Check This Out

This blog post reminds me of a series we did in our first month - talking about "fat" Christians who only want to feed themselves. The blogger compares it to "fit" Christians who understand that opportunities should exist for others, not just ourselves.

Read it HERE

Don't Tell Me You Can't

I count myself extremely blessed. I am married to a wonderful woman - I definitely married above me. I've got 5 healthy and active kids each with their own individual personality. I get paid to care about people and help them care about others because Jesus cares about us all. I get to do ministry with people I really like being around. I have friends all over, from Korea, Iraq and England to Minnesota, Florida and Texas. I could go on...

So when Lora asked if she could take Sarah to the $1 morning movie after dropping the boys off at wrestling camp, I told her sure. Now, that means I'm at the house with a one year old that can't really entertain herself, but I count it my privilege.

So when Lora called to tell me she felt guilty and I about hung up on her - stop feeling guilty for letting me be a dad to my daughter so you can be a mom to yours! (nothing personal honey)

Could I get anything done? Yep. Just not work related. Hannah and I rolled around on the floor, cuddled, "talked" to each other (I speak pretty fluent baby) and I just laid her down for a nap. Is it sometimes hard to balance work and family? Of course, that's actually one of the few stupid questions that actually exist.

But I believe that my success as a person, my success as a pastor, rests squarely on the foundation of my success as a husband and father. I finished reading Andy Stanley's book, Choosing to Cheat (cheaper if you buy direct) about a month ago, and he's right - we all cheat somewhere. Unfortunately for families everywhere, too many people cheat their families and wouldn't even think of "cheating" work. Is it because you might get fired and at least your family can't fire you??? Face it, if people needed to perform up to a certain standard in order to keep their "job" as parents, some kids would fire their parents in a minute if they could (and it won't matter how much $$$ they throw at 'em) For that matter, some spouses would fire their "beloved" too - because they're failing to live up to expectations.

But no, we make excuses, lower expectations, settle for less than the best and then gather together to complain about it, realize that we're not the only ones and think we can at least feel a bit better knowing there are other people who are as miserable and unfulfilled as we are. That's not something to cheer about, it's something we should help change.

So come on people. Leave work early and take your wife out or take your kids fishing or camping or something. If you think you "can't" take time off of work, maybe it's time you start looking for a new job (and stop making excuses about why you "can't" do that either)

Why I Like Discovery

Yesterday at church we saw a number of firsts.

• We saw the worship leader for a new church that's coming to town speaking to Discovery Church on prayer (we'll see it again for two more weeks).
  
  
• We saw about 25 people join me in the "upper room" for 30 minutes of prayer for our city before the service (if we can keep those kinds of numbers that will be huge)
  
  
• We saw the unveiling of our Aviom system which allows us to get rid of the stage monitors, clean up the sound, and let the band decide what they want to hear themselves.
  
  
• We saw our worship leader Davey say, "I have an announcement. I asked Janelle to marry me...and....SHE SAID YES!" (congratulations Davey)
  
  
• And we saw the Boys and Girls Club at 7AM since we had to finish set up on Sunday for the first time since we've moved back in April. Thanks to all those great Discovery people who came out to help AND stayed afterwards.

Windows and Doors

Been waiting for something we ordered to get here. Even paid extra to have it shipped quicker and guarantee delivery by the weekend. Ever thought how that is a little bit like how we sometimes pray?

Think about it. Jesus tells us that we can ask for anything and we'll get it (if of course we obey him). So we go to him in prayer and "place an order." Sometimes we spend a little extra time hoping to have our answer arrive earlier than it would with "regular delivery." And then what do we do? We just sit there and stare out the window waiting for the delivery truck to show up.

But Jesus also told us that sometimes we need to be a little more proactive and persistent, like load up and drive the truck ourselves. In other words, don't just phone in your order....keep calling and make sure it gets delivered to you on time. You know, pray without ceasing kinda stuff - not look out the window and wait for your answer to be "delivered."

What's the take away? Right now I'm just praying UPS arrives today. No, seriously, I'm working on not staring out the window so much and instead, continually knocking on the door. Already seeing some answers.

And I'm praying for the guys from Integrity who are going to be teaching us about prayer for the next three weeks. You won't want to miss it. Starts this Sunday.

Change

Change just for the sake of change is not a good thing, but that doesn't mean change is bad. Rapidly changing circumstances require changes in approach and even in plans. There's no shortage of change in a church plant.

We've changed locations three times (four if you count moving out of my house), changed the people who speak, changed what we load, how we load and where we load it, changed the set up, changed our print stuff, changed our sound board, speakers, band members and singers. We've even changed over a few staff in the 15 months we've been at this thing. And there's been no shortage of date changes.

So I've decided not to get too frustrated when we try to let our people know something ahead of time, only to get new information that changes everything. For instance, over the past couple of months that we've been at the Boys and Girls Club we've been able to set up on Saturday night. We've made our stage, curtains, sound and everything else available to the BGC and the people who rent space from them as long as we have a bit of advance notice. So this weekend, we were told there was going to be a wedding reception and that it'd be done late on Saturday. Of course we offered to set up and hadn't heard anything in a couple of weeks.

So yesterday we send out an email to our PARTners and regular attendees asking them to help set up on Sunday morning bright and early (7AM). About five hours later I get a call. The BGC and wedding party would like stuff set up on Friday night so they can decorate for the reception that's on Saturday. And everything will be done by 6:30PM! That's when we'd normally set up.

Oh well, I'll just need to call the generous people who've responded that they'll come help on Sunday and let them know that plans have changed. And I'm ok with that. God does that sometimes. That's how I ended up planting a church. It's how I ended up in Greenville. It's how Claude got here. Same with Randy and Laci. Plans changed, and so far, that's been a good thing.

Family Time

It's Wednesday and I'm really working at taking the whole day off (so sometimes I might not post on Wed). Anyhow, just got back from taking the boys out to the new theater where they have $1 movies in the morning during the summer. We saw Shark Tale.

I hadn't seen it before and after our series on God in Film, I look at it differently. Here's a few of the lessons I saw in it.

You don't have to be "successful" to be important. In the movie, a fish is tired of being a "nobody" and wants to do something great so he can be a "somebody." My kids don't and won't care if I'm a great pastor who's considered successful. I'm important to them as a Dad, as their mentor/teacher, and as the spiritual leader of our home. People get so caught up in succeeding at work that a lot of them fail at home. I'm not going to be one of those people.

You don't have to be like everyone else, or even your family, wants you to be. There's this shark in the movie who's a vegetarian and isn't really accepted by his Dad or brother. I've spoken with a lot of people who are still trying to live up to the dreams and expectations that their parents had for them and they find themselves constantly disappointed because they'll never be good enough. Parents, we have a lot of power over our kids future. Speak truth into it, but also speak life. Let your kids be themselves, don't try to make them be you. And don't turn them into something they're not - the second they leave home you'll be left wondering why they're so different.

Check the facts, don't buy the lie. The fish in the movie tells a huge lie that he killed a shark and people (fish) just believe him. Especially in America I think we have a mob mentality. Whatever the masses are doing, are wearing, are watching or think is cool, we just join in. We're a bunch of bandwagoneers. Just check your inbox and see how many "I know this is true" emails you have from well-meaning individuals who didn't bother to check the facts. If they had, they'd know you don't get paid for forwarding emails, good luck won't come if you do, and there's no little kid still trying to receive the most get well cards.

So any of you learned any lessons from the movies lately?

How -vs- Who

One of the things I constantly struggle with is trying to make it all work. There are many days when I feel like I'm spread too thin because I'm being asked questions that really aren't "mine" to answer or I'm working on problems that really aren't "mine."

A good example of this is our worship. I've lead worship, run sound and set up video stuff for a number of years, but I'm certainly not the "go-to guy" for any of it. Yet I have my opinions and, not to be cocky, my opinions actually matter since I'm the lead pastor. Still, when we have differences of opinion about volume, mix, song choice, video solutions etc., somebody needs to take care of "solving" those "problems" and it shouldn't have to be me. So why do I have such a hard time letting others solve it?

I've come to the conclusion that it's because I care. Unfortunately though, I've decided that I don't care enough. Now, it's not that I don't care enough about the sound, lights, video, etc, it's that I don't care enough about the people that are serving there. You see, rather than trying to make all the decisions and fix all the little issues, I should be looking for opportunities to help others learn. I should be giving them clearer expectation, more regular (and honest) feedback, and helping them grow as leaders.

Does everything from sound and video, to signs and hospitality to greeters and follow up matter? Of course. But the people responsible for it matter more. After all, I'm in the people business because people matter to God.

The take-a-way? Stop focusing so much time and energy on HOW things are done and start investing in the WHO.