Monthly Archives: July 2010

That We May Live Before Him

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I spent some time in Florida with my mother and step father this past week. Our last day home we spent a few hours digging through a box of old pictures and news paper clippings.

In the box I found the engagement announcement for my mother and father and was struck by how differently their lives turned out than the the way they planned them.

You see… I was born into the American dream. My mother and father were high school sweethearts and deeply in love with one another. After high school they married and my mom was soon pregnant with my sister, Shawn. My mom and dad had good jobs and were working to renovate our family’s 40-acre farm on one of Florida’s many coastal communities. Nearly a decade passed and then my parents learned that my mother was pregnant again (with yours truly).  But soon after my birth my family history took a tragic turn. One day at work my mother had an accident. She slipped on a wet floor at the job she had worked so hard to apprehend and mangled the bones in her lower back. The injury set in motion a series of unsuccessful surgeries and failed medical experiments that left her in a worse physical condition than the accident itself.

My father handled the stress of the accident rather poorly. His demise began with the alcohol abuse and led to drugs, pornography, and eventually adultery. My mother was disabled and depressed and my father, abandoned his nine-year-old daughter and his newborn son and high school sweetheart. Within two years our American dream had turned into a nightmare.

It seemed as if God had abandoned us and was prematurely ending my family’s story, but God was just beginning His work in us. The prophet Hosea said, “for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.” (Hosea 6:1-2) God was breaking us in order to heal us… and so that we would “live before Him.”

Now 30 years later my father is dead as a result of alcohol abuse. My mother is still disabled as a result of her fall. But God has made a new creation out of my family. One by one each of us turned to Christ in faith and exchanged our sorrow for the joy that is found in knowing Christ Jesus. God provided a new husband for my mother that cared for her in sickness and in health. He provided a new father for my sister and I who modeled selfless love to us. So why did God allow harm to come to us? It was so that he could heal us! Why did he strike us down? It was so that he could pick us up again! He has revived us and caused us to live before him – we are better for it.

“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.” (Hosea 6:1-2)

Helpful Packer Quote

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“God saves sinners. God. – The triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the father electing, the son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirits executing the purposes of the Father and Son by renewing, Saves – Does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies. Sinners- men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, blind, unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot. God saves sinners… Sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, but salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present and future is of the Lord, to whom be glory forever, Amen!”

- J.I. Packer, “Saved by His Precious Blood: An Introduction to John Owens’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ” in A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), 130.

Surfing @ St. Augustine

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I’m spending the week in Florida visiting family and relaxing a bit. The first day of the trip Jennifer and I started reading a novel together, the main character was a surfer… so I decided to carry the theme throughout our trip. Today we rented a long board from the “Surf Station” and hit the waves. All three of the kids got up within the first few attempts. Izzy was wearing “swimmies” as he rode the wave into shore.

Theology Matters

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This weekend we had a great time of worship at Pillar Church. We invited the people of our church to show up an hour early this so that we could have a focused time of prayer for Colby & Annie Garman, our missionaries to Iceland. The Garmans are within a week or two of giving birth of to their third child, Gracie, who has a heart defect. Gracie’s Dr’s are saying she is going to have a series of surgeries after birth. Pillar people gathered to pray that God would heal the baby and send the Garmans back to Reykjavik.

Since the Garman’s are here Colby has been working with me on the church planting material I am working on. This week he finished a chapter on the importance of Theology in the life of a church planter.

Here is an excerpt…

“Now here are a couple of thoughts about how a leader can develop and sharpen their theological discernment.

Read, Read, Read! There is no substitute for literacy.  There is a little maxim that I believe to be true. I am not 100% sure, but thus far it fits everything I know about church leadership. Here it is: Some leaders love to read. Other leaders discipline themselves to read. I have yet to find a respectable leader that does neither. So here are some suggestions about reading

  • Read the Bible. Regardless of what you think about N.T. Wright’s view of justification, he is a great scholar and has done some amazing work in defense of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. When I read The Resurrection of the Son of God I was amazed at the scope of his understanding of the entirety of scripture. Later I remember hearing him discuss his habits in regards to Bible reading and he said that there is no substitute for the repeated reading of scripture (I believe he said that he reads the Old Testament twice every year and the NT four times).
  • Read classic Christian theological works. If someone has long been dead and is still being published there is usually a good reason. Become informed about influential Christian thinkers of the past and read portions of their work.  A few years back I set out to read one Puritan classic each month of the year. Although I did not quite accomplish my goal that year it has led to an ongoing habit of reading books from that era.  Each generation has certain assumptions that they do not test and others that they constantly challenge. Sometimes the greatest problems are in the areas we assume we have right. Reading books from other eras aids us in examining those areas that our own assumes to true.
  • Read authors that disagree with you. Evangelicalism has its people it loves to hate.  We are often tempted to criticize a movement or another Pastor before giving them a fair hearing. You cannot read everything, but if you are going to criticize, it is important to know that you are not misrepresenting someone. Furthermore we develop discernment when we read the best arguments that others have to offer and take time to critique what they have to say.”

Tomatos and Feet Fungus

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Another Excerpt…

“When it comes to churches the same is true, healthy churches grow. Good healthy churches and bad healthy churches. Mormonism for example is “healthy” and has grown very rapidly since Joseph Smith, Jr., founded the movement with only 6 members in 1830. In a little over 175 years Mormon membership has grown exponentially. As of December 31, 2009 there were over 13.8 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide.  So here’s a question… Are we supposed to view the growth of the Mormon church as a sign that God is blessing it? Absolutely not! Not any more than God is blessing the fungus that grows on your foot.

As you are planting a new church you will be tempted to organize your ministry like a successful business, to make the system healthy so that the ministry will grow. Others will try to convince you that since people matter to God, getting as many of them as possible to your church will please God. So in order to get the average Joe out of bed on Sunday morning you will hone your skills on Photoshop and update your church’s Facebook profile every day.  You will place yard signs and radio ads while awaiting a deluge of secular people to walk in Sunday morning.

Please don’t do this, it’s just goofy. We are responsible for fidelity and God is responsible for growth. The truth is, churches can grow through advertisement and marketing but that’s not the type of growth that you should seek for your new church. The Apostle Paul, after seeing some of the most tremendous growth in church history, commented on the source of the growth, he said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.” Wouldn’t it be great to look back at five or ten years of ministry and say, “Wow, did God make it grow!” It seems that today’s pastors are seeking a quick growth strategy for their church. And are willing to trade quick growth for real Holy Spirit work. It’s a pastoral version of a get-rich-quick scheme. Pastors sit around conference tables with other staff members racking their brains trying to figure out how to “break the 200 barrier” (Since when are 200 souls a barrier?) or get more of God’s enemies (Rom 5:10) involved in the church. Every decision about music, service order, style of speech, attire, programs and ministries is aimed at making church attractive for non-Christians.

This is a form of idolatry. It would be like my wife walking into her closet and asking the question, “What could I wear today that will bring pleasure to the men in my community?” My wife does not belong to the men that live on my street or in my neighborhood, she belongs to me. Likewise, the church does not belong to the unregenerate, but to Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the means by witch God will draw lost men to himself. No my wardrobe, not my translation. We are far too concerned with “Saddleback Sam” and not concerned enough with the author and finisher of all things, Christ”

What to Sacrifice?

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Here are a few more excerpts from the Church Planter material I have been working on…

“If I had a dollar for ever time someone has advised me not to “sacrifice my family on the altar of ministry” I could travel to Home Depot and buy all the materials necessary to build my own brazen altar complete with a glistening bronze overlay and duel ash pans (See 1 Sam. 1). Perhaps I am given this advice so regularly because my family is often seen involved with me in the work of the ministry. I can imagine what must be going through the minds of my self-appointed advisers when they see my four year old son pushing cases full of equipment in an out of the school where we meet each weekend or when my six year old daughter is seen walking door to door with me as I visit homes in my community.

If you are a pastor who is also a husband and a father you will feel a constant tension between the work of the ministry and your duties as the leader of your home. Let me offer this simple suggestion; instead trying to avoid sacrificing your family on the alter of ministry, Sacrifice the dream of a quintessential American family on the altar of ministry. As a pastor you should do all that you can to involve your wife and children in the joys and pains of serving the body of Christ.

Isn’t it ironic that we celebrate Hanna and Abraham for their willingness to lay their offspring down on the alter yet advise our ministers to do the opposite? Think about it… Hanna carried Samuel to the temple with the rest of her offerings as soon as he was weaned, “she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh.” We exalt her faith and figuratively join her in our commitment to give our children to the Lord. Yet in our own homes we strive for a balance between ministry and family. Then there is Abraham; what a great example right? This guy actually carried his boy up to a mountain to kill him with a knife because God told him to (Gen 22). How many times have we celebrated Abraham’s faith from the pulpit but neglected his example in our living room.

Just as a real shepherd might take his child out to tend sheep with him, when possible, I take mine to tend sheep with me. I want them to learn what I do and I want to spend time with them, because of this, it only makes since to bring them with me. Sure, it’s not very professional, but then again, professionalism is not the goal of a pastor or a dad. There have been times when my children have done more to minister in hospital rooms and on the front porches than I was able to. This doesn’t mean that everything we do as a family is centered on the work of ministry but it does mean that much of what we do is aimed at serving our local congregation. It also means that there are fewer hours in the day for the activities that do not benefit the church. Please, don’t feel sorry for my children or my wife. They are not slaves begging for more time on the baseball field or at the local park. Trust me, my children are well acquainted with the inside of a Chuck-E-Cheese. But they are also acquainted with the fact that even in Chuck-E-Cheese we are ministers of the gospel.”

Pastor as CEO

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This week I  passed by a church near my house and noticed a subtle memo on the bottom of the church sign. As I think more about it, maybe it should be included on many more church signs around the nation. The sign read, “Mt. Hope Ministries, Dr. Raymond A Bell Jr, Senior Pastor/CEO”. I visited Mt. Hope’s website and was disappointed to see that Dr. Bell’s title there is simply, “Senior Pastor”. But the sign was probably accurate. Dr. Bell’s is likely the Chief Executive Officer of his flock. His job probably includes a combination of pasturing and CEOing. The problem is this… CEO’s and pastors have nothing in common… so to have one man serve both roles is impossibility. A good CEO makes a bad Pastor and a good Pastor makes a bad CEO. Consider the Jobs…

  • The Pastor  gives his life for his sheep (1 Peter 5:4) while the CEO views humans as “resources” and organizes them for mass profitability.
  • The Pastor suffers hardship like a good soldier (2 Tim 2:3) while the CEO lives in comfort and luxury.
  • The Pastor is not a lover of Money (1 Tim 3:3; 1 Peter 5:2) while the CEO exists to make as much money as possible for himself, his investors and his company.
  • The Pastor is not “puffed up with conceit” (1 Tim 3:6) while the CEO receives notoriety.
  • The Pastor is “not domineering over those in his charge, but an example to the flock” while the CEO exercises authority and terminates those that does not “produce”.

When I think of CEO’s I think of Donald trump types, appointment books lined with opportunities for  jet-setting and hobnobbing. But this is not the Pastor’s life… The job of a pastor (if done well)  is a life of sacrifice and service. A pastor is a shepherd… In fact, he’s an under-shepherd.  I imagine a stiff in a 3 piece suit shading himself under a tree surrounded by loud smelly sheep… I’d expect him to whip out his cell phone and call for a chopper to deliver him from a nightmare.

Or maybe we put a Shepard at the head of a table in a board room… We give him an assistant and a six figure income… the company is headed for ruin!

The point is… these are different jobs…. they are not compatible. You may be the senior pastor of a particular congregation, you are not “the” senior pastor. The Bible says that Jesus is the senior pastor (1Peter5:4).

The majority of pastors who read this would never refer to themselves as CEO’s… but we do tend to act more like CEO’s than pastors.

God, forgive us.  We took this job to serve you but we can’t stop serving ourselves. Change our minds and set our affections on you. Amen.