Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
10 ways to know your pastor has “arrived.”
Know that your pastor or church has "broken through" , "arrived", or otherwise made it to the "big time" when: 1.They take (or are given) a new title like "apostle", "movement leader", or "grand puba". 2. They drive a motorcycle, or some a European vehicle "gifted" by a generous congregant. 3. They invent new names for old doctrines to make them more palpable. 4. They change the name of their church blog to myrealname.com 5. [...]
Church Planting Lesson #19: Why you do what you do
LESSON #19: Know why you're doing it. We must always check our motivations for serving. When you first begin as a church planter, it's much easier to talk about pure motivations than it is to actually maintain them. The planter has an opportunity to pass or fail the "trial of motivation" every Sunday morning. Even if the planter claims not to care how many people show up, or that anyone said anything about his sermon [...]
Church Planting Lesson #18: It’s tempting to become a Pharisee
LESSON#18: It's tempting to become a Pharisee As I am preparing to teach on qualified leadership (1st Timothy 3), I was reminded of a paper I wrote several years ago titled, "No More than Jesus, No Less than Jesus." It was written for a board that I was a part of from another church about whether or not the elders should be allowed to drink alcohol. I don' t post this paper to bash anyone [...]
Why Jesus Hates LOST
With a title like that, I knew you'd read. I really don't know if Jesus would give LOST a single thought, but maybe he would since the show's creators felt it necessary to bring him into it. For the last six years, I have been a die-hard, committed, and faithful fan of the television series, LOST. I watched the pilot and every episode that followed. I watched like an addict looking forward to his next [...]
Half-filled Pews
I attended a church many years ago where they would publish the name of the pastor who was going to preach a week in advance. Sadly, because the church was polarized around this one guy, on his "off weeks", half of the church sat at home worshiping with "Pastor Sheets." Before I became a pastor, I was the worst (or best) critic of pastors and their sermons. I would size up the preacher within minutes, [...]
Go on a technology fast…
"atechagoraphobia - the fear of being w/o technology" Read this great post on Drew Goodman's blog about our interaction with (and possible idoltary of) Technology. It will make you consider going on a technology fast. If doing so sounds painful or impossible...consider whether your enslaved. http://www.goodmanson.com/culture/atechagoraphobia-the-fear-of-being-without-technology/ (And yes, there is an irony to reading this on an internet blog)
5 “Trustworthy” but often ignored “Sayings”
Many people try to boil down Christianity to simple truths. In the process, they will create pithy little statements that eventually become the meaningless mission statements of churches like: "Loving God and Loving People"; Real Friends, Real Faith, Real Adventure..."; "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors." While all well-intentioned, if we are not careful, such memorable statements can become clever biblical sounding phrases that have little or nothing to do with the truth of the [...]
When wolves are (mis)leading the sheep…
1st Timothy is a letter to a leader of a church about leadership. In preaching through the first chapter in Paul's letter first letter to Timothy, it occurred to me that we/I approach it from one perspective. We know that Timothy is a godly shepherd and that his flock is being attacked by the wolves Paul identifies. This fact is clear from the books of Acts and the letter itself. As pastors then, we naturally preach through Timothy, assuming God is speaking [...]
Church Planting Lesson #17: Finish how you started
LESSON #17: FINISH HOW YOU STARTED (as long as you started with Jesus) Below is an excerpt from my a journal I wrote when we first started gathering as a church. It was written the day after our FIRST OFFICIAL GATHERING. I have this torn piece of paper from my journal(who knows where the rest is) taped into the front of my Bible. The words and the tone of it reminds me that, when we [...]
Beware of Big Bad Wolves
In Paul's final meeting with the elders of the church at Ephesus, he warned them about wolves that would rise up FROM WITHIN the church to destroy it. Shortly after he left, wolves did come and, eventually, Timothy was sent to deal with them. In the first 11 verses of the first letter to a young pastor, we learn a lot about finding and dealing with the wolves that ARE all around us: What are [...]
CHARGE #1: Fight for your First Church
I preached the introduction to 1st Timothy yesterday. Written to a young pastor, this letter holds a lot of meaning for me, as it does for anyone who pastors. Unfortunately, the "Pastoral letters" to Timothy and Titus can be a tough sell to those who don't consider themselves "Professional Christians". The letters lend themselves easily to those who wish to use them as a tool to examine whether a, our, or THE church is healthy [...]
Obscure Bible Verses: Judges 8.16
And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson. - Judges 8.16 This little gem is from the book of Judges. The book of judges is the story of what happens when there is no godly leadership. It is the time between the death of Joshua and the first King of Israel, Saul. Israel would go through [...]
Jesus’ Cup Check
I have always enjoyed the older translations of Ephesians 6.14 concerning the armor of God. Usually, the text says something like "GIRD YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH." Such a translation always required greater explanation from the youth pastor because few understand "girding" though we all have a sense of what "loins" are. With or without explanation, I always imagined getting ready for the spiritual battle like Rambo: I'd put my headband on, lace up my military [...]
Acts 29 Coffee -Christian Chronic
We are developing a partnership with a new organization called Acts 29 coffee. In an effort to find ways to redeem the money we already spent, now you can help church planting as you sip on your "Christian Chronic". Instead of purchasing coffee from wherever you already do, consider investing with Acts 29 Coffee and have it delivered to your door. For every $10 bag of coffee you guy, 50% of the proceeds go back [...]
Obscure Bible Verses: Deuteronomy 25.11-12
Deuteronomy 25.11-12 When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity. In reading the over 600 laws in the Old Testament, one will come across some gems like this. You have to [...]
The “unconditional/conditional” Love of Jesus
Speaking about love as "conditional" won't win you a lot of fans. Seeing as you and I are the only ones that read this blog, I'm not too concerned. I realize that if a third person reads this blog, I'll be psycho-analyzed to the hilt as people ponder why I would write something like this...it must be a "Daddy Wounds" or, at the very least, a jacked up view of Jesus from a pastor who, [...]
Church Planting Lesson #17: One moment of grace will wipe out 100+ critics, complaints, and concerns
LESSON #17: One moment of grace will wipe out 100+ critics, complaints, and concerns... Last night, the men of Damascus Road gathered for some good Bible and some good brew. Every other Tuesday, men gather to delve into Systematic Theology--an organized study of our God. For our last gathering, we discussed the providence of God and, specifically, His relationship to evil. We examined some disturbing passages that forced us to ask some hard questions [...]
Buried with Jesus – Easter
Easter Sunday brings out the best and worst in pastors. Come Monday morning, I often find pastors sharing their "numbers" like their comparing score cards at end of 18 holes. Through blogs, emails, and online networks, pastors throw out attendance at services, the numbers of people who watched on line, reported"conversions", spontaneous baptisms, are shared like men trying to one up one's another's scars. I don't know how many people attended our Sunday gatherings. We [...]
The problem with Christians and Helicopters
The problem with Christians and Helicopters: Exhibit A Favorite quote: “If you're going to catch a fish, you have to have bait,” he explained. “If it takes a helicopter dropping 5,000 eggs to get people to come to church, it's worth it. There are souls to save.” Exhibit B Favorite quote: "Which, really, was the aim of the event, he said -- to show the community what the church stands for. "We wanted to show [...]
Peter the Paradox -“Good Friday”
Yesterday evening, Damascus Road Church gathered to meditate on the death of Jesus. In our time, we journeyed through the life of Peter. Peter is a walking paradox. He is the only one who right identifies Jesus as the Son of God. A few verses later, he is the only one quietly rebuking Jesus for saying he would die, and he is the only one Jesus calls Satan. Peter is the only one with faith [...]
Maundy Thursday – the Last Supper
The last week of Jesus' life prior to his death is known as week is known as the Passion or Holy Week. This week is described in Matthew chapters 21-27 ; Mark chapters 11-15; Luke chapters 19-23; and John chapters 12-19. Maundy Thursday is the name given to the day on which Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples, known as the Last Supper. The word “Maundy” is derived from the Latin word for “command.” [...]
Pastor’s DON’T have E.S.P.
What super-power have you always wanted? Many of us probably remember the League of Justice. These were the comic book heroes that, no offense, were like the white trash of comic books. Every knew that Marvel had better superheroes because the Man of Steel which laser eyes, freezing breath, ability to fly, was just a bit too much. Do you remember the wonder twins? You probably remember their stupid monkey "gleek" which, upon entering high [...]
Church Planting Lesson #16: Inflatables are stupid
LESSON #16: INFLATABLES ARE STUPID On Saturday, I happened upon yet another "Mega-Church" in the area that has inflatable castles, slides, and Wiis set up for their kid's ministry. The last church like took it just a step further and dressed their volunteers in black/white striped referee outfits. Granted, I haven't attended either churches on a Sunday morning, but I'm fairly confident they don't shove all the electronic and air-filled goodies into the closet and [...]
Calvinism is new again a.k.a. people are Biblical again
“And I have my own private opinion, that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what now-a-days is called Calvinism. I have my own ideas, and those I always state boldly. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism. Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else." Charles Spurgeon There is a teacher at a local High School, both of which will remain nameless, that recently told some of [...]
The “House Broken God”
The title of this post comes from a quote I heard today from a sermon preached at Damascus Road. The text was John 12.12ff, and it focused on the expectations that the Pharisees and even Jesus' disciples had as he rode, like a King, into Jerusalem on the first day of passover (Palm Sunday). Within four days, the "King" hadn't wiped out Rome in some grand political coupe, rather, he spent most of his time [...]