About a 40 minute interview by Steven Furtick with Ted Haggard
Has been fascinating to watch the church respond/not respond to this tragedy.
A mainline, well known, evangelical pastor commits sexual sin, and not just sexual sin, but gay sexual sin.
April 24, 2009
Leadership Isn’t Decision Making
it is direction setting
EVERYONE makes decisions…not everyone leads
it is an important distinction because…
1. People think because they can make decisions they are leaders, and as such, should be followed
This can happen in marriages, in churches, in business…
let’s just use the example of marriage:
Some men think that as the leader of their homes it means they are supposed to make all the decisions, and their wife is supposed to follow them.
Given the right circumstance, the wife will admit that she doesn’t feel like the man is leading.
Dumbfounded, the man will explain all of the decisions he has made
If he is prone to being defensive, (prideful) he will blame the wife, saying she is not following his decisions, and claiming that if she would support his decisions things would be fine.
2. It is possible to make decisions, and be going no where
In our marriage example, the reason the wife doesn’t feel like her husband is leading is because all of the decision have not produced anything
There is no vision, no direction
she feels the lack of progress and direction… and rightly explains it as him not leading
because he equates leadership with decisions, and not direction, he can’t hear her
Sometimes we make the passive decisions
Ones that don’t matter….don’t count…don’t create…and think we are leading
Leaders discern the decisions that create, and wisely make them
*In your marriage, what is your vision, and what decisions are you making to set a course…plow new territory…bring that vision to pass?
*In your family…
*At your church…
*In your business…
April 24, 2009
Reasons We Don’t Employ Direction Setting Leadership
Again, leading being the setting of direction, not the making of decisions…
1. You don’t know how
I think most men have not had a biblical modeling of leadership in their life. They missed it from dad…they missed it from the church…and so have the dudes they run with…creating a vacuum. Rarely seeing what direction setting leadership looks like, they resign themselves to passivity or chauvinism. Thinking that being a leader means they have to decide, and they have to be right, they are frustrated when people debate their decisions, and do not understand why more people do not follow them.
At the same time, I think most men feel the tension of their lack of leadership
Rather than working, finding a mentor, reading, praying, they stay in their ignorance
If you don’t know how, find someone who does, and follow them so you can lead others
2. You are lazy
Ignorance is bliss. As dudes, we are fine with our lack of leadership because it is easier than the alternative.
Vision takes work
Direction takes work
Plowing new territory takes work
HARD work
For some it is not that we don’t know how, or that we don’t see the need…
it is that we are lazy, selfish, immature bums
I think most men have this tendency in them…especially these days, when adolescence extends into the late twenties.
These dudes need to get a grip and grow up
For those who can see areas in your life like this, we need to repent, work, be growing, and be busy
3. You misprioritize
Some of us have it in the tank. We are go-getters. We have vision. We get things done. We just get things done on the wrong fronts.
But we generally we pursue selfish fronts…fronts that fulfill us…make us look good…or bring us enjoyment
Our priority list:
1. You are a Christ follower
2. You are a husband
3. You are a father
4. You are a boss or employee
I would say that you need to be all of these within community (church), but another post, another time
What is your vision in these areas?
Where will these relationships be in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years?
No one cares how far you got in the video game, on the golf course, or with your stocks
Frankly, no one cares how much money you made (if you were horrible to work for or with)
Evaluate and prioritize your energy and vision how God says He intended
It doesn’t mean you can’t play golf, have friends, or chill out. It does mean that we are not free to do these things at the expense of our priorities
4. You don’t know yourself
In marriage this does not apply. Men are to initiate. Men set direction. That direction may be passive by default, but it is direction non the less. Your family will respond to you.
However some are simply not supposed to be leading. They don’t have a vision. They don’t get it, and they don’t have it.
You are supposed to be a second or third chair guy. A supporter. A follower. An encourager
Why do we think this makes us less than?
What does make you less, is forcing what you aren’t on someone else
People see who you truly are
Be honest with who you are
Be thankful about who you are…God created you that way
Be growing in who you are
If you aren’t a direction setter, find a direction (and a direction setter) you can follow, and get after it
April 15, 2009
Town Hall for Hope
The Bridge is hosting Dave Ramsey’s Town Hall for Hope
When: Thursday, April 23rd at 8 PM
Where: Stetson Sqaure
3010 Eden Ave Cincinnati, OH 45219
http://www.townhallforhope.com/
April 14, 2009
I Believe…(Planting and Replanting Churches)
Church planting is sexy in church world right now…
many of the planters are young men, full of passion, full of ideas and innovation, and a little bit a piss and vinegar for good measure.
It is a good thing…we need more of it…
in fact, we need a lot more of it…
In 1900 there was church in America for every 430 citizens
In 1906 1/3 of all churches were under twenty five years old (most productive years of a church)
By 1916 53% of the US population were “religious adherents”
After WW1 church planting plummeted…older churches did not want new churches in “our neighborhood”…
Experts now suggest single digit involvement and institutional church extinction by 2050
I have two contentions with church planting/planters
1. We do not need one more church in the affluent suburbs!
Stop it…seriously. Stop it until the all the communities in your area have at least one church. How is it that “God calls” such an enormous number of planters to rich white areas, and calls no one to the diverse, poor areas of town? How is it that “God calls” yet another planter to an area that already has ten churches who believe and act like the church the planter has envisioned, but does not call anyone to areas where there is no church?
It just might be that He doesn’t. The church has largely left the urban centers of our country to their own devices. Thankfully there is a number of planter who are going back into the city, but not enough.
We have an area in Cincinnati that is growing, white, rich…
and I hear planter after planter after planter who feel like they would like to start a church there.
at the very same time, the same areas show up on the news every night…the same areas are complained about, avoided, and left alone. Are you telling me not one of those people is called to plant in an area that is outside what they already know, have experienced, and are used to?
Obviously not every suburban church planter is out of God’s will…Obviously I am a fan of suburban churches, and church plants…but think about it, why would God call the church away from city center, densely populated, filled with diversity, that are historically hubs of influence? I think teh answer is, He doesn’t
2. Stop planting churches to be the opposite of the church you grew up in, or were on staff at, or hate
God calls you to something, not to be the opposite of something. In the end, your vision is not yours, it is just the opposite of what you don’t like. In the end your vision is not spiritual, but emotional or fleshly. In the end, you will end up the same as what you didn’t want to be, because what you hated what a result of heart, not style or method, and yours is as flawed as what you came from.
We need more church plants…and many more church re-plants
The Bridge is a church re-plant…it was re-named, re-located, and re-launched (out of the burbs and into the city)
Re-planting is not church planting…any replant that tries to act like a church plant won’t make it
I get why people would rather start over…re-plants are hard…messy…complicated…stressful…and bloody
Here is our alternative: 80% of church are plateaued or declining
8 out of 10 churches you walk into
80% of churches in view of the on looking world are not healthy, growing, re-producing, or making disciples
this isn’t ok
if this were an economy…capitalism would prevail and churches would be allowed to fail, making room for new church plants…but 80%?
we are looking at a collapse
let alone the failure rate of church plants
Could it be that some of those young men…full of ideas, and passion, need to take their strength and put it toward the less sexy work of rebuilding was it broken for the sake of the universal health of the church (or at least the health of the western church)
Have we put the cart before the horse…planting churches disconnected from another local, healthy, body? Wouldn’t it be better if we took the time to make sick churches healthy, make inward churches outward, make infertile churches reproducing, and then call those churches to plant churches?
I would be interested to see what would happen to the success rate in church planting
In some ways our method of church planting is unnatural. Something is birthed from thin air. Without a church mama who nurtured and supported and protected it in its infant stages.
It may be that our failure rate is directly connected to our lack of effort to in replanting unhealthy churches that would under gird the new churches that are being planted
Either way, something has to change
April 8, 2009
I Believe…Versions of The Bible
You can’t win when you talk about versions…
No matter what you say people you tick people off
The very fact you are talking about the issue lets people know you are “one of those”
but “those” have such a detailed and expectant view on what someone should or shouldn’t say you can never be one of “them” unless you agree with them on every “jot and tittle”
You lose before you get started
At the same time, it is an issue.
It does create confusion
and you have to stand somewhere
It is not coincidental that the first words out of Satan’s mouth in the garden are to question the words of God.
It obviously matters to God…He claims His word is truth…but when His word, in certain versions says different things…how do we choose?
Shouldn’t we assume “the serpent” is still casting doubt, still minimizing, still questioning?
All versions are not created equal. They come from different places…from different texts…through different hands and cultures…and say different things
So how do we decide?
I don’t think its necessary to tell you which version you should use.
I obviously have a preference, but I think the following are some baseline ideas
If you do not believe you are holding the words of God…
then what is the point?
I recently listened to a man who claimed, and accepted the mercy and grace of God, but chose to reject Satan and hell because the Bible was written two thousand years ago, we have no comprehensive original text, and culture has changed…incredibly convenient logic (completely indefensible, but convenient)
This is obviously an extreme example, but we tend to be more free to pick and choose words like that sting more, or seem less culterally tenable when we can pawn them of to not being as perfect as they were in the original text
If you don’t believe ALL of the Bible is God’s inerrant or infallible word, then how do you decide which to base your life on and defend, and which to throw aside as inconsequential or trivial? How do you guard against convenient, self serving acceptance of some text, and avoidance of those texts that seem unsavory, or you are unwilling to abide by?
If you believe you are holding the words of God, preserved for you in your language…
1. Don’t be so obnoxious about it!
Why are people to whom the whole version debate is so important…people who believe they are holding the words of God, tried and preserved in their language….the most mean spirited, narrow thinking, mocking, pharisaic crowd in the conversation.
Shouldn’t people who claim to put such an emphasis on the Bible be the most adherent to the spirit of it? You shouldn’t get a pass on character because of the version of the Bible under your arm. Holding a certain version doesn’t compensate for your anger problem. Holding a certain version doesn’t hide your pride. Rather it exposes it.
If you are going to make such an issue of “defending the word of God”…live it first…it makes your case more viable to the onlooking community
2. Ask yourself…can or does God only choose to use the version you claim?Or does He use whatever He sees fit?
If you are more selective than God, then God either needs to get as serious as you are about the Bible, or you need to ask yourself why it is really an issue for you.
I have a version I like…prefer…even think is the best…at the end of the day we all need to decide if the book we hold in our lap is trustworthy. More than a feeling, we need to know why the book we hold in our lap is trustworthy. Regardless of the acronym on the binding, can you base your life, and eternity on it? If not, find a new version
Equally, we need to admit that there is some choosing of our battle. The Bridge exists in a urban, college community…do you think I should be more willing to celebrate one of our students reading/studying the Bible, or criticize his selection of version?
The version debate truly is a Christian debate…no one in need of Christ knows, or cares what you mean when you say the KJV is an obviously superior text to the NASB…they simply know they can understand one better than the other. The only people who even know what our acronyms mean are people who have been in the church long enough to not have any friends who are apart from God. In the end, what battle do we need to win? Maybe it should dictate which battle we fight?
March 31, 2009
Does Satan Exist?
Interesting debate with some VERY different theological and historical worldviews… (including Driscoll and Deepak Chopra)
March 31, 2009
I Believe…
little under the weather and lots to do…
will fire up the “I Believe” series tomorrow
until then…
“our culture prefers effortless spontaneity with occasional divine intervention in emergencies, rather than working with God on developing the muscles which will meet those emergencies with a God given second nature which appears spontaneous, but in fact is the result of thinking, and choosing, and practicing” -N.T. Wright
March 27, 2009
I Believe…(Denominations)
I think they started out honestly…with men and women who believed that together they could accomplish more than was possible individually
I think they started out innocently…I don’t think those who began denominations intended them to become the monstrosities of corporate organizations they presently are. Fact is, you could make the argument that God has blessed, and the idea grew beyond the imaginations of its originators.
I think they do ALOT of good…the core reason for their existence, mutual investment compounded by the quantity of investors, is still a great idea. Just look at any MLM scheme. Denomination do reach farther than the local church can by themselves. Denominations do have more resources than the local church does. Many people have been helped…Many people have met Jesus…Many people have grown because of the investment and service of denominations.
I think they may resemble a sort of junior mafia…complete with bosses, enforcers, collectors, middle management, and poor, inexperienced newbies who do what they need to do to jump up the “family” ladder toward influence, power, and well…money
I know it resembles a corporate organization…complete with executives, sales men (associational missionaries), and regional managers, and local branch managers (pastors). Even though I suppose there is some merit to this, I sometimes wonder that of business and the church, which is the cart and which is the horse (who is leading who?)
I think many within denominations struggle to see the confusion caused by their existence…I wish I could say denomination confuse the hell out of people, it just isn’t true. Truth is, people are so confused by the incredible number of divisions in groups who all claim Jesus, that they never consider Him, and spend their lives and sometimes eternity apart from Him. It is hard to explain how many groups there are who all call themselves Christians, and disagree so sharply. What is even harder to explain is how many different denominations there are within denominations, and groups within denominations, and categories within groups…It starts to look like a power grab…and people see the contradiction
I like the trend…of networks. As long as they do not become the new denominations. Networks seem to find common fundamental belief, and then get busy on a common work. Denominations seem enamored with requiring agreement on fringe doctrine, (alcohol) rather than calling out false doctrine within “Christendom” that confuse the onlooking world. It seems that gathering around a common work, after a few mutual distinctives have been confirmed allows the context we exist in to observe what we are about, rather than hear what we are about.
I hope a trend…of fundamentally like minded, interdenominational work becomes the norm. No one has the market cornered. No one is right on everything. Obviously, if we do not agree on the Gospel we will have a hard time working together. But, when we find agreement, regardless of what “team” we play for, lets hit the field together. The idea of mutual investment being compounded with quantity is sound…lets use it
