

but more difficult to take it across the street (or across the eight-lane freeway, as the case may be)?

Why haven’t I won my neighbors to Christ? Why is it easier for us to send a check overseas, than to send ourselves to the person who needs the love of Jesus in our hometown? Why do most Bible Colleges teach about the mission field in terms of a foreign country, and not in terms of right here at home?

A "mission field"? What do you think, is there one at home and abroad? How can we overcome acedia in terms of recognizing and evangelizing the people who live right next door? Is Bismarck/Mandan, ND, a mission field? How about a mission trip to Bismarck/Mandan, ND?

Are You Thirsty?

2009-05-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

A husband and wife are stranded in the middle of a desert as a result of a plane crash. They have some food, but no water supply that will sustain them. The longer these conditions go on, the more desperate the couple will become. Their minds will start to play tricks on them. A case of bottled water used to be what they dreamed about, but now a single drop of water would be so satisfying they would faint.

A person can live many days without food, but without water the body shuts down in a matter of 3-4 days. The following is a brief description of the beginning stages of a person dying from a lack of water. “Saliva becomes thick and foul-tasting; the tongue clings irritatingly to the teeth and the roof of the mouth. . . . A lump seems to form in the throat . . . severe pain is felt in the head and neck. The face feels full due to the shrinking of the skin. Hearing is affected, and many people begin to hallucinate. . . . [then come] the agonies of a mouth that has ceased to generate saliva. The tongue hardens into 'a senseless weight, swinging on the still-soft root and striking foreignly against the teeth.' Speech becomes impossible, although sufferers have been known to moan and bellow.”

If they don’t get water they will perish. King David’s thirst for God was similar to people stranded in life with no perceived hope. Psalm 63:1 -- “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water" (NLT).

In my quiet time the other day God really spoke to me through this verse. David was alluding to the parched desert land in Judah. The Holy Spirit started speaking to my heart: Do I desperately seek God, as one dying of thirst? Are we earnest, sincere, heartfelt, deep, intense, strong, serious, solemn, sober, about our need for the Savior? I am not earnest as much as I need to be.

David's words do not describe my seeking of God on a regular basis.

How can we foster this, Lord? We need to be earnest. Thirst for You, desire, longing, craving, eagerness, yearning, to have an appetite for You. Why are we not like David with this deep desperate thirst for God? Look at your surroundings. Are they usually dry and weary? Don’t we realize we will die from a lack of God? Having a thirst for God where there is no water is even more crucial.

Help us “overcome acedia.” Give us a thirsty soul for You, O Lord! Amen.

ATTN: Thursday, May 7, 2009 is coming.

2009-04-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

Guess what May 7th is. May 7th is the National Day of Prayer.

I was reminded of this important date as the May issue of the Restoration Herald arrived in my mailbox. Without the reminder on the front cover in bold print, it probably would have slipped past me, although there is usually something in the news (radio or TV) that advertises an ecumenical prayer service for the community to get involved with in our city.

Super Bowl-winning coach, Tony Dungy and NASCAR Legend and current FOX Sports Analyst, Darrell Waltrip, have joined Honorary Chairman, Beth Moore, and Chairman, Shirley Dobson, to challenge America to unite in prayer on the 58th annual National Day of Prayer observance, May 7, 2009.

It’s great that these high powered celebrities are getting involved in promoting prayer. Prayer has, and will always be, part of the fabric of our country. There are many examples in history where prayer seemed to sustain us and grant us various freedoms and victories. I think the goal of this event - “that prayer would move from a one-day event in our lives to a lifetime endeavor” - is the key.

Many people believe that when we started eliminating public prayer from public events it was the beginning of the end in this country. Do you still have a Wednesday night prayer service at your church? How often do you pray in your church service? Is your prayer chain really effective or just another way for gossip to spread? Is prayer the wrap up for the minister’s sermon where he gets in a few more points? Do we stop long enough to listen to God in prayer rather than the same old "I am talking, God, please listen?" Billy Graham once said, "Prayer is spiritual communication between man and God, a two-way relationship in which man should not only talk to God but also listen to Him."

When is the last time you read a book on prayer? How about a sermon series on prayer? The bottom line for me is - I don’t pray enough and with the fervor that God would desire. So why don’t we pray enough (whatever "enough" actually is)? Paul's injunction that we pray without ceasing really convicts a person. It is totally believable that he practised what he preached on that one for sure.

Do you believe that "the quality of our prayer life determines the quality of our relationship with God"? If you had to rate your relationship with God on a scale of 1-10 (10 being terrific) based on that quote where would it be? Are we just dating God or are we actually married to Him?

There seems to be an epidemic of prayerlessness in our country, in our churches and in our lives. When we travel the country to share NPEA with others in churches, we very seldom get people to sign up to pray for this ministry. We have been trying to get mission teams to come once a month and pray over the mission field in Bismarck/Mandan, ND (the site of our next church plant) for the next year and a half, so far two churches have committed to this endeavor.

Have you ever gone on vacation and your prayer life takes a vacation as well? I just hate that when it happens to me. It's like, “Thanks God for this time away to relax and be recharged, I guess I will take a vacation from You as well.”

I have kept a prayer journal for almost 19 years and I have to admit there are days when it is just something I check off my religious list of things to do.

So how do we overcome acedia in our prayer lives? If you need a complete jump start, check out the National Day of Prayer website at ndptf.org/home/index.cfm.

If you want classic inspiration, read anything by E.M. Bounds on prayer. I have also alluded to Bill Hybels classic book on prayer: To Busy Not Too Pray on our website.

I would encourage you to start to journal your prayers. I would set a measureable goal for the number of times you would like to sit down and spend some quiet time with God in conversation. Work on your spontaneous prayer life as well. My wife has helped me gain some perspective on this and do a better job. I built in more listening time for God in my prayer life. I realized I talked way too much and didn’t listen enough at all!

The most important motivator for all of us to speak and listen more to God is simply realizing that “prayer is our love language with our Father”!

Jesus is alive, and so are we!

2009-04-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

The stone was rolled away last Sunday. The big Easter week is now behind us. It was a big week.

You arrived at church, Wednesday night, for the Tenebra service, not the prayer service you usually attend.

Then there was the church service you attended with a friend, on Maundy Thursday.

Your family arrived at 7:00 p.m. for service on Good Friday.

You might have participated in a Seder meal during the week.

Then the Easter Sonrise Service (which was actually about three hours after sunrise) followed by the Easter Service.

Were you exhausted from all the extracurricular activities, or are your spiritual batteries recharged after last week?

This week we have drifted back to normalcy on the church scene. Easter is kind of like going to Macy’s, or any other high end shopping store, and shopping for women’s shoes. If you have ever been in the store and browsed the women’s shoe department, you can’t believe all the choices. Now check out the men’s shoes (as I did this past week), looking for a pair to go with my suit for my son’s wedding on April 25th. There is nothing in the men’s shoe department. It is discriminating. You go from thousands of styles in the women’s department to, like, four in the men’s. Similarly, we go from being overwhelmed by Easter week to the old back to normal routine.

How can we overcome the “post-Easter Blues”? During my quiet time this week God had me reading in I Corinthians 15:14ff. - "And if Christ was not raised all our preaching is useless and your trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation of your sins."

In this new church plant in Corinth some of the believers did not believe in a bodily resurrection. The proof that our earthly bodies will be resurrected is the resurrection of the Lord. Do you want to chase the “post-Easter Blues” away? All you have to do is check out the preceding verses in I Corinthians 15 and realize that there were over 500 eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus Christ! Would a court of law believe 500 eyewitnesses? Would an atheist believe 500 eyewitnesses? Would a person living at 1433 Oak St. believe 500 eyewitnesses? Would you?

Easter changes everything! How do we shake off the “post-Easter Blues”? We dance for joy that the resurrection happened in history, at a specific time, and it changes everything on a daily, monthly, yearly basis, until Jesus returns.

We do not wait until Easter (as the world does) to jump for joy at Christ's resurrection. Easter happened over 2,000 years ago when some women ran to an empty tomb to prepare a dead body with burial spices and discovered, as we do, every day, that Jesus is ALIVE and we are too. "Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus," every day! (Romans 6:11)

Backyard Missionaries

2009-03-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

I get World Magazine (I highly recommend it. It's like a conservative Christian Time magazine) twice a month. I was intrigued by an article entitled "Mission To Metropolis" (Feb. 14, 2009, page 61). The article is about Eric Metaxas who has set up a ministry to reach America’s cultural elites. He makes a statement in the article that is profound. “We cannot delude ourselves into thinking that, simply because they live in America and speak English, these cultural elites have heard the gospel already and have rejected it. If the gospel has not been translated into a language that they understand, and if it has not been brought to them by people with whom they have some cultural affinity, they have not heard it.” Isn’t that statement true no matter what people group we are talking about?

Have you ever noticed that the longer we are in Christ, we become less and less able to speak to those who are different from us? That, of course, is the enemy of evangelism. We are no longer missionaries in our own country, but saints inside the camp. We become more and more separated from those outside the camp, until we slowly begin to think of them as a hostile “other,” rather than broken and exiled parts of our own selves, whom we are commanded by God to heal and restore. How do we get to the point that we have forgotten what it is like to be missionaries in our own backyard? It might be because we no longer know many people who don’t know Jesus. I am guilty of this. When you are involved in ministry it is easy to become suffocated by the saints, how about you? Let’s work on getting out of this!

I was asked a while back to help a church staff contextualize the gospel into their culture. That question really means -- “How can you help us be better missionaries in our culture?” The answer to that question is -- “What are the unsaved people like where you live, and who are you?”

Who are you:

educational level
blue or white collar
income level
race
sex
ethnenticy
sports fan
fisherman
hunter
career woman
stay at home mom
etc.

We need to know who we are because we all tend to hang out with people like us, which is no crime, it is just who we are.

What are they like:

what do they read
what do they watch
where do they hang out
what is important to them

and then the rest of what I already mentioned about you?

If you want to become a better missionary to the culture you live in, get involved with that culture! That culture is not inside the four walls of a church building on Sunday morning.

Eric reminds us that, “We are sinners, too, in need of God’s grace. Or did we think we could get into heaven simply by not watching HBO?” We all need to step up with compassion. Jesus did not come into the world to condem it, but to save it. We will become top notch missionaries in this culture when we have the eyes of Jesus that can see every person with His unconditional love!

How about if we try relating to and loving someone this month whom we did not love before? Will you accept the challenge? Let me know how it comes out.

Mighty for God

2009-03-13T16:37:00.000-07:00

Those in the know say I need to blog at least twice a month for this to be effective at all, so here goes.

I thought I would concentrate on looking at Bible passages during my mid-month blog.

There seems to be a need to dig a little deeper into The Word since acedia sets in in the church when it comes to reading and studying God’s word, too.

This year I am studying the English Standard Version of the Bible for the first time, so the text comes from this translation.

Genesis 10:8 says, “Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be called a mighty man.” I want my first grandson named Nimrod!

What is it to be a mighty man?

How can one be a mighty man for God?

What do I need to do to become a mighty man?

In what areas might I be a mighty man, and in what areas am I lacking?

How about you, are you in for this mighty man stuff?

A Mighty Man: faithful, quality quiet time, study the word, involved in ministry, staying in shape, eating better ("Watch the sweets," for me.), reading (all kinds of genres, stay out of the Christian-book-only trap -- get an insight wherever you can), TV viewing (no filth . . . which means there is little or nothing on . . .), organizational, disciplined (the spiritual kind), see the big picture, help my sons financially (no enabling, please), pastor to pastors (seems to be my niche, right now, and they need it), U.S. missions (across the street first, then across the ocean), good work-ethic, healthy (Get to the gym.), where God wants me to be, honest, and a man of integrity.

How are you doing? (You could also be a mighty woman for God!)

I was thinking then, the opposite of being a Mighty Man of God would be a Midget Man: conditional love (I am good at this.), husband (back seat to career), father (when I have time), encourager (what mercy?), controlling (power), lost friends (Do I know any?), saved friends (I have to many.), offensive, demanding, prideful (selfishness is king), stubborn (sounds like OT Israelites), self-seeking (Hey I can be on the main stage.), too negative at times (negativism, it’s all around us), think the worst at times (the Obama bailout package), work too much (workaholics are kings), not enough relax time (Vacation, what’s that?), condemning of others not on same page with me (I have all the right answers.), not enough of a disciple at times (a life long learner).

Let me hear you. Are you a man or mouse? Are you a Midget Man/Woman or a Mighty Man/Woman of God? The only way I know I can even attempt to be a Mighty Man is if my God is Mighty. Let’s take Him out of the Cracker Jack box. He is not some toy, but the King of the Plant. We can only be Mighty through His Power!

Overcoming Acedia

2009-03-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

I can’t believe I have finally joined the blogosphere. You might be wondering about the title of my blog – “Overcoming Acedia.” I was reading a book review of Overcoming Acedia, by Kathleen Norris. Kathleen Norris resides, certain times of the year, in a family home in Lemmon, SD. I have read two of her other books, Dakota and The Cloister Walk. Maybe you have read them as well? In Overcoming Acedia she talks about her husband passing away and getting much of his medical treatment in Bismarck, ND (which is, Lord willing, where NPEA is going to plant their next church in the fall of 2012).That gives you a little background.

Now back to the title of this blog. Acedia, what is that? Standard dictionary definitions include: “apathy,” “boredom,” or “torpor” (I would have to look that word up). I personally prefer the Greek root, which means “absence of care.” Our modern definitions of the word seem quite shallow, compared to the historical definitions which are more pregnant with meaning.

In the late 19th century, psychiatrists were defining acedia as a mental condition of sadness, mental confusion and apathy, bitterness of spirit, loss of liveliness and utter despair. Acedia oftentimes seems to set in motion a cycle of self-defeating thoughts. It also could be strongly linked to physical and spiritual laziness. Not to get bogged down in definitions, let’s turn to why Overcoming Acedia has become the title of my blog.

As I travel the country and speak in many churches and visit with many people in God’s Kingdom, I see acedia way too often. I have become concerned by the lack of commitment and caring among God’s people: preachers, elders, deacons, and the rest of the Christians sitting in the pews. What has frightened me even more is that I am not immune! My own selfishness has from time to time infected my soul as well, to the point where I lift my hands in the air as my mind says, “Who cares?” Acedia in God’s people, and at times in my own heart, has reached epidemic proportions. We could quarantine it, but that would simply be putting a bandage on a wound where cure is needed. We must overcome acedia!Jesus was anti-acedic! We must follow His example.

This blog will address all aspects of life and how we can join forces in overcoming acedia on a personal level.

This blog will address church life and how we need to identify apathy in the body and once again overcome it.

This blog will address church planting and the need to overcome the laziness that we observe in many of God’s people concerning a practise He mandated.

Jesus was anti-acedic. Our goal is to become like Him. We will be on this journey together so we can look in the mirror and eventually see the face of God. Come enjoy the journey with me!