Get Radical

This morning I was introduced to a new book by David Platt. You can read the first chapter here. Radical is bothersome but it is truth. Platt, who describes himself as a megachurch pastor leading people to a minichurch leader, addresses the paradox between the radical words of Jesus and the state of American Christianity. It will make you wince.

I've requested this book for a future blog review. I look forward to sharing more about it with you in the future.

Please take 10 minutes to read Chapter 1.

It's About Time (Part 2)

A few months ago I was talking to a friend on the phone who was anxiously awaiting a 9:30 AM meeting. It was a rather serious and important meeting. When my friend called me at 9:40 I asked, "I thought your meeting was at 9:30?"

"It was," my friend replied. "But he's not out of his nine o'clock meeting yet." The nervous anticipation of my friend was obvious over the phone and I felt sorry for him. It reminded me of another time management principle that I practice.

Never schedule two meetings in the same hour.

Even if you think a meeting will only last ten minutes. Ten minute meetings often take thirty minutes. Once you're behind schedule because a short meeting lasted longer than planned, you are behind schedule the rest of the day.

I understand that different occupations require different methods of time management. For example, the time management skills that I use wouldn't work for my school teacher wife. Every minute of her day is scheduled. The time management skills that I practice relate better to
those who have more control over their own schedule. Ministers, sales representatives, managers, and business owners tend to have more say in their day to day calendar. When I was in a customer service related business, my day was controlled by the next phone call or the next
customer that walked in the door.

But for those who have more control over their calendar, I've found these principles to be valuable.

For church staff like myself and others who occasionally work at night, divide your day into thirds - morning, afternoon, and evening. Work 2 thirds. Plan to be off for the other third. If you work all three shifts in one day, plan to make up for it soon after.

I rarely plan more than 4 hours of meetings or appointments per day. The other 4 hours will take care of themselves. There are plenty of things on my to-do list to tackle. Most meetings I attend add tasks to my to-do list so I need time to address those things. Unexpected phone calls, visitors, hospital visits, and problems/challenges will fill the other four hours. Part of my responsibilities over the years involve day-to-day operations which means that I am often a "fireman," i.e., putting out fires. I must allow time for that.

Don't forget travel time. Some folks schedule back-to-back meetings without allowing time to travel between meetings. If you have a meeting that will take the better part of an hour, don't plan another meeting for the next hour at a location 15 minutes away and expect to be on time. Unless you have a transporter like Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, you'll need time to get from one meeting to another.

Understand the value of punctuality. Cheryl Clausen, author of The Race to Success - Make Time to Win wrote, "When you start the day late you tend to run late the entire day. Even though you may not place a high value on punctuality, recognize that others do. Lateness can lose you the sale, cost you the job, diminish the level of respect the other person has for you because they are thinking that if you can’t even be counted on to be on time how can they count on you for something important."

When you agree to hold an appointment at a specific time and then you’re late you have missed an opportunity to keep your word. Being on time says a lot about your character. When you're late for an appointment, you're communicating that what you were doing before was more important than them. And while that may be true, it doesn't send positive signals to the person who has been waiting on you.

One final thought for today. I don't advocate being extremely early for appointments. Just be on time. I know people who are always 15 minutes early for an appointment but they sit and do nothing during those 15 minutes, i.e., they waste time because of their dedication to promptness! Sure you might have a flat tire on the way or be delayed because of an accident on the highway, but those occassions are rare. Just strive to be at your appointment when you said you would be there, no earlier and no later.

What are some of your thoughts on time management?

It's About Time

A church member asked me yesterday about my reading and writing habits. Knowing the busyness that ministry at TrueNorth Church brings, he said, "I don't know how you do all of that. You must be a good manager of your time."

I shrugged my shoulders and replied that I've always been a student (and sometimes teacher) of time management skills and I certainly try to make the most of my time.

For me, it is a Biblical mandate. "Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:15-17).

This passage was planted deep in my heart in 1986 when I felt the call to full-time ministry. It has been a foundational verse for me ever since. I believe it is unwise and foolish not to make good use of my time. God only gave us so much time to make an impact on this planet. We need to be good stewards of our time.

One of my pet peeves is to hear someone say they don't have time to do something and then five minutes later they recall every meaningless TV show that they watched the previous night from 7-11 PM. I watch my share of TV. I'm not trying to sound superior here. But, think about it, when you find yourself contemplating your life when you're 80 years old will you be proud of the fact that you spent an average of 4 hours a night watching sitcoms and reality shows?

Think about what you could do in four hours. Want to write a book? If it takes you an hour to write one page, you can write a 300 page novel in 75 days. That means if you start a book this weekend it will be complete by mid-July.

Do you want to start a home-based business? 4 hours is a lot of time to invest in an opportunity to make a second income.

Do you wish you had more time to read and study the Bible? Wouldn't that be a better investment of your time than watching American Idol?

Did you tell someone at your church that you don't have time to serve in a ministry? Do you need to think again?

Are you being unwise and foolish with your time?

More on this topic later...when I have time. :)

The Domino Effect (or How Youth Ministry Changed My Life)

My life has been in disarray since the end of last year.

It's Tommy Wafford's fault.

Tommy is the Student Minister at TrueNorth Church. Last year, our Youth Ministry (Element Student Ministries) began busting at the seams and our 2500 square foot building (The Depot) was quickly becoming too small. Tommy and I began scouting out other potential locations for Element. This went on for months until I contacted the owners of a nearly 13,000 square foot building three miles down the road from our office complex. Surprisingly, the lease was affordable. (A HUGE God thing, by the way.) Element needed more space but not 12,800 square feet. The logical thing for us to do was to move Element AND our offices to the new building. Fast forward to February.

By February we moved our offices into a newly renovated building. (Lots of God stories involved during those two months as well.) I have a lot of books at home and at my office. I decided not to move all of my office books to the new location so I brought them home. I'm not sure how many books exactly but there are currently 27 stacks of books in my son's former bedroom floor with an average of 15 books per stack. That's 405.

405 more books at our house. Where would they go? Bookshelves, of course. The dominoes start falling:

Element Student Ministry outgrows space.
New location found for students and church offices.
Because I have to relocate my office, I bring books from my old office home.
We need new bookshelves.
We go to IKEA in Charlotte TWICE to look at and purchase bookshelves.
We, more specifically, my wife, decides that we can't put new bookshelves in the living room the way it is.
We go to Lowe's to look for paint.
We go to Lowe's again, buy a sample color, paint a small swatch on the wall, and look at it for weeks.
Beth decides we need a new chandelier in the dining room. Add another Saturday afternoon to this project.
We buy another sample color. We stare at two swatches on the dining room wall for a couple of weeks.
We buy a third sample color. Third swatch on wall applied.
We decide to paint our living room and dining room "Butter."
We begin the project. (See bad picture below.)
As of last night, I have one more door to paint before the job is complete.

Oh yeah, I still have to assemble the IKEA bookshelves too.

And put 405+ books on the shelves.

There is a rug coming soon and probably a new chair. Pictures to hang. The project is not over yet.

Isn't it funny how one things leads to the other? God blesses a youth ministry. He blesses the church with a new facility. And I find myself in a home renovation project!

Thanks Tommy! And thank God!

Breakfast at Ginger's

I'm passing this on from Angie Hunt's site.

Forget Me Not by Vicki Hinze

Author of more than 20 novels of romance and suspense and three works of nonfiction, Vicki Hinze has written a masterful, complicated tale of suspense that gains momentum with each turn of a page. Her writing flows surely, moving from one character to the next, one setting to another, with readers keeping the swift pace.

Benjamin Brandt, owner of the Crossroads Crisis Center, hasn't set foot in the center since his wife and son were murdered a few years earlier. Then Susan comes to the center, beaten and battered, suffering a case of amnesia, and also bearing a close resemblance to Benjamin's deceased wife, also named Susan, and wearing the dead woman's cross necklace. The two clash at first, but even as murders occur around them, the tension between them relaxes. Still, there is a mystery to be solved involving Susan's identity and a past that must be reckoned with before either can move ahead. Hinze's plot may have readers puzzling over how this tangled tale will ever resolve itself, but that underestimates the author's talent for transforming the unlikely into something beautiful. (Publishers Weekly)

"Suspenseful yet uplifting, this story proves that what is buried in the past never stays buried forever." –James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Doomsday Key

Getting the Word Out

In 1942, William Cameron Townsend was a missionary to the Cakchiquel Indians of Guatemala. The men of the tribe expressed concern that they did not have a Bible available to them in their native language. God spoke to Townsend who soon resolved that every man, woman, and child should be able to read God's Word in their own language. Thus, Wycliffe Bible Translators was born.

Today, Wycliffe has made great progress in Bible translation all around the world. To date, they have played a part in completing more than 700 Scripture translations. However, with all of the outstanding work that Wycliffe has done, there are still some 350 million people who do not have a Bible in their own language. Wycliffe missionaries have done amazing work and they have some incredible stories to tell.

Last year I attended a banquet hosted by Wycliffe Associates. I was so inspired and impressed with their work and the amazing story that missionary Grace Fabian shared. (Click Grace's name to read more about her work.)

On April 29, Wycliffe will host another inspiring and informational banquet in Augusta, GA. For those of you who live in this area, I would like to strongly encourage you to attend this event. Hiram Ring, a Wycliffe Bible Translator in Central Asia, will be the guest speaker. I know it will be an interesting evening.

The banquet is on Thursday, April 29 at 7 PM at the Ramada Hotel, 640 Broad Street in Augusta. There is no cost to attend but reservations are required. To reserve your seat, call Dan Garard at 1-866-461-0197 or email Dan at dan_garard@wycliffeassociates.org.

Hope to see you there!

The Church and the Golf Ball

Here's an old post from September 2005. I thought about it today while watching the Masters.

Question: What has so many imperfections that, as a result, it is perfect? Maybe the church can be compared to a golf ball. A ball with one dimple, i.e., imperfection, makes it worthless. A ball full of imperfections helps it fly straight and true. (Assuming that the person striking the ball is any good!) The church, when full of imperfections, is perfect. It is the way God designed it.

It is generally agreed upon that there is no such thing as a perfect church. When Christian leaders define the perfect church they go to Acts 2, especially vv. 42ff. In this passage, we read about the earliest Christians studying and learning together, worshiping corporately, sharing meals and common physical needs. There was harmony, unity, love, and apparent heaven on earth.

But not far into this model of perfection do we discover it’s fallacies. By the time we get to Acts 5, we read that Ananias and Sapphira deceived their perfect spiritual family. Acts 6 introduced the first formal complaints against church leaders. Partners in the faith were being overlooked. Why is it that when we read Acts 2 we forget that the people in the early church in Jerusalem were sinners just like us?

The perfect church, as we define it, was not full of perfect people. Yet, in God’s eyes, it was perfect. It was perfect because it was full of imperfect people. It was perfect because it included those who had fallen but on their way down they grasped God’s perfect solution, Jesus. It was perfect because when God created it he most likely responded like he did after his creation in Genesis. It was good. God created the Church. When God creates something, it is good. The Church is good. Yes, it is perfect.

How can the Church be perfect when it is filled with imperfect people? Who else is going to fill it? If the Church is created for mankind it must be occupied by people who are prone to sin. There are no other people available. We are sinners. We are born sinners. We will die sinners. This is a fact of the Christian life. However, God’s grace has been revealed to us in Christ so that he overlooks our sin and sees us as righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). When God looks at a follower of Christ, he sees a perfect, forgiven sinner. When God looks at a church full of his followers, he sees perfect, forgiven followers of Christ. God sees perfect people in his perfect church.

LWS Winner Announced at MattAmesBlogs.com

Check out this short video to see who won a copy of Laughing With Sarah over on Matt Ames' blog.

Don't miss the out takes video either...

What's So Good About It?

I originally posted this on Good Friday 2005. Thought it was worth repeating:

Doesn't it seem strange that we call the day that the world killed the Messiah Good Friday? Having viewed The Passion of the Christ movie, almost everyone is now familiar with just how brutal Jesus' death really was. How quickly the world turned on him! On Palm Sunday, he was celebrated as a King. By Thursday, he was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death on Friday morning.

So what is so good about it? It was good because Jesus paid a price that I cannot pay. It was good because the problem of sin was resolved on that day. It was good because Satan was defeated. It was good because God's deep love for us was revealed that day. It was good because it brought spiritual freedom to the masses. It was good because a bridge was built to God. It was good because heaven was made available to all. In the midst of his incredible pain and agony, I think Jesus knew it was a good thing too. Hebrews 12:2 says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Ten Reasons Pastors are Important

I read this on Donald Miller's blog tonight. Thought it was worth repeating...

Yesterday afternoon, I talked with a friend on the phone who has been a pastor for more than twenty-five years. He’s an upbeat, optimistic guy who has brilliant ideas and loves shepherding the people who come to his church. I have always thought being a pastor is one of the hardest things a person could do, but my friend makes it look easy. It never occurred to me how hard his job was until I asked him how I could pray for him. He told me that the coming week was going to be difficult, that he had to officiate two funerals, one of them a suicide. He said he’d done many funerals, but these two were very close to his heart.

Can you imagine having to speak at a funeral? Moreover, can you imagine having to speak for God at a funeral? Can you imagine having to speak for God at a wedding, even? And not only that, can you imagine having to preach a sermon every week, lead a staff, counsel broken marriages, provide vision for a community, and all under the microscope of a small percentage of people that would judge you if you drove a nicer car than they?

In my speaking career, I’ve spoken in hundreds of churches, and you know, I’ve never met an arrogant pastor. Not once. I’m not saying they aren’t out there, because they are, but I think an arrogant pastor is an exception to the rule. Some pastors have failed their congregations, but there are many more who haven’t. Most pastors got into their jobs because they loved people and they loved God and they wanted the two to meet. I actually think pastors are some of the most important people in our communities.

Here are ten reasons pastors are important.

1. They lead social movements that change the world.

2. They speak truths that create guardrails to keep us out of danger and stop us from hurting each other.

3. They introduce us and remind us about God, who redeems us and guides us in love.

4. They model good marriages and families (Your mind may have gone to an exception, but quickly list five who do. It’s an easy list to create.)

5. They bring people together to live and work in community.

6. They counsel hurting and broken people.

7. They bring the presence of God into the most dark and painful circumstances.

8. Most of them could be making lots more money doing something else, but they sacrifice to build God’s kingdom.

9. They put up with our crap.

10. Because without them the world would be unimaginably dark.

I put together this list so that I could understand exactly why I was so grateful for pastors, because I wanted to know why I liked them when I shook their hands. I didn’t want vague notions, I wanted hard reasons. I suspect this list will grow. I spent a bit of the day praying for my friend, and I’m going to remember to pray for my pastor friends more often. I think they’re an under-appreciated bunch. I hesitate to imagine a world without them.

Tell us why your pastor is important to you, would you? Lots of pastors read this blog, and your comments will be encouraging!