Book Review: The Battle Plan For Prayer

I recently had the opportunity to get a review copy of "The Battle Plan For Prayer" by Stephen & Alex Kendrick. Many people know the Kendrick brothers from their films like Facing The Giants, Courageous, & the recent hit War Room. Battle Plan was released in conjunction with War Room as a practical tool for believers, small groups, & congregation to use to grow in their own prayer life & also to give some guidance in leading prayer strategies with other believers.

The strength of this book is how it points people to the power of keeping one's prayer life or a group's prayer strategy rooted in Scripture. This book does a good job of encouraging people to move beyond a self-centered prayer life that's based on feelings & immediate "needs" & pointing them to build a prayer life that is a response to who God has revealed Himself to be in Scripture & allowing His word to direct our prayer life.

If you're looking for a heady, academic approach to prayer & discussing of prayer, you'll be disappointed. However, I see that as a strength. Prayer should be personal, relational, not academic. If you are looking for something to give your prayer life a kickstart, or if you're leading a congregation or small group through a focused time of prayer, this would be a good resource to use. I used it as a supplemental resource in a recent prayer revival in our congregation, & it was very helpful.

Disclaimer: I received this book from B & H Publishing for this review.

Why Churches Don't Revitalize

According to Thom Rainer, 90% of churches are either declining or growing at a slower pace than their communities. That means the overwhelming majority of our congregations need to take a good look in the mirror & consider how they might breathe new life into their ministry & revitalize their congregation. Sadly however, while the need is overwhelming, the response in many cases will simply not rise to the level necessary to address the issue. Here are just a few reasons why many of our congregations simply will not revitalize even though they're obviously in decline.

1) They Don't Realize They Need It.

This is a bigger issue than we may realize. Often decline is slow, almost imperceptible. That means we don't always see the decay or what led to the decay. The longer we're in a stagnant environment, the more it becomes normal. We become desensitized to the fact that we're no longer reaching people, that our church has become inwardly focused, or that our congregation is heading down a dangerous path. The only way to remedy this is for someone or a group of someones telling the truth. Yes, that truth will be ugly, & people may not want to hear it. However, if the church is going to turn around & become a vibrant gospel influence in its community again, they must first recognize that they're not. 

2) They Know It Will Mean Change.

Then there's the other group of churches. These churches know something isn't quite right. They recognize that they're not reaching people. They're just not going to do anything about it. Why? Because of change. Sadly, many congregations fear change more than they fear decline & death. The ironic thing is that in death everything changes. The programs: gone. The buildings: gone. The traditions: gone. The things we often fight to preserve at all costs will literally cost us everything, & they'll be pried from our dead hands.

3) They Can't See A Way.

Because congregations resist change, by the time they realize the need for revitalization, the task seems so daunting that they just can't see how it can happen. Usually there are really big issues: finances, declining facilities, & leadership issues are pretty common is church that need revitalizing. While these are big issues that will have to be dealt with, if you only focus on those, you'll be tempted to overlook the spiritual component of ministry. While tackling those issues, we also have to be refocusing on the core of what it means to be the church: The Gospel & The Great Commission. When a congregation gets back on track in those areas, the other issues will seem smaller because God will seem greater. These issues won't go away. In fact, you'll still face them when the church is growing & healthy, but you'll be dealing with them from a strong place spiritually.

4) Leadership Won't Lead.

You've heard it over & over again: everything rises & falls on leadership. When the leadership is either oblivious to the need or to afraid to address it, the whole ministry & congregation suffers. Too often the pastoral staff &/or the lay leadership is too afraid to lead in the direction of revitalization. Their fear of "What people will think?" or "What if this doesn't work?" is greater than their faith that God can use their leadership to revive the Gospel work of their congregation. If you're afraid to lead change, you can't lead. It's that simple. Leaders, you will have to give an account for your stewardship of leadership. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be like the servant in Jesus' parable who did nothing with what was entrusted to him. Yes, leadership is risky. Yes, leading a church toward revitalization will probably upset some people as it upsets the status quo, but isn't pursuing the Great Commission & advancing the Gospel among the lost worth agitating some stagnant church members?

5) They're Already Dead.

This is the sad one that nobody wants to talk about. Believe it or not, you can kill a congregation. Just because Jesus promised to build His church doesn't mean He will build your congregation. He will be faithful to His people, but He will not preserve a congregation that no longer magnifies His glory or advances it's mission. These are a relatively few congregations, but the longer a declining congregation does nothing, the closer they come to their time of death. If you're in one of these churches & you've fought the good fight & sounded the alarm only to be ignored or marginalized by leadership or the congregation in general, prayerfully consider moving on because what is coming is going to be even more heartbreaking, & you don't have to stick around to bury the dead. As Jesus said, "Let the dead bury the dead."

These are just a few reasons I've encountered & heard about in ministry. What are some other reasons why church who are in decline just will not pursue revitalization? Would love to have you leave some examples in the comments below.

If you're in the middle of a revitalization effort & feel overwhelmed, visit namb.net, thomrainer.com, & replanters.com for resources & encouragement in leading a congregation through revitalization.

Book Review: The One

Imagine getting engaged & married in the same day. Sound crazy, maybe even a little foolish? Well, that's the story that allows Ryan & Amanda Leak to share the rest of their story. Ryan & Amanda share both their story & the lessons they've learned in the often confusing world of relationships & dating in their book The One: An Amazing Love Story Starts With You. The basic premise of the book is that if you're looking for someone to "complete you" or if you're on the brink of just settling for whatever is available, you need to step back, read this story, & be inspired to look at relationships from a different perspective. 

Ryan & Amanda are both believers & followers of Jesus, but they're like a lot of us: they have some baggage in their past when it comes to relationships. Throughout The One you get to hear some of their backstories & how they got to the place of getting engaged & having full blown wedding all in one day, & get this men, Ryan planned the whole thing & surprised Amanda with it. That's right, he took care of the dress, the flowers, the cake, & the invitations. As their story unfolds, Ryan & Amanda share the important spiritual truths not just about dating or marriage, but about what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus who loves God & loves others. They share how they learned it was more important to become "the one" rather than spending all their time trying to find "the one."

Perhaps the most important contribution from this book is how it frames being single. The church hasn't done the best job at handling single people or speaking to this season of life. In fact, we've at times been guilty of making singleness more awkward than it needs to be, & at times we've even painted the picture that being a single adult must mean there is something wrong with you, that somehow being married makes you whole. The only problem with that is that it's only Jesus that makes us whole. Not only that but there are many faith heroes that were single as well. Ryan & Amanda do a good job of addressing this season of life in a way that points a person to a greater relationship with Christ in order to prepare themselves for what Christ wants to do now & in the next season.

Overall, this is a solid book with an entertaining, unique story built on solid biblical truth. This could be a good resource for pastors preparing messages on relationships or for high school, college, or young adult small groups. If you want more info on The One or Ryan & Amanda Leak, visit these links to learn more.

The One: An Amazing Love Story Starts With You
Ryan & Amanda Leak's Website

Disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

What Makes A Church Big?

Some people love big churches. Others can't stand them. Those that love big churches point out how a big church can offer more programs & events. Those that don't like the idea of a big church point out how once a church gets to a certain size, you lose that sense of "everybody knows everybody." What if the things we use to define & judge big churches aren't really what makes a church big? What if attendance or number of programs really has very little to do with whether a particular church is really big? What if a church of 100 in attendance were actually a big church? And what if a church of 10,000 in attendance were actually miles away from being a big church? What if it's not just the "big churches" that can have a big impact or a big ministry footprint? What if big has less to do with the size of our congregation & more to do with our vision of the Gospel?

"You Don't Need To Be A Big Church To Have A Big Footprint.

You Just Need To Serve A Big God & Have A Big Vision."

Big as the world defines it, & usually as the Christian sub-culture defines it, is all about numbers. It's about the number of people in attendance & dollars in the bank. However, that's not big. A big church is a church that leaves a big impact wherever it goes for the Gospel. It's a group of people who seize their opportunities to have a Gospel influence at their jobs, in their neighborhoods, & yes, even to the ends of the earth. It's been said that the true measure of a church isn't its seating capacity but its sending capacity, & that truth hasn't changed. A church of 100 that mobilizes those believers to advance the Gospel & make disciples is a bigger church than the one that simply draws 1000 to a service. In Revelation 3, Jesus speaks to a church in the ancient city of Philadelphia who on the surface doesn't look very strong, but they are faithful. As a result, Jesus says He has opened a door for them to be a Gospel influence in the world. They're not "big". They're not impressive, but their faithfulness makes them far more fruitful than a church that may be bigger & more impressive on the surface.

Here's the tension for us church folks though. If you're that church of 100 who is mobilizing people for ministry, you probably won't be a church of 100 for very long. After all you're reaching people with the Gospel & inviting them to connect to God's Church as they learn to follow Jesus. That means we have to hold on to our programs, ministries, structures, methods, & buildings with a loose grip so that those we've reached with the Gospel can come on board & find their place in the Body & in the mission. We're not calling people to follow our church or our way of doing ministry. We're calling them to follow Christ. If our vision & mission can be contained by our methods & our traditions, then our mission is too small. The mission of advancing the Gospel is bigger than all of our churches & all of our models & methods. 

So let's strive to be big churches, but not big by the world's standards. Instead let's pursue big by Scripture's standard. A big church is a faithful church, & a faithful church will be fruitful. What's a faithful church look like. First, according to Revelation 3 it's faithful to Jesus' word. Broadly that means being faithful to Scripture, but more specifically it means being faithful to the Gospel. Secondly, it means not denying Jesus' name. It means standing boldly for Jesus & putting all things aside in order to serve Him, know Him, & make Him known. When we do that our ministry footprint can become bigger than our ministry facilities. When we do that being a big church take on a whole new meaning.

Moving The Immovable

Mission & vision have been big time buzz words among church leaders for years, & in recent years these concepts have trickled down into the language of church members & attenders as well. Mission & vision are the things that help us move people, & we've all heard some pretty good stories about the church being just about immovable. However, it's not just the church. All people tend to want to settle into a comfortable rut. Mission & vision are the things that we hope will create & sustain momentum. Mission & vision are the things that help an organization or ministry know who they are, where they're going, & what they're doing. However, if we're not careful they also can become idols.

When mission & vision statements & strategies & processes become the true trademark of the church, we're in danger of elevating them to a place that's unhealthy, unhelpful, & most importantly unbiblical. Too often we think that we can move our ministries & move our people with mission & vision, but in the church it can be a little more nuanced than that. We can craft incredible vision statements. We can build strategies & processes that if implemented, will undoubtedly lead us where we want to go. But when dealing with the church, there is something else that absolutely cannot be left behind or overlooked. In fact, it has to move our people, our ministries, & us as leaders more than our clever cliches about mission & vision. 

That one thing is the Gospel. When leading a church or ministry, this has to be the foundation, & you can't assume that foundation is there. To start with mission & vision without the solid & consistent backdrop of the Gospel is to put the cart before the horse. Sure, you want to reach the lost & make disciples. Yes, you have an incredible strategy to lead people into greater faith in Jesus. However, if you & those you lead are not first moved by the power of the Gospel, you will experience a powerful truth about ministry leadership.

"No Amount Of Mission & Vision Will Move A People 

Who Are Unmoved By The Gospel."

Lately I've been spending a lot of time looking at Jesus' words to the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3. So many of them had gone off the tracks in one way or another. For some it was bad doctrine, for others it was the temptation to drift back toward religious pursuit of God rather than resting in the Gospel. In each case, Jesus calls the church to repentance. He doesn't call them to greater organizational alignment. He calls them to remember the Gospel & hold fast to it, & if they do that, they'll be confronted with their need to repent of whatever has gotten them off track. Some of these churches looked pretty good on the outside. They appeared to have it all together. However, they had drifted away from the Gospel, & the key to getting things right wasn't to remind the church of its mission & vision. First, they had to be reminded of & moved again by the life changing message of the Gospel. 

So whether you're leading a thriving, growing ministry, or planting a new church in a difficult area, or taking on a church in need of revival & revitalization, work on casting mission & vision to your congregation, build the process necessary to lead people into greater faithfulness, but first & foremost, preach the Gospel. If we lose sight of the Gospel, the mission begins to fall on deaf ears. If we've forgotten the power of the Gospel in our own life, we will not sense the urgency to experience it fresh & anew as we grow or to invite others to experience it for themselves. Before we will be moved by our mission, we must first be moved by the Gospel.

Complain, Compromise, Or Confront?

Recently our church has been digging into Jesus' words to the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3. One of the reasons why these passages are so important & so practical right now to the church in America is that these churches were living in the middle of a very hostile culture. Being the church in the 1st century Roman Empire was not easy. Pretty much no matter where you lived in the empire, you & your church were going to be under pressure & would probably face persecution of some kind. As Jesus speaks to these churches, He's talking to them about what they need to do in order to be a faithful effective witness even in the midst of a hostile culture. In America our culture is becoming increasingly hostile to faithful Christianity. This however is a new development for most of us. Until recent years, for the most part the church & the culture agree on some basics of right & wrong, good & evil. There was never total agreement, but in general biblical values, ethics, & principles translated to our culture. Those days are long gone. That's why Revelation 2 & 3 are some of the most relevant passages for the church to look at. In these 2 chapters we run into many of the problems that plague churches & threaten their ability to effectively advance the Gospel & make disciples. However, we also see what needs to happen in order for congregations to right the ship & become faithful witnesses to their world again.

We have so much more in common with the past than we realize. Then, like now, there was the temptation to engage culture in one of two extremes: complain or compromise. The complaining church walls itself off from the world, points their fingers, & complain about how bad the culture is, how hopeless it is. The irony however is that in their pursuit to "remain pure", they've actually walled themselves off from the very people they're called to reach. They've also unintentionally denied the power of the Gospel. After all, to think that anyone is "too lost" for the Gospel denies the Gospel's power. The other extreme is to compromise. The compromising church worries about "being on the right side of history." The compromising church is more focused on cultural tolerance than faithfulness to Christ. Therefore, it becomes easy for that congregation to begin to mix a little bit of our culture's values in with biblical teaching. They may even do all of this in the name of reaching the lost. After all, didn't Jesus hang out with sinners? Yes, He did, but there's a big difference between going where they are & doing what they do. In all of Jesus' encounters with sinners, no one ever accused Him of sin. The worst they could do was try to make him guilty by association. 

Jesus was tolerant of sinners, but not in the way that we define tolerance in 2015. Jesus' tolerance refused to condemn the sinner & instead compassionately confronted the sinner & invited the sinner to follow Him. That's the kind of tolerance the church should exercise today. In Revelation 2 in His words to the church in Thyatira, Jesus makes it clear that He cannot tolerate a church that is more tolerant than He is. We're called to follow His cue. not the world's.

"Culture Doesn't Need A Church Who Complains Or Compromises. 

It Needs A Church Who Courageously & Compassionately
Confronts It With The Gospel."

The church that either sits back & complains about the culture or who compromises to the culture actually robs the culture of the Gospel. Compromise dilutes the power of the Gospel because compromise always leads us away from its transforming power. Complaining does no good at all because it subtly tells the world, "You're too far gone." If the Gospel you believe in is too weak to save the worst sinner you know, it's probably too weak to save you as well. We have a message that has unimaginable power to raise the dead & transform sinners to saints. If you've really experienced the Gospel's power, you know there is no one that God could not save. So we can't afford to turn our church buildings into bunkers where we talk about the good ol' days & complain about the culture, & we can't afford to check Jesus at the door of our churches so that we can be more appealing to the culture. Neither of those approaches requires any faith or courage. It's time for us to be courageous enough to contradict our culture by compassionately confronting it with the hope of the Gospel. We have three paths to choose: complaining, compromising, or compassionately confronting. Which will you choose? Which will your congregation choose?

The Death Of Church-Wide Ministry

There's an issue that many churches face that's reached epidemic proportions. For one reason or another, too many congregations have become islands within their communities. The community has changed, but the church hasn't. Usually that also means the congregation has fallen behind in actually engaging & 

ministering to its immediate community.

Each week members & attenders drive in from other parts of town to worship, study, & serve. Then we drive back to our neighborhoods while the neighborhood around the church becomes increasingly neglected by the church. This almost never happens intentionally. It's usually the result of not knowing what to do as things change & usually change rapidly. However, the end result is a congregation that becomes more & more obsessed with themselves rather than the mission to reach those far from God. That's a recipe for disaster: the community is abandoned by the church & the church slowly begins to die.

"Churches Need To Replace Church-Wide Ministry 

With Community-Wide Ministry."

The only cure for what ails the church that finds itself in this or a similar situation is a radical shift back to mission focus instead of me focus. Everything a local congregation does should seek to serve not just its membership but its neighborhood. Our family ministries shouldn't simply serve our families. They should serve the families of our community. Our student ministries can't just serve our teenagers. They need to engage with & serve the teenagers in our churches' neighborhood. Our benevolence ministries can't simply be about feeding & clothing the less fortunate. They have to be about seeking to feed & clothe the lost with Christ. All of our ministries need to become radically Gospel-saturated. Every penny we spend should have a Gospel focus, whether that be a direct Gospel focused outreach or the clear equipping of the church for Gospel ministry to the congregation's community.

Many churches in America are in desperate need of revitalization. They're sick. Some of them are dying. Many of those struggling churches find themselves in the situation of being in the middle of a neighborhood they aren't serving or reaching. Attendance is declining. Giving is down. So we begin to try to figure out how we can salvage things. Meanwhile, the answer is literally all around the church. Perhaps the reason why our congregations are struggling is because we've abandoned many of our communities. A radical return to the mission is in order. It's time for our congregations to recognize our communities are our mission field. To ignore them is to ignore Jesus' call to His church & to deprive our neighborhoods of the hope found in the Gospel. Let's get rid of church-wide ministry & replace it with community-wide ministry.

Behind Enemy Lines

In American church culture we have a doctrine that many of us hold on to. In some churches it's an unspoken doctrine, but in some it's actually a core doctrine that is lifted up as the ideal. There are different ways to state it, but it's basically this: "The safest place in the world is in the middle of God's will." In some contexts that means that if you follow God faithfully, He will bless you with all sorts of stuff because God's primary concern is making you happy. In other contexts we don't state it that way but we basically peddle a version of Christianity that makes Jesus into a cure all & will fix all your problems as long as you follow Him.

There's a lot of problems with this philosophy, but here's the biggest: it has no basis in God's Word. I'm sure the person who coined that phrase had good intentions & was probably speaking in very spiritual terms. Yes, ultimately if you're in the middle of God's will, you are safe because He will be with you & He will see you through whatever comes at you, but that's not how it's usually packaged or received. So what does Scripture tell us about being in God's will? Scripture tells us the exact opposite. Scripture reminds us over & over again that being in God's will invites opposition & can be downright dangerous. Need I run the list? Job, Joseph, Elijah, Nehemiah, David, Jesus, Peter, James, Paul, & on & on it goes. These were all men who were seeking to live a life submitted to God's will & it was anything but safe. At one point or another, every one of these guys had a reason to fear for his life. Some of them actually paid for their faithfulness with their lives. So yes, while God will be with you through the struggle & through the suffering, being in God's will is anything but safe.

"What If Being In The Middle Of God's Will
Is The Most Dangerous Place You Could Be?"

Here's why being in the middle of God's will is a dangerous place to be: we live in the middle of enemy territory. Let's face it we live every moment of our lives in a world where Satan & sin get to run pretty wild. Paul even describes Satan as the prince of this world. We don't live in a world or culture that shares our desire to honor Christ & do God's will. In fact, we live in a world that is pretty much completely opposed to Christ & His will. So why do we think being in God's will is going to be safe? If you buy into this deception that God's will is safe, you will be tempted to judge both your faithfulness & God's faithfulness solely on your circumstances & feelings, both of which are temporary. Instead we need to judge our faithfulness by what God's word says about God's people, & we need to base our view on who God is on what God has revealed to us in His word. If you think being in God's will is safe, you'll doubt God's goodness & faithfulness when hard times come, & you'll miss the blessing of knowing that God is walking with you through the hard times.

Now here's where it gets tricky. Do we really want to pursue God's will? Do we really want to live so radically devoted to Christ that it might cost us something? Do we really want to be so ridiculously faithful to Jesus that it might get us in trouble? Or do we want a faith that simply sneaks us into Heaven through the backdoor but doesn't attract any negative attention from the enemy in this world? That may be our real issue. Do we really want to be in the middle of God's will? After all, that could get complicated, that might cost us something, that might even get a little dangerous. Here's one final word for Christians. Non-Christians are not our enemy. No, instead we have a common enemy. Satan is the enemy. Sin is the enemy. Non-Christians are still simply enslaved to the same thing that once held us. Therefore, we don't attack non-Christians; we invite them to reject sin & embrace The Gospel, to embrace Jesus. We attack the enemy, & we attack the enemy with the truth about him, the truth about sin, & the love, grace, & hope of the Gospel.

It's time for the Church to rise up & recognize we live on a battleground. It's time for the church to recognize we have an enemy, & we have people we're called to rescue with the message of the Gospel. But to do that we have to embrace God's will in our lives, no matter the cost. After all, when we consider the price that Jesus paid to show His faithfulness to us, no price is too high so that we might show our faithfulness to Him.

Where Do You Draw The Line?

People are funny, & by funny, I mean strange. We all would say that we would like detailed information or instructions when making a big life decision. In fact, those of us who are Christ followers are perhaps more likely to say that. We want God to give us clear guidance, maybe even step by step instructions to follow in order to not only make a good decision but a decision that is in God's will. This is where the funny/strange part kicks in. My life & my work with other people tell me that as badly as we want detailed instructions from God, we are still prone to end up doing what we want in the end.

1st Samuel 15 gives us a painful insight into this truth about humanity. Though we would read this passage & point our fingers at King Saul, if we're honest, Saul is an empathetic character. We know what it feels like to be Saul. We've been there; we've done it. We've decided to pick & choose which part of God's word we'll follow & which parts we'll ignore or reject. We, like Saul, give reasons/excuses as to why we don't do what God has shown us in His word, but the result is the same: When we reject doing God's word, God rejects using us. We need to understand a powerful spiritual truth at play when it comes to our faith, love, & obedience to God.

"The Line Where Our Obedience To Christ Ends 

Is The Same Line Where Our Love For Christ Ends."

Jesus makes it very clear when He said, "If you love me, you'll keep my commands." What's Jesus mean here? It's pretty simple. If you love Jesus, you'll trust Jesus. If you trust Jesus, you'll obey Jesus. Simply put, your obedience to Christ & His word is a reflection of your faith in & love for Christ. This is an uncomfortable truth. We don't like to acknowledge that our love for Jesus has its limits. We somehow think we love Jesus the way He loves us: eternally & unconditionally. Well, I hate to break it to us all, but we don't love Jesus like He loves us. Wherever we choose to disobey is a place where we're choosing not to love Jesus. You see, Scripture doesn't present an emotional view of love. Instead, love is presented as an act of someone's will. Therefore, you can choose to love even when you don't feel it, which also means you can choose not to love even if you claim to "feel" it. 

Where is that line in your life? Where is the line where your love for Christ ends? We all have that place, & we owe it to ourselves to identify where that place really is. After all, we need to be aware of just how far we have left to grow, & we also need to recognize that place where we don't yet trust or love Jesus because that's exactly the place where God is going to press into us, stretch us, & challenge us to greater depths of faith & love. So where do you draw the line?

That's Not Fair!

One of the greatest tensions in leadership is the desire to be fair. The concept of fairness is pervasive in our culture. When that cultural norm bumps into our role as a leader, there is inevitable tension. Leaders have decisions to make that will affect people, & those people demand that the leader lead in a way that is fair, & the leader himself feels the pull toward fairness in his own leadership. However, another truth is pulling at the leader as well: that fairness & leadership aren't always compatible. 

"Fairness Is Usually Determined By Our Present Desires, 

But Leadership Demands We See The Long-Term Destination."

Absolute fairness in leadership is a myth. It doesn't exist & never has. God Himself doesn't even treat us fairly. After all, if God were fair & gave us what we deserved, it would be really ugly. Even if you just brought it down to the level of fairness that we usually operate on which is all about what we think we need right now, God wouldn't dare treat us "fairly". If He gave us what we wanted now, it's likely that it would ultimately destroy us. Instead God does what all good leaders do: He keeps the big picture, the long-term destination in view. 

As a leader, you have the responsibility of leading people into a future that they won't always see or understand. In the midst of that, you'll probably hear, "That's not fair," but don't be distracted by the world's mantra. Fix your eyes on the finish line, on the destination that you have been called to lead others to. Don't try to be absolutely fair; it's impossible. In fact, it can actually become an enemy to your organization, ministry, or family.

What Do You Expect?

Expectations are sort of odd. We all have them, even if we don't communicate them. Most of us have fallen victim to unspoken expectations because uncommunicated expectations almost always result in unmet expectations. There's another component to this as well. 

How many times have we seen someone, a kid perhaps, who was told over & over how stupid they were or how they didn't measure up, & lo & behold they lived a life of mediocrity: their grades were sub-par, they were in & out of trouble. Well, what did you expect would happen? If someone constantly gets the message that they're not smart enough, competent enough, or just plain good enough, they'll embrace that message & fulfill it through their life. You don't always have to come right out & say those things to someone for them to get the message. When you either explicitly or implicitly set low expectations for someone, don't be surprised when they live down to them.

The opposite is true as well. How many of us had a teacher, coach, parent, or leader in our life who called more out of us than we thought was actually in there? I've seen guys on the football field who accomplished more than what they should have because a coach set high expectations & convinced that player that they could actually rise to meet them. I've seen students who were bored or lazy excel because a teacher refused to let them stay bored or lazy. Instead he or she spoke to the potential in that student, & somewhere along the way the student bought into the idea that maybe, just maybe, they could achieve more than they thought possible. I've seen countless lives changed through the local church not just through the Gospel but through the Gospel centered leadership of men & women who refused to allow their brothers & sisters in Christ to simply fill a seat once a week or go through the motions of some ministry every once in a while. Instead they called their brothers & sisters to a greater sense of purpose, responsibility, & calling than anyone had before. The results are always the same: people rise to meet the expectations.

"Whatever You Expect Is Usually What You Get."

In the realm of leadership I've found this little principle to be true over & over again. If you set low expectations, you can expect low results. If you set expectations of mediocrity, don't be surprised when that's exactly what you get. If you expect high school students to act like fools, guess how they'll act. However, if you raise the bar, if cast a vision of excellence, most people respond by raising their output as well. They'll work harder, do more, & achieve more than they ever had before, not because they suddenly became smarter or more competent but because somebody called them to raise the bar.

As a church leader I believe there is no group in the universe whose bar should be higher than ours. In Christ, we've been called from death to life. We serve the King of all creation. We have been called to the greatest mission in history. Yet so often we set a low bar hoping to shield ourselves from risk or the possibility of disappointment. Ironically, there is nothing more disappointing than a low expectation follower of Jesus. It's time for us to expect more from ourselves as we follow Jesus. It's time for us to expect more from one another as we grow together & serve together. Considering our mission & calling has eternal ramifications, I would say it's time for us to set the bar high. After all, those we serve, lead, & reach out to deserve it, & our Savior, who we seek to honor, definitely deserves it.

How can you raise the bar for yourself? How can you raise the expectations for those you lead & serve beside? How can you speak to them & lead them in a way that calls out the greatness in them & calls them to do more & go farther than they ever have before. Whatever you expect is usually what you get, so what do you expect?

Orange 2015 Reflections

Last week I was able to take a couple of our key volunteer ministry leaders with me to attend The Orange Conference in Atlanta. If you're unfamiliar with Orange, you need to check them out at thinkorange.com. I wanted to share with you just a little from 3 days of incredible content presented by Reggie Joiner & the incredible team of leaders he assembled for this event. Here are a few quotes & some of my takeaways from the event.

-This year's theme was "It's Just A Phase...So Don't Miss It." Too often we're focused on what is to come that we miss out on what's right now, especially when it comes to kids. Slow down recognize & appreciate the opportunities that you have right now to impact a young man or woman's life.

-"You can fast forward childhood but you can't rewind it." Jon Acuff

-Remembering that every child is made in the image of God changes everything. It reminds us of the potential that's locked up in every kid & that we get to play a part in helping them discover who they could be in Christ so that in Christ all that potential is unleashed.

-"Kids are receiving mixed messages about sexuality." Jim Burns

-If we as parents & leaders don't engage kids on the issue of sex & sexuality (in a constructive, age appropriate way), culture will & by the time we think they're "ready" to talk about it, they've already formed their worldview on the topic.

-"When Nehemiah's heart was broken, he paid attention to his broken heart...So what breaks your heart?" Andy Stanley

-"Years from now what do you want people to line up to thank you for?" Andy Stanley

-"We're having to have answer questions previous generation haven't had to answer." Joshua Gagnon

-"Senior Pastors, elevate your leaders, & when they succeed, elevate them more." Brad Lomenick

-Jenni Catron is one of the smartest people I've ever heard speak. She never fails to make you think. Incredible role model for young ladies going into ministry to look to.

-"God hasn't blessed your church with success. He's blessed your church with potential." Jeff Henderson

-"Say 'yes' to your community." Jeff Henderson

-"Pastors, you need to be the voice of the people who don't come to your church but who should." Jeff Henderson

-"All 100 sheep are valuable, but there's a priority on the 1 sheep that is lost." Jud Wilhite

-"My music+my preferences+my style of service=Our church's funeral" Perry Noble

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I loaded Evernote down with notes from main sessions & breakouts. If you & your ministry team are looking for a conference that has something for everyone, Orange may be the right fit for you. For too long our ministries have been disjointed islands. Embracing an Orange strategy will help bring your ministries into alignment with one another so that they build on one another & better disciple our children so that they are prepared to face the world as an adult & as the future leaders of God's church.

Time To Share The Spotlight

Statistically the vast majority of pastors will lead "small" congregations. Not only will those congregations be small, most of them will also be very unhealthy. They will be in desperate need of revival & revitalization. Most studies put that number around 75% to 80% of churches that are stagnant or in decline. 

So it's pretty clear most ministry leaders will be serving & leading in small, potentially unhealthy, church environments, yet if you were to visit many universities & seminaries for chapel or to take a peek at ministry training, or if you were to pick up a book on church leadership, do you know who you would find as the model of church leadership & what ministry should look like? You guessed it, the mega-church pastor. The names Chandler, Stanley, Groeschel, Noble, Platt, & many others seem to be omnipresent, but is this really helpful for young ministry leaders who are preparing & training for their calling to the local church?

Now let's get one thing straight right off the bat: I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH MEGA-CHURCHES. Did you hear that? So don't assume I'm one of these guys who thinks the megas are bad. They're not. Sure, you can find some that are off base, but you can also find lots of mini-churches who are way out in left field too. So it's not the mega-church I have an issue with. It's the way that our American consumer, bigger is better, mindset has permeated not just ministry culture but also ministry training culture. If the only leaders who are given a platform to speak to other ministry leaders are the ones with the biggest churches, then don't be surprised if other ministry leaders either feel like failures when they don't have 5000 people in their church or if they turn their backs on opportunities to serve those "small" churches. After all, it's easier to give birth than it is to raise the dead right? The only problem with that is that the Savior we serve specializes in raising the dead.

What we need to begin to do is shine the spotlight on great ministry leaders, no matter the size of their church. If most of our future ministry leaders are going to serve churches in need of revitalization, shouldn't they be hearing from revitalization leaders at least as much as they're hearing from the mega-pastors? After all, there is a chance that the skill sets that make a leader great in a mega-church may work against the same leader in an environment in need of revitalization. What if a ministry leader as influential & as proven as Andy Stanley wouldn't be able to do the work of revitalizing a congregation that some guy you & I have never heard of has somewhere in Nebraska or in small town Tennessee? Tackling the work of revitalization or replanting a church comes with a set of challenges that are unique, & those who have faced it, navigated it, & survived can speak to it most effectively. 

"If The Majority Of Church Are In Need Of Revitalization, 

Shouldn't We Be Hearing More From Leaders 

Who Have Done The Work Of Revitalization?"

Don't get me wrong, I want to hear the insights of leaders like Andy Stanley, David Platt, & Craig Groeschel. They have incredible leadership principles to share, but I also want the world of Christian education, publishing, & conferences to open the doors to a group of leaders who may not have a massive platform but who have massive insights to share with other leaders doing the work of church revitalization & with those who are preparing for ministry in churches who need revitalization. We need to hear those voices on campus at our universities & seminaries. We need their stories to be published, & we need platforms like Catalyst, The Gospel Coalition, Orange, 9 Marks, & The North American Mission Board's Send North America Conference to give the stage to ministry leaders who are quietly doing the work of renewing & revitalizing local congregations but making a lot of noise in God's Kingdom as churches on the brink of death discover a renewed sense of mission to advance the Gospel & make disciples. It's time to share the spotlight so that we can learn from one another & have an even greater Gospel impact, regardless of a church's size.

The Gospel & Your Family

Family is a hot topic issue right now. What is a family? What constitutes a family? Who has the right to get married & start a family? All these questions are currently being debated, & many people are sounding the alarm that the "family is under attack." To me the alarm is a little late. Families have always been under pressure. Take a look at Genesis 3 & the account of how sin entered into the world. The enemy's very first tactic for leading humanity into temptation & sin involved a family. It was the classic divide & conquer approach, & once sin had entered the world, God reveals that a primary consequence was going to be strife & conflict in the family, between husband & wife. So the pressures on family aren't new. The current issues may be new, but the tactic is literally as old as dirt. 

The new wrinkle that many of us have to struggle with is that some people evidently have ideal, perfect families. After all, look at their Facebook or Instagram feed. They're always smiling. Their children are so talented, smart, & well behaved. It's as if everything in their world is just right. Here's the problem though: they're only showing you what they're OK with you seeing. The perfect family is a mirage, & social media has helped perpetuate it. So we go to the local book store or jump on Amazon & comb through the bottomless pile of self-help & how to books, both spiritual & secular, to help us figure out how to make our families stronger, yet we end up feeling frustrated. The problem isn't so much that we're looking for a solution, but that we're looking for a solution from the wrong source. You can't build a stronger marriage or family by mastering 12 steps or becoming a better you. You become a better spouse, parent, child, or sibling by going back to the transforming power of the Gospel.

"You Don't Build A Stronger Family By Being A Better Spouse Or Parent.

You Do It By Becoming More Like Jesus."

If you're working hard to become a better you, there's a pretty good chance you'll only make things worse because you're still about you. Thankfully, Jesus came to redeem you & transform you to become more like Him. The Gospel isn't just the means by which you & I are saved. The Gospel is the means by which are lives are transformed so that we experience life to the fullest, the way God desires us to. What do I mean by all this? It's simple: Husbands, you don't become a better husband by just unloading the dishwasher, doing laundry, not yelling so much, or bringing home a bigger paycheck. You become a better husband by becoming more like Christ as you sacrificially love your wife & children the way Christ sacrificially loved us. Wives, you don't become a better wife by always agreeing with your husband, doing all the housework, or any other stereotype that you can think of. You become a better wife by becoming more like Christ who was submitted to the will of His Father & to the desperate need of humanity for a Savior. Parents, you don't become better parents just by being super strict, & it definitely doesn't happen by being your child's BFF. You become better parents by becoming more like Christ who loves us, even in our sin, but who also comes alongside us & teaches us what obedience & faithfulness looks like. 

Ephesians 5 & 6 are loaded with incredible pictures of how the Gospel shapes & transforms us as families. Men, you can't love your wives as Christ loved the church in your own strength. Ladies, you cannot submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord in your own strength. Kids cannot obey their parents in their own strength. Parents in their own strength will not train their children up in the ways of the Lord. None of this happens in our own strength because our strength is tainted & twisted by sin. However, when we find new life in Christ that's not just about eternity. It's about right now too. When we keep our hearts & minds focused on & rooted in the Gospel, we'll be constantly reminded of the lavish grace & love poured out on us, & that can't help but move us toward real life transformation.

Stop trying to be a better you, & start pursuing Jesus. Root yourself in the Gospel. Live from the power of the Gospel, & as you become more like Christ, you'll see your family become healthier, stronger, & more glorifying to God.

The Only Change That Changes Anything

Leading always involves change. It's unavoidable. It's almost always uncomfortable. It's always necessary. Leadership by definition involves taking people or an organization where it's never been before, so change is inevitable. When leading a congregation, change is especially difficult & sometimes deceptive. It's difficult because in many settings there hasn't been meaningful change at the structural or organization level for years, decades, or maybe ever! Ironically that lack of change makes change even more necessary in order to move forward. 

Here's where the deceptive part of change comes in. It's tempting & dangerously easy for both leaders & those in the congregation to believe the lie that simply changing programs, schedules, strategies, & structures will affect lasting, meaningful change for the congregation & that all of issues the group may have endured will magically disappear. I'm sure as you're reading that you're realizing how silly it is to think that way, but deep down we've all been fooled into thinking those external changes will some how lead to drastic internal changes. I wish it were that simple, but it's far more messy & complicated than that.

"Changing Programs & Structures Doesn't Change A Church. 

Only Changed People Change A Church."

Changing programs & structures is actually a lot easier than changing people. However, changed people are far more powerful than changed programs & structures. The hope is that changing structures & programs may create a more suitable environment for people to experience the life changing power of the Gospel & the community of the Church, but that doesn't guarantee that we will actually experience it. We are incredibly skilled at resisting Jesus & His desire to transform us. Our structures & programs are important, but don't be fooled; they're no magic bullet. If they were, 75%-80% of evangelical churches wouldn't be plateaued or in decline. If changing your groups structure or worship service or meeting space did the trick, we would have stumbled onto the right trick by now. 

Instead, we need a renewed commitment to creating the right environments & structures for growth to happen while also praying desperately that God would do what only He can do in our lives & in the lives of those we serve with & lead. So if you're a leader, don't think you can program or structure life change & heart change in your congregation. You can't. You're not Jesus. That doesn't mean you shouldn't boldly lead & implement the changes that are necessary. It just means that you need to remind yourself that those changes aren't really the change we're hoping for & praying for. If you're the member of a congregation that's in the middle of some kind of transition, change, or revitalization ministry, embrace the change that comes, but don't assume that those changes are just going to "fix" everything. Instead, immerse yourself in a fresh pursuit of Christ & what it would look like to embody His life through your life. Don't just attend a Bible study; pursue meeting with Christ through that Bible study & let Him begin to change you. Don't just serve in that ministry; seek to make Christ known through your ministry to & love for those you serve. After all,  the only thing that will really change your congregation, is when you & I are changed. Changing programs & structures can't affect meaningful change, only changed people.

Reflections On Church Revitalization & Replanting

Nine months ago I became the lead pastor of a congregation in the foothills of north Georgia that was coming out of some pretty difficult circumstances. To be honest, the church was dangerously close to death. Attendance was down. Giving was down. And morale was even lower. 

The congregation had been through a lot, but it hadn't given up. It wasn't just going to assume that death was inevitable. Since then we've been doing what we can to position ourselves as a congregation to get healthier so that we can again be a congregation that advances the Gospel & makes disciples. 

My story & our congregation's story isn't unique. In fact, it's unfortunately normal. Depending on which stats you cite, somewhere between 70% & 85% of evangelical churches in America are plateaued or declining, & just so we're clear "plateaued" is just a nice way of saying stagnant. The bottom line is that the majority of churches in America are not fulfilling their mission. There are lots of reason & more than enough blame to go around. That's not the issue. It is what it is. The question is what are we going to do about it.

Last week I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with about 40 other ministry leaders who are in over their head in this ministry that people have labeled "church revitalization" or "church replanting". The truth is that days like the ones we had last week are desperately needed because most of us who lead churches are leading churches that need revitalization. Revitalization isn't a new ministry. There have always been congregations that needed to get back on track & become the people they're called to be. However, this is the first time that I know of where there is an intentional effort to connect, resource, & encourage the people who are pouring themselves out to reduce the death rate in the American church. 

After spending a couple of days with several other guys who are doing what I'm doing, here are a few observations:

1) It Could Always Be Worse

It's easy for us to think our situations are unique & that no one knows how difficult we have it. Believe me, the work of revitalization is difficult, & there are lots of issues you have to wade through. However, there are people who are facing things far more dire than I am. Stop assuming God can't work through your situation & remind yourself He will build His church. 

2) Stop Thinking In Terms Of Big & Small

Mega-churches are great. They have done some great things for God's glory, but they aren't normal. What is normal? Normal is a church of 150 or less. Simply in my denomination there are tens of thousands of "normative" churches, yet there are only a few hundred mega-churches. The potential of what God could do through the normative, neighborhood church is unimaginable. So stop thinking that your congregation is somehow inferior simply because it's a smaller crowd than the mega-church in your area. Both have a place in God's Kingdom & mission. Stop assuming you're too small & simply dive into the mission.

3) Satan Doesn't Easily Give Up A Place Where He's Had Dominion

This is an uncomfortable truth, but if a congregation is on the downhill slide or near death, it's not because Jesus has been King. Bad doctrine, internal unresolved conflict, & structural/traditional idolatry are all symptoms that the enemy is doing his business. Don't think that just because you showed up, he's going to run away. Instead, get ready. He will plan a counter attack. 

4) Revitalization Begins With God's Glory

Programs, new structures, or changing your church governance can only bring about limited change. However, turning the congregation's eyes toward God's glory & toward the Gospel can initiate limitless change. It's only the Gospel that changes hearts. So start there. Start with scripture, elevate God's glory, proclaim the Gospel. After all, the Gospel doesn't merely save us; it transforms us, & that's exactly what we're going for as we do the ministry of church revitalization: life transformation.

5) Know Your Context & Congregation

This is absolutely essential. There are no cookie cutters here. Sometimes you'll need to move really slowly. However, there are times when you can & should move quickly. In my particular context, we really needed to move more quickly than expected & even more quickly than I was comfortable with. However, our situation dictated that we be open to moving forward sooner rather than later. If you don't know your context & your congregation, you're almost sure to mess this up. Know as much of the back story as you can & listen not only to what people say but what they're not saying. Then PRAY. When God gives you clear direction, seek wise, godly counsel. Then don't be afraid to move if God is telling you & your team to move.

There's way more that I could talk about, but these are some basics that are non-negotiable insights that you have to understand if you're leading in a revitalization or replant context or if you're a part of a congregation that's seeking revitalization.

Filling The Room Isn't Enough

All of us in ministry want a full room. I don't know anybody who says, "I want to spend the next 5, 10, or 20 years leading an empty church." We want our churches to grow, period. However, to both Christians & Christian leaders the definition of growth is far to narrow. Even though it feels really shallow to admit it, we believe that a growing church is simply a church that fills the room.

What if we used just one new metric? What if we celebrated the fact that the crowd gathering in the room is getting bigger but also asked about another number? What if we not only looked at how many people we're able to gather but also how many people we're able to send? There are a lot of things we could measure, but I think this one thing could revolutionize our ministries & congregations. You see in Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables about lost things: a sheep, a coin, a son. In all three stories the lost thing is recovered. However, in the last story, the one about a lost son, no one actually went looking for him. Someone tracked down the lost sheep. The lady tore her house apart to find a lost coin, but nobody went looking for the lost son. Why did Jesus leave that out of the story?

You see, godliness isn't just about being well behaved & moral. If it were, the older son in that final parable wouldn't look so bad at the end. If he were really as good & righteous as he claimed to be, wouldn't he have gone looking for his lost brother to invite him to come back to the father? The father was waiting. The father was hoping, but no one went out looking for that young, rebellious boy. As Jesus looked at the spiritual landscape He saw older brothers who were moral & who thought they were pretty righteous. He also saw the ones who were far from God. They were the "sinners & tax collectors." They were "those people." However, the supposedly godly religious elite didn't reach out to those who were rebelling against God in hopes that they might repent & come back to the Father. Instead, they condemned them, marginalized them, & encouraged everybody else to as well.

Jesus however was the true older brother. He did what the older brother in the story should have done. He left the Father & at His own expense set out to find those who were lost & do whatever it might take to bring them back home. For Jesus no price was to high to rescue the lost. As followers of Jesus do we have that same mindset? Do we see that part of our growth as a Christ follower is that we would set out to seek that which was lost so that we might invite them to come home to the Father? Shouldn't that reality be a huge part of how we measure growth? Shouldn't we be looking at how we're going out into the world seeking the lost? Shouldn't we value boots on the ground as much or more than butts in the seats?

"We Should Be Just As Concerned With Filling The Field

As We Are With Filling The Room."

Jesus told His disciples that the field was ready for harvest. That wasn't the problem. The problem is that there weren't enough people willing to go into the field. Things haven't changed. The Gospel is still powerful, still life changing. People are still lost in sin & held captive by the things of this world, & the Gospel is the only thing that will set them free. The issue isn't our message. The issue is that not enough of us are in the field. There aren't enough of us filling the field of our community, our school, our workplace, or the field that extends to the ends of the earth. Filling the room is actually kind of easy, at least easier than filling the field, but it's filling the field that changes lives & give us even more to celebrate the next time we gather to fill up the room. Filling the field actually makes filling the room more meaningful. Are you out in the field or are you content with just being in the room once a week? Does your congregation value filling the field the way they value filling the room?

The Gospel Isn't An Appetizer

Most of us have a terrible problem with our faith. It's something that we all tend to drift toward if we're not really careful. In fact, Martin Luther called it our "default mode". Even 500 years ago, Luther understood that it's as if our hearts come with a factory setting that we will constantly be tempted to go back to in our relationship with God. That default mode is religion, the pursuit of a right standing with God based on our own hard work & goodness (which is just a toned down, less offensive word for self-righteousness).

So how does this work? Typically it goes something like this. Somehow we recognize our sin. We may be like the younger son in Jesus' Parable of the Lost Son, & we've rebelled & chased after all the stuff this world promises only find a bunch of broken promises. Through the Gospel, we're humbled, & we return to God repentant & looking for restoration in Jesus. Or maybe we're the older, morally upright brother. We've been working really hard to do the right thing & be a good person, but at some point the Gospel reveals the futility & emptiness that lurks at the end of that road as well. So we stop trying to slave away for God hoping to earn a place in His family, & instead we embrace that through faith in Christ we are His child. In an instant our sins are washed away, & we're justified before God through Jesus.

Then it begins to happen. And it usually doesn't take very long. We begin to drift toward the default mode of hard work, self motivated moral goodness, & religious goodness. We begin to measure our growth by how hard we try or by pointing out "those things" that others do that we don't. Starts sounding strangely like the religious, yet lost condition that some of us were rescued out of, doesn't it? In fact, for many of us it becomes so extreme that we begin to act as if our relationship with God is reliant on how good we are. Somewhere along the way we think we outgrow the Gospel. Sure, the Gospel is what saves us, but it's our hard work that keep us saved.

"It's Time For Us To Stop Viewing Our Justification As An Extension 

Of Our Sanctification & Start Viewing Our Sanctification 

As An Extension Of Our Justification."

What do I mean by that? Well answer this question? What saved you? Your hard work or the power of the Gospel? Well if the Gospel is the only thing that saved you & brought you into the family of God, why would you think that all of a sudden you can grow & become more like Christ in your own strength & goodness. Instead of outgrowing the Gospel, we need to be camp out in the Gospel. If you're trying to become more generous, it doesn't happen by just trying hard or by beating yourself up for being greedy. You & I become more generous by constantly meditating on the Gospel that reminds us of the generosity of God revealed in Jesus. When we walk with a constant awareness of how sacrificially generous Jesus was on our behalf, becoming more generous with something as trivial as our stuff will start to become second nature. The same is true in our marriages. We don't become better husbands or wives by working harder. We grow by constantly reflecting on the incredible love of Christ toward us & His submission to the Father's will. As we see the lengths Jesus was willing to go to for us, we'll become more loving toward one another & sensitive to each other's needs.

The Gospel isn't the appetizer to your relationship with God. It's not something that gets you started. It's the appetizer, soup, main course, & dessert! Tim Keller says it this way, "The Gospel then isn't the ABCs of the Christian faith. It's the A to Z of the faith." If you think you've grown to the point of moving on from the crucified & resurrected Jesus, then you might want to think about what exactly it is that you are growing. So stop snacking on the Gospel, & feast on the glorious depth & riches that it holds for us as we not only come into the family of God but as we grow as His children.

That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." Ah the brilliance of Inigo Montoya. Most of us have either been in Inigo's position or Vizzini's. A word gets used, but maybe we're not exactly using it correctly. After all, when someone says, "I could care less..." there actually saying the opposite of what they mean.

There's a word kind of like that that we have thrown around for centuries in regard to one of Jesus' stories, but it's nowhere in the actual story, & the way we've used it has actually hurt the meaning of the word. That word is "prodigal." It's a famous word because it's in the Bible, & it has made it's way into our culture, but very few people even know what it means, but if they did, it may make a big difference in how we understand Jesus' parable. If you were to ask someone on the street what "prodigal" means, you'd probably get responses like "rebellious", "runaway", or "wild child". But that word doesn't mean what you think it means, & it doesn't really apply to who you think it does.

"Prodigal" means "extravagant, reckless, lavish", & in the story Jesus told we assume that it applies primarily to the younger son who ran away from home & wasted his inheritance on wild living before he had to humbly come home. The truth however is far more complicated & more beautiful. You see that son was prodigal. He was reckless. He did live extravagantly, but when the money ran out, & he came home what he found was a far more extravagant, reckless, & lavish father than he could have predicted. Instead of being shunned or run off the property because of the dishonor he had brought on the family, the father welcomed him home, restored his place in the family, & threw a lavish party to celebrate. And Jesus uses that story to illustrate the graphic, extravagant, reckless, & costly grace that God has extended to us.

You & I have sinned lavishly, reckless, & extravagantly. The human heart has devised some ingenious ways to dishonor & rebel against God. However, when that rebellion or self-righteousness leaves us empty & we're brought to a place of repentance, what we find is that our extravagant sin is met with even more extravagant grace. Paul tells us in Romans 5 that "where sin increased, grace increased all the more." What that means is that no matter how rebellious or self righteous we are we are met with more than enough grace to cover the cost of our sin & restore us to our Heavenly Father.

"God Responds To Repentant Rebels & Pursues Religious Rebels With Reckless Grace."

In Jesus' parables both sons are cut off from their father. One is cut off by his rebellion, the other by his self righteousness. However, the father reaches out to both with reckless, extravagant, lavish, over the top grace. In Christ that same grace is being offered right now to all of us who've run away & chased our own path & to all of us who have tried to put God in our debt due to our own goodness. No matter which son you identify with, there's grace enough for us all if we will simply come back to the Father.

5 Things That Make Anyone A Better Communicator

If you have some responsibility of communicating to a group of people on a regular basis you know the pressure that comes to have something to say. You want it to be fresh, inspiring, challenging, maybe even life changing for someone. However, if you teach every week, preach every week, or give presentations every week, you know it can be difficult to muster both the energy & the content to bring compelling, helpful messages that your audience walk away from knowing something new & knowing what to do with it.

With that in mind, I want to offer five very simply, very practical things that anybody can do to stay on top of their speaking/teaching/preaching schedule. These are simple things that I do all the time that have helped me grow as a communicator. By no means am I some kind of preaching & teaching guru, but I do want to pass along things I've learned over the years so that other teachers, preachers, & communicators can grow as well. Putting these things into practice won't insure that every message or every presentation is a home run, but it will insure that you have fewer swings & misses. 

1) Spend At Least A Little Time In It Every Day

This is one place where the seeds for future ideas come from. Whether this happens in your personal study or in your study time specifically for future message prep, let your daily time in God's Word be a springboard for what God might want to say to others. Looking at your upcoming messages or their texts some everyday also helps you let go of your notes so that you're more connected to your audience.

2) Listen, Listen, Listen

Let's face it, podcasts are the new commentaries, especially when looking for help applying. Listen to super practical preachers & super doctrinal communicators. If you tend to lean toward the doctrinal, textual side, you need help making it practical. Listen to pastors who ask the questions that lead us to wrestle with the text. It will help you not only teach your audience but teach them what to do with it. On the other hand, if you're the person who always wants to wrestle with "what does this mean for real life", you may need to listen to the communicators who help you connect on a deeper level to the timelessness of God's Word.

Listen to great communicators outside your field. A great resource that's out there are the endless supply of Ted Talks. While the presenters may have very little in common with you, they're a resource for you. After all, if someone can give an 18 minute talk about economics & make it somewhat interesting & compelling, you need to figure out what they did as a communicator to make you feel that way about their topic because there are probably people in your meetings, classes, or congregations each week who walk into the room with the same attitude toward whatever you're talking about.

3) Read, Read, Read

Read stuff that makes you think. One way to do that is to read stuff that you might not normally read. Perhaps the author comes from a different background, tribe, or denomination than you. That doesn't mean you can't learn something from them. Don't simply consume material that you know will agree with before you read page 1. Also, read old stuff. If you don't have dead folks in your library, you're missing out on centuries of wisdom. At the same time, read the latest & greatest. There are some incredible men & women producing great work. However, don't assume that what's new is what's better. There's a reason some things are called "classics." To ignore the classics is silly. So go buy some C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, or Martin Luther while also checking the latest from Matt Chandler or Steven Furtick.

4) Stay Ahead Of The Calendar

Working only on this week's message this week almost insures that it won't be your best. If you're a preacher or teacher or utilizes series based approach, this is almost a necessity. After all, doesn't a series build on itself? That means part 1 & part 4 of a series are connected. You have to know where you're going & how you're getting there. Each message is a whole while also being a part of a bigger message. So if you're only tackling things a week at a time, you're not maximizing your potential impact with your messages. One thing I try to do is to be finishing my next series while I'm preaching my current series. I may have already put outlines together for a series or two down the road but both my current series & my next series are done & ready to go.

If you're not already doing this, you need to map out your year. There are some things that you need to communicate regularly. In my context as a pastor, I know that every year I'm going to tackle issues like biblical stewardship, mission, family issues, not to mention Christmas & Easter. I also like to do a summer series that's usually through an entire book of Scripture. By getting some of those on the calendar as early as possible, I have some idea of where I'm headed. Staying that far ahead also frees you up to handle other responsibilities you might have or to be able to adjust on the fly. People I've talked to who are only going week to week feel such immense pressure that they can't adjust what they're doing. My experience has been greater preparation tends to make me more able to adjust to God's leading should He change my topic for the week.

5) Be You

Everyone is influenced by what they hear, but don't try to be Andy Stanley, Tim Keller, John Piper, or anyone else. God wouldn't have called you if He just wanted a copy of those guys. Plus they're better at being them than you ever will be. Whatever your voice is embrace it. Don't be a parrot of someone else, & don't be a puppet for others. There will always be someone who thinks you should be more "fill in the blank". However, if you're not a screamer, don't try to force it, but if that is who you are, embrace it. God called you & equipped you so that through you, He could be magnified. He doesn't need another version of your favorite communicator. He needs a faithful you. Learn from your influences. Incorporate things you see in them, but don't try to be them. 

These five simple practices are something any of us can do, & as you put them into practice, you'll begin to see the benefits & fruit from it. Don't get caught up in the seemingly endless treadmill of being a regular communicator. Get ahead of the pressure by working harder & smarter. When you do, not only will you benefit & grow from it. Those you lead & teach will as well.