Captivated

The most important thing a Christian leader can do is be captivated by Christ.

There so many things crowding our vision. It is easy to let our lens get fogged up by the things we are doing and leading and loving and serving and completely lose sight of Christ.

Sometimes we do so much for Him that we forget Him.

We must be captivated by Christ.

It is out of Christ that we will find rest, restoration, identity, calling, energy, motivation, and the ability to give wholeheartedly to the things we are most passionate about.

That means being willing to stop looking at what we feel like we need to do and simply be overcome by our Lord again.

I need to be captivated by Christ yet again.

"One thing I ask from the Lord,

    this only do I seek:that I may dwell in the house of the Lord    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord    and to seek him in his temple." -Psalm 27:4

Enough

I constantly find myself in internal conflict. 

I find myself conflicted because I know in my head and my heart the never ending grace of Christ, but I still find myself trying to carry my own burdens. 

And they are heavy.

Sometimes it's as if I think I can be good enough if I try hard enough.

Sometimes it's like I think that God needs me to be better.

Sometimes it's as if I forget the cross. 

Sometimes I see the overwhelming reality that I can never be good enough for Christ, I can never remove my sin, I can never overcome my brokenness. 

It is then that I see that Christ is always good enough to make up for me, always strong enough to cover my sin, always great enough to overcome my brokenness. Christ is always and forever enough to save me. I never have to be enough, because He is.

People don't need to see perfection in me, they need to see growth. They need to see grace. 

They need to see that even though I never will be, Christ is enough.

"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4

Effortless Education

I believe there are two types of learners. There are those who sit on a couch, at a desk, in a classroom, or on a campus, and wait for some new knowledge or revolutionary idea to come sit next to them and tell them about herself. Then there are those who go find knowledge and ideas, yank them out of bed and badger them until they understand and can apply that knowledge in a beneficial way.

I think that in one form or another we all fall into one of these two stereotypes. Now, I realize they are stereotypes and no stereotypes are 100% true, but allow me to take a bit of liberty here. I think that this generalization, if applied to everyone, would show a distinct difference between people, both current and historic, who are making a difference and who are not. If there is one thing that everyone who has ever done anything great has in common it is a lack of apathy when it comes to bettering themselves. They all have a "go out and get it" attitude instead of "wait till it gets here" one.

It is very easy nowadays to think of education as someone else's responsibility. It is either our teacher, or pastor, or mentor, or boss's job to make sure we are learning. That is simply not true. It is their job to make sure that there are constantly things that you can access easily to learn. The onus for education is primarily on the learner. This does not mean that teachers have no responsibility. It is their job to teach things in ways that facilitate learning and lend themselves to the context of the learner, but it is not their job to make that knowledge make a difference, and it is impossible for them to do so.

If we truly take seriously the call on each of our lives to become the best that we can be so that we can serve Christ the best that we can we must ask ourselves a few important questions.

What am I doing right now to become all that I can be?

Am I seeking knowledge or waiting for it?

Who am I seeking out to learn from?

Who is my accountability?

What difference is the knowledge I have making on myself and those under my influence? 

Discipleship and Parenting

First off, I'm not a parent, and I'm very happy with that. Part of my job description is to give teenagers Jesus and a RedBull and give them back, and I like it like that.

But there is a lot to be learned about parenting from working with teenagers, and I'm beginning to see distinct  parallels between parenting and discipleship. (maybe that's why the writer of Proverbs said to train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it. Maybe you could read it as: disciple your children in the way they should go and they will not depart from it.)

Lately I've been rereading a book from college called The Master Plan of Evangelism, by Robert Coleman. The book lays out piece by piece the plan of Jesus to reach the world. You could sum it up simply by saying God's plan to evangelize the world is by making disciples. In chapter 5, specifically, the author talks about demonstration. He basically claims that one of the keys to Jesus' discipleship was that he let people watch the way he lived.

In other words the heart of discipleship lies in living your life alongside someone so that they can emulate you. If 2 +2 still makes 4 then I'd bet the people we disciple the most are our spouses and our children.

The terrifying fact of the matter is that children and teens are sponges. They absorb everything. They either become just like the adults they are regularly around or they rebel against them, and the funny thing is that more often than not when someone rebels against something, they still emulate it.

Humans will become like whatever they feel the strongest towards, and teenagers feel the strongest towards their parents, in one way or another.

Gandhi said "be the change you wish to see in the world." I would say "Be the person you wish your child (disciple) to become, because, more than likely, you are the person they will become."

Granted there are anomalies, children who push back against unhealthy parents and healthily become something different, but those children usually had another mentor to facilitate that.

The most powerful tool for changing a life and changing the world is becoming someone worth watching, and then letting someone watch. Let someone watch you succeed and watch you fail, and let them watch the grace of Christ lift you back up to keep pursuing Him. 

Hypocrisy and elephants.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the elephant in the room in the church. Nearest I can surmise the issue is the same thing we have been talking about as long as I can remember... the church is full of hypocrites. Same old very valid argument I have heard from jaded, frustrated, or uninterested people against the church. We don't live up to what we claim to be. For all of the holiness and morality we stand by we don't quite make the mark every time, and, let's be real, when the bar is where we have put it even the best of tries looks pretty pathetic.
So here's to the traditional response. The church needs to liven up! We need to be better. We need to love Jesus more, help poor people more, be abstinent more, and give more away. We also need to gorge ourselves less, look at porn less, cuss when we hit our toes less, and have road rage less. We need to be better.

Seems like we're trapped in a vicious cycle of raising the bar, but not quite making it so raising it higher.

And that's the most logical way to improve our image. That and hire more attractive worship leaders for good PR.

I think we have it backwards. We've spent so long denying that Christians are hypocrites and trying to do better, and frankly the world sees straight through our facade. We've forgotten the ever present fact that Christians have not arrived, we are all in route. We are all broken fallen people who have lots of issues that, by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, we are working on, and by His grace and mercy we are forgiven. We're not less broken and wounded than the world, we've just been found by the healer and we're on the mend. We still limp.

I believe, as a young and opinionated and inexperienced pastor, that the best thing the church can do for it's PR is to stop trying to do what we say and start saying what we do.

I am not implying that we should stop trying to be moral, have less road rage, give more, look at porn less, and love Jesus more. We are called to abstain from sin. We just forget that we didn't beat sin, Jesus did, and We can't be sin, Jesus did.

The elephant in the room would be much smaller if we realized one very important thing: Of course the church is full of hypocrites... you and I are in it.

Isaiah 64:6

Against being Against.

I think that you are wrong, I love you, but I am convinced that what you are doing is sinful and you shouldn't do it.

...

Do you remember that I said I love you? Or do you remember that I said you're wrong?

Lets try again.

I think that there is something far greater for you than what you are doing right now. I love you and think that what you are doing is harming you because it is holding you back.

...

Do you remember that I care about your well-being? Or do you remember that what you're doing is wrong?

It makes sense that when something that defines you is attacked you feel defensive, but when you are looked out for you feel safe. That is logical and human.

Maybe we miss that in the Christian world.

I wonder how many people have been won into the kingdom of God because Christians are against something? I wonder how many people have thought "Man! I want to see what they're all about because they are against abortion!"

There are things worth fighting for. There are things that damage lives and society that should be stopped. I will always be against substance abuse and divorce. But it is not because I hate cocaine or people with commitment issues.

It is because I am for life free of bondage and love that is selfless and pure.

Christians will never win a war fought against sin, abortion, hate, slavery, or same sex marriage. No one will change because you think they are wrong. But we will stand a chance when we stand for hope, life, freedom, and family. People will change because you can offer them something more beautiful and fulfilling.

We are against so many things. Things like sex, drugs, anorexia, porn, old boring churches, bad theology, old hymns, new choruses, bad lighting, "rock n roll" stage lighting, and each other. No wonder people don't see us as loving and kind. No so many think Jesus is against them instead of for them. We are so busy hating sin (and things that we dislike) we barely love sinners.

We must stand firm. We must stand for. We must not stand against.

The most abrasive thing about a Christian should be the love of Christ that exudes from their very being. If there is something louder and more attractive than this about them then they are distracting from Christ.

- Being against something will never move us any farther than whatever we are pushing against.
- If we are against, we will be known for being against and remembered for being against and no one will see why we were against. (how many of us know more about PETA than that they hate killing animals? I sure don't...)
- When we stand against something we will lose all influence when what we are against changes, moves, or disappears. (How much do you hear about Westboro Baptist when they aren't picketing? very little. How much influence does Martin Luther King still have after his dream has begun to come true, even posthumously? immeasurable amounts.)

Even when the world ends, Christ has returned, and the world is set right Love will still be here and we will still stand for it.
Be known for what you are for. Lead people somewhere. Lead to a place, for a purpose, to bring about a great change that will last.

Do not lead against something, because when that wall is torn down you will have no where to go.

Another Blog on Leadership

It seems like everywhere I look today I find another book, podcast, blog, or tweet about leadership. Especially in the church world. People are writing about everything you can imagine, leading change, growing your church, creative culture, engaging culture, reaching the unchurched, leading a team, and really anything else that falls under the vague and broad spectrum of church leadership. I guess I'm just adding to the noise.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it takes to be a good leader. I've been working on developing a program to train leaders through my church and this has forced me to step outside of my small perspective and think about what it truly is that enables a person to become a good leader.

The more I think and pray and read about this the more one idea is takes root in my mind: DO NOT lead from what you know. Lead from who you are.


This idea is illustrated poignantly in Acts 19 with the story of the Sons of Sceva. These men had a knowledge of who Jesus was based on the teachings of another man, but when they attempted to put that knowledge into practice it had no power. The demon responded that he knew Jesus and Paul, but did not know them. These men were acting from a knowledge of Jesus, not from an identity in Jesus.

My first priority as a leader is to become what it is I am trying to teach. Personal development is essential to being a good leader. I cannot lead what I do not live. I cannot take you where I have not been. In  the church world this means losing myself in Christ and in His love for me and for His church. Then when I am caught up in that love I can lead, because I am leading from what is natural for me to do, not what someone told me I should do. This principle applies to all areas of leadership, not simply the church. Lead from who you are. If who you are now is not what you want to lead others to then first develop yourself. Then you can be a guide, not a textbook.