Fear Factor!

"Elijah was afraid and he fled for his life."

I guess if Elijah, one of the greatest prophets of God, could be afraid of a wicked queen then we shepherds may struggle with fear now and then.

The question then becomes not if you become afraid but when do you become afraid?

Fear can have a paralyzing affect on our ministries. When I asked over a hundred pastors what they were afraid of the following answers were given:

1. "I am afraid of failure"

2. "I am afraid of becoming irrelevant."

3. "I am afraid of losing control."

4. "I am afraid that my family will not measure up."

5. "I am afraid of losing people."

6. "I am afraid that people will find out I'm not as spiritual as they think I am."

7. "I am afraid of history repeating itself."

8. "I afraid of what people think of me."

There are many more fears out there so you can fill in the blank.

Paul gave some good advice to a fearful and timid young pastor Timothy. "But God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline." NLT

There is great power in the truth. The word of God is powerful. Fear is essentially believing a lie. Paul tells us to fix our minds on truth. What lies are you buying into?

Perfect love casts out or drives out fear. Fear and Love cannot coexist. When we understand specifially how much God really loves us fears have a tendency to melt away. When we trust in that love our faith becomes our reality. When is the last time you sat down and truly contemplated the love that God has demonstrated in your life?

Paul reminds us to think with sound judgment in Romans. This takes discipline. Paul also tells us to take every thought captive. Are you being proactive in the battle for your mind?

It all starts by facing your fears rather then rationalizing or running from them.

The good news is that God met Elijah in his fear so that he got up off the mat and continued to fight the good fight.

We must discipline our minds to focus on truth.

Keeping Your Life Under the Speed Limit

Arizona has been blessed with photo radar on all the freeways. Motorists for the most part detest big brother watching. However these devices do have an affect on overall speed. If you aren't paying attention the next thing you know you are getting flashed for doing 15 over.

Are you consistently going 15 over?

Let me throw up a warning sign to those of you who insist on going over your human speed limit.

Sooner or later you will get flashed and pay the consequences.

One of the biggest problems I am seeing in the lives of pastors is an inability to set boundaries. I recently heard from a pastor who is bi-vocational feeling guilty that he can only give 3 hours a day to counseling those in his congregation. I hear from other pastors who don't enjoy a day off or have been on a legitimate vacation for years much less a sabbatical. Most pastors I talk to are exceeding the speed limit and are not paying attention to the warning signs.

What are those warning signs? How about fatigue, depression, lack of compassion, cynicism, anxiety,guilt, physical problems, loss of patience, loneliness, sleeplessness, too many nights out,

disengagement with the family? The list can go on.

So how do we keep under the speed limit?

1. Distinguish between real guilt and false guilt. Real guilt comes from God not your own or others expextations.

2. Be intentional about setting boundaries. If you can't do it well, then ask for help. Find a secretary or person who will hold you accountable.

3. Understand your own idiot lights. God has uniquely given us alarms in our systems that go off when we are on overload. We need to determine what they are and pay attention to them.

4. Give yourself permission to take some time to rest. Remember boundary setting should lead to margins and margins should give you time to rest. You can bet in ministry that nobody will do it for you. The demands are too great.

5. Ask your spouse and kids if they feel significant and understood.

6. Make sure you are not in denial. As you know that is a deep and long river.

The bottom line is this: SLOW DOWN AND LIVE!

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.