LESSON #26:  How Faith is like Playing Basketball I suck at Basketball.  Growing up I played Soccer, all year, all the time.  And I was good.   I enjoyed playing Soccer from age 5 to age 25, even coached for several years.  After 20+ years of Soccer, I grew sick of it.  As I got older, and my body didn't quite respond as I wanted it to, the sport that once excited every part of my mind and body, now bored me.  It was time for a new sport. I decided to pick up a sport that I enjoyed but struggled with, Basketball.  I am terrible.  I am a great defender, incredible re bounder, but a horrific shot-maker.  If my life depended on making a lay up, let alone a jump shot, I would have died many times over.   Despite that fact that God did not bless me with the skills [...]

People land and stay at various churches for a myriad of reasons.  Again, some these reasons are very good and others are very bad.  No one can truly judge the motivation of the heart but Judge Jesus, so we'll leave determining the genuine validity of reasons for coming or going with him. I am suggesting that you can stay at a church for the wrong reasons. This blog is not about convincing people to leave their churches, rather, for them to consider why they are there--or why they should be there.  My hope is that, if they are at a healthy church, they will in fact begin to love the church all the more and do more than stay, but in fact commit for the right reasons. All of the wrong reasons to stay at a church can be summarized in two words: personal preferences (PP). Ironically, this is also [...]

CHURCH PLANTING LESSON #24:  You'll always want to Re-preach your last sermon(s). I always want a another chance.   Nearly without fail, I want to re-preach every sermon that I preach, right after I preach it.   At times, this desire overwhelms me seconds after I'm done.  Other times, it results days, or even weeks later, usually after I've read a Scripture, a book, or come across some other idea that would have been "perfect" or at least "better."  Alas, there are always the things I wish I would have said, things I wish I hadn't of said, things I forget to say, and things that I simply butchered when I said them. The truth is, there will always be different ways to preach the same text.  God's Word is a living mountain that is never fully mined of all of its nuggets.  I trust that the Holy Spirits is powerful enough [...]

LESSON #23:  When People Leave I never get used to people leaving our church.  In this consumeristic, serve me, feed me, meet my needs society, it is not uncommon to see people come and go in a church.   Connecting with a church for many is like dating without an intention to commit--just looking for a good time.  They're trying to find the perfect ideal mate that looks right, sounds right, and makes me feel good while requiring nothing of them they don't "feel" like giving.  That is why fewer and fewer people are actually getting married to the church. So, every time a "new" person dares to enter our doors for the first time (usually after hearing how good a "date" we had with one of their friends), its difficult not to feel as if you're being interviewed and evaluated like a first date.  For a pastor, there can be [...]

Church Planting Lesson #24:  Stop being the victim. Below is a post that a friend of a friend put somewhere in cyberspace.  I wanted to write a blog about the same thing, but she said it much better than I ever could: Have you been wronged? Have you been abused? Mistreated? Unloved? Have you been cheated? Lied to? Deceived? Have you been the victim of injustice? Unjust laws? Unjust authority? Was your mother cruel? Your father absent? Were you improperly educated? Improperly socialized? Improperly moralized? Did someone do something to hurt you? Maybe even intentionally? Well, join the club. Everyone I have ever known has been hurt in some way by other people. Everyone I have ever known has been, at one point in time, the victim of some type of injustice. Do you know the difference between the people who succeed in life and those who wallow in failure [...]

Church Planting Lesson #23:  Everyone has their own fighting style In the final letter before his death, Paul wrote to young pastor Timothy.  These words represent some of his most important thoughts as his impending death causes him to reflect on the last 30+ years of suffering for Jesus. In 2Timothy 2.3-7 he writes: Share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No solider gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.  An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.  It is the hard working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.  Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. The passage gives us three images to consider, a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer.  In the past, I have often viewed these images somewhat narrowly, [...]

LESSON #22:  Preaching Bad Sermons I preached a bad sermon this past Sunday.  It wasn’t the first, it won’t be the last.  No, I didn’t preach heresy or accidentally let an f-bomb slip; I simply didn’t say what I wanted to say and realized it the moment I finished. When we first planted the church, I regularly experienced a Sunday afternoon depression.  Immediately following the sermon, my mind would be filled with all of the things should have said, shouldn’t have said, or should have said differently.  It didn’t matter if people criticized or cried in response.  Silence only confirmed my “sucky” suspicions and compliments were perceived as sympathetic pity.  Meanwhile, my  mind, heart, and body would be filled with an overwhelming sense of discouragement as I replayed the prophetic monstrosity over and over again in my head.  I had this same experience Sunday, and I hated it. And while [...]