Restlessness

Every notice how people get restless? Some people are so restless that they are perpetually unhappy, change jobs frequently, leave marriages, and change churches with as much ease as one might change socks.

I counsel with married couples sometimes and they complain of being restless. The fire has worn off and now they have to settle down into a life of real-world living. They are restless because the seven-year itch has settled in. But the marriage vow says “for better for worse.”

Seasons of restlessness come over everyone of us. Whether it is our job, our friendships, marriages, or the church we attend, it comes. It comes to us all. But here is the big question:

Is restlessness the thing that should move us?

The main problem with people who allow restlessness to move them from place to place is they never develop roots. They end up with a rootless life and an unfruitful ministry. Too many people mistake their feelings of wanderlust with the leading of God. Granted, sometimes God moves His people where He decides, but my observation as a pastor is that most people are just easily discontented.

Consider church. PCC is now twelve years old. Over that time we have seen a lot of people come and go for a variety of reasons. Many just got restless and moved on. A spirit of wanderlust drives them. Yet, during that same twelve-year period many of our people have stayed the course at PCC. Sure, they felt restless at times, but decided that it would be best for them to just weather the season and be a blessing to others and support the work. It has been hard for them to see friends move on, but they stayed planted in the place God wanted them to be.

Interestingly enough, in recent months some of the old friends have come back. More importantly, after a long dormant season our church has begun to re-blossom as new families, new couples, young and old alike, and a fresh influx of teenagers are joining themselves with the PCC family. And the people who have stayed with us during the changes are glad that they did, because they are now recognized as true elders in our fellowship, pillars that have seen it all, yet stayed as support beams providing stability for us when everything seemed unstable.

It's going to be easy to identify our next season of leaders. They've already identified themselves by proving themselves.

Sunday Mind Dump - March 7, 2010

• Good day all around. Attendance was 460. A lot of new faces. Even seen some familiar faces back in church today; it was great to see them.
  
  
• I love seeing so many teenagers sitting on the front row.
  
  
• There was a lot of energy in both services today.
  
  
• I am stoked to see God moving in our church family. People are open to His Word like never before and receptive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Very refreshing to see.
  
  
• We are working on some changes in the band regarding personnel.
  
  
• I want to get a 5x10 ft banner made to put out front by the highway inviting people to our Easter services.
  
  
• If someone is looking for a church filled with people who think they have it all together, then they won't be comfortable at PCC. But if someone is looking for a church that is filled with imperfect people who know it and accept others who are imperfect, then they will be right at home
  
  
• Weather was awesome today. Felt like springtime.
  
  
• We are considering buying a commercial grade lawnmower to maintain our campus grounds with this spring and summer. If we make this purchase, we will also need to build a storage shed/shop out back. These two items together will cost a lot of money, but will also be an enormous upgrade for our grounds keeping capabilities. It’s amazing that we have gone this long without our own church-owned equipment, nor have we had to employ landscaping services. But it’s time to make a change.
  
  
• We have some of the most amazing volunteers at PCC.
  
  
• I’m very excited at the things that are happening in church right now – it feels like the first stirrings of a breakthrough that will impact our city for Christ.
  
  
• Had two sets of brand new parents stand up in the first service today to show us their brand new babies. It was a good moment…
  
  
• Sunday’s at PCC is always fun. It’s like a family reunion each week.
  
  
• BTW, I am a pretty good cook. Just ask my wife.
  
  
• I really enjoyed the message today – part 1 of the Jonah series – You Can Run, but You Cannot Hide. A lot of people said a lot of good things about it. Even read some nice comments on facebook.
  
  
• Going through a book of the Bible verse-by-verse is a great way to learn the scriptures. Plus, a narrative story line like the book of Jonah is very interesting. We often see ourselves in such stories. I teach this way about 60-70% of the time and go back-and-forth between the NT and OT to maintain balance.
  
  
• Each week we provide a “Questions for Discussion” study guide of the sermon for group study. Today they were all picked up – every last one of them. This is a very good sign that people was hungry, curious, learning, and going deeper into the Word.
  
  
• I had a lot of fun telling the story of being in the airliner and seeing that lady make a crucifix over her chest.
  
  
• Next week’s message is: When You Hit the Bottom, Look Up
  
  
• Be encouraged. Be blessed. Honor God with your life this week, and always remember… God is for you, not against you.
  
  

Saturday Six

• Tomorrow we start a new sermon series – Jonah.
  
  
• Monday I will be continuing the blog series – Confessions of a Church Planter.
  
  
• My sugar-fast is still holding. I think it has been six weeks and it feels normal now. Yes, some sugar has made its way onto my palate from foods like fruit, raisins, peanut butter (which contains sugar – go figure) and a little bread. But I am avoiding all the obvious sources of sugar like cookies, cake, candy, sweetened beverages, doughnuts, and even ketchup which is loaded with sugar. A total fast on those foods; they are empty calories with no nutrition. When we go to the grocery store almost all of our food is purchased from the fresh produce department. Combined with my exercise routine (I have been jogging since October) it is producing noticeable results.
  
  
• God is stretching my thinking regarding PCC, my role there, our future, and leadership development of others. I am very hopeful and optimistic about our future.
  
  
• Since the weather is absolutely perfect today, I will be outdoors all day long.
  
  
• QUESTION: When you visualize PCC in the future, what size church do you see?
  
  

This Sunday

This Sunday we will start a new four-part series entitled JONAH, based on the book in the Bible that carries the same name.

The book of Jonah is much more than the story of a man and a large fish. It's the story of a man who rebelled against God, and it is also a profound illustration of God's mercy and grace.

Jonah was called to a difficult assignment and chose to not do the will of God. His call to service began disastrously. But Jonah learned that God is sovereign.

This Sunday's message: You Can Run but You Can't Hide

Confessions of a Church Planter (Part 10)

Raising Up Others & Reaching Our Redemptive Potential

Our little church was rolling along rather well in its fifth year. We had purchased twenty-five acres of land, men in the church were clearing the property, we had added three part-time staff (which felt really good to me), morale was high, attendance was on the rise, membership was climbing, and we were very excited about the prospects of the future.

But the organizational needs of our church, its mission, and matters of congregational care continued to increase exponentially demanding more of my time and attention. Up until this point, nearly everyone in the church had been connected to me personally, and I could no longer address all the details myself. It was then that I realized changes needed to be made in regards to my role and assigning additional leaders who would serve as ‘go-to’ persons for the various needs in the church.

What comforted me most as I was prayerfully thinking my way through this process was what God promises to do for the church. As I studied the scriptures I learned that Jesus promises to build the church, select and call pastor-elders, raise up other leaders, save people, bless the teaching of His Word, endow people with gifts and talents that will build up the Body, empower His people to live victoriously, and providentially make up for human mistakes if people are truly repentant of their sins (and only God knows the number of mistakes I have made myself). By the time I finished this study I was confident that our future would be successful because all the heavy lifting and hard work would be done by Jesus Himself, and that we just needed to trust Him and keep going forward.

One glaring reality that I accepted was that I could not lead our church to its next level by myself. I needed other leaders; especially those who were opportunity seekers, goal setters, and risk-takers – the kinds of people who were willing to put safety on the sidelines.

I also started studying the major differences between smaller churches and growing churches. As I studied, I noticed certain principles that are consistent in growing churches which struck me as being very important. I began writing and speaking to people how I envisioned our church would be in the future. Some people were receptive to this vision, others were not. I could sense that a few key leaders and even staff members were not as enthusiastic as I was. This was disappointing to me. I can accept the fact that a certain percentage of our congregation will always be “ho hum” about church work and advancing God’s kingdom, but to get that kind of response from key leaders is unsettling to me, to say the least.

In any growing organization there are three kinds of people; and only two of them have a long-term future in that organization. First, there are those people who demonstrate the uncanny ability to grow as leaders and keep up no matter what. Second, there are people who attach themselves to those who are on the rise as valuable assistants, and end up rising themselves by being attached to growing leaders. Third, there are people who neither rise nor attach themselves to anyone who is on the rise, and cannot keep up with the growing demands of the organization.

This third group of people cannot be allowed to slow down the whole team. They cannot be the ceiling to which the church is allowed to rise. Sometimes they even have to be let go from serving because of their inability to keep up. This is difficult to do because they are often good people who have been partly responsible for the success of the church. But the ability of the church to reach its redemptive potential must be based upon what God wants to accomplish, and not upon the limits of certain individuals.

In the end I decided that it was in the best interest of PCC, our community, and the purpose of the gospel to forge ahead anyway. God was compelling me to state the vision of a large and growing church to our small church, but I knew it could result in people leaving. The ironic thing about church growth is this: the people who are attracted to a small church are drawn there because they prefer smallness and church leaders need them help get a new church going; yet those very same people are resistant to the church growing any larger than themselves. Thus, if a church continues to grow, many of those original people will leave as new people come in. It’s a catch-22 and church leaders must decide what they will do in critical times like these.

Somewhere in this time period I had to let our first children’s ministry director go. She was a young woman and wonderfully gifted to lead a small children’s ministry and had contributed significantly to our church at that level. But she did not have the ministry skills to keep pace with our church as we grew. Letting her go based on poor performance was very painful to me and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. It’s much easier to let someone go if they are disloyal, get caught stealing, or for unrepentant sin. But to tell someone that they are not “good enough” is very, very difficult. After giving her every possible chance to grow and develop as a leader and finally realizing that she could not, it was time to make a change. We met at a local restaurant one evening and I broke the news to her. She cried and pleaded with me to give her another chance, and I almost did. Her tears were almost too much for me to stand up to and my compassion for her began to get the better of me. But as I sat there listening to her plead, I recalled the months and months of continual failures and knew I had to see this painful conversation through. I did. In the end it was liberating for both of us. She ended up finding a better paying job that was more suitable for her abilities and I found a more gifted staff member, Cathy Denny, to replace her which benefited our church significantly. Cathy was able to keep pace with our growing church and her efforts contributed a great deal to the current success of PCC.

Another important factor is the role of the senior pastor. If a church is going to reach its redemptive potential, then major shifts also have to be made in his duties. Here is some of what I have learned about growing churches through study and experience:

1. As the senior pastor I need to change from being everyone’s chaplain to ensuring that most congregational care is provided by other elders and deacons in the church.

2. I must develop and grow as a leader myself to keep up. Ministry skills will take a church up to 300, but leadership skills will take a church beyond that number.

3. I need to work less “in” the church and work more “on” the church through teaching, vision-casting, inspiring and empowering others. This means things like launching new initiatives but leaving the logistics and details to other qualified leaders. It also means that all clerical, maintenance, and most management issues are being decided by others.

4. We need to teach our people to accept the fact that we are destined to be a large church.

5. We need to ensure that the tension between caring for Christians and reaching non-Christians remains properly balanced; as well as our highest priority.

6. We need to accept the fact that our church is not for everyone, and some people will never feel connected to us or to me and will eventually leave PCC.

7. All staff should be equippers rather than doers of the ministry.

8. I must always maintain a birds eye view of the big picture and not get lost in the details.

9. We must deliberately and intentionally become a multi-celled church of small groups, ministry teams, and friendship networks.

10. My wife and I need to reserve the right to select our own friends without feeling personally obligated to everyone in the church.

To be a part of an ever-changing, growing church requires growing members and leaders who expand their vision and their capabilities as the church expands. The reason PCC is where it is today is because of these very kinds of people. Yet, we still have far to go.

I am confident that Jesus will continue to do the heavy lifting, build this church, and raise up other leaders just as He has promised in His Word. I’m most comforted by the knowledge that His grace will make up for our human mistakes, and all we have to do is trust Him and forge ahead so that we can reach our redemptive potential.

Slammed!

I have been slammed with work this week, but will be back on a regular blogging schedule tomorrow.

Quick Link - Sherri Ward

Sherri Ward is a teacher in the Santa Rosa County School system - and a good teacher to boot. She also attends PCC, is a member, and actively serves in ministry in our church. Recently she was selected as a finalist in the Teacher of the Year awards. Here is a link to Renae's blog that gives the details. Take a peek at the video - it gives you and idea of the caliber person she really is.

We are forunate to have Sherri as part of our team.

Confessions of a Church Planter (Part 9)

Should I Quit?

I love Christ. It’s some of His people who drive me crazy. The truth is I have a hard time liking some Christians. I’d rather hang around lost people than self-righteous, hyper-critical, narrow-minded types.

At the risk of being guilty of the same thing that I am pointing out in others, let me go out on a limb here. Some Christians can be very judgmental. They act holier-than-thou, and can be incredibly condescending. They will fight and argue about the dumbest things:

You are using the wrong version of the Bible
Your church uses the wrong kind of music
You don’t teach enough from the Old Testament
Why don’t you do more expository preaching?
Your church isn’t evangelistic enough
Your church is too evangelistic, and you don’t do enough discipleship

These Christian critics are often the very ones who don’t even know their lost next-door neighbor’s name. Ugh! Makes me want to scream. It gets even more fun when they start intruding into your personal life:

All R-rated movies are off-limits (Does that include The Passion of the Christ?)
If you listen to secular music you are of the devil
Don’t get a tattoo
Women should not wear pants
Don’t let your children go trick-or-treating – Halloween is the devils night
Don’t go to the beach
Don’t go to Disney World

I just can’t imagine Jesus drawing a line in the sand over these issues.

Another guy who torques me off is the Angry Street Preacher. “Turn or burn! You are going to hell, you sinner!” he shouts. Since he is made of flesh and blood just like I am, I have to conclude that he is sinning just as much as anyone else is.

And then, some Christians are just plain weird – really weird. Take Christian television for example. Some of those people make my job almost impossible. Here I am supposedly on the same team with them, and they are just plain goofy. Some are even crooks. I know there are some good ministries on television, but you have to admit, there’s some flaky stuff on the tube.

Then there are the people who are into “bling Christianity” who believe that Jesus will make you rich, give you jewelry, cure all your diseases, and give you anything you ask for. They teach that Jesus was a rich man and that only people who lack faith get sick, presumably like junior varsity players Job and the apostle Paul. For them, Jesus is a piñata, faith is a whacking stick, and all you have to do is wait for the goodies to fall out of heaven.

Unfortunately for me, all these kinds of people have shown up at PCC at one time or another over the years making my life pretty complicated. I am amazed at the baggage some Christians carry around with them. Instead of showing up to a church and taking the time to find out what its mission/vision is and then prayerfully deciding if God is leading them to get involved and support it, some people will show up with the intent of changing the church to their agenda.

We’ve had people show up here wanting to debate things like post-millennialism, dispensationalism, Calvinism, and other dumb things that only guys with high-speed Internet connections to bizarre websites could get into. And always, it causes division. The irony is that many of these people couldn’t even manage their own lives well but wanted to mange the church; they did not own their own homes, were in debt up to their eyeballs, had difficulty paying their bills, couldn’t get along with their wives, or worse yet were still living at home with their mothers. I tired to set them straight by telling them clean up their bedrooms and checkbooks first before they tried to clean up the church, but like most fools, they were not deterred. It is the typical young-buck-in-rutting-season folly.

When argumentative people eventually realize that we were not going to talk about stupid stuff that detracts from our vision and causes division, they will leave, which is a good thing. Over the years, I’ve accepted that if I do not open the back door quickly when God is trying to move people out, I am working against Him by keeping toxic people in this church who will infect others.

I was in a leadership meeting in 2002. One individual began to rail about this and rant against that. Actually it was much ado about nothing. Waving his arms like a windmill he waxed eloquent as he objected and complained about everything in the church. When he got about halfway through his prolonged speech, I interrupted him by asking, “What positive alternative do you offer?” He stopped and stared at me in blank silence. Finally he asked, “What do you mean?” I said, “What positive alternative do you offer as a solution? You’ve been pointing out all that is wrong but have not offered as much as a single idea on how to remedy the situation. This apparently bothers you, even though it doesn’t bother anyone else, so what is your plan of remedy?” Well, that took him back a bit because I put him on the spot to actually do something other than complain.

To be totally transparent there were times in the early days of PCC that I didn’t know if I could survive another month, let alone another year in this church plant. The whole mess was beginning to really bum me out. We were still meeting in the school, I was hauling all the church equipment back-and-forth each Sunday, my car needed new brakes, and too many people were giving me grief about nothing. Holier-than-thou types didn’t like our Christian liberty. Church controllers were trying to take over. I was feeling disrespected and abused by malcontents. Super spiritual types were trying to fix our ‘spiritually shallow’ church. Legalists were trying to put us in bondage - one lady even told me I needed to crack the whip on these people and pour some salt into their wounds. Suddenly it dawned on me - our church was experiencing an invasion of imbeciles.

It was almost too much for me.

I remember taking a long ride one day on the bike trail in Blackwater State Forest. After a strenuous hour-long ride to relieve the stress and tension I stopped and sat on a bench staring at the ground for a very long time, running through my options in my mind, trying to figure out what to do. Should I shut down the church? Should I turn it over to one of the trustees who thought they could do it better? Should I just jump ship and let it turn into a free-for-all? Or should I hang in there and turn things around or die trying?

I loved the people of PCC who God had sent to us – the good Christians from other churches who were supportive, the irreligious people who were on a journey of seeking God, the brand new Christians who were still babes in Christ, and the mixed multitude of sinners who were still living in sin. I loved them all and felt like God had sent them to our church and that I was their shepherd. I also felt obligated to hang in there to do everything in my power to protect these sheelp and to fight for the mission of this church - to take the gospel to the people our city. There was no way I could leave this church because I knew that certain wolves and other sons of perdition would not spare the flock. I decided that day, right then and there, to make a lifetime commitment to Pace Community Church and fight against these naysayers.

I vividly remember standing before the small congregation of PCC shortly after that day and telling them that I was here to stay. I have planted my flag in the ground and that I will give the rest of my life to them and our city. I promised them that I would die trying and asked them to do the same.

I knew that making this kind of commitment would result in some serious conflicts in my future. But I also knew that I was not going to run from it either. That’s what shepherds do. After making this commitment to the PCC family, as well as having so many of the people commit to me in the same manner, I realized that we were going to win no matter what.

Internet has Been Down

Been having some trouble with my internet connection at home and have been offline. I will be posting a little later.

Sunday Mind Dump on Monday Afternoon

• Yesterday I was slammed!!! It has taken me 24 hours just to recover.
  
  
• We had a medical emergency in the first service. Ambulance came. Fire truck came. EMT’s came into the service and carried a man out on a stretcher.
  
  
• After that, we had communion.
  
  
• At the end of the first service I had special prayer with a group of people down in the front. We laid hands on those with needs believing God to minister.
  
  
• We were literally thinking on our feet and turning on a dime yesterday morning.
  
  
• Second service went according to plan. We sang. I spoke briefly. We received communion. Then called people forward for special prayer.
  
  
• All told, I laid hands on about twenty people yesterday praying the prayer of faith, along with a group of other praying people.
  
  
• After second service I went to the hospital to see Mr. Mahler. It was good to see a group of people from our church already in the emergency room just outside his door. I stepped into his room and had prayer with him. He seemed to be doing much better. Right now it looks like he will be in the hospital for a couple of days. As of now the doctors still do not know what caused him to feint. The side of his face is very bruised and cut as a result of hitting his head on the floor.
  
  
• A special thanks to Loraine Colon who rode in the ambulance with Robert Mahler to West FL Hospital so he wouldn’t have to be alone. Another shout-out to Kyle Brooks who left church and went to the home of Mr. Mahler’s daughter notifying her of the emergency.
  
  
• By the time I got home yesterday afternoon I was a zombie.
  
  
• In spite of everything church was very good yesterday. We really do have an amazing church family.
  
  
• I am really proud of the spiritual growth that has occurred in our church family over the years. The fruit of many years of investment is really beginning to manifest itself now.
  
  
• Each week we have a lot of visitors at PCC, and yesterday was no different. Plus, God has sent us a good group of diverse and talented people who have buy-in to our vision. I am really pumped about what the future holds!
  
  
• On a personal note, my sugar-fast is still holding. I think it has been six weeks. My exercise routine is progressing and I’m in pretty good shape right now. I’ve also got my eating habits under control and I’m dropping weight in a healthy way.
  
  
• More importantly, I feel as spiritually whole right now as I have in a long time. In the last few weeks I have come to realize the full extent of how God has preserved me over the last few years. I can honestly say that I am healed and have gotten over some things. Maybe I’ll write about this sometime soon.
  
  
• Tomorrow I will resume the series – Confessions of a Church Planter.