Climbing The Summit 25,000Feet!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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?"

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.

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?

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?

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.

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!

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)