Winning Ways: Be Ambitious About Controlling Ambitions

One afternoon during his time as governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson received news of the sudden death of a personal friend, a New Jersey Senator. He was still recovering from the shock when the telephone rang again. It was a prominent politician.

"Governor", he said, "I would like to take the senator's place."

Wilson replied, "It's perfectly agreeable to me if it's agreeable with the undertaker."

The Governor was justifiably upset at the insensitivity of this eager politician. But ambition can make us lose much more than tact. In "No Other Gods," the singer warns:

Ambitions once good, once noble and pure

Now rule with a rod that I cannot endure.

These bonds I have forged with two willing hands

They’re not easily torn by the strength of a man.

And my gods won’t let me sleep tonight.

Oh, I want to sleep in peace when I lie down.

Our drive for success can cause us to neglect our health, our family, and our church responsibilities. That's why I'm struck by the singer of Psalm 131:

My heart is not proud, O Lord,

my eyes are not haughty;

But I have stilled and quieted my soul;

like a weaned child with its mother,

like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Understand that what God hates is unruly ambition, not godly aspiration. The Bible says, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might" (Eccl. 9:10). God wants us impatient with mediocrity. He wants us striving for the best God has for us. He wants us to know the joy of excellence in the use of what talent God has given us.

But ambitions can get out of control. How do you know when you've crossed the line? And how do you take charge of it?

We have to struggle to master our ambitions in order to reach spiritual maturity. It's one of the "Growing Pains of the Soul" that we're looking at on Sunday mornings. You can catch up with the sermon series at our website. And you can join us @ 10 this Sunday as we review the subject of ambition.

Also, don't forget about "Discover Hillcrest." I teach this class for those who are considering joining the church. We'll meet for an hour in the gym after the morning service this Sunday.

Links to Your World, Tuesday February 28

"We want the past to persist, because the past gives us permanence. It tells us who we are and where we belong. But what if your most cherished recollections are also the most ephemeral thing in your head?" Jonah Lehrer, in his Wired article about the way memory works--and the efforts to develop pharmaceuticals that can erase traumatic memories.

 

“Christianity gives me a very strong basis for my faith. I don’t think that democracy can be a faith. Only a more ultimate goal would allow me to withstand all the difficulties I’ve gone through.” Read this fascinating NYT article about Chinese dissident Yu Jie, who works for democracy in China but only under a "more ultimate goal." He's starting a book on the history of Christianity in China.

 

Your clothing is hazardous to your health.

 

"People who like to write in cafes are onto something, it seems: A moderate level of noise—the equivalent of the background buzz of conversation — prompts more-creative thought, according to a study." (WSJ)

 

"It's not something that we like to talk about, but doctors die, too. What's unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared with most Americans, but how little. They know exactly what is going to happen, they know the choices, and they generally have access to any sort of medical care that they could want. But they tend to go serenely and gently." The WSJ has an article on why doctors die differently than the general public.

 

The easier a name is to pronounce, the easier it is to find the person likeable.

 

I had to laugh at the author's reference to Judas as the "alleged betrayer" and to Simon Peter's "un-Christian flourish" of (claims the author) calling for the death of Ananias and Sapphira. Still, you should read the latest National Geographic story on the Apostles. Once the Apostles walked off the pages of the New Testament, what happened to them? Where did they go? The NG piece explores the accounts (history? legend?) that survive in pilgrimage sites today. It's interesting, and yet the report reinforces my Baptist convictions that what counts is the authoritative message (captured in the New Testament) and not doubtful claims about the messengers. Cherish and live the message, but be suspicious of those who profit from superstitions about the messengers.

 

"Poor sleep patterns are linked to stress, depression, memory loss, weight gain, lower attention, increased accidents. Good sleep habits, on the other hand, are associated with longer life, weight loss, increased creativity, athletic stamina, and higher grades in school. No wonder Shakespeare called sleep 'Nature’s soft nurse.' We know all this, yet as a culture, many of us continue to lead sleep-deprived lives." Karen Swallow Prior explains why good sleep is important to believers.

 

Scientists have been able to grow a new plant from a 32,000 year-old seed. Pastors looking for sermon illustrations: You're welcome.

 

"What do you call those soft rolls of dust that collect on the floor under your bed? Many people know them as dust bunnies. But in parts of the Northeast, you'd call them dust kitties; in the South, house moss; in Pennsylvania, you might call them woolies. There are, in fact, at least 174 names by which Americans call these bits of fluff, including bunny tails, frog hair, cussywop, woofinpoofs and—perhaps most evocatively—ghost manure." This is the opening of an article about the just-completed Dictionary of American Regional English (known as DARE). Very cool.

 

LeaderLines: Linstant Leader

What Jeremy Lin has accomplished (and the patient bench-warming before his fame) can teach us something about leadership.

Even if you don’t keep up with the NBA, you’ve probably heard of Jeremy Lin. What a story! I doubt you think of an Asian-American Harvard grad who loves Jesus when you think of pro basketball. Apparently others didn’t think much of his potential, either. He was undrafted coming out of college, and though he made it on the NBA roster, he was cut from 2 teams (including—eat your heart out—the Houston Rockets). He finally landed on the Knicks’ bench.

And there he sat for a while. In fact, he was reportedly close to being cut before a starter’s injury put him in the starting line-up. The hapless Knicks suddenly started winning games—six in a row, in fact—all from Lin’s scoring and assists.

As of this writing, “Linsanity” has yet to let up.

What can this sports story teach us about leadership? Robb Ryerse for Leadership Journal wrote:

Most leaders don’t like to ride the bench. They want to be in the game, making a difference. They see how things should be and are anxious to do something about it. Often, this impatience can backfire, causing leaders to compromise themselves ethically or morally. Moses was one such leader whose first attempt at liberating the Hebrews from Egypt caused him to murder a man. God benched Moses for forty years.

Leaders must be able to discern, not just the right things to do, but also the right time and place for making progress. Good leaders know that influence that is forced or coerced will backfire. Often, the best leadership opportunities arise naturally and organically. At just the right moment, leaders are called from the bench into the game, but they’re ready and willing to step up.

By all accounts, Jeremy Lin is succeeding now because of what he did while he was waiting on the bench. Far from sulking or seething, Lin used his time on the bench to get ready—learning his coach’s system, watching the mistakes made by the point guards who played ahead of him, figuring out his teammate’s strengths and weaknesses. He has made the most of the leadership opportunity that has arisen for him.

The bench is where we learn perspective, looking at life from new and unexpected angles. The bench is where we learn patience, realizing that everything can’t always be fixed by the waving of our magic wand. The bench is where we learn humility, valuing the whole team and not just our own skills and abilities. The bench is where we learn to lead.

We don’t know how long this Linsanity will last, but we do know that Jeremy Lin maximized his time on the bench. And because of that, he is now making the most of his leadership opportunity in the game. We need more patient, humble leaders like Jeremy Lin.

If you’re in a “bench-warming season” in your life, this is some good wisdom to follow.

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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 350 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry, Y'all

Here's an ironic website announcement:

The Harry Ransom Center hosts "Kings & Creators" to celebrate the opening of its new exhibition "The King James Bible: Its History and Influence." We invite you to "eat, drink, and be merry" (Luke 12:19) with us on Friday, March 2, from 6 to 8 p.m., for a first look at the exhibition, light hors d'oeuvres, and wine.

I expect I'll go to the exhibit sometime. Our church uses more modern translations thank the KJV, but you can't discount the historical impact of the famous translation.

But what an odd--and unintended?--invitation to "eat, drink and be merry" at the opening of a Bible exhibition. No, this isn't a slam on adult beverages. The invitation to "eat, drink, and be merry" is just so (unintentionally?) out of context. The man who said this in Jesus' story was revealing a thickness about spiritual things. Sort of like, well, a party over an unread Bible?

Here's Luke 12 :16-21 (in the KJV, why not?)

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

 

SBC Name Change? Yes. SBC Behavioral Change? Better.

Ed Stetzer, on the proposed name change for Southern Baptists to "Great Commission Baptists"--

"For the foreseeable future, my church will still list itself as SBC, rather than GCB-- and not because the other unfortunate meaning of that acronym."

Heh.

He makes a serious point in today's post, though. He says it's a change of actions, not just a change in name, that's needed.

I believe there are three needs facing the Southern Baptist Convention currently that new resurgences, name changes, and study groups can't fix.

First is a need to stop bickering and infighting....You could name yourself an Egyptian hieroglyph and say you are "the Baptist denomination formally known as Southern." But if you are mean-spirited, you just have to change the name again in a few years....

Secondly, we must work together to promote cooperation....We must act like a convention, not a bunch of small constituencies that want to get their own way....The promise of the SBC's conservative resurgence was that we would eventually agree on enough to cooperate for global missions. Well, when will that day come...?

Finally, we need to keep the goal in sight. The new moniker, "Great Commission Baptists," does that. If nothing else, every time we think of our additional name, we will be reminded of what we should be doing. Clinging solely to our legal name, Southern Baptist Convention, would have worked functionally, but GCB speaks to our DNA. We don't need to be primarily "Southern" or "conventional," but a group of churches on mission. Our goal is to be about the task for which Jesus called us....God is a sending God, and we are a sent people. The most profound instruction we have ever received as it relates to our mission is the Great Commission....

So, Southern Baptists, let us act like Great Commission Baptists--that will both help fix the reputation of the old name and build a good reputation for the new "nickname."

Here is the full post.

 

Winning Ways: When Flies Kill Lions

Did you know that tiny flies can bring down the king of beasts?

The flies, known as "stomoxys," will bite a lion and then keep biting its wounds, inflicting nagging, relentless pain.  Over time, the lion dies of trauma.  A few years ago, at least six lions in Tanzania's world-famous wildlife park were killed by swarms of these flies.

Our worries can do the same to us.  Left unchecked, our anxieties will buzz around us like a swarm of blood-sucking flies, pestering us and distressing us until we collapse.

Maybe we're revealing more than we intend when we sigh and say, "I'm worried sick!"

As the late Corrie Ten Boom once noted, "Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength."  That's why Jesus said, "Don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.  God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." (Matthew 6:34, Msg)

In his book, Just Do Something, Kevin DeYoung wrote:

We obsess about the future and we get anxious, because anxiety, after all, is simply living out the future before it gets here. We must renounce our sinful desire to know the future and to be in control....We walk into the future in God-glorifying confidence, not because the future is known to us but because it is known to God. And that’s all we need to know.  Worry about the future is not simply a character tic, it is the sin of unbelief, an indication that our hearts are not resting in the promises of God.

Of course, warnings against worry create an interesting phenomenon: We start worrying about worrying!

That means we need more than a reprimand: We need a remedy! And worship is that remedy. That's the subject of this Sunday's message, called "What Happens When Nail-Biters Worship." We'll study Psalm 93 together, and I encourage you to reflect on the text before Sunday.

It's part of our series, "Growing Pains of the Soul." You can catch up with the series at our website.

This Sunday is also "Upward Sunday at Hillcrest." Be ready to welcome visiting families from Upward Basketball (Grades 1-4) and Hillcrest Hoops (Grades 5-6). And be ready to honor all the volunteers who keep this great ministry going!

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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to 1200 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday February 21

Study Reveals Majority Of Suicides Occur While Trying To Put Fitted Sheet On Bed


Is your cell phone making you a jerk? Time reports on studies showing cell phone use reduces our interaction with those in need right in front of us. "So why would an innocuous thing like making a cell phone call make a person less giving? The researchers think it has to do with feelings of social connectedness. All humans have a fundamental need to connect with others — but once that need is met, say by using a cell phone, it naturally reduces our inclination to feel empathy or engage in helping behavior toward others."


How to Order the Most Expensive Starbucks Drink Possible.


Susanna Schrobsdorff explains why the laptop-shooting dad resonates with so many parents

There are 300 other candidates running for President if Obama or those in the Republican primaries don't suit you.


Do you engage in neophilia? “Novelty-seeking is one of the traits that keeps you healthy and happy and fosters personality growth as you age,” says [psychiatrist] C. Robert Cloninger....“It can lead to antisocial behavior,” he says, “but if you combine this adventurousness and curiosity with persistence and a sense that it’s not all about you, then you get the kind of creativity that benefits society as a whole.”


The memory loss, stress, and general fuzzy-headedness of the prenatal period may actually have a crucial role in getting women ready to be mothers. Here's an explanation.


Bobby Ross at GetReligion alerted me to this front-page story of a large, historic Memphis church going through the process of excommunicating a church member for gossip. The story is largely sympathetically told from the accused gossip's point of view, so the editor's later editorial defending the story supplies information you'll need to make a fair judgment of the case. (And Ross at GetReligion has a point when he asks why information inside the editorial didn't make it inside the front-page story to start with.) This story is all about gossip, church discipline, when enough-is-enough with someone's contentiousness, and handling church affairs within the church when at all possible. I expect it warrants a Get Anchored post all its own.

Last Week's "Get Anchored" Posts

"Just by his being a Christian, it is a fantastic way to broadcast the ways of Christ" 

LeaderLines: A Visit with David Smith, Director, Austin Baptist Association

Winning Ways: When People Let You Down

"They oppose the government's attempt to coerce them into facilitating the practices they preach against"

"Just by his being a Christian, it is a fantastic way to broadcast the ways of Christ"

The NYT reports that Jeremy Lin's success in the NBA is having an impact on Christians (and Christian witness) in China:

Lin’s combination of success in the N.B.A. and strong Christian faith — he has spoken in the past of becoming a pastor someday — has fired the imagination of many Asian-American Christians. There are some early signs that he may also be catching the attention of Christians in China, who continue to face varying levels of persecution.

Only 1,500 of the initial 1.4 million microblogging messages on mainland Chinese Web sites that mentioned Lin also mentioned Christianity.

But those messages tended to be fervently enthusiastic.

“Your physical agility has shown me the glory and omnipotence of God,” one Internet user wrote.

“How should young Christians live the life of the Lord?” another blogger wrote. “We have a good example in Lin Shuhao’s miraculous performance and we should cheer him on.”

At the Zhejiang Theological Seminary here in Hangzhou, Professor Yan Ronghui said she was planning to use Lin’s religious faith and basketball successes as a model for students in her course in “theological English” this semester.

Hu Shubang, a 25-year-old student at the seminary, said Lin would become a natural symbol for Christians in China to use in seeking converts.

“Just by his being a Christian, it is a fantastic way to broadcast the ways of Christ,” he said.

Read the rest.

LeaderLines: A Visit with David Smith, Director, Austin Baptist Association

I want to periodically use LeaderLines to introduce you to some community leaders and opinion makers in our area.  I welcome your suggestions of community leaders and opinion makers you'd like me to interview. 

Our first interview was with Donna Houser, principal of Anderson High School.  Our second interview was with Eileen Flynn, faith columnist for the Austin American-Statesman.

Today we’ll visit with David Smith, director of our Austin Baptist Association.

--Tom

David, tell us about yourself and your family.

I was born in Kokomo, Indiana (45 miles North of Indianapolis). I’ve lived in Missouri and then Colorado, where I graduated from high school. I attended Wheaton College but I ran out of money, so I went home to work and attended the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. There I worked with the youth at my home church and worked construction. I really felt called to ministry during this time. I got an offer to go to Liberty University on scholarship. Tough semester. I decided to pursue a degree in psychology and transferred to Baylor where I graduated.

While I went to Southwestern Seminary I worked as Minister of Education and then Youth for Oak Knoll Baptist. I met Julie, the woman who would become my wife, at Baylor but we never dated there. We reconnected at Disciple Now at her church, FBC Euless. We got married in '89 and moved to Eastman, GA. I served as Minister of Youth, Education and Activites until June of '94.

It was then I came to FBC Dripping Springs and stayed until March of 2000 when I was asked to come on board as director for the Austin Baptist Association.

We have a daughter, Bethany, who is a freshman in high school, and a son, Thompson, who is a senior. They both attend Hyde Park Baptist School. Thompson will be attending Dallas Baptist in the Fall.

What is the mission of the ABA and how do you hope it helps make Austin a better place?

To strengthen existing churches, plant new churches and partner with the Church in Austin to see Austin transformed. If we are successful in all 3 areas we will be in the best position to see the Kingdom advanced in Austin. If the Church in Austin will work together, we will see great things take place that can only attributed to the work of the Father.

What are your responsibilities as director of the ABA?

I would describe my responsibilities as vision caster, resource, counselor and mediator. Whatever the churches need we will work to find a solution/answer. The roles listed above can take place with whole churches, pastors, church leaders and even individuals. If the church has a need and we can help we want to serve.

From your vantage point as ABA director, what are the greatest needs of the Austin Metro area that our churches need to be aware of?

The churches need to remember that there are many in our city who need to know the Lord. It is easy to focus on preference issues and miss the fact that we need to develop relationships with our lost neighbors, co-workers and friends. AND seek ways to live the presence of Christ in our everyday lives.

From your vantage point as ABA director, what do you think Austin Baptist churches are doing well? In addition, what areas do you observe need improvement in our area churches to better reach Austin?

Over the past 12 years, I have seen the Church have a renewed desire to engage and serve the people that live in their area of the city. The churches are looking for ways to make disciples that live transformational lives. Lives that are on mission.

You've been doing some work across denominational lines, especially with ABBA. Tell us what excites you about getting better cooperation between Baptists and other denominations.

Working together with other denominations provides a great picture to Austin of unity. I believe there is more that unites us than divides us. As friendships grow and as the Church in Austin becomes more connected great things happen. I am so excited about the April 12th Cymbala Prayer event. How powerful to see churches and members coming together to seek the Father in Prayer!

How can we pray for you and the ABA staff?

For discernment and sensitivity as we serve the Churches. For an inextinguishable passion to see the City reached with the Gospel. For wisdom in how to utilize the resources that we have. For favor in networking the Body of Christ.

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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 350 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: When People Let You Down

People sometimes disappoint us. And when we’ve been hurt by people we’re tempted to withdraw into a shell. We isolate ourselves from everyone, going no deeper in a relationship that a routine greeting and safe conversations about sports and weather.

Maybe you’re a single adult who has been let down by the opposite sex once or once to often, and now you refuse to risk your heart like that again.

Maybe you were offended by someone at a church in the past and so you refuse to get close, to get involved, or even to get into anther church home.

Some close themselves off from a marriage partner when it is discovered that he or she is not 100% reliable 100% of the time.

Some refuse to go into positions of advancement at work because it would mean trusting others—safer to stay unnoticed, doing your own work, trusting your own heart.

Listen: It is impossible to live life the way God wants it lived if you remain uninvolved with other people. That means stepping out on the limb, trusting someone else’s reliability.

But you must not step out on that limb alone. No, trusting others must be done only when you’ve put your ultimate trust in the one who will never let you down.

That’s the message of Psalm 62. David cries out:

How long will you assault a man?

Would all of you throw him down—

this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

And yet he reminds himself:

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;

my hope comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

This Sunday, we’ll draw strength from Psalm 62 to deal with the times that people let us down. Disappointment with people tempts us to withdraw defensively from life. Trust in the God who will never let us down enables us to get back out there again.

It’s part of our sermon series called “Growing Pains of the Soul.” Join us @ 10 a.m. this Sunday to find out more.

_____________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to 1200 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

"They oppose the government's attempt to coerce them into facilitating the practices they preach against"

 If you haven't been keeping up with President Obama's efforts to require religious organizations who oppose contraceptives and abortifacients to distribute them, you need to. You don't have to be Catholic--or even religious--to be alarmed by this, as James Taranto explains:

 After President Obama made a symbolic concession to religious liberty last week, the Times once again employed scare quotes to sneer at the entire idea. This time it was in the very first phrase of its Saturday editorial:

In response to a phony crisis over "religious liberty" engendered by the right, President Obama seems to have stood his ground on an essential principle--free access to birth control for any woman. . . .

Nonetheless, it was dismaying to see the president lend any credence to the misbegotten notion that providing access to contraceptives violated the freedom of any religious institution. Churches are given complete freedom by the Constitution to preach that birth control is immoral, but they have not been given the right to laws that would deprive their followers or employees of the right to disagree with that teaching.

In truth, no one denies that individuals have "the right to disagree with that teaching," and the religious institutions that object to the mandate do not claim the authority to police their employees' private lives or opinions. Rather, they oppose the government's attempt to coerce them into facilitating the practices they preach against.

...

This columnist likes birth control a lot. To our mind, it is one of the greatest conveniences of modern life. As we are not Catholic, we don't share the church's moral objections to abortifacient drugs or sterilization procedures. But as we are American, we care a lot about religious liberty, and about liberty more generally. Thus we view the birth-control mandate as a particular outrage and ObamaCare more generally as a monstrosity.

...

Religious liberty--no scare quotes for us--is one of America's basic principles, the first freedom in the Bill of Rights. The separation of church and state protects religious minorities, and nonreligious ones, from the coercive imposition of religious law. It is also a bulwark against a secular government's impositions on private conscience.

Taranto quotes from Albert Mohler's excellent piece about this issue, then adds:

Albert Mohler is a Baptist. This columnist is an agnostic. But we're with Mike Huckabee, another Baptist, who said last week: "We're all Catholics now."

During Obama's candidacy in 2008, I wrote a post called "Three Things that Prolife Obama Supporters Must Do." Here was the third:

Should Obama become President, monitor his actions on this issue and base your re-election decision on what you see. Certainly, you should keep an eye on his Supreme Court nominations, but he will also have a chance to select federal judges. These positions last long after a President leaves office, and they have a huge impact on what kind of “culture of life” we see in our country. What kind of life-ethic legislation from Congress will he sign or veto? Also, watch for his selection of Attorney General, whose Department of Justice impacts how laws are enforced that advance abortion or limit it. Watch for his choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services, who oversees all kinds of programs that could either encourage or discourage the frequency and availability of abortion. Keep up with his foreign policy. President Reagan established the Mexico City Policy which bans the flow of aid to agencies that provide or promote abortion. President Clinton refused to follow this policy, so watch what President Obama will do with that. In short, a United States President has a major influence on whether our country makes advances or setbacks on creating a culture of life--much more than you may have realized. So, if you help put Obama in the White House and he proceeds to ignore your pro-life convictions until he needs your vote in the next election, refuse to give it to him.

Well?

Links to Your World, Tuesday February 14

From Victoria's Secret Model to Proverbs 31 Wife

I love reading stories like this--and in the NYT, no less. Asian-American Christians are taking justifiable pride in Jeremy Lin's noteriety.  

Did you read about the 3-year-old who climbed inside a coin-operated claw game at a family restaurant and proceeded to hand out the game’s candies and toys? He probably decided to engage in a little distributive justice...

 

The physiology behind tear-jerkers like Adele's "Someone Like You."

 

NASA scientists announced today they had received a radio transmission confirming the existence of intelligent, extremely condescending life in a galaxy nearly 13.8 billion light-years away. (The Onion)

 

"Only 54.3% of young adults aged 18 to 24 have a job. It’s the lowest rate since the government started keeping records in 1948." Yikes.

 

Promises for those struggling with unemployment.

 

"The brain is "neuroplastic" from cradle to grave. Neuroplasticity is the property of the brain that allows it to change its structure and function through mental experience....The question thus inevitably arises: What ambitious kinds of learning might we, as adults, undertake?" Norman Doidge reviews "Guitar Zero," a book that asks the question, is 39 years of age too late to learn guitar?

When Numbers Don't Count--And When They Do

 Tim Challis suggests some better questions to the "How big is your church" question--and he suggests some better ways to answer the "How big is your church" question:

Instead of going to the easy question of, “How many people go to your church?” why don’t we ask things like this:

• How have you seen the Lord working in the lives of the people in your church?
• What evidences of the Lord’s grace has your church experienced in the last few months?
• What are you excited about in your church right now?
• Who are you excited about in your church right now?
• What has the Lord been teaching you?
• Who have you been discipling recently? Tell me about some of the future leaders at your church.

When asked, “How many people go to your church?” why don’t we consider answering something like this:

• As many as the Lord has determined we can care for at this time.
• Enough that we are actively working toward planting a church.
• I don’t know, but let me tell you about a few of them…
• You know, I have chosen not to answer that question, but let me tell you how the Lord is blessing us these days.

I think these are good alternate questions but the alternate answers come across as defensive. I'm not sure we need to be so evasive in answering the question. The Bible writers seemed to find it important to tell us how many were saved on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) or how few were responsive to Jesus in his own hometown (Mark 6:5).

Of course, I think the number in attendance always requires some context before it can be useful to evaluate the church. If you're seeing, say, 120, does that tell the whole story? Are you in Pensacola or Portland...or Paris? Are you 6 months into a church start, and if so, was the start with a core group from another church or from the ground up? Or is the 120 what you have left from an average of 320 2 years ago? If that, was the decline a result of a bad leadership decision or a righteous stand or just because the nearby military base closed? 

Now, this reinforces how unhelpful the "how big" question is, and I'd say that there are many contexts in which idly asking the "how big" question would better be replaced with Challis' alternatives. If you don't have the time or the relationship with another pastor to interact at this depth (say, while making small talk during a conference break), the Challis questions are far better. But if we want to be faithful pastors, and if we want accountability among pastors, we can't just ignore the "how big" question. As we earn the right to interact more deeply with each other, the "how big" question can help us know how to celebrate God's favor with some pastors--and how to pray with others.

"The drums of war are sounding again, and Calvinists are the newest bogeymen"

 Ed Stetzer writes:

I’ve always been fascinated by the Baptist bogeyman.  Bogeymen are not real dangers, but ones we use to scare one another, often distracting us from real danger. There are real challenges in our churches and the convention—theological and otherwise—but bogeymen distract us from the real issues.

In the recent past, he says, the bogeyman has been Purpose-Driven churches, and then "emerging" churches. Now it's Calvinism. 

The Southern Baptist Convention can and must include Purpose Driven pastors, pastors who used to call themselves emerging, and Calvinist pastors, when they choose to affirm our BFM confession and engage in mission cooperation. But the drums of war are sounding again, and Calvinists are the newest bogeymen....Preaching against bogeymen gets the big amen at some meetings and in some publications, but we should take notice– those meetings are getting older and smaller every year.

Hear, hear. Read the whole thing.

Winning Ways: Our Extraordinary God

 Several years ago in Britain researchers went door to door asking people about their belief in God. They would ask, "Do you believe in a God who intervenes in human history, who changes the course of affairs, and who performs miracles?" 

The title of their published study came from the response of one man whose reply was typical of many answers they received: "No, I don't believe in that God, I just believe in the ordinary God."

When we believe only in an ordinary God, oh, what peace we often forfeit, and oh, what needless pain we bear.

In Psalm 40, the sacred poet celebrates an extraordinary God--a God who can deliver us from impossible situations. This God, wrote David, "lifted me out of the slimy pit" and "gave me a firm place to stand" and "put a new song in my mouth."

How do you come to believe in a God like that? 

Here's what you need to do.  I learned this from someone who is in a 12-step recovery group where they remind each other, "We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

In those words--"We came to believe"--you'll find everything you need to know about starting a relationship with the extraordinary God.

First, "We came." Show up. Attend a church service, read a book about faith that a friend loans you. Join a Bible study. It's helpful to see how faith in God is lived out by people you know. So, come.

Second, "we came to"--that is, we woke up to spiritual reality. Most of us would describe our conversion like that: As if coming out of a daze we woke up to the fact that life didn't have to be lived the way we were living it. 

And then, third, "we came to believe"--that is, you decide that this God-talk makes sense and you accept it.

This Sunday, we'll look closely at Psalm 40 and come--or come again--to believe in the extraordinary God who can deliver us out of impossible situations.

It's part of our new sermon series in February and March called "Growing Pains of the Soul." Join us @ 10 a.m. for an hour of worship and study! 

 

 

Links to Your World, Tuesday February 7

Federal employees owe $3.4 billion in back taxes...and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics had one of the highest percentages of delinquency, with 6.49% of its 77 employees behind in what they owed. (HT: Andrew Kang)

 

"A study conducted by the financial service company Investopedia found that the sum value of different homemaking duties annually amounts to almost six figures. If a homemaker's job were salaried, it would draw, on average, $96,291 per year. Tasks accounted for in the study included private chef, house cleaner, child care provider, driver, and laundry service provider." (Joe Carter)

 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali in Newsweek: "A fair-minded assessment of recent events and trends leads to the conclusion that the scale and severity of Islamophobia pales in comparison with the bloody Christophobia currently coursing through Muslim-majority nations from one end of the globe to the other. The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop." She outlines the hotspots and recommends responses.

 

Top five regrets of the dying

"According to Charles Murray in 'Coming Apart'..., a large swath of white America—poor and working-class whites, who make up approximately 30% of the white population—is turning away from the core values that have sustained the American experiment. At the same time, the top 20% of the white population has quietly been recovering its cultural moorings after a flirtation with the counterculture in the 1960s and 1970s....He is particularly concerned with the ways in which working-class whites are losing touch with what he calls the four 'founding virtues'—industriousness, honesty (including abiding by the law), marriage and religion, all of which have played a vital role in the life of the republic." (Read the rest of the WSJ review)

David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church, wrote 2 articles for Boundless, a webzine for young singles: The first is how churches have tended to "screen out" young men in later elementary years and (especially) in youth groups . And, two, tips on how churches can win their young men back – and the role single women can play in that revival.

TLC plans to do a show called "Preacher's Wives," along the lines of the "Real Housewives" series. Ah, me.

"A worldwide study of charitable giving...ranked Americans first in giving personal money, and time, to organizations and strangers....Of the top 20 nations in giving, only five are in the top 20 of economic wealth" (Time).

Jeremy Pierre: '"I love you, but you need to obey.' Every English-speaking parent has said that phrase at some point or another. It's our attempt as parents to express commitment to our children even as we require them to obey: 'I love you despite anything you do, but you also need to obey what I tell you.' I'd like to take issue, however, with using the conjunction butbetween these phrases. Using but may be communicating something we don't want to say---namely, that there is some kind of conceptual opposition between 'I love you' and 'You need to obey.'" Read the rest.

"A new study suggests that the ability of exercise to speed the removal of garbage from inside our body’s cells may be one of its most valuable, if least visible, effects." Read the article.

I loathe endnotes and just can't see how they improve over footnotes. This guy feels the same way.

Good Question! Punishment on Future Generations

I have an occasional (very occasional!) segment on this blog called “Good Question!” where I take a stab at questions people send me. (Click the “Good Question” label at the bottom of this post to see previous entries in the series—or just click here.)

Here’s one from one of our Sunday School teachers:

Pastor,

Last Sunday the question was asked about the Lord's statement that he would punish the sins of the Israelites on future generations.  Here is the scripture

Deuteronomy 5:6-10 (NIV), ⁶ “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ⁷ “You shall have no other gods before me. ⁸ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

I have searched my limited Commentaries and can find no help with the idea that God punishes several generations for the sin of one generation.

I know you are very busy, and I am in no big rush for a response. When a class member raises a question, I try to find a good answer, but I hit a wall on this one.

Thank you for your help.

Jim

 

Here was my answer to him, which he gave me permission to share at this weblog:

I have always understood it as the inevitable consequences of sin. We’ve certainly seen the consequences upon children and grandchildren from a father who ruined the family name and/or fortune. In other words, it’s not that God holds subsequent generations liable for what a certain generation does, but that the consequences can’t help but last long beyond one’s proverbial 3 score and 10 years.

I’m convinced that the Babylonian Exile lurks like a shadow behind the vast majority of the Old Testament, and I fully expect Deut 5 was a preemptory warning regarding that Exile. And, in fact, it was into the 3^rd and 4^th generation that the Exile endured, all because of the rebellion of the unfaithful kings and their subjects.

What’s beautiful about the passage, though, is how disproportionate it is. While the consequences of faithlessness extends to the third and fourth generation, the consequences of faithfulness shines down through a thousand!

Thanks, Jim, for asking your question—and for letting me post our exchange on “Get Anchored.”

Agree? Disagree? Comment on the “Get Anchored” Facebook Page. And send me your own questions for a “Good Question” entry.

"Redirect the energy I waste trying to feed and keep my control idol propped up"

 In this morning's sermon I quoted from Scotty Smith's blog, "Heavenward," found here. The excerpt I quoted:

Jesus, help me understand and steward the emotion of anger. It’s always been a confusing feeling to me—one causing fear, shame and ambivalence....I’ve been on the receiving end of destructive anger and demonic rage, and I don’t wish such a crushing of the spirit or implosion of the heart on anyone.  Though I’m not typically loud and large with my anger, I certainly own and grieve the ways my anger has brought just as much hurt to people I love. A slow radioactive leak of fury can be just as damaging, in time, as a fury bomb...Melt the icebergs of tension and stress in my heart and body. Change my rigidity into playfulness. Redirect the energy I waste trying to feed and keep my control idol propped up. Slay the beast in me that assumes the right not to be interrupted or inconvenienced.

 

"It's strange to think that you accumulate all this experience, and maybe a little wisdom, and it just goes away"

 "I am about fifty-fifty on believing in God. For most of my life, I've felt that there must be more to our existence than meets the eye …. I'd like to think that something survives after you die. It's strange to think that you accumulate all this experience, and maybe a little wisdom, and it just goes away. So I really want to believe that something survives, that maybe your consciousness endures. But on the other hand, perhaps it's like an on-off switch. Click! And you're gone. Maybe that's why I never like to put on-off switches on Apple devices."

Steve Jobs to Walter Isaacson shortly before Jobs' death. From Isaacson's newly released biography, Steve Jobs.

LeaderLines: Seven Lessons We Can Learn From Our Critics

Every leader has to learn how to process criticism. Even when it comes from well-meaning sources, our knee-jerk reaction is to go on the defensive. When it comes from less friendly quarters, we can waste a day’s worth of energy (or more) in resentment or depression.

There’s a better way. In a recent post, Thom Rainer shared seven lessons he’s learned from his critics over the years. We should reflect on these observations and let them improve how we react to criticism:

1. Not all personal criticisms are personal. I know. My statement sounds contradictory. But many personal attacks take place because the critic is having his or her own problems. I once spoke with a vociferous critic on the phone who said some pretty terrible things to me and about me. Though I was restrained, I hung up the phone pretty mad. For some reason, I called him back just a few minutes later. I told him that I should have prayed for him, and that I wanted to apologize for being insensitive. He began to weep, telling me that his adult daughter was killed in an auto accident just two weeks earlier. Everyone has needs and problems -- even our critics. Maybe sometimes we really need to listen to them.

2. A quick, emotional response usually backfires. I do better to say less than more. When I speak quickly to the critic, it usually is an emotional response that I regret later. I’m learning to keep quiet. It’s tough.

3. Criticism helps me to become a better person and a better leader. Sometimes the remarks make me look in the mirror, and I don’t always like what I see. I have also learned that I’m not helped at all if everyone agrees with me on all that I say and do. Critics help refine me as a leader. They help me to be a better person, though the process is always painful.

4. Criticism helps me to think twice before I criticize others. I know the pain of criticism. I know the hurt that comes when a critic comes after me with an unfounded accusation. If I don’t like that pain, why should I inflict it on others? I recently spoke with a pastor who was lamenting the level of criticism he receives. But this pastor has a blog that is inevitably critical of someone almost every time he writes. He does not see the inconsistency in his behavior and the way he would like to be treated.

5. “Consider the source” is a good guideline. I have learned that some people are just negative. They seem stuck in that one disposition. They skip the reading of Philippians 4 because the text mandates we “rejoice in the Lord.” Some critics should be heard. Many should not.

6. Criticism can lead us to greater depths of prayer. I wish I were the man of prayer that I should be. But I fall short, very short of where I need to be. Criticism hurts me. Sometimes the pain is more than I can handle, so I turn it over to my Lord to handle it for me. I wish I did that all the time. Sometimes the criticism is extremely painful and just what I needed. It drives me to pray even more fervently.

7. Sometimes the critic is right. Yes, it’s painful to be criticized. But on more occasions than I’m comfortable admitting, I’ve had the additional pain of learning that I indeed needed correction. The Bible can be pretty straightforward about it: “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but one who hates correction is stupid” (Proverbs 12:1). Call me stupid. Criticism hurts. But it can be for our benefit. The critic can be right.

God, grant us leaders patience and discernment as we process the criticisms that come our way!

Tom

“I can't endure the thought that a man of lofty mind and heart begins with the ideal of the Madonna and ends with the ideal of Sodom”

I am that insect, brother, and it is said of me specially. All we Karamazovs are such insects, and, angel as you are, that insect lives in you, too, and will stir up a tempest in your blood. Tempests, because sensual lust is a tempest—worse than a tempest! Beauty is a terrible and awful thing…! Beauty! I can't endure the thought that a man of lofty mind and heart begins with the ideal of the Madonna and ends with the ideal of Sodom. What's still more awful is that a man with the ideal of Sodom in his soul does not renounce the ideal of the Madonna, and his heart may be on fire with that ideal, genuinely on fire, just as in his days of youth and innocence. Yes, man is broad, too broad, indeed. I'd have him narrower. The devil only knows what to make of it! What to the mind is shameful is beauty and nothing else to the heart. Is there beauty in Sodom? Believe me, that for the immense mass of mankind beauty is found in Sodom. Did you know that secret? The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man.

Mitya, to his brother, Alyosha, in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov.

Yes, it’s my current audiobook. A review later…

Winning Ways: Dig Another Well

When things don’t go your way, you have to fight two temptations—blowing up and giving up. Either you want to lash out at the people who are making life difficult for you, or you want to give up trying.

In Genesis 26:12-22, a young man named Isaac could have given in to both of these temptations. As a shepherd, one of the most important parts of his job was making sure that his animals had enough water. So, what was he to do when his enemies covered or claimed wells that were rightfully his?

He could have blown up. But it would have destroyed him. Even though he was powerful, his Philistine neighbors were still more powerful. He knew that, sometimes, trying to even things up hurts you more than it hurts your enemy.

He could have given up. Every well his father dug had been covered up and every new well he dug was caved in. But he said to himself, “I will never stop trying and I will never try stopping.”

Instead of blowing up or giving up, he just trusted that the God who blessed him once could do it again. He got his eyes off the problem and lifted them up to the God who had the solution.

Country singer Paul Overstreet had that biblical story in mind when he sang,

So when the rains don't fall and the crops all fail

And the cows ain't puttin' any milk in the pail

Don't sit around waitin' for a check in the mail

Just pick up the shovel and dig another well

Pick up the shovel and dig another well

This Sunday, we’re going to look at greater depth at what Isaac’s story can teach us. But you don’t have to wait until then to pick up the shovel and dig another well. Pray this: “Lord Jesus, we turn life’s setbacks over to you right now. Help us not to blow up or give up. Help us to know that you are not simply the God of the good old days. You are the God of good new days, too. You’ve blessed before and you can do it again!”

Reminder: Turn in Your 4X4 Commitment Cards. Last Sunday we talked about how to be a person of spiritual influence. Now it’s time to turn in the names of those you commit to spiritually influence in 2012. Drop your commitment card in the offering plate this Sunday.

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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to 1200 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.