Enough for Today

Last night at our elder team meeting we went through our 3 questions at the start of the meeting. We meet twice a month and at one of those meetings we go around the table and answer 3 questions. They are:

1. What is God teaching me right now? What am I reading?
2. How did I at serving my family in the last month?
3. How can the elder team pray for me and my family?

I shared two things with our team last night that God is teaching me right now. The first one is faith. Right now we are in a great place as a church, we are seeing God do amazing things, we are moving to a new facility in 2 weeks  and I am loving ministry right now. In the midst of all of that, I feel like God is calling me and our church to have greater faith. To believe He can do even bigger things, to trust Him to move and change more lives. To trust Him to do more with resources and to see more and more people find their way back to God.

Personally, we are in the midst of our first international adoption (I say first since we plan to do more). This is one of the biggest adventures and leaps of faith we will take as a family. Granted, planting a church was a big leap, but this one is too. So far, God has worked in amazing ways and provided in ways I did not know were possible. We started this journey with needing to raise $30,000+ and I don’t know how it will all happen, but I know He is a big God. Katie has been sharing with me that she feels God is going to provide financially like he did in the OT, with manna: just enough for today. Now, as a control freak (that is my idol confession), this does not sit well. I know why the nation of Israel stored up food each day, because they didn’t know if God would send it tomorrow. I know that God will provide, but I don’t know how. I want to know and would sleep better that way, but somehow I don’t think that is God’s concern.

What about you? Do you have trouble trusting that God will provide all that you need for today? Why is that?

No One Dies of Old Age

“Among all my autopsies (and I have performed well over a thousand), I have never seen a person who died of old age. In fact, I do not think anyone has died of old age yet. To permit this would be the ideal accomplishment of medical research. To die of old age would mean that all the organs of the body had worn out proportionately, merely by having been used too long. This is never the case. We invariably die because one vital part has worn out too early in proportion to the rest of the body…The lesson seems to be that, as far as man can regulate his life by voluntary actions, he should seek to equalize stress throughout his being…The human body – like the tires on a car, or a rug on a floor – wears longest when it wears evenly.” – Hans Selye, The Stress of Life (quoted in Adrenalin and Stress)

Thoughts on Burnout, Sleep, Adrenalin, Stress, Sex and Eating

Right now, I am on my summer preaching break. I am very grateful for an elder team who makes it a priority for me to get rest, refreshed, have time to work ahead. I am also grateful for a leadership team who doesn’t miss a beat while I am taking a break from preaching. During this month off from having to prepare a weekly message, I have the opportunity to think about some big picture things for Revolution (things like, what does Revolution look like this fall after we move, in 2011? What is the next mountain for us? What needs to happen for Revolution to continue growing past 200, 300, 500 and beyond?), I’m working on upcoming sermon series and study guides (The Perfect Kid, Ultimate Fighter (2 Timothy) and The Blessed Life (Philippians), our Acts 29 application and I’m jotting out ideas for a book.

Today I was taking a break from studying and writing and I was thinking about stress and pace. Someone left a comment on the blog the other day asking some questions about it and so I thought I would give some thoughts. Right now, one of the books I’m reading is Archibald Hart’s book Adrenalin and Stress and Katie is reading his book on Sleep (I can’t recommend these books high enough). One of the topics I read a lot about in books or magazines has to do with stress, anxiety, adrenalin and ultimately, burnout. The stats on pastor’s making it to the end of their ministry career are dismal. Here are some stats about pastors and their wives according to George Barna and Focus on the Family:

• 1500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
• 50% of pastors’ marriage end in divorce.
• 80% of pastors and 84% of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
• 50% of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
• 80% of seminary and bible college graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first 5 years.
• 70% of pastors constantly fight depression.
• Almost 40% polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
• 70% said the only time they spend studying the word is when they are preparing their sermons.
• 80% of pastors’ spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
• 80% of pastors’ spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
• The majority of pastor’s wives surveyed said that the most destructive even that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.

Those last two kill me.

What I’ve learned personally, through reading and watching other pastors is that we forget the basics in life. When it comes to stress and adrenalin, we live off of those things in our culture. In fact, according to Hart, not all stress is bad. Some stress can be good, but our bodies need to come down and recuperate. When we have stressful seasons of life and ministry, we need to be aware of it and not stop doing certain things.

Think about it, when we get busy, we cut things out of our lives. It makes sense because we are busy. But the things we cut out first are the things that can help us the most to get through those seasons. For couples to survive marriage without stress, they need a weekly date night. To survive stressful seasons, this becomes even more important. For guys, when the stress level goes up in ministry and life, they need sex for that connection to their wives and that release. Yet, this is one of the first things to go because of being tired, not having date night so their wife is not in the mood, not feeling relationally connected because they are tired. You see how the circle goes. When we are stressed, we eat terribly. We eat quickly, late and do not eat food that is healthy. We drink more caffeine and we drink it later in the day. Even if you claim that caffeine doesn’t affect you, studies show we should not have caffeine after 4pm. Every person needs to have at least 8 – 9 hours of sleep. When a person tells me they can get by on less I look at them and know burnout is not far away.

What about a day off. Even though every pastor preaches Sabbath is good, studies show that pastors rarely take one, let alone a vacation. Our bodies have to have that down time. I have learned that it doesn’t matter if I work 7 days, I actually get more done and better quality of work done if I am taking a day off. Our bodies need it. It reminds us that we are weak, that we need God and that we are not in charge. All good things for leaders to remember.

What is interesting about all of this is that we all know this. In fact, God created us this way. I think it is interesting that many Christians try to prove God wrong. We will be the first human to show God how we can work against his creation when it comes to our health.

Revolutionary Parenting

For the last few weeks, I’ve been prepping for our next series at Revolution called The Perfect Kid. I have to say, I am really, really excited about this series.

The goal of the series is to look at the topic of parenting and what scripture has to say about it. But we are also going to look at the idea that scripture teaches that as a follower of Jesus, we are a child of God. So, what does God expect from us as his children? One of the books I read for the series was George Barna’s book Revolutionary Parenting. Right off the bat, great title (but I’m biased towards a Revolution).

In the book, Barna and a team of researchers looked for what they called revolutionary parents. Their definition was someone that raised a spiritual champion. How does a family raise a child to love God, be involved in a church and ministry and have that continue after they leave the house. What was most interesting was how each time he pointed out a different attribute he mentioned how this surprised the team of researchers. Meaning, revolutionary parents do not do what everyone else does. It is the simple philosophy, if you want what no one else has, you have to do what no one else does. It applies to parenting as well. Many parents seem content to do what everyone else does when it comes to parenting and then, wonder why they get the same results as everyone else.

This book lined up really well with 3 of the 5 weeks in this series:  your vision and goals for parenting, how you pass on a faith to your kids and the most important thing a parent does (I’ve had a few people guess what I’m talking about on this week, you are welcome to submit your guesses in the comment section).

Overall, this book wasn’t great, there are better parenting books out there. There were some dry sections that kind of went on. But what sets this book apart is that it is based on years of research, and because of that, there were several nuggets in this book that make it worth reading.

The biggest nugget, as well as the main point of our series is what is your goal, your vision for parenting? For many parents, their vision is to get through today. That is not a vision. Katie and I have been spending more and more time talking about what we want our kids to become. Not what we want them to do with their lives, but the kind of people they will become. Whether I realize it or not, I am shaping that in them everyday, I’d rather realize it and make sure I’m okay with who they are shaping up to be.

Revolutionary parents, according to Barna, behave differently, think about influences, friends, schedules, priorities differently. They are more proactive instead of reactive. They have a plan for how they will develop their child’s spiritual journey, how they will pass on their faith. They think through media, movies, friends and how their child will be influenced instead of putting up a bubble or throwing their hands up in surrender.

At the end of the day, parenting is hard work. Only the best survive and from every book I’ve read on parenting, including this one, the best have a plan. It is not accidental how our kids end up (good or bad). Because, as Barna points out, no plan is a plan, just not a good one.

Saturday Night Mind Dump…

• Where to begin
• I didn’t do a mind dump last Saturday because we were on vacation
• I know many pastors don’t take vacations, for a variety of reasons
• Here is a newsflash that I have learned:  your church will not die without you
• I’m grateful that I have a team that would not let me not take vacation
• I’m grateful for elders who will not let me burn myself and my church out by preaching every week
• It was awesome getting away with Katie and the kids, no cell phone or computer
• Love that
• We took hikes, sat on the back porch drinking coffee and reading books
• With 3 small kids, we didn’t sleep in, but that is life
• It was awesome going to church with Katie and just sitting and soaking in being at church
• Today was the rummage sale for our adoption
• I was once again reminded this week about how amazing my wife is and how far I married up
• It was so humbling to have people donate the things they did and the time they gave
• We could not have done it without so many friends giving stuff and time
• We had friends who gave up over 12 hours of their time
• A huge, huge thank you. Words cannot express our gratitude
• At the end of the today, we raised almost $1800
• We are doing another one at our house in a few weeks, so we’ll keep you posted
• We are almost done with Phase 1, so excited
• Tonight was an awesome night at Revolution
• We continued our One Prayer Unstoppable series by using a sermon from Steven Furtick on God’s unstoppable power
• We shared tonight with parents that we are transitioning from Cody leading Rev Up to having Paul Samson lead it
• Excited about what Cody has done and what God is going to use him for in the future as he re-enlists in the Army
• Excited to have Paul on board
• We are also going to have Rev Up meet on Friday nights when we move so that students can be part of the service and serve on teams
• Really excited about this
• Even though I’m sad that the US lost today, I’m excited about the soccer still to be played
• There is nothing like the World Cup
• This week, our entire staff team is on vacation, so I’m planning to get a lot of upcoming stuff done for joining Acts 29, working on the study guides for our Ultimate Fighter series on 2 Timothy and working on my book proposal
• Two weeks ago, we used a message from Craig Groeschel about killing the lions in your life and fulfilling what God was calling you to
• For me, I have always wanted to write a book and started one but never finished for a variety of reasons
• So, on vacation I decided to start working on it
• I remember Mark Batterson telling me that you know you are ready to write a book when you are willing to write it even in you have to publish it, I can honestly say that is where I am at, so excited about this topic that is just burning in me
• Stay tuned

Links of the Week

1. Michael Hyatt on How to shave 10 hours off your work week. Lots of great tips in this list.
2. How to break e-mail addiction. This alone will make your productivity rise.
3. Darrin Patrick on How to know if you are called to vocational ministry. Great stuff to know if you are ready for leadership in a church.

This Weekend @ Revolution: Unstoppable…Power

Saturday is part 3 of our series Unstoppable. We will be hearing from Steven Furtick, lead pastor of Elevation Church,  and looking at how God uses people. Many people walk through life thinking that following Jesus is lifeless, adventureless, passionless and boring. Yet, all through Scripture we see the opposite. Why is that? Where have we lost the expectation, anticipation of the power of God?

This has huge implications for not only our church but for us as individuals, especially when it comes to how God works in our lives and uses us.

What if, you were able to unlock the power of God in your life so that God used you in powerful ways, just like those in Scripture. We are told that we will do even more than the original followers of Jesus, yet the way many of us live, you would think Jesus wasn’t telling the truth.

But he was and is.

It is going to be a great night!

So, do whatever you have to do to get to Revolution this Saturday night (and don’t forget to bring a friend with you)! To use an e-vite, just go here.

Remember, we meet at 5pm at 410 S. Pantano Rd.

See you then.