“One of the tragedies of the contemporary church is that, just when the world seems to be ready to listen, the church often seems to have little or nothing to say. For the church itself is confused; it shares in the current bewilderment, instead of addressing it. The church is insecure; it is uncertain of its identity, mission and message. It stammers and stutters, when it should be proclaiming the gospel with boldness. Indeed, the major reason for its diminishing influence in the West is its diminishing faith.” – John Stott
Archives
All posts for the month April, 2009
The amazing thing about human beings is that regardless of the effectiveness of something, if we are emotionally attached or committed to something, we will continue doing it.
If your car gets stuck in the snow, we still keep our foot on the pedal knowing that at any moment, we will break free and move forward. But we get more stuck.
How do we move forward? How do we stop doing what no longer works? We’ll also be looking at what Jesus is doing now and what that has to do with our lives and how that helps us to move forward.
These are a few of the things we will be working through this Saturday as we continue our series on the book of Hebrews.
You do not want to miss it, there might be a little M.C. Hammer this week. You never know.
I admit it, I am one of those guys who watches the NFL draft.
As a hardcore Steelers fan, I know that championships are won and lost on draft day. While teams can improve through free agency, it has proven time and time again that teams that draft well are the teams who win super bowls. Just look at the past few winners of the super bowl, they draft well.
Baseball teams are starting to learn this. For years, we have watched the Yankees spend millions every year on free agents and spend very little on their minor league system. The last time the Yankees won the World Series? 2000.
It is the same in churches.
I think many churches look for the superstar, bring that person in and hope that something great will happen. This can happen, but very rarely does. Many churches today that are effective, growing, and are healthy hire from within. They find volunteers who are doing a job in the church and raise them up to paid staff.
In his book Leaders at all levels, Ram Charan lays out a plan on leadership development and how to proactively raise up leaders.
As a church leader, have you thought through how people rise up in your church? How do you identify leaders? How do you raise up leaders? How do leaders join your team?
- Wasn’t quite sure what to expect tonight coming off our highest attendance ever last week
- Tonight was one of the hardest sermons I’ve ever preached because it is one of the blandest passages I’ve ever read, but it is such a crucial message
- Felt like garbage tonight, so that always makes it hard
- If you were grabbed by tonight’s message, check out this book, life changing
- Tonight was one of those topics that if we get it right it opens up a new world of following Jesus and if we get it wrong (which we often do) following Jesus becomes the biggest chore on the planet
- Had a new guitarist tonight who was awesome, dude can wail
- Love the energy during the music
- Paul & Jennifer have been here for 4 months. That is crazy to think it has only been 4 months. If you were not at Revolution before they came, I cannot even begin to describe the difference they have made in our community and on our team. HUGE!
- We had a bunch of volunteers away tonight, but once again, the rest of the team jumped into place and made it happen, especially Dave, way to go guys!
- Our small group is doing our missional project tomorrow
- We’re cleaning up at a home for adults with autism, love serving within community
- Watched Doubt last night with Katie, great movie
- Ran almost 10 miles yesterday, getting higher
- We’re doing our post-marriage counseling tomorrow for a wedding I recently did, should be fun to see where they’re at
- We have a LEAD Team Meeting this week, so many huge things to talk about
- There’s a lot to cover
- We need to talk through how to handle the growth we’ve had and to look ahead
- We’ll be asking, as we continue our growth, how do we handle it, how do we help get people connected in community and using their gifts and what is next for Revolution
- Great questions to work through
- I have GOT to finish my homework this week
- All I have left is a 12 page paper on what missional leadership is and my plan to become one (a missional leader), I’ve been putting it off, but it’s due Thursday
- We have our last small group on Monday, we’re cooking out fajitas, should be fun
- It will be nice to have a month off and then the summer semester of small groups start
- If you were not in one this last semester, you need to get into one
- Katie and I might be leading one, stay tuned
- I’m meeting with my spiritual director this week, really looking forward to that
- Paul and I are heading up to Casa Grande this week to hang out with some pastors from there and Phoenix, should be fun
- Next Saturday is Katie’s birthday, she’s going to be 2_, make sure you wish her a happy birthday
- I’m done
- Katie and I are going to watch Transporter 3, bring it handsome Rob
“Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God. No one sins out of duty. We sin because it holds out some promise of happiness. That promise enslaves us until we believe God is more to be desired than life itself.” – John Piper, Future Grace
Katie and I watched Doubt last night. Great movie.
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Father Flynn) seems to be great in any role he chooses and Merryl Streep (Sister Beauvier) was right on as a nun.
Being a pastor, it was an interesting look inside of a church, the leaders, how it is so easy to try to take another person down, and how leaders wrestle with doubts and certainties.
It takes place in a parish in New York City. Sister Beauvier “knows things about people” and she knows that Father Flynn is off, something si wrong. She begins a private witch hunt and from the start, because she has sized him up, everything he does and does not do proves her suspicions right. Even when, they are proven wrong “she knows” she is right.
Now, what she goes after Father Flynn on is never shown whether or not it was true, you are left to decide that, which was an interesting twist.
At one point, Father Flynn makes the comment, “Doubts can be just as dangerous as certainties.” Which is true. Because, if we are certain about something, it shapes how we see that thing, that person, that memory.
What is interesting at the end of the movie is Sister Beauvier is talking with Sister James (Amy Adams) and Sister James says, “I wish I could be like you, I wish I could be certain.” To which Sister Beauvier says, “I have doubts, I have so many doubts.”
Makes you think about what people in our churches are carrying around and do they have a place to share it. Is there a place for leaders and those in our churches to say, “I have doubts, I have so many doubts.”
Definitely worth picking up. It created some interesting conversations for Katie and I.
- Ed Stetzer on the State of church planting in America. This gave me a lot of hope after reading and made me really excited about Revolution.
- Mark Driscoll on The point of spiritual gifts. This is a great series, really helpful on what spiritual gifts are.
- Ed Stetzer reviews every book in print on church planting. If you are interested in church planting, start with this list.
- Jonathan Dodson on How we should pray when we suffer.
- Barry Keldie on The loneliness of leaders. If you are a lead pastor, you need to read this because this is where you live. If you attend a church and want to know how your lead pastor often feels, read this. Leadership is not flashy, it is costly, often painful, it can also be incredibly lonely.
- Craig Groeschel on Private pain before public gain. This is a great reminder that leadership will cost you something before it goes anywhere. Every biography I’ve ever read about a great leader includes a story of personal pain. It shaped their leadership and drove them to new levels. This is right on.
- Paul & Jennifer have been here for 4 months. That is crazy to think it has only been 4 months. If you were not at Revolution before they came, I cannot even begin to describe the difference they have made in our community and on our team. HUGE!
- John Piper on Reinventing parenthood. This is an interesting look at how the culture has shifted in its view of marriage, sexuality and parenting and how the church has done very little to show a different way, or even challenge it.
