Real Leadership

The past two days our church hosted the Global Leadership Summit, which is an incredible event put on by Bill Hybels and the Willow Creek Association. I highly recommended it for any for anyone who wants to get better at whatever it is they do. There were some great talks and inspiring music.

Thursday and Friday were great days to think about Leadership. I was thinking about the lessons and information and how they would apply to the roles of leadership I find myself in such as Pastor, Father, Husband, Son, Brother, and Friend. I also started thinking about Saturday...Today.

Today I am attending the funeral of a 32 year old man who battled cancer for almost 2 years, last Saturday he got to see his Creator face to face and entered into a place where cancer doesn't exist. It really is a heart-breaking story. A man way too young with 3 kids and a wife who loved him and depended upon him. Parents and sisters who never thought he would go first. Friends, Co-workers, and other Family who are asking all the usual questions of why and how did God allow this?

The story is very heart-breaking. It hits close to home. It could have been much much worse.

You see, Thaius Holmes is a REAL Leader. She didn't speak at this year's Global Leadership Summit, but she is an incredible Leader nonetheless. Thaius is the person God used to bring hope into a horrible situation. She is the person that brought a young man from her work, who was diagnosed with Cancer to her church so that someone could pray for him to be healed.

Her relationship and invitation with Jeremy and his wife Roni, changed this story in an incredible way. A few months after that first visit and time of prayer I had the incredible joy and honor to watch Thaius baptize the entire Sandall family, well except for the 3 year old. She introduced them to the only person who can give hope in times like these. She changed the story from 32 year-old loses battle with cancer, to 32 year-old meets Jesus face to face. She and God changed the story from 32 leaves behind a wife and 3 kids to fend for themselves, to 32 year-old entrusts his widow and children into the hands of God's Family and their Neighborhood Group until they all reunite in Heaven.

Thaius is a REAL Leader. The Families in Neighborhood Group with the Sandalls are REAL Leaders. I am going to be sad when I don't see Jeremy helping serve communion tomorrow at the 10:00 service, but I am grateful that because of REAL Leadership we will see each other again in God's Eternal Kingdom.

Thank you Thaius.

Wedded Blister

Today I celebrate 16 years of Wedded Bliss with my wife Kristi.
I don't know a lot about marriage or relationships in general, but I have learned this:

To get to the Bliss you have to work through the Blisters.

When you get a blister, what is your normal response?

If you keep doing the same things that gave you that blister, will it get better? Probably not. If you don't change your shoes, your wet socks, or at least apply a band-aid to the blistered region you aren't going to allow for a blister on your foot to heal.

What I see in marriage over and over again are people who claim to love each other, who are still wearing the wet socks that give them blisters. They don't change the behaviors that are damaging their spouse or their kids. Marriage is hard work, and a good marriage is really hard work.

I am so blessed to have an incredible wife. She decided long ago to never settle, to never let the things that were bothering her in our marriage to go un-addressed. She is probably the most wise person I know. I have not made many decisions these past 16 years that Kristi didn't make better. She is one of the most authentic people I know. I am incredibly grateful for Kristi as we have moved along this path of life. I am a better person today because of her. I hope she can say the same.

We would have never gotten to this Bliss without the Blisters. Thank you God for Kristi. Thank you Kristi for 16 years. Let's kick some butt these next 16.

The Story Chapter 11

David and Goliath

Pretty famous story huh?

Most of us know how it ends…Goliath dies…David is the new hero of Israel.

Why? 

Have you ever stopped to think about why a teenager put his life on the line with just a few stones for his slingshot? I often overlook the motive when I teach or think about David and Goliath.

Most preachers and teachers tell us that we can overcome the Goliaths in our life. That we have giants that stand between us and God’s intention for our life, that the obstacles are just a 5 smooth stones away from falling down lifeless in front of us. Have you ever heard that sermon before? I have…more than once. I may have even preached it once or twice.

What about this simple fact…Goliath was not a Goliath in front of David. Goliath was not an obstacle on David’s path, he was not standing between David and God’s road to blessed living. Goliath was not even a part of David’s life until David changed his to do list for the day to include Goliath. You see Goliath was optional for David. David was making a delivery for his father to his brothers, David has already been anointed the next King of Israel, and David has his duties with the flocks waiting for his return. David added Goliath to an already busy day.

Why?

Because Goliath was trash-talking about David’s God.

So let’s quit using this story as a self-help directive to slay the Giants in our life. Let’s use it as a rallying cry to do battle against those that defy “the living God”. David says in chapter 11 of the Story, “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel…”

David tells us that Goliath’s crime was defying the armies of the living God. In David’s mind to defy the army of God was the same as defying God himself, the army represented God to the nations. Today that representation is made by the church. We are God’s army today.

Our culture is full of Goliaths who are mocking God and his church. I wonder what David would do in our circumstances? Next time you want to take on a Goliath make sure you are taking on more than just a personal issue or obstacle…take on those who are defying our God…so that the world may know!

Second Chances

Check out my blog about Second Chances and The Story here:

http://www.ccof.net/index.php?/thestoryblog


Thanks,

The Story Blog

Go check this page out.
http://www.ccof.net/index.php?/thestoryblog/archives/3194/

This is a blog written by a few of our staff here at CCoF as we go through The Story.

Most important Sunday of the year?

I work at a church. If you don't care about a local church then you can skip this post. If you do I think you will at least have some thoughts to consider afterwards.

Which Sunday is the most important Sunday of the year for a church?

Most of us would naturally say Easter Sunday, right?

I would agree if I'm asking the question from a Theological perspective then yes, Easter Sunday is the most important.

What if the question is asked from a Missional perspective? Which Sunday is most important in a Church's effort to do what Jesus asked us to do..."Make Disciples"?

I would venture to say that the Sunday After Easter is more important in the life of a local church than Easter is. I have to give credit where credit is due. I didn't always believe this, but after spending a few years around some fantastic church leaders especially Don Wilson (ccvonline.com), I have come to understand this principle

If you work at a church and just finished a Good Friday, Sunrise, and extra services you probably don't want to read this. Go ahead and go back to Facebook it will be OK. My timing isn't that great on this one- most of us just spent so much time and energy making Easter AWESOME we can't imagine next weekend much less a weekend with energy and excitement. Trust me I know I took a nap yesterday and another one today...Easter makes me tired.

But what about all the people who came to your church this Easter?

What if they come back?

Will they find the JV team on display?

What are you doing this week to make them want to come back?

Too often as I interact with church leaders, both paid and volunteers, who look at the week after Easter as a coast week. Let's do the minimum and hope no one notices. I completely understand that you can't run the engine of your church at 7,000 rpm week in and week out, but trust me when I say that the weeks after a huge effort like Easter are not the weeks to let the engine idle. Next year do this for me, actually for the people far from God in your community, figure out the lowest months for Church attendance in your community. Let's say it's, February, then that should be your idle month. Not April. April seems to be a universal and natural growth period for churches. The trick is to figure out ways to make April even bigger, not February, the key to church growth is maximizing the big months and making them bigger.

This week at the church I serve we are kicking off a new series called The Story. Easter was a preview for The Story. Our hope and prayer is that some of the folks who dropped in for Easter are compelled to come back this next week and experience God in a powerful way surrounded in a welcoming environment. You can get some info on The Story here:
http://thestoryflag.com/
http://www.thestory.com/home

If a middle aged father of two who hasn't been to church in 4 years came to your church Easter weekend, how will you get him to come back this week?

If you define success as making all of your church people happy on Easter then you probably won't prioritize the family that only comes 2 or 3 times a year. What if at Easter you did things in such a way you actually motivated them to check out what happens at your church the other 48 weeks a year? The way I look at is that we can't really gauge the effectiveness of our Easter efforts until next Sunday when we see who comes back.

What will you do this week to capture the momentum God granted you yesterday?

The Prodigal Son

This weekend at Christ's Church of Flagstaff I am preaching on the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke 15. My main point is that followers of Jesus have to treat prodigal sons like the Loving Father did. I heard a message by Reggie Joiner, at a conference called Orange, several ago which inspired much of the content of this sermon. I also read a book by Henri Nouwen called, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming, which influenced many of my thoughts. You can check out the book here:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Return-Prodigal-Son-Homecoming/dp/0385473079/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333128233&sr=8-1

I would like to unpack a question that arose in my preparation that I could not address in the time allotted for my sermon. Why did the Older Brother respond to his brother’s return in the manner in which he did? In my sermon I contrasted the attributes of the Loving Father to those of the Older Brother. Everyone in their right mind would agree that the Loving Father is the person we should all emulate in this parable, but why do we find ourselves acting like Older Brothers? Why do we find churches and other institutions full of Older Brothers?

                The attributes of the Older Brother are being preoccupied with themselves, operating from a context of shame, throwing fits, criticizing Loving Fathers, and turning off the lights on Prodigal Sons. Why do we find people who are calling themselves Christians, but don’t display the attributes we find in Christ? Why do we find ourselves, after decades of service to God, becoming judgmental and critical? Here is how Nouwen articulates the issue in his book, “Not only did the younger son, who left home to look for freedom and happiness in a distant county, get lost, but the one who stayed home also became a lost man. Exteriorly he did all the things a good son is supposed to do, but, interiorly, he wandered away from his father. He did his duty, worked hard every day, and fulfilled all his obligations but became increasingly unhappy and unfree” (pg. 69).

                It is so hard for many of us who have been living for Christ to admit that we have become a resentful Older Brother. What we have to confront inside of our selves is the reality that our obedience and duty have become a burden. In the name of Christ we no longer serve with joy but rather with resentment toward those who don’t keep the same standards we keep. We have never left home with lust for things of this world, but we have become just as lost as our Younger Brothers while we stayed home and tried to please our Loving Fathers.

                We slip into Older Brother thinking and attributes when we lose sight of the joy of serving Christ and instead focus on comparing our service to everyone else’s service. We who have become Older Brothers need to focus on Christ and not our own behavior. We think by doing the right things we will please him; we do this because it works in other areas of our lives. Older Brothers try to please their parents, their school teachers, their friends, their spouse, and their boss. We are people-pleasers who think of God as an authority figure in our life.

The reason we have to eradicate Older Brother thinking is that it will kill our hearts from the inside out. There is something in our nature as humans that seems to resent obligation and when that obligation comes in the form of religion or God we will start to resent him. Jesus talked about us when he said, “…these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teaching are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” Mark 7:6-7

So what can we do to start becoming more like the Loving Father and less like the Older Brother? First, read the parable of the workers in the vineyard found in Matthew 20:1-16. Take some time to really process through your emotions when you think about this parable. Are you bitter that God let’s those who live like hell on wheels and repent at the end into the same Paradise he will welcome you into? Are you resentful that you don’t have the courage to break the rules and “have a little fun”? Are you rationalizing your Older Brother attitudes as you read this parable? To move past Older Brother thinking we have to first admit that we struggle with it and ask God to forgive us. It sound trite, but until you confront the brutal facts you can’t move on to step two.

Step two: Spend time with Prodigal Sons.

Which one are you? 

That should solve the problem. I know it’s simple and sound sarcastic, it’s not. Most of the Older Brothers I know have loved ones who are Prodigal Sons. They may email them stuff from Joyce Meyers and Joel Osteen, but they don’t really spend time with them. They don’t go to the places Prodigal Sons go. If you email Jesus stuff to people you haven’t had lunch with in over a year you are most likely an Older Brother. I’m not saying God can’t use email or Facebook to bring a Prodigal Son back, but the usual pattern involves a Loving Father embracing them.

Remember step two: Spend time with Prodigal Sons.

Older Brother thinking is the biggest obstacle to my church and your church accomplishing our Christ given mandate…Make Disciples. May we all start to display the attributes of the Loving Father and repent from our tendency to become Older Brothers!

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