Day #2 Conditioning and Comfort

Today was torture.  My health issues today provoked misery.  One of the worst I've had in quite some time.  But what do you do?  I SOOOO wanted to turn the TV on just to focus my mind on something other than how miserable I was feeling.  It could've easily been justified.  Several times I almost caved in.  But something kept me going--hope.

If somehow I KNEW that the Lord was going to speak to me some great things I would keep going.  Although if truth be told my Bible study and time with the Lord have been a bit dismal too.  But if maybe the Lord in this different kind of fast would use it the time to say something, I would keep going.  But I don't know.  I don't know if he'll speak.  There are times before in regular kind of fasts that I haven't heard things from the Lord.  But hope that He will keeps me going.

I also on a less spiritual note realize how much of what we do is based on conditioning.  When I live totally on my own TV is never a problem because I don't have one and don't want one.  But here, when I sit in a certain place in the living room grabbing the remote and turning on the TV is what I do. Either that or read a book.   Lots of books.  It's conditioning.  What do you do in the evening when you ban yourself from TV and books and there's no one in the house?  Still discovering that as there's only so much internet a person can take.  And today, again, to study the Word and to pray, well that too has felt like a challenge when I don't feel good and my brain is fogged.

But at the end of the day, I made it through. 

The Trap of Quanifiable Value

Never before has life been so quantifiable.  Teens can actually put numbers to how well they are liked by others (Facebook and Twitter followers) or how what they do is received or how their latest new purchase strikes others (instragram likes).  It's no different when we come to how many people read our blog, like our posts, watch our YouTube videos, engage in our fundraising requests and read our book.   It's in church too.  It's quantifiable how many seats are filled, the latest building project in the works, how many converts have been made, etc...   And every time we weigh ourselves on our bathroom scales, there's a lurking quantifiable value trying to tell us something we're not.   It's all about numbers.   And without even our awareness these numbers like a stealthy leach secretly attach themselves to suck some of our feeling of value. 

At the root is a craving for significance.  We want to know we are valued.  We've heard that we are to get our value in Christ and we give our whole-hearted head shake to this truth, but we also want to know we are valued by others.  We want to know our life has meant something on this earth.

Daily we are bombarbed with thousands of messages that challenge our value.  Are you married?  Do you have a bomb-shell wife or a handsome husband?  Are your children Harvard scholars and saints of God?  Do you have a nice house?  Do you make good money?  Do you have an important position at work?  What social injustice are you engaged in to change the world?  Are you skinny enough?  Beautiful enough?  Smart enough?  Commercials breed discontent faster than wild bunnies.

Personally I've never found it to be a one-time fight.  This battle to know who we are through and in Christ.    Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose.  Perhaps this is why the "new command" Jesus gave is to "love one another."  Because when we do,  we help give someone a victory.  Twice today I received an email that encouraged my heart.   It was far better than 1000 likes on any post.  Thank you Christine and Lorrain.  You helped give me victory today.

Day 1: The Discovery of Story

I have the house to myself (except the guard dog and a handful of kitties) for the next 10 days so I'm embarking on a fast from TV and from books.  Internet is allowed but not to worry because with limited bandwidth even YouTube videos are treats.  And today is the first day. 

And being the first day I've felt terrible all day.  No energy.  Pushed it too far yesterday.  And more than anything I want to do nothing and watch brainless TV, as my brain isn't in a place to think, do or talk to people.  If I'm honest I don't even feel like reading Scripture or praying, although maybe it would do me good.

But my discovery today is how much we as humans crave story.  TV is story.  Movies are story.  Books are story.  We long for story.  But even more than that we long to be part of one--a story bigger than ourselves.  We long to be an influential player in the story.  People can and do change the world all the time and on large scales.  But most of us wonder how our mark on the world will be made.

So I'm praying today.  And asking God what is my part in His story. 

Study

Information does not necessarily bring transformation.  Transformation comes through joy-filled submission.

One of the gifts of getting older is that you have more years to see the faithfulness of God. With greater trust comes greater rest.

Prayers

A prayer not prayed is like a seed not planted.

Leadership Lessons

Good words from one who is part of the organization I've worked with.

My Advice for Young Leaders: 7 Important Considerations

Jeremy Bardwell

April 29, 2014

These babies are worth their weight in gold. These 7 leadership considerations have come from hard work, a chorus of voices in my life pouring into me, and of course from studying the word, and learning the ways of God. Give this a read and let the Holy Spirit speak to you! If you are moved by one in particular, feel free to share this with your friends. Love you all. – Jeremy

1.) NEVER LOSE THE FIRST COMMANDMENT!

My advice for young leaders? Dive deep in receiving the love of God! Let him firmly root and ground your heart in His love. Ministry will not satisfy you emotionally at the end of the day. It is dangerous to not have a deep grasp of his love and pleasure for you. If you don’t you will try and fill that void with “success” or the “approval of man” or “temporary pleasures” all of which are pit falls that can derail your destiny. Never lose the first commandment!

2.) JESUS IS BETTER THAN A TITLE!

My advice to young leaders? Make your life about moving God’s heart! King David moved Gods heart on the hillside then was put in leadership over a nation. Once promoted, the test is – will you continue to keep your life aimed at moving His heart? The second you get more worried about your job security than what would move His heart your in dangerous, fruitless, and boring waters! What title or position can even compare to Jesus?! …NONE!!

3.) BE A TRUSTED VESSEL…

My advice for young leaders? If relational tension causes you to lose sleep now, don’t aspire to leadership quickly! In this season, allow the Lord to set your identity in his love, and purge you from man pleasing and insecurity. Remember, we are not aspiring to lead for any other reason except to obey his word completely and see heaven invade earth. So, ask yourself this: “Could I be trusted with a precious word from His heart and not waver to the right or the left because of controversy or popular opinion?” Go deeper by praying over yourself daily, “Lord, give me THICK SKIN and a TENDER UNOFFENDABLE HEART. I want to be A TRUSTED VESSEL to carry out your HISTORY SHAPING WORDS.”

4.) DON’T GET DISTRACTED BY SIZE.

My advice for young leaders? Remind yourself constantly: It is not the size of your ministry that will matter at the end of the age, it is the size of your whole hearted love and complete obedience to the word of the Lord over your life!

5.) DRAW ATTENTION TO JESUS.

My advise for young leaders? Drawing attention to your weaknesses out of “humility” is still drawing attention to yourself. Let your life be a transparent window that clearly displays Jesus and magnifies his glory. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less!

6.) LIVE FREE OF COMPARISON.

My advise for young leaders? If you cannot freely celebrate someone else’s success or promotion, than you should cry out to God and repent of jealousy and comparison. The scripture says, where jealously and selfish ambition exist there will be every kind of evil! Jesus is so committed to you that he will not release you into leadership until you learn how to release others who will go farther than you!

7.) WAIT FOR HIS COMMISSIONING…

My advice for young leaders? Serve – set an example – live a focused personal life – and WAIT for HIS commissioning. NEVER ambitiously pursue a position. Go low – trust – dive into the word and prayer relentlessly – and don’t take yourself too seriously! You will have the rest of your life to carry responsibility; rejoice that you can just worry about you and Him right now. How you use this season is directly connected to your future!!

Good Leadership is about Right Relationship

"If you put people first, you will get your task complete. If you push people aside for the sake of your task, you strain relationships and you decrease the anointing and blessing of God on your task. How you do things matters as much as what you get done."

Lisa Orvis

He Hates

God HATES sin.  He HATES it.  And sometimes we take it personal as we try out best to not go the pathway of sin.  And yet when I see someone I know and live destroyed by sin.  As I look at the news and see how greed and corruption and self-interest is destroying whole nations, I know why God hates it.  I hate it too!!  Every sin destroys something beautiful he has made. 

Gutted at the cross

I was thinking earlier today that something that must have been beyond painful was for Jesus to look down and see the utter grief and despair of his mother.  The road of obedience and his purpose in life caused excruciating pain to the one on earth he most loved.  And he couldn't even put his arm around her to comfort her.  Thus John.  One of the most touching and moving moments of a terrible crucifixion.

The invitation?

I think sometimes we would do better to invite people to Jesus as the Scriptures say rather than to our churches first.  Church is the fruit of gathering together those who are following after Jesus.

What are we teaching?

After Jesus told them to go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, he then told them to teach Bible stories.  Actually, this is the truth.  We are told repeatedly to tell the stories of God's faithfulness from one generation to the next (Ps 71:18).  But this Scripture takes it a step beyond and gives the focus of our teaching:  we teach others to obey.

We don't just teach so that there is increased knowledge.  We don't teach for teaching's sake.  We teach for obedience.  But how do we do this and not become some control freak church or ministry?  Or a church or school that teaches knowledge but not obedience?

The only true way to approach this is to ask, "How did Jesus teach obedience?"

The Great Commission and a Great Big Mirror

We've heard it so many times we probably have rarely stopped to ponder it:

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."  Mat 28:18-20

This has been something I've been pondering a lot lately as I'm relooking at how we do things(future posts probably to come).

When we think of the word "Go" we tend to think of missionaries in Africa or in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.  This is a valid form of "Go" but may I also add that I think the best place to go is the living room?

Traditional church structure is based very much on an attractional model.  Being a beautiful building in the city (tends to be more in the Catholic realm) or if you have a functional building, make your service attractive--good music, good dramas, good preaching, video clips, etc...  (Protestant realm).  Then be really nice to visitors and have a shake-hands time in your church to meet them in hopes they'll come back.  There's been a real trend lately to establish "churches for those who don't like church" but their methods are generally the same, just different attraction points for different people.  And honestly, if it brings people into the kingdom, I'm good with that.  Although I'm pondering if there is a better way for a different season of our country.  The attractional model isn't working well.  Church is good for churched people but unchurched people aren't coming.

The heart of the Great Commission is to go.  It doesn't say to invite people to come (although this has borne some fruit).  When I travel and have gone into new churches, it's like entering a foreign country where I've invaded a person's social club.  I don't know the rules nor the people and I don't know when to sit and when to stand (especially at communion).  It is at times just awkward.  If I as a Christitan am uncomfortable, are we asking seekers and unbelievers to do the same?  Come into our strange world vs. entering into theirs?  This isn't just about having "church" at the local bar.  It's deeper than that.  It's "going" to where they are at, meeting others on their turf, in their culture with their questions.

When we look at Jesus this is exactly what he was doing.  He was in the Pharisees's house, at the tax-collector's party, in the home of Lazarus, etc...  Over and over he met people where they were at, even inviting himself into their homes (Zacchaeus).  It wasn't about them coming to the synagogue service, it was about him going to their living room.

The word "disciple" is another one, probably even moreso that I've been percolating on.  Interesting that Jesus nowhere says to make "converts" or to "plant churches."   With converts and church plants we have something we measure and can pat ourself on the back as we carve another notch in our evangelism belt.  But with discipleship and "making disicples"?  It never ends.  There is always room to grow. And the truth is that there are a lot of people in church who are attenders.  Wouldn't you love to see a lot more disciples? Perhaps the reason is our methods.  We make converts, plant churchs, feel good about ourselves and move on.  But have we made disciples?

Baptism.  It was the way people responded to the gospel and in Scripture it was almost always public.  It wasn't about raising your hand, asking Jesus into your heart, filling out a card, or saying the sinner's prayer.  (All of which are very good.)  But the entry point of a person coming to Christ was baptism.  John 4 opening verses say that an accusation was brought against Jesus that he was "making and baptizing" more disciples than John, although it was his disciples doing the baptizing.  But clearly in so many scriptures baptism is where people said "I do."  Perhaps we should use Acts 2:38 in our gospel presentation in addition to Romans 10:9. 

So where is this going?  These are observations that are based on wanting to see a change that changes a nation.  Our country needs Jesus desperately and we must pray for it daily, but like the sons of Issachar we need to be wise to the times.  I believe to do this it begins with us "going" as the Scripture says and not expecting that they "come,"  that we make disciples and not just converts, and that people understand obedience and being filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) that they can be empowered to live His life and do so with His power.  But to do so we need to be intentional.  And it isn't just about creating another method to fill the church buildings. 

Cost and College

About a year or two ago the college I attended was slammed for not being "cost-effective."  A blogger asked that people negate this by posting "Worth it!" if they disagreed.  I was about to add my voice too when I stopped.   I tried again but I just couldn't do it.

I had a great college experience, wonderful instructors, classmates who are doing great things and still loving their families.  In fact none of my immediate friends in college have ever been divorced.  I LOVED my college experience and it was the best thing I could've done at that point in my life.  And yet, I couldn't say, "worth it" on that blog.

The reason those two words couldn't come off my keyboard is more cultural than it is specific to the college I attended.  When I hear of a friend who is trying to serve the poor in the worst places of the world but has the albatross of $40k in student loans around his neck, I cringe.  When I hear of another friend who has trouble buying a house because their loan is $50k it bothers me.   I think about an older guy I know who is slammed with $90k in school loans but at least has a job now that can put a roof over his head, although he doesn't make much money nor can he pay on his loans. 

What is it in our culture (and even church culture) that says we need to spend $60-100k to be validated? To be employable?  To be legit?  What is a system that requires us to be laden down with debt?  Yes, God can provide and he did for me.  But is there really such a thing as "good" "debt?"  It almost sounds oxymoronic when mirrored to the Scripture that to be a debtor is to be a slave.

I would like to challenge the format that says when we're in college we need to take a lot of courses that are not specific to our area of interest so that we become "well-rounded."  Does excessive debt make us well-rounded?

I would like to challenge a system especially in ministry that says that one must have a degree before they become a valid pastor or church worker.  Perhaps Paul's credentials of being imprisoned, 40 lashes minus one, and persisting in hunger and cold and beatings for the sake of the gospel could also be credentials?

I would like to challenge a structure that says taking tests on a piece of paper determines if we're qualified or not.  What about whether they can do the job?  What about those who can do the job but they can't pass the written test?

I'm for training.  It's what gets me excited.  It keeps me up at night.  And I still love a good college course.  But it's when I see people I love struggling under the burden of debt for 20 or more years that I want to see a change.   When I see people graduate who have a lot of ideas, opinions and have passed the test but not the test of life that I wonder if there's a different way.   I just wonder.  Perhaps a bit of me longs for more apprenticeship like structure.  More hands-on, smaller numbers with greater I Do/You Do mentorship.  Or even a hybrid form of classroom with greater emphasis on experience.  Less test-taking and more life-making.   Some are moving this way but still at greater and greater costs to the students.  I truly hope change is in the air in how we train people.  I think this generation is hungry for a different way and I would hate to see that hunger dulled.

Rethinking

Jesus taught the crowds, but he trained the disciples.

To go high you must go deep,
To go fast, you must go slow,
Go large, you must go small.

How much?

Love is measured by how much we are willing to suffer for that which we love.

Same God

Sometimes I get frustrated when there are those who've had a smooth beaver-cleaver life and they just don't understand because they can't.

Other times I hear people's stories and I try to understand but their story doesn't pierce my heart, I haven't lived their situation.  I don't fully understand because I can't. 

But even in that, there is one piece we can can lean on and it is the bridge that makes communication and mutual encouragement genuinely possible.  It is this:

We don't have the same situations in life, but we do have the same Savior.

Doors

"No" doesn't always mean forever "no" but sometimes "no for now."

Weekend

Lord, I love you more than Saturday morning sleep.

The Moment of Faith

Someone was saying a few months ago that Hollywood has nothing on Scripture.  I agree.  And was inspired to make this simple video: