I often poke fun at church people. I mean, it's pretty easy (I am one, so I can say that). My favorite is when people add "bless their heart" after completely blasting someone for being a complete moron. That phrase "bless their heart" is like a license to say whatever you want about someone as long as you add that at the end. Example: "I was talking to Timmy last night and he told me that he got fired from another job today! That guys is a complete idiot, bless his heart." It's really effective.
I was thinking about ways I do this in my own life. One of them is complaining about things I have to do that I really shouldn't complain about. I have these moments when I realize that I have absolutely nothing to complain about, and yet I still do. For instance, camp is coming up. Camp is awesome spiritually and socially for our students. This is the fourth year I'll be director. As good as it always is, I always tend to complain about the amount of time it eats up out of my schedule and the diversion it is from my local ministry.
It's in those moments that God 'smites me.'
I'm not really sure what a smite looks like, but I know what happens between God and I in those times is pretty painful on my end. I've recognized the fact that a leadership position is God saying "I trust you." The more He trusts you, the broader your influence becomes. So, I should be thanking God everyday for trusting me and allowing me to serve Him in this capacity. And I am becoming thankful, everyday.
God even though sometimes I'm a completely ungrateful jerk, I thank you for trusting me - bless my heart.
Over the past few months, God's given me the priviledge of forming relationships and working with people that are connected in the business world, the academic world, and the government world. These are people of high intelligence and incredible insight. Our paths crossed through the common goal of obtaining a Master's Degree in Strategic Communication and Leadership. During the orientation meet and greet, we had to pair off and gain enough information about the person we were paired with to introduce him to the entire class. It was a lot of fun. When I was introduced by my friend Michael as a "pastor," there was this collective "hmm" that kind of went throughout the room. It wasn't really an intimidating thing, more of an inquisitive, "why is this guy here" kind of noise. In talking to people throughout that weekend and since then, I've gotten a good look into where that noise was stemming from. Basically, the majority of people don't associate pastors with leadership. They see the communication side, but not necessarily the leadership side of it. Pushing it further, the reason this is true is because they really haven't seen many (if any) churches that were on a streamlined, intentional mission. They see church as many people do as a building, a religious confine, or something good you're supposed to do on Sunday.
I'm wondering why though. I mean, why do churches fear declaring a mission, calling people to that mission, and maybe even calling people to change everything they're doing in order to fulfill the mission God is calling them to? Now, if you're a church person reading this, you already know the answer, as I do. We're afraid. We're afraid the congregation will leave, we're afraid the board will ask us to leave, we're afraid of rejection, we're afraid of failure.
A couple weeks back we started a series at BridgeWay called "One Prayer." This is a series that's put on by Craig Groeschel out of Lifechurch.tv. This series is designed to unite churches across denominational lines in an effort to unify Christ's body, for at least a month. The premise here is this: if you had one prayer for the church as a whole, what would it be? "Lord, make us ________." Check out the One Prayer website for a number of different video teachings done by some real quality teachers. Dale opened the series here with "Lord, make us courageous." It's an awesome message speaking to this issue of mission.
But that's what it's going to take. We have to be courageous through the Holy Spirit to see anything of value happen in our churches. The fear should never really go away, because frankly if you're not at least a little afraid, you're probably working in your own strength and not God's. Courage through the promises of God will allow God's church to do amazing things.
I'm wondering why though. I mean, why do churches fear declaring a mission, calling people to that mission, and maybe even calling people to change everything they're doing in order to fulfill the mission God is calling them to? Now, if you're a church person reading this, you already know the answer, as I do. We're afraid. We're afraid the congregation will leave, we're afraid the board will ask us to leave, we're afraid of rejection, we're afraid of failure.
A couple weeks back we started a series at BridgeWay called "One Prayer." This is a series that's put on by Craig Groeschel out of Lifechurch.tv. This series is designed to unite churches across denominational lines in an effort to unify Christ's body, for at least a month. The premise here is this: if you had one prayer for the church as a whole, what would it be? "Lord, make us ________." Check out the One Prayer website for a number of different video teachings done by some real quality teachers. Dale opened the series here with "Lord, make us courageous." It's an awesome message speaking to this issue of mission.
But that's what it's going to take. We have to be courageous through the Holy Spirit to see anything of value happen in our churches. The fear should never really go away, because frankly if you're not at least a little afraid, you're probably working in your own strength and not God's. Courage through the promises of God will allow God's church to do amazing things.
The creativity is kind of gone this week - it's been a really weird week. I think that's the best way to describe it. It's been a week of seepy basement walls, ripping out drywall, meeting after meeting, school work that is driving me bananas, a clogged drain in the basement, and on and on we go.
In spite of all that, it's also been pretty cool. I got to celebrate 4 years of marriage with my beautiful wife, my wife and I celebrated with my family the anticipated arrival of the newest Robinson (Brooke's pregnant), I got to see my little brother get married, spend time with family that I haven't seen in about a decade (or longer), went fishing with my dad, made dinner with my mom, hung out with my sister and her husband, had a rediculous pain filled paintball bachelor party, and just had an awesome time overall.
I wasn't at BridgeWay on Sunday, and truthfully, I really missed it. I missed the people, the music, the preaching - even the 6:30 am set up! I was gone and we had one of the largest attendances ever for a regular Sunday and more than that saw 7 people give their lives to the Lord. I told Dale that I'll be gone every week if we're guaranteed that result!
I guess the point of my rambling here is just to pause and thank God for how incredibly good He is to me. I can't thank him enough for anything I mentioned above, even the fact that I would be allowed to own a house that had a leaky basement. God rocks, and I thank Him for all of you who are reading this. Thanks for being part of my life.
In spite of all that, it's also been pretty cool. I got to celebrate 4 years of marriage with my beautiful wife, my wife and I celebrated with my family the anticipated arrival of the newest Robinson (Brooke's pregnant), I got to see my little brother get married, spend time with family that I haven't seen in about a decade (or longer), went fishing with my dad, made dinner with my mom, hung out with my sister and her husband, had a rediculous pain filled paintball bachelor party, and just had an awesome time overall.
I wasn't at BridgeWay on Sunday, and truthfully, I really missed it. I missed the people, the music, the preaching - even the 6:30 am set up! I was gone and we had one of the largest attendances ever for a regular Sunday and more than that saw 7 people give their lives to the Lord. I told Dale that I'll be gone every week if we're guaranteed that result!
I guess the point of my rambling here is just to pause and thank God for how incredibly good He is to me. I can't thank him enough for anything I mentioned above, even the fact that I would be allowed to own a house that had a leaky basement. God rocks, and I thank Him for all of you who are reading this. Thanks for being part of my life.
