Feb 25 2010

Rediscovering MY Focus

You will notice that I have not made a post in several weeks now.  I have basically taken a sabbatical from all things that were distracting me from my ministry at hand.  We have had a lot going on here over the past 6 weeks or so, and I needed to focus my attention on those things rather than spend time blogging.  I have missed doing this, and plan on getting back in the swing of things.

I have been reminded over the past few days that God is my comforter, my provider, my friend and shepherd.  This week, some dear friends of ours that are part of our family at West University lost their twins due to complications to their pregnancy.  She was 17 weeks along, and I have been aching and grieving over the past few days.  Its been hard to get into much of anything this week.

I can’t help but draw so many parallels to this event.  First, it makes me even more appreciate for my wife and my daughter.  It makes me want to hug them, love them, pray for them, and give them what they need even more than I have been doing.

It also helps me think about how God must grieve when he loses one of us.  I’m drawn naturally to the parable of the lost sheep, and how the shepherd went out to rescue the one sheep.  How important are we to God that He would do this?  He doesn’t want to lose any of us, but sadly, He does.  When we start to see ourselves slipping from the grips of God, its not because God’s strength to hold us up has gone, but our desire to be held up is waning.  I look to God for strength, and pray that He will provide it so I am not lost.

A few verses that have helped me regain my focus this week after this event:

Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 27:4-5
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 73:26
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Matthew 11:25-30
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Jan 4 2010

Rediscovering Our Focus

Few stories in the Bible pull at the heart strings like the one found in Luke 15, the story of the Prodigal Son.  Every time I read it, hear it, listen to a sermon on it, or even think about it, I can put myself into all three of the main character’s shoes.  This story has power, meaning, and truth buried in so many pockets that it seems as though one is always able to pull a fresh idea out of it, or at least revamp an idea that one has heard.

As I was preparing for the sermon I preached yesterday, I could not help but go directly to this story.  You see, we’re going to have a theme for the year in 2010 here at the West University Church of Christ.  It is simply “Rediscovering Our Focus”.  Who did a better job of rediscovering their focus in the Bible than the Prodigal, Lost Son?

This young man went from rags to riches in no time, but immediately went back to rags as he squandered his wealth on wild living.  I wonder sometimes if the church isn’t in a similar predicament.  According to the Christian Chronicle, since 2003 there are 526 fewer churches and 78,436 fewer people in the pews.  Now, granted, this number does reflect one church with 5000+ members in Richland Hills being “dis-fellowshipped” by the Mac Lynn Churches of Christ book, but that only accounts for a few of the near 79,000.  Could it be that in the years when the Church of Christ was growing, we didn’t realize how great it was until it was too late?  Did churches get to a point where they stopped evangelizing and just expected people to come to be with them?  Did we waste away the good ripe years of planting seeds because we were enjoying the harvest?

I think the best part about the story of the prodigal son is found in verse 17, where it says “He came to his senses”.  At one point, he looked up from the pigs he was feeding, and had to realize that enough was enough.  Going from being the one everyone respected and wanted to be with because of his wealth and lifestyle to living with the pigs must have been hard, but that’s what happened.  He could have continued to wallow in self-pity, but he did not.  Verse 17 simply states that he came to his senses.  He realized there could be more to his life.

John Reuben, a contemporary Christian artist, sings a song entitled “Nuisance”.  The words go:

So here we are in this same old spot
Knowing something needs to happen but our mouths are locked
Tongue tied closed tight sealed shut
I tried hard but it just wouldn’t come up
It’s on the tip of my tongue it’s in the front of my mind
Yet the words were still so hard to find
Finally the reality of things to come pushed me to the edge
I jumped off the cliff into the abyss as I said

chorus
I’m not trying to be a nuisance
I just think we can do better than this
that was simply my two cents
you can take it or leave it

Let’s think about this path that we’re taking
Let’s think about this future we’re creating
Let’s think about this life that is fading
Think about it, come on think about it now
Let’s think about this time that we’re spending
Investing in monetary things that are ending
Let’s think about it and let’s think together
And let’s think about what we can do to make it better

What can we do to make things better?  I think we can again look to the prodigal son to find our answer.  After he came to his senses, he did the most logical thing any of us can do — he came up with a plan.  His plan was to simply go to his father and ask if he could work as a servant.  His only goal was to get out of the mess he was in, not to seek out his place as a son, but simply to be a servant.  Of course, we read on the chapter to discover that he was given so much more than just a job.  All of that happened because he had a plan.

If we don’t have a plan, what kind of hope to we have?  God blesses those who have a plan.  Our plan here at the West University Church of Christ is to simply rediscover our focus.  We’re going to look at all sorts of things that we need to rediscover a focus on – leadership, love, worship, emotion, giving, evangelism, grace, baptism, and family…just to name a few.  We’ll start next week with Rediscovering our Focus on Leadership, and we will begin the process of appointing new deacons.  We have to let go of the things that have entangled us in the past, and rediscover our focus.  We need to embrace our plan, and work together.  Forget petty differences, forget legalistic arguments, forget about selfish ambitions, and focus on the fact that there are lost souls in this community.

Let us all rediscover our focus in 2010.


Dec 31 2009

The Difference Between Praise Songs and Hymns

Here’s a funny little story about Hymns and Praise Songs.  The author is unknown .

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the farmer. “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”

“Praise choruses?” asked the wife. “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked the wife.

The farmer said, “Well it’s like this … If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you,

‘Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA,
the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows,
the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,
in the CORN, CORN, CORN, COOOOORRRRRNNNNN,’

Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well that would be a praise chorus.”

As luck would have it, the exact same Sunday a young, new Christian from the city church attended the small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the young man, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of praise songs.”

“Hymns?” asked the wife. “What are those?”

“They’re okay. They’re sort of like praise songs, only different,” said the young man.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked the wife.

The young man said, “Well it’s like this … If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a praise song. If on the other hand, I were to say to you,

Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, glorious truth.

For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or his rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.

Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn chewed.

So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn,

Then, if I were to do only verses one, three and four, and change keys on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.”

Dec 8 2009

New Decade, New Year, New Resolutions,

Halfway through the year 2009, I joined a gym.  I made a second half resolution for 2009 — get motivated for 2010.

Since that day, I have at least been the gym twice every week.  I even got up and went to the gym the day we left for the beach at Thanksgiving.  I hate getting up in the mornings and going to the gym, but I must say I hate being fat.

In December of 2007, I posted these physical goals for 2008:

1. Lose at least as much weight as my wife gains through her pregnancy.
2. Be consistent in my exercise and diet plans.
a. Exercise in some form 6 days a week
b. Eat consistently 3 meals a day with 2 or 3 small snacks in between.
3. Be able to shave my beard off because I won’t have a double chin anymore.
4. Eat in a most healthy way except for twice a month, when I’ll be able to eat whatever I want.

I didn’t do so well.  I look back, and realize I actually failed miserably.  I didn’t lose any weight after Kristen had Josie.  I didn’t exercise, except for about a week.  I ate constantly, not consistently, and it was more than 3 meals a day and no snacks, unless you count chips as a snack.  I still have my beard.  And I ate healthy twice a month instead of the other way around.

I realize now why I failed.  I had no motivation.  I went and tried once or twice at a gym, but I tried to do everything at once, not over time.

Now, I have a solid foundation to build on.  I am motivated.

So I have a few new goals to bring out, while banishing the old goals.

1.  I will walk/jog/run at least one mile every day in 2010.  Sounds crazy, but it is doable.  It takes me 20 minutes to walk a mile right now at a very casual pace.  I can take 20 minutes a day to that.

2.  Continue to work out at least 3 times a week.

3.  Reduce my carbonated beverage addiction to no more than 2 a day, hopefully down to one.  I see no reason in eliminating them altogether, which I have done in the past.

4.  I will fit in a size 36 waist pant by the end of the year. (currently at 40)

5.  I will be able to wear something besides Big and Tall clothes.  (However, right now, I’m learning that clothing size is totally inconsistent.  My shoulders are very broad now, and while I can fit into an XL shirt through the chest and waist,  my shoulders don’t fit into them.)

6.  I will be able to, at the end of the year, report that I am a much healthier person.  Bodyfat % will be down, fat levels in blood will be down, and cardiovascular endurance will be up.

7.  I will not focus on my weight, but rather, my health.

8.  When I look in the mirror, I will no longer be ashamed, but proud.

9.  I will not sabotage my results after working so hard to achieve them.

10.  I will be contagious with my actions.

So, don’t wait till its too late to set up your goals for 2010.  These are my physical goals.  I will post on other goals in the upcoming days.

Dec 4 2009

Sure-fire Ways to Help Your Congregation Grow (whether you’re a minister there or not!)

10.  Be involved in at least one thing/ministry outside of normal scheduled worship/class times.

9.  Talk about your congregation in a positive way to your friends, co-workers, family, and anyone else who may not be a part of the congregation

8.  Pray for the Shepherd’s, the Ministry Staff, the administrative staff, the Deacons, and anyone else who serves in a leadership position.

7.  Stop being concerned about the actual numbers who are not there, but focus more energy on loving and serving those who are there.  It will be contagious.

6.  Live the Christian life wherever you go.  You never know when someone may notice and want to talk about it.

5.  Encourage as many members as you can to participate in a Small Group (if you have them), or form a discussion/small group outside of service times where you can meet together away from the building.

4.  Don’t reject any idea the first time you hear it, unless it is truly unscriptural.

3.  Be positive, no matter what.  If someone is negative to you, return the attitude with positivity

2.  Support as many mission efforts as possible.  These can be foreign or local.  Put God’s money to work.  Don’t be the 1 talent church.

1.  Get out of the way, and let God work.

Nov 30 2009

The Death of Sunday School and Wednesday Night Class

The Barna Research Group in a 2000 study found that:

  • Only 19 percent of church members attended Sunday school in 2000. That figure is relatively unchanged since 1991.
  • Thirty-three percent of born again Christians and 60 percent of evangelicals attend Sunday school in a typical week.
  • Married individuals are more likely than single adults to attend a Sunday school class in a typical week.
  • Sunday school remains a draw primarily in the South, where nearly three out of 10 adults attend weekly.
  • Contrary to popular opinion, there is virtually no drop off in Sunday school attendance during the summer.
  • Nearly one out of 10 adults is currently involved in teaching a Sunday school class, a catechism class or other type of Christian education class.

I don’t know where the church you attend is at in their Sunday School situation, but it seems like Sunday School is getting less and less of a priority today.  People tend to show up 10-15 minutes late, and by then they’ve either missed the beginning, or the teacher has waited to start, and they don’t get a full 45 minutes to an hour.  You can’t discipline them, because its their prerogative to be there or not.

I feel like the reason most Sunday School programs may lack attendance is two-fold:

1.  Lack of options for classes

2.  Lack of commitment and dedication among members.

If you attend a church like most, you will have very few adult options for classes.  In fact, in the churches I have worked at, there has been very limited options for adult classes.  You always have your typical “Adult Auditorium” class, where more often than not, it is a textual study that is verse by verse, or is using a rather boring curriculum.  These classes are effective for those that want to attend, but those that want to attend are growing fewer and fewer.  While these classes should be some of the best, and most attended, they are not.   Sadly, most younger people, young adults, and even middle aged adults are not seeking heavy textual classes anymore, but rather are seeking classes that are fresh, topical in nature, or directly affects them and their niche in life.

Even in the last church where I worked, where there were over 350 in attendance, for adult classes there were only 3 options.  On top of that, those 3 classes were taught by the same 3 people, over and over and again.  And that’s how it typically happens.  Therefore, new styles, thoughts, or direction from different teachers were never an option.

I remember in college I had one semester where I had the same teacher for 3 different classes.  It was horrible.  Its not that I didn’t like the teacher, its just that no matter what the subject matter was, the style was exactly the same.  Many of the same illustrations found their way into the lectures.

If Sunday morning is a problem, Wednesday nights are even harder.  Its growing more and more complicated to find people who willing to teach on Wednesday evenings due to a growing demand on their schedule.  If you attend a smaller congregation, you find yourself pulling from the same pool of Sunday morning teachers, thus overwhelming them and burning them out.

Smaller churches also have a hard time finding different teachers for their children’s classes.  It grows even more complicated for finding teachers for Junior High and High School classes.  Sadly, this task falls solely on the youth minister, if there is one.  The youth minister then never has a chance to connect with people his own age in an adult class setting (which is why I’m a firm believer that a minister should only teach either Sunday Morning or Wednesday night, never both, or at least get a quarter off from teaching each year).

The second problem is you may have a lack of commitment.  We’ll discuss that later.  Your thoughts?

Nov 24 2009

T-Giving time.

In an effort not to go a week without posting, I thought I would update everyone on what’s going on for the Holidays.  Being 900 miles away from family makes it harder, but not impossible, to get together for the holidays.

On Wednesday, we will load up in the family CRV and drive about 8 hours to Gulf Shores, AL.  We will be meeting Kristen’s parents, and her sister and brother in law for Thanksgiving there.  We will stay there till Saturday, and then return home for services on Sunday at church, and a day of rest before the week starts again.

While I’m not looking forward to a an 8 hour drive with an 18 month old child in the back, I am looking forward to getting away from the big city and having a day or so to enjoy time with my wife and baby girl at the beach.

So at this time of Thanksgiving, I give thanks for another year with Josie and Kristen, a good job with a great church family, and so many other things I can’t list because I just don’t have the time.  I will get back to the final few chapters of the book review soon.  Until then, Happy Thanksgiving, be careful on Black Friday,  and I look forward to Cyber Monday, where the real deals can be had.  God bless us all.

Nov 19 2009

Churches “Clinging to a Bad Location”

I know many churches that have been blessed with a wonderful location.  Churches that are in a good location are easy to get to, easy to see, and have an aesthetic appeal to them.  People may drive by them and think “there’s a church I’d like to visit” just because they see it in a good location.

However, some churches are in a terrible spot.  When you have to make 7 left turns and one right turn by the log that looks like a spatula right past the “holler”, you’re in a bad spot.

I think about our church right now in West University.  Theoretically, we’re in a wonderful location.  We’re literally a stone’s throw away from one of the largest churches in the world, Joel Osteen Ministries Lakewood Church.  Tens of thousands of people gather to worship there each Sunday.  However, he also meets in a former NBA arena, and it is a high profile spot.

Our church sits along a busy Bissonnet Street almost in the heart of Houston, TX.  Hundreds of cars pass by our place each and every day.  However, we are located in a spot of town that at the heart of rush hour, people avoid like the plague.  We are near the Highway 59/Interstate 610 loop interchange.  We’re also near the Galleria.  While these may be places that a lot of people are located, they are very transient areas.  These are areas that people are going away from, not an area people are coming to.

So on Wednesday nights, our 6:30 service is very low in attendance.  Its not because people don’t want to come, but after people leave work at 6, they want to be able to go home.  If they wanted to come back to service, they would have to get back out in the terrible traffic, that sometimes can add up to an hour on your commute home, and they would be right in the thick of it.  We’ve had teachers that have called and said they can’t make it due to traffic, that by the time they got here, the service would only have 15 minutes left.

But, on Sunday mornings, there is no traffic.  You can breeze in on any interstate or major highway, 288, I-45, 59, 610, 10…you name it, no traffic.  It actually takes you less time to come from a long distance on the interstate than from 5 miles away in the city, due to all the redlights.

So at times, we have a good location, and at times we don’t.

But at some point, a church has to realize that they may be in a bad location.  Sure you want to minister to everyone around, but you have to understand that if you building is located in a less than desirable area, people may not come, no matter how positive the message is.

If your church is located next to a prison area, it may scare people off.  If you church is in a high crime area, people will be reluctant to park their cars there.  If the building is hard to get to, then people won’t come.  There are many reasons why you church may be in a “bad location”.  If you’re in a bigger city, and you haven’t experienced much growth in a while, you may need to consider that you’re no longer in a fertile area.  This chapter dealt heavily on these things.

 

Nov 15 2009

Promoting Talent Over Integrity

For chapter 5 of Geoff Suratt’s book “Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing”, we look at a chapter that I’m not completely familiar with as far as the situation is concerned.  That’s not to say that I don’t know of churches who have promoted talent over integrity, but I have not dealt with it that much.

This chapter really looked at some examples such as worship leader/band leader for a denominational church, which I don’t have too much familiarity with.  However, the best example the book refers to is the Duck Test.  This refers to the duck test in the movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, when people were trying to figure out if a lady was a witch or not.  Ultimately, the conclusion was that if she weighed the same as a duck, then she was a witch.

I don’t believe churches spend enough time really hiring ministers.  When I was hired at Guntersville, it was a marathon.  While I didn’t appreciate it at the time, I look back at it and realize that it was a good thing.  They wanted to make sure I wanted it, and that they wanted me.  We interviewed there 4 different times before we were offered the job.

But for most churches, they bring the group of selected individuals in for a try out, and after all of them try out, they bring back the one candidate they like the most.  All this is, typically, is a chance for these candidates to show off, try out, and show how much talent they have.  You really can’t learn a lot about who a minister is by one or two weekends with the church.  This is typically placing talent at the top of the list.

This doesn’t always bite you in the rear end, but it can.  I’ve known churches to fire someone a year or even 6 months after they are hired, because the had the ability, or the talent, to preach and teach, but did not have the integrity behind it.

If you are in a church where a minister lacks integrity, maybe because they have had an affair or hurt the church in some way, this chapter would be a great read.  However, like I mentioned, this chapter did not deal with any real situation I’ve ever been in.

Coming up tomorrow is the chapter on “Clinging to a Bad Location”.

Nov 12 2009

Settling for Low Quality in Children’s Ministry

childrenminThis post will explore chapter 4 of Geoff Surratt’s book “10 Stupid Things that Keep Churches from Growing”.  This chapter is about Children’s Ministry.

After I finish reviewing most of the chapters in this book, I may go back and give my feelings on youth ministry.  However, this chapter deals with children’s ministry.  Its an area that most churches are finally realizing they are not putting enough effort and money into.  I know children pretty well.  In fact, I am one class away from having an Elementary Education degree.  My wife has a Child and Family Studies degree.  I may not be an expert, but I do know a little something about children.

We have a Children’s Minister at our congregation here in West University Place.  Christy works many hours a week preparing big events and service projects.  However, she is only one person.  I’m starting to realize that all ministry is much larger than any one person.  For our Children’s Ministry at West U to be successful, it can’t be only Christy.  She knows that, I know that, but sometimes parents don’t realize that.  For a program to be successful, it needs to be supported by everyone.

Another thing I’ve learned is that in ministry, no single minister is good at everything.  That’s why we equip other people to help and serve.  Areas I may not be good at, you may excel at, and I need you to help me.

 

 

Children’s Ministry is more than:

–  Sunday School
–  Wednesday night class
–  VBS
–  Parties
–  Children’s Worship or Bible hour during service
–  Gathering all the kids and singing and playing games

Children’s Ministry is an area that affects the entire congregation.  If a child is not happy, or not learning, the parent may pull that child out of the program, and go look for a place that will influence or teach their children better.  Others will follow, and before you know it, you’re left with a small group of kids, but even worse, a whole lot of your volunteers are gone.  When visitors with children come to your service, they will notice a lack of people in their children’s age range, but also in their own age group as well.  Its a snowball effect that a church can hardly ever recover from.

One problem that I have noticed recently in Children’s Ministries across the board is that they are using the wrong curriculum.  Some write their own that have no business doing so.  Others use a curriculum that doesn’t fit their church.  Some problems with that are that some curricula call for large groups for the class, acting out a skit or playing a big group game, and you’ve got Junior and  Susie, and no one else in your classroom.  This won’t work for that class.

I think we don’t give kids enough credit.  Children are smart, and are sponges.  They listen better than we think they do.  We may think that children have to be entertained, but in reality, children are extremely flexible in their learning styles.  As long as someone is prepared, children will listen.  The problem arises when a teacher shows up at the last second without preparing.  Children know when someone isn’t prepared, and they will take advantage of the situation.

If you come to kids with a plan of attack, and things to fill the entire hour of their time, they don’t have a chance to get distracted.  There is no room for error when teaching Children.  If you give them an inch they will take a mile.  Teachers being prepared is the single most important thing.

But you also need to understand that you can’t put all your eggs in one basket.  Don’t focus too much on the big events and overlook the weekly activities and classes.  Classes should be the bread and butter of any children’s ministry.  At the same time, you can’t just put all your effort into classes and expect children to stay happy.  They do need the big events such as VBS and festivals and parties, but don’t overdo it.

A strong, vibrant, and exciting children’s ministry will be an outreach tool on its own, because children will want to bring their friends with them to class, to events, to church, and anything else going on.  With their friends come parents who may not belong to a church.  Maybe  a refreshment in your children’s ministry is what you need to start your church on a path to revival.