Courageous Leaders

I must admit that I’m coming off a bit of a high after yesterday (Sunday, Jan. 16^th)! We had 114 in worship and around 25 kids upfront for the Children’s Time. We had a good amount of guests in worship as we have had for the last month or so. There are some really encouraging things going on in our church!

The Thursday before we had our first Council Meeting of the new year. We approved a new business meeting format for 2011 (see article “New Council Format) that will hopefully minimize the amount of evenings we spend on business and maximize time for ministry and relationships. Our Council Chairperson, Kim Kirby, started the meeting with a devotional from a book she recently read, “Courageous Leadership”, by Bill Hybels.

Courage happens to be a value of our church: Courage, Compassion and Honor. Leaders who lack courage are people-pleasers. They are very happy with the status quo and will very reluctantly do anything new that might upset the balance of satisfaction within their circle of influence. Leaders who are courageous have a desire to strengthen people, practice servant leadership and make hard decisions in order to further their cause or the cause of their organization/institution.

The cause of the church is to “make disciples and teach them to obey the commands of Jesus Christ” – Matthew 28:19-20. Any church with a vision or mission statement must contain that seed phrase somewhere within their statement. Adding anything more to it can almost endanger the most important aspect of it. As leaders of this church we must courageously and successfully go about this cause. So, what flags and alarms are going off in your head right now? What is more important to you than the mission of our church? Courage is setting that thing aside; leadership is helping others move their things aside and together we are the church captivated with Christ, moving courageously forward in his mission.

God and Suffering

Death and suffering always bring up a lot of good questions about God and why bad things happen. Pastor Adam Hamilton of Church of the Resurrection recently did a sermon entitled "God and Suffering". If you are a podcast person you can go to the podcast area of iTunes and do a search on Church of the Resurrection or Adam Hamilton and find it. If you want to watch it on your computer you can go to the following web link to watch/listen immediately: http://www.cor.org/worship-sermons/sermonarchives/show/sermons/God-and-Suffering-1/. I listened to the podcast and found it profoundly helpful. Of course, when you are experiencing immense suffering and loss there are no appropriate answers that will remove your pain and make all things well. But with time comes opportunity to think and feel and heal. When you are in that place, Adam's sermon may be helpful to you.

Consistency

Life has been anything other than consistent this summer. I had two great vacations: one to Colorado with friends and another to Texas with family. VBS was great but it sucked the life out of me. I've had a couple weeks to commit to the office but they were full of planning activities. Then we had a week of great loss where two wonderful people were laid to rest who passed away in the same day. In all of the previous activities, a lot of regular visits to our elderly, sick and worship guests were minimized which is my focus this week. However, last week I decided that some things needed to be consistent again. So, little by little I'm gaining some ground with working out (biking, walking, weights), scripture reading, meditation/prayer, family time, reading and getting outside (even though it's bloody hot!). Remarkably enough, I'm starting to feel better. When we increase stress in our lives and decrease stress reducing activities we begin to feel bad. I had developed headaches and a lot of shoulder/neck pain along with needing more sleep. These are symptoms that something is wrong. So, I'm not surprised that when I've worked out the last five days and spent some time meditating and doing things that I enjoy that I feel better.
Now to personalize this. How do you feel? Have you missed consistency in areas of your life that help you feel better? Maybe it's time to work on some consistency with me:) Pick something small this week and experience a win for consistency next week! And let's pray for each other too:)

Future Sermons

I've been working on my sermon calendar for the next year. I'm pretty excited with my plans so far. Thought I would share my overall themes and see if you all have any input. Let me know your ideas, illustrations or worship element suggestions!

Good Words in James
James will be a five week series on the the Epistle of James. James offers very straightforward concepts on the words we choose to use, not showing partiality and demonstrating our faith through our deeds (faith without deeds is dead!).

Vision
I have spent the last four months meeting with about half of our worshiping attendance in small groups for four weeks at a time. We brainstormed the following areas together: Intentional Discipleship, Missions, Evangelism/Growth and Short/Long Term Goals. I will spend four weeks revealing those results and offer a WUMC sized vision for tomorrow!

Relationships
Five weeks discussing the difficulties and keys for success in the following relationship situations: singleness, marriage, children, friendship and Christ. These areas are not completely solidified and I may tweek them:)

Give it Away
Even in recession, many are still living in abundance- but some are not. We will spend four weeks proposing different ways to "give away" our abundance. I'm thinking of focusing on the following areas: stuff, food and money (outside church/inside church). I'm hoping this will be a month to focus on Missions and all the ways we can serve and help. I also have a bombshell of an idea that I am hoping to reveal in September in preparation for this series!

Ruth
I read the Old Testament book of Ruth a few weeks ago and was absolutely floored! It's a beautiful story of God's provision and love; it's romantic, tragic and awe inspiring . . . and four chapters long.

Christmas Series
I don't know just yet- but it will be something Christmassy'. How about some help here!?

Romans
After Christmas we will begin the highly thought provoking New Testament book of Romans. It's 16 chapters long and will likely be our Lenten focus taking us to Easter. In Romans, Paul is writing to the Church in Rome that is no doubt experiencing growing pains. He painstakingly emphasizes the importance of grace by faith alone in Jesus Christ to a pagan culture. Romans will help deepen our Christian beliefs and stretch us in areas concerning God's sovereignty and our Jewish cousins (our faith relatives).

2010 Challenge

Yesterday at our worship service I preached the last sermon in the Series: Waiting on God. I challenged everyone to stop waiting to move closer to God and take up a new discipline for 2010: prayer, daily scripture reading, create a small group, get a mentor, etc. So, did anyone make any decisions to take a step towards God? What's your commitment to?

Good Sermons on the Financial Crisis

I try to listen to a few podcast sermons a week. Adam Hamilton at Church of the Resurrection (United Methodist) just finished a great sermon series that addresses the financial crunch that many of us have experienced first hand. His sermons address greed, evil, consumerism, relationships and the love of things (there's a word for that, I just can't remember it). The three week series is named "After the Fire" and you can listen to the sermons at http://www.cor.org/worship-sermons/sermonarchives/. If you have time I would highly recommend them!

Giving away hobbies for Christmas

I've realized lately that I have too many hobbies! I've spoken to a couple of people lately who have realized that they need one. Hobbies are good for a lot of reasons. They help with stress by distracting us from the difficulties of life and work. We hopefully get excited when we have opportunities to do our hobby. Sometimes a hobby can help keep us physically fit. Overall, hobbies can be a healthy part of life. Christmas is always difficult because I can't figure out what items to ask for because of all my hobbies. So, I want to give you one of my hobbies this year for Christmas. Just let me know which one you want off of the list below:
Fly Fishing (Trout)
Hiking
Camping
Photography
Duck/Goose Hunting
Turkey Hunting
Fly Tying
Quail/Pheasant/Rabbit Hunting
Bass Fishing
Northern/Walleye Fishing
Kayaking/Canoeing

Thanks, enjoy!

Genesis 15:17> A New View!

So I downloaded an app on my iphone that allow me to do a daily reading plan. Since I'm only a couple weeks into it I'm in Genesis. While reading Genesis 15:17 a couple of days ago I had an "aha" moment. Scripture is cool like that, it will never cease to surprise you if you commit to being a life long student of it.

In 15:17 God is proving to Abram that he will be a father of many nations. He also tells Abram that his descendants will be in captivity for 400 years but they will eventually escape and go to a land that will be their own. In order to prove His power, God asks Abram to cut a bunch of cattle in half and lay them "half over against each other". Later that night God has a torch and a smoking pot travel between the two lines of slaughtered animals; through the blood. Now this sounds familiar, doesn't it?! Later in Exodus, the Hebrews escape Egypt. God was present with them as a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of smoke by day. Now maybe I'm reaching but do you see the similarity: smoking pot=pillar of smoke and torch=pillar of fire?

Now the theological similarity. With Abram a covenant was made as the fire and the smoke passed through the blood. With Moses the people were saved as the fire and smoke passed through the water. God made a covenant through the blood and saved them through the water. Almost 2000 years later Jesus saved us through the shedding of his blood and gave us the waters of baptism as a sacrament of salvation- through the blood and the water (also check out 1 John 5:6-8).

So, here are the symbols through out scripture that are full of power: smoke, fire, blood and water. What kind of emotions and memories do these symbols evoke for you?

A Combine and Stewardship

I just finished up my first sermon for our Stewardship Series that begins this Sunday. I worked on my sermon from home this morning so I could have a view. Sometimes having an office with no windows makes me feel a little confined. While I was working on my sermon I heard a loud humming sound. I looked out the corner of the window and I could (still can) see a large combine beginning to harvest the neighbor's corn field.
How interesting that while I am working on the Stewardship Sermon series that the corn in the backyard would be harvested. The neighbors could have left the corn there. They could have spent all that time, energy and money in planting and caring for the corn and then watch it die. But instead they are harvesting it so that they and others will experience the flavor and nourishment of tasty corn. You see what's coming next, right?
I guess God could give us all gifts, resources, relationships and abilities and never expect to harvest those things, right? Maybe God just wanted us to look cool and that was it. Or, maybe God has an expectation? Maybe God desires a harvest from his investment? Consider it- metaphorically at least. I don't want anyone running over to my house and jumping in front of the combine!

The Gospel of John- 2 endings?

Yesterday at the 9am service I mentioned that I would blog on John's 2 possible endings, since I was short on sermon time. John 20 ends with this verse, "But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name." That seems like a really good ending, right? The resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples in the Upper Room, has a good talk with Doubting Thomas, and moves on. But then there is chapter 21. My primary commentary (Beasley-Murray) indicates that John 21 was possibly added later as an addendum. This could have been done by the original author, John, or by one of his disciples. John 21 does feel different from the rest of the Gospel if you read it in entirety. However, 300 years later, all 21 chapters of John are canonized at the Council of Laodicea and included in the first Christian Bible. So, whether it was a part of the original text or added later, it is still a part of a holy document that God and the Church saw fit for Christian history and education. Just a little canon FYI:)

Book Update- "Direct Hit"

I'm taking a Pastoral Leadership Development class that our United Methodist Conference is offering. We read a different book every month. This month we are reading "Direct Hit" by Paul D. Borden. It's a book about Leadership and Communication. I'd invite you to get it and read it with me. The most insightful quote from Chapter One is "Healthy congregations are outward-focused, and they maintain that focus against tremendous forces that are constantly encouraging an inward bent. Such congregations are led by leaders who regularly implement change. Such leaders create an environment where change becomes the norm and maintaining the status quo is unacceptable."
While I worked at Starbucks change was always a part of the game. They were changing things every 3-4 months. No one really liked it, but we knew that was part of the job so eventually we got used to it. I'm not sure I can imagine a church like that, but that is what Borden seems to promote. There would definitely be positives and negatives to that perspective. More to come later.

"Glee" Show

Finally, a tv show that Kim and I both enjoy. Actually, a lot of people enjoy it. I think when something begins to be a cultural phenomenon, we should all pay attention. Just watch the itunes top 25 chart on Thursdays and you can see what type of immediate impact this tv show is having. I admit, it is a little edgy when it comes to its sexual overtones- but look at what its about- high school. I've noticed with every episode it is pushing that envelope a little harder, so be warned.
I do like the message that it is advocating. In an age of school shootings and internet bullying, Glee's message is that being cool is overdone. What really matters is friendship, sacrifice and commitment. The lines of "who is cool" becomes blurred when football players and cheerleaders are also doing show choir. And since I had a lot of good friends that were in show choir in high school, I find the tension especially hilarious! As far as the plot, I'm just glad someone was paying attention when former "Doogie Howser" star, Patrick Harris, put out the "for internet only" show named "Dr. Horrible's Sing A Long Blog" a couple years back. The show was very similar with it's musical theme and was insanely popular for something that never aired on tv. So, what else have you learned about our culture by watching "Glee"?

Bishops Blog

http://www.fivepractices.org/detail.asp?pkvalue=390&pageid=0

Above is the link to Bishop Schnase's current blog on "Pruning". It's focused on churches that want to overcome stagnancy. I found it very insightful and helpful as the pastoral-leader of our church. Check it out, you might find it helpful, too.

Feeding the Angel, Purging the Demon

Simple, regular practices make us healthier people. I'm attempting to create two morning practices that make me a healthier person; I like to think of it as Feeding the Angel and Purging the Demon. I try to spend some time during each day in prayer, meditation, scripture or other growth focused reading; this is how I feed my angel (so to speak). I also try to exercise almost everyday. The picture is of the home gym in my basement that my brother's, father-in-law graciously gave to me. I rotate weights with mountain biking during the week. When I do this I discipline my body, push it hard, focus my energy and purge my demon (so to speak- again). Both of these practices help me with stress management and creating a more peaceful me. How do you feed your angel and purge your demon?

November Stewardship Series

November Stewardship Series

We will wrap up our series on the Gospel of John at the end of October and begin a new series. In November we will begin to talk about Stewardship which is an essential part of discipleship. A healthy church thrives on disciples who are committed to regular stewardship practices. The last two weeks will present opportunities for us to pledge our gifts of volunteer service and financial offerings to our church. Please begin to prayerfully consider how you will grow in discipleship and stewardship in 2010.

Week 1: What Stewardship Has to do With Discipleship?

Week 2: Missions: An Outward Response

Week 3: Volunteerism: An Inward Response

Week 4: Financial Gifts: Supporting Ministries and Mission

Morning Devotion- Brother Lawrence

My morning devotion material centers around a short book named, "The Brother Lawrence Collection" and I am currently in "Practice and Presence of God". I found an exert this morning that I had to post immediately. I hope you enjoy it- I don't think any explanation is necessary:
"When we are in doubt, he continued, God never fails to show us the right way to go, as long as our only goal is to please Him and show our love for Him.
He thought it was a shame that some people pursued certain activites (which, he noted, they did rather imperfectly due to human shortcomings), mistaking the means for the end. He said that our sanctification does not depend as much on changing our activities as it does on doing them for God rather than for ourselves". - p. 55

Discipline

I've been thinking about "Discipline" lately. I think discipline is doing the most important things consistently. It's easier to do all the other stuff than the most important stuff. I think greatness is unattainable without discipline. You can't lose weight unless you workout and diet (the pills don't really work). You can't learn unless you pick up the book and read. You can't become an expert unless you spend a lot of time in the trade. Discipline is doing the most important things over and over and over again. Isn't it interesting that many of us call ourselves "Disciples". Do you think there's a comparison there?

Addition to Book List

My book list has changed a little bit. I finished Thomas Merton's "Spiritual Direction and Meditation" and began "The Brother Lawrence Collection". Merton's book was a quick read and very enjoyable. He poses many challenging thoughts on discipleship, meditation and mentoring. I would highly suggest it if you are interested in those topics. Brother Lawrence was also a Monk who experienced the "Presence of God" in incredible force while he did his mundane kitchen duties at his monestary. I'm currently reading the letters he sent to those he was mentoring or encouraging. This morning I particularly enjoyed the following quote, "Be not discouraged by the repugnance which you may find in it from nature; you must do yourself violence". Brother Lawrence is addressing our sinful nature and believes that we should attack and hate it with all that we are. I believe whole heartedly in that statement. It's only by hating our sin that we can embrace the teachings of Jesus. Do you hate your sin?? Maybe it's time to do violence to it?

Sundays Sermon and Significance Of Festival of Booths

My sermon is a little long this Sunday so I'm cutting some background information (so, yes, it is shorter now:) that is important but doesn't add to the Central Theme of the Sermon. For my bloggers, here is some helpful background information that will help you understand why the Pharisees are so ticked off at Jesus in Chapter 8.
Festival of the Booths (Also know as Festival of the Tabernacles)
History
Chapter 7 takes place over the week long Jewish Holiday known as the Festival of the Booths. The Festival helps them remember how the Hebrews moved from a nomadic, desert-wandering people into an agricultural people in the Promised Land. The "booths" were an intermediate structure between the tents of the desert and the homes of the Promised Land. They constructed the booths in the desert when they stayed someplace longer than usual. They were more solidly constructed than a tent but not as solid as their future homes in Israel.
Festival
When they celebrated the Festival of the Booths they set up "Booth" replicas on their roofs or front areas to remember the journey God brought their people on. They also had two, very large golden lamps in the temple court. These lamps were lit for the seven days of The Festival of Booths to represent the flame going before and behind the Hebrews as they were in the desert. If you remember, God was in the flame to light their way by night and smoke to rally around during the day.
Relevance
Chapter 7 ends on the last day of The Festival of Booths. The next day Jesus walks into the Temple Court (Treasury) and says "I am the light of the world". They have likely just blown out the Golden Lamps in that same area. Jesus may likely be standing in front of the Lamps symbolizing the presence of God with the Hebrew people when he says this. Jesus is likely saying, "You worship the light that was with your ancestors through the desert, I was the light"! In the words of my great grandpappy (not really), thems' fightin' words! Hopefully this helps illuminate the cat fight that resounds through out the rest of chapter 8.

Information taken from the World Biblical Commentary- 36 - John, Second Ed., by Beasley Murray.

A Teaching Community

I think we have a lot to learn from one another. I thoroughly enjoy teaching and equally enjoy learning. There are a lot of individuals in our own community that have a lot to offer to those who want to learn. Some of you could teach through your life experiences, some through specialization and research, some through concepts and opinions. I hope to have some of your experiences in my blog. There will be days where you may disagree with something I have shared on Sunday morning or maybe you elaborate on something I stated. Don't be surprised if I ask you to put together an article on it. I'm not offended by differing ideas or expanding on ideas that I stated simplistically. I look forward to us all learning from one another! In closing, consider this great quote from our very own John Wesley:

"There are many doctrines of a less essential nature ... In these we may think and let think; we may 'agree to disagree.' But, meantime, let us hold fast the essentials..."
From Answers.com - http://www.answers.com/topic/john-wesley