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LRC 2016 Wraps Up Today

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I wrote an email to the alumni of Leadership Reno County explaining all the different ways they can connect to our program.  I love this program.

The backstory is that in 2010 I didn’t know what was happening in the community in which I pastor.  I was in a meeting with other pastors and was shocked to hear about some big issues plaguing our community.  I knew I had to do something.

So, I used the Leadership Reno County experience as a time to learn and refocus on the community in which I live and serve.

Fast forward to today and I get the privilege of serving as a facilitator of this program.  We are working for the common good of Reno County by trying to do something about the leadership behaviors of people.  I love this work.  We wrap up another class today.  There’s a celebration tonight of this group.

Leadership is an activity, not a position.  I’m hoping I continue to model and live this reality out through our local community leadership program.

Dangerous Calling Email – Daily Intervention

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Here’s the email I sent leaders at Crestview today, 4/3…

As we continue to think about Paul Tripp’s Dangerous Calling and follow up on Sessions 3 and 4 of the DVD, I turn my attention to Chapter 5, Joints and Ligaments.  I don’t know if you realize this or not, but, as Tripp says in this chapter, 100% of people reading this are deceived by sin.  “The blinding ability of sin is so powerful and persuasive that you and I literally need daily intervention.  What the writer of Hebrews is crushing with this warning and call [that none of us are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin] is any allegiance we might have to an isolated, individualized “Jesus and me” Christianity.  He is arguing for the essentiality of the ministry of others in the life of every believer. 
“And what is this daily ministry of intervention protecting us from?  The answer should sober every one of us: the grace of having our private conversations interrupted by the insight-giving ministry of others is protecting us from being spiritually blinded to the point of hardening our hearts.”  (both of these quotes are found on p.73)
I don’t know if any of you let anyone into your life with this kind of transparency but this isn’t a call for the zealous or the extrovert.  It’s a call for anyone who tends to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (which would be all of us).  Next time you get defensive or push back when someone appears to be prying into a personal area, why not realize that it’s God’s grace rather that some pushy person that coming to rescue you. 
For us to be godly leaders, men, we must embrace the daily intervention required to bring sin to the light.  Let’s embrace this for the glory of God and the good of those we are privileged to serve. 
Have a great week.

Weekend Recap – 11/27/11

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My sermon, The Word, from John 1:1-2 is online.  The sermon sought to show how Jesus, the Word became flesh, has always existed in personal relationship to the Father and is God.  It was a message that should give good theological support structure to those amazing promises we love about how God will never leave us or forsake us.  I hope it was encouraging.

In the evening, our church gathered to Hang the Greens.  Always a good time of fellowship and service, we enjoyed time with other people in the church.

You Need Community…Really…You Do…

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I was privileged to get a copy of Brad House’s book Community, the latest in the RE:LIT series.  House serves as a pastor at Mars Hill Church, Seattle, where he oversees community groups for the multi-site church.  For me, a good book is built on the basics of God’s Word and filled with practicality, or what the foundational truth from God’s Word should look like fleshed out.

The tension in a book on a particular facet of ministry is that while a broad cross section of evangelicalism may agree that something is important and even rooted in God’s Word, we may disagree on its practice.  I thought House did a great job of helping us see that what Mars Hill Church has chosen to do, how it has come out of Biblical conviction, but isn’t meant to be replicated by every church.  We are responsible, however, to flesh out community in our midst and this is the real strength of the book.

In Part 1, the foundation (or as he calls them, Building Blocks For Life) is unpacked.  This lays some biblical footings for how the book will flesh itself out in the later chapters.  Why do we need community?  How did God create us for this and other truths.

Part 2, health plan, helps to lead us in a positive direction by helping us see the different facts of community that need to be considered.  How should groups function, how often should they meet, where should they meet, what should they do?  Are you getting a feel for the practical side yet?

Part 3, treatment, gives us ways to effect change in our groups.  In other words, I’m given practical tools in this section to go about changing things from the way we’ve always done them.  This includes not only changing the past, but equipping leaders for the future.

Positives in this book include getting a great feel for what the Bible says about community, how those are fleshed out in a local church taking those commands seriously, humility in communicating what has been pursued, stories of how pursuing this has helped, as well as what I’ve already mentioned: practical things.

Negatives for me were that it is a longer read.  At times I felt the book drag.  This might have been my fatigue or the time of life when I’m reading this (3 kids under 5), but as I pressed through, it proved to be time well spent.

House has definitely thought deeply about this issue.  And if community is something you would like help in applying or tweaking in your particular ministry, then this book would be a book worthy of your time and investment.

Weekend Recap – Suffering…

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We enjoyed a blessed Lord’s Day yesterday on so many levels.

My good friend, Brad Russell, was here preaching from 1 Peter 1:3-9 a message entitled Perspective in Suffering.  Many of us, when facing suffering, act as if some strange thing is happening to us.  But, the Bible is clear about how we can remain grounded in the midst of it.  I appreciated Brad opening his life to us and giving us solid anchors to latch onto in the midst of the storm.  The perspective we have in suffering leads to perseverance based on the Prize we have in the glorious Gospel of Christ.

In the evening, our rain moved on and the temp cooled off and we enjoyed a great night of fellowship at our church picnic.  Fun stuff.  Nothing like unhurried fellowship, tossing the football around and watching the joy on the children’s faces as they played together.  What a rich time.

Hope you had a blessed Lord’s day and enter this week refreshed.

Links on How Community Can Be Build In the Local Church…

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a friend recommended I look at some of these and I found others this week.

Harvest Bible Chapel’s Culture of Community

Grace Fellowship Church’s Culture of Community

Sojourn Church’s Foundations for One Anothers

Other Churches to Consider

Tim Brister’s Meditations on Grace Saturated Community

These are each great links over an issue that I’m thinking about a lot in these days.  I hope you find them helpful.

Worship – Remember…

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I appreciated Brian Croft’s recent post on What Can Pastors Easily Forget When Preparing Sunday Services? In that post, he summarized his thoughts as:

The public, weekly gathering of the church provides a place of refuge, strength, and encouragement to our people who spend 5 days a week immersed in the world, surrounded by those who hate God, and constantly challenge the truths of the gospel they believe.

This is a great word and reminder for us. I love the picture of I get each Sunday as the people of Crestview gather to find hope in the Gospel, once again. Week in and week out, we want our worship gatherings to communicate much about God and how He has come near to us through the Gospel, specifically through Jesus Christ, who lived, died and rose again for us to be right with God. As you worship both today and corporately this coming Lord’s Day, how are you being encouraged in that gathering? What grace is being extended to you? Look to God and find all that you need.

Help for Your Christmas Get-Togethers…

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…from Peacemaker Ministries (Peacemeal Weekly Devotional):

In many situations, the best way to resolve a conflict is simply to overlook the personal offenses of others. This approach is highly commended throughout Scripture:
“A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense” (Prov. 19:11; cf. 12:16; 15:18; 20:3).

“Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out” (Prov. 17:14; cf. 26:17).

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8; cf. Prov. 10:12; 17:9)

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Eph. 4:2).

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Col. 3:13; cf. Eph. 4:32).