Monday...Monday

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours with our church's leadership team and finance committee. We are in the beginning stages of developing our 2010 budget. To begin, I asked four questions: 1. What would a guest attending for the first time say our top two priorities as a church are? 2. What kind of church do we believe God wants us to be? 3. To be that kind of church what kind of pastor, leaders, and members do we need? and 4. Are we willing to make the necessary changes?
There was a rousing discussion of the first question. Interesting observations from those who attended. The second and third question need some more work. On Nov 15 I'll meet again with our leadership team and discuss those questions. Part of the answer we talked about yesterday involves focusing on our small groups. I believe that we will engage with people who don't know Jesus most effectively at that level- not at the level of our 11:00am morning worship service. Part of our challenge is to revitalize and reorganize our small groups into viable outreach and ministry teams where unsaved, unchurched and dechurched (that's a term I read in an interview with Perry Noble recently) can become engaged with the gospel. So, lots of work ahead. Changing my role is hard. I struggle almost every Sunday with the desire to be the funnel for all information about what's happening in this and that family's life. I struggle with wanting to be in control so that everything happens orderly and efficiently during the morning worship service (which always seems to fall apart no matter how hard I try to manage and arrange things....)
Of course, changing the role and assignment of our leaders will not be easy either. Asking them to think differently about their small group/class will take some time and create some adjustment issues. Fortunately a group has been appointed to begin working on defining what it means to be a member of our church. Another group will soon be working on how to effectively greet everyone who drives in the parking lot and walks in the door.
So, change- in the weather, the leaves are dropping, the temp is dropping, and the rain will begin to fall...- change is the only constant in my life! Thank God for His unchanging nature!

Leaders Lead...

BEing part of the Pastor Cluster groups in the Northwest Baptist Convention is providing me a refreshing look at the role of a pastor. Yesterday's presentation by Carter Shotwell of LakePointe Church in Rockwell TX was a fascinating overview of a process they use in their church for involving people in adult Bible study groups. I have yet to digest all the information Carter shared, but one piece has stuck with me all through the night and into this morning. He made the statement, Leaders lead. They don' do. What struck me is how easily I fall into the pattenr of doing. Something is broken, I fix it instead of enlisting someone else who is better qualified and has more time. A project is stalled and instead of helping the leader move his or her project forward I pcik up the reins and move the project forward. That is not the job of a leader. Whenever I fix that broken piece or move someone's project forward, I deprive them of a chance to learn and to serve. I have to learn to lead- to someitmes let things be broken until someone else steps us, to allow projects to stall (and heaven forbid maybe even fail) so that others can learn from their experiences.
Delegation has never been easy for me. As a single staff pastor I have grown into a jack of all trades but master of none. As I grow older I want to learn to delegate, to give others the joy and experience of acting. I want to lead- to dream big dreams, to vision projects that require faith, to focus on issues that demand more from me and those around me. In other words, being a leader means finding the direction, charting the course, and staying true to the vision of the organization.
Writers write, singers sing, and leaders lead!

What makes a Southern Baptist Southern?

This morning I was asked a question in the Bible study group I lead on Monday mornings- "What makes a Southern Baptist Southern?" I didn't think of this answer then, but a good answer-, No, it's not our love of fried chicken with all the fixins! It is a serious issue in light of the fact that many churches are eliminating all reference to their denominational heritage from their names. So, what makes a Baptist a Southern Baptist? Here is an outline of my answer-
1. A commitment to the authority, inerrancy, infallibility, sufficiency, and eternal nature of God's Word. The past 30 years Southern Baptists have fought a battle to reclaim this definition of the Bible. After decades of theological drift, Southern Baptists have anchored themselves to the Word of God.
2. A commitment to cooperatively reach the world with the gospel. Our Cooperative Program enables churches our size to have an impact in the world disproportionate to our size. By combining our gifts (currently we give a little more than 10% of our undesignated offerings to the Cooperative Program) with gifts from thousands of other churches we are able to have a direct link to over 10,000 missionaries across the world, to support the educational ministries of 6 seminaries, and to assist in the operation of an Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission that has a world-wide impact. That's a phenomenal opportunity for a church of under one hundred people!
3. An unwavering commitment to congregational church polity. That might be a fancy way to say, every church is autonomous and independent. Churches in our denominational heritage may be purpose driven, but they are most certainly congregationally driven. Decisions are made by the congregation- not the pastor, not a board of deacons, or trustee;s, but ultimately the individual church member is responsible for making decisions regarding the ministry of his or her local church.

I'm sure others might have answered differently, but from where I sit this seems to summarize why I am a Southern Baptist!

More Random Thoughts

Somewhere earlier this week I was challenged with the question- What would you do if you were not afraid? So, I started keeping a list of my responses. It has grown to be a quite lengthy list. Why do I allow fear to dictate how I live? I was reading in Tozer's "The Knowledge of the Holy" this morning about the love of God. He writes, "Let a man become convinced that nothing can harm him and instantly for him all fear goes out of the universe." (see 1 John 4:18). So, if God loves me- and I believe He does- then of what am I afraid? So, over the next few days I intend to look over that list of things I'd do if it weren't for fear and begin to pray about which of those things God would have me do. I'd encourage you to do the same exercise...who knows what God would accomplish through believers who were unafraid and trusted Him completely!

A call to prayer

I've been reading the book of Joel this week (I've taken to reading a different book of the Bible every day for seven days in addition to my regular program of Bible reading. This gives me an opportunity to sink in to the view of the writer and the direction of the Spirit in his life). Anyway, I can't escape Joel 2:12-following:
12 Even now—

this is the Lord’s declaration—
turn to Me with all your heart,with fasting, weeping, and mourning.13 Tear your hearts,not just your clothes,and return to the Lord your God.
For He is gracious and compassionate,slow to anger, rich in faithful love,
and He relents from sending disaster.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him,
so you can offer grain and wine to the Lord your God.
15 Blow the horn in Zion!Announce a sacred fast;proclaim an assembly.
16 Gather the people;sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;gather the children,even those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his bedroom,and the bride her honeymoon chamber.
17 Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers,weep between the portico
and the altar.Let them say:
“Have pity on Your people, Lord,and do not make Your inheritance a disgrace,
an object of scorn among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ ”
What if we as leaders among the people of God took one day every week - say, Thursday- and spent the day fasting and praying for God to move in our congregation, our local and regional and national denominational agencies and for Kingdom Expansion? What if we built in some sort of accountability, i.e. praying together...online prayer groups, praying together over the phone, etc....?
Just an idea...I'm open to other suggestions.
The bottom line- at least for me- am I desperate enough to see God move that I am willing to get out of His way?