Get comfortable with confrontation!

As a leader it’s your job to pull the potential out of everyone you lead. You have to take ownership for making whatever it is you lead better. If you don’t, no one will. To make things better means you have to address the things that aren’t being done well or well enough. To do that you have to have hard conversations with those overseeing the areas that need to be improved. This can be difficult. It can get emotional. It can get personal. It is confrontational!

The alternative is complacency and eventually stagnation. As an organization there is constantly things that will need to be tweaked in order to be more effective. As a leader you will notice these things. You must then take the necessary measures to induce the needed change. You are doing those you lead a disservice if you aren’t willing to sit down and push for improvement. If you love those you lead you will do all you can to make them more effective in what they do. To do that you have to have intense conversations that force everyone to examine the weak points in their areas of responsibility.

We must be careful to confront and not just complain. There’s noting more frustrating than a person who points to problems but offers no solutions. When we confront with the purpose of making improvements we have to be willing to offer some constructive ideas to enable the change we wish to see.

A willingness to have confrontations is essential to being a good leader. Learning how to say what must be said is an effective and loving way is a must. To achieve your goals you will not be able to avoid conversations that will make you uncomfortable.

One way we step toward truly being the organism God institued in Jesus is stop waiting for the organization of the Church to tell us when to serve. I constantly hear people complaining about their church’s “lack of missions” or “lack of outreach”. Yes, the church should intentionally plan events that give people an opportunity to serve others. They should be planned more frequently. However, if the only time we truly function as the church is when a scheduled event is on the “church calendar” then we’ve completely missed the mark.

I hope we are creating a culture at our church of organic outreach. Outreach that happens naturally as a part of our daily lives. I hope that we inspire people to see each day as a chance to reach out and meet the needs of another. As a chance to be an agent of God’s love. We are given chances to serve others every day. The best and most significant opportunities to meet the needs of someone often come outside of a planned event. They come in those moments as we stroll about our daily routine. We just have to open our eyes and respond!

BE THE CHURCH!

#1 – God’s plan for bringing down a 25 foot high/20 foot thick wall surrounding a city is to march around it for a week then scream at it.

#2 – God instructs Joshua and the Israelites to destroy every living thing in the entire city, expect for one lady named Rahab and the people who are currently staying her home. By the way, Rahab was a prostitute!

So what the heck can we learn from this?

God’s instructions as we follow his call will, often, seem completely crazy. He will give us a plan for accomplishing his goal that will defy our understanding and logic. God really never asks us to fully understand, just to fully obey.

God doesn’t call us to solo missions. A calling from God requires support. When we are in hot pursuit of a God thing we  will always need people to help us. We have to be willing to allow others to get involved. We need people who can do what we can’t. (Oh yes, you do have limitations!) We need people who will push us and stretch us.

Joshua needed these men. They expressed such confidence in Joshua. They say they will do whatever he says. Wow! That seems dangerous and stupid. They pledge to follow his every direction? Why?

They must have been as convinced of his calling as he was. They believed God had anointed him. There’s nothing more attractive than knowing God’s hand is in something. When God’s calling is evident other people will always want to be involved.

What made them so sure of God’s calling was Joshua’s character. They knew Joshua. They knew the man he was. They believed in him. Which not only inspired them to follow, but inspired Joshua to lead. There’s nothing more empowering than having others express their belief in you.

However, these guys did put two conditions on their allegiance. “Only may the LORD your God be with you . . .” Simply,” We follow you as long as you follow God.” “Only be strong and courageous!”. Simply, “Have the guts to do exactly as God says.”

Leading from your own agenda is disastrous. We’ve all seen the carnage from leaders who leveraged their position for selfish purposes. Whether it be from inflated ego, or reckless insecurity, when we stop listening to God we become dangerous leaders. Joshua’s team knew this full well. They believed in his call, but knew he needed to remain in tune to God’s voice and be immediately obedient when he spoke.

We must surround ourselves with other gifted leaders who will share the passion of our call. They will be vital to our mission. Surround yourself with gifted people as you follow God’s call! You will need them. Be a leader worth following! Build habits in your life to keep your focus on God’s agenda.

This happens in churches as well. Pastors allow the loud minority kill their vision. In my experience, when a pastor wants to implement God-driven change, it is not the majority who is against it, is one individual or a small group of loud mouth vision-suckers. Church leaders get consumed by their negativity and allow them to squash an innovative idea.

Why do we do this? Why do we allow one thing to suck all the joy God has in the many positive things he’s doing? I guess it’s just in our nature. I’ve decided I’m not going to miss the blessings of God because of the one thing. I refuse to hide in the shadow of negativity. It’s time we stopped allowing small dots of negativity hold us back.

(I’m pretty sure, I’ve posted something similar, so forgive my redundancy.)

“The other day, Kelley was watching t.v. when a commercial came on that scared her.  It was wasn’t bad, I think it had a gargoyle or something to the effect in it.  Anyway, most of you know that she is blind in one eye, so what occurred next, just floored me.  Instead of turning her head, she covered the GOOD eye, so she couldn’t see.  The BAD eye was drifting everywhere else and couldn’t keep a steady focus.    I asked what she was doing and she said, “I don’t want to see it.  If I cover my eye, I can’t see it.”  I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, because of her reaction or to cry because her blindness is an every day reality to her and she has adapted so.   When she heard the commercial had gone off, she took her hand down and commenced to watching her show as before.

A few days went by and that scene crossed my mind again and again.  Then one day, it really hit me hard.  I got to the thinking that even as Christians…we do the same thing.  Though we may not be blind, sometimes there are things in front of us that we just don’t want to see.  I’m not talking about “bad” things.  I’m talking about needs… real needs.  There could be a need, someone needing something or something that needs to be done, but we get so busy trying to focus on something else, like the wandering eye, that we allow ourselves to shut that need out.  It’s as if we go around with eyes half shut.

God might be putting something in front of you for a reason: for you to help a friend, to serve in a certain area, or just to step up and DO something about a particular need.  My prayer is that God will help me to truly see what He has placed in front me, that I will not run from it nor walk with eyes half shut.”

Romans: 12:12-21

Now that I am alive in Christ, help me to live like Christ.  May the presence of your Holy Spirit be manifested through my life to those around me.  May I abound in the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And let everything I do be done for Your glory, O God, and bring praise to your holy name.

Jennifer Murray

The site of all those people reminded me that it doesn’t take much to draw a crowd. You come up with the right gimmick, market it just right, and people will show up in droves. They will file in, not because they need something, but simply because of the hype. You get some smart people in a room to brainstorm creatively and you can easily come up with something that will draw a crowd.

Unfortunately too many churches are satisfied with a “Build-a-Bear” approach to ministry. They are putting together a cool product and marketing it  very well. They too a drawing crowds. Which is cool. It’s great that there are new expressions of church that are appealing and exciting. It’s great that these new expressions are engaging people that would otherwise be sleeping in on Sunday mornings. There is absolutely nothing wrong with innovation and creativity in the church. The problem is, too many churches are way too satisfied with simply that. 

Jesus did crazy things when we walked this planet. Things that people had never seen. Things that drew crowds. He knew many people surrounded him just to see the show. One time he took a little boys lunch (five loaves of bread and a couple fish) and feed five thousand people. That’s what is reported in the bible, not including the women and children. So, there was mostly like ten or fifteen thousand people fed from that kid’s lunch box.  The next day the crowds came back. Jesus knew why they came and challenged them to go to the next level in they’re thinking about him.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” John 6:25-27

Jesus was glad they were there, but he did not waste the opportunity to remind them that he wanted to do more than fill their stomachs. He had hoped that his miracle would open their eyes to who he was as well as fill their stomachs. Every amazing thing Jesus did that turned heads had a purpose. That purpose was to make a statement about who he was and what he had to offer, with hopes it would inspire change.

To many churches are just filling people’s stomachs. I know, I know. You may respond, “That’s God’s job. Only he can change lives.” And you’re right. Only God can changes lives. But Jesus established the church to be the agent that imparts his truth to help that change happen.

What has happened to aggressive discipleship? Jesus challenged the disciples to go make more disciples. He challenged them to do for others what he had done for them. He spent three years investing in the lives of these dudes. He spent three years challenging people to move from the outskirts of curiosity to the circle of commitment and belief.

The church has to do the same. We have to not be satisfied with simply drawing a crowd. We must be intentional about moving people toward a deeper relationship with Jesus. We must move people to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christ follower. We must spur them toward a relationship that saturates their being and moves them to a new way of thinking and living.

Be innovative. Do whatever it takes (within Biblical standards) to engage your community. Create the most impressive worship experiences as you can. But don’t stop there. When people walk away from church they should be impacted by the power of Jesus, not just impressed with the package of the church. Let’s go leaders. Let’s take advantage of the crowds of curious unbelievers that are showing up each week. Let’s invest in those lives so that they can experience all Jesus has to offer.

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 6:11-15

#1 – “Just as You Imagined?”

#2 – “Drawing a Crowd vs. Growing a Church”

Stay tuned!

A hip slogan for a lot of churches these days is “every member a minister”. What does that mean? What is a minister? What does a minister look like, sound like, act like? Now I know some people are wondering why am I being so cynical. Well, has this slogan and approach really moved the Church towards accomplishing it’s ultimate mission? The church is to reach a lost world for Jesus. Most of the members of our churches are only “ministering” to other people within the church. Which is awesome and needs to happen. But if we, the Church, are ONLY ministering to ourselves, then we’re only halfway there.

What if our desire was for every member to become a MISSIONARY? A missionary does more than minister to believers. A missionary seeks to expand those who believe. A missionary seeks to bring healing to the soul. A missionary adapts to the culture where God has place him/her and figures out what it takes to connect the naitives with God through a relationship with Jesus.

God has placed all of us in the middle of a mission field. Our schools, our offices, our homes. What would the Kingdom of God look like if we approached those fields like missionaries? That’s what we’re all called to do. Become a missionary!

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Matthew 9:12