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A Clear Challenge to Change

June 14, 2018 /

Dear Friends,

One of the disciplines I practice for my own spiritual growth as well as professional improvement is to listen to the sermons of other preachers. One pastor and church I have started listening to recently is Brandon Beals of Canyon Creek Church in Mill Creek, Washington. Their current sermon series is simply called Seed. “A series about the harvest power contained in a seed.” At the beginning of the series, the gauntlet was thrown down for everyone to evaluate their giving and to make a commitment to step up and step out in our finances.

To make the challenge a giving matrix was presented. This matrix so fascinated and challenged me that I wanted to share it with you.:

challenge to give

Here is what it all means:

  • If you are one who has never really stepped out in the area of giving then make the commitment to become a first time giver.
  • Maybe you are one who has given in the past or gives when there is a special need, then step up to becoming a regular giver.
  • Are you a person who gives regularly but you also like the average American Christian who gives less than 3% to your local church? Maybe it is time to step out and respond to the Bible’s instruction to give the first 10% of your income to the storehouse, which is your local church (Malachi 3:10). I was impressed by their courage to say clearly giving 10% does not mean giving 3% to the Humane Society, and 4% to Habitat for Humanity and then 3% to your local church.
  • Finally, maybe you are a person who has already experienced the truth of the promise of God’s provision and multiplying work in your own life by giving of your first 10%. Now it might be time to step up to a new level in your life and become a generous giver. They define being a generous giver as anyone giving 11% or above.

What I like most about this matrix was that it was clear and easy to understand. Anyone could easily see for themselves, in the privacy of their own chair, where they were at and see what the next step was they needed to take.

I was convicted as a preacher by their courage to specifically call people to sign a commitment card pledging to the change they were going to make in their life. How often have I resisted calling people to change and growth because of a fear of offending? Money fights and money problems is the number one cause of divorce in our country. Married or not, it can be one of the most significant areas of stress and anxiety in our lives. If we are going to healthy and whole persons as followers of Jesus, the church is going to have to get over our fear of talking about money.

Finally, what about you? If you had been sitting in the chairs listening to these sermons would you have had the courage to fill out a commitment card? What would you have written on it?

Blessing,
Stephen

If you would like to listen to their whole sermon series you can watch the videos here: http://canyoncreek.church/sermon/series/seed-series/

When our heros are watching

November 1, 2016 /

crowd of fans cheering you on

What would it be like to be the quarterback of the high school football team? The ball is on the fifteen-yard line. Unfortunately, it is your fifteen-yard line. Your team is down by four points. There is a 1:47 left in the game. You have to get in the end zone to win. Your coach calls a timeout to regroup the team. And as you approach the sideline the person standing there, waiting for you is Payton Manning. He looks at you, tells you he believes in you and what you have to do to win this game and as you are walking back on the field to the huddle you can hear his cheering for you.
It’s great to have your parents on the sideline to see you at the moment. Your coach’s confidence in you means a lot. Even your teammates telling you they have confidence in you iwonderful. All of these are more special than can be described, but there is something extra special about having your hero, the best of the best, saying you can do it. Someone who has been there and knows what it is like. Who knows how many hundreds of times Manning has been in this place where the game came down to his ability to execute and lead his team down the field. He knows what the pressure is like. He knows the hunger of the defense and seen the fire in their eyes. Every profession has its unique challenges, and we all know, despite people telling us they know what it is like, they really don’t. If they have not been where you are, they really don’t understand. So it means something extra special to have a person who has been there, who understands the pressures and challenges encouraging you on.
Hebrews 12:1-3 says to us:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
This comes at the end of a long list of great heroes of faith from the Bible. These men and women who comprise the “great cloud of witnesses” are not only witness of us but they are witnesses to us. Witnesses of the character and faithfulness of God. They are heroes who have been where we are, and they call us through the cloud of our temporal perspective to press on with perseverance. They cheer for us to put aside our doubts, fears, and struggles to grasp hold of the promises God has given to us. They have been there and understand.
Think about this. You might be saying to yourself that you have screwed up. You have disqualified yourself from every achieving your hopes and dreams. Your failure is too great. But let me ask you:
When was the last time you committed adultery?
But not only that, when was the last time that adultery led to a child being conceived?
But not only that, when was the last time that you used your power and authority to try to cover-up up what you had done by having the women’s husband killed?
But not only that, you take the women to be your wife in hopes of covering the whole thing up?
But not only that, when was the last time child conceived because of your failure dies because of your sin, and you have to live the rest of your life with this burden?
Hopefully, not of us has screwed up this badly. But even if you have there is a man standing before you as a witness of God’s faithfulness and forgiveness, David, saying to you today to put aside your sin and experiences God’s love.
When was the last time you faced an utterly impossible situation? You didn’t know what to do and even if you did you lacked the resources to make it happen? Two men call you to step into the impossible. Moses and Joshua, men well acquainted with impossible barriers, whether they are a sea, a river, or a walled city, they witness to you of God’s deliverance in the face of the impossible and they call to you to put aside that which entangles you, all those doubting thoughts, and step out in faith.
The list could go on and on. I would even challenge you to sometimes read the stories in the Bible and ask yourself what these men and women would say to you if there were on your sideline coaching you through whatever situation you are facing in life.
For we are surrounded by a great cloud of witness to God’s grace, forgiveness, and character and they call us to step up.
Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Starting a New Adventure

April 22, 2016 /

Dear Friends,

I am excited to share with you that I have entered a new phase of life and ministry. I am now officially an onine Doctor of Ministry student at Asbury Theological Seminary in the Activating Missional Communities program, while still serving as pastor at Hope. This new journey means a lot of things, not the least of which, is that my Kindle and I are becoming close and personal friends.

As individuals hear about my taking this step the first question is often, “Why?” While the answer is somewhat complex I wanted to take a moment to share with you some of my thoughts, largely taken from my program application.

The purpose of studying, at this time in my ministry, is about increased potential and opportunity. As a leader, as I grow the church grows. Maybe not necessarily numerically but certainly in ways that matter. From my perspective, working toward a D. Min. is a unique opportunity to learn and grow from some of the greatest leaders in the church and bring their wisdom into our particular situation at Hope. Studying in this type of program is also an opportunity for me to exponentially increase my knowledge in ways not so easily done through self-study.

One particular area of leadership growth and development I am particularly interested in is the area of discipleship. When I was in seminary Dr. David Holdren, who was then a General Superintendent, spoke with the Wesleyan students. On a white board, he drew out for us a system of discipleship he had just learned about that used a baseball diamond. As he described this baseball-based model, he said that all of us needed to develop a model of discipleship. At the time, I did not fully understand his advice, but I have always remembered those words of counsel.
Years later I read the book Home Run Life by Kevin Myers and realized this was the model Dr. Holdren was showing to us. I have also read other books explaining a particular pastor’s model for discipleship. I have been struck by the realization, if you boil them all down, they are really all about the same. This realization regarding each of these models brought me back to the words of advice from Dr. Holdren when I was in seminary.

I feel one of the greatest challenges for the church is in the area of discipleship. Our current answer to the question of whether we are effectively developing wholly devoted followers of Christ is a poor one. As I have been processing this reality, I have been working to formulate an effective system for our particular context. Much work remains, but I believe such a system:

  • needs to be self-assessing. The church no longer has the authority, if it ever did, to say to a person you are a spiritual infant (even though you have been in the church for 40 years).
  • while self-assessing, must naturally lead people to movement and growth. There is no condemnation for where a person is at. What is important is not where a person is at. What is important is that they are moving.
  • must take into account the realities of church membership/attendance. A “committed” church member may realistically only attend 50-75% of the time.
  • must take into account, even if a person attends 100% of the time, Sunday morning is not enough.
  • must go to where people are at. Church attendance is not a natural choice for the spiritual “nones.” John Wesley would go in the early morning hours and stand on the coal piles outside the coal mines and preach to the miners before they would go down into the mines each day. Where are the coal piles today? Every day people walk into darkness. How do we give them light to take with them, even if they are not followers of Jesus?
  • must make use of, build on, and find fresh expressions of the disciplines and traditions of the past 2,000 years of Christendom.
  • must make room for the Spirit to work in people’s lives on the Spirit’s timeline.
  • must be Kingdom centered. God is not a respecter of people, cultures or nations.
  • must be full of grace and truth.
  • must challenge people to, as Richard Stearns says, to “go nuclear.” In generations past missionaries would load their belongings into a coffin knowing they were never coming home. Today hundreds of thousands of people applied to be the first humans to travel to Mars, knowing it will be a one-way journey. Are we calling and challenging people to do great things for God, even things as crazy as traveling to Mars?
  • must scale up and scale down. Will it guide people as effectively in their spiritual growth in a church of two as a church of 100,000?
  • must empower others to lead and reproduce.

In the process of implementing such a system, we have many amazing resources available to us today to help us connect with each other and grow together. These include, but are certainly not limited to podcasting, webinars, blogging, and various social media platforms.

Along this journey I will be sharing in this blog insights I am learning and questions I am pondering. I encourage you to interact and share your thoughts. Some of the things I may share may be controversial or push some buttons. I don’t promise to even completely agree with everything I post. This will be a learning opportunity for all of us to be stretched and grow and I welcome  the chance to process these concepts with all of you. I know that I have much to learn.

Blessings,
Stephen

The Beauty of Success

March 17, 2015 /

Success

Dear Friends,

I have shared with you in the past my propensity to listen to podcasts. A few days ago, while covered in drywall joint compound I listening to the Catalyst Podcast. I am not particularly good at applying joint compound, in fact I tend to get more on me than the walls, but that is topic for another day. I digress . . . the podcast was an interview with the musicians Matt Wertz and Dave Barnes. Each was asked what he was learning in life right now. Dave’s answer to the question caused me to put down the mud. Dave said that he has been thinking a lot about success lately and what it means to be successful. “The beauty of success is that we each get to define it our own way . . . The danger is when we start to believe and adopt other people’s definitions of success to become our own because then we are not living true to the calling in our set of circumstances . . .If we are not careful we can redefine something that I have already defined and am really happy with.”

There are a lot of things to ponder in these few words.

1. We get to define success ourselves; but have we? How many of us in have actually defined what it is that we are looking for and growing into. As someone once said, “If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.”

2. Do we really want to be successful at what we are doing? When we see people who are the top of what we are seeking to be successful at we rarely notice the scars they carry and they price they pay to be where they are at. Have we looked at their scars? Are we willing to pay that price?

3. If we have defined our success and are “really happy with” the place where we are at and the path we are on we must be vigilant to not allow others to redefine success for us and breed discontent into our souls.

4. Finally, if we have defined what it means for to be successful, but the path we are on will not take us there, why have we not changed? What is keeping us from changing? Have we set a date to make the change?

What about you? Have you defined what it means for you to be successful? Have you ever allowed someone else to define it for you? Share your thoughts below or on Facebook

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

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