Perspective
There are many things which someone could say "life is about..."; many of those statements (whatever 'those' statements are) would probably have truth to them. Here's one that I was thinking about this week during my 30-40 mn daily commute. "Life is about perspective". I could write a thesis on it. We look at problems, opportunities, the past, the present and the future based on the perspective that we look at these moments in time.
I remember in 8th grade art class part of our year we spent on "perspective" drawing. I wasn't very good at it. I either wanted to imitate another picture that I had seen, or I just simply couldn't get my mind to stop thinking that each line on the paper that I drew had to stand for itself. One of the keys to drawing in perspective is to understand how the parts fit with the whole. The more you can 'see' the big picture without having it drawn out for you, the more effectively you can put each line down on the paper and trust that as the parts connect, the whole will be made clear.
Hmmmm... kinda deep. But that is a lot of what I have been going through these past couple of weeks. I guess it is similar to Proverbs 3:5-6 where we see a different picture. A picture of a path that is only lit enough to see where the next step should be taken to stay on it. To stay on this path, I/we must trust that each step will take us to the desired destination. The more we know about the "big picture" of life, as believers, we know where that path is eventually going to take us, even if we can't see what's around each bend. And I guess in a way, that is perspective too.
Like I said, there's a whole lot more that could be said, but you probably wouldn't have the time to read it :) So having the perspective that shorter is better, I'm going to stop writing now...
Not much to say but - THANK YOU!
I made a commitment to write once a week. It's been a week - and I find myself at a loss for what to write tonight. There were many things this past week that I thought about. Starting a new job, final concert at DGBC, receiving my new Demo CD in the mail... lots of exciting stuff. But if I was going to write about anything, it would be to simply say "thank you".
So....thank you to David Bechtel and Diane Sheets for helping me get the new CD started. Thank you to those who have donated money to help finish the new CD. Thank you to Bob, Brent, Jim and Pat for helping me secure a new career opportunity. Thank you to Chuck and Dave for helping me to create a new web-site. Thank you to my wonderful band and tech friends who make the music come alive and capture all the action in photos and film. Thank you to my parents, grandparents and brothers for being there. Thank you to the pastors and friends I have in churches throughout central ohio, and throughout the country. Thank you you to my church family who put up with me as a young pastor learning the ropes. Thank you to my church family for showing up ready to worship each week for the past five years. And thank you to my wife and girls for their love, and for making life a sweet place to live.
The Lord is good. Thank you Heavenly Father.
Easter Snow
8am on Easter Sunday morning and I am dressed in jeans, sitting at a Burger King drinking coffee and watching the snowfall.
Contradictions. Misfits. Anomalies.
There are so many personal contradictions in that previous statement. Primarily - for 15 years I have been leading worship somewhere on Easter Sunday morning. And yet here I sit, drinking coffee at the Burger King, instead of preparing a band and choir to lead worship for the King of Kings – I am prepping my own heart, and writing to all of you(how many of you are out there? :) to record my thoughts of this moment.
The thing is, I am ok with it. I was concerned that God wouldn’t have me serve him in someway on this one day, which along with the birth and death of Christ is the most important day in the history of mankind. But he is still using me. This morning I got the privilege of being a facilitator for the needs of a start up church here locally in Delaware. They had a last minute need for a keyboard, and I have a friend that was willing to loan his. So I met him at 7am then took it down to the other church. Cool. The body of Christ being generous and working together – someone has a need; we do whatever we can to meet it.
God also used me in a different way last night in preparing the hearts of my wife and girls for worship this morning through a simple time of reading a children's Bible recouting the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ - then we prayed together as family for the power of the resurrection to help us to be kind to each other, to love each other and to remember that the Lord could return at anytime. In just a moment I will put away my journal, Bible and this blog and go home to take them to worship Jesus as a family. Cool.
We are all God’s servants, called to work for the Lord most high, empowered by the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t matter if we are leading our family in a time around the word or in prayer. If we are hauling equipment around – even just greeting the servers at Burger King with a “Happy Easter” and a “thank you”, was serving God. I may be called primarily to serve God from the platform on Sundays, but this “break” from that aspect of ministry is giving me the chance to more fully appreciate all the other ways that I do and can serve Him. We all fit, even when we feel out of place or unuseful.
Easter Snow. It serves a purpose. It seems like it doesn’t fit. Like it is out of place. And in a sense, it isn’t “normal”, but God has a purpose for every aspect of every season – even the anomalies. I am in the middle of an anomaly in my life and ministry – but God is using it, and in the end, the flowers will still bloom – strangely enough, more appreciated, maybe even somehow better off.
“…we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:15-16
Simple Purpose, Simple Life
I'm reading a book for a class in Seminary right now called Simple Church. There is a lot within the book that I agree with, especially when it comes to strategically considering how much "process" people can handle when evaluating what church programs to fit into increasingly busy schedules. What i didn't like, was that the book practically left the Holy Spirit, the still small voice of God, out of the equation. To me, the book comes across as another "Purpose Drive Church", just written about more than one church, unlike Warren's book which is just written about his church.
I liked Purpose Driven Church when it came out, it reminded me a lot of my basic marketing and business classes that i took while getting my undergrad degree in Marketing, but it was truism about people. Simple Church is very similar. It just shies away from telling you exactly what to do like Purpose Driven did. For the record, overall, I like Simple Church too.
However... the longer I have been a pastor, the longer i have been involved in implementing church growth techniques and practices, the more concerned i am becoming that we are not seeing the Simple Purpose to which all of this church growth is supposed to be pointing to. We have nearly 20 years of megachurch growth, and probably 50 years of pushing church growth (church marketing and systems) approaches down the throats of church leaders - yet how many of those churches are seeing true conversions take place? I know there are several that are, I know some of them personally, however, when i hear many pastors talk, what I hear is more a discussion about the actual growth, the process or the programs, rather than a focus on Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Church Growth seems to have become an idol. I want my church to grow. I want to reach as many people for Jesus as i possibly can. But growth for growth sake is not only totally unfocused, it has the great potential to actual become counterproductive to the actual goal of reaching people with the Gospel (notice i said the Gospel, not just the "love of God".... if you wan't to know what i mean by that - send me an e-mail)
What i really like, is not Simple Church or Purpose Driven Church. What I like, and yes this is my blog, I like the church that is focused on these three things: (1) The Bible - and I'm not just saying a church that claims it is focused on the Bible, I'm talking about one that really learns and lives it. (2) People - I'm not talking about pastors standing in the pulpit and pushing the people to go get involved in the latest social activism effort - every business and govt organization can and does do that (a topic for another blog) i'm talking about truly loving people. People you don't agree with, people you don't like, people who smell different, people who have different tastes. Your neighbor, your coworker, your family member, a totally stranger - and yes(gasp) the people who attend your church. To do this, means pursuing relationship with these people - especially if you finds yourself at odds with one of them. Unity takes work. Love takes effort (sorry, I already blogged on that subject :) Finally, I like a church that is focused on (3) Worship. I'm not talking about attending a service. Playing a CD. Listening to a sermon, saying a prayer, giving a check, serving in Sunday School. I'm talking about authentic, lifechanging, soul baring, Holy Spirit encountering, Jesus revealing FOCUS of every part of our hearts, soul, mind and strength.
I don't know what kind of church that would be. I don't know what type of label to use. Do we really need labels?
Kids, teens, adults - we all desperately need to find the purpose for our lives that leads us to these three things and then stay there, bloom there, launch from there into real, intentional, influential, inspiring life.
The following is a quote from another book i just read for the same master's class. It is a book on raising "spiritual champions". A book focused on raising our kids to have authentic relationship with God. In reading it, this next quote just blew me away. Read it and maybe you will weep. If you do, just ask God to show you what it is that he made you for. He will show you.
"In our national research, we find that almost half of all adults say they
are still seeking meaning and purpose in life. Among teenagers, 2 out of 3
are still seeking that sense of direction. Not surprisingly, the figures are
highest among adolescents. We see this kind of confusion all around us,
every day - people who meander through life, aimless and lethargic, capable
but unproductive, comfortable but unfulfilled.
Meaning and purpose in life are gained by developing spiritual
understanding. Meaning and purpose are not all about occupational choices,
education degrees, marital status, financial security, personal achievement
or leisure and recreational pursuits. It is about knowing God so intimately
that you can discern His calling upon your life.
Establishing an unwavering commitment to God's calling should trump your
devotion to realizing your personal desires every time (although when you
consistently live for God, His desires eventually become your own). Why?
Because when you try to be something that God did not make you to be, (even
in pursuit of noble objectives) you can count on a life of frustration,
dissatisfaction and failure. When you listen to the voice of God to discern
what He has called you to be, then you are in line for the blessings that
enable you to succeed in the ventures for which He created you."
-George Barna - From: Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions
