Tag Archives: bible

Change

31 Jul

Several years ago, I was standing in the church office and an opinionated person made a statement that stuck with me … “Bloggers are nothing but a bunch of egomaniacs.” Really hit me in the gut …

I have blogged for a couple of decades now and it made me think. It made me ask the question “Why do I do this?” Is it about the BRAG value? It is an ask for pity? It is about ME???? (All of us have egos. All of us should probably ask those questions regularly about the things we post)

From a blogging standpoint, I have searched for the purpose of THIS for years now. I have posted a few times since that day, but not regularly. Because I wanted to KNOW the purpose of this!!! And I think I have found what I am supposed to do with this blog. So, going forward at some regular interval I will be posting things. Things about leadership. Things about being a pastor. Probably more about the mistakes I have made than about the successes. And my purpose and hope is that these will help another. If that happens, AWESOME!!!! If not, then the therapy value of this for me will have to do!!!

CHANGE

Ministry has changed since that Sunday in 1991 that I committed to leave my career in IT and follow Christ where He would lead. People have changed. I don’t think we can only blame COVID for that, either… Technology, of which I am a HUGE fan, accelerated changes in our society. Some are better. Some are worse. And this is CHANGE.

Growing up, I always heard that two things are inevitable: DEATH and TAXES. I would definitely add CHANGE as the third leg of that stool!!! People have changed. Social skills are changing. We are far, far removed from the “Greatest Generation” that Tom Brokaw wrote of, that sacrificed much for the common good of America and ultimately the world! Yes, there are still ,sacrificial people. You find some of them serving in our Armed Forces, some serve communities in political roles, police, fire, EMTs, teachers, nurses and doctors, pastors and church staffs, and any vocation that serves people There are still people that believe in serving for a greater good. But as a society, we are definitely more ME-focused. I see it every day and those who serve in like roles I think would agree.

The result of this is there are fewer and fewer people who are willing to put themselves on the line for a society that doesn’t even seem to care. All of those professions I mentioned above are experiencing shortages and will continue until there is a notable CHANGE.

We have hosted basketball leagues at Ebenezer since before I came to EBC in 1995. A perfect example of this is found in the problems we have finding referees. Increasingly, people are less willing to ref CHURCH BASKETBALL (imagine that), not as much because of how the players act, but because of how brutal the coaches and parents behave. CHURCH BASKETBALL!!!!!!!!!

So how can we help our society turn all of this around??? BE THE PEOPLE WE WANT TO SEE. BE the change. THINK about how the way that we live our lives make an impact on our world!! YOU DO INFLUENCE OTHERS whether you will admit it or not. BE THE CHANGE!!

After all, isn’t that exactly what Christ commanded in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and 7)???

(In plain terms, when you are coaching or watching a ball game, know that your words tell everyone around you the story of your character)

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It’s a People Issue

29 Apr

This past week I had the opportunity to attend the D6 Southeast Conference in Florida. D6 is an organization dedicated to a return to biblical discipleship within the church… But hold on sec: That might not mean what you think it means. In fact, you’ll need to listen to my next few sermons to get the gist of THAT part.

One of the speakers shared a statistic that is haunting the American church right now. And, if it doesn’t haunt you, you need to check your heart. While I do not have his source, our speaker shared that 67% of American parents identify as “Christian.” But only 2% hold what is known as a Biblical worldview. In simpler terms, AI says this: “A Biblical worldview is a way of interpreting and responding to life based on the teachings of the Bible. It’s a comprehensive framework for understanding God, creation, humanity, morality, and purpose, all derived from God’s revealed truth.”

So, this is saying that only 2% of parents in America believe in living by the Book. Why would this be??

It is CLEARLY a PEOPLE ISSUE. Let.s explore that more…

In recent communiques as a pastor, I was reading about how pastors struggle now with the fact that the general public has a mistrust of pastors. Certainly Jim Bakker and televangelists of years gone by have contributed to this. Countless news articles about pastors who’ve stolen money from churches, pastors caught in abusive situations, pastors who have been caught in affairs, and every other mistake that is deemed newsworthy, all of these have made local pastors harder and harder to trust in the eyes of the general public. Then you can add in disgruntled church members who take great pleasure and find fertile soil on which to trash a pastor for a mistake or a mis-queue, and tongues that wag to hear and share the latest gossip. When you mix all of this up with the post-Covid angry world that we live in, the general public that does not know a pastor will have a very hard time trusting that pastor.

Then, you have churches. Churches are not buildings or addresses. Churches are made up of people. Some of those people live the Bible and try their best, and even they make mistakes. Then others will attend the church, serve on the committees, serve as a usher or in a public view, and then live lives that are absolutely contrary to God’s Word. And they are out every day working with, talking with, playing with, and among people who do not know Christ. When THOSE people see us (the church) talking like Heaven and living like Hell, they naturally WON’T believe God’s Word because they don’t even think that WE, the CHURCH, believe it.

So, as you can tell, what we have here is a failure to communicate …….. We have a PEOPLE PROBLEM. WE, the CHURCH, have a problem. And the problem is US!!

We can remedy this problem by starting small and LIVING God’s Word. Believing God’s Word. Start this small:

LOVE GOD WITH ALL OF YOUR HEART

LOVE OTHERS

Read the Bible and allow it to make a difference in our lives

I dare you to do that and see what happens!!!!!

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Was that a THREAT??

15 Oct

Seriously … Are you threatening me?? Did you say that to take a shot at ME or to crumble my foundation?

(Okay, relax … Think about this …)

Carey Nieuwhof shared a thought yesterday that I cannot get out of my mind. A couple of years ago, I joined his “Art of Leadership Academy,” which allows me to interact with pastors and leaders across the globe. It has been a life-changer for me!! If you are interested, check it out at The Art of Leadership

Each Monday, Carey posts a question and we members get a chance to talk back and forth about it. This week, he hit a homerun for sure… The thought basically is that our culture has become such that we tie our individual identities to our beliefs to a point that “I am what I think.” “I am how I vote.” “I am what I support.”

THEREFORE, if someone doesn’t think the same way that I think, or vote the same way I vote, or support the same things I support, THEY ARE ATTACKING ME. THREATENING ME. DAMAGING MY VERY FOUNDATION. And, I am ready to FIGHT and DIE to protect ME.

Can you see the problem in this for a true disciple of Christ? In Philippians 1 when Paul wrote “to live is Christ,” do you think this cultural pattern would fit? Are we living as Christ if we are ready to fight and die over a candidate?? Or a sports team? Or a current issue?

I don’t think Paul would tell us NOT to have personal beliefs about politics and about life. But wouldn’t he remind us to show them Christ, even if we disagree? There will always be points on which we disagree… That is a fact of life. That is just a fact that we are different people. I think this even applies to people who make life choices that are clearly unbiblical, clearly against the word of God. Clearly sinful. Again, Paul is not telling us to embrace or normalize the sin. But he would remind us to love those who sin. By the way … He also wrote that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23)

This is not easy. We will disagree. People will disappoint us. But we are still called to LOVE.

Think about it.

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