PCC's Secret Recipe

What is the secret recipe that has helped PCC grow into such a healthy church? What is the key ingredient? Obviously, Jesus.

Beyond that, I would say it’s the humility of the people who serve on our ministry teams. Here’s what I mean: They submit their pride and personal preferences for the betterment of the whole church. No hidden agendas. No hostile takeovers. No "my way or it's the highway" attitudes. Just simple cooperation with one another.

Here’s what it looks like in real time at PCC:

• Our creative team scratches a finished product, that took hours to create, because it wasn’t the best thing for the worship experience
  
  
• Our band members practice and perform songs they do not personally like, but cooperate with good attitudes because it best supports the message
  
  
• Our volunteer teams have accepted hard correction about the way to lead their teams and do their jobs, make the adjustments, and come back next week even though they are not paid to
  
  
• In our administrative area, we have volunteers who pound away with data entry, preparing the Sunday bulletins, process prayer requests, and visitor follow-up. Most people have no idea about the hard, tedious work they do.
  
  
• Then there are the people who clean the sanctuary, atrium, windows, bathrooms, kitchen, and maintain the campus grounds – and do so cheerfully without pay.
  
  

I could go on and on and mention our ushers, hospitality team, children’s teachers, teen teachers, small group leaders, care team, and every other team. But you get the idea. All of these people are masters at being true servants who are clothed in humility.

PCC Team Members, thank you for serving up the good stuff each week with a heavy dose of humility. You are the key ingredient in our recipe that God uses to make our church so special.

A Lot Going On.....

It’s very busy for us today, and will be all week long. Easter weekend is the biggest event on our annual calendar, so the week before is always a flurry of activity. We are fully engaged in weekend preparations, selecting and learning new music, band rehearsal, sermon preparation, changing the stage design, completing the beautification of our campus grounds, working out the final details for all age-level ministries, running extra copies of everything, and generally ramping up the whole program.

In addition, we are having to give attention to six families that are experiencing health-related emergencies right now; there was a death in our church family Sunday night; one elderly man has been hospitalized with a mild heart attack; another woman had very critical surgery yesterday; two other families from our church are right now at the bedside of loved ones who are near death; and another elderly gentleman has just been rushed to the hospital with congestive heart failure.

Needless to say, we are spread pretty thin.

I took this picture in my yard this morning before I came in to work. It’s a flowering crabapple tree. A bright spot in my day.

Praying....

Praying for all pastors and churches in the area as they plan for Easter services.

Sunday Mind Dump - March 28, 2010

• Another fantabulous day at PCC!
  
  
• Attendance was off. It was evident that Spring Break in the local schools starts this week. But hey, that's okay. I don't expect peak-attendance 52 Sunday's out of the year... just 51 of them. Besides, Jesus was there.

• No youth group this Wednesday night due to Spring Break.
  
  
• We concluded the Jonah series today. Like so many others, I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. Jonah was a man who made repeated mistakes, yet he was also a man of God. We also see ourselves in Jonah. Most importantly, we see God who never gave up on Jonah.
  
  
• In the story of Jonah, God saved everyone who repented; the sailors in the boat; Jonah from the belly of the whale; the people of Nineveh; and the children of Nineveh. What an awesome God we serve!
  
  
• One of the greatest compliments I ever receive as a teaching pastor is when people tell me that they can understand what I am saying when I preach, and that they learn from me.
  
  
• Every pastor has to answer this critical question: Do I want to IMPRESS people or do I want to INFLUENCE them? It’s easy to impress people with a big vocabulary, but it’s much more effective to influence people by speaking to them in ways they understand.
  
  
• Went over to my sisters house today after church for dinner with her family, mine, and our mother. We had a very nice time.
  
  
• My sister’s home has a big front porch on it. It’s 8ft wide and stretches across the entire from of her house. We always sit out there and visit. It doesn’t get any better than that.
  
  
• Renae and I made a hospital visit this afternoon. Had a pleasant visit there too. We are praying for the gentleman to recover soon.
  
  
• Okay. How about that extended drum solo and extended drum roll at the end of the second song today? Greg did a good job. Give that guy and hand of applause.
  
  
• Seminar 201 – Discovering Spiritual Maturity – in three weeks. We currently have 35 people signed up. In this seminar we teach the five basic habits of a disciple. It is a very effective tool we use at PCC.
  
  
• We’re going to need additional help for hospitality and food service for this seminar. If you are willing to pitch in and help out, let us know.
  
  
• Seminar 101 – Discovering the PCC Family – is in seven weeks. This is an introductory class to our church in which we talk about our Salvation (What God has Done for Us); our Statements (What We Believe); our Strategy (How We Fulfill our Mission) and our Structure (What our Church Government is).
  
  
• It’s near time to have another Baptism Service.
  
  
• We are having a small storage shed/shop built behind the church building. The concrete foundation was poured Friday. The structure should be finished in two weeks. It’ going to be used to store lawn and maintenance equipment.
  
  
• We are going to be purchasing an X-Mark mower for our church. It is a zero-turn-radius type of machinery. I mentioned this in the morning service. The cost is $8,500 – a good deal considering I was able to talk the dealer down from $10,700. This price is a no-brainer for us. We will be receiving a special offering for this project the Sunday after Easter for those who would love to participate in this purchase. In fact, someone even gave today. Keep in mind, this is an investment in your church and our ability to keep our campus maintained in a God-honoring manner.
  
  
• Easter Sunday is next week. BRING someone to church with you. Invite? Yes. But take the extra step and bring them.
  
  
• About 15 children from PCC Kidz will be singing in service that day. They are going to be a big hit. I promise you.
  
  
• I am privileged to serve at PCC.
  
  
• My life has been greatly enriched by deep friendships and meaningful relationships I have formed within our church family.
  
  
• One lady sent word to us that she realizes now that she has to “come home” to PCC. For all her searching ‘out there’ she has not found a new home. Her exact words - “there is no community in the church I currently attend.”
  
  
• I get it. We have always placed a high value on this concept. It’s called "fellowship" in the Bible. In Greek the word is “koinonia”… which means communion… which means commune… which is where we get the word ‘community’ from…. And that’s why our church is called Pace COMMUNITY Church.
  
  
• Pace KOINONIA Church
  
  
• Get it?

Spirituality is Not the Same for Everyone (Part 5)

Counseling

Like most pastors, I have a lot of people coming to me for advice. Church members often want help with a personal issue – a troubled marriage, a wayward child, a financial mess, or health related matter. Whatever the problem, my response is always the same. I listen, try to discern the unique circumstances about their situation, then apply my best wisdom to whatever they are going through.

But some cases are so complex there’s no easy answer – sometimes no answer at all. When that happens I am usually quick to admit that I have nothing to offer but a listening ear. There’s no need for me to fake it or pretend I know more than I know.

Other situations are so obvious that I know exactly how to solve them. In those cases, I’m not the least bit shy pointing out to them a prescribed course of action. There’s no need for me to hold back or beat around the bush. They’ve got a sticky problem, so let’s fix it.

But then there are the really tough cases. These are those people who come to me asking for advice but don’t really want it. It’s more common than you think. Lots of people who ask for advice really want confirmation or validation instead. They are easy to spot, because they always follow the same pattern. No matter what I suggest they do, they have ten reasons why it won’t work. And no matter how bad the situation, after meeting with me they go out and continue doing exactly what got them into the mess in the first place.

What’s more, they tend to come back to me again and again, each time asking for more advice – though once they get it, they blow it off as being unreasonable or unworkable.

For several years each time this happened, I did not know how to respond. I wanted to be kind and gracious, so when they’d call and ask for another meeting, I’d go ahead and schedule it. They’d come in and we’d go through the same drill as before. They’d ask what to do; I’d tell them; then they’d go back out and do whatever they wanted to do or had been doing all along.

One young man stands out in particular. His struggle with moral purity chalked up countless hours of my time. Each time we met I’d tell him the same thing, “Flee youthful lusts. Run from this situation.” But instead of running, he continued to hang around the temptation, in this case a young woman with whom he had regular, casual sex with. It wasn't even a romance; it was a friendship with side benefits.

He claimed he wanted to stop - and seemed very sincere. But instead of following my advice, he kept trying to overcome the temptation with new bursts of self-discipline, prayer, or extra Bible study. He didn’t think the Biblical admonitions to flee sexual temptations actually applied to him. He felt like he could overcome this situation by his own rules because he was somehow different.

But, in the end, he wasn’t.

After many frustrating encounters like this over the years I finally adopted some rules that now govern my counseling sessions. It goes like this: Ask me anything, and I’ll give you the best advice I can give. Ask me a second time, and I’ll do the same, even if you ignored me the first time. Ask a third time, and I’ll still give it my best shot. But after that, it’s strike three, and “you’re out!” When someone crosses the threshold of ignoring my advice for three times, I’m done. It makes no sense giving advice that I know will not be followed. And it makes no sense to keep trying.

God is Not Our Cosmic Consultant

When it comes to our relationship with God, we often do the very same thing as these hard-headed counselees do, but with one major difference. When God gives guidance, it’s not coming from a fallible pastor; it’s the counsel of God Himself! And when God speaks, it makes no sense to push back and give Him ten reasons why it won’t work. That's an argument that none of us can win.

Every time we push back from God's Word, because we believe His counsel doesn't apply in our situation, He STOPS BEING GOD and becomes our COMSIC CONSULTANT.

A consultant is someone whose wisdom we highly value and listen to, but at the end of the day, WE make the final decision. That’s why they are called consultants.

Here’s the problem: God DOESN’T DO CONSULTING. Never has. Never will. He does GOD. When we treat Him as a consultant, He simply stops showing up to the meetings. We may think He’s there. But He’s not.

HERE'S THE POINT: When it comes to being a spiritual person, the AMOUNT of light and knowledge we possess is not nearly as important as what we are DOING with that light

Spirituality is Not the Same for Everyone (Part 4)

Is Being Average a Sin?

Is God-pleasing spiritual growth supposed to morph us into some sort of super saint?

As a new Christian I would have answered, “Of course.” All my faith heroes were mountain-moving, charge-the-hill warriors for God. Somehow, somewhere, I picked up the idea that we are all called to do great things for God; that the more devout we become, the more we will be transformed into spiritual Bravehearts, serving God and rallying all others to do the same. It sounds good. And it’s motivational, as long as you are the kind of person who dreams big and has lofty ideals.

But what if you are more of a private person? What if you’ve never dreamed of turning your world upside down? What if your idea of a great life is a quiet life? Does it mean that something is seriously wrong with your spirituality? Or could it be that that is how God made you, and the rest of us will just have to learn to deal with it?

I would say that there are a lot of overly pious people who think something is spiritual wrong with low-drive Christians. That’s because people with zeal tend to project “their passion” onto everyone else. Since they have heard their own call so clearly, they assume anyone who does not share the same passion and vision must not know God very well – and often will appoint themselves to fix you.

That’s how I used to feel until God brought some remarkable people into my life. They weren’t remarkable for what they accomplished; they were remarkable for who they were. They were as godly in character as anyone I’ve ever met, and not a single one of them was a leader, missionary, or Bible teacher. What’s more, when it came time to charge the hill, they opted to serve in the supply line. When challenged to sign up for new programs, work their way up the system, and join us in bold steps of faith, they smiled and politely declined.

On one hand they failed to match up to my image of what a sold-out-for-Jesus, on-fire-for-God Christian should look like. Not a lot of drive, not many accomplishments. On the other hand, when it came to character, relationships, and integrity, they were some of the most Christ-like people I’d ever met.

That caused me to start wondering if my definition of a good Christian was flawed. I began to wonder if there room in God’s kingdom for regular people? Could someone be average and still please God?

I had always assumed that Timothy, Titus, and Silas represented the standard fruit of Paul’s ministry. But I missed the obvious. Timothy and Titus were rare, and represented the next generation of leaders, not the standard for everyone. The vast majority of people that Paul led to Christ, and the majority of people in the churches he planted, never became leaders or joined Paul on a missionary journey. They were farmers and merchants, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who quietly lived out their lives as regular Christians. These Christian converts of Paul never planted a church, spent hours in study or solitude, or courageously preached on a street corner. Even though they didn’t do great things for God, they DID cross the finish line after having run the race well.

Let’s be honest. In many churches today, average Christians are criticized as being “nominal” believers. What kind of pious talk is that? You’ve heard it before. You have been hammered by being told you are not doing enough, not reading enough, not praying enough, or living holy enough. You have been force-fed a diet of spiritual disciplines and Biblical knowledge all designed to make you into the one thing you’ve never wanted to be: a super saint.

You have probably been bombarded with drive-by guilt trips heaped on you by over-zealous, narrow-mined teachers who constantly remind you of your failures to measure up to Christ’s commands. These zealots are hard-charging and possess strong opinions of themselves and everyone else. No wonder so many of us simply give up. We’ve never seen a model of spirituality that works for us.

Think of the countless numbers of regular Christians who sit in churches on Sunday worshipping the God they love. They will never read their way through the Bible. Most will never teach a Bible class, go on a mission trip, house the homeless, talk to strangers about Jesus, or do anything spectacular. All they will ever do is simply live a life of obedience with grace and dignity. All they will ever accomplish is raising their children well, be good citizens, faithful employees, and walk with Jesus daily. Yes, they will love and know God… model a quiet life without hypocrisy… and bear the fruit to prove it.

In my mind, such people are not only spiritual, they are spiritual giants... and I love shepherding them.

11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (I Thessalonians 4:11-12)

Spirituality is Not the Same for Everyone (Part 3)

Family Differences

Let’s admit it. Most of us think that if other people only knew what we knew and lived the way we lived, they’d be better people – like us. This belief is based on the assumption that there is only one logical response to facing life. And of course, OUR response is the only logical response.

Just look at the way we critique and try to change people who view life through a different set of lenses than we do. We attack their logic and criticize their behavior, confident that the only explanation for their problems is because they are not more like “ME.”

You see this in families. A dad loves to go camping. He gives his wife and kids fifteen reasons why outdoor living is good for them, plus a story about how much he used to hate it until he gave it a try. So they give it a try. They still prefer Disneyland.

When it comes to spirituality, we do the same thing. We have a hard time accepting expressions of Christianity that are different than our own. Depending on your theological beliefs or personality type, it's very easy to label the other guys as being too sheltered or too worldly, too strict or too liberal, too rigid or too casual, sold out or compromised, too hard or watered down, too zealous or just a nominal Christian.

But the truth is everyone of us are wired differently, uniquely created by God Himself to be that way. And the differences between personality types and how each one expresses their spirituality – even within the same congregation – should be celebrated for its diversity, not condemned.

Consider the differences between Jesus and John the Baptist. They were from the same family (they were cousins, and they were both in God's family), yet two people could not have been more different from one another than these two. John lived in isolation waiting for people to come to him; Jesus traveled from town to town seeking out sinners. John followed a strict religious diet and fulfilled the rigors of a Nazarite vow; Jesus attended parties, lots of parties, and was known for turning water into wine!

The religious establishment condemned them both. They rejected John as a kook, a crazy man who didn't understand their spiritually privileged position as descendants of Abraham. They also blew off Jesus as a rouge rabbi and friend of sinners.

Finally Jesus had enough. He told the Pharisees that they were like a bunch of spoiled children calling out to one another in the market place, never satisfied with anyone or anything. When someone played the flute, the instrument of celebration, they wouldn't dance. When someone sang a funeral song, they wouldn't cry. No matter what, they couldn't be pleased.

The Pharisees responded to John's ministry of self-denial and isolation by claiming he had a demon. And they responded to Jesus' accessibility and openness by branding Him a party animal - a glutton, drunkard, winebibber, and too close a friend of sinners.

Jesus told them they had it all wrong. Both He and John the Baptist were pleasing to the Father, despite the radical differences in their approach to ministry and lifestyle. And the wisdom of each of their paths was proven to be right by the fruit of their ministry.

Let's be clear. The most important thing in pleasing God is NOT a particular approach to spirituality or style of ministry; it's the FRUIT of ones life that MATTERS. And on that account, both John and Jesus passed with flying colors. The Father was pleased with both of them.

That should put to bed, once and for all, our attempts to create a one-size-fits-all approach to spirituality.

A Sin to Avoid as a Pastor

A big sin to avoid in the early years of pastoring is prideful, self-righteousness in your theological positions. Just learn to love people instead; it's much more effective for a successful ministry.

An easy error to fall victim to is presuming the Bible teaches only what my tradition says it means, fits my system, or what I personally want it to say.

Spirituality is Not the Same for Everyone (Part 2)

Have you ever been to a marriage enrichment conference? Renae and I have been to three. I always thought we had a good marriage until I started reading books and going to conferences designed to tell us how to have a great one. We have always gotten along very well, love hanging out together, and enjoy each others company. Taking into consideration the normal ebbs and flows of marriage life, we have always felt very connected to each other. But the books and conferences informed us we were not eating enough meals together, the TV was on too much, our date nights were far too rare, we didn’t have enough family time together, and our prayer time as a couple was sorely lacking. Huh?

The message was clear: The fact that we had a strong marriage didn’t matter; how we got there was what mattered most. And apparently we had gotten there the wrong way. On their scale, we didn’t measure up.

When the Mold Doesn't Fit

When it comes to having a relationship with God, the same thing often happens. Books on the inner life end up presenting a cookie-cutter approach to spirituality that focuses more on the steps we take than the actual quality of our walk with God. Churches do the same thing too – they use a canned approach. It’s a one-sized-fits-all approach to spirituality: “Follow our rules, fulfill our rituals, and God will be pleased.”

Does God play favorites? Apparently some people think so because the conventional path to pleasing God seems heavily tilted in the direction of certain personality types. For instance, almost all the books on spirituality, the inner life, and getting deep in God are written by introverts – smart ones at that. If you read enough of those books you will soon get the distinct impression that God is more partial to reflective type personalities with high IQs, impressive vocabularies, and lots of self-discipline. Well, that leaves a lot of us regular folk on the outside looking in.

Do good readers make better Christians? Often we are told that if you want to know God, you must read your Bible regularly. No argument here. And if you want to go REALLY DEEP, you must also read the time-honored classics written by the saints of old; most of whom have been dead for hundreds of years. But if mining the depths of ancient scholars is the key to knowing God and being truly spiritual, I wonder how regular folks got there before Gutenberg invented the printing press? Even more to the point, if reading skills are so vital to spirituality, then how does a dyslexic person ever hope to know God?

But didn’t Jesus say something about the kingdom of heaven belonging to those whose faith is like that of little children? Yes, He did (Matthew 18:3; 19:14; Luke 18:16). If He really meant it, how does our insistence on understanding deep theology as being essential to pleasing God fit in with a child’s theological naiveté?

Anyone who has ever been around a children’s Sunday School class knows that kids have some pretty messed-up theology. They haven’t got a clue about propitiation, the Trinity, sanctification, or any of the other important doctrines of Scripture. But as Jesus pointed out, many of them can and do have a great relationship with God – and often, a relationship that is worth imitating.

The fact is, the mold simply does not fit all of us. Each of us are wired differently and respond to different tools better than others. For instance, have you ever wondered why so many godly people feel like failures? No matter how good a Christian they are, they still feel like they have fallen short. In most cases, these people feel like spiritual failures not because they are far from God, but because they are unable to live up to standards of conventional wisdom that we measure spirituality by.

They stalled out in the book of Leviticus each time they tried to read their Bible through. Or they found extended prayer meetings unfulfilling and torturous. Or they were extroverts who bought one of those fancy leather journals, but never got around to writing anything in it. Mostly, they were regular folk, common people, who for whatever reason didn’t fit the mold very well.

There’s nothing wrong with conventional wisdom when it’s right. And most of the time it is. But when it’s not, someone has to speak up and tell people it's okay to break the mold.

It’s the end result that matters, not the path we take to get there. God wants a relationship with all of us, but it can’t be found in a one-size-fits-all approach. If something produces a great walk with God for you, it’s a good path to take. If not, it’s probably a waste of time, even if lots of other folks insist you do it that way.

Spirituality is Not the Same for Everyone (Part 1)

“the common people heard Him (Jesus) gladly” (Mark 12:37)

Common People

It is no accident that Jesus was raised in a backwater town and used simple illustrations to teach profound truths. It is no accident that He used the common street language of His day, Aramaic, to teach God’s Word rather than classical Greek – which was far more eloquent but way beyond the grasp of the common man.

When Jesus burst onto the scene, He confronted a religious system that saw God as being inaccessible for the common man. Spirituality was reserved for the elite – the chosen – those with pedigree, education, and a commitment to rigid self-discipline.

Instead, He offered a different path to spirituality, one that farmers, fishermen, carpenters, tax collectors, prostitutes, even little children and common sinners could follow.

He raised the bar of righteousness, but lowered the bar of entry.

Today, in our zeal to honor and know God we have re-raised the bar of spirituality with definitions beyond the reach of common men and women – and more importantly, beyond the heights set by God Himself.

One of my biggest regrets as a Christian was being too hard on myself in the early days of my spiritual journey. I once thought that true spirituality at its highest level was out of reach for most, so I worked all the harder to attain it. I formed rigid ideas about what a disciple is supposed to look like. Suddenly, “I” became the standard by which all others were measured. This caused me to preach stricter, meaner, and harder.

I’m glad I outgrew it.

If you don’t fit the mold of religion; if you’re tired of adjusting to other people’s definitions of spirituality; if traditional spiritual disciplines just are not working for you; but your desire is to know God more, you are not alone.

I invite you to come back to this blog each day and discover what spirituality for the common person looks like.