Incarnational Preaching

The past two and half years have been an interesting journey into sitting under sermons of many different pastors. I have discovered that there are some really talented teachers who are givng out tremendous biblical truth. However I have not seen very often where the one preaching is not only expressing truth but their life.

I believe good preaching takes the truth of God's word and really brings it to life. Jesus became a man so that we could see God operate in real life. I believe preaching should be the same way. Preaching is our opportunity to put flesh and bones on truth.

The average person in church will not connect the dots of truth unless they can see the truth somehow is being lived out in the life of the preacher. The Word became flesh so we could identify with the messenger as much as the message.

Church goers live a very compatmentalized life. If the message is not modeled so that they understand how it integrates into their life, then they can safely isolate it as irrrelevant.

If we want to see lives impacted with truth, then we must inject it with real life. Sometimes that means we must expose our own weaknesses, struggles, and victories.

The bottom line is that we need to be sharing enough of our own journey in our preaching so that those who hear us can identify with the preacher or so that the preacher can identfy with those who hear us.

Is it time for you to begin to do a little "incarnatinal preaching"?

Comeback churches

Does your church qualify as a comeback church?

In a recent article by Ed Stetzer he writes that pastors of small churches (200 and under) have heard all the strategies and promises, but for many small-church leaders, the conferences, led by rock star celebrity pastors, are like "ministry pornography"- an unrealistic depiction of an experience they"ll never have that distracts from from the real and wonderful thing. In other words, the lust of the megachurch distracts them from the mission of their church. Ed goes on to say that in reality the small church should concentrate on the critical but simple things. Small churches that are on the comeback trail should focus on the the bascis of prayer and outreach to the community.

Smaller comeback churches are often praying churches. Comeback leaders of smaller churches believed even more strongly that real, intentional, stratigic prayer made a significant difference in their revitalization process. God can change attitudes in your church through passionate, persistent prayer for renewal. Second, if smaller churchs are going to thrive, they must focus their attenion on reaching the lost in their communities. Again delving deeper into the survey of churches under 200 making a comeback, Stetzer discovered that intentional evangelism in the community was the other catylist in making a comeback.

Is strategic prayer and intentional outreach a part of your churches DNA? Is it a part of your DNA as a healthy pastor? Is it time for your church to make a comeback?

NOTE: If you want Ed Stetzer's complete article you can go online to www.outreachmagazine.com.

Prayer and outreach are not exactly revolutionary ideas, but they can change the focus in our churches from the latest growth strategies and magic formulas to an opportunity for real impact.

Stonewall Elders

For the first 9 years of my ministry in a church plant I was blessed with two elders who consistently had their own agendas. Whenever I would cast vision for a new direction there was always some excuse or cold water why it wouldn't work or they would put their spin on it and create gridlock with the other elders. During that period of time I would get emotionally and spiritually exhausted trying to engineer around those two to accomplish what I thought God had in mind for our church. Unfortunately during those years we had elders who annually renewed their commitment to the board. This was difficult for me that I considered resigning several times.

However, thanks to the sovereignty of God the two elders disagreed so mightily on one issue that they got into an argument and both left the board at the same time. Needless to say after 9 years I felt liberated. After that, the board renewed their faith in my leadership and asked me to redefine our vision and become the real spiritual leader of the flock. From that moment on, God really blessed the growth and development of the church.

So what are the ways we can avoid these stonewallers?

First: It is important to guard the gate. I was way too careless and hasty to have an elder board in the early days of ministry. We can never be too careful to measure the potential leaders Biblical character, competency, and chemistry.

Second: It is critical to have a clearly defined governance model so the roles of elders and staff are understood by all.

Third: It is important that the elder board and pastor have mutual respect and trust. Too many pastors do not trust their elders and vice versa.

Fourth: You may want to implement a 3 year rotation off the elder board. This gives an elder a break and may resolve naturally an elder who needs to be removed.

Fifth: Be prepared for some loving courageous confrontation. There is no substitute for godly leaders who lead with conviction and grace.

May you keep those walls torn down!

Are You Into Organized Religion?

I have frequently been in conversation with folks who don't go to church and when I ask them why, the usual answer is that they are not into organized religion. My normal response to that is, "Neither am I". This gets their attention, especially when they find out I am a minister.

As Evangelicals we have relegated organized religion to the mainliners and have prided ourselves in the fact that we are about the relationship. However, the longer I have been associated with the evangelical church I have found that it is not isolated to the mainline denominations. So what does organized religion look like in the Evangelcial church?

1. The church that plays church. This is the church that has forgotton to ask the question why.

It is a church that has plateaued and found themselves in maintenance mode. The Great Commission has been repressed into the great omission. It is no longer mission or purpose driven. Vision has been lost and people are just going through the motions.

2. The church filled with political agendas. This is a church where the staff is siloed into their ministry and miss the big picture. Church bosses are misusing their power of influence. Leadership is more concerned about serving men rather than God. Committees and boards become roadblocks to sprit filled leadership. Sacred cows are protected at all cost.

3. The church that is run like a business. This is a church that is market driven that often has a board made up of businessmen in the community who have influence and prestige but are not necessarily in tune with the organism of the church. Decisions are simply driven by finances, logic, marketing appeal, policies, and bottom lines, rather than prayerful deliberation.

4. The church that has lost it's lampstand. This church could burn down tomorrow and nobody in the community would really care. The compassion for the community has been lost under the bushel of complacency. People see this church as a club that only has percs for it's members.

5. The church without authentcity. Everyone is looking for a genuine community of people that they can identify. From the pastor to the pew there must be enough transparency and vulnerabilty for people to connect. The church without authenticity often has a spirtual facade that comunicates in Christianese where the average person on the street sees as pious platitudes.

6. The church that doesn't connect the Bible to real life. The Bible was written to be powerfully transforming not academically informing. People come to this kind of church and find no relevance to scripture in their daily lives. It is no wonder people do not find the church to be a relevant institution.

Over the years we evangelicals have prided ourselves in the fact that we are not about religion but a relationship. Sometimes I wonder.

A Really Deep Subject

When is the last time you heard these words from one of the saints in the church?



"I want something deeper for myself." "Your messages aren't deep enough. "



"I want something meatier." " I want a Bible study that goes deeper."



After 30 years of ministry I am still trying to figure what "deeper" really means.



Does it mean more expositional? Does it mean more detailed? Does it mean more background or historical support of the teaching? Does it mean a better parsing of verbs or Greek renderings? Does it mean more in your face? Does it mean getting past milk issues regarding salvation or onto bigger and better discipleship issues? Does it mean "Precepts Bible Studies"?


Let me put just a cynical spin on the concept of deeper.....

I have learned that those who complain about depth are often those who want to substitute knowledge for obedience. The assumption is that the more they know the more mature they are. These people want more information not transformation.

People who complain about depth often have a personal doctrinal agenda that needs to be served. If that agenda isn't being taught or presented then it isn't deep. For intance if we don't preach on "end times" or the sovereignty of God frequently we are not deep enough.

People who complain about depth are often those without consideration of the larger body.
There are many different levels of understanding in the average church today. Martin Luther used to use the k.i.s.s. method. (Keep it simple. ) Simplicity is often associated with shallowness.
It is unfortunate, because the most simple can be the most profound.

So when somebody uses the "d" word in your church what do you think they really mean?

In any case, let's make sure we keep on digging.