Friday, May 10, 2008
I have this friend who swears that if pastors tell the people in their churches that it is possible that people could be born gay…like…overnight churches will turn into Village People free-for-all orgies.
People will start wearing feather boas to Bible study. Sunday school teachers will start showing clips from Will & Grace re-runs to first graders. Ushers and parking lot attendants will Tivo Jay Leno just to catch a glimpse of “Ross the Intern.”
Utter pandemonium will break out.
“Brian,” he’s told me, “It’s like admitting to people that God made a mistake. People will take that as license to practice homosexuality. You can’t do that.”
Really?
I have lots of friends who are recovering alcoholics and I would venture to say that most of them struggle in part because of genetics – they were born that way.
None that I know, however, use that as an excuse to dive head-long into drunken stupors. Most alcoholics I know are brave, broken, and desperate to stay sober.
Will acknowledging the possibility that people could be born with homosexual tendencies change how God expects us to deal with homosexual behavior?
I don’t think so.
Do I personally think people could be born gay? I don’t know. I honestly don't know how one could conclusively prove such a thing.
It’s pretty clear most secular psychologists and biologists are convinced homosexual orientation is imprinted genetically at birth. And they have piles of studies and journals to back up their claims.
My reaction is simple: So what? How does that change anything?
It’s still sin.
It’s still something to be avoided.
Then hasn’t God tethered those with homosexual urges to a life of constant struggle?
Yep.
That's why I'm betting that those who come to Christ and refrain from acting out on homosexual urges could be one of the few groups of people in the body of Christ who feel the full brunt of James 1:2-5 on a daily basis.
And my heart goes out to them because of it.
Read all the posts in this series:
Questions About Homosexuality
What If We’re Misinterpreting The Bible?
My Greatest Struggle Right Now
Should An Openly Homosexual Person Be Baptized?
Gay First Impressions Ministry?
Are Homosexuals Born That Way?
Are Homosexuals Born That Way? - Questions About Homosexuality (Part 5)
Gay First Impressions Ministry? – Questions About Homosexuality (Part 4)
Friday, May 09, 2008
There’s a church in our area that is known for having their parking team “size visitors up” as soon as they exit from their car and radio in to their ushers the specific make-up of the people visiting.
New family with small kids? By the time that new family hits the front door greeters from the children’s ministry with small children in hand are there to welcome them and personally escort them to their classes.
In some respects I guess I applaud their commitment to make people feel welcome by having a similar type of person meet them at the door.
Unfortunately too many people have told me that when they visited this church there weren’t any…
…black people to welcome them…
…or single moms…
…or those who had been divorced…
I often wonder what would happen if two openly gay people visited their church.
In Second Guessing God I talked about how a few years ago our church in Philadelphia went through our first crisis: French-kissing homosexuals in the worship service.
One day after services a man in our church’s band approached me and said, “Dude, I just saw my first homosexual kiss!” I said, “Where?” He pointed to the auditorium and said they had been French kissing during the worship service.
I said, “Really? I didn’t see them.” I looked for other staff members, but they said they hadn’t witnessed it either. The next Sunday three people came up to me and said they had seen the same thing. This went on for weeks. It was like the homosexual version of “Where’s Waldo?” During the sermon I would slowly scan the audience looking for lip-locking visitors, but to no avail.
Eventually, for reasons I could never discover, our frisky friends left, but not before I received a nasty e-mail from a woman visiting from another church that saw the couple making out [the same church known for “sizing people up” and radioing in their “type” to their ushers]. She asked, “Is your church the kind of church that welcomes homosexuals?” That was a loaded question.
I e-mailed back and outlined our church’s belief that homosexuality, like all other sins, goes against what is clearly taught in the Bible. I also explained that we would welcome anyone, regardless of their background, to be a part of our church service, jokingly adding that we had a very strict policy against all French kissing during the service—homosexual or heterosexual.
I concluded my e-mail by saying, “I have to be honest; I was glad to hear that two homosexuals felt comfortable enough to attend our church services and weren’t scared away by the adulterers, pornographers, tax cheats, liars and other messed-up people in the seats around them.”
Since day one it’s been my prayer that CCV would be the kind of church that anyone could attend.
Gay. Straight. Young. Old. Poor. Rich. Married. Divorced. Black. White.
Everyone for whom Christ died – and I mean everyone – is welcome to come and hear the good news that God loves us…
…in spite of their sin
…in spite of their sexual orientation
…in spite of their addictions
…in spite of their skin color
…in spite of the size of their wallet
…in spite of anything that people judge other people by on the surface to keep them from hearing the life-changing message of Jesus.
Read all the posts in this series:
Questions About Homosexuality
What If We’re Misinterpreting The Bible?
My Greatest Struggle Right Now
Should An Openly Homosexual Person Be Baptized?
Gay First Impressions Ministry?
Are Homosexuals Born That Way?
Should An Openly Homosexual Person Be Baptized? – Questions About Homosexuality (Part 3)
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
In my previous post I mentioned that I was posed the following question by two homosexuals jointly raising a child,
“Which sin is greater: continuing with the way we choose to live our lives or having one of us move out and ripping apart the only home our son has ever known?”
Here’s what I said…
“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not God. But even if I did have a strong opinion on the matter, I wouldn’t give it to you. Do you want to know why? Because my hunch is you’re not really looking for an answer as much as you are looking for a reason to leave this church and turn your back on God. Others pastors may have given you reason to do so, but I’m not going to follow suit. You’re here for a reason, and that’s to find your way back to God. Once you do that, He’ll be the one that will help you answer that question.”
Then I hugged them both.
In my mind two more important questions lurked behind the question they asked:
1. Will this pastor guy treat our sin any differently than the other searching non-believers in the Bible study that went home to continue to embezzle money for their employer, look at porn on their computers or abuse prescription drugs?
2. Can I really trust God?
The second question is probably the most important. It’s hard to fathom how hard it is for a struggling homosexual to darken the doors of a church building, let alone contemplate turning their lives over to a deity who is going to ask for radical, painful change. That takes a great leap of faith; probably more than most heterosexual people were required to exercise before they became Christians.
The real issue for me comes down to this: How can we expect any non-believer to truly have a heart for the ways of God BEFORE conversion?
Most pastors I know won’t baptize an openly homosexual person.
This is utter non-sense.
I understand there are varying theologies on conversion and baptism, but the one thing we can all agree on is that by the time someone has been baptized they’ve turned their life over to Jesus and have received the gift of the Holy Spirit (FYI -- at CCV we baptize immediately after someone's profession of faith...not once a year, etc.).
God in us.
Power.
Illumination.
An internal craving for the things of God.
A new mind.
A new heart.
This only happens post conversion.
How can we expect an openly homosexual person to even want to change their life without their minds and hearts being born again?
That’s like a doctor telling someone with radically spreading lymphoma to show signs of remission before he’ll give them chemo.
What we do here at CCV is allow anyone to make a declaration of faith and get baptized.
There’s no “sin litmus test.”
We don’t check to see if anyone is shacking up, or look for heroin tracks on their arms, or condoms in their back pockets. We assume that everyone is as screwed up as I was before I came to Christ.
Now, we make it clear before baptism that Jesus asks us to forsake everything that is out of line with his will expressed in the Bible, but we don’t stand at the baptismal with an exhaustive checklist in hand.
Afterwards, however, that’s when the work of discipleship begins – teaching people how to obey everything that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). People must be taught how to obey following baptism, not before it.
That’s when the subject of someone’s specific sin comes up.
And not before.
Read all the posts in this series:
Questions About Homosexuality
What If We’re Misinterpreting The Bible?
My Greatest Struggle Right Now
Should An Openly Homosexual Person Be Baptized?
Gay First Impressions Ministry?
Are Homosexuals Born That Way?
Building Casas Por Christo
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
In a little over a week 30 people from CCV will head down to Juarez Mexico to build two homes for families in need.
Maria Albarado is a single mom with a 14 year old son named Jonathan. Together they live in a wooden shack in the slums of Juarez. She’s 39 years old and makes $70 a week.
Javier and Maria Velazquez and their three children -- Consuelo (20), Areli (10), and Itzel (5) -- live in a thrown together shanty no larger than the shed in the backyard of many Americans. He makes $75 a week for a family of five!
CCV’ers…because of your hard work, prayers and generosity Jesus is about to change their world.
Love God. Love each other. Love our world. That's what it's all about!
Man do I love the people of this church!
F.Y.I. -- Here’s a video of the trip we took last time. Expect another one in a few weeks.
My Greatest Struggle Right Now – Questions About Homosexuality (Part 2)
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
While I was serving as an associate pastor at a large church in Florida years ago two people approached me after Wednesday night Bible study.
“We’d like to become Christians,” they said with smiles on their faces.
“That’s great! Congratulations!”
“But we’re not going to stop being gay,” they quickly added. “Besides, we’ve been raising our 10 year old son together since he was born. We’re the only family he knows.”
I paused, and then gently said, “Are you familiar with what the Bible says about homosexual activity?”
“Yes. But we have a question for you. Which sin is greater: continuing with the way we choose to live our lives or having one of us move out and ripping apart the only home our son has ever known?”
How would you have answered that question?
Read all the posts in this series:
Questions About Homosexuality
What If We’re Misinterpreting The Bible?
My Greatest Struggle Right Now
Should An Openly Homosexual Person Be Baptized?
Gay First Impressions Ministry?
Are Homosexuals Born That Way?
What If We’re Misinterpreting The Bible? – Questions About Homosexuality (Part 1)
Monday, May 05, 2008
It’s clear that the writers of the New Testament saw nothing contradictory whatsoever between following Jesus and upholding the culture’s position on slavery.
There is no command, no teaching, not even a hint among the New Testament writers that slavery was an evil institution to be abolished.
Quite the contrary…
Slaves were encouraged to accept their lot in life…
1 Corinthians 7:20-23:
20 Each of you should remain in the situation you were in when God called you. 21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For those who were slaves when called to faith in the Lord are the Lord's freed people; similarly, those who were free when called are Christ's slaves. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 24 Brothers and sisters, all of you, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation in which God called you.
Slaves were taught to obey their masters in everything…
Titus 2:9-11
9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. 11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…
Slaves were taught to endure beatings joyfully…
1 Peter 2:18-21
18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if you bear up under the pain of unjust suffering because you are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
The entire witness of the New Testament leads us to one inescapable conclusion: God doesn’t have that big of a problem with slavery; otherwise the early church leaders would have gone ballistic over it.
150 years ago pastors used these very verses to justify slavery.
What if 150 years from now people look back on modern-day evangelicals and think the same thing about the way we view homosexuality?
Does the Bible give us unambiguous direction on the issue? Certainly. Homosexuality is a sin. No issue is any more clear in scripture.
But 150 years ago people used the unambiguous teaching of the Bible to justify their belief that slavery was okay.
150 years later we think, Who cares what the Bible teaches on slavery? It’s wrong. Not because of what the Bible teaches, but because of everything we know to be true about life as Christians.
Abolitionists fought against the evils of slavery in spite of what the Bible taught.
And they were right.
No Christian today denies that.
What if it’s the same situation with homosexuality?
I have unashamedly upheld the Bible’s teaching that homosexuality is a sin for 20 years of ministry. But what if 150 years from now Christians look back on me and think the same thing that we think about pastors who 150 years ago taught slavery was okay?
I haven’t changed my position in the least. I’m just asking the question.
Read all the posts in this series:
Questions About Homosexuality
What If We’re Misinterpreting The Bible?
My Greatest Struggle Right Now
Should An Openly Homosexual Person Be Baptized?
Gay First Impressions Ministry?
Are Homosexuals Born That Way?
Questions About Homosexuality
Monday, May 05, 2008
A few weeks ago I met a sharp business guy in our church for lunch who has been reluctant to buy into the whole Christianity thing.
He asked, “Do I have to believe that homosexuality is wrong to become a Christian?”
I get asked that a lot, along with a whole slew of questions about homosexuality that I’ve been reluctant to talk about publicly.
I’m thinking it’s time to open up that can of worms.
Read all the posts in this series:
Questions About Homosexuality
What If We’re Misinterpreting The Bible?
My Greatest Struggle Right Now
Should An Openly Homosexual Person Be Baptized?
Gay First Impressions Ministry?
Are Homosexuals Born That Way?
Should We Start A Saturday Night Service?
Friday, May 02, 2008
A while ago a pastor friend of mine in VA emailed me and asked my advice concerning whether or not I thought his church should start a Saturday night service. Lots of pastors routinely weigh whether or not this is a good move, and rightly so. Here’s what I told him:
Vince,
If you call me on my cell I can talk a lot faster than I can type, but in a nutshell here was our experience:
1. We surveyed pastors for one full year about Saturday night services and decided to launch one in December of 2005. We killed it in April of 06, four and a half months later.
2. The service was reaching 150 people (we ran 800+ in the other three), but 95% of them were CCV transfers from Sunday morning to Saturday night. Of those people who switched services well over 1/3 of them STILL came to Sunday morning.
3. We cast vision for one year, recruited a massive team of incredible volunteers to pull it off, and sunk $ into direct-mail and signs to advertise it. We gave it EVERYTHING WE HAD.
4. Everyone told us that if you are going to be successful you had to offer the IDENTICAL programs you offer on Sunday mornings, so we offered a full kid’s and teen program identical to our Sunday service. Everything was the same.
5. Personally I hated life more during the four months we did Saturday night services than any other time during our church's six year history. It robbed a day from my work week because we made Monday a mandatory day off. Saturdays with my family were gone. Over. Outta here. I had to cut out of everything at noon. That one service began to trap staff and volunteer families into the internal orbit of the church like a black hole. My personal evangelism began to suffer. We gave staff weekends off to compensate for their weekends being completely ripped off from them, but then we noticed a severe lack of continuity between programming and the overall quality of the services and kids' programs. Everything suffered: The quality of our programs; the morale of our staff and volunteers; my overall attitude toward the church.
6. If I had seen measurable data that showed the Saturday night service was a killer outreach venue I would have given it much, much longer to play out, but we couldn't see any progress toward that goal, so it became a HUGE relief to our staff when one day I stood up before everyone and said, "Guys, does anyone else besides me think this Saturday night service was a really stupid idea?"
7. The decision to launch a Saturday night service was one of my worst decisions made here at CCV. My decision to kill it was one of my best.
8. We have adopted Andy Stanley's philosophy here: Never, as long as we have other viable alternatives, will we ever have a Saturday night service. The value we have on caring for our staff and volunteers takes precedence over adding a few more people to our aggregate worship attendance.
Brian
What Should I Write About? -- How To Write A Book (Part 1)
Thursday, May 01, 2008
One of the most difficult questions those of us who feel called by God to write must answer is what should I write about?
Here’s my advice…
Don’t write something that you think will make you rich.
There are almost 200,000 books released every year in the United States. If you’re trying to make lots of money writing books, you’re going into the wrong business.
Don’t write something that you think will make people like you.
There’s a great line from Shakespeare’s King Lear that every writer should memorize. Near the end of the play the Duke of Albany shouts, “The weight of this sad time we must obey. Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.” Whenever you’re wondering what you should say and how you should say it, always follow his advice. Always.
Don’t write something that will allow you to follow the path of least resistance.
Quick fix weight loss fads. Fast money making schemes. Effortless online degree mills. There are no easy, quick, effortless ways to do anything, especially writing a book. Red Smith once said, “Writing is easy. I just open a vein and bleed.” I believe him.
Instead…
Write something that will cost you a little piece of your soul to write.
Write something you’re convinced will either comfort someone immensely or completely upend their world.
Write something people will want to read 150 years from now.
Write something no-one else has written about in quite the way you can write it.
Write something you simply must write.
So you want to be a writer
Charles Bukowski
if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.
if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.
don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.
when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.
there is no other way.
and there never was.
Countdown To The CMT Awards
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
I’ve lost my mind.
Up until four months ago I thought the only people who listened to country music were those who skipped routine dental visits so they could buy extra beer and pork rinds for when the cousin they were engaged to came over to watch Wrestlemania and NASCAR.
Now, unbelievably, and I’m sure this will come as a great shock to those within the church I serve; I’m slowly changing my mind.
While I’m still convinced most country music lovers contemplate going to family reunions to pick up women, I’m actually, and it shocks me to say this, starting to like it.
Rascal Flatts. Sugarland. Toby Keith. Kenny Chesney. Taylor Swift. Keith Urban. Martina McBride. Four months ago I had no idea who any of these people/groups were. Then, out of nowhere, I made the decision that I was sick of listening to classic rock and alternative rock and wanted to learn a little bit about a musical genre I knew nothing about. So I forced myself to listen to 92.5 WXTU “Philadelphia’s Country Station” everyday for four long months.
And I’ve been surprised.
So much so, that, believe it or not, we’re going to do our first-ever (and more than likely last) country-music inspired sermon series.
In two weeks we’re going to launch a 4-part series that’s a take off of the 2008 CMT Awards. We’re calling it the “CMT Awards.”
The CMT stands for “Corinthian Moral Troubles.”
When you read through the pages of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians), you begin to wonder if you’re reading the lyrics to a country music song – there’s always someone fighting, drinking, and cheating on somebody.
After Paul founded this tiny church in the cosmopolitan Greek city of Corinth in 52 a.d., he left to start more churches in other cities. In his absence the people in that new church began making immoral lifestyle choices that jeopardized the life of the church.
So Paul shot off 1 Corinthians, challenging them point by point to change their ways. Their immoral choices were beyond anything we read about anywhere else in New Testament! Paul essentially awarded them with what could be called the “CMT Awards” – The Corinthian Moral Troubles Awards. Their crazy lifestyle choices took the prize!
So starting on May 11th we’re going to look at those awards, and the issues that prompted them. We’re going to do so because, quite honestly, Paul could have just as easily written that letter to any church today, even our own.
Well, that’s the series in a nutshell – 1 Corinthians with a little country twang.
I just have four simple requests:
1. Do not make out with your hot cousin in the back row during the worship service, unless she's Carrie Underwood.
2. Do not bring beer coolers or dogs into the church building.
3. Please park all trailers in the back section of the parking lot.
4. Post a comment and give me your favorite country music song and I’ll pass that on to our Art’s team. We're looking for ideas.
God help us. God help us all.
Apologetix and the Demise of Christian Art
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
“The confusion comes about because much so-called religious art is in fact bad art, and therefore bad religion.” -- Madeleine L’Engle
I have a friend who will only listen to Christian music. By that she means music that only uses explicitly Christian lyrics – Jesus, God, Bible verses, salvation, heaven, and hell – all mingled throughout.
However, she would also contend that her musical tastes aren’t marked so much by lyrics contained within the songs, as the words that are kept out of them. No cuss words ever darken the doors of her iPOD. Profanities, hate, vulgarities of any kind, are all blocked by an unassailable wall of Christian censorship.
Her favorite band is a group called Apologetix. They make their living by taking popular songs that everyone likes on the radio, making the lyrics palatable to those within the evangelical/fundamentalist subculture, and then peddling them as a more spiritual alternative to the “world’s music.”
A few years ago a group named Smash Mouth came out with a song called “All-Star.” The song began:
Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an "L" on her forehead
Apologetix took that song, re-wrote the lyrics and re-titled it “Pray Now.” Here’s how the spiritually revised tune starts out:
Somebody once told me the Lord is not your roadie
You ain't the star so do it yourself
I said look it's kind of dumb if there's things I need done
It's a shame not to call on the Lord's help
As I read Apologetix’s re-write, I’m struck by two things:
1. Avoiding profanity and vulgarity is a important thing to do as a Christ follower.
2. Expunging profanity and vulgarity from a song, or a poem, or the walls of a dormitory does not necessarily make what replaces it art. And it most definitely does not make it Christian art.
The Sistine chapel. Mozart. Paradise Lost. The Pieta. These are examples of great Christian art.
Juxtapose those pieces with Apologetix, and the fifty kagillion Thomas Kinkade paintings in evangelical homes everywhere, and many of the poorly written books sagging Christian bookstore shelves across the country.
Just because something is labeled Christian, doesn’t make it so.
To me something is “Christian art” if…
1. It is done with excellence.
2. It is done with beauty.
3. It captures some piece of the human experience.
4. It points to something greater than the artist who created it.
Art doesn’t become “Christian” simply because someone throws in evangelical buzzwords, and it certainly doesn’t happen when someone high-jacks someone else’s body of work and makes it palatable to a certain audience.
Art becomes “Christian” when those who view it, read it, or listen to it swear to themselves that they can see fingerprints left from another world.
How To Write A Book And Get It Published
Monday, April 28, 2008
Last week a friend asked me if I could give him some advice on how to write a book and get it published. I am certainly not the most qualfied person to ask that question, but I vividly remember what it felt like to be in his shoes, so I’ve decided to scribble out a few posts on the topic.
For the next few posts I’m going to write about:
--how to nail down a great book idea
--how to improve your writing skills
--how to organize your thoughts
--how to go about the difficult process of putting words to paper
--how to get that idea before potential publishers
--and how to help those publishers promote your message to the world
However, before I do all that, I want to quote a profound little book called Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life 
Writing about how she felt after completing her first book, Lamott observed,
“I had secretly believed that trumpets would blare, major reviewers would proclaim that not since Moby Dick had an American novel so captured life in all its dizzying complexity. And this is what I thought when my second book came out, and my third, and my fourth, and my fifth. And each time I was wrong.
But I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do – the actual act of writing – turns out to be the best part. It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.” (Bird by Bird, xxv-xxvi).
Wounds From A Friend Can Be Trusted
Thursday, April 24, 2008
This week we had another Leadership Team meeting. I continue to be amazed at the godly people God has assembled to guide this church.
One of the things on my agenda for after the meeting was a one on one with Paul Williams. Paul has been a personal friend and mentor for many years.
In March the CCV staff finished our annual 360 degree reviews where everyone on our staff had an opportunity to weigh on the positive and negative aspects of each other’s performance. It’s pretty affirming and painful stuff all at the same time.
Once that process was over I emailed Paul the complete file and we agreed that after the Leadership Team meeting in April we would meet for my review.
“Brian, you know I think the world of you, don’t you?” he started.
“Yes, I believe that 100%. I trust you completely.”
“Then please understand that what I’m about to share comes from a heart that loves you and only wants to see you become all that God has called you to become.”
Then he took a deep breath and shared two things:
1. He shared a story from his own life where he struggled with what he was about to share with me. That put me at ease. Right off the bat he made it clear that he wasn’t positioning himself as someone who didn’t understand my struggles.
2. Then he slowly said, “Brian, I think ______________________.”
My chin immediately dropped.
I just sat in silence and listened to what he shared.
I thought, He nailed it.
He IMMEDIATELY nailed the core theme that emerged loud and clear through the reviews.
As he expounded point by point though, two things became abundantly clear to me: First, I needed to change. Second, Paul was not judging me, but cheering me on.
I told Paul that I agreed with everything he said, without exception, and that I also continue to be overwhelmed by his love and graciousness towards me.
Together we made a plan to help me proceed, and then he put his hand on my shoulder and said, "You know I love you and think the world of you, don't you?"
I said, "Absolutely."
Proverbs 27:6 says, “Wounds from a friend can be trusted.”
I know that first-hand.
Conflicted About Evolution vs. Creation? -- Go See "Expelled" Tonight
Friday, April 18, 2008
Ben Stein’s movie “Expelled” hits theaters nationwide tonight. Are you going?
“Expelled” shows how educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – all for merely believing that there might be evidence of “design” in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance.
Whether or not you want to see it, here’s my two cents on the subject:
1. I do not believe the earth is 6,000 years old.
2. I do not believe the earth was created in six “literal” days.
3. I believe in micro-evolution (adaptations within a specific species), but not macro-evolution (single-cell organisms mutating into human beings).
Micro-evolution is all about explaining how people getting taller, animals adapt to their surroundings, and country music singers stop wearing mullets.
Macro-evolution is all about explaining how single-cell creatures brewed in a gooey soup developed through mutation and natural selection into the vast array of plant and animal life that populate the planet.
3. Many educated Christians have been able to reconcile their belief in creation with macro-evolution (i.e. God could have instantaneously created the world but then created humans through the evolutionary process).
4. I’m not one of them.
I’m firmly in the “conflicted Intelligent Design” camp. I don’t buy into all the young earth creationist stuff, but at the same time I don’t buy the idea that humans are the accidental result of random mutations over billions of years.
Why?
1. Scientists I respect and trust reject the theory of macro-evolution.
Read what Michael Denton, the famous molecular biologist said: “[Evolutionary theory] is still, as it was in Darwin’s time, a highly speculative hypothesis entirely without direct factual support and very far from that self-evident axiom some of its more aggressive advocates would have us believe.”
2. Macro-evolution contradicts one of the most basic laws of science -- the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Everyone knows that Second Law of Thermodynamics says that in any system, energy moves from order to disorder. Things tend to break down into the less-complicated pieces rather than increase in complexity.
3. The lack of evidence of transitional fossil forms.
If macro-evolution is accurate, the fossil records of animal history should reveal an utter absence of precise family boundaries. Everything should be in the process of changing into something else - with literally hundreds of millions of half-developed fish trying to become amphibious, and reptiles halfway transformed into birds, and mammals looking like half-apes or half-men. Instead of finding billions of confused family fossils, scientists have found exactly the opposite. Not one single drifting, changing life form has been studied (except televangelists).
Darwin himself confessed, "There are two or three million species on earth. A sufficient field one might think for observation; but it must be said today that in spite of all the evidence of trained observers, not one change of the species to another is on record." (Life and Letters, Vol. 3, p. 25).
4. Macro-evolution is a theory. Just a theory.
Check out Expelled tonight and tell me if you agree. Here’s the trailer:
Making Room For New Ideas
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Last week I got rid of 1/3 of the books in my personal library. Books are the lifeblood of any spiritual leader, so I was pretty surprised during a recent prayer time when I felt the spirit’s nudge to “clean this place out.”
I believe it was more than an effort on God’s part to create more shelf space. I’m pretty sure it was the spirit’s prompting to take stock of the ideas that had influenced me up to this point in my journey and to begin, both literally and metaphorically, to make room for new ideas.
I approached each book in my library with one simple question: “Has this book so profoundly influenced me that I can see myself reading it 2-3 more times and sharing it with other people?” If the answer was negative, it went into the “Ebay pile.”
Here were a few things that crossed my mind as I did this:
1. Besides biblical study and language resources, which I didn’t touch, I quickly learned that I purchased two kinds of books over the years: timeless books and quick-fix how-to books. Books I’d throw in the timeless category were books like Ordering Your Private World
2. The empty shelves have become symbolic for me. When Lisa came down to my office at the end of the day she looked around and said, “What happened here?” I said, “Time for something new.”
I love the feeling of emptiness around me now. It has the fresh smell of intellectual and spiritual hunger, the kind of aroma I first sensed when I started out in ministry.
People Pleasing Pastors – Pastors Gone Wild (Part 5)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
A few years ago a couple approached me with clenched fists after a sermon.
I thought this can’t be good.
All weekend people thanked me for teaching on a topic that had frustrated them for years. I worked tirelessly on the message and felt that God had honored the time on my knees and at my computer.
It was a good weekend.
Then this couple, ironically both professors at a local Christian College, accused me of “twisting my words” and “misleading people.” For 12 minutes they raked me over the coals as my tear-down crew walked by wrapping up speaker cables and moving cabinets before the movie in our theater started.
It takes a lot to rattle me. Three hours later I was still trying to quell that nervousness, the kind of feeling you get after you’re in an automobile accident. After their verbal blistering I had to simply walk away; but they chased me down and gave me more.
Stewing on it a few days later, I was amazed by two things:
First, I was amazed at how much that one negative conversation overshadowed the twenty-five or so positive ones that also took place.
Second, I was amazed by how negative people still affect me after preaching all these years.
One of the temptations we pastors can succumb to is preparing and delivering sermons based on the compliments, requests, flattery and feedback of the people we serve. While we always want to preach to meet the spiritual needs of the people we serve, what if God wants us to preach on something that will royally tick them off?
Just this week in my time with God I began reading the book of Ezekiel. Look at what God told Ezekiel when he called him to preach,
"The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says.' And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious." (Ezekiel 2:4-7)
I was struck by that. Not only because I’m usually more rebellious than anyone I’m speaking to, but because of how chicken I can be.
I want to be liked.
I hate getting criticized.
I don't want Ezekiel's job.
But that’s our calling.
As my dad tells me, “You stand up there and tell the truth and take the hits like a man. That’s just what leaders do. It’s not easy, but if it were, everybody would be doing your job.”
Pastors, if you’re having trouble wanting to please people through what you say on Sundays, you’ll do well to heed the advice of the great 4th century pastor, St. Chrysostom. In Book 5, section 7 of On the Priesthood, his preaching “how to” book for pastors of his day, he urged,
“Let, therefore, the man who undertakes the strain of teaching never give heed to the good opinion of the outside world, nor be dejected in soul on account of such persons; but laboring at his sermons so that he may please God, (For let this alone be his rule and determination, in discharging this best kind of workmanship, not acclamation, nor good opinions,) if, indeed, he be praised by men, let him not repudiate their applause, and when his hearers do not offer this, let him not seek it, let him not be grieved. For a sufficient consolation in his labors, and one greater than all, is when he is able to be conscious of arranging and ordering his teaching with a view to pleasing God.”
Read other posts in this series:
Pastors Gone Wild – New Series Begins Today
Why Pastors Yield To Sexual Temptation (Part 1)
Does Your Pastor Really Believe In Hell? (Part 2)
Effeminate Pastors (Part 3)
Overweight Pastors (Part 4)
People Pleasing Pastors (Part 5)
Overweight Pastors – Pastors Gone Wild (Part 4)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
A few years ago I was visiting another church, and once the worship began I was struck by an odd sight. The worship singers, ranging in age from their 20’s to 50’s, were all significantly overweight. Now I really don't care about a person's weight personally, and never have, but it did seem a little odd to me.
The whole time I couldn’t focus on the words to the songs as these three people squeezed together on the tiny stage to lead us in worship. I looked around to see if anyone else was tilting their head to the side, puzzled at what they saw on the stage. Finally I leaned over to my friend that had invited me to that church and jokingly asked, as a struggling and proud member of Weight Watchers myself, “Did your Weight Watchers support group check in for your worship team?”
What happens when the staff members on your stage are overweight?
1. It affects non-Christians who attend
Sure, Christians are trained not to judge people, but when someone on the stage can’t control their diet and lifestyle, it makes people checking out the church wonder if they can trust what else these people have to say.
2. It affects the Christians in the church
Overweight people on the stage send a signal that the leaders of this church have no self-control. I’m fairly certain that it implicitly gives people permission to do the same. I know this is the case because when I’m around churches where people on the stage are physically fit, it inspires me to do likewise. I assume it works in reverse.
Pastors, we have to understand that the image we ourselves project as church leaders is just as important as the programming itself. Churches that do evangelism right spend countless man hours and dollars creating compelling services – lights, stage, video, drama, experiential elements, etc. What we pastors often fail to realize is that we are part of that presentation. Shouldn’t we put the same amount of planning and intensity into our own presentation as well as the other elements?
Here’s the sad part of all of this: I know all this and I’m still 25 pounds overweight. I know this to be true because (1) I weighed myself the other day and (2) while I’m shaving my daughters will come up behind me, grab my chest and jokingly yell “moobies!” (a.k.a. – “man boobies”).
I’ve hung around pastors for years now, and unfortunately carrying a few extra pounds is common for those behind the pulpit, and it’s not because we’re lazy.
Why are so many pastors overweight?
1. Like so many with corporate jobs, we work long hard hours.
I work on average 65-70 hours a week, every week. Our main problem is there’s always one more thing to do, one more person to help, so given the choice, we so often sacrifice time for taking care of ourselves for helping other people.
2. At least 25 hours a week of what we do is sedentary.
We spend countless hours behind the computer monitor doing sermon writing and Bible-study creating kinda work. And what do we do to keep the energy flowing while we’re thinking and typing? You guessed it. We eat.
3. We’re flippin stressed out.
If you want to know who’s most likely to go postal in your community, just look at that guy behind the pulpit. Problems. Complainers. The giving is down. Attendance is low. This family has this problem. That family is saying this about you. These people are unhappy. The nutty fundamentalist pastor down the street is talking smack about your church again. It’s unbearable at times. So what do we do to reduce the stress? We eat, or at least I do.
No wonder so many pastors I know are overweight.
So pastors, let’s make a commitment to one another that we’re going to change this. Let’s trust that by taking the time to take care of ourselves, God will pick up the slack.
And let’s trust the people we serve, that when they see us in the gym they’ll understand the importance of what we’re doing and support us in our efforts to stay fit and healthy for life.
We can do this.
(An afterthought: please understand I am only talking to pastors on this post. And I am in no way referring to pastors who have thyroid problems, etc., and medically have problems losing weight. I have a good friend who is in this situation and he explains to his congregation, "This is my cross" and they love him because of his honesty. The last thing I want to do is add more guilt to anyone. I'm talking specifically to pastors who can and should lose weight by exchanging their sedentary and workaholic lifestyle for one of proper nutrition and exercise).
Read other posts in this series:
Pastors Gone Wild – New Series Begins Today
Why Pastors Yield To Sexual Temptation (Part 1)
Does Your Pastor Really Believe In Hell? (Part 2)
Effeminate Pastors (Part 3)
Overweight Pastors (Part 4)
People Pleasing Pastors (Part 5)
Protecting Our Hearts From “Doom and Gloom” People
Monday, April 14, 2008
Here’s an excerpt from a chapter called “Distance” in Getting Rid of the Gorilla:
The writer of Proverbs 4:23 understood how crucial it is to guard the spiritual and emotional core of who we are. Notice the phrase “above all else.” There was no punctuation in ancient Hebrew, so to call attention to something he wanted to emphasize, a Jewish writer placed it at the beginning of the sentence. By placing “above all else” at the front of this proverb, the writer was saying, “Trust me, whatever you do in life, and I mean whatever you do, make sure you guard your heart!”
In 1997 I learned why this is important. That was the year I quit being a pastor. I didn’t make a formal announcement to my congregation, but I might as well have; I was out of there. In my mind I had one very good reason for removing my hand from the plow: a man I’ll call Jim.
He was an older gentleman who felt called by God to be my accountability partner—without asking me. One day he offered to take me out to eat, and, underprepared for what was about to happen, I accepted. Setting down his sandwich, Jim said, “Brian, there are hundreds of things you are doing wrong at our church, but for the sake of time I’ve shortened my list to ten.”
Caught completely off guard, I made the mistake of saying, “Start with number one.” Two and a half hours later, I left with 50 percent less self-esteem and a really good case for why first cousins should never marry.
After that meeting, Jim decided it was his special calling from God to point out my mistakes on a weekly basis—through letters, phone calls, notes in the offerings bowls, frowns during my sermons, and endless discussions with other church members behind my back. Jim was the first person I ever met with the spiritual gift of slander.
In his book Travels with Charley
That was Jim, and I hated him for it. For an entire year, he wrecked my life—he single-handedly wrecked me emotionally.
There’s a reason Proverbs 4:23 cautions us to guard our hearts: God doesn’t expect us to keep allowing people like Jim to hurt us. God isn’t sadistic; he doesn’t expect us to keep going back for second helpings of pain. Creating distance is simply a way we guard our hearts from getting trampled on again and again.
“Gee Wally, Why Does Mrs. Henderson Date Other Women And Attend A Buddhist Temple? (sermon series pipeline)
Friday, April 11, 2008
Here’s a sermon series that I’m playing with right now…
Key Idea:
For a while now I’ve wanted to do a 3 part series that challenges the sacrosanct world-view of 21st century people.
All things being equal, the average person in 2008 believes…
-Everyone’s belief and lifestyle is equally valid (tolerance)
-Nobody has access to absolute truth (relativism)
-I’m still trying to narrow down a third one (any ideas?)
The Germans have a word for the current religious, political and cultural climate of the day. They call it “zeitgeist.” In short, it’s the spirit of the times or age.
Pop-Cultural Packaging:
I’m intrigued by the concept of somehow tying this series to the old TV show Leave it to Beaver. For some good ideas starters on the Beave and Wally check out this LINK.
Biblical Passages:
None yet. Sometimes the passage comes first. Sometimes the topic comes first.
As promised, this is a work in progress. Any ideas?
Click HERE for more background on the “sermon series pipeline.”
Idol Gives Back and the Misguided Church
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Last night I caught a few minutes of American Idol’s much hyped, “Idol Gives Back.” It seemed every “A List” celebrity in the world was brought in to appeal to the American public to send money to fight poverty, disease, and to make the world a better place to live.
Oddly, As I watched, I thought to myself, Maybe the church is starting to sound TOO MUCH like Idol Gives Back, and Bono, and the United Way. Maybe the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction.
For years many of my pastor friends complained that for too long American Christians have been preoccupied with “saving souls” and not caring about how those souls live in the “here and now.”
At the time they were right.
But now, it appears, Christians are more consumed with fighting AIDS in Africa, and homelessness in America, and poverty worldwide, than they are in telling people how Christ died for their sins.
What’s missing, it seems, is the urgency to share the saving message of Christ, without which a person will surely go to hell after they live their life here on this earth.
Here’s my question: What good is it if we give someone medical care, making their life more comfortable for the next 60 years, if we ignore sharing Christ and they spend not 60 years, but all eternity separated from God?
It’s not a question of either/or, but both/and.
Surely the works of the gospel (social justice) must precede and accompany the preaching of the gospel (Christ’s payment for your sins). But if we don't actually open our mouths and share the message of the Christian faith and call for a response, we’re no different than some cheesy suntanned TV personality raising money for charity.
