Posted on Jul 01, 2010
For most pastors and leaders there is a weakness. Probably many weaknesses, but I believe most of us share this weakness. It’s the inability (or just the plain dislike) to slow down and rest.
Throughout the bible God invites us to rest. He asks us to be still. He describes himself as being in the quiet. He literally mandates a sabbath within his creation.
So why is it so hard to do this? Well, I personally think it’s a cultural deal. I think USAmericans are taught to value business. We are told from a young age that we should work harder AND smarter. We are constantly wired in. Most of us don’t take a day off. Very few take vacations. And if we do, we are always an email or cell call away from the office.
In the gospel of Luke, he describes that Jesus was crucified, died, and his body was taken off the cross and then placed in the tomb. The women were getting ready to place spices and perfumes on his body, “but they rested on the sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”. That’s an incredible verse. I think Jesus is trying to tell us something here.
In the midst of their darkest moment. In the middle of their terror and disappointment…they rested!
I believe it’s hard for us to rest. Especially when things are not going well. Let’s do better at this. We need to learn how to rest…how to sabbath.
May you rest in Him today.
Posted on Jun 01, 2010
“From the design of the iPod to the uncluttered Google home page, simple ideas are changing the world… They can change the church as well.”
This is a quote from Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger’s book, Simple Church. Great quote. Great book.
At Small Church Conference we want to adopt and promote this kind of attitude within ministry. We believe simple is better. So much of church today is cluttered with all kinds of noise, all kinds of visions, all kinds of programs, all kinds of activities… All that noise is distracting. It makes it hard to minister and impact the community around us. What we need is a revolution: a simple revolution.
Here at SCC our prayer is that you would unclutter your world and your ministry and just get back to basics…the simple basics. Let’s love and serve the way Jesus did.
Grace and peace to you.
Posted on May 21, 2010
I came across this quote from Mother Teresa the other day. She was talking about success, “God doesn’t require us to succeed; He only requires that you try.”
What a great thought. Personally, I agree with her. I think God is much more interested in our trying and risking and obeying than he is with our outcomes. In fact, God is usually the one who worries about the outcomes anyways. He is responsible for the results, we are responsible for the obedience.
It seems to me that most pastors and leaders – especially in America- are constantly crunching numbers and looking at ROI’s (return on investment). This means that we are trying to measure if we are successful or not. It means we have some arbitrary number out there that if we reach we will tell ourselves, “Well done.”
The problem with this is that too many church leaders are NOT trying anything! Many of us are stuck and paralyzed. We are so fearful of not reaching “success” that we would rather not try anything at all.
Basically a lot of churches out there have cultural success (success in the eyes of the society) and a lot of other churches are frozen (fearful of failing). Which means, we got a lot of churches that are not necessarily successful; at least in God’s eyes.
What do we do? Well, I think we have to redefine success, and realize, “God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that we try.”
May you try something this week.
Posted on May 10, 2010
Philip Yancey writes in his book, “What’s so Amazing About Grace,”
“The strongest argument in favor of grace is the alternative, a world of ungrace.”
So much of the “church world” today is characterized by religion and an “Us vs. Them” mentality. Many times as leaders and pastors we are very quick to define who we are against, the type of people we DO NOT want to be like, the types of sinners, tax-collectors, prostitutes that we shouldn’t ever hang out with.
The problem with all this, of course, is…..Jesus.
Jesus never treated people like this. Jesus never treated you and I like this! Jesus was the kind of guy that gravitated toward needy people. In a day and age where most of us gravitate AWAY from the most needy of our society, they desperately need us to move towards them. Small Church Conference is a place where we will learn that grace, forgiveness, second chances, and love are not just nice theological words to discuss, but they are the HEART of Jesus and the HEART of His church.
After all, the only alternative for grace is ungrace. And that’s no way to live at all!
