Effective Service and Powerful Adversaries

...for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:9 NASB)

Paul told the Corinthians that he would stay in Ephesus until after Pentecost (May) because a great door had been open for "effective" service even though there were many or great adversaries. If you read the history of Paul's time in Ephesus you will find that it was VERY difficult. He was in a stadium where everyone was shouting louder than he could talk, "Great is Diana our goddess (paraphrased)." He was beat in Ephesus. This was physically. Even though he seemed to face rejection and physical harm, he stayed. Why? That's the worst church planting or ministry deal ever!

He had "effective" service. Paul was seeing people come to Christ despite them losing everything. Despite the loss, they were in love with following Christ. Everything centered around Diana or Artemas in Ephesus. Your job, your friends and religious upbringing. They lost it ALL. He was seeing "effective" service.

I believe the key to overcoming "adversaries" is seeing "effectiveness." If someone is able to see progress and effectiveness they will be able to withstand adversaries as well.

So, look at this for a moment. Where does your greatest frustration lie? I bet it is not fundamentally in your adversary, but in the lack of effectiveness in accomplishing your mission. Adversaries look bigger and more intimidating when effectiveness of mission is lacking.

Focus on:
What excites and motivates you?
What drains you emotionally?
Why are you discouraged or depressed right now? What is the root cause?
What do you need to see happen in the next 3 months that would bring a "spark" to your organization?
Where will you start hunting for new ideas?

The key to finding effectiveness, if you are stuck, is embracing empirically tested ideas that can help you fulfill your mission. When I survey pastors, and leaders in the church world (that's where I work), their frustration doesn't come from a lack of prayer or Bible Study, but rather ideas that can help them become effective.

I spoke with a friend recently that was excited to help a pastor set up a "tent revival." I am not saying that is bad. Hear me. What I am saying is that we are in the 21st century and that was a great idea 60 years ago. With over 3,000 doors of churches shutting each month, is that the best idea? My point is this: We can't live off ideas from 60 years ago to succeed. No business would do that. Why would people who serve the Living God do that? Effective service is the key. Ask the question, "Is this the BEST way available to us to accomplish our mission or are we regurgitating ideas from the past in an effort to try to be effective?"

Pray that God would help you see the REAL, Kingdom impact you are making now and that He would lead you to the right resources to help you become more effective in your mission. Adversaries look a lot smaller with the effective service happening.

RESOURCE OF THE MONTH: "Right Message, Wrong Method," by Craig Walker of www.UpwardChurch.org

Full if great ideas for church leaders

Don't Steady the Cart

And when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. (1 Chronicles 13:9 NKJV)

This is probably the most preached verse in revivals I have ever heard. I have several different sermons from this passage myself. The other day I was journaling through the Bible and came to this passage. I was like, "Really? What could I possibly get from this that is new?"

I felt The Lord say to me, "Stop trying to steady my cart." I knew exactly what He meant. If you are like me you probably feel the need to control certain aspects of life. For me, it is pastoring a local church. I feel like I need to make it happen sometimes. If I feel the "cart" is falling I try to step in to fix it.
Uzzah failed to realize that the cart was God's. The ark of the covenant was where His presence dwelt in the Old Testament. God did not need Uzzah's help. God had it under control.

My cart is the local church. I have had to stop trying to "steady" the cart. The local church belongs to God, not me.

I am not sure what your cart is. Maybe it is a relationship, job or a church. At any rate, here three things that this passage inspires me to do:
1) God is Sovereign and in Control
2) I don't have to control everything
3) Train others to think this way

I love football. One truth about football is that there are many plays in a game. Every down is not 3rd down. Some possessions will end in punts. I don't have to score a touchdown every time. I don't have to steady the cart. The cart will be fine....

Is your Ambition Selfish?

As I was meditating on the Word of God the other day I had the idea come to mind about the difference between being driven or living with selfish ambition.

Now let me give a disclaimer: Don't go "organic" and say that you don't care at all or that it doesn't matter. Don't pull back to one extreme or the other but take time to search your heart.

I have broken this idea down to: selfish ambition, being driven or living in purpose.

1) Selfish-Ambition: This is the part where someone needs to succeed for a deeper internal purpose. They want to prove others wrong, have to "out-do" someone else, or need the success because of insecurity. This is the lowest level of attempting to fulfill purpose.
This leader simply uses people as tools for his/her creation. They will hurt other people to get to their goal in the process. Their personal success is more important than the organizations success. They personalize and take ownership by calling it "my" church, team or organization.
They usually have temporary, short term success with long term detriments.

2) Driven: This is where most of us fall into. Being driven includes having strong goals, striving to succeed and putting the organization as the top priority.
Being driven is not a "bad" thing but it can become bad for the leader. This drive can make you utilitarian and seem aloof to those who are not directly tied to the organization. You view those who leave as the enemy. It is almost an obsession to succeed. Driven individuals are often insensitive to others and view things in black and white against the goals/success of the "vision."

3) Resting in Purpose: All leaders usually go through this process of 1-3 through a series of hurt, disappointment and failure. I have seen that this is almost the only way to go from 1 to 3.
Someone who is "resting in purpose" is not lackadaisical but they see all of life and all people as part of the purpose. They view failing as a part of the purpose. They don't become irate or angry when goals aren't met. They don't use people but rather see the person as an intricate part of purpose. They are usually driven but easy going as well. They don't have strict judgments on other organizations and love to partner with people.
They simply rest in their purpose. They understand the sovereignty of God and rest in His grace.

All of us need this check-up from time to time.

Hope this helps you in your leadership journey.

The Exit Ramp

I remember Dr. Sam Chand teaching us in a class at Southwestern Christian University on leadership where he taught us about people exiting your organization. He told us to help teach people how to leave correctly.

What I have seen is that most people exit jobs, marriages, pastoral positions and churches wrong. This is a matter of character. I have also seen that the people who leave wrong have very inconsistent lives. They struggle keeping jobs and relationships.

We have all taken an exit ramp at some point while driving. There are keys to exiting properly. Here are the keys and parallels to exiting a situation:

1. Is this our exit?
You have decide if this exit is your destination point. You do this by consulting a map. A map is an objective standard that helps you decide.
Most people exit at the wrong place. They exit because of compulsion or temptation. There are some great exits with awesome stores, but it may not be the right place. We need people to speak in our lives to help us be objective. Mentors are like maps. They have already been down that road. When someone doesn't want wisdom, they don't ask a mentor. Eventually they pay for it dearly.

2. What is the exit ramp "speed?"
As you make an exit you have to determine the required speed of the ramp. Some ramps are 45mph, others are 35 and you have some that are 25mph.
Most of us like to speed up once we feel called out or a season ends. This is serious. If you do this on an exit ramp, it could harm you and your passengers. If you do this in life it could harm you and the people you are with (family, church family).
Take it slow when exiting. Prepare and plan. Don't rush it. Rushing it is a sign of immaturity and impulsiveness. Slow down when exiting.

3. Do You Know the Traffic Flow?
Finally you have to yield to traffic and merge correctly. It is easy to get sideswiped when exiting or sideswipe someone else.
The final act of exiting is merging. Make sure you are being sensitive to what God is doing and how your exiting and merging is impacting others. Be sensitive and aware to God and people.

The organization I lead is a church. I wish I could say that people do it right, but it is often here that I see the most train wrecks and trouble with exiting.

Remember, you don't have to work up anger to leave. You don't have to be mean. Finally: the way you exit one season will determine your success in the next season.

Keep the Main "Thing" the Main Thing

2nd Kings Verses 34-35: He did not tear down the high places. However, he did build the upper gate....

I have been journaling through the Bible this year and came across this passage. I felt like God pricked me in the heart (in the loving Father way). So many times we lose focus on what is the MAIN thing in our lives. We usually lose it when we experience a level of success or when we are searching for the wrong kind of success.

This passage dealt with the building of a gate. The king also allowed the high places to exist. The high place was where they had erected a golden calf to worship. For generations the people of God had lost focus. However, he did build a gate. Did you catch that? He built a stinking gate. Was the gate beneficial? Yes. Was it a worthy accomplishment? I guess so.

BUT, the building of the upper gate was secondary to the fact that people were not in full devotion to the Lord. This is corporate and personal. What we build in ministry or at a job is never as important as being fully devoted followers of Christ. Christ did not die so we could build gates! He died so we would stop worshipping stuff we build and put the focus back on the cross. Our building of things will not pass to the next life, but our building of people will.

The job and goal is to make sure that our fuel and motivation is the love of God that was given to us by way of the cross. This may sound like an 80 year old man is writing this blog, but we have to keep Christ and His saving work central to all we do.

Church leaders, think about this...
1. Are you more interested in building a great "church institution," or in building disciples?
2. Do you "drive" people by the cross everytime you speak?
3. Do people know that EVERYTHING they will ever need was done on and through the cross?
4. Do you train people to chase blessings with works righteousness or challenge them to soak in the fact that they have every blessing already because of the cross?
5. Do you care as much about mentoring individuals as you do "performing" sermons each week?

Don't build gates your whole life and never deal with the high places. There is no substitute for it. Direct people to simply love Jesus, receive His work and then help them as they walk this journey. That is what it is about.

We have to keep the cross the priority, Christ central and everything else is just the "high place."

The Foundation of a Healthy Church

As you many of you know, I am the Lead Pastor at a church in Richmond, VA. Dayton Birt of Redemption Ministries contacted me when he knew that I was going to be transitioning. There was a church in the conference that was once very predominant, but over the past several years has declined rapidly.

My wife, Dianna, and I found a group of people who wanted to touch their community with the Gospel. They had raised the white flag. I am not speaking of surrendering to Jesus (which they have done), but rather they had surrendered their past traditions, failures and successes. We feel that there is a great group of core people left to see this church "thrive" in their community.

During this revitalization project we have renamed the church to Thrive Church. We have retooled our Core Values and mission. Right now on Wednesdays we are looking at what a "healthy church" is made up of. Our goal is not to grow as fast as possible, but to become a healthy core that can grow healthy with God's timing. Unhealthy people need a healthy environment to flourish in. They will either want to become healthy, or leave.

Last Wednesday I introduced the core team at Thrive Church to the 10 Commandments of a healthy church. Dr. Sam Chand said this, "What is more important than strategy or vision? Your culture." The culture of an organization must be inspiring and encouraging, yet it must also have accountability. These 10 commandments are just guidelines to help us to remember what creates an inspiring and desirable culture.

The 10 Commandments of a Healthy Church:

          1. Thou Shall Worship God and not a Ministry Style or Tradition (past, present or future).

          2. Thou Shall Not Gossip about Others and Spread your “Opinions” to Other people about them.

          3. Thou Shall _____________________________. (Let this be open) 

          4. Thou Shall not Desire Positions but rather just be People of Production.

          5. Thou Shall not Run People off from the Church by being Mean to Them.

          6. Thou Shall be Willing to be Flexible to Find the Best Way for the Health and Growth of the Church and its People. (Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape)

          7. Thou Shall Embrace Other Races and Cultures. (racism and prejudice are  condemned by God and a mark of an immature disciple or worse, an unbeliever)

          8. Thou Shall not GET OFFENDED or STAY OFFENDED, but will act like mature adults when conflict arises. 

          9. Thou Shall work with others in a team ministry format to see the 8 systems come to pass. (speaking of Nelson Searcy's 8 Systems)

          10. Thou Shall be Generous with Lavishing Love on Others, Serving and Financial Giving.

I know there are HUNDREDS of these we could come up. These are just 10 that go along with a healthy church. You can use these with your leaders or come up with your own for your church, business or even your family.

All these commandments represent are "non-negotiables" that we must attend to.
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www.ThriveChurch.ME Chesterfield, VA

Potential Over Problems

I was recently sharing with our congregation from the Book of Acts Chapter 3. This is a powerful account of Peter and John healing a man who was lame. This man sat by the temple gate everyday begging for money. This man had an apparent problem. The religious people of that day recognized his problem and had figured that he would ALWAYS be like that. Peter and John saw a man, by the power of Jesus, that would be able to walk.

The key is that one group saw potential in this man while another saw problems.

If you are going to start a movement and see God move in the lives of people you have to be able to see potential in people. People will show up with very apparent problems. As a leader you have to see potential in them.

Peter and John saw potential. They also prayed for him. Finally, they helped the man to his feet.

To bring people to potential we have to be reminded of these principles:
1. Look at the potential.
-Don't gossip and talk about what they are, but talk about who they are in Christ and the plans he has for them.
2. Pray for their issues to be healed.
-They recognized and affirmed that he had an issue. Instead of talking about it, they spoke to him directly about it. Many times we dance around people's issues because we have turned the church into a popularity contest. I was once at a church where one of the main deacons would curse his employees out consistently. I don't believe that God sees that as cool to do to people. But, no one has ever sidelined that guy.
Pray for them and speak to their issue to bring wholeness. Learn to speak the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love brings them to maturity.
3. Help them get to the place they need to be.
-Finally Peter and John helped the man up by his right hand. They helped him. We cannot just see potential and pray, but we must get involved with them.

This blog is key to me because when I got saved I was delivered from drugs and alcohol. I needed people to walk with me, pray with me and see more in me than I could see. I had a local church that did that. I am here today because of that.www.thrivechurch.me