I don't want to be here anymore!

In your ministry assignment, have you ever said that?  Has your life and ministry taken a turn that you don't really appreciate?  OK, I know we can say it stronger.  Are you in a place you hate right now?  For many pastors and ministry leaders we have to admit we have been or are there now.
So does God have a Word for us?  Well of course!  But, we may not like it.  Listen to what God said to His people through Jeremiah:


This is what the Lord of Host, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon:  "Build houses and live in them.  Plant gardens and eat their produce.  Take wives and have sons and daughters.  Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters.  Multiply there; do not decrease.  Seek the welfare of the city I have deported you to.  Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it has prosperity, you will prosper."
Jeremiah 29.4-7 (HCSB)


For whatever reason we are where we are because God has placed us there.  Jeremiah never says God will move you because your unhappy or its hard or its not what I thought it would be.  He says don't stop living, don't stop serving, don't stop being productive.  He does say pray for the place where you are.  Perhaps God can use us in those difficult places to bring about a great spiritual "prosperity" for His people.  

What do you expect from your proclamation?

What do you expect when you preach or teach?  Do we expect results or are we just glad they listened?  Micheal Green in his book Evangelism of the Early Church states that the early church looked for a response from their hearers.  I think that in our churches today many seem to lack the power of the Holy Spirit at work.  We have settled for just having an audience rather than looking for a response.  We should expect results!

What did the early church look for?  According to Green they anticipated three responses.

1. Repentance.  The early church looked for the individual to repent from their sins.  We have made a mistake in the early church to not express the need for repentance when someone makes a decision to be a Christ follower.  If they are concerned that they will have to give something up they have not really embraced repentance.
2. Faith.  Green says, that "repentance toward God is matched by faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ."  While the gospel does not spell what this faith is specifically in every occasion.  There is a consistent belief in Jesus Christ.  Paul's teaching was that faith in Christ entailed a belief in who Jesus was, His crucifixion and resurrection, His ascension into heaven and eventual return.
3. Commitment.  The final expectation is that of a commitment.  Again Green says, it is a commitment onto Christ.  In our attempt to make the gospel "marketable" we have made coming to Christ.  Coming to Him requires a commitment.  Will the new Christ follower fully understand what that means?  No probably not but we should not hide it from them either.  The commitment is most often demonstrated by a commitment to baptism.

Proclaiming the Good News

     It is obvious as we look at the Scripture there is a call for all Christ Followers to be proclaiming the good news.  As leaders of the Church we have a obligation to lead our congregations in this calling personally.  But what or better how do we proclaim the good news?  What does the proclaimed gospel Word look like?  I just recently finished a book by Michael Green entitled Evangelism in the Early Church (Eerdmans Publishing, 1970) Pg. 150-151. 

    Green suggest 3 points that are basic to the Word proclaimed by the early church that I would like to expound upon.   It really doesn't matter whether we are talking about the Word expressed by preaching or a personal witness.  These three points are really critical.  These are reminders to us as we live out the proclamation of the gospel.

     First, They preached a person.  The gospel proclaimed is about a person.  The person of Jesus.  The primary subject is no one else but the savior.  Many of our gospel presentation is self-centered but it really needs to be Christ centered.  Certainly the individual needs to understand their need but its more about Jesus than it is about them.

     Second, they proclaimed a gift.  Salvation, forgiveness of sin is a gift.  Grace must be central in our gospel presentation.  No one can earn or merit salvation.  There is nothing that we can do to bring salvation to ourselves.  It is a gift.

     Third, they looked for a response.  They early church expected results.  They anticipated a response and that salvation would come to their hearers.  We are often surprised when someone comes to Christ.  The early church anticipated it.

     Every now and then it is good to have reminder and to examine the example of the early church.  Happy fishing!

Church Leadership in the 21st Century

What characteristics are needed for the leader or pastor in the 21st century.  Depending on who you ask you may find a variety of answers.  Some would say the leader for the future will be technologically savvy.  Maybe some may say he needs to be relevant with the times.  Some have suggested, at least to reach the younger crowd, he must dress down.  Wear blue jeans and lose the tie.  The answers to that question are all over the map.  Call me crazy but I think that the answer to that question actually lies within the Bible.  Go figure?

I was recently at a training that we offered and heard a great presentation from Rev. Barry Whitworth, Team Leader for Church Planting for the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania and South Jersey.  He said that they look for a church planter to be AED.  As he described AED I realized that the characteristics they are looking for in a church planter are the same characteristics needed in pastors and leaders if they are going to lead their church into Kingdom work in the 21st Century.

Let me describe AED:
A is Apostolic.  Now what does that mean.  It means to have a mindset and life style of a Missionary.  (see Acts 17)  Pastors have viewed themselves as administrators, CEO's, and professionals to name a few titles.  We call ourselves senior pastors, lead pastors, teaching pastors etc . . .  While that is all OK.  What we really need to call ourselves is missionaries.  The Apostle Paul was always going where the people were and exposing them with the realities of the gospel.

E is Evangelistic.  (2 Timothy 4.1-8)  Why do we think our people will share their faith if we are not doing it?  We have a great excuse, "I don't know any lost people.  I am always dealing with church people."  The truth is we are too busy doing church stuff in our sanctuaries and offices that we haven't developed relationship with lost people.  We rarely have or take the opportunities to meet lost people.  (let me refer you back to A)

D is Discipleship.  Call it what you will, mentoring, discipleship, equipping.  Just do it!  I firmly believe the reason that 70-80 % of established evangelical churches are in decline or death is because we have not been discipling.  But what method do we use to do that?  Not the way we have been doing it!  Go back to the Scriptures.  Look at the example of Jesus, Paul, Barnabas and see Paul's instruction to Timothy (2 Timothy 2.2).  That will be a great place to start.

This is a great challenge to us but if we are to see revival, Pastor it will have to begin with us!

The Missing Link in Fulfilling our Mission

In my denomination, the SBC, we have come to grips with the fact that we are failing in our mission.  The mission of the church is the great commission (Matthew 28.19-20), which is to make disciples.  We have formed committees and commissions, made radical changes and have shaken up the "how we do it" across our denomination and churches.  Now I don't want to be a party pooper or a pessimist or anything but I fear it is to no avail.  Why do I say that, you might ask?  Because we have missed a very important leadership principle and a biblical truth.  I don't think it will matter what the denomination does.  Our mission boards, state conventions or Associations are not going to right this ship.  What they are doing will make little difference till the people in the churches decide to make a change.  And it must begin with us the leaders and pastors in our churches.

Henry Blackaby writes, "When God sets forth a requirement of His people, He most certianly demands it of the leaders."  And, "God had to make adjustments in the life of Moses before He would use him to lead His people.  Are you trying to serve God and yet ignore something He has told you to do?"  Now Dr. Blackaby is writing in the devotional (Experiencing God Day by Day, March 15) about holiness.  But the biblical truth he shares applies in many areas.  Leaders, we have ignored and made excuses why we are not doing what God has called us to do.  We preach to our people about evangelism but we are not doing it ourselves.  We speak passionately about evangelism, planting churches and making disciples but we are failing at the most elementary level in simply sharing the good news outside of our pulpits. The early church did not just preach the gospel they lived it day to day on the streets and in the market place.  It must begin first with the shepherds and leaders of the church and then the people in the pew will catch it as well.  Then you truly will see a resurgence of the great commission.

Can His Answer be Our Pain?

     I believe that we have confused God's will with our will.  Or maybe it should be said this way, that our comfort may not always be His will.  If more accurately it may need to be said that God's will may often be for our pain, discomfort and suffering.  Could that possibly be?  We point to many passages of scripture that tell us that God has a plan, a plan for our well being and not our destruction.  But there are also many passages of Scripture that remind us that God's will is for us to share in Christ's suffering.  Hebrews 5.7-8 speaks of Christ and God's will for Him.
7 During His earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals, with loud cries and tears, to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. 8 Though a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. 9 After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
Heb 5:7-9 (HCSB)
     We must remember as leaders that God's will is not about my personal fulfillment but the fulfillment of His purposes. God's purposes are much greater and go well beyond our personal enjoyment and sense of satisfaction.  We must remember that we were not called to the ministry for our personal fulfillment but for His Kingdom's work.  Henry Blackaby writes, "the Lord cannot always spare you and your family and complete His redemptive work in those around you."
     So what should we take from these thoughts?  As we serve Him certainly painful situations may come our way.  Certainly pray and ask God to spare us and our families.  But ultimately we must pray like Jesus, "but not my will but yours be done."