Question of the Day 10.29.09

Question of the Day: Are full disclosure and honesty the exact same thing?

Question of the Day 10.28.09

Question of the Day: If you could be any age again for one week, what age would you be, what would you do and why?

A Letter to our Pastor, from a Faithful Member

Dear Pastor,

You often stress attendance at worship as being very important for a Christian. I totally agree with you, but I think a person has a right to miss a service now and then. I have looked at our own attendance over the last year and I think that every year a person ought to be excused from church for the following reasons and the number of times indicated.

Christmas Holidays (the Sunday before & after are so busy) 2
New Years (sorry but the party just lasted too long) 1
Easter (we get away for the holidays) 2
July 4th (we spend the weekend with family) 1
Labor Day (I really needed a break) 1
Memorial Day (we visit kin folk) 1
School closing (the kids needed a break) 1
School reopens (the kids want one last fling) 1
Family reunions (mine & wife’s) 2
Sleep late (sorry but we stayed up too long on Saturday night) 5
Deaths in family 2
Anniversary (we went on a second honeymoon) 1
Sickness (there were two per family member-when one is sick, no one can come) 8
Business trip (what can I do – my work expects it) 1
Vacation (two weeks every year) 2
Bad weather (ice, snow, rain, drizzle, clouds) 4
Ball games (we need to keep up with sports) 6
Races (don’t judge me) 2
Unexpected company (we couldn’t just leave them) 2
Time changes (Daylight saving in spring & fall) 2
Personal Business (the Super Bowl, etc) 3

Pastor, that leaves two Sundays per year. So, you can count on us to be in church on the 4th Sunday in February and the 1st Sunday in August unless we are providentially hindered.

Sincerely,
A Faithful Member

The 1 Thing God cant do

In all my readings of the bible I've surmised that there is 1 thing GOD cannot do. I know that may sound strange because after all he is Alpha and Omega, He is here from everlasting to everlasting as Psalms 90 says. He is GOD, He can do all but 1 thing:

GOD cant lie.

Now you may read your bible and find passages that say I will never sore sake you. I will never leave you. and HE wont. You may read these and say...God can't sore sake me or leave you. He can but because of His promise and covenant with you HE WONT.

And that's the key....

His word is true because HE chose to make it true...which means HE chose to love you. He chose to respect you. He chose YOU.

That choice He made...says you are never alone, never rejected, never without a friend, never without comfort, never without guidance...But somehow we often forget that.

I know I do...there are times in life when I get so caught up in myself and forget that God cant lie and spiral myself out of control and into the depths of despair. Lets face it we all do...its sadly part of our human condition but God has a way of sending a dove holding a olive branch, like He did for Noah, to let us know that their is dry ground near.

Here's the key...here is what I need to focus on and what you need to get too...we can't ignore the Dove. If God can't lie...then when the world has fore saken us, when we have decided we are not worth it any more...God will say...I LOVE YOU...Take my hand.

So take His hand and He will mold you into His perfect masterpiece.

Free book

This Sunday will be the final week (week 6) of our The Antidote series. We've covered a lot in the first 5 weeks but this week we are going to tackle a major major issue...'Why do I always feel so alone when I'm worried?'

have you ever noticed that...when you worry no one else seems to care or no one else seems to be going through what you are going through. Some people come and try to say 'encouraging words' and very often you wish you could tell them to get lost. Worry is a VERY VERY lonely sport.

So...we are going to study a very well known/talked about passage of scripture but we are going to look at it from an entirely different angle because there is something very subtle that God is communicating in the story.

So here is the contest: Can you figure out what scripture we are going to use and the subtle message God is relaying? If you get it right we will mail you a Free book.

Tent City USA

Check out this video....

Tent City, USA from Mob Logic on Vimeo.

Most of us would say, 'man I'm glad we don't live close to there'. Here is the truth though....We have a version of Tent City right Here in Howard county MD. We cant let this happen anymore. Its time we help people. At the RT 1 Day center many of Howard County's homeless come 3 times a week for shelter and a meal. I challenge those of us who live here in Howard County to stop by and visit with these people. The stories you will hear will blow you away, their level of humanity will amaze you and maybe like me you will realize that we are not that far off from being them because many of them were not there a year ago.

If statistics are true and most of us are 60-90 days from being homeless then we must recognize that even though our lives are cushy now...they may not always be...and while we can we need to help someone else out.

Are pastors being incomplete?

I just got done listening to Francis Chan at the Saddleback Worship Conference and man he rocked me. As a pastor we are charged to teach God's word, I dont think any of us are confused about that. Most pastors pray fervently that God order and direct our words and actions and we do this because we have a great love for God and often a love to see people have life altering transformational change.

Let me ask you this though....

Jesus said to Love God with all your heart and love thy neighbor as thyself...right?

Have you ever thought about that before you preach? Have you ever before you preach asked God to cause you to fall deeper in love with the people in the audience, to truly love them? I have not. I usually spend my quiet moments with God before I take stage telling Him how much I love Him and want to do His will. I may pray that people receive His message and that their lives are changed...but if we are honest...truly honest...I think most of us will have to admit that we want to see transformational change in others for selfish reasons. We want to represent God well for selfish reasons. Now I'm not condemning us for our reasons but I am saying we are being incomplete.

Let me explain....

What if we were to truly love each and every person in the audience as ourselves as we spoke to them. What if our love for them ran so deep and was so profound that when they experienced change it was almost like we experienced it all over again for the first time. Let me put it to you this way...I love my son, I love that he loves football, when he scores his first touchdown it will be like I scored...I will be through the roof excited. At the same time...I love my wife...when I do the dishes its because I love her...there is no exuberance that the kitchen is clean. There is exuberance because my wife is happy.

We are excited when we see transformation because God is happy and rarely because we know we will be seeing this person for eternity. That's the selfishness...we want to hear 'Well done my good and faithful servant', we want God to be happy. Rarely are we pumped because now we know we can live out our earthly days with this person and then also live with them in Heaven forever. It requires love to plan to spend your life and eternity with someone...Ask anyone married they will attest to that.

See, what if we could treat those who listen to us Sunday after Sunday like our child that when they experience transformation we experience it, when they experience defeat we experience it. I truly believe this was part of the Acts 2 model...they bore with one another.

I think if we can do this, have that type of love, then God will say...'Well done..'. Because at this point we would have loved God and loved our neighbors as ourselves.

So...I hope you will join me on Sundays in asking God...To allow us to truly Love, with a crazy over the top, awe inspiring, radical love those He has asked me to communicate to.

A little worry is good...right?

Can worrying be a good thing? We are no longer kids that have no cares in the world. We have jobs, homes, cars, responsibility. Should we not worry about the things we are responsible for? Is it not the adult thing to be concerned about those things? After all if we are not concerned about our income and our future then who will? So, maybe a little worry can go a long way…maybe? What are your thoughts?


This Sunday we will examine what Jesus says to us about worry and if He agrees that a little worry can be good for us.


Sunday 10-11 am
United Artists Movie Theater
9161 Commerce Center Drive
Columbia MD
www.VisionRunners.org

Pastors Sin.

In the last 7 days I've been confronted with the truth that 2 men that I respect have resigned as pastors of the churches they helped plant because of secret sin.

One is a closest enough friend that he called me so he could share the reality with me. What I'm not going to do is rehash the particulars of either of their situations, honestly I don't care and you should not either.

What we do need to learn from are the realities of their situations because there are some principles that are easy for us to ignore or take for granted.

Here they are:

1. As pastors we need accountability. Not just the is our church growing are people getting saved are we teaching the Word accountability. We need personal, moral, and ethical accountability. We need best friends, other pastors who we can let our guard down around and say my stuff stinks. Someone who can see through our hiding and call us out.
2. As pastors we need to dig up those deep dark places that we try to hide and ignore. We need to pull up those habits and desires that we try to hide and DEAL with them. We cant hide them because the devil will eventually figure out how to tempt you with them.
3. We can't ever forget that the only person to 'survive' being tempted was Jesus. We can't think we are above or better than falling to temptation.
   
4. We must continually teach the churches God has allowed us to lead that the vision of the church is GOD's not ours. We cannot let ego get the better of us. Remember who we serve and that we are servants. As a servant ego is not an admired quality. Servants make their master look good.
5. We each need to realize that we are 1 stupid decision from failure. That's right 1 stupid decision. You dont need to steal $1 million or have a year long affair. Its the first dollar stolen or the first fleeting thought that gets us in trouble.
6. We can NEVER EVER put ministry before our wives and children. Are you spending more time doing church than with your wife? Does your wife get your seconds and your kids get yesterday's leftovers of your time. God First, WIFE next, then kids then Church.
   

Biblicaly we are to restore our brothers after they sin. We can't judge. As my Bishop says...'we dont have a heaven or hell to put them in.' So there is no judgement from me for Gary Lamb or my other pastor friend. Honestly, we need to pray for God's healing for their familiy. I truly believe these men were anointed by God and even though they strayed I believe God will restore them to continue His work.

For each of us now we need to examine our relationships with our wives and our relationship with GOD. Has ego, work-a-holicism, greed, or selfishness creeped in. Are our spouses yearning for our attention.? Is God begging you to be real with Him again, transparent with Him again?

A couple other guys wrote about this topic and specifically Gary Lamb and their posts are awesome:

An open letter to pastors
Thoughts on Pastor Gary Lamb
He got caught, you did not


One of my best pastor friends, Dre Burgs, and I are going to start a Pastors Accountability Network. If you are interested in partaking or learning about what we will be doing...drop me a line on facebook or Twitter. This network is open to male and female pastors (senior, youth, worship, community, etc). All pastors.


Continue being a blessing.

Surviving today means change Part 1

OK so its an understatement to say we are living in a time of huge uncertainty and change. If you have not been personally effected by the Job or housing market then I'm sure you know someone close to you who has. So how do you survive financially and emotionally?

Financially....

You and your family have to resolve to be different with the way you spend money. In our family we saw hard times coming last April (2008) and my wife and I sat down and said we needed to change. We analyzed our spending (every penny) from Dec 2007-March 2008 (we use 1 credit card for all purchases except those paid through Bill pay). We tracked every penny we spent in MS excel and categorized it. We saw that we spent a TON eating out, on gas (who did not) and at mid week grocery store runs.

I wont lie it was hard but we started by eating out 2 times a month less, we resolved to cook meals we had all the ingredients to make (cutting down the mid week grocery trips), and we cut out unneeded driving and started cramming the whole family into the small car to save gas.

Its been a year and we've also decided not to pay full price for anything and continued to cut miscellaneous expenses. Today we spend 33% per day of what we spent per day a year ago. We've cut our daily expenses by 66% without changing our lifestyles too much. Our kids don't notice the difference.

Today we also use tools to help us track our spending and save money:

http://mint.com
http://frugality.alltop.com/


A couple MAJOR points:

1. Buy what you NEED and not what you want. Its easy to justify...wants as needs. For all purchases over $50 wait 1 day for every $50 you want to spend before you purchase teh item to examine if you really NEED it.
   
2. Track expenses Daily not weekly or monthly. Every day analyze where and how you spend your money. This will help you have a better handle on where every penny goes. It also keeps you focused. If you know that yesterday you legitimately spent too much then today you know you cant spend much. Tracking daily you will soon see the average you spend daily, then you can set goals to lower that number. It took us over a year to drop ours. We set lower daily goals each month.
3. Dont be afraid of your money. You have to 'name every penny'. No penny should be unaccounted for. Sayings like I dont know what happened to my cash should NEVER be made. NEVER. We often have more cash that we realized.
4. Include your entire family...including the kids. We track our expenses at dinner. We even ask the kids how much they spent that day (they never spend anything). BUt it teaches them important lessons we did not learn from our parents (at least most of us did not).

Part 2 will cover how you lead in these uncertain times. People around you are looking for your guidence but if you are emotionally worn out or scared or worried its hard to lead effectively.