LeaderLines: “When Leaders Pray, Week Five”

I thank God you’re using your spiritual gifts as a Hillcrest leader: teaching, counseling, organizing, inspiring, singing, playing an instrument, and so on. But don’t forget that one of your most important jobs is to pray for the people you serve.

We’re taking a few weeks in LeaderLines to go through some of the prayers the Apostle Paul expressed for his people in his letters. These prayers can serve as a valuable guide in your own prayers. Last week we began to look at the prayer recorded in Ephesians 3:14-21. He asked God to give the Ephesian believers two things: God’s power and God’s love. Verses 16-17 record his request for power:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Notice that Paul delineates the source from which the power comes, the channel through which the power flows, and the place to which the power goes.

First, the source from which the power comes: It’s “out of his glorious riches” that Paul looks for God to provide power for the Ephesian believers.

When my eldest was 3, I was pushing him in our backyard swing, listening to him sing “Jesus Loves Me.” He started out—“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Then he stopped, paused, and started over again—“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” He knew there was more to the song, but he couldn’t remember it. I finished the song for him: “Little ones to him belong; we are weak but he is strong.”

He smiled like I had done something silly and he said, “Daddy, you can’t sing that song. You’re not weak, you’re strong.”

I said, “Well, compared to Jesus I’m weak. He’s much stronger than me.”

He thought about that a moment and said, “Yes, you’re not stronger than Jesus, because you can’t make rainbows.”

When you and I pray for God’s power, we pray to the God who can make rainbows! We should pray that out of his glorious riches he would supply power to those we love.

Second, the channel through which the power flows: It’s “through his Spirit” that we receive this power.

As our nation looks for alternative sources of energy, there’s a renewed interest in windmills. Engineers believe that the turbines being designed today can meet 10-25 percent of the nation’s energy needs. There’s a power in the wind, and engineers are doing what they can to harness that power.

Paul prayed that the Ephesians believers would know the power of the divine wind—the Holy Spirit.

Third, the place to which the power goes: It’s “in your inner being” where you most need to experience God’s power.

There are, of course, other places for God to manifest his power. We can pray for God’s power to heal a diseased body. We can pray for God’s power to protect a person from harm. We can pray for God to supply a person’s financial needs. But whether or not God’s power intervenes in those circumstances, you can know God’s power in your inner being.

And, if you think about it, you need to know God’s power in your inner being more urgently than in your outward circumstances. Your inner being is the home of hope or fear, willpower or despair, laughter or depression, perspective or misconception, faith or bitterness.

Next week we’ll look at Paul’s second request: he asked God to supply love as well as power. For today, though, review your own prayers on behalf of Hillcrest. Are you praying for a display of supernatural strength?
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by over 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: “Finders, Seekers”

Sometimes a can of cream of asparagus soup can change your life.

Just ask Jeanna Dodd of Centreville, Virginia. She was out of work, short on rent money, and dependent on groceries from a local food bank. But when she popped the lid on a donated can of soup, jewels, gold, silver, rings, a bracelet and a Rolex watch came spilling out.

The soup can was actually not a soup can at all, but a replica used to hide valuables from burglars. Apparently, someone mistakenly donated it to the food bank. Dodd reported the find, worth about $7,000. When no one came forward to claim the treasure, it was hers.

Jeanna Dodd found a treasure she wasn’t looking for. It’s a different story for Bob Wehle, a diamond hunter at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. The park is the world's only publicly operated diamond site where visitors are allowed to search and keep any gems they find. In 2006 Wehle found a 5.47-carat canary diamond, bright yellow with no visible flaws. It could be worth well over $60,000.

Jesus compared life with him to treasure. In two famous parables in Matthew 13, he said it’s a treasure some find when they aren’t looking for it, while others find it after a long and eager search.

Some discover him when they aren’t looking, like Jeanna Dodd and her soup can. They are just taking things one day at a time, paying the bills, feeding the family, with no time or inclination to ask the deeper questions like, “What is my purpose in life?” or “Is there a God and is he happy with me?” Then, unexpectedly, they get exposed to life with Christ, and immediately they want in on this deal.

On the other hand, some discover life with him after a long spiritual quest, like Bob Wehle and his diamond. They look for fulfillment in religious rituals and books with spiritual themes, hungry for answers to ultimate questions. But when they discover the grace and guidance of Jesus, they know they’ve found the real thing.

One of those stories probably matches your spiritual biography. This Sunday we’ll look closely at what Jesus said about finding the treasure of the Christian life. Join us at 9:30am or 10:45am!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 900 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday May 27

“The thing is, Narnia isn't a game” for the children, said Georgie Henley, the 12-year-old actress who plays Lucy [in the Walden/Disney film series The Chronicles of Narnia]. “It's a real world. Although Aslan fades for a while, when he comes back he's stronger than ever and he's bigger than ever. I love that saying, you know: ‘As long as you grow, so shall I.’” Quoted in Terry Mattingly’s column.


Check out David Tobey trying to match Kobe Bryant’s leap over an Astin Martin. David launched our Upward program at Hillcrest years ago and now serves as a minister at Crestview/Phoenix Church here in Austin.


"A seeker of truth has to go where the truth can be found, and to go on until it is found, and both the atheist and the agnostic are early quitters." ("The Skeptical Inquirer: If Only Atheists Were the Skeptics They Think They Are" by Edward Tingley)


Read about how the TBM organization (Texas Baptist Men) is training Burmese Christians in Thailand to respond to the recent cyclone in Myanmar. To support TBM disaster relief efforts, click here.


On a Wing and a Prayer: "When two New Zealand pilots ran out of fuel in a microlight airplane they offered prayers and were able to make an emergency landing in a field — coming to rest right next to a sign reading, 'Jesus is Lord.'" (story)


“Math is Hard!” Mollie at GetReligion pokes fun at the LA Times math skills. Fifty-four percent of Californians oppose legalizing same-sex marriage to 35% in favor, but in what can only be called advocacy for gay marriage instead of just reporting the facts, the LA Times reports this 19-point gap under headlines like “Californians slimly reject gay marriage,” “Californians reject gay marriage by a bit,” and “Californians narrowly reject gay marriage.” She adds an update here about the difference between opinion polls and actual voting.


“Bob Williamson fled a broken home in Mississippi at age 17 to hitchhike around the country. He landed in Atlanta in 1970 at 24, homeless, broke, and addicted to heroin and methamphetamine. When he got a job there cleaning bricks for $15 a week, no one would have guessed that he would start a $26 million software company someday.” (“From Junkie to Software Success” in BusinessWeek)


L’Chaim! In 1965 47-year-old Francois Raffray made a deal with then 90-year-old Jeanne Calment. He agreed to pay her $500 a month for the rest of her life in exchange for her condo when she died. He paid her that sum for the next 30 years until he died at age 77 in 1995. In all Francois paid more than three times the market value for the condo. She died two years later at age 122, the longest living person in modern history.

Song of the Week: Boston's "Don't Look Back"

With Stephen graduating from high school this week, I'm posting the class song for my graduating class (and Diane's), Klein High School 1979. From 1978, here's Boston's "Don't Look Back"--



Don't look back
A new day is breakin'
Its been too long since I felt this way
I don't mind where I get taken
The road is callin'
Today is the day

I can see
It took so long to realize
I'm much too strong
Not to comprimise
Now I see what I am is holding me down
I'll turn it around

I finally see the dawn arrivin'
I see beyond the road Im drivin'
Far away and left behind

Its a new horizon and I'm awakin' now
Oh I see myself in a brand new way
The sun is shinin'
The clouds are breakin'
cause I can't lose now, there's no game to play

I can tell
There's no more time left to criticize
I've seen what I could not recognize
Everthing in my life was leading me on
But I can be strong

I finally see the dawn arrivin'
I see beyond the road Im drivin'
Far away and left behind

LeaderLines: “When Leaders Pray, Week Four”

How we communicate with each other has as much to do with body language as the spoken word. Maybe the way we communicate with God has a lot to do with body language, too.

Your body language can tell me a lot about you. What you do with your hands, how you fold your arms, the way you sit, whether you shift your feet—your body language can tell me a lot about your interest or boredom or impatience or anxiety. Have you ever considered that how we communicate to God may also have a lot to do with body language?

We’re taking a few weeks in LeaderLines to go through some of the prayers the Apostle Paul expressed for his people in his letters. Take a look at how the prayer recorded in Ephesians 3:14-21 starts out:

I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

When he thought of what he wanted God to do for his people, he knelt down like a beggar. Of course, God looks at the sincerity of our heart, not the pose of our body. But for Paul, what he felt in his heart and what he expressed in his body were one and the same. Paul went down on his knees because of the urgency and intensity of his concern. Both his body and his words were fused together as he prayed, “God, I beg you to grant my request!”

My favorite example of a church leader praying for his people is Epaphras. Paul reported to the Colossian believers that Epaphras was “always wrestling in prayer for them” (4:12). We do not know for sure whether Epaphras was the pastor of the Colossian congregation. We read only that he was “a faithful minister of Christ” through whom the Colossians had come to believe (1:7). But he certainly maintained a pastoral concern for those he led to Christ.

And Paul wrote that he often observed Epaphras “wrestling” in prayer on their behalf. The Greek word is agonizomenos—if you pronounce it you will hear the word “agony.”

As a church leader, the example of Epaphras always convicts me. If I am not careful, my intercession will often degenerate into a few tired sentences between yawns and sips of coffee as I start my day. I could hardly describe that as agonized wrestling against “principalities and powers” (Ephesians 6:12) on behalf of my congregation!

What Paul prayed for was so vital to those he led that he wanted them to envision what he was doing. So, in Ephesians 3:14-15, he said, “I’m begging God on hands and knees to answer my requests on your behalf!” And what were his requests? Take a look:

I kneel before the Father, (15) from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. (16) I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, (17) so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, (18) may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, (19) and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

He asked God to give the Ephesian believers two things: God’s power and God’s love. There’s nothing more we as leaders could pray for any believer in any situation than an unmistakable experience of God’s power and love:

I’m thinking of a young man who’s trying to make some decisions about the future. What he needs is the courage that comes from God’s power and the confidence that comes from God’s love.

I’m thinking of a woman who made a commitment to leave a sinful lifestyle. God’s power will give her the strength to say “no” to the old temptations and God’s love will give her the joy to say “yes” to godliness.

I’m thinking of a person trying to shake off depression. Sometimes he needs God’s power to get through even the most routine tasks. And he needs God’s love to remind him that the darkness will turn to dawning.

I’m thinking of more than one family facing financial difficulties. These families need divine power to bring the crisis under control, and they need divine love to protect their hearts from despair and panic.

Clasping hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the chaos in another person’s life! When you and I pray for those we lead, we need to pray, “God, let them experience your power! God, let them experience your love.”

We’ll dig deeper into these two prayer requests next week. In the meantime, examine your prayer life for those you lead. Does it hold a candle to the agonized wrestling of Epaphras and the beggarly pleas of Paul?
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by over 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: “Faith Stories”

Thank you so much for the fifth anniversary celebration last Sunday! The love offering, Ken Keller’s gracious comments, the presentation of the Texas flag flown over the capitol building, and the afternoon reception—what an honor! As we continue to grow together and serve Christ together in our Austin mission field, I think of Paul’s words in Romans 1:12 (NCV). “I want us to help each other with the faith that we have,” he wrote. “Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.”

And that leads me to a request. I want your “faith-stories,” because “your faith will help me, and my faith will help you”!

We have started a project to film the faith-stories of our congregation. You saw one of these stories during our Mother’s Day service two weeks ago. During the sermon I introduced a video clip of Susan Adkins talking about raising her son as a single mom after her pastor-husband’s infidelity broke up their marriage. We plan to use these recorded faith-stories in a variety of settings: you’ll see them as sermon illustrations or as thought-provoking introductions to songs or as an introduction to our church family on the new website in development.

What is a faith-story? It is an account of God’s activity in your life. It could be your conversion story: how did God lead you put your trust in him? It could be a story of how God helped you in a crisis. It could be an account of how God taught you an important lesson about generosity or forgiveness or parenthood. It could be a report of how God helped you recover from an addiction or failure. Has God seen you through a time of grief or job loss? How did God bring you and your marriage partner together? How has God restored your marriage or helped you through a miscarriage? Maybe you’ve led someone to Christ and the two of you could share that story together.

Write me about your own faith-stories, but write me about others in the congregation that you feel would have a great faith-story to share! We will help you shape your story into a form for presentation, and then we will schedule a time to record your story in our church’s TV studio.

God wants to use your story as a “power tool” to reach others for him and to encourage the faith of believers. I look forward to hearing from you!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 900 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday May 20

“I should be an emergent Christian. . . . I love to listen to bands, which if named, will instantly lose their indie appeal. I drink lattes. I hate easy answers. I enjoy deep conversations. So shouldn’t I be craving a new kind of Christianity that will undo my traditional evangelical upbringing while satisfying my newfound love for diversity, social justice, and, of course, soul searching? Not at all. . . . And it should not be so counterintuitive that young evangelicals such as myself prefer theology rooted in tradition to a spirituality waffling in relativism. We want a story with a climax so profound that it leaves us worshiping God, not reducing him to fit into our cultural paradigm.” Kristen Scharold in First Things.


In a big Statesman article Sunday, Brad Buchholz remembers Jo Ross, one of our church members killed by drunken driver Thomas Dwain Reeves in 2006.


My sister-in-law has published a children’s book that she wrote for her middle child: Icing in the Middle. Learn about it, and how to order it, here.


Mandates or Incentives? Austin city leaders are considering mandated energy efficiency upgrades for existing single-family homes. That would make it even more expensive to buy a home in Austin and could mean thousands out-of-pocket for homesellers. The people at KeepAustinAffordable.org believe we should use incentives and education to achieve energy efficiency, not mandates. Click here to learn more about this important issue for homeowners in our city.


Amazing National Geographic photos of sea slugs in all their colorful glory.


“The notion of a self--a self who exercises self-discipline, postpones gratification, curbs the sexual appetite, stops short of aggression and criminal behavior--a self who can become more intelligent and lift itself to the very peaks of life by its own bootstraps through study, practice, perseverance, and refusal to give up in the face of great odds--this old-fashioned notion (what's a boot strap, for God's sake?) of success through enterprise and true grit is already slipping away.” Tom Wolfe in a 1996 “Sorry, But Your Soul Just Died.” At 12 pages printed, it’s a long read but a must-read.


“Of the nation’s 73 million children, nearly 45 million (62 percent) live with their biological parents, according to a Census Bureau report released Wednesday.” (story)


Huh? At the Donate for Nothing website “you can donate your money to absolute nothing. After donating, your name will appear in the list below, along with the amount you've decided to give. We sincerely thank you for contribution and can assure you, you are donating to literally nothing.”

Song of the Week: Baz Luhrmann's "The Sunscreen Song"

Today is Graduate Recognition Day at our church, and my youngest son is among those being honored. So this week's "Song of the Week" is "The Sunscreen Song." I first heard this on the closing credits to The Big Kahuna movie, but it has made its way through culture in a lot of venues. In fact, it was played right into the ground a few years ago, but maybe enough time has passed that we can dust this off and hear it again. It was based on "Advice to Graduates" by Mary Schmich (not Kurt Vonnegut, who still gets the attribution in e-mails to this day). You can find out more than you'll ever want to know about the song at this Wiki page.

Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded, but trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry; maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children; maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40; maybe you'll dance the Funky Chicken on your 75 wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congradulate yourself too much or berate yourself either. Your choices are half-chance. So are everybody elses.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old, and when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse, but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess to much with your hair, or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts, and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

LeaderLines: “When Leaders Pray, Week Three”

“The Bible tells you to pray for other people,” wrote prayer scholar T.W. Hunt, “and this is where Americans fail most dismally.”

Most of us pray . . . for ourselves. We talk to God about our fears, our needs, and our regrets. Beyond that, we may pray for our immediate family. While that should not stop, what should start is prayer for those who share a church bench with you each Sunday. This is especially true for those of us who are church leaders.

We’re taking a few weeks in LeaderLines to go through some of the prayers the Apostle Paul expressed for his people in his letters. The words of Ephesians 1:15-19 are worthy words to lift up on behalf of those you lead:

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Look closely at verses 15 and 16: The Ephesians were growing in both faith and love, and when Paul first heard about it his first response was to turn God-ward and say, "More, God! Develop them even further!" He wrote, "Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers."

Then, in verses 17-19, we can see Paul praying for the continued, ever-increasing development of the Ephesian Christians so they could take full advantage of life with Christ. He uses two interesting phrases in prayer for their development.

First, he says, "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation." What a powerful request for members of our own church--that they would be given the divine Spirit of wisdom and revelation. When I think of wisdom I think of gaining an understanding and appreciation of those things I have already learned. When I think of revelation I think of receiving even more truth than I have already received.

But then Paul uses a very colorful phrase in prayer for their development. Not only does he say, "May God give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation," but he also says in verse 18, "I pray also that they eyes of your heart may be enlightened." He wasn't speaking about that physical muscle in your chest that pumps blood; he was speaking about the inner being. That's where Paul wants the Ephesians to see clearly: he wanted the inner person be given greater vision into the things of the Christian life.

That is what we need to pray, too. We need to pray that, first, others would become wiser in what truth they already know and, second, they would have even more truth revealed to them. In other words, we need to pray that the eyes of their heart would be enlightened.

Why? So that our brothers and sisters in Christ can know the fullness of the life we have in Christ. Paul describes a complete Christian life in verses the three balanced phrases in verses 18 and 19: "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

In other words, as we mature in the faith, (1) we'll have a greater assurance of our salvation, and (2) we'll have a more vivid reminder of the richness and fullness of the Christian life, and (3) we'll have a deeper appreciation of the power that is ours in the resurrected Christ.

Let’s look at each of those statements:

First, do you know a believer who could use assurance of his or her salvation? I know believers like that. When they feel close to Jesus, they feel certain of having eternal life. When they sense a distance from Jesus, they wonder where they’ll spend eternity. One of the marks of someone who is advancing in the faith is this: he has taken his salvation off the shifting sands of moods and impressions and placed it firmly on the solid rock of God's firm decision to save him. So, pray that the eyes of our congregation’s heart would be opened in order that everyone “may know the hope to which he has called” us.

Second, do you know a believer who could use a reminder of the richness and fullness of the Christian life? The pressures, the temptations, the hurts, and the distractions of this world have caused all of us to occasionally get our eyes off the glittering goal of the Christian life. We've all been there, and one of the reasons we must pray for God to bring believers higher up into the life of Christ is so that, in the words of verse 18, we'll know "the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints."

Finally, do you know a believer who could use supernatural power to persevere in life? I've met new Christians trying to form new Christian habits, I've met other Christians trying to break harmful habits, I've met people who want to fill a vacancy in an existing church ministry or even launch a new church ministry, and I've met people who are secretly fighting some inner battle against fear or depression. We all need a power from beyond ourselves. And one of the reasons we must pray for fellow believers is so that they'll experience this power.

A pastor once extended a revival invitation like this: "Some of you need to get on your heart and give your knees to the Lord." He may not have been as off base as it sounded! Do you know a believer who could use assurance of his or her salvation? Do you know a believer who could use a reminder of the richness and fullness of the Christian life? Do you know a believer who could use supernatural power to persevere in life? Then, as a leader at this church, get on your heart and give your knees to the Lord!
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by over 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

So Many Movies . . . So Little Time

Prince Caspian opens this Friday. In the 7-book Narnia series, Reepicheep is one of my favorite characters. In the film he'll be voiced by Eddie Izzard. Reep didn't make it in any of the trailers so far:



Of course, the Indiana Jones flick opens next weekend:



And it was a kick to see Iron Man this past weekend:

Winning Ways: “Five Years Under the Hardhat”

This Sunday marks five years with you! I believe that when God called me here, he gave me a foreman’s hardhat and put me in charge of renovating three areas: our heart, our program, and our space.

Our heart: This is the renovation of our how we think. We’re learning how to be a congregation where Austin can "find and follow Jesus together." Some churches are very effective at helping people find Jesus, but they don’t really focus on helping people grow once they’ve come to faith. Other churches are very effective at helping people follow Jesus, but frankly they’re uncomfortable with the issues and questions that seekers raise. Our church needs to be where people can come together to meet Jesus and grow in him. Last year I prepared an eight-day devotional guide that will help you understand this better. You can download a copy from our website.

Our program: This is the renovation of what we do. You’ve heard me say it a lot: “Theology never changes but methodology has to.” You get your theology right by paying attention to what God says, and you get your methodology right by paying attention to those God loves. How do we gain a hearing among the Austin neighborhoods God has called us to reach? Answering that question has resulted in changes to what we do at Hillcrest.

Our space: This is the renovation of how we look. A team is developing recommendations for a big campus update, and you should get that report in July. We have fantastic space in a fantastic location, but our space needs some updating and upgrading. As Andy Stanley put it, “The sermon starts in the parking lot.” Long before a pastor begins to speak, guests draw conclusions about the church. They make their assessment from the moment they park, to the upkeep of the grounds they walk past, to finding the right door to enter, to the nursery where they leave their baby, to the seating and lighting and sound quality of the auditorium they sit in, to the quality of the printed material they read before the service begins, and on and on.

I believe God put me here to lead Hillcrest to look afresh at our priorities, our activities, and our facilities. Thank you for sharing life with me! Onward together!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 900 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday May 13

Now that The Golden Compass is out on DVD, you might want to review my take on the controversial film. Read “Navigating the Golden Compass” and “Articles for Navigating the Golden Compass.”


“According to a September 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 15 percent of white evangelicals between 18 and 29, a group traditionally a shoo-in for the GOP, say they no longer identify with the Republican Party. Older evangelicals are also questioning their traditional allegiance, but not at the same rate. But, Howard Dean, don't count your chickens quite yet. College-age and 20-something Christians may be leaving the GOP, but only 5 percent of young evangelicals have joined the Democrats, according to the Pew survey. The other 10 percent are wandering the political wilderness, somewhere between ‘independent’ and ‘unaffiliated.’” (Seattle Times)


“If you had a bit of spinach stuck between your teeth, or body odor so bad your co-workers were snickering around the water cooler, would you want someone to tell you? Then if you know hell is real, and you know people who are headed to a Christ-less eternity, should you not tell them?” Andree Seu at World on the Web.


Must-read article for dads with daughters. Steve Almond says: “What I’ve come to realize is that there are really two people inside me: the Dude Self and the Dad Self. The Dude Self has an evolutionary mandate. Namely, to get his DNA into all available fertile females. This is how I explain the compulsion toward media sluts, who, after all, sow the fantasy that women exist only for the carnal pleasure of men.
"But then there’s the Dad Self. The Dad Self has to worry about the survival of his wife and offspring. It might be said that his genetic material is heavily mortgaged. He regards women differently, especially if he has a daughter. Now he must think about the kind of world in which he’d like her to grow up, and especially how he’d like other males to treat her, which is to say not as a sexual chew toy, but with kindness and respect.
"It’s here that my old Dude Self and my brand-new Dad Self come to blows. Because as much as I want to check out Paris and Lindsay, I know I’m harming my daughter by doing so. For one thing, I’m sending her a very clear message: Daddy loves sluts. Be a slut and Daddy will love you. And if you don’t believe that a 1-year-old picks up on messages, you’ve never seen my daughter in action. She is intensely focused on everything in her environment, especially whatever I happen to be looking at” (HT: Evangelical Outpost).


Should it be Burma or Myanmar? (HT: Creation Project)


Very cool pics of a thunderstorm colliding with the ash from an erupting Chilean volcano.


From Eileen Flynn’s article in last Saturday’s Statesman. She has more at her blog, Of Sacred and Secular: “I recently attended a Passover Seder at the home of some friends in South Austin. As we recounted the Exodus story and ate our bitter herbs and all the things you do at a Seder, the hosts asked the 20 or so people gathered to name some modern-day plagues (the equivalent of the locusts and disease God sent to Egypt in the Bible).
"Traffic!" someone shouted.
"The war in Iraq," offered a 10-year-old girl.
"Global warming," called out one man. "Or is the proper term now climate change?"
Other problems were tossed out and met with hearty responses. And then the woman sitting opposite me declared, "Evangelicals!


“Too often my fellow former evangelicals think that dumping the term will make them (or to be more generous, The Gospel) more palatable to the outside world. What they are missing (or simply refuse to admit to themselves) is that it is not the term "evangelical" that the world despises but the beliefs behind the word. Call yourself whatever you want—'post-evangelical' is my favorite—but the minute you tell the world that homosexual behavior is sinful, that killing infants in the womb is wrong, and that man[kind] has an inherent dignity because we are made in the image of God then you can expect to have that label spat upon too.” (Joe Carter, reflecting on the Evangelical Manifesto)

Song of the Week: "Premature" by Toots and the Maytals (with Bonnie Raitt)

With the news about 15-year-old Miley Cyrus appearing in a sexually-provocative photo in Vanity Fair, this song seemed fitting:

"Let the girl go home,
Let her go back home
She's underage
She's not fit for the picture . . . ."

Listen to "Premature" by Toots and the Maytals with Bonnie Raitt:

LeaderLines: “When Leaders Pray, Week Two”

We’re taking a few weeks in LeaderLines to go through some of the prayers the Apostle Paul expressed for his people in his letters. As I mentioned last week, when I was a new pastor I wrote them out on 3X5 cards, memorized them, and lifted the words up to God on behalf of my congregation. I want to return to that practice across the next few weeks by explaining those biblical prayers in LeaderLines. This week, let’s pray the words of Philippians 1:9-11 for those we lead:

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

It’s interesting what dominated Paul’s intercession. He prayed for the ever-increasing presence of love in the church. As leaders, we often think of numerical growth: he thought of love. We often think of meeting the church budget: he thought of love. We pray for a smooth-running program: he thought of love. “This is my prayer,” he wrote, “that your love may about more and more.”

Notice that there is no specific object to this love. In other words, Paul does not pray that their love will abound toward God, toward each other, or toward the unbelieving world. I expect he hoped their love would emanate out in all directions.

So, Paul prayed for love to flow like a mighty river—to “abound more and more” as verse 9 puts it. But notice that he added a phrase: “in knowledge and depth of insight.” He wanted their love to abundantly flow but also to be safely banked. Love must be banked by truth on one side and purity on the other.

On the one hand, our congregation’s river of love is to be banked by truth. The word in verse 9 is “knowledge.” Christian truth includes the facts that God created the universe, that we will stand before him one day in judgment, and that your Bible is the perfect word from our perfect God. Christian truth includes the facts that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins, that salvation is not at all by good works but by confident reliance on Jesus, and that Jesus calls us to give witness of our salvation. Christian truth includes the fact that Jesus will return. All of that, and more, is included in the word “knowledge” in verse 9.

On the other hand, our congregation’s river of love is to be banked by purity. The phrase “depth of insight” in verse 9 means moral insight. There are certain actions, choices, and lifestyles that don’t belong among those who bear the name of Christ.

Sometimes we’re reluctant to correct someone’s beliefs or behavior out of a fear that such confrontation would be “unloving.” Just like a flood becomes damaging and destructive if it spills over its banks, love too can bring heartbreak if it is not safely banked by truth and purity.

Now, if you start praying that way for your church, what will happen? According to Paul’s prayer in chapter 1, where love flows like a mighty river, church members will make better choices and become better people. We see this in verses 10-11. Paul said, “I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.”

First, as love increases, your congregation will make better choices. Notice the phrase: “discern what is best.” That came from a Greek phrase that described the assessment of metals in the ancient world. Paul hoped that the Philippian believers would better determine the things that were excellent. People choose jobs, entertainment, purchases, marriage partners, and much more with very little weighing, measuring, assessing, or testing to determine what is best. But when a church’s love flows abundantly through the channel of truth and purity, that church’s members begin making better choices.

They also will become better people. Paul uses three words in verses 10-11 to describe what your fellow members will be as you start praying for them.

First, they will be "pure." That’s our translation of the Greek word heilikrineis, which is a combination of a word that means “to judge” and a word that means “the sun.” So heilikrino means “to judge by the sun.” A buyer at a market in the ancient world would examine fabric by bringing it out of the shade and into the sunlight. Likewise, you want your fellow church members to be pure when the community examines their lives.

Second, they will be "blameless." That’s our translation of a Greek word that means “not causing someone to stumble.” Pray for your spiritual family until, like rooms without clutter, people will not stumble over anything in a believer’s life.

Third, they will be "filled with the fruit of righteousness." They will become like trees in an orchard, loaded down with the fruit of good deeds.

A church’s love flowing like a river can do all that. You can make a difference as a church leader when you pray that the love of your church would abundantly flow through the channel of truth and purity. That flood of love will purify your family like water washing a garment. It will rinse away any clutter like water from a power sprayer clears a drain gutter. And it will bring righteousness to their lives like water irrigating an orchard!
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by over 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: “The Mom Who Went on Strike”

Michelle Tribout went on strike . . . from her kids.

She climbed up in the kids’ treehouse and told her husband that she wasn’t coming down or cooking or cleaning until the kids started helping out and showing some respect.

The media got wind of the Striking Mom, and soon crews from five TV stations showed up. A reporter from People magazine wanted an interview. The BBC called, and a radio station in Australia.

According to Mrs. Tribout, her 15-year-old, 13-year-old, and 7-year-old, had been fighting each other, disrespecting her, and refusing to get out of bed when she called them. So, one day they came home from school and found their mom in the treehouse and a note below it: “On strike mom. No cooking, cleaning, doctoring, banking or taxi service. Out of order.”

Her husband, Sonny, an appliance repairman, supported the strike, so the kids had to do some fast thinking. They baked their mom's favorite brownies and wrote up a settlement promising to: “1. Pitch in whenever we see something needs to be done. 2. Act our age, not like we are five. 3. Don't smart off. 4. Come when we are called. 5. We are the kids, you are the parents. 6. Give and take on an equal basis. 7. Ask before we do something. 8. Do not hit or hurt anybody.”

They presented the settlement at 11:30 p.m. A contract was reached at midnight, and Mrs. Tribout came down.

This Sunday, May 11, is Mother’s Day, and it’s a perfect day to be at Hillcrest. We’re going to serve breakfast for everyone at 9:30am. You don’t need to bring a mom to participate in the breakfast: just come and help us honor all the moms in attendance. Then join us for a combined worship service at 10:30am. My message: “How to Raise Kids to Love God.” We’ll also hold a baby dedication, so contact my assistant, Jami, if you want to participate in this.

What a perfect day to reflect on Mom’s hard work and honor her for it. Don’t make her resort to a strike before she gets a little respect!
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The story of the striking mom appeared in a story by Robert Berner, The Wall Street Journal, October 20, 1997. Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 900 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday May 6

For Mother's Day, read about mommy "SWAT teams" invading the business world. The acronym stands for "smart women with available time," and according to a WSJ article, "it's one mother's label for all-mom teams assembled quickly through networking and staffing firms to handle crash projects. Employers get lots of voltage, cheap, while the women get a skills update and a taste of the professional challenges they miss" ("How Stay-at-Home Moms Are Filling an Executive Niche").


The Irony of Iron Man: What can we learn from an armor-encased superhero who can protect others, but can't save himself? And what does his story say about finding strength in weakness?


Find Something That Makes You Both Laugh
Laughter bonds people. It's good medicine for your soul - and for your marriage, too.


Gas to Hit $7 a Gallon: And who’s to blame?


“When researchers ask parents what they enjoy, it turns out that they prefer almost anything to looking after their children. Eating, shopping, exercising, cooking, praying and watching television were all rated more pleasurable than watching the [kids]. . . . Despite this, American parents are much more likely to be happy than non-parents. This is for two reasons, argues [Albert] Brooks, an economist at Syracuse University [and author of the new book, Gross National Happiness]. Even if children are irksome now, they lend meaning to life in the long term. And the kind of people who are happy are also more likely to have children. Which leads on to Mr Brooks's most controversial finding: in America, conservatives are happier than liberals.” (“The Joys of Parenting” in The Economist)


“A trio of Baylor senior football players -- cornerback Josh Bell (Dallas, Texas), linebacker Nick Moore (Arlington, Texas) and deep snapper Jonathan Weeks (Glendale, Ariz. )-- have signed free agent contacts with NFL teams.” (story)


Workouts you can download to your iPod from Men’s Health.


If at First You Don't Succeed, You're in Excellent Company

Song of the Week: Aradhna's "Gaao Re"

Have you heard of the quartet from Bangladesh called Aradhna? They compose songs in the Hindi language to offer as worship to the Lord Jesus Christ. Songs range from contemplative pieces like "Narahari" to strong rock numbers like "Jaago Logo." You can listen to several of their songs at their website, and read the English translation of the lyrics. From their 2004 album, Satsang, listen to "Gaao Re." I'll provide the lyrics in English and then in Hindi:

Gaao Re

Sing oh Sky, sing oh Earth
Sing with me
My Lord Jesus has come today
And I am united with Him
I cannot stop my lips from singing
Sing you angels and birds of the sky
Play the music of the waves
Oh creatures of the deep
Peacock dance with grace
Take up a raga oh Sarangi and Veena
Play a taan oh Tabla and Sitar
Khanjari, shake and rattle with the music

Gaao gaao re ambar dharti
Gaao gaao re, gaao mere sang
Aaj Prabhu
aagaman huaa hai
Yeshu ji sang milan huaa hai
Aaj honth ruk na paaye
Duton gaao panchhi chachaao
Jal-jantu jal-tarang bajaao
Mor
thirak-thirak naacho re
Sarangi, Vina raag uthaao
Tabla, Sitar tum taan
milaao
Khanjari ab karo jhamkaar

LeaderLines: “When Leaders Pray, Week One”

Since today is the National Day of Prayer, my thoughts turn to the kind of prayer life a leader ought to have.

When I was a new pastor, I decided to model my prayers after all the prayers the Apostle Paul expressed for his people in his letters. I wrote them out on 3X5 cards, memorized them, and lifted the words up to God on behalf of my congregation. I want to return to that practice across the next few weeks by explaining those biblical prayers in LeaderLines. We’ll begin with Colossians 1:9-12—

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

Imagine what blessing would flow in response to Hillcrest’s leaders lifting up that prayer on behalf of our church!

Now, Paul asked only one thing in this lengthy prayer. His single request is found in verse 9: He wanted God to fill the Colossians with knowledge of the divine will. The rest of this text, verses 10-14, stated the end result of that one prayer.

This text gives you the words you need as you lift up other people: Pray that every person who is connected with this church will know God’s will. Most of the time when we pray it’s to express our will to God. We talk to him about what we want. There’s a place to express our will to God, of course, but we also need to ask that God reveal his will to us.

Now, as each member discerns God’s will, something very practical will start happening: each member will start living “a life worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in every way.” That was what Paul said in verse 10. As we pray for our church to have a greater understanding of God’s will, things start to happen to our people. More and more we start to live up to the expectations Christ has for us.

Paul calls it “a life worthy of the Lord,” and Paul describes a life worthy of Jesus in four parallel phrases:

* bearing fruit in every good work,

* growing in the knowledge of God,

* being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and

* joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

First, as we pray for our church, more and more of us will be fruitful. Note that phrase in verse 10: “bearing fruit in every good work.” How tel1ing that the Bible so often speaks of good works as bearing fruit. We’re like trees: we reveal what kind of thing we are by the fruit that we bear. Apple trees bear apples; spiritual men bear the spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Second, as we pray for our church, more and more of us will become intimate in our knowledge of God. At the end of verse 10, note that phrase: “growing in the knowledge of God.” No matter how much we learn about Jesus, there’s always more to learn, deeper experiences to share, more profound truths to ponder. We can say with Paul in Romans 11: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out . . . ! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!”

Third, as we pray for each other, people will become strong even in their hardships. In verse 11, note that phrase, “being strengthened.” That verse goes on to say that life worthy of the name “Christian” is a life that is “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.”

Finally, as we pray we’ll see our church more deeply moved with gratitude for the salvation God has provided. Note that phrase in verse 12: “giving thanks to the Father.” As you can see in the scripture, what Paul wants them to give thanks for is that God has qualified them to share in the family inheritance. He goes on to say God has rescued us from darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his Son who forgives us. You pray for your church and you’ll see a church that is even more grateful for their salvation, even more amazed at grace, even more astonished at the wonderful cross.

So, pray for your church, like Paul prayed for the Colossian church. Richard Foster wrote, “People desperately need the ministry of prayer. Marriages are being shattered. Children are being destroyed. People are living in dark depression and misery. And we can make a difference if we will learn to pray. If we genuinely love people, we will desire for them far more than is within our power to give them, and that will lead us to prayer.”

That last line is convicting: If we genuinely love the people of Hillcrest Church, we will desire for them far more than is within our power to give them, and that will lead us to prayer. I hope you’ll join me in following the example of Paul in praying for your church in this manner.
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by over 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.