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The Best of My Time

November 11, 2008 in Bible, Ministry with 1 Comment

To everything a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1

As a kid time was my slow torturing enemy. The slowness of time kept me from what I really wanted. The time between Christmas mornings seemed like a decade, the time between when school started until when it ended felt like weeks, and being asked to sit still for an hour felt more like sitting still for an entire day! It’s funny looking back now, because sometime in my 20′s time begin to pick up steam. In fact, it moves at such a rapid pace now that I feel I can hardly keep up. I graduated from High School 14 years ago, I graduated from college 10 years ago, I started college 14 years ago, I got married 10 years ago, I’ve been working as a pastor for 6 years, I’ve paid off cars in the past 5 years, and yet it doesn’t feel like it was near that long ago. There are moments when I look at my children and gasp in horror at how old they are getting! Time can be a cruel game.
As I got older I also learned a valuable lesson regarding time. My time suddenly became more valuable to others. More specifically, I learned that I could be compensated for my time in proportion to the importance of the job I was doing for someone. I learned that I was paid more to do important work, than to flip hamburgers. I learned that I was paid more for doing work, than for staying in bed. As I grew older my time really did turn into money. This money helps put a roof over my head, keeps my belly full, and for the most part has allowed me to carve out a comfortable lifestyle for my family. All this has come to me because of the time I’m paid for.
When I’m challenged to give my very best to God, there are many ways I can do that. I can volunteer somewhere and give my time to a great cause, or I can give financially towards something or someone that I support. I’ve aways thought that to give money was the easy way out. I’m rethinking that. If my time is given to an organization and I am compensated for that time in money; then to give my money (hard-earned presumably) then aren’t I giving the best of my time?
When I rethink giving as being an portion of my best time given back to God, it also forces me to rethink how I spend my time when I’m being paid for it. I have challenged myself to honor God in both my giving, and in how I spend my time making the money that will be given.

Fall Festival = Family Time

October 30, 2008 in Ministry with 1 Comment

It’s all come down to this. Months and months of planning, organizing, recruiting volunteers, and promoting it should all come to fruition on Friday Night at 7pm. I’ve done so many “Halloween Alternatives” over the years that they’ve all begun to blend together in my memory…While I could write many reasons NOT to do an event that every other church in town does… on the same night… at the exact same time, I cannot say that it’s not a great time. When 1,000+ people show up to play, it’s usually always a good time.
But the challenge is in how to make a event like this effective. I’m not preaching the gospel, I’m not passing out anti-Halloween pamphlets, I’m not leading a worship service, and I’m not asking all the vampires, Frankensteins, and zombies to leave the premises upon arrival. What I am doing is striving to create an atmosphere where families can come and spend time together.

But here’s the kicker; how to do this when you need over 100 volunteers and traditionally most the volunteers are parents? It’s easy and hard, but I’ve eliminated the recruitment of any workers that have children under the age of 12. I don’t want any parents working in any area! We’re forcing family time, even if it makes us double-up in other areas. It is now two days out from the event and I think we might have pulled it off. I’ve recruited Senior High and Junior High student leaders, college students, empty-nesters, and young marrieds to fill each and every spot needed. Not easy in any way, but it can be done!

In the years to come we can continue to argue the merits of such events, but for this year I’m hoping I can honestly walk away and say that we’ve created a TRUE Family Friendly event; even if it kills us!

Countercultural Giving

October 15, 2008 in Bible, Ministry with 2 Comments

The word Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a group that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day.

I’m not countercultural enough. God has called me in Romans 12:2 to not conform to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed. Literally I have permission from God to rebel against this world. One of the ways I can rebel against my flesh and this world is through my giving. I give a lot of myself to many things. I give my time, I give my talents, I give my opinions (sometimes when there not wanted); but when I give my money I feel that I’m giving the ultimate combination of all these things.

My flesh says that when times are tough that I should save, my flesh says that when times are good I should store up, and ultimately the world around me confirms that I should be looking out for myself alone. But Jesus said that that kind of saving and storing was a waste.

Luke 12:15 “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

In the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12, Jesus tells us the story of a man that had too much grain, and his genius solution was to build bigger barns to put it all into. But when he was finished he died. Jesus points out the irony of this man’s situation when he asks, “Who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”

Jesus was the ultimate counter-cultural revolutionist! He is telling us to NOT be like the world with our money, and with our giving. He is calling us to live a life that goes beyond saving up for that raining day, or giving when it benefits us. I love what he says in summary of this great parable.

Luke 12:21 “That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God.” Steep Yourself in God-Reality. (MSG)

The God-Reality that Jesus speaks of says that it is better to give than to receive. That God-Reality says if we give that he will give us blessings that we have not room enough to receive.

I’m not interested in getting into a discussion of whether the TITHE is something legitimate or something to be ignored as New Testament believers. There are some great people on both sides of that fence, but I think we could all agree that Jesus has called us to give. I am making a promise today that I will give out of rebellion towards the world, and out of a desperation to make the God-Reality your reality!

Simply the Good

October 2, 2008 in Ministry with 2 Comments

Every morning when I drop Ryan off at school I tell him, “Give your very best today.” Ryan almost mimics me when I say it. At every soccer practice and game, I tell the kids I coach that what’s really important is that they give their very best. That if they give their best, then they
have nothing to be disappointed in. At the conclusion of every Children’s Ministry team meeting, I always remind those in our area that it’s important that we give our best at every task we have to do.

It’s really something that’s important to me. I don’t want to be viewed as someone who does something half-way, or as someone who needs motivation to get on with a project. Then this weekend I heard this quote,

“Don’t let your BEST be the enemy of your GOOD.”

My brain begin to churn, and it hit me. When my best is limited, I just don’t do anything. When I’ve planned to run 4 miles, but sunlight gets away from me, and life gets busy I just don’t run at all. Instead what I should do is get off my butt and go do 1 mile. When things get out of my control at work and above my pay grade; I tend to just throw in the towel. Instead I need to grasp that while my best might not be happening, I can still do something good.

All this thinking led me to the parable of the talents, when Jesus tells the story of the master who entrust three men with different amounts of money. Two of the men return a profit on the money, but one buries it in the ground and returns exactly what he was given. The master calls the man that made no profit evil and wicked, and gives his money to the man who turned his 5 talents into 10. But what about the man that was given 2 and turned it into 4? I love it that Jesus was saying that doing nothing is the unacceptable response to our opportunities.

I guess the challenge is in discovering why the best can’t be done. If it’s because of factors outside of my control, then let’s make things good. If it’s because of a lack of intelligence on my part, then I need to fix that so that the best can happen.

The kindergarten areas at our church really need to be in at least 3 different areas, 50 five-year olds in one space is too much. However 3 different areas don’t exist, and they will NOT exist anytime soon. But instead of settling for defeat I need to do the good thing. Maybe I could find one additional classroom space, or maybe I can change the teaching format. While it might not be perfect and the best thing to do, it can still be good. I’m starting to process all the things that I’ve laid off to the side because they couldn’t be done perfect, and I’m beginning to see that making things GOOD could be a step towards making things the BEST.

Dysfunction Distraction

September 24, 2008 in Ministry with 1 Comment

Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way. I have serious perfectionist leanings. I’m a problem solver by nature, and if it’s broken I want to fix it or hire the person that will. As I’ve aged and/or matured I’ve learned to lay off a little. Having kids disrupt my life was a good thing, and forced me to not always expect everything to be perfect. I’ve grown to appreciate the imperfections in life, but I’m still a work in progress.

Working in church and para-church environments for over 8 years now, I can honestly say that I’ve seen my fair share of dysfunction. Even in the most healthy of environments there is always some form of dysfunction. I’ve worked in some environments where the dysfunction was the norm, and was universally accepted as “the way it’s gonna be.” I’ve seen dysfunction creep in because of a lack of authority, heavy handed authority, and even because someone hired their offspring to do a job they weren’t qualified for. I think dysfunction will always exist where people exist, so the key is identifying it and fixing it when it’s found.
However, sometimes it’s not my job to fix it. I’m hired to do a job within my church, and currently that job is to keep our kids learning about Jesus! I could spout out my mission statement here, but I’ll save you from that. It’s not my job to fix dysfunctions in areas that don’t immediately concern my area of responsibility. However the little dysfunctions in other areas can seriously distract me. I want to fix them, I want to offer my two-cents, I want to make suggestions, and trust me I’m never short on opinions. However, I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut in meetings, and try to share my suggestions when I feel it’s appropriate. (and it might never be appropriate…)

So here’s the call out: How do you deal with the dysfunction distractions all around you? Or are you in that perfect world?
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