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Author: Stephen (Page 14 of 17)

Unlike Any Other

August 26, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

I wonder how much sleep Matthew really got those first few months he was with Jesus. Did he try to stay awake all night long? Did he insist on sleeping beside Jesus each night, but not just beside Jesus on the side opposite of Simon? Did he struggle to never fall asleep before Simon or allow Simon to wake-up before him? What about when they walked along the path together traveling between cities? Did Matthew always stay in Jesus’ line of site and never allow Simon to get behind him? When they would come to a section of road that was filled with twists and turns amongst the rocks did Matthew close up his distance to be sure he was right next to Jesus as they went around the blind corners? Why do I wonder about Matthew’s behaviors? Because he was a tax collector and Simon was a Zealot.

Matthew was a traitor to his people and his faith. He had turned his back on it all instead choosing to go for a life supporting the occupying nation. Simon was a devout man of faith. A fundamentalist who had sworn an oath to kill people like Matthew, if a chance ever came.

Now here are these two men are walking and traveling together with Jesus. Each because they had been called to this place by Jesus.

Crowd of PeopleThis is the Kingdom of God. This is the power of the Gospel. To change hearts and make friends out of enemies. To unite people who have no reason to be united. Only in the Kingdom of God is it possible for there to be true unity across economic, gender, ethnic, and social lines. This is the example Jesus gave to us and to which Paul calls us in Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (3:28, NIV).

Sadly, 2,000 years later we still struggle to be what Jesus called us to be. But there is hope as we are people of the Kingdom of God and not people of this world.

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Finding Health

August 19, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

A few months ago I came to a crossroads. One I am not proud of, I realized I had a decision to make. I was either going to have to live differently or I was going to have to increase my clothing size once again. For too often I have chosen the former when I knew the latter was the way to go.

In my last post I shared three practices in my life which refresh my soul. The first two are reading and podcasts, the third is regular exercise. I am sharing these with you to encourage and hopefully, learn from each of you.

My journey toward great health was greatly influenced by some people in my life:

Seeing the dramatic transformation of Mike Nesslage, a friend and man I admire and hold tremendous respect for.

The accountability of regularly meeting with a coach. Over several months I have met with John Baker, another pastor and friend. He has helped me process my stressors and kept me focused as a leader.

My congregation. They are an amazing and incredibly good group of people. I want to be a healthier and better person to serve them better.

The final “nail in the coffin” was an article written by Lenny Luchetti for Christianity Today, Health Pastor, Health Church.  Lenny is associate professor of proclamation and Christian ministry at Indiana Wesleyan University’s Wesley Seminary. In the article he speaks of the direct relationship between a health pastor and a healthy church.

Weight LifterBecause of the influence of these people in my life I chose to head to the gym 2-3 days a week. The result is I have lost 20 lbs. While I still have that much more and more to go to be where I want to me, it is a very significant improvement for me. Now I am faced with the same crossroads, only this time my clothes don’t fit because they are too large.

While the individuals above deserve credit for getting me on this journey person deserves more credit for keeping me here than my wife, Laura.

There is still much growth to be had in my life. But I feel like I am in far better place now. My productivity is up. My vision is growing. Hope is high.

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Knowing the End

August 12, 2014 /

Keep Calm and Kingdom On

Dear Friends,
My promised post about the practices I take to restore my soul will come, but I have decided to hijack my own blog and squeeze this one in ahead.

Seven years ago college football history was made in one of the most stunning games every played. The Boise State University Broncos came head-to-head with the University of Oklahoma Sooners in the 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. On paper the games should have ended with a lopsided pounding of the Broncos by the Sooners. What happened was something totally different. To this day, as a Boise State fan, I can watch the game and feel the intensity, the rise of emotions, the sense of victory slipping away and the ecstatic excitement from and unbelievable victory. When I watch the game today I watch it with a different feeling than I did when I saw the plays unfold live. I know how the game is going to end. The seemingly game ending interception in the closing minutes of the game really isn’t the end of the game. I know how it is really going to end. Boise State is going to win and Ian Johnson will propose to his cheerleader girlfriend on national TV.

As Christians, our life in this world can feel like the impossible football game. We may experience victory and defeat, joy and sorrow, good and evil. It can be easy to feel as though evil has driven the final nail into the coffin of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus said, in Matthew 13, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed” and “the Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast.” What power could tiny seeds and microscopic fungus have against all the powers of this world? In them are all the creative and redemptive power found God himself. In them is the power of Satan’s defeat. In them is hope, justice, mercy, joy, and love. In them is the good news of the Gospel.

As Christians we go through life differently than others. We can go through life with an impenetrable optimism, because we know how the game is going to end. Whatever happens, as Christians let us “Keep Calm and Kingdom On” let us never forget we know how this game will end and never lose our eternal optimism for the Kingdom of God until, as the song says, “earth and heaven are one.”

The graphic you see at the top of this post is one that I created to go along with a sermon series I a preaching at my church. This November I will be going with a team from my church on a mission trip to Guatemala. I am selling shirts with the slogan on it to help raise money for my trip. Click the picture below to go to a page to find out more information and to order a shirt.

Keep Calm Shirt

Of course, you don’t have to buy a shirt to help me on my trip. If you want to help, you may send a check to the church (Hope Wesleyan Church, 857 N Farnham St, Galesburg, IL 61401) made out to the church with “Guatemala” in the memo line.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support and for indulging me on this post.
Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

 

Give me one moment in time . . .

August 7, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

It is one of the great joys and mysteries of life. An occurrence so uncommon to call it “rare” seems an exaggeration. What is it that I speak of? I speak of the moment when there are no more loads of laundry to be done. The moment when the hollow chambers of the washer and dryer call for more but there is none to be had. When it does occur, it is like glimpsing a shooting star fading away as quickly as it came for soon a child will dare to dry their hands on a towel. Twenty years ago when Whitney Houston’s words range across the night sky at our high school graduation, “Give me one moment in time . . .When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away” who could have guessed this would be the dream we would long for? But this is life and work as it really is: ordinary, mundane and never done.

Stack of BooksIn the years that have passed I have discovered, unless I take specific steps to restore my soul, life will suck me dry like a million leeches at a bloodletting symposium. Through trial and error I have found three basic practices which restore me and help to keep me at the top of my game. They are reading, podcasts, and exercise. Today’s post will focus on the first two.

Reading and podcasts keep my exposed to new ideas and challenged. Ministry is an experience of continually giving out information without something coming in things get stale fast. I use three formats for reading. I read books in print, I read them on my tablet and I listen to audio books. Additionally, I make use of Evernote to keep track of quotes and ideas which may come to mind.

I listen to podcasts while I am driving or am in the office.

When I read, I try to be intentional about what I read evaluating topics and books on an annual basis according to our church year (May – April). This year the focus of my reading is on coaching, Christian community development, and the missional church. But that does not mean I strictly limit myself to these areas. I will also read at least one book on preaching each year (an I idea which comes from one of my professors, though I can’t remember which one).

At the end of this post I list my favorite podcasts and recent books.

Why share this? Really, because I want to open a conversation. I have learned these things in my life through trial and error. Mostly error. I would love to hear what you do. Please post a comment on the website and let’s start some discussion.

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

As promised above, my favorite podcasts are:

Dave Ramsey: Entreleadership
Andy Stanley: Leadership Podcast and NorthPoint Community Church
Steve DeNeff: College Wesleyan Church, Marion, IN
Timothy Keller: Redeemer Presbyterian Church
Thom Rainer: Rainer on Leadership
Cartalk . . . it can’t all be about work.

Since May of this year, these are the books I have read or am currently reading:

Boyne, John. The boy in the striped pajamas: a fable. Oxford New York: David Fickling Books, 2006.

Cloud, Henry. Boundaries for leaders: results, relationships, and being ridiculously in charge. New York, NY: HarperBusiness, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2013.

Goff, Bob. Love does: discover a secretly incredible life in an ordinary world. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012.

Keller, Timothy J. Center church : doing balanced, Gospel-centered ministry in your city. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012.

Keller, Timothy J., and Kathy Keller. The meaning of marriage: facing the complexities of commitment with the wisdom of God. New York: Riverhead Books, 2013.

McKenna, David L. Christ-centered leadership: the incarnational difference. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2013.

Parrott, Les, and Leslie L. Parrott. Saving your marriage before it starts: seven questions to ask before–and after– you marry. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2006

Perkins, John. Restoring at-risk communities: doing it together and doing it right . Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Books, 1995.

Schmidt, Wayne. Ministry velocity: the power for leadership momentum. Indianapolis, Ind: Wesleyan Pub, 2010.

Stanley, Andy. Deep & wide: creating churches unchurched people love to attend. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2012.

Stearns, Richard. The hole in our Gospel. Nashville, Tenn: Thomas Nelson, 2009.

These are the books that are on my “to read list” for the next year:

Cherry, Constance M. The worship architect : a blueprint for designing culturally relevant and biblically faithful services. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2010.

Corbett, Steve, and Brian Fikkert. When helping hurts : how to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor– and yourself. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2012.

Gerber, Michael E. The E-myth revisited : why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it. New York: CollinsBusiness, 1995.

Nouwen, Henri J. The wounded healer : ministry in contemporary society. New York, NY: Image Books, 1990.

Perkins, John M. Let justice roll down. S.l: Baker Book House, 2012.

Sinek, Simon. Leaders eat last : why some teams pull together and others don’t. New York, New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2014.

Stearns, Richard. Unfinished : filling the hole in our Gospel. Nashville, Tennessee: W Publishing Group, an imprint of Thomas Nelson, 2013.

Sutter, Arloa. The invisible : what the church can do to find and serve the least of these. Indianapolis, Ind: Wesleyan Pub. House, 2010.

White, James E. The rise of the Nones : understanding and reaching the religiously unaffiliated. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2014.

Wilson, Mark O. Purple fish : a heart for sharing Jesus. Indianapolis: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2014.

PLEASE NOTE: As always with such lists, their inclusion here does not necessarily imply my agreement with or endorsement of the ideas expressed by the authors in these books.

The Name at the Bottom

July 7, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

During most of my time in seminary I worked across the street from the seminary in the Registrar’s Office of Asbury College. One of the functions that was occasionally part of my job was the preparation official transcripts or other documents. Preparing these documents might mean stamping the signature of the Academic Dean, Dr. Thomas and pressing the seal of the college into the paper with an embosser. When I placed these stamps and seals upon a transcript I put upon them the integrity of the institution and the authority of the dean. He had entrusted to me the authority to work on his behalf knowing that if I was to take advantage of this privilege and place his signature and the school’s seal upon a fraudulent document I violated a trust that had been given to me and would cause his character and the integrity of the institution to be called into question.

signatureEach of us has had times when we have been given the authority to speak on behalf of another or have given others the authority to function as though they were us. There is a great trust being placed in the person, one we don’t often think about, even if it was something as simple as signing a birthday card and putting your spouse’s name on it.

Do you know when you pray you are doing much the same thing? Speaking and acting on behalf of God.

In John 14 Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. He is laying the groundwork for what life and ministry is going to be like for them without him walking beside them. The beginning of this chapter includes the verses that many of us are so familiar with. Jesus has said to his disciples he is going away. They want to know where he is going. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life . . .”

They still don’t get it so Jesus continues to instruct them and that is where we get to these verses in chapter 14:

“Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:11-14, NIV)

Did you catch that all important line in verse 13?

Have you ever thought about why we end our prayers “in Jesus’ name” it is because Jesus has granted us the authority to speak on his behalf? Much like a supervisor giving us permission to make choices on their behalf, Jesus is saying that when we pray, whatever we pray in his name he will do. Why? Because we are speaking with his authority not our own; the authority of the one who created this world and holds it all together by his own hand. And when we pray for power to be revealed it is his power not ours.

So, here is the question: Are you praying the kind of prayers that Jesus would pray?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Insiders and Outsiders

June 30, 2014 /

Hello Friends,

One of the greatest fallacies organizations and individuals come to believe is that the outsider does not really know or does not have an accurate picture. The fact is, in most cases, the outsider has a more accurate and clearer picture of how things really are than those who are in the middle of it. This is true of individuals and organizations. This is why organizations hire consultants and individuals hire life coaches and personal trainers. It’s why we go see a doctor, even though we know “everything is fine.” “Visioncasting will always include an element of waking people out of their apathy” (87). It is not easy and it is sometimes painful, but it is always necessary.

microscopeFor a short while I was in seminary I pastored a small church in Kentucky on edge of Appalachia. The area has a pervasive insider vs. outsider culture largely defined by where you were born. One of the things that helped build this wall between insiders and outsiders is the incredible amount of studies conducted one these people. Dozens and dozens of doctoral dissertations have been written about them, matched with a steady stream of people who come in with the answers to their problems. After a while, the people just got tired of being told what their problems were and how to fix them. The interesting thing is most of those studies and suggestions for solutions were accurate. The outside researcher was able to see what needed to be done to address the problems of the region. But for those who were inside, they had grown weary of the suggestions and formed a wall to making any more changes.

Individuals and churches can easily fall into the same trap. While the challenges may be obvious to those on the outside those in the inside get tired of being told what their problems are and hearing about a need to change. So we build a wall and close off our ears.

The challenge for the leader is to communicate the vision as a solution to a problem that must be addressed immediately and to do so in way that calls people to action rather than to retreat.

The seventh building block is to; communicate your vision as a solution to a problem that must be addressed immediately.

The four components of an effective vision include statements of:
1. The problem.
2. The solution.
3. The reason something must be done.
4. The reason something must be done now. (86)

Sometimes seeing it is better than talking about it. This is the vision statement for the basis for planting a new church in the Atlanta area:

“This city is quickly becoming a city of unchurched, undisciplined, biblically illiterate people-and there is a desperate need for churches geared to meet the spiritual needs of unchurched, undisciplined people. Churches that are a friendly rather than hostile environment for biblically challenged, skeptical, suspicious seekers. We have been commissioned to make disciples, and together, as a local church, we can do that far more effectively than each of us working on our own.” (91-92).

I don’t know about you, but a statement like this makes me excited. Can you see how it clarifies and focuses the ministry of the church? Think about how a church with such a vision would structure their discipleship, children’s programs, worship, sermons, leadership, and every area. Spend some time thinking about what some of the characteristics of such a church would be.

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

 

—-

Quotations from:
Stanley, Andy. Visioneering. Sisters, Or: Multnomah Publishers, 2005.

The Midnight Ride

June 16, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

Nehemiah famously took a midnight ride. He journey to being the governor of the territory including Jerusalem began with a message from his brother about the terrible state of the city. “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire” (Nehemiah 1:3, NIV). At the time Nehemiah was serving as the cup bearer to the king . . . of Babylon: the occupying enemy nation. His heart was broken and God placed a vision in his heart to do something about it. After many months, and an unbelievable story of God’s providence and leading, which brought him to this point. Nehemiah still has one more thing to do before he went public with the full reason he had come to Jerusalem. He had a midnight ride to take.

Horse RideEach of us need to take our own midnight rides. Church planters, before throwing it all in and launching, will visit the city and neighborhood they are going to plant in. Missionaries will make exploratory trips to the country they are going to serve before going public with their plan. Pastor will sneak into town ahead of a candidating weekend. The purpose these clandestine activities are to investigate before they initiate. Is the place God has called them to, the place where his vision will grow and be refined. If it is not, it may be found to just be a good idea but not the vision or the way of the vision.

The sixth Building Block is to, Walk before you talk; investigate before you initiate.



Even after we have jumped all it is still possible we will find things will not go as we expect. Plans can still fail. Opportunities can still disappear. Funding may never come.

“Spiritually speaking, faith is confidence that God is who he says he is and that he will do what he has promised to do. Faith is not a power or a force. It is not a vehicle by which we can coerce God into something against his will. It is simply an expression of confidence in the person and character of God. It is the proper response to the promise or revelation of God” (63).

There is a time to investigate and move cautiously, there is a time to dive into the unknown. There is nothing wrong with failing, nothing wrong with changing our minds, but doing nothing is unacceptable. The purpose of investigation is to determine where to move not whether to move.

Blessing,
Pastor Stephen

 

 

Quotation taken from:
Stanley, Andy. Visioneering. Sisters, Or: Multnomah Publishers, 2005.

 

What God Originates

June 9, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

Having a clear vision and sense of direction from God does not eliminate the times of waiting in our lives. It will not keep us away from the desert moments when our soul will need to be converted once again to be ready for what lays ahead.

Andy Stanley’s fifth building block (and you thought I had forgotten about these . . . didn’t you?) is:

Building Block #5: What God originates, He orchestrates.

WaitingPaul’s vision to preach to the gentiles was clear, but he spent three years in the desert preparing. Moses’ vision to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt was clear, but he needed to spend forty years tending sheep in the desert before he was ready to lead the people. Joseph’s (the first one, not the father of Jesus) vision to lead his family was obvious, that the journey there would take him through slavery and an Egyptian prison was not. So it is for us. We must be willing to allow God’s timing to be God’s timing, no matter how much we may wish his timing looked a lot more like our timing. “Waiting time is not wasted time for anyone whose heart God has placed a vision. Difficult time. Painful time. Frustrating time. But not wasted time” (49).

“If the Old and New Testament teach us anything, they teach us that nothing is too difficult for God . . . When God puts something in your heart to do, he goes to work behind the scenes to ensure that it happens. In the meantime, we are to remain faithful to him and focused on the vision. You are not responsible for figuring out how to pull off God’s vision for your life. You are responsible to do what you know to do, what you can do. And then you must wait . . . If it is a just a good idea, you have to make it happen. When God gives you a vision, there’s a sense in which you stand back and watch it happen. The challenge is that sometimes you stand back for a long time” (56-57).

Staying and keeping focused on our vision keeps us focused on God as we are reminded that the only way this vision will be fulfilled is if God acts and orchestrates.

Blessings,
Stephen

===

Quotations taken from:
Stanley, Andy. Visioneering. Sisters, Or: Multnomah Publishers, 2005.

 

Are we there yet?

June 2, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

The question, “Are we there yet?” has become the stuff of legends. No family vacation could ever be considered complete without the chorus rising from the bowels of the passenger compartment: A place where reason and tranquility will never be found. On a recent road trip the following conversation took place in our car:

Child: “Are we there yet?”
Me: “Are we still driving?”
Child: “Yes.”
Me: “Then we are not there yet.”
(One minute thirteen second pause)
Child: “Are we there yet?”
Me: turns on radio . . . loud

I would bang my head on the steering wheel, but that would probably cause the airbag to deploy. If you have never had the pleasure of this yourself this video will be an inspiration to you:

Are we there yet?

“Are we there yet?” is not just a question asked on during moments of too much family closeness. It is a question we all ask in our spiritual lives.

Having a clear vision and clear call does not eliminate the times in the dessert, the times of preparation. Maxie Dunham, former President of Asbury Theological Seminary is quoted by David McKenna (another former President) as saying, “Whether we experience the desert as a geophysical fact is not important. That we experience it as the reality of being along with ourselves and God — questioning, clarifying, testing, committing, and cleansing — is absolutely necessary” (59). Being in the desert is an “Are we there yet?” moment.

When we read of Saul’s (later called Paul) conversion we tend to focus on the events occurring on the Damascus Road. We miss the other conversion; the conversion which took place in the desert.

Paul’s professional and academic credentials to preach were without question. The call and mission of his life was clear. Jesus said to the prophet Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (Acts 9:15-16, NIV). Even so Paul was sent to the desert for three years.

Read what Paul wrote to the people of Galatia about his call and his conversion:

“But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with [Peter] and stayed with him fifteen days” (Galatians 1:15-18, NIV).

“It took three years for [Paul] to reverse all systems, crucify all past desires, and let his mind become the mind of Christ” (McKenna 59).

Have you been to the desert? Where is God still working on you? Where do you find yourself asking “Are we there yet?” The truth is, as much as we may wish it to be otherwise, the answer may likely be “no.”

Blessings,
Stephen

===

McKenna, David L.. Christ-centered leadership: the incarnational difference. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2013. Prin

 

Dying on Field

May 27, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

Last week I opened the topic of our citizenship as people of God’s Kingdom. Today I continue these thoughts.

Missionary Graves

Wesleyan Missionary Graveyard in Sierra Leone

Missions has change a lot in the past hundred plus years. There was a time when missionaries boarded ships to head to distant lands knowing they would probably never return to the land of their birth. The symbol of this commitment was what they choose to pack their stuff in. Not a suit case or steamer trunk but a coffin. The pioneers walked away from the privilege and position of their home countries to unite with peoples across the oceans. This is the kind of commitment Paul is speaking of the profound mystery of Christ and the church (read last week’s Milk Can).

Today it is rare for a missionary to die “on field.” Terms and length of commitments have gotten shorter and shorter. Missionaries enjoy phone calls, e-mail, and even the ability to Skype with family. Today one can be a missionary without ever leaving and cleaving to a new people. While this has opened missionary work to many who would never have gone, it can dilute the true depth of Christ’s call onto the life of everyone who calls themselves a Christian. As the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in his book The Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

One does not have to go to foreign lands to follow Christ. For many, a generation ago, the call to leave and cleave meant joining those in the Civil Rights Movement. They marched alongside their African American neighbors and boarded Freedom Buses to lay down their lives to battle injustice.

Today many are being called to identify with and carry the burden of the immigrant in our own nation. Simultaneously giving up and using their position, power and prestige to care for their neighbor. More on the work of our own denomination can be found here: http://www.wesleyan.org/1045/faq-on-immigrants-and-immigration-questions-and-answers

Bonhoeffer would also say being a Christian is about “. . . courageously and actively doing God’s will.” Many times I have prayed those words at the end of The Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What if God intends to answer that prayer through you and I? What is God’s will courageously and actively calling you to?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

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