22 Dec This & That

A notice to those of you from the UB Church…if you sent me an e-mail during the last week and have not received an answer, you might want to resend it. We installed a new email server, and in switching over some of the messages may have been lost in “tech-no-space.”

Just finished the book, Healing The Heart of Your Church. I recommended it earlier and I would echo that earlier recommendation. Much in this book relates to our churches. I hope to place some emphasis on corporate repentance at the National Conference. You might like to get a copy and read it before then. If you have trouble finding it, let me know. You can order it from our bookstore by calling 1-888-622-3019.

One of the books that I started this week is Christian Coaching, by Gary Collins. So far it is a good book on the topic. I am reading it because, for some time since being in this office, I have felt the need for a coach to help me keep and stay focused, among other things. I recently entered into a coaching arrangement with a gentleman whom I respect greatly. I was a basketball player in my younger years and have dealt with coaches in that area of my life. I was blessed to have several men mentor me in my early Christian walk. I have been encouraged by many people in my life, but I’ve never really had anyone to coach me since I left sports. So, we’ll see if you can teach and old dog new tricks.

Have a great Christmas and New Year. I hope your team wins its bowl game! Go Buckeyes!

22 Dec Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

I have been struggling since Monday evening with Vertigo and all that is associated with it. If you don’t know what that is I’ll spare you but is has something to do with meeting up close and personal a porcelain object kept in a small room in the house. Anyway, I did it to myself. I had purchased a new de-humidifier for the basement and of course that was some assembly required as I wanted it to drain to the sump. Hooking up the drain hose I had to bend over and look in an opening to attach the hose. Bending over and looking up at the drain attachment “thing-a-ma-jiggly” I gave myself a good case of vertigo. I’ve had this ability (I’m not so sure it is an ability as it is a curse) to make myself sick by bending over and looking up at something. Sometimes just laying on my back and looking up will do it. But it is an experience I can definitely live without.

As soon as I bend over and cocked my head to look under the de-humidifier I realized I had made a serious mistake. The room began to spin and I immediately got sick and it is hard to run to the bathroom when the whole place is spinning like a top. Anyway, to make a long story shorter, after a trip to the doctor and getting 3 prescriptions I am doing better today. I can walk reasonably straight and the world is staying in place instead of spinning.
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20 Dec Accountability and Goals

As I have had the privilege of sharing the Strategic Plan for the future of the UB Church, I have heard a call from key leaders: make accountability real. We have spoken about setting goals for reaching the lost so that we are working strategically. It makes sense that if you don’t intentionally seek to reach five people for Christ, you won’t reach one. Setting goals in no way removes the Lord from the work. Nothing can happen apart from Him. The goals are simply our faith in action in an intentional, strategic manner.

The question is this: Am I willing to be held accountable? Or would true accountability bring to light my failure to work in a systematic way that frees the church to reach lost people? Would it show that I am simply taking care of keeping already saved people happy while not making them or others true disciples of Jesus Christ?

Many want to settle for fellowship as a standard of good meetings. We support each other and pray for each other. But fellowship without accountability will not help us mature and grow in ministry.

This question must be answered by us all. It is key to the future of our ministries.

12 Dec “Of writing of books there is no end….”

Someone recommended to me the book by Bill Easum, Unfreezing Moves. It is not a brand new book, having been published in 2001, but it is worth reading. While I do not agree with everything Easum says, I found the book to be challenging and worth the time to read it. Reading it is the simple thing to do. Acting on what it teaches is not so simple.

The book’s focus is on helping readers identify their church as “stuck or unstuck” and then give the prescriptions needed to become “unstuck” as a congregation and follow Jesus into the mission field.
Chapter two, “The Systems Story,” is a particularly good chapter if you have never thought about the systems that are in a church. But section two, “Unfreezing Moves,” where Easum takes 9 moves that a church needs to make in order to become unfrozen, was worth the price of the book.

My heart aches when I go out to many of our churches and find them controlled by people who are carnal at best, who just want to control everybody and everything. That, by the way, may be the pastor as well as the people.

Many of our churches have been and are being choked to death by unspiritual controllers. I used to say, “O but they mean well,” but I’ve changed my tune. I am not sure they mean well at all; they just want their own way and control. If they meant well, they would be willing to look at their ministry area as a mission field, themselves as missionaries. and be wiling to move heaven and earth to see lost people come to Jesus. Sad to say, but most controllers are not even interested in seeing lost people come to Jesus. They are only interested in controlling the status quo.

We need leaders with the courage to lead in new directions. If you think you are one, then reading this book, especially Part Two, will give a good overview of what your task is. If you are one of those leaders and you decide to challenge the status quo, I will be your biggest cheerleader.

04 Dec Off to a Good Start

Pat Jones, Mark Ralph, and I spent this past weekend at Banner of Christ UB church in Grand Rapids, Mich., conducting our first Church Consultation Weekend. The initial response was very positive. These consultation weekends are a crucial part of the Strategic Transition Plan developed to transition our churches into becoming healthy, vibrant congregations that are missional in mindset with an outward focus on reaching lost people in our communities. While I realize that the consultation weekend is just the first step in the process, it is an important first step that gives a congregation a snapshot of where they are, where they want to be, and a roadmap for the journey.

This consultation weekend is not–and I repeat, not–something that we require for all of our churches. It is not a program you must buy. Rather, it is a service we provide to any church that desires our help in evaluating where they are, where they want to be, and the steps to get there. So, any of our churches that want such a service may contact my office and we can discuss further what is required and a time frame.

Right now, the consultation team is myself, Pat Jones, and your cluster leader (Mark Ralph, pastor of the UB church in Sunfield, Mich., is Banner of Christ’s cluster leader). Both Pat and I received training to conduct these weekends, and in January we will expose all of our cluster leaders to some initial training in the process.

A second consultation is already scheduled for another Michigan church. Again, this is entirely a service we provide to our churches. Some churches may never need such a service, and that is great and fine. But others might see some real benefit from it. I’d be happy to talk with you.

But here is the bottom line: whether or not you schedule a consultation weekend is not an issue with me. Seeing our churches become healthy, missional, with an outward focus in reaching their community–that is a serious issue with me. What I want from our churches is not the issue, either, but what God wants. And he has told us what that is: make disciples (Matt. 28:16-20) by evangelizing, educating, and enlisting. If this office can help you become engaged in this great task, all you need to do is ask!

28 Nov Engaging God

This afternoon I am attending the first of four seminars scheduled for HU’s new program in worship leadership. The seminar will bring together senior pastors and worship pastors “to encourage greater mutual understanding between the roles and personalities that are mutually dependent on each other” (quote from a letter announcing the seminar). So I have been giving some thought to worship.

Here is some of what I believe abut worship.

First, it is always for an audience of One. Regardless of the size of the congregation, whether one or thousands, the audience of the worship is still just One. The audience is always God! It is for His benefit, for His pleasure. It is not about me, it is all about Him. Yet when I have been privy to worship wars, it is amazing how much of the argument is about what “I” want, what are “my” preferences, and what makes “me” feel good. Not a lot of thought about God in all of that.

Now, we all have our own preferences, and that is fine. But when we presume that our preferences are also God’s preferences, I think we have pushed our preferences too far. So we argue about our preferences, things like whether or not there should be drums in the sanctuary, or electric guitars, or a Praise band. Is drama okay, or video clips from who knows where?

Should we sing the Doxology or do responsive readings, project song lyrics on a screen or use hymnbooks? Or should we _____ (you fill n the blank). The argument about worship becoming entertainment is a shallow one as well. Worship is all about entertainment! Not for our entertainment, but His!

Now, if God truly is the audience of One, don’t you think He ought to have a “dog in the fight” so to speak? Don’t you think we ought to seek what God wants? “Yeah, and just how do you suppose we are to find that out, come on,” you may say. Well, what about searching the Scriptures? For example, what is worship like in Heaven? You can get a glimpse of it in the book of Revelation in those scenes of what happens around the throne. Go back and read those passages and ask yourself whether any of that resembles your worship. Worship is much more than which instruments we play or what songs we sing or whether or not we use hymnals. Worship is really about engaging with God and doing worship for His benefit. Worship is not primarily for me, it is for Him because He is worthy. We do act and talk sometimes like worship is really about me and for me.

Second, I believe that if a local church does not truly engage God in worship on a regular basis, that church will become very inward focused. When we begin to focus so much on what “I’ want in worship, that selfish attitude carries over into other areas of church ministry, such as, say, evangelism. You will never see people around you as “lost” until you see God in His majesty and holiness. Don’t believe me, check out Isaiah 6. Our empty altars and baptismal pools attest to our lack of truly engaging God in our worship.

Third, I believe that true worship is for the corporate Body as it gathers together, but it is also for me as an individual. There is power when the Body joins together in true worship. I am energized by my brothers and sisters as we engage God together. But I can also engage God in true worship individually. True worship is why I was created, to enjoy God and worship Him forever.

I’ve talked a lot in the past about our need to be outward focused. I still believe that. But engaging God in true worship may be the very first step to becoming outward focused.