I wasn't able to get a blog post up earlier in the week, like I usually do, and I apologize to those of you who are regular readers here, and maybe wondering what I'm up to. It's been quite a week, but most of it has been really good.
For the most part, I've been engaging in the people business. On Sunday, we talked about how the call of Jesus on Peter's life in Luke 5:1-11 was a call out of the fishing-for-fish business and into the fishing-for-people business. People matter. People are important. People are what God has been concerned with ever since he created us.
And yet people can be infuriating. People can be irritating. People can be frustrating and maddening and insufferable! People will disappoint you. People will fail you. People will lie to you and use you and manipulate you. People will betray you. People will undermine you.
That's what they did to Jesus, at least. If you decide to hang around people long enough, they'll do it to you too. So then the question is this:
How will we respond?
This is an important question. It's one our whole life really hinges on. It's one that determines our reputation, our integrity, our usefulness for God's kingdom, and maybe even our salvation (at least, that's what Jesus seems to suggest in Matthew 25:31-46).
So what's it going to be? How will we respond?
Because the call for Peter was not an isolated moment in time, and it wasn't directed at just him. It's a call for all of us who claim the title of "Jesus Follower."
If you're a member or attender of PCC, I want to encourage you not to miss this Sunday. From time to time, I know we might all skip a week here or there. Please don't skip this one. I believe this Sunday's message is one for all of us, and it's one we all need to hear--me included. It's a message about the call of Christ--and what we do with it--when we feel like we'd rather just quit.
So get the word out! Make sure you're there, and make sure everyone else is too!
I don't publicly discuss financial factors related to the church very often, and there are several reasons for that:
The Bible tells us, "Each person should give what they have decided in their hearts to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7 TNIV). I don't want to do anything that would cause people to feel that they have to give or that would cause them to give reluctantly. My own sense is that on the few occasions I have discussed the church finances, the result is that people are made to feel guilty. That's not my intent, so my inclination is to avoid the subject, rather than to handle it wrongly.
The economy in Jackson has been bad for as long as I can remember. Even when it was better, it was bad. Now it's practically on life support. I know that many in our church are in worse financial shape than they were a year ago, or five years ago. For those invested in the stock market (which includes some of our retirees), their assets are now worth what they were nearly 12 years ago. I hate to tell people who were laid off or whose businesses are strugling or whose portfolios are decimated that the church needs money.
It's not something I really want to broadcast to the world at large. We don't want to address our church's money woes in front of visitors and people who are just beginning to consider the claims of Christ and what it might mean for them to follow him. The world thinks the church is only after their money anyway; we sure don't want to give them a reason to believe they were right all along.
So I'm not going to talk about this in a worship service from the platform. But I think I will give it a go here on the blog. Yes, this is out on the Internet for the whole world to see, but largely the people who read this are people who are committed to and invested in our church. So, if you're reading this and you're not a PCC person, just understand that this is intended to be primarily an "in house" discussion.
We had a Church Council meeting on Thursday in which we learned that we are once again operating in the red. Almost two years ago, we implemented our Emergency Budget, which was intended to stanch the bleeding--ministry budgets were cut, hourly staff hours were cut, salaried staff saw their pay reduced by 15%. That's when I began working part-time at Olive Garden.
For a long time, those measures were effective. And in 2008, things were even looking up. We ended the year significantly in the black. Leadership began talking about what criteria would move us off the Emergency Budget and back onto our Regular Budget. But around the end of 2008, that picture began to change rapidly.
For 2009, we have been averaging around $2700 per week in general fund giving; our Emergency Budget is based on a threshhold of $3000 per week (a full budget is based on over $3500 per week). So we've been losing about $300 per week for nearly three months. If this trend continues (and I'm not sure what would change it), we will be entirely out of funds in a few months.
The ministry budgets have already been slashed as far as they can go. Many ministries operate on the basis of the ministry team members supplying the necessary items they need for various events, and simply eating the costs themselves. In the lobby, there are boxes for people to give food to the youth group and candy for the Easter Egg Hunt. On Saturday there's a dessert auction to benefit the youth, and I've encouraged people to give to the movie event at the Michigan Theatre on April 10. All this is because there's nothing budgeted for these ministries. Even if it were in the budget, it's not in the checking account to be able to cover it.
$2700 per week is not even enough to cover staff pay and utilities, let alone conduct any ministry. There are very few options left for us, and none of them are very pleasant. I bring all this up for several reasons:
I feel that the people who are invested in and committed to this church ought to know what the financial condition is;
I want to ask for your prayers as elders and church council members discuss options. Pray that God would give us wisdom and discernment to make good decisions that will bring the most glory to him and that will put us in the best situation to advance his kingdom;
While you're at it, pray for a miraculous infusion of money that will keep us solvent. This is certainly not beyond God's control or ability;
Finally, I want you to be ready if drastic measures need to be taken (I'm not sure yet what those would be)--understand the basis and necessity for those decisions.
This is not a very encouraging or uplifting posting, and I apologize for that. However, I do want to conclude on a high note.
I believe that as a church we are on the right track. We have an alignment and an excitement generated by our Immediate Vision that is palpable.
I believe that these challenges will not overwhelm us, will not kill us, and will make us stronger and leaner.
I believe that Satan wants to discourage us and use whatever tools he has available to that end, but he will not have victory here. Not this time! Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world!
I believe that all these challenges are part of God's plan for us--that he has things he wants to teach us, and a purpose that is bigger than we can see. Nothing catches him by surprise, and he has positioned us where he wants us to be.
I believe this church's greatest days are ahead; we will become the church that Christ intends us to be!
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever! Amen!!
Yesterday, in the worship service, I showed a couple clips from a documentary movie called, "Lord Save Us From Your Followers," whose aim is to invite people from all walks of life into a respectful dialogue about faith, religion, spirituality, Christianity, and Jesus (subjects that are all related, yet distinct as well). The film expertly combines man-on-the-street segments, and snippets from various TV news shows, as well as extended interviews with notable figures such as Tony Campolo, John Perkins, comedian-turned-Senate candidate Al Franken (D-MN), Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), and Ron Luce, among others.
This film was created in 2008, yet has not found a distributor, which is why you haven't ever heard of it or come across it. The movie has been shown on some college campuses around the country, both Christian and secular (including Spring Arbor University). In fact, on one campus, the movie was co-sponsored by Christian and secular student organizations for the purpose of inviting dialogue.
We have the exciting opportunity to share this movie with our Jackson community, letting people know that we are a church that invites respectful conversations, spiritual questions, and honest sharing with one another in an environment of mutual openness and tolerance. This doesn't mean that we have to agree, or endorse another's position, but it does mean that we can be in a room together without demonizing, dismissing, and denigrating one another.
I've also been in conversation with the Michigan Theatre downtown, and as God would have it, the one Friday that they have open in their schedule until May is April 10 (Good Friday). I think this event could be a huge opportunity for us to invite people into a religious dialogue at a time when many people in Jackson are hurting, struggling, searching, and needing hope. Not only that, it comes at a time of year when people are more open to Christian dialogue than any other time of year. Even people who never attend church think about Jesus around Easter.
We can use this event to invite people to attend our Easter services, and the series that kicks off that week, "Brokenchurch," an examination of the misconceptions and misapplications of church and false ideas of what church is really about (dressing a certain way, having everything "put together", wearing masks and hiding problems, denouncing and dismissing everyone who's not like us, etc.). So this movie is a natural tie-in to that series, and could be a great forum to invite people to consider a life wrapped around Jesus, instead of the trappings of church.
We're also hoping to hold a panel discussion at the Jackson Coffee Co. immediately after the showing of the movie for anyone who is interested in engaging in dialogue after seeing the movie. Details for all of this are still being worked out, but we are committed to making this happen. I met this morning with Andy Merritt, the pastor of rivertree community church, which meets at the YMCA downtown, and they are going to enter into this endeavor with us as co-sponsors. We are very excited about this partnership, and I am going to be in conversation with some other pastors and organizations this week.
More information will come out as plans get put together, but here's what I want you to know at this point:
The public screening will be Friday, April 10, at 7:00pm.
There will be a screening at our church on Friday, March 27, at 7:00pm so that you can see it in advance, ask any questions you might have, get excited about inviting your friends, and so forth.
Admission will be absolutely FREE--we want to get as many people as possible to come. So if you know anyone looking for free entertainment... invite them to the movie!!
You can contribute to helping with the cost of putting this on by making a check out to the church and designating it "movie"--these donations are tax-deductable.
You can promote the event through Facebook by indicating that you'll come and inviting other people.
Get the word out, people! This is going to be an INCREDIBLE experience!
On Sunday, there was a green insert in the bulletins detailing a few of the different service opportunities that exist for our congregation to show God's love to our Jackson community. You'll be hearing more about this in the coming weeks, but this is something that's going to be staying in the bulletins every week.
The immediate vision for our church is to trigger a dramatic reaction between our neighbors and Christ in a fusion of real needs and real love. This menu of service opportunities is one way to help us accomplish that. Here's an overview of what it contains:
Habitat For Humanity (contact Taryn Barlow)
Clerical/Inventory/Cashier volunteers
Delivering lunches to Habitat builders
Phones/Office volunteers
Jackson Medical Care Facility (contact Jane Wagner)
Helping seniors with bingo, crafts, games
Sewing, polishing fingernails for residents
Helping with outings
Ice cream socials, birthday parties
Grace On Wheels (contact Sande Ratliff, Connie Gray)
Providing transportation for people without a car who need to get to an appointment or to the store
Bundles For Babies (Contact Sande Ratliff, Connie Gray)
Delivering supplies for needy parents
Kids Hope USA (Contact Janet Courtney)
Providing weekly mentoring for at-risk children enrolled at Flora List Elementary School
Share 'n' Care (Contact Janet Courtney)
A pantry closet operated by our church. Immediate needs include: Baby food, baby formula, baby cereal, diapers. Drop items off in the box in the lobby
A couple other opportunities will be coming this summer with Habitat for Humanity and Lazy B Ranch.
The idea is to get out beyond ourselves, to carry the light of Christ into our community. This is the kind of thing that Jesus did, and encouraged us to do as his followers--direct engagement with people, and direct investment in their lives, no strings attached.
Some of you may be familiar with "The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman. The idea of the book is that different people have different ways that they understand how to communicate and how to receive love. It can be a real problem in families where different members don't all speak the same "love language." For instance, a lady craves quality time, but she's married to a husband who equates love with giving gifts. The wife appreciates the gifts fine enough, but they don't make her feel loved and cherished. The husband is frustrated because no matter how many gifts he gives her, she's not happy. They're both trying to give and receive love, but they speak different love languages.
Well, Jesus has a love language too. But it's not any of the five. The love language of Jesus is... (are you ready?)...
People.
We love Jesus by loving people. That's it. It's hard, it's messy, it can be exasperating. People can be unappreciative, unreceptive, and uncooperative. But Jesus still wants us to stay in the game. We aren't allowed to ever give up on people. That's why we've developed this vision for our church. We want to love Jesus by loving the people that he's placed around us.
Leadership is a hot topic these days in many spheres of life. In business, in politics, in churches, in schools--essentially anywhere that people are joined together--there is a recognition that there seems to be a real dearth of quality leadership in our world today. Everyone has their own ideas of what a leader is or what a leader does, what qualifies one to be a leader, and how leaders ought to lead. But one thing is clear--people are crying out for effective leaders.
Leadership books continue to be published by the hundreds every year (currently over 2000 leadership titles are available from Amazon). They mostly say the same thing all the other books have said, but people are still clamoring to read them.
My own personal opinion is that for every organization, its fate rises and falls on leadership. When I examine the Bible and human history, I observe that there has never been any mighty move of God that did not occur without human leadership in place for God to use. That's not to say that God can't operate some other way, but my observation is that he never does. No company, no government, no school, no family, no church has ever been successful without effective leadership in place at the top.
And here's why: The foundational choices about charting the course for an organization are always made by leaders. The choices that other people make in an organization can only enhance or hinder the decisions of the leader, but they can never fundamentally change them. If the leader is not a capable leader and has chosen a disasterous direction in which to lead, no amount of hindering will produce success--it will only blunt the damage.
That sobering reality has caused me to consider what I can do to become more effective in my own leadership, and how I can help develop the other leaders in our church as well. If we are to be effective as a church, the responsibility for that falls primarily to me, as the principal human leader under the direction of Jesus Christ.
For the last little while, I've been personally studying the book of Proverbs, looking especially to see how its instructions might relate to my understanding of how to lead effectively, and it's proving to be a very fruitful study. I just want to share with you some insights from the first seven verses, which serve as a Prologue to the book:
1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: 2 for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; 3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; 4 for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young-- 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance-- 6 for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
These verses tell us why the book of Proverbs was written, and these all just happen to be necessary traits of a godly leader--wisdom, discipline, understanding, insight, prudence, righteousness, justice, knowledge, discretion, and guidance. Now the acquisition of some of these traits will enhance a leader's skills, but all of them redound primarily to character.
It is personal character that God is most concerned with, and which will ultimately determine whether an enterprise succeeds or not. Ultimately, all real deficiencies of a leader are, at their heart, character deficiencies.
Unwillingness to make hard decisions;
Compromising core principles for some other perceived benefit;
Contempt for the people they are leading;
Allowing competing priorities to eclipse the central mission;
A lack of prayer to seek God's direction;
A cavalier attitude that fails to take seriously the importance of the mission;
A refusal to listen to advice;
Placing personal benefits above the good of the organization;
An inability to admit mistakes;
Hypocrisy, corruption, deceit, etc.
A leader can overcome a number of challenges related to competency. They can ask for help from those who have abilities that compensate for their weaknesses. They can acquire the abilities that they need through practice, reading, or coaching. Or they can simply find coping mechanisms that offset the consequences of their weaknesses.
But if their character fails, there are no coping mechanisms, there is no help that can be given, there is no solution to the problem. A leader can never delegate character. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge." Humility and submission before God is the first requirement. If we will not first bow to him, everything else is hopeless.
I believe people are ok with a leader who needs to work on communication, organization, delegation, advance planning, or strategic thinking. But they are absolutely crying out for the chance to follow people they can respect, people of character.
Today, we kicked off our series, "Building Your Dream Home," and we said that the Bible teaches that building a life is like building a house. I didn't exactly try to prove that point, but that is what the Bible teaches; that metaphor is repeated over and over throughout scripture:
We always do our teaching in series, and there are several reasons for that. For one, it allows us to explore issues more in-depth and with more thoroughness than simply trying to skim over everything in one week. Secondly, it provides some sense of comfort for people checking out the church that they'll have some idea what is coming--they'll know that it will at least be related in a clear way to what they observed today. Finally, it gives us the opportunity to explore biblical themes from more than one angle.
It's that last point I'd like to explore further. I'm often told by those members of our church who are more comfortable with a traditional worship service that they just don't "get" the video clips and the secular music and the skits that we incorporate into our services. For some, they get so distracted that they lose their train of thought; others just patiently sit and wait for me to start preaching again so that they can experience their preferred communication style.
Now, I sympathize with these individuals; I understand where they're coming from. What we do on a Sunday is very different than what they're used to experiencing in church all their lives, and it's a big change for them to adjust to. Not only that, they're sticking it out at PCC not because they personally enjoy the changes but because they believe in the church's mission, vision, and values, and understand that these changes are going to help us be more effective in communicating to the people of our community the message of Christ. So kudos to them--I think they deserve a lot of credit for being flexible and willing to change for the benefit of others whom they haven't even met yet.
Having said that, I'm still amazed at all the things that people fail to "get." When we show a video clip of a coach challenging his football player to keep going, don't quit, don't be satisfied with just what he thinks he's capable of, but keep pressing on and giving everything he's got, and we relate that to the Christian life (where God is calling us to keep going, don't quit, don't be satisfied with just what we think we're capable of, but keep pressing on and giving everything we've got), I don't get it when people say, "I don't get it." What better illustration is there for us to inspire us and cause us to want to become unstoppable?
I understand that there's a generation gap, that our society is transitioning from a modern mentality to a postmodern one. The modern mind is linear, concrete, logical, scientific, concerned with facts, and ruled by rationality, while the postmodern mind is connectional, abstract, experiential, emotive, concerned with relationships, and ruled by subjectivity. Both have their strengths and weaknesses.
But regardless of what generation one belongs to, the Bible is a book that is filled with metaphor, word pictures, and the meaningful connection of dissimilar ideas. Just look at some of the sayings of Jesus:
I am the door.
I am the bread of life.
No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment.
Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees.
The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
I am the Good Shepherd.
In fact, if you just read through the gospels, you'll find that almost nothing Jesus said was literal--he was constantly speaking figuratively, metaphorically. But it's not just Jesus--the psalms, the prophets, the proverbs and the other wisdom literature--are all full of symbolism and metaphor. And if we don't have the ability to think in pictures, we really can't understand in any meaningful way what the Bible is about.
So I want to issue an invitation to all of you who don't get it--keep trying, don't give up. There's something to be gained and grasped by linking these things together. This thing that we're talking about now--building your dream home--it's not my idea, it's not my metaphor. I got the idea from the Bible. So the skits about building, the video clips, the songs--they all reinforce the same biblical theme. If you don't get them, you're not getting what it is the Bible is teaching--you're missing God's word and the opportunity to understand it, to apply it and to live it in your life.
Yesterday, we held our Annual Church Meeting & Celebration. A lot of what I had to say about being a church that wins was actually a reiteration of the retreat we held for our leaders in the fall. You can find a summary of the fall leadership retreat here.
But in celebrating, we focused on the wins that we've experienced and are experiencing as a congregation:
Individuals like Lon Hayes and Julie Klavon who a year ago were unconnected with any church family, and who have now found a family and a growing relationship with God at our church;
Leaders who have set clear goals for 2009 of what they believe God wants to accomplish through their ministries, and a path to see those goals realized;
The Outreach Support Groups, which will serve as a training tool, a fellowship, a motivational system, a support team, and a re-focusing agent to help us as PCC people to reach out to the unchurched people within our sphere of influence.
The birth of our new Immediate Vision to trigger a dramatic reaction between our neighbors and Christ in a fusion of real needs and real love, and what that is going to look like as we move forward.
In my mind, those are things worth celebrating. It was so much fun being able to talk about those things, to share those things, to celebrate those things that God is doing among us. These are the great things that are happening, but we can experience much, much more of God's blessing and power. I believe that a major part of us being able to become a more dynamically successful congregation has to do with our expectations.
I relayed the story of Sean McHugh. McHugh was part of the 2009 Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, but he didn't start out the year at Pittsburgh. In training camp, McHugh was a Detroit Lion, serving as a backup fullback. Before the first snap of the season, however, he got called into the General Manager's office and was told that his services were no longer required. A few days later he signed with Pittsburgh. But as the season went on, Detroit eventually amassed the worst record that any team had ever produced--the first 0-16 season in NFL history. McHugh went on with the Steelers to win the Super Bowl. You can read the whole article if you wish. But I thought the most important line was this one related to the Steelers' "culture of success" that the organization has established within itself:
“There is an expectation when you become a Pittsburgh Steeler that you’re going to win. And anything less than that is not acceptable. In Detroit it was like you were hoping to win.”
I think that as a church we've been hoping to win. But that's not good enough anymore. The only reason we exist is to succeed at our mission. The stakes are too high, the price is too steep, the consequences are too great for us to fail. This is God's church--we don't own it, we just manage it for him--and we represent him. He's a winner, and it's our job to win too.
So we're not just doing one thing that's going to be the magic bullet. We’re working with leaders, we’re working with ministries, we’re working with individual people, we’re talking about it church-wide in forums. We’re launching a full frontal assault on losing in this church. And I’m anticipating 2009 as the year that we look back and say, “We were here. We got to see this.” I believe this is the year that God does big stuff at PCC.
Disciple of Jesus;
Husband of Tanya;
Father of Jared;
Senior pastor of Pathway Community Church
[in that order] :) I am passionate about helping people understand what life is all about--discovering who God created us to be-- because so many of us spend our time, energy, passions, and other resources on things that have no lasting value. I believe there is nothing greater, more worthwhile, more fulfilling, or more fun than aligning our priorities with God's.
