The Blog that Binds

Equip Conference

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 16:42:11 -0600

The nifty logo above announces a big event occurring at the Mount Juliet congregation in Wilson County (just outside of Nashville). I’m excited and delighted to tell you about this conference and to invite you to attend it. The guys who are the brainchildren behind EQ have done a good and needed thing and I hope you’ll encourage them by attending if at all possible. I want to strongly encourage you to go!

It’s hard to beat their words announcing it: “EQUIP Conference is a two-day experience that will challenge and stretch your ministry. Designed for involvement/outreach ministers, elders, deacons, and ministry leaders, the conference will offer a mixture of theory and
practical ideas that will help you as you strive to "equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Eph.4:12).

“The EQUIP Conference will challenge you to discover that church involvement is more than just filling gaps and keeping people busy. It's about equipping people for Kingdom work through discovery and use of their God-given gifts and abilities.

“The EQUIP Conference will stretch the walls of your church as you discover that until the local church has an external focus, it will never fully function as God intended. If your church closed its doors tomorrow, would your community even notice? The EQUIP Conference will arm you with the tools necessary to ensure that your congregation will always be salt and light in your community.

“Are you ready to take involvement in your congregation to the next level? Are you ready to stop simply existing in your community? If so, this conference is for you!”

The list of speakers included David Shannon, James Waugh, Justin Gerhardt, Jonathan Seamon, David Swanger and others. It will be March 26-27.

There is a very small fee to register that includes two meals. Hard to beat that.

This is not just for church staff - it is for anyone who wants to encourage greater involvement in their congregation.

All you SM’ers out there, I am speaking, but even if I wasn’t I’d encourage you to go. Remember - “Member Driven Ministry”! Serve.

Jim Bill McInteer

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 17:10:53 -0600

One of my heroes died today. Brother Jim Bill McInteer was a prince of a man, a gentleman, a man of God’s Word. Where do you start in remembering this godly man? He casts a long shadow and in the minds of many he the last of small group of preachers who so strongly influenced our brotherhood - Ira North, Willard Collins, BC Goodpasture, Batsell Barret Baxter and Jim Bill McInteer. His life entered into so many spheres. He was a founding force for 21st Century Christian. He preached for 25 years with a congregation that in it’s heyday was as influential as any (West End in Nashville). He served on the board of directors for Harding University. It is said that he was on that he served on that board longer than any board member of any private university in America. He was a friend to and encourager of preachers. He was an honorary Kentucky Colonel and farmed on his own farm there for roughly 50 years. He’d take every Thursday off and go to the farm. He was the epitome of a faithful Christian husband. When Miss Betty got Alzheimer’s he devoted himself to her care. When she got to where she could no longer get out, he rarely left her side.

If I might be personal here (and I suppose I can since it is my blog), it was a joy to consider him a friend.

I suppose my first memory of Brother McInteer was when my mom used to read to us from “Daily Visits with God” by Jim Bill McInteer. And then “More Daily Visits with God”.

I first made contact with him when I moved to work in my first full time work in 1984. I wrote 500 churches and asked to receive their church bulletin. The West End bulletin was one I started getting. It was not even close to the prettiest bulletin and the design was rather bland BUT his style was awesome. It was eight pages and was pretty much all text, written in first person by Brother Jim Bill reviewing the past week (talking about nearly every visitor they’d had on Sunday), telling about what was upcoming and giving news from far and wide. I didn’t know anyone at West End - but I read most every word! He was the wordsmith of wordsmiths. To this day I have never met anyone even close to him when it came to taking our 27 letters and making them sound like poetry.

I saw where he was holding a meeting and called for the tapes (you remember tapes don’t you? :)). The sermon was on Joseph. He took three verses and drew a masterpiece. I later heard him say there is a sermon in every verse. Then I learned what he meant when he preached for 13 weeks at Granny White on the book of Philemon.

When I was blessed to be invited to work with the Granny White church he send me a letter - I still have it. He had never met me but assured me that GW could never have made as wise a choice and that the future would be awesome. I wanted to frame it - and now I may :). He made me sound like I was actually important to the work there and that I could actually effect some positive things there. He had that way about him. I never got a letter from Brother Jim Bill that I didn’t want to frame it. At times he almost convinced me that I was as good as he seemed to think I was. He had been doing the interim work at Granny White and after I arrived he would often scoot in and sit at the back. His presence was loud even without ever saying a word.

I will never forget the day my phone ran and it was his faithful secretary telling me that Jim Bill McInteer was on the line, “will you hold?” I wondered who wouldn’t? He said he had something he wanted to get with me on and could I have lunch one day that week. I thought: “I suppose if the Lord was on my calendar I’d say ‘no’ but other than that, I’d clear anything - of course”. He asked me to take over the editorship and help revamp the adult material for 21st Century Christian. He was going to “do something different with that time” - Brother Jim Bill believed it was wrong to retire - he’d just move on to other things. As he told me it was the largest used material in the brotherhood but they wanted to go a different style and wanted me to do it I was floored. Naturally I was very honored and said “yes”. But to this day I’m not sure why I was so tapped.

Then about three years later the same scenario with the phone happened. This luncheon he asked me to take over the middle Tennessee ministers’ luncheon. Again I was shocked and humbled to be asked.

He became a friend. A friend. To just consider a man of such gravity a friend was a blessing. We swapped information and shared stories and always laughed. He rejoiced over the work at Spring Meadows. I tried on three or four occasions to “get him here”. He always wanted to come but it never materialized. I wish “our” people could have met him and he could have seen “our” people. It would have blessed both.

I will miss my friend but trust we will meet again. He was a blessing to my life.

You’ll be glad you did

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 08:07:23 -0600

Slow down to speed up. I have always loved Mark’s account of The Good News! He tells us in sixteen chapters what John took 21 to do, Luke 24 and Matthew 28 chapters to record. In the first 20 verses he has Jesus born, baptized, tempted in the wilderness, preaching and the disciples called! Matthew didn’t get all that done till chapter five and in Luke’s rendition it takes 225 verses to get all that done! Johnny Ramsey pointed me to the fact that the key word in Mark is “straightway” or “immediately” used 42 times in 16 chapters. Here’s prima example one of productivity.

I love Mark’s account of the “efficient”, “get it done”, “making it happen” Jesus. That’s todays gospel! We’re busy. We’ve got places to go and people to see and things to do. We don’t have time for foolishness or things that get in our way. WOAH, wait a moment! We need to read Mark more closely. While Jesus was the most highly productive person of all time if we see Him as rushing through life with no time for the good stuff we might miss Mark’s purpose. Perhaps Mark is reminding an “alpha driven society” of how to really be productive.

Notice:

1. In Mark you have Jesus connecting with individual’s lives MORE than in the other accounts: Get it done people tend, if not careful, to ignore others as we move from project to project. Or worse toward using people to accomplish our ends. Jesus didn’t do that. In Mark He shows us how to accomplish WHILE caring. In the first 30 verses He has interacted directly with at least 21 people, helped a possessed man to find peace, raised up a friend’s hurting mom, and healed MANY people. You see Him moved with compassion (vs. 41) rather than irritated by the troubles of others that might slow Him down.
2. In Mark you have Jesus stopping to “smell the roses”: Those of us who want to be massively productive tend to be so focused that we don’t have time to enjoy the accomplishment. My wife often reminds me - “enjoy the ride”...I’m learning. Mark would show us the same in Jesus life. He’s walking the seashore (1:16), taking time to “go to church” (1:21), visiting in a friend’s home (1:29), taking time away (1:35) and all that in chapter one.
3. In Mark you have perhaps the key to Jesus seeming effortless output, His great spiritual life: Too busy to pray more than a breath? Too busy to reflect? Too busy to commune with God? Gotta get moving, right? Not Jesus. In about half the number of overall verses you find almost 50% MORE about the prayer life of Jesus. Over and over Mark let’s us know the real secret of Jesus work output is that He was not only connected with God throughout the day but He took time at night and time in the wee hours of the morning to pray! Much time.

Want to get a lot done today? Don’t ignore others, love them, you’ll find the rewards awesome. Don’t rush about like a busy busboy, enjoy the ride, God’s given you the time you need. Don’t forget to pray, it is the connection to your power source.

Negotiations, yuck!

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:36:58 -0600

“Contract...negotiations” - they almost sound like “dirty words” to those of us in ministry. As a result ministers most often end up with pretty raw deals, with little retirement or much to fall back on should they be fired, released or worn out and have to quit.
“Sacrifice...dedication” - those are the words that most ministers more readily identify with. So ministers end up “running” huge volunteer organizations with little support and virtually no external authority. And that with almost universal responsibility for the organizations growth, health and financial burden. If you question that tell me the last time an eldership was fired for the church not being motivated, not growing or not reaching it’s budget.
John Piper didn’t help my mind any with the title of his hit book a few years back - “Brothers, We are Not Professionals”. And while I see the concept we can become such “professionals” that we are white collar, untouchable, never get your hands dirty with ministry hirelings: More concerned about making sure we keep our salary and position than about reaching the lost, preaching the challenging truth, serving and helping the needy. But that represents exactly 0% of the preaching brothers I know!
On the other hand “a laborer is worthy of his hire” and many of God’s most dedicated servants in the text were not poverty stricken. I know minster friends of mine who through the years have sacrificed to the point of having nothing at the age when they could no longer work. I know young ministers who live below the poverty line, who work full time and faithfully yet qualify for food-stamps (yet if they were to get them the church would be embarrassed and probably demand they not get them). I’ve known guys who have gotten them so their family could be fed - the church didn’t pay them enough to feed their families but refused to allow them to supplement their salary with a second job - so they would get food stamps but go to the next county to buy groceries so they wouldn’t be shame the church. In my first full time work the prevailing opinion was that I should make less than the lowest paid adult man, so that I could relate to everyone. They didn’t appreciate it when I argued that that way I could only relate to one person - that guy who made virtually what I did. They didn’t take my happily my “tongue in cheek” suggestion that they pay me a little more than the highest paid man and I could relate all the way up :)!
Brother Clark used to say “our brethren will do better when the know better” and I mostly believe that. Not that I’m the guy to do this, but someone needs to and maybe if I fire the first volley somebody will take up where I fail and improve on it. Please do. So here are some thoughts on ministers and compensation:

First to preachers:
1. Don’t complain about what you make if you agreed to the compensation you receive. If you don’t want what they offer try to negotiate, if they won’t it probably says something about what your working relationship with them is going to be. Note that.
2. If you cannot live on what is offered - go to the leaders, show them what you make and ask them to help you figure it out. They are probably wiser than you are about money and will have some thoughts that may help you.
3. One more to preachers: It is not a sin to move for money. I never see anywhere in the scriptures where that is a sin - but I do see that a man who will not support his family is worse than an infidel.
4. Be prepared to be compared to everyone’s favorite former preacher.

Now a couple for the leaders:
1. Try to think about the preachers family as your own children if possible. Would you want your son or son-in-law to make “that” amount? If you’d consider it an insult - it probably is. Would you want your grandchild to have that little to live on? Now, I know you started making less than that - but - get real, that was 40 years ago.
2. If you WANT to pay your minister more but don’t see how it can be done, or if you are hiring a guy and the amount he needs is a little away from what you can pay, go before the church and say - “We are $1000 or $5000 apart from getting the man the leaders believe we need. We need 20 of you to raise what you give $1 a week or we need 20 of you to raise what you give $5 a week.”
3. Give the guy a raise! The first person I heard say this was Jerrie Barber. If you do not give a cost of living raise then you are saying he is worth less to you than the year before. If you do that to me 3 years straight I’m going to get the message that you must not be pleased with my work.
4. This has nothing to do with negotiating, but I need to say it: When you are hiring keep guys posted as to what you are doing. I know of churches who have let a guy hang on for nearly six months never communicating anything after an interview. It shouldn’t kill him for you to say - “we’re still looking but you are not under consideration.” And it certainly would help him to hear about once every three weeks, “we are still looking and you are still in our mix.” And, I’m sure one of your elders has email AND I know they have a phone. Show some common courtesy.
5. Try to avoid comparisons. Celebrate what you have - there’s probably a reason you couldn’t get Gus Nichols to come there.

Now a few general tips:
1. While working on a contract TALK. Work together. Be Christian but discuss it more than 30 seconds. Find out why they think you should make that amount. Find out why he can’t come for that amount.
2. Build in incentives to stay: Don’t hire a guy who you don’t think you want to have around 5 to 10 years. Most every study I’ve heard says our most fruitful years with a church come after 7 years. Here’s some ideas:
a. Give him a signing bonus: You’ve probably been without a preacher for a month or two. Take some of that money and let the guy pay down some debt or put some more in his retirement.
b. Give him incentives to stay: After 5 years we will give you a $5000.00 bonus. After 10 years we will give you a $10000.00 bonus. That will make a good preacher think twice before moving. After 15 years we will pay 25% of your existing mortgage off. Do something that makes him think before him moves easily. It is worth it to you as well as to him.
c. Give him some time off: Find out when your lowest attendance days are and offer him one or two of those days away.
d. After a set period of time give him some sort of sabbatical. I contend that nothing is as emotionally taxing as ministry. You are on 24/7 and have to be available. You are expected to always be at your best. A counselor has to hear everybody’s problems but she leaves them at the office - it’s a job. In ministry it is a soul and he can’t set it aside if there is a problem. He carries the burden that there is ALWAYS someone shooting at him - always. He carries the burden that he is always one word, one sentence, one sermon away from being fired. I have known guys so burnt out they can’t “preform” and the church wonders where his fire has gone. I have known guys who moved when a 2 month paid sabbatical would have rejuvenated him his spirit but he would not ask for the time away.

Finally, obey Romans 13:7. Honor his good work. Way too many churches are afraid to give honor: afraid they will offend the person who doesn’t like the minister (they won’t), afraid he will get the “big head” (he won’t). Let him know openly you are glad he is your minister. In a good relationship he will feel honored to be your preacher and you should feel honored that he is yours. You should both feel blessed above the other that you have each other. I don’t know how many guys I’ve heard say: “I just wish they’d say, ‘we’re glad you’re our preacher.’” The truth is I’ve said it myself - often. We don’t do it for that reason but it sure would be nice to hear it. It is nice to be loved and appreciated. We are human and we wonder if we will still have a role in this place we call Family next month or year. We wonder why there is no notice of our successes but high notice of our faults. We wonder if the church would hire us again given the chance? We do not do this for praise of men - if we did we would have quit a long time ago - but it is nice for our efforts to be appreciated. And, preacher, if you are blessed (as I am) to work with a church that loves you, let them know you appreciate and love them back.

P.S. Andy is “for” it.

email etiquette. It’s about time.

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:05:55 -0600

I’ve been contemplating this post for about two years now. Somewhere there needs to be some simple rules for proper etiquette when it comes to emailing. At SM we shoot so many email between us and do so much mass emailing that some guidelines surely would be of some use.

Before I go there I want to commend all my fellow SM’ers. We have what we call our “members@” group. ANY MEMBER can send an email to the whole congregation. When we started I thought, “this is going to be trouble”. I envisioned all sorts of spamming, poor decisions of tact and other problems BUT in over 4 years with thousands of emails sent I think I could count on one hand the number of mishaps. I attribute it to the marvelous spirit and the love that exists among our folks and maybe a tinge of the trust we have that allows this to even exist.

email etiquette
Let’s start with some common mishaps:
* Hitting send to quickly. If you write an email with any sense of revenge, malice or harshness wait! Yes, wait. Give it 48 hours. Kathy at GW often kept me out of trouble by teaching me this. If it needs to be said it is rare that it can’t wait a few hours to give you some cooling down time, some time for clarity and then a “re-reading” to make sure that is what you want to say. Reread the email and consider the whole message from the recipient's perspective.
* Coming across “short”. Email virtually invites quick responses. That often leads to coming across in this correspondence a curt or insensitive. Don’t be lazy. Take the time to do it right.
* Remember that tone can’t really be “heard” in email. What you mean as humor or with a touch of irony may not be perceived as such and your reader may react strongly. The use of emoticons or descriptors like "LOL", etc. can help, but they don't always work.
* Check reply to all - make sure your default is not set to reply to all. This can either lead to you saying something to everyone that you only mean for one person OR to spamming unintentionally. It is OK to reply to all but be sure that is what you want to do. Check receiver list.
* Make sure you have said what you meant to say. Check to assure that the intended message is in it.

Now a few notes of forwarding:
* Most importantly limit forwards. Through the years I have had friends who abused forwards. One dear friend used to send about 10 a day! Ouch. If you forward something to me in a mass group, I’ll let you know now, it is VERY doubtful I’ll read it.
* If you forward something you think I need to read, let me know with a personal note, with my name in it why you are forwarding this to ME!
* Clean up forwards! Please do not send me a forward with a gazillion other emails before I get to the message or one that has ---- before each line I read. I just don’t want them.
* Check the claims on forwards via snoopes. It only takes a moment but at least once a month I get some email making some outrageous claim about some public figure or event that is simply not correct. That is followed by three or four mass “reply to all’s” correcting it and then a correction by the original sender. Go to snoopes and check it out.
* One more note on forwards: I don’t take action on emails that claim that “IF you love God you will forward this to ten people in ten minutes...”, or that promise wealth or health if forwarded or that say if I love a friend or my country I will pass this on. That simply isn’t true.

Now for some friendly advice:
* Let people know you got their stuff. I’m a big offender here. People send me a completed lesson or note and I don’t let them know it actually arrived and they have to wonder. Take a moment and say “thanks, I got the info you sent” if you asked for the info.
* DON’T WRITE IN ALL CAPS. I get an email about once a month or so from a good person, a really good friend, who has been hollering at me for years! You may not know this, but all caps in email means you are hollering. STOP IT - unless you mean it.
* Turn on spell check. Email and texting are making us a lazy lot. Take the time to show some class and that you care enough about what you are saying to at least try to spell correctly. I’m an awful speller but spell check sure makes it easier. Use the tools.
* Check name spelling - I am a huge culprit here - sorry Eric.
* Don't hesitate to say thank you, how are you, or appreciate your help! Politeness is never out of style.
* Use blind carbon copy (BCc) with lists. I have two or three friends whose “group mailings” I receive. Some of these are excellent but they have not yet found the BCc button so everything they send such I get all of their “subscribers” email addresses. Please don’t share others email addresses with large groups.
* A friends says: “One thing I always tell students.....an email should not be a total substitute for face to face interaction. It should supplement face to face interactions and not serve as a replacement due to fear, etc.”
* Try to make emails brief (that should go for blog posts too :)). As we have moved to a more mobile computing environment, there's a good chance your email is being initially viewed on a handheld device.

What a time we live in. We are blessed to be able to communicate faster with more and more widely than ever before. Let’s use this tool but beware of potential abuses.

So, what are your pet peeves in this area?

(ed note: Thanks to Paul, Phil and Tom for their input on this post.)

Alternatives to firing

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:28:28 -0600

The firings continue. I have never seen a time when as many good men have been fired from the works they have been with. I’ve had 7 or 8 good friends, faithful servants, dedicated ministers who have been fired in the last several months (K., H., B., S., K., R., A., M, this is for you). It could just be that I now interact with more preachers than ever before, or it could be a warning to preachers not to be my friend :)! I hope it’s not the latter. I love my preaching friends, spending time with them, lifting up their hands and growing with them are among my favorite things.
A quick disclaimer or two: I most often hear only one side of the firing. Another one. Of the eight guys listed above I’ve never heard one of them preach more than twice, so I don’t know what it would be like to hear any of them week after week. I suspect if I were an elder there would be times I would be tempted to fire the preacher. And I KNOW there are times I would have fired me! I also know that ANY preacher, regardless of how loved he is by the majority of the congregation has guys and gals “firing” at him and the elders get the blunt of it.
The whole firing thing is ugly and painful and while maybe sometimes necessary I’d like to think some with you about “alternatives to firing”. There isn’t always another way but here are some thoughts and I imagine in the comment section there will be others even more worthy than mine. You might share this with the leaders where you worship:
Is there another way? Well maybe...maybe not, but here are some thoughts:
1. I don’t know that there is a way to fire a guy (or let a guy step aside) gently but I do think a church should not just forget them when they are gone. Think further down the road than the two or three months you may have agreed to on a “parting”. Check on them. Have they found a place to go? What is their financial situation? Could you help them more and be “bigger” than any issue that may have caused the parting?
2. Check on his family. How are they? Let them know they are still loved. Don’t let them feel like their dad is a failure - he probably just wasn’t the person you needed at that time. Don’t let them feel like they are why he was fired. I can remember growing up thinking that if I did not behave as a preacher’s son dad may get fired for my actions. That was probably a long way from reality, but at a young age that was my perception. It may be that you are just bored with this fellow and want someone different to “feed” you 30 minutes each week - BUT this is his life, his soul!
3. How about instead of releasing him - helping him! What a novel thought.
a. Is he lazy? Tell him so! Talk to him. Help him learn to keep a schedule. Let him know specifically what is expected of him as your preacher.
b. How about sending him somewhere to learn. We are preachers and we need to improve our skills. If the guy is just boring (a rather relative term - no don’t send me comments on “yes, Dale, I know your relatives are boring”) send him to learn from some guys who aren’t. This is time to retool. How many jobs REQUIRE continuing education hours? Why would one think that there is no need for the same for those of us who preach?
c. Give the guy some time away! Even God rested on the 7th day! Jesus took time away with His disciples to rest! How many times have I heard some elder or member say - “he used to be good, I don’t know what happened?” I DO! He is carrying every burden of every member in the church on his shoulders and into the pulpit. Preaching is emotionally draining and it is 24 hours a day. It cannot be “left at the office” like a professional counselor who “leaves his clients” at the office. These are not clients, they are souls and Family. If he is getting rough around the edges - give him a few weeks away - a couple of months away - PAID and let him recharge. Make him turn off his cell phone one or two days a week. In several of the cases above the guys had been at the congregation 15 years or more and I tell you they were just burned down!
4. Realize the grass may not be greener in another pulpit. As true as it is for the preacher it may be for the church. If you fire this guy you will only bring in another one. He too will have “issues” and present challenges. Churches often become like people we’ve seen who jump out of one relationship and into the next without even thinking! Why not fix the one you are in? Preacher guys, if they fired the previous guy for no real reason, you’d better look carefully.
5. Do him a favor...tell him the truth...it may be he needs to bless people with other skills God has given him.

Maybe one more note here. Let’s be honest about it preachers, we’ve all fired more congregations than we have been fired from. When we leave one place for another in the churches eyes it is pretty much us firing the congregation.
OK, I figure I’ve left myself open for all sorts of shots from this one. Look forward to it...I think. What have you seen, could you think of or that you think might be a creative alternative to firing?

MIscellaneiaio and off to work we go

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:52:32 -0600

It’s been a while since I cleaned up my “blog starters” file - that place where I put snippets of random “Dale thoughts” that I think might someday make a good blog. Most of them are incomplete and some of them I would have done better to leave on the cutting room floor but I didn’t. They are random, not associated with each other, disparate. They are separated by ---. Feel free to use these as you wish or not, but it does me good to do a “flush” every now and then, so here goes.
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Do you think Jesus prayed that Judas would not betray him... that he would chose differently?
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We want our “heroes” to be in heaven. Years ago I preached a sermon I stupidly titled “Mother Teresa and Lady Diana” I never condemned them to hell but talked about how they would be judged not by the popular media but by the God of Heaven and by His Word and their respect for and obedience to it. I got a “firestorm” out of it. In 2009 it was Michael Jackson and Steve McNair who folks placed on the “other side of the pearly gates. In McNair’s funeral one of the speakers talked about how he could “see him now, making passes to the angels” Sorry, I thought one of the angels might be saying to him - “you go long...real long.” In our politically correct society it is not a sin to have multiple affairs, to father children you don’t raise, to abuse and misuse your talents or money but if you judge someone or show yourself intolerant - watch out!
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Courage is seeing what is, imaging what can be, and taking action.
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My challenge in life has been learning to live on a margin: When we live on a margin we will have time to pray, time to rest, money to give, energy to share. God has given you all you need, the challenge it to use those resources wisely.

Those who know me know I like simple! I used to say that “Preaching is communicating truth to people”, let’s simplify even that. Preacher your job: “Tell truth.”

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This one isn’t mine but I don’t know where I clipped it from: On August 30, 2009, 79-year-old Jud McKinney was driving a white pickup truck along a rural road in Winterset, Iowa. Riding a bike on the same road was 54-year-old Mark Grgurich. In a tragic turn of events, McKinney steered his truck into Grgurich, killing him. McKinney suffered from a vision problem known as macular degeneration—a blind spot in someone’s central vision.
I wonder how many of us are a wrong turn away from devastating consequences because of a vision problem? Vision is a picture of an unrealized future. It’s where or what you’re headed toward (how you get there is what mission is for).
Walt Disney passed away before Disney World in Orlando was built. At the opening dedication in 1971, five years after Walt’s death, someone commented to Mike Vance, creative director of Walt Disney Studios, “Isn’t it too bad [Walt] didn’t live to see this?” “He did see it,” Vance replied. “That’s why it’s here.”
If you or your team is stumbling, fumbling or grumbling for lack of clear direction about the future, it’s time for some vision correction.
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I’ve been there, people looking at a fat middle-aged guy and then Melanie and wondering: “Why would ‘she’ be with ‘he’? Graceful, poised - she’s together...and I’m, well...not. Only one thing could cause it, she loves me. For whatever reason she loves me.
God is holy, just, fair, forgiving, full of grace, giving, all wise, ageless, merciful...why would He want to be seen with me? Just more proof of His goodness. He loves me.

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Foyers and inconsistencies - A strange little thought:
Church buildings, a term not even mentioned in the Bible, cause so much fighting: “we spent too much”, “we didn’t build big enough”, “we built too big”, “it is too formal and fancy for me”, “It’s somehow not inspiring enough”, “I don’t believe you should eat/run/play/laugh etc. in the church building”. People judge us by our buildings: some judge you if you have one, some judge you if you don’t.
The craze the last twenty five years of so has been to blast out at spending so much on a building you only use one or two hours a week - a statement I’ve never seen to be true. I’ve never worked with a church that used their building that little. But even if it were true I might counter: We also spend an awful lot on our bathrooms in our houses but we don’t spend that much time in there a week.
I’ve also noticed at the same time as people complain about the issue of spending so much on the auditorium that a concurrent craze of building “large foyers” has occurred. People talk about and show off - foyers. Foyers. They complain about how small their foyer is and spend big amounts to remodel and enlarge it. They say: “We need a big one where people can visit.” And, while I don’t disagree about a nice, inviting, spacious foyer, those are typically the same people who are complaining about the amount wasted on the auditorium...and I’m thinking of the foyer - we only spend a few minutes in it each week.

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This one was from back late last summer when I’d heard more than my share of bellyaching and was a tad discouraged: “Can I be down and it be OK? Sometimes I don’t give myself permission to do that. I get exhausted, miss the hardware store, tired of the gripping, don’t like the ________ situation (just looked at that one again, it was not a curse word there, but a specific situation that I won’t mention), feel like I’m not communicating, broke.” Can I be down sometimes?

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People play follow the leader. So leaders, where are you leading?
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What is it about us that makes us so insecure? It is one thing, a lack of trust in God’s willingness, love for or ability to care for us and take care of us. Be honest about it: We want a life where if God doesn’t arrive on the scene we are fine, we got this covered. Secure, safe, steady, stable. But think of the heroes of the Bible...do those words describe their lives? Paul, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Peter, Jesus? What are you doing that is pushing you to faith? We want to get it all in order, to have it all together, to figure it out...But faith is...well, faith. What are you doing that unless God shows up on the scene it will fail? What are you dreaming that is bigger than you?

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Why do I feel this need when I meet new people to show them I measure up? To begin reading my resume to them as if it validates who I am or impresses them? I don’t do that literally, carry a copy or two of my resume around with me, “now follow alone...” but I usually find a way to rattle off interesting tidbits about myself - preached at Granny White, left there to help with a church plant that has grown to...” I wonder how that makes God feel? I wonder if He thinks, just being My child isn’t enough for you? You think you can impress people with your accomplishments more than with Mine? You think the piddling little you have done in any way matches My “weakest” endeavor?
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I suppose we have to have them but it seems “programs” and “process” get in the way of people. And that sometimes they seem to become more important than people. Examine “your” programs carefully and see if that is correct.

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I saw one of those “questionnaire’s” the other day that churches put out. They always make me almost sickly nervous. They smack of creedism. Why should your pet doctrine or the doctrine de-jour be make the list? Know what I’m talking about? And the list of positions grows and the list of uses for the document expands.

What should we do when what we are trying to do conflicts with what we must do? Here’s one: “Do you believe in the direct operation of the Holy Spirit, which is that God speaks to man in other ways than through the Bible today? (i.e., feelings, voices, signs, etc.).” I know what they are trying to do by asking the question, I know the answer they are looking for...but it conflicts with the scriptures clear teaching. “The heavens declare (proclaim-NLT) the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. Their line[a] has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world” (Psalms 19:1-4 NKJV)

This most often happens when we try to make a law or keep something from happening that is not in the Bible. Our trust in the scriptures needs to be the trump card when discussing anything that deal with faith and life.

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Well I had to do it again yesterday, spend 10 minutes explaining and justifying my decision on my scoop blog to not list a church as looking for “a sound, conservative preacher”. You see the problem with that is that those terms are arbitrary. We say: “He’s a sound preacher” - “Oh, really, by whose standard?” We tend to make ourselves the standard as if if I say he is sound that means he is. I’m awaiting the ad that says: “We are looking for a preacher who is not sound...” I’ll do the listing, and let you do the vetting.