Handing off leadership....

Handing off one of the most precious things I have ever known.....

My recent days have been filled with reflections on the move my family is making to Medford. For those who don't know, I am taking an assistant pastor position at Heritage Christian Fellowship. In the process of making this transition there have been moments of sorrow and realization....
Sorrows...

1- The people who should know you the best...
It is a strange thing to make a move like this and see the reactions of the people around you. In the last couple of weeks I have had some of the people closest to me question my motives more than anyone. In fact, the newer believers are often more confident in who you are in the Lord than the people who have travelled with us the longest. It is a great sorrow to see some of the friends who we have shared life with simply decide that our hearts aren't pure in the decisions we are making. Maybe it is due to the kinds of grieving that people go through. Or maybe it is because they know you well enough to know your flaws, and doubt your decision making. I don't know. But it is painful....

2- The fear of the future....To witness firsthand the power of fear in the lives of God's people has been distressing in some ways as well. I have seen the faithful in the church become the most faithless. It is as though God is not sovereign, and the universe is spinning helplessly out of control of the God who made it. Even more distressing than seeing it in others is to see it in myself. I find my thoughts often turning to the church I love and wondering if it is strong enough to handle this type of change. It's as though, my presence there is what hold the body at BCC together. Father, forgive my pride. You are the Chief Shepherd. By You all things consist and are held together. Even now, the gates of hell will not prevail against your church. 

"a heart that is a soft as baby

 and skin as thick as a rhino"

3- Pastors are people too...
Maybe it is that people somehow get a perception of you that you are superhuman, or maybe it is that their own glaring need seems more important, but people seem to forget that a pastor is actually a person too. If you cut him, he will bleed. Often, my wife is the only one who still remembers. It has been said that a pastor has to have "a heart that is a soft as baby and skin as thick as a rhino".  That has proven to be true. 

4- Where has all the teaching gone...
It is surprising to see how much time and energy can be poured into teaching the foundational biblical principles that undergird our church only to have them discarded with the latest opinion. When we made the transition to Bridgeview, one of the main things that needed to happen was a change in church government from a congregational (everyone votes) to an elder led (those with spiritual maturity and a heart to bear the responsibility make the decisions). Much time was spent explaining the necessity of these changes. We then spent about 7 months  teaching an introduction to theology. During this time we talked about the biblical model for church leadership that we see in the scriptures. But now that God is leading the leaders, some want the right to vote. Don't we remember the teachings?

5- The untamed tongue...

James says that a huge fire is started by a small flame...There can be much destruction as the result of those who just haven't tamed their tongues. The after church meetings, the coffee discussions, whispered conversations that leech into the heart like septic lines. Oh the poison I wish I could unhear...

Realization...

1- I have realized the importance of handing off ministry…
You might think this is so that you can get more things done but that is not the emphasis that I see as being of utmost importance. Ministries can become very lop-sided in that the work of church is left to the “professionals” and those in the body will not take ownership of their own part in the Kingdom. Handing things off keeps it from being all about the “professional”, and when God calls the professional out the work will continue.

2- Being senior pastor isn’t more important….
Although the role of senior pastor carries a large responsibility it isn’t the only one. It is just as much a sin for a man called to be a janitor in the public school to not be as it is for a man called to be a pastor to not be. We are given a position in the Kingdom of God to play. No matter the position, play it with all your heart. I am now called to take a role that seems like a demotion in the eyes of the world, but it is just the King moving the members of His Kingdom around. The King’s agenda is bigger than any one player. The truth is, a ministry is more accurately judged by the body than the Pastor.

3- People matter...
We know that. But you really don’t realize how much people matter until you are getting ready to say goodbye to them. The church has become closer to us than our own extended family in many ways. These are the people we dream about hanging out with, these are the people we think of first when we make plans for a BBQ, or family camping trip.

4- It’s good to plan for your departure….
You never know when God is going to shuffle you around. Pastors, structure your church so that you are replaceable. This is for the Kingdoms sake and the sake of the people you love. We make plans for our families (if we can afford life insurance), why not give the body assurance as well. It’s just loving. Secondarily it gives you the freedom to be able to go when God says go without worry. I am thankful God gave me a man like Sonny who will love the church like I do. I am thankful for the men who are standing with their sword in one hand and a trowel in the other, ready to build and protect rather than pick apart and destroy. 

"Handing off a church is like

 watching that child you love go."

5- Having a church is like having a kid….
When the day comes that you actually have to hand your daughter off, or watch your son drive out the driveway, there is a fear and sorrow that only love knows. Sorrow because it leaves a big hole. Fear because you realize you are going to have to trust God with the outcome. Handing off a church is like watching that child you love go.

Like

B.S.

(Bitter Springs)

James 3:11 “Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?”

God has “called” my heart on it’s B.S. (Bitter Spring) and I want to confess my sin to you all. You see, James chapter three opens with a warning. The warning is simply that not many people should become teachers. The reason? The teacher will be judged with greater strictness.

The problem with being a teacher is that most of your time is spent trying to draw clear lines of logic that expand and explain the truth. In doing so, I make an effort to build a case much like a lawyer does. I examine biblical directives and try to delineate what the passage really means and then apply it to life and practice for both body of Christ and myself. In recent years my target has often been religious people. Now, just so you understand, by religious people I mean Christians that carry a certain dogma that becomes the all-encompassing truth of their lives. Some examples might include the “I only listen to Christian music “crowd, or the “If you really love Jesus you will home school your kids crowd”. Religious people are my favorite people to make fun of. Maybe you can empathize? Maybe you have been the object of scorn as the people in your church find out you have had a divorce, or like to drink a beer, or _____________ (you fill in the blank). Maybe, like me ,these experiences have soured your appetite for people and their religious perspectives. Whether it be about the day you worship on, the people you associate with, or the way you dress often our relationship with Jesus can get reduced to a list of rules and do’s or don’ts that lead to a graceless existence that feels more like slavery than love. So….As a teacher, I point out the logical errors that people who hold such values have made and seek to defend those that have been oppressed by “religion”. Religious people make an easy target.

The interesting thing is that I can often fall off the horse the other way too. What I mean is that my view of liberty can become the new religious set of rules by which I judge those who don’t share the same liberty. I should always defend the freedom that we have in Christ, and the simplicity that is in the gospel (Jesus plus nothing else). Liberty in Christ must be defended because a church that sets it’s standard by the person with the weakest faith becomes a church weak in faith. But, I can often take that too far. You see, some of those “religious” people, are just that, “weak in faith.”

Romans 14:1 “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.”

When I make Christians with a weak conscience feel like they are second class Christians because they don’t feel the freedom to eat, or drink, or worship the way I do; I do a disservice to the gospel. Part of the gospel is that Jesus freed us from religion to a relationship with Him. As with any relationship, the uniqueness of the relationship is derived from the uniqueness of the individuals involved and various ways that they express love to one another. Therefore some people love Jesus by worshipping on a specific day every week, others worship God by dressing up in their Sunday best for church. Some folks love Jesus most when their radio station is set to KLOVE 24/7 and they can listen to Christian radio all day long. My job is to encourage people to love Jesus. What that may look like, is God’s business. Noah built a boat, Abraham built an altar, Isaac dug wells, Jacob poured oil on a rock, David danced in his under-roos, some wrote songs, others played instruments, others created magnificent works of art, and others still, built things with the talents God gave them in construction. There are people in our town that love Jesus with dancing, with home-made denim skirts, by blowing a shofar at specific times of the day, by celebrating the jewish feasts with Christian understanding, out of hymnals, with electric guitars, some with long hair, some with short hair, some with no hair and a neck beard!

Worship has little to do with the form and everything to do with the heart.

As a teacher, I have to guard my heart against B.S (Bitter Springs) for with my mouth I can bless God and curse those around me that are created in His image…These things ought not to be……Father in heaven, friends and family. Please forgive me.

Knowing God...

Started reading a book by JI Packer the other day and it got me to thinking about some of the questions he raises in the first chapter. Let me sum up some of his ideas here and then propose a question to you....

Can anyone truly say that they have “known God”? Knowing God is not the same as sharing your testimony or having some experience of God.

Paul says that he never thinks of the things he has missed but what he has gained. (Philippians 3:7-10) When Paul says he counts the things he lost as dung he means not merely that he does not think of them as having any value but that he does not live with them constantly on his mind. What normal person spends his time nostalgically dreaming of manure? When we do think fondly of our manure, we prove we have little of the knowledge of God.

We may have all kinds of theological truth about God but the evidence of the joy of knowing Him seems largely missing in theological circles. Whereas circles that are less theologically proficient often exude the joy that is synonymous with knowing Him. A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about Him.

Let me make this point a little clearer:

1- One can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of Him.

We may have a great interest into the study of God called theology. The deeper we dig the more we begin to reach conclusions about who He is and what He does. This gains us notoriety among men for our educated opinions. But, the capacity to think clearly and talk well on Christian themes is not at all the same thing as knowing Him.

2- One may know a great deal about godliness without much knowledge of God.

There is no shortage of analytical, and technical resource explaining the various views of Christian living. The bookstores, sermon archives, and pulpits aroud the world are full of all the various “how-to-s” of Christianity. You may gain a reputation for being quite the pastor by giving “how-to” answers. Yet one can have all this and hardly know God at all.

James goes on to say that even the demons believe in God. They fear Him and tremble in His presence. Surely we do not know God in the same way that demons do.

So my question to you is......How can you know God beyond a theological, analytical, philosophical, and moral knowledge of Him?