Category: Ministry

Christian Living, Life, Ministry, Newspaper

When Relationships Drift

Last week, I was sitting in my office working on my sermon and something happened.  Usually if I am working, I have music going.  It helps me focus for some reason.  Dead silence allows my mind to wander in a hundred different directions.  That, or I find myself nodding off to sleep even if I am not really tired at the moment.

So, back to the story.  I have music going and a song comes on that I know by heart.  It’s one that I have heard and sung countless times.  But it is also one that every once in a while, I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard the song and what I was doing.  This particular time, it made me flash back to the first time, and remember a friend that because of distance in miles and just differences in life have caused us to drift apart. 

And this is a close friend.  He was the best man in my wedding for crying out loud, and I could not tell you the last time I even spoke to him, or even texted him.  He played the song in question the first time I ever heard it, and it was that memory that came flooding back when I came through my speakers last week.  I stopped what I was doing and immediately texted my friend 1,400 miles away, telling him that I head the song, it made me think of him and the first time he introduced to it at a week of church camp, and that I missed him. 

It is funny (in a sad way) to me how we let close friends slip away sometimes.  Yes, this particular friend lives back in Tennessee, so we are separated by 1,400 miles and two time zones.  But with today’s technologies of cell phones, social media apps, and e-mail, the drifting of friendships really boils down to a lack of commitment on one or both parties. 

In other words, we let life get in the way, and someone we were once really close to, we realize that we have not spoken to them in years.  My fear (and realization) is that we do this with God as well.  Life gets in the way, we get busy, and before we know it, it has been days, weeks, months, or maybe even years since we have spoken with Him.  We have drifted in our relationship with Him, and that closeness we once had when we first started the relationship has slipped away.

And it is all on us.  We are the ones that have the lack of commitment because we let life get in the way.  My guess is we never even meant to, but it just happened.  But here is the great thing.  We have even better tools than technology to rekindle this relationship.  We do not need a cell phone, social media apps, or e-mail.  We have prayer, and we have God’s word at our fingertips in the form of a Bible.  He is there, waiting for us to communicate with Him again, but we have to be willing to reach out to Him.  Pray.  Read your Bible.  Recommit to working on a relationship with Him, the most important relationship you could ever have.

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

God, Ministry, Preaching

Sermons That Stick

Back in October, I had the opportunity to do something that I had never done before.  The guys at RookiePreacher.com were in the process of having their first book published, and were asking for preachers to review the book, and be on the launch team.  It was going to be a book about improving your sermon prep and delivery, so they were looking specifically for a group of preachers to promote the book.

So, I was given an advanced e-version of the book.  This is the first time that I have ever been able to read a book before it was published.  Let me tell you, I was honored to be able to read the book, but once I got into it, it got even better.  I was blown away by the practical information contained within the pages of Preaching Sticky Sermons.

The chapters are short, specifically designed to be an easy reference guide for specific topics, meaning that you can easily turn to a chapter and quickly find the information that you were looking for, without having to scan through a lot of information.  The whole premise of the book, however, is what really intrigued me.  It is about developing sermons that stick with people.  In other words, it is about finding a way to preach memorable sermons.

sticky-quote

The book is finally available as of today.  You can pick it up here.  The great thing about it is that it does not matter how long you have been preaching.  There is something in this book for everyone.  Different chapters will resonate with different people.  What has helped me the most is the chapters about utilizing Evernote for sermon prep.  I am still in the process of implementing that in my own prep, but I know that it will be very useful in the future.

I do not get anything out of promoting this book, but I think this book will help you develop your sermon prep and delivery.  Preaching is a calling, and it is something we should all strive to improve in no matter how long we have been doing in. In “Preaching Sticky Sermons”, Brandon Kelley and Joe Hoagland do a fantastic job of giving practical information on how to improve your sermon prep and sermon delivery. I highly recommend this book for anyone who preaches, whether you’re just out of Bible College, or have been preaching for years. Give it a look.preaching-sticky-sermons-final-cover-copy

Christian Living, God, Ministry

Christmas is on a Sunday!

This is the first time since 2011 that Christmas Day has been on a Sunday.  That means that this is the first time that I have been on staff at a church in which this was the case.  I do not recall what my home church did the last time this happened, but I am guessing that they held a service that morning, and I was probably there.  Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, however, seems to be a very polarizing topic among Christians, especially on social media.

The thing is, some churches have chosen to cancel Christmas Day services and only do a Christmas Eve service.  Some are only doing Christmas Day services.  Others are doing both.  I personally do not see the problem with any of these options, as long as each church is staying faithful in their context.

Here is the problem though.  If you are in group that is cancelling Christmas Day services (which is what our church has decided to do this year), more than likely you are seeing some huge backlash, and not from those that would attend your church on Christmas Day.  You are seeing it from other Christians that attend somewhere else. 

I have seen numerous posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and different blogs completely condemning any church that has decided to cancel services on Christmas Day.  My question is why? 

Let me give you some examples of what I have seen starting with the most recent one that pushed me to the point I felt the need to write this.  Scrolling through Facebook, I came across a status from someone that read, “Can someone tell me why you would not have church services on Christmas Day?”  The person who wrote this goes to a rather large church (compared to where I serve) that has multiple staff and plenty of volunteers (although you can never have enough volunteers, believe me).  So I get where they are coming from.  They can spread the responsibilities of a Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service around to the point they are not putting everything on a handful of people.

But it is not just large churches with multiple staff and volunteers that I am seeing this from.  Another post on Facebook from someone connected to a smaller congregation wrote,

“I have seen FB posts of churches cancelling Sunday’s Christmas Service. At the (name of the church), we understand that Christmas can be one of the loneliest times of the year. This is why we will proudly have worship service Sunday at 10am, and our Christmas Eve candlelight service is Saturday at 6pm. You don’t have to be alone this Christmas! So spend this Christmas with the Family of God near you.“

The comments on this were even worse, with one person stating that if this was happening at their church they would be demanding the leadership to change it, and if that did not happen, they would be looking for another church home.

Jon Acuff posted about this very topic yesterday on Twitter, and let me tell you, the lashing that he received was unbelievable.  He simply tweeted, “Shoutout to churches cancelling services this Sunday. We pastor’s kids often leave faith because the church stole our Christmas every year.” 

jon-acuff

I have been reading some of the responses that he has received since posting this, and cannot believe the lack of grace that is being thrown his way.  But Acuff has responded and tried to explain to most of the graceless posts toward him.  He explains he understands Christmas does not occur on Sunday every year, but what he is getting at is there are so many services the week of Christmas (from Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, normal Sunday, and then maybe even different Christmas parties/events that ministers are expected to be at) that ministry families often do not get to enjoy Christmas together.

But I do not want to just focus on ministers and their families here.  This is about the church as a whole.  My question on the whole issue is to ask, what is best for your local context.  There is freedom in Christianity, and to blast another Christian or body of believers because they choose to cancel a service one day is an issue to me.  In fact, it is showing a lack of love and unity toward one another that gives those outside of the Church in general another reason not to refuse Jesus.  In fact, Jon Acuff tweeted this after all the backlash he received, “Dear Christians, whenever atheists say we’re unloving, this is why.  We do this to each other…”, then posted this on his Instagram page.

jon-acuff-1

My point is this: there are many different contexts, and many different reasons to have services Sunday or to cancel services on Sunday.  By all means, if you are in a context to have services on Sunday, that is great.  Have them.  There is nothing wrong with that at all.  But do not condemn a church that may not be in that kind of context.  If having a service is more important to you then anything else, then it could be that your services have become an idol, and you are worshiping them instead of our Savior anyway.

Let me explain why we are not having a Christmas Day service where I serve.  We are doing our first ever Christmas Even service.  This is something I have been proposing for the last couple of years, and finally we have other people on board.  The problem is that Christmas Eve is on a Saturday, and the same people that are leading in the Christmas Eve service would be the same ones that would have to turn around and lead the next morning if we were to hold a Sunday service.  You see, we are a small congregation, in which a small handful of people are involved in everything.  That is just the context we are in, and it would not be good stewardship of our time and talents to force back to back services less than 18 hours apart. 

On top of that, when it was proposed to our leadership team to do a Christmas Eve service, it was made clear that it would be one or the other, because our faith family would not do both.  So in our context it would be one or the other.  We felt that we could reach out into the community better on Christmas Eve than Christmas morning.  I also did not want to hurt the enthusiasm of some of our volunteers who really pushed to have a Christmas Eve service.  Even though I had proposed it the last couple of years, it was some of our volunteers, without my prompting, that came to the leadership and asked to do Christmas Eve this year.  That means they are owning it, and when someone owns something, it makes it that much more special.

I was ready and willing to do a Sunday Christmas Day service this year.  That was my plan all along.  But when I have volunteers that are willing to plan and organize a Christmas Eve service designed to really try and reach our community, I will get behind that 100% of the time.  That led to the decision to cancel Sunday morning, because we just do not have the people resources to do both so closely together. 

Here is the great thing about it though.  There are other churches in our community that are having Christmas Day services.  If it is that important to you, then I have no doubt that you can find a service to attend that day.  You do not have to lash out at someone else.  In fact, my wife and I are going to a ministry friend’s church an hour away from where we live to attend their Sunday service.  If it is important, you will find a way.  Otherwise, you are being critical for the sake of being critical

Christian Living, Encouragement, Ministry

One of My Worst Habits Is…

I have a bad habit that I have been aware of for a good portion of my life.  As much as I have attempted to get rid of this bad habit, it creeps back into my life from time to time, and it has the the potential to be a really bad thing.  On the surface it might not actually seem like such a bad thing, but let me explain.  You see, I struggle with being a “people pleaser”. 

What I mean by that is I sometimes try to keep everyone happy instead of speaking truth when I know it needs to be spoken.  This can really become a problem when you are dealing with someone that clearly has a wrong idea of theology.  I do not like conflict, so instead of speaking up and trying to correct someone when they have something wrong, I go quiet. 

Yes, you could argue there is nothing wrong doing that by quoting Romans 12:18, in which Paul writes, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”  This verse seems to say that if it is at all possible on our end, to live at peace.  If you look at just that verse, then you could make the argument trying to avoid conflict at all costs is what we are called to do.  This is where context is of utmost importance.  Paul writes this also in Romans 12:14-21;

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

When you look at it in context, Paul is writing about not taking revenge on someone that has done you wrong.  It really has nothing to do with correcting someone who has a wrong idea about what scripture says.  In fact, I believe that it can be argued Paul would actually instruct us to correct those fellow Christians that seem to be in the wrong.  The trick is to do so in love.  Paul writes to Timothy in II Timothy 3:16-7, “16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 

So scripture is to be used to teach, correct, train, and even rebuke.  This is why my self-assessment of being a “people pleaser” in regards to shutting down and not speaking up when I notice someone using an incorrect assessment of scripture is dangerous, especially in my calling as a preacher.  Solomon even wrote in Proverbs 28:23, “Whoever rebukes a person will in the end gain favor rather than one who has a flattering tongue.”

What has started me thinking about all of this recently?  I was in a situation recently in which this exact scenario happened.  Let me explain.  My wife and I were talking about the weather forecast in our area with some other people a few days ago.  In a span of three or four days, the high temperature was supposed to go from the high 70’s to the mid 30’s and then back up into the 50’s.  It never fails when the temperatures change so drastically like that, I end up sick.  In fact, the temperature has been fluctuating (not as drastically) for about a month, and I have been battling a head cold most of that time.

So we were discussing the upcoming weather changes, and I stated that I knew I was probably going to get even sicker because of it.  That is when one of the people that we were talking to brought in some incorrect understandings of scripture.

This person told me that I should never speak negatively (there is something to say about being positive, however, stating that I know I am probably going to get sick is being honest, not negative).  Then they said that “the devil hears everything we say, not everything we think, but he hears everything we say”.  That would mean that Satan is omnipresent, if he hears everything that everyone says everywhere.  I do not know anywhere in scripture that backs up this claim.  You could make the argument that maybe it is not Satan, but either him or one of his fallen angels that hears what we say, but even that may be a stretch.

That was not the worst part of what was said.  The person then went on to quote a partial verse from Isaiah 53:5, “…by His stripes we are healed”, arguing that by quoting that and believing it, I would not get a cold because of the changing temperatures.  I believe with all my heart in the healing power of Jesus, but nowhere in scripture does it tell us that if we are followers of Christ we will never be sick.  Isaiah 53 is not about our physical health.  It is a prophecy about Jesus going to the cross, taking our place and paying the debt for our sin.  In other words, by His stripes, our sin is healed.  It means nothing about our physical health.

Instead of saying any of this, I just got quiet and wanted the conversation to be over.  A little later, while talking to my wife about how incorrect this understanding of scripture was, I made a statement that I chose to not say anything at the time “so I did not destroy” the person that said it.  In other words, I did not say anything because I did not want to make the other person feel bad. 

But this situation has been rolling around in my mind since.  I have not been able to get away from it.  The question I have been battling is this; was choosing to stay silent in an effort to keep from hurting this person’s feelings really the best course of action?  Yes, I stayed out of a potential confrontation, but this person still has an incorrect understanding of scripture.  Would they have listened to me and realized the error?  Maybe, maybe not.  But since I did not try to use scripture to correct and teach, they still have this incorrect understanding of scripture.

I want to make one thing clear.  I am not saying that I have a full grasp of everything scripture teaches, or I am always correct in my understanding of scripture.  But in this case, I know Isaiah 53 is talking about Jesus healing our sin, not physical ailments. 

I write all of this for two reasons.  First, specifically for me in an effort to call myself out about being a “people pleaser”.  In no way do I want to become the type of person who is cruel and wants to offend people with what I say or how I say it.  But I need to stop worrying about potentially hurting someone’s feelings when I am presented the opportunity to use scripture to teach someone.  Second, I want to challenge you to do the same.  We have to stop worrying about offending someone when we are speaking the truth.  People’s eternities could be on the line.  We need to take Paul’s advice from II Timothy, and teach, correct, train, and rebuke, using scripture to do so.

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life, Ministry, Newspaper

Do You Trust God? (11-19)

Thanksgiving is upon us.  Where has this year gone?  It simply amazes me that we are just over a month away from ending the 2016 calendar year.  As we get into the Thanksgiving holiday, we are all reminded to take a step back and reflect on what we have to be thankful for.  And we have so much, even if life is not going exactly the way that we thought it would this year.

This has not been the most straight-forward of years for me.  There have been things that have happened along the way that I did not see coming.  Such is life, though.  It started off with my mom falling and shattering her shoulder in three places.  On top of that, she lives in East Tennessee, so I was not even able to be there to help her. 

My wife was working for a family here in town, and really enjoying her job.  The family, however, ended up moving out of state due to a job promotion, and due to some other unforeseen circumstances, she has not been able to find another job yet. 

Most recently, my wife’s grandmother was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer, and passed away so quickly that we were not able to make it to Ohio until two weeks after she passed away.  That does not even start to cover things not going the way we thought in regards to friends and church members that we know. 

I am sure you can relate, because life usually does not go the way we think it should or the way we want it to.  It just does not work that way.  So, what do we have to be thankful for?  For me, I have a job that I love, a family that loves me, good friends, and most importantly, Jesus who went to the cross to die for me, even when I did not (and still do not) deserve it.  He went there for you as well!  That should be the best news you have ever received in your life, and something that you can be thankful for, even in the hard times of life.

There is a story found in Acts 16:1-10 that I believe can show us what can happen when we trust God and are thankful for Him, even when life does not go as planned.  I will let you read it on your own if you want, but basically it is a story about a man named Paul.  Paul is going around, preaching about Jesus, and desperately wants to go preach the gospel in the province of Asia.  He is laser focused on the idea of going to Asia to preach, yet every time he tries, the story says that he is prevented by the Holy Spirit. 

If you read about Paul, one of the things you will see is that once he sets his mind to something, he is going to do everything he can to get it done.  When he is prevented from doing something he feels strongly about, he does not take it very well.  This would be the case with being prevented from entering Asia as well.  But Paul trusts God, and is thankful for His guidance. 

How do I know that he trusts God?  Paul is able to sleep that night, right after being prevented again from going to Asia.  In his sleep, he has a dream that basically calls Paul and his companions to go to Macedonia instead of Asia to preach.  And that is exactly what he does.

It was not where he saw his life going, but he did not lose sleep over it either.  He trusted God, and was grateful for God’s guidance in his life.  So what about you?  Does anything keep you up at night, or are you able to trust God and be thankful, even when life is not what you think it should be?

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Ministry

Ministers, Guard Yourself

I wrote an article a while ago (click here for that article) challenging my ministry friends to make sure they carve out time to listen to other sermons for their own growth.  Not growth in preaching skills or anything like that.  Their personal spiritual growth.  In my weekly schedule, I try to make time each week for at least a couple of different sermons from preachers that I learn a lot from.  Although I am not perfect at doing this, I try to make an effort to keep this a part of my weekly schedule.

Something took place late last week that reminded me more than ever that we, as Christian leaders, preachers, and ministers, have got to guard our hearts and focus on our relationship with Jesus.  This whole thing is still a little raw, but I want to pass this warning on to you.  All of us, as Christ followers have to work on our relationship, but those that are in the ministry are sometimes more susceptible to not guarding ourselves. 

It is easy to forget to work on your own relationship with Jesus when you are busy with preparing lessons, sermons, worship sets, etc.  The week is gone before you realize that you never cracked the Bible for your own study, or spent any time in prayer.  I get it.  I struggle with this more than I would like to admit.  And it has got to change.  If you do not struggle with that, please guard yourself, because that will be an area that the enemy attacks at some pint. 

So what event took place last week that makes me want to warn all of you, especially those in ministry?  A man that I respected, that had 25+ years in ministry, that was the first worship minister that I remember (from when I was in 4th grade), a man that helped me form who I am in my relationship with Jesus in the way I thought he led his life, went on stage at a Freedom From Religion event in Pittsburgh, PA and announced to the world that he is an atheist, and has been one since 2008.  He did not leave full time ministry, however, until at least 2013. 

To say I was shocked is an understatement.  Sitting in worship with him, seeing him lead worship, participating in board meetings with him, I had no clue anything like this was going on in his life.  I am still processing, and in reality, going through some of the stages of grief.

For my purposes here, I do not want to go into the details of why this man did what he did.  I want to use this as a warning to all of us.  Guard your heart.  Guard your relationship with Jesus.  Do not put your job, even if it is ministry, above your personal relationship with Jesus.  Paul challenges us in Romans 12 to not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed.  Let me just quote it here.  In Romans 12:1,2, Paul states, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

When we lose sight of our relationship with Jesus, and trying to be transformed into His image, the world begins to transform us into what it wants us to be.  For those in ministry, it can be even harder if we do not guard ourselves more vigilantly.  Let’s rally around each other, and help each other to not lose sight that our relationship with God has to be strong before we can try to help others with their relationships.  As the author of Hebrews tells us, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…”

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, God, Life, Ministry

The Church’s Job

We are beginning a sermon series all about discipleship on September 11.  This is a series that I am really excited about, and one that I think can help us all in how we interact with each other and those that do not have a relationship with Jesus yet.  In fact, I think we all need a reminder of this from time to time, the first part of discipleship is actually sharing your faith with someone. 

When we hear discipleship, our first thought is usually something about gaining deeper understanding of scripture, a better prayer life, or something along those lines.  Those things are definitely a part of discipleship, and something that we should all be striving for.  But we are called to make disciples.  Not just help each other that are already in a relationship with Jesus be a better disciple.  This is something that I am just now really starting to understand, and something that I think has the potential to change how we interact with other people that we come into contact with in the world.

Think about it.  Matthew 28:18-20 states, “18 Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”  We talk about this passage all the time.  You know what it is usually referred to.  “The Great Commission”.  It is Jesus’ final command to His disciples (and us) after His resurrection before His return to Heaven. 

All to often, however, I have missed the command here.  We talk about “going” and “baptizing” and many other things in this passage.  Or we focus on the promise at the end that Jesus will be with us always.  And that is a great promise.  One that we should talk about and should give us the courage to live for Him in this broken world. 

We seem to miss the “make disciples” part of this though.  I know I have missed it many times.  But that is the central command here.  Go and make disciples.  Not wait for them to come to us, not just help each other grow that already know Jesus, but go and make new disciples.  That can get messy though, because we are dealing with imperfect people that carry baggage of hurts and failures with them, along with our own baggage as well.  It does not give us a pass, however, from not attempting to follow this command. 

I saw a friend post this quote from John Ortberg earlier today, and it kind of brought all of this into perspective for me.  Ortberg wrote, “The mission of the church is not to go out into the world of disgust and shape it up.  It’s to go into the world with compassion and help it out.”  In other words, God has extended you grace, even when you did not deserve it, and His grace is available to others that are still mixed up in the world of disgust out there.  Our job is to help them find Jesus, not condemn the world for acting immoral. 

Paul put it this way in his writing to the church in Corinth; “12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. ‘Expel the wicked person from among you.’” (I Cor. 5:12-13).  Our job is not to judge and look down at those outside the church.  It is to try to find a way to help them become a disciple, and that is what our 4-week series starting on September 11 is going to deal with!  I cannot wait.  Please invite your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors…anyone who does not have a relationship with Jesus yet.  Who knows, they might say yes.

Christian Living, Encouragement, Ministry

A Challenge to My Ministry Friends (and Everyone Else as Well)

The book of Hebrews and multiple writings of Paul make it pretty clear.  The longer you are a Christ follower, you should be growing deeper and deeper in your faith and walk with Christ.  You should not need to be taught the same thing over and over again.  In fact, you should get to a point where you are feeding yourself instead of relying on someone else to feed you. 

Hebrews 5:12-14 puts it this way; 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

In other words, you should get to a point in your walk with Christ that you are responsible for feeding yourself.  Your own Bible study and prayer life should be helping you grow in Jesus.  It even says that you should become teachers.  I am not trying to argue that everyone who is a Christ follower is supposed to preach and teach, but you should be able to explain your relationship with Christ to someone who asks, instead of relying on someone else to do it for you. 

At the same time, I have made a realization in my own walk, and in the way that I grow in my relationship with Jesus.  Those of you that preach on a regular basis, I think you will get what I am about to say.  Between our own personal devotion time, prayer life (for the church we serve and our own time with God), prepping Bible studies, Sunday School classes, and our sermons each week, it is easy to just feel drained spiritually by the end of the week.  We are always teaching or preparing to teach. 

Before you get the wrong idea, I am not complaining.  I absolutely love my calling.  There is nothing else that I want to do.  Preaching the word of God is my passion.  But when all we do is prepare to teach, and then teach, it is sometimes hard to find ways to continue to grow yourself.  Yes, reading Scripture, spending time with God, and even reading books can help, but there is just something about hearing the word of God preached that speaks to my soul.

What I am getting out, fellow preachers and teachers, is that we need to find an outlet in which we get to hear the word of God preached.  That is one of the reasons I love the age of technology that we are living in.  You can easily find sermons on the internet, either audio or video files, and can listen to someone else teach God’s word. 

I have not always been great at doing this though.  My guess is that most of us struggle with this from time to time as well.  Maybe it is that we just do not think we have the time, or that our pride gets in the way because we fear someone will be a better preacher than us.  Or it could be that we just do not realize that we are struggling to refuel.  That is what I realized just over the last couple of weeks.  I was struggling to refuel and did not even realize it.  I also thought that I did not have the time to block out everything and listen to a sermon or two.

Well now I realize that I actually do not have the time to not do this.  It is vital for me to hear God’s word being presented by someone else, and for no other reason than my own personal growth.  It is not for prepping an upcoming sermon or series, although I may find things that give me a new idea on how to present a certain passage or topic.  It is not for me to compare my preaching to someone else.  I need it for my own growth as a Christ follower. 

So, I have built time into my weekly schedule to listen to one or two (or more) sermons from other ministers in the effort to help refuel, and feed my relationship with Jesus.  Will I always be perfect at this?  You know the answer.  No!  Things in ministry pop up out of nowhere, and schedules have to be flexible enough to handle the unexpected.  But when I can (more often than not), I will be finding ways to listen to others preach.  There are a couple of churches/ministers that I plan to start with on a weekly basis, and will go from there.

My challenge to you.  Find someone you can listen to on a regular basis.  Not for sermon prep, but for your own personal growth.  If you are already doing this, great!  If not, what is stopping you?  In one of my first ministries, I had a preaching minister tell me that he preached because he could not stand to listen to anyone else preach.  After I left that ministry, I found out that there were some other major issues in his life.  Do not let pride get in the way.  Do not let a busy schedule get in the way.  Do not let the fact that you do not realize you need to be listening to others get in the way.  Refuel.  Listen to others present the word of God.  Continue to develop your own personal walk with Christ, because if you are not filled with Him, how can you help fill others through preaching and teaching. 

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Ministry

Follow Me on SoundCloud

Over the last few months, we have been trying to find a reasonable option of uploading audio recordings of the sermons each week at Central Christian Church.  I have been broadcasting live almost every week through the app called Periscope, but the problem with that is the recordings are only available for about 48-hours after broadcast, meaning that those that want to listen have a very short timeframe to do so.

I have also been recording my sermons on my iPad each week, I just did not have a way of uploading them.  Today, however, we think we may have found an option that will work.  Have you heard of SoundCloud?  It is an online streaming app, mostly for music, but it can double as a podcast as well.  What this means is that we are going to be trying it out.  I have yesterdays message “The Restless Soul”, the first sermon of our “Soul Detox” series uploaded on my personal SoundCloud account.  We are looking into all the options, and we may create an account specifically for the church.

This is a very exciting thing, as we can keep a recording of all the sermons from our congregation, and if someone has to miss a Sunday for whatever reason, they can keep up with the series on their own time.  It will also let our Children’s church workers listen to messages from the Sundays that they are teaching our kids, so they can keep up with each series as well.

If you are interested in checking it out, you can click here.  You can also create your own SoundCloud account, and follow mine, meaning you will get updates every time we upload new content.  I have said this recently, but I just want to say it again; I love technology!

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, God, Life, Ministry

Family Calling

I grew up as an only child, so when my wife and I got married, I not only gained a spouse, but I gained a brother that I had never had before.  Kelley has a brother that is a few years younger than her, and he became my brother.

The family I grew up in is very faithful in being Christ followers, but when I answered God’s call after high school to go into ministry, I am pretty sure I was the first in my family to do so.  I might be wrong, because I do not really know our family’s history past my grandparents on each side, for the most part.  I did not really have a legacy of ministers in my family line, although I never even thought about that because it did not seem strange to me.

Then Kelley and I got married.  Her dad, Kevin, is in ministry, and multiple grandparents, uncles, and cousins on both sides of her family are as well.  I gained a legacy of ministry when our families joined together through our marriage.  The incredible thing to me is that her younger brother is now studying to go into ministry as well. In other words, I now have a younger brother answering the call from God to go into the ministry.

While I was in school for ministry, I did an internship at Kelley’s home church in Georgetown, OH.  That is actually how we met, as she was finishing her time in the youth group while I was there, and we started dating when my internship officialy ended that summer.  While I was there as a student ministry intern, working with the teens mostly, I was given the opportunity to preach in the main adult worship service near the end of my time there.  That was the first time I preached in front of a group of more than 100 people, and I got to do it twice, as there are two services every Sunday.  It is an experience that I will never forget. It is also from this stage that Kelley and I got married as well.  The stage at Georgetown Church of Christ has been a pretty special place in my life.

As I was stating earlier, Korey (Kelley’s brother) is currently working on his ministry degree at Johnson University.  A few months ago, he had the opportunity to preach at Georgetown as well, as part of the requirements for a preaching class he was taking.  Kelley and I were unfortunately unable to attend, as we live in New Mexico, but the church uploads the sermons every week, so we were both able to watch Korey preach.  Sidenote, I love technology!  While I was watching him preach, I was struck with an incredible thought.  I have had the honor and privilege to share the same stage or pulpit with not only Kevin (Kelley’s dad), who is the preaching minister in Georgetown, but now with my brother as well.  That is a very cool realization to make, and it is also very humbling. (I have also gotten to preach from the same stage as some of my biggest mentors in ministry as well, which is pretty awesome as well).

What got me thinking of all of this again is that Korey just preached at Georgetown again this past weekend, and again, I was able to listen to his sermon thanks to technology.  I found out the morning of that he was going to be preaching, and immediately posted something about it on Twitter, offering a prayer of encouragement to Korey, and ended the tweet with the #FamilyCalling.  When I got to listen to his sermon today (Monday), I was so proud of the growth that he is having in his communication skills, and the fact that he is so willing to use his talents for God.  It again got me thinking about the idea of a family calling. I got to marry into a family that has many that have answered the call to ministry.

It is truly a calling as well.  I do not believe that you can be successful in ministry if you make the decision on your own that you want to do it.  As I listened to his sermon today, I was struck by the theme of his message, because it is something that I have been trying to stress in my own ministry as well.  It is the idea that as Christ followers, we have work to do. We have a calling. Our faith in Jesus should lead us to put in some major hard work and dedication for Him.

I will not give away too much of what he had to say, because I am going to provide a link at the end of this for you to go check his message out yourself, but he was preaching on Ephesians 2.  It is a very beautiful and powerful passage from Paul, and Korey nailed the idea from my favorite part of the passage, Ephesians 2:10.  It states, “10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”(NIV)

Other translations use the word masterpiece instead of handiwork. We are God’s masterpiece! And the fact that we are His masterpiece means that we were created for a specific purpose. We have a job to do; bringing glory to God. God has this work in mind for every single one of us.  I mentioned earlier that those of us in ministry have “answered a calling”, that you cannot really be successful in ministry if you have not been called.  What I did not mention then, I want to stress now. While you may not have been called to be in vocational ministry, if you are a Christ follower, you are called into some kind of ministry. It could be anything that you do to bring glory to your Creator, who created you as His masterpiece.

Korey made a statement in the middle of his sermon that was so dead on I just sat here in my office shaking my head in agreement. In fact, I have made very similar statements multiple times to my faith family here in New Mexico.  He said, “Everywhere you go should be your mission field.” Think about that. You should be sharing Jesus and His love everywhere you go. Here is how I have tried to stress that idea here; I had signs made that are now hanging beside every exit door we have in our church building. They simply read, “You are now entering your mission field” and then quote Matthew 28:19-20, which reads, “‘19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'” 

In other words, we all have a family calling if we are in the family of God. If you claim to be a Christ follower, answer your calling, and get busy in your mission field. It could be in your own back yard, or it could be half way around the world. Where it is does not really matter. What matters is that none of us sit idly by and expect someone else to do it for us. Let us all answer our “family calling”!

Click here to listen to Korey’s message on Vimeo.

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak