The Little Things

I was tempted to title this Are You a Leader?  But I thought too many would say no and not read it.

You see, we're all leaders.  Somewhere or some how, we are all leaders to one degree or another.  It might be at work, church, home or somewhere else.  But there is some environment in which you are a leader -- realize it or not.

I have been involved in sports as a player, coach and fan I'm alway intrigued by those who consistently 'get it done'.  John Wooden was one of those.  Coach Wooden, one of the most revered and successful college basketball coaches of all time was a stickler for the little things.  I read in his book that every season, he started out by teaching his players how to put on their sox and tie their shoes.  Serioiusly?!  But who is going to argue with the guy who has won 12 national championships including 7 in a row!

I recently read this quote of Coach Wooden: "I love to see little things done correctly. In my experience, that may be as close to anything that I can identify as being 'the secret of success': little things done right."

Along these lines, I came across this blog post by Brad Lomenick called Leaders Are Defined by the Insignificant.  

May we be faithful in everything that God has called us to do.  We never know what He may be preparing us for by doing 'the insignificant'.

4 Words

I was traveling for work last week in Detroit and went out for dinner with my boss one evening downtown.  Detroit has been hit very hard by the economy so it was an interesting evening to say the least.

At the restaurant, we were seated next to the window where we could watch the goings-on of downtown Detroit.  It's always interesting to people watch, especially in a downtown setting.

We watched one young man approach the trash receptacle, quickly remove the top and reach down.  He found one of those styrofoam carryout containers with left over food...which he quickly snarfed down and went on his way.

We saw a guy carrying a double-sided poster on top of a long pole that said, "Jesus loves you" on one side and "Jesus is God" on the other.

I told my boss about a previous co-worker I worked with who was from Detroit; he had played and coached for the Detroit Pistons and had told many entertaining stories from his experiences.

When we left the restaurant, we were approached repeatedly from those on the street asking for money.  Finally, after feeling more and more uncomfortable, we got a cab and went back to our hotel.

Just for grins, I goggled my old co-workers name and found out he had just died that Monday from kidney cancer.  As I put my head on my pillow, all of these thoughts and experiences from the evening were streaming thru my mind.  I thought of my old coworker "Butch", who just entered a Christ-less eternity (unless something drastic occurred).  I thought of the guy downtown with the 2-sided poster - kinda scoffing at him, asking what good was he doing.  But then I hear that still-quiet-voice;  "At least he was telling them something about me."  Ouch.

I began to think of the topic I was going to be teaching the 7th and 8th graders that coming Sunday - The 10 Commandments.  The 10 Commandments can be broken down to two themes.  The first 4 apply to our relationship with God.  The next 6 pertain to our relationship with our fellow man.

Jesus once summarized the law and the prophets this way:

Love God.   

Love man.

If I do that, how will that affect my thoughts, actions and perceptions of the world?  As I finally fell asleep that night, those were the four words impressed upon my heart and mind.  I've heard those words before, but an evening in downtown Detroit put them in a new light.

The Church's Influence

I want to be perfectly clear on this point, as in all my posts, this is strictly my opinion.  This particular post is to express my views and generate some discussion.

In my lifetime I have witnessed the marginalization of the church.  Believers have been labeled, more and more as haters.  Opinions of the church and its members are routinely dismissed as unimportant or irrelevant.  The church’s impact on the moral values of our society is almost nonexistent.  Why has the church been pushed into the far corner of our culture?  Why is the church so marginalized?  We have allowed it.  Granted we are not the only ones to blame, but Christians have to accept responsibility for our actions.

We have allowed it, in my opinion, in two different ways.  Both have contributed to the diminished position of the church.  In the last sixty plus years we have witnessed the dumbing down of Christianity.  Many ministers have stopped preaching the gospel: the role of sin in our life, the fact that Jesus is the only way to the Father, that there is a Hell and the unsaved will go there.  In other words we have stopped teaching the Bible.  Where do our moral values come from?   What is the difference between right and wrong?  The Bible guides us, this means we have to preach it, more importantly read it, and in fact study it.  Many churches have given up doctrinal pursuit; they have lost the higher ground to speak from.

The other thing that has contributed to the marginalization of the church, especially the evangelical church, is politics.  Here is where I am going to ask you to read carefully.  I am not going to promote or support any candidate or issue.  I just want to describe what I believe is happening.  Saying that, why do I believe politics has marginalized the church?  Evangelical Christians often are labeled, rightly or wrongly, as right wing bigots.  Why?  Because some Christian leaders attempted to influence decision makers by promising votes.  What has happened?  Many candidates pay lip service to the "Christian political agenda" to get votes.  We have to ask ourselves “has the pursuit in the political area delivered?”  Have we helped our culture become more Christian? Has there been real change?  Politicians believe the Christian vote has no alternative but to stick with them.  The perception becomes that evangelical Christianity is tied to one party and is not going to change, so why should anyone listen?  The pursuit of political power means the loss of influence in our society.  Jesus said we cannot serve two masters.  If we serve the pursuit of political power can we also be disciples of Jesus?  I believe we are trying to serve two masters.  Guess who gets marginalized?

I am not saying Christians should not be politically active.  When Jesus said “give unto Caesar what is Caesar's” I believe he is saying be active citizens.  But He is not saying to go chase political power and let the church be pushed into a corner.  Granted Jesus did not say much if anything about political activity, so we have to prayerfully decide what is a way to advance the Kingdom.

My belief is the two things, loss of doctrinal purity and pursuit of political power, have resulted in the church being marginalized.  The church has been labeled extremist, for the wrong reasons.  We should be extremists for Jesus yes, for political power no.

If we want the church to be a factor in our society we have to preach and live the Bible, God's word to us.  We are charged with making disciples, that is followers of Jesus.  Yes, we are citizens and are expected to be active in our country.  But if we want the moral high ground we have to live as Jesus instructed us.  In our Ambassadors Sunday school class we are studying the Sermon on the Mount.  This is a great place to learn Jesus’ plan for us.  We cannot be salt, which can prevent decay, or a light, which can show the way, if we allow ourselves to be placed in an insignificant corner with anemic influence.  We have to shine for Jesus. 

It's not Easter, but let's talk about hopping.

I came across a post by a pastor in North Carolina regarding church hopping.  As a board, this issue comes up periodically.   You can read the post in it's entirety here, but here is a quick summary...with my additions  in burgundy from me (I couldn't resist).

First, church isn't about you.  Sorry, but it's not.  It isn't one of many stores in a mall that exists to serve your spiritual shopping list.  Church is a gathered community of believers who are pooling their time, talent and resources to further the Great Commission.  Rick Warren said it well in the very first sentence of his best selling book: "It's not about you."

Second, the very nature of authentic community is found in the "one anothers".  Love one another, serve one another, encourage one another; this cannot happen apart from doing life with people.  Romans, 1 Corinthians and the Epistles have a ton of "one another" references.

Third, the absence of a ministry you desire may be God's call on your life to start it, rather than leave to find a church that has it.  Remember, every member is a minister, and has been given at least one spiritual gift for service in the life and mission of the church.  Pastors are often told what kind of ministry their church needs.  Meanwhile, there are plenty of "holes" (i.e. volunteers needed) in existing programs.  Please get involved.

Fourth, you aren't going to agree with every decision the leadership of any church makes, regardless of its structure or decision-making process.  You either feel you can trust the character of the leadership, or you can't.  Leadership isn't perfect.  But we do pray,  discuss and send lots of emails before we make a decision.  Are they always right.  Of course not.

And being able to trust that leadership doesn't mean they will always do things the way you think they should.  In other words, don't hop every time you disagree.  That's immature.

(And for goodness sake, don't stay and pout either.  Either get on board once the decision is made, if it was one that didn't breach doctrine or ethics, or find a place where you can.

Fifth, don't worry about being fed as much as learning to feed yourself.  Even more, concern yourself with taking what you already know and applying it to your life, and then helping others who are new to the faith!  Let me quote from Mark Batterson's blog.  I saved this from years ago.  It's good.  "My kids learned to feed themselves when they were toddlers.  If you're not being fed, that's your fault.  I'm afraid we've unintentionally fostered a subtle form of spiritual codependency in our churches.  It is so easy to let others take responsibility for what should be our responsibility."

Finally, spiritual depth isn't fostered by satiating your sense of felt needs.  It's receiving a balanced diet of teaching and challenge, investing in service and mission, living in community and diversity that you probably would not select for yourself.  Not long ago we watched the Olympics.  All of those well-tuned athletes, while they focused on their sport, cross-trained so that all their muscles got a workout.  While maybe not fun, it made them a better athlete.

I thought he had some good thoughts and challenges.  Certainly worth our consideration.

Bring'em!!!

I stopped by church this past Wednesday night just as WOW was letting out.  Later that night (while trying to fall asleep) I reflected on Luke 18:15-17.  Not because the adults were trying to hush the children.  It was just the opposite.  They were doing just want Jesus commanded.

WOW volunteers had been providing a way for kids to come to Jesus.  The volunteers I saw coming out of the doors were smiling, laughing and slapping each other on the back.  Through games, songs and general silliness, CrossPoint volunteers are pointing kids to Jesus on Wednesday nights!

You may not be involved in WOW on Wednesday nights.  That's OK.  It's not for everyone.
But -- can I challenge you (and me) with this?  Everyone can do this.
* Pray for what is going on at CrossPoint on Wednesday nights.
* Write it down so you don't forget.
* Tell someone else in your family so you can remind each other.
* Make it a habit at dinner time on Wednesday evenings to pray Jesus's words in Luke 18:16

"Let the children come to Me."