March 31st, 2012
“Wow!”
Categorized: Church Change, Culture Change, Leader Change, Leadership, NorthRidge Church |
March 29th, 2012
POWER
I hated it. Though I know God is in control and was able to accomplish good through it, from my perspective, it ruined everything. “It”, in this circumstance, is the fact that we lost all of the power to the building at our largest campus this past weekend. Two minutes before our first Sunday service was to begin…everything shut down. It was dark. Nearly three thousand people were already in the building, and everything was ready. Our staff and volunteers had worked hard. The talk I was getting ready to share was an important one. But, when the power cut out, none of that mattered. There would be no service…no impact. In fact, the problem was so severe that we would have to cancel both of our services scheduled at that campus. What a waste. All that effort and nothing to show for it. No life change. No opportunity for life change.
I have to say that I’m so proud of the reaction of our staff, volunteers, and church. Everyone responded brilliantly. Many of our people actually sped off to one of our two church satellite ministries. I was one of them. Though my talk was scheduled to be on video, I was able to give it live. It was fun…for me and them. Others joined our church online service. But, all the while, the campus with no power sat empty, and, at least in that moment, totally wasted…unfulfilled potential. I hated it.
Now, here’s the lesson. The same could have been true, (and I believe often is in many churches on any given weekend), even if the electrical power hadn’t been lost. The truth is that all of our planning, working, creating, inspiring, studying, talking, singing, preaching, and gathering is a total waste…unfulfilled potential…wasted effort…results in no real life change…unless it’s done in God’s power. Without God’s power, there’s no reason for or result of gathering. Jesus said it flat out in John 15:5…”without me you can do nothing.” This is the reason that, after fully training His disciples, He told them in Acts 1:4-5 to wait in Jerusalem until the coming of the Spirit. All the preparation and readiness in the world is nothing without power. It’s a waste to do church…to do life for that matter…without God’s power. Yet, if we’re honest, we usually spend more time planning, preparing, and doing than seeking His power. Could this explain what we’re experiencing in our churches…in our lives?
As much as I hated the result of no power at our church this past weekend, we will ultimately hate MUCH MORE the result of the days, seasons, years of our lives and ministries that we live without God’s power. So, with all the planning, preparing, and doing that we need to and should do in our churches and lives, let’s not forget to “abide” in Christ…to walk in His Spirit…to make sure we seek and find God’s power. Life’s a waste without it. All that effort and nothing to show for it. You’ll hate it.
Thoughts?
Categorized: Christian Living, Leadership, Life Change |
March 21st, 2012
Boredom
Boredom is a huge…potentially dangerous problem for all of us…in every area of our lives. Yes, even in our spiritual lives. I had opportunity to write on “boredom” in my regular column, “Leading Change”, in Outreach Magazine. It was in response to a question relating to church becoming boring. However, I really do think that the principles and practices I give for overcoming it can apply to all of our spiritual lives…to every part of our lives.
If you’re interested in reading it, Outreach Magazine just posted it on their website. Here’s the link: ow.ly/1ISEZv .
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is boredom something you deal with? Do the ideas I share make sense to you…sound helpful? Have you come up with other ways of making sure that boredom doesn’t defeat you?
Remember, Nehemiah 8:10 says “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Do whatever you can to keep your joy and stay strong.
Categorized: Christian Living, Church Change, Leader Change, Life Change |
March 13th, 2012
Marking the Moment
When God does a work, He wants us marking those moments…for us to celebrate Him and for others to become aware of Him. This is what Passover was about in the Old Testament. This is what communion is about in the New Testament. What just recently happened at NorthRidge is so clearly a work of God, I think it’s appropriate to Mark the Moment. As you watch this video…celebrate God…know that He is real and working today.
Categorized: Culture Change, NorthRidge Church |
March 8th, 2012
Beautiful Surprise
As we were leaving work last night, my precious Roxann informed me that we were heading to my daughters house to babysit our three grandchildren. It wasn’t the evening I had planned, but, as it turned out, it was far better. We had a blast with them.
This small change of plans has inspired a thought this morning that may (or may not) be relevant to you today. Many of the great (best) experiences of life aren’t planned. They come in the form of a surprise…an unexpected and often an initially undesired detour.
So, we need to be careful not to be so rigid that we can’t experience the beauty that is to come with the “surprise.” Often, I miss the beauty because I respond so negatively to the change. Thank God, last night I didn’t…and now I have an awesome memory that would have never happened if Roxann hadn’t committed me to a night with my grandchildren…without asking.
[Note to Roxann: this isn't permission to make commitments for me without asking. I'm serious. 
]
Categorized: Change |
March 6th, 2012
Zambia…Man sized Goals God sized Results
This past weekend at NorthRidge Church, I had the privilege to stand up and cast vision toward a new partnership we’re forging with World Vision to bring physical and spiritual transformation to Zambia. In order to accomplish it, I made it clear that we were seeking to fulfill a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) that many felt was unreachable…actually crazy. It was a goal that had never been accomplished before by a single church in a weekend. The goal was to see 2000 children sponsored immediately…the most that we could secure from World Vision for our two target areas.
As I shared that goal, I made it clear that I believed it could happen for two reasons. The first was the simple fact that I believe in what God can do. As Ephesians 3:20 says, He can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. Since I could imagine us achieving this goal, I knew that God could do immeasurably more. The second was that I believe in the NorthRidge Church family. Time and time again, when God’s Truth and a great need has been communicated to them, they have been all in. I had no reason to doubt that this weekend would be any different.
I was right. In fact, as it turns out, I set man sized goals…but we experienced God sized results. With our last and largest service yet to happen at Plymouth, as well as our on-line service…we had already run out of children to sponsor. In keeping with the heart of NorthRidge, the people in our last service were willing to step out in faith and commit to sponsoring children that are at this time nameless and faceless. What an amazing response. I’m so proud of and thankful for our church family. But, even more, I’m thrilled about all God is going to do to change the lives, circumstances, and eternal hope of so many precious people in Zambia.
So…(drum roll please)…our one weekend total of sponsored children stands at 2,780. And, this is just the beginning. Though I was proud of our willingness to step out and declare a goal beyond any achieved before, God has, once again, humbled me. 1 John 3:1 expresses my heart very well…”How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
Yea God! Yea NorthRidge! Yea World Vision! And…Yea for the children and people of Zambia.
If you missed my talk, you can watch it here: http://ow.ly/9upxC
Categorized: Culture Change, NorthRidge Church |
March 1st, 2012
The Radical
Radical… it’s not a word that most associate with Jesus today. But, in His day, this is exactly how others saw Him. His teaching was outrageous. His life was revolutionary. He was dangerous to the comfortably predictable lives everyone knew and enjoyed. And yet, because of Him, the world was different… forever changed… both then and now. And so it’s time for His followers to, once again, become like Him… RADICAL! If you’re genuinely interested in following Him, don’t miss… don’t let others miss…this series.
Categorized: Uncategorized |
January 27th, 2012
Communion…Inspiring or Boring?
I love communion…which is a long way from how I used to feel about the celebration of the bread and the cup. To be honest, in the early days of my faith, there was no way that I would have put the words “celebration” and “communion” in the same sentence. The way I experienced it was BORING!
But, it wasn’t meant to be and it doesn’t have to be. According to Jesus Himself, it’s intended to inspire…to inspire us to remember.
As a pastor, I’ve taken this seriously. We don’t approach communion as a throw away…as an unconnected tack on to our already full weekend services. On the contrary, when we celebrate communion, it is the point, the entire focus of the service. And, we don’t just mindlessly repeat the same service over and over and over again. We’re trying to wake people up to the vital reality and life defining importance of Christ in their lives. We’re not trying to dull them spiritually through mind numbing redundancy. We’re trying to sharpen them spiritually by taking them deeper in their understanding and experience of the power of the cross…of Christ’s sacrifice for them.
We do this by focusing the entire communion celebration on different aspects of Christ and what He did for us…can do in us…if we genuinely depend on Him. We do this by seeking to build on what Jesus did in giving us the bread and the cup…we attempt to use tangible things to bring to life the intangible. We’ve given people post-its to write their burdens on and then encouraged them to let go of them as they stuck them to the wall. (What a beautiful site…church walls full of burdens representing people free of them.) We’ve given nails to pound into the cross; party favors to remember their victory in Christ; cheap little erasable slates for them to write their sin on and see it disappear; etc. As the above video shows, this week we used suitcases to picture the baggage we carry in life…the baggage that, in Jesus, we no longer have to carry. (You can watch the full talk here: http://ow.ly/8IjZx)
We want to invest the creativity God has given us to inspire people to remember…Jesus died to set them free!
So…if you’re a part of NorthRidge, I encourage you to make our New Life Communion services a “not to miss” part of your life. If you’re a pastor, I encourage you to take a new look at and new approach to how you lead out communion in your spiritual family. If you’re a believer, remember…there’s nothing in all the world more worthy of celebrating than Jesus…and what He’s done for…and wants to do in you. Celebrate Him today by living for Him.
I’d love it if you shared some of your thoughts on or experiences with communion.
Categorized: Christian Living, Church Change, Leader Change, NorthRidge Church |
January 25th, 2012
Appetite
Okay, I’m going to let you in on some of the excitement that my wife, Roxann, and I have in our private conversations. Here’s a common conversation of ours. “Where do you want to eat?” “I don’t know. Where do you want to eat?” “I don’t know. You decide.” Yes, we’re boring. But, I bet you can you relate! Right?!
Inevitably, as we repeat that mind-numbing conversation, one of us mentions how we wish we could go to Chick-fil-a or the Cheesecake Factory…two restaurants that we’re always hungering for because there isn’t one near us. When we travel, we’ll actually go out of our way to eat at one of those “heavenly places.”
However, the same use to be true of Carrabba’s, P.F.Chang’s, and even Baha Fresh. But, not any more. They came to our area. We ate at them frequently…too frequently. And now, they’ve just become like every other restaurant in our area. BORING! We go once in a while. They still have decent food. But, they’re old hat. We can have them any time. We want something different.
And, there we have it. The interesting truth about appetite. We tend to hunger and long for what we can’t have rather than what we can have. It tends to be a huge problem in our lives…in every area. Relationally…we tend to get bored being with the person we once would have given anything to spend a day with. Vocationally…we tend to get bored with the job we once would have given anything to have a shot at. And, tragically…the same thing happens spiritually.
Of course, when it comes to restaurants, who cares if we get bored and move on to other ones. It makes no difference. But, when it comes to our relational, vocational, and, more importantly, spiritual lives, we all need to care. It’s a big deal. If we get bored in our spiritual lives, we can (and will) get our minds on the wrong things and make messed up choices. (e.g. Peter in Matthew 16:23 - Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”)
The question is: what can we do? Here’s a suggestion…we can intentionally do new things to keep our spiritual lives fresh without changing the underlying appetite. We can’t stop hungering for God and His Word. But, we can try new recipes for filling and fulfilling the hunger.
Here’s one example from my life. I used to read the Bible through every year…year after year. To be honest, it got boring. It became a bit formulaic and even ritualistic for me. So, I began doing alternative things every other year. (e.g. Having read through the Bible last year…this year I’m taking a deep dive into the life and teaching of Jesus in the Gospels and reading as many books as possible focused on Jesus Himself.)
Point: I didn’t stop hungering for God and His Word. On the contrary, I’ve actually increased my hunger by intentionally doing “new things” that keep me growing in and longing for the right things. (I’ve done the same thing by getting involved in new areas and ways of serving.)
I’m curious…does this make sense to you? If so, what are some ways that you’ve kept from getting “bored” and “off track” in your spiritual life?
Categorized: Christian Living, Life Change |