Value #6: Deep Not Just Broad (Part 2)

Deep is not better than broad.
I can't help but think of the supervillian, Megamind, when I think of people who are only concerned about "going deeper." The Apostle Paul warned the Corinthians that "knowledge puffs up" and reminded them that "love builds up." 

We want to be disciples who seek greater knowledge, understanding and insight. We want to have intelligent conversations with people about our faith in Christ Jesus. We want to, like Paul, engage the world with convincing arguments and give sound reasons for walking in the Way of Jesus. 

Howeva, (can you still hear the southern lawyer in the courtroom?) if we aren't walking in obedience to what we already know then we'll just become big-headed. And if we are big-headed then we'll become arrogant and poison our relationship with the world and hinder our ability to influence them toward Jesus.

If instead we pursue depth with a heart of love for others, then depth can be a precursor to breadth. John McArthur notes that "if we will concentrate on the depth of our ministries, God will take care of the depth." (Colossians, p.77)

I am committed to being a life-long learner and grow deeper and deeper in my intimate knowledge and love for Jesus so that God can use me in whatever way he desires. We will be a church that encourages and pursues personal spiritual growth and depth so that God can give us as broad an influence as he desires. 

It isn't EITHER depth OR breadth--it is BOTH depth AND breadth.

I am convinced that both depth and breadth are the work of God by faith through grace.

Deep not just Broad--(Part 1)

In January I started what is for me an aggressive Bible Reading plan that requires me to read 12-15 chapters a day. One of the things I've noticed is that when I read the Word in chunks my mind is more attentive to themes than when I read bites. Over the last few days I have been immersed in the Apostle Paul's letters and have been impressed by what impressed him and for what he prayed. It probably will come as no surprise to you when you hear it, in fact, you'll probably say, "Well yeah, I knew that!" My hunch is that those who travelled with Paul, those who heard him teach often, and those who read his letters also probably knew what he was going to say before he said it because they knew his heart.

So what did he think was of utmost importance?

Faith.  Hope.  Love. 

These were Paul's metrics. These were the three things by which he evaluated the churches and the men who led them; and these are the three things for which he prayed for them.

"For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints..." Ephesians 1:15

"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more..." Philippians 1: 9

"We always thank God...since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven." Colossians 1:3-5

"We give thanks to God...remembering before God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thess. 1:2-3

"We ought always to give thanks to God for you...because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith..." 2 Thess. 1: 3-4

Read Paul's words to his friends Timothy, Titus, and Philemon and again you'll see faith, hope and love. 

Paul prayed that these churches would continue to grow and increase: 

in faith;

in hope;

and in love. 

He desired that they have a deepening spiritual wisdom and knowledge filled with (controlled by) the Spirit that leads to maturity. 

Maturity leads to multiplication.

Value #5: Empowering not Controlling

I have to admit that fleshing out this value can be deceptive because leaders may think that they empower others when in actuality they really attempt to control others. 

What I mean is that leaders who are controlling don't usually realize that they are controlling, but the team they're leading knows! When you live and work in a culture ruled by a "Control Freak," it tends to drain the life out of your own dreams, makes your shoulders slump and your face frown. You do your best on a project only to have CF say, "Well, that's good but it's not what I would have done. Next time you should..."

But you don't hear what to do "next time" because you've reached for your smart phone, pointed it at him and tapped the TTD (Taser and Trap Door) App. It's not a real app so don't go searching for it, but if it were...well, you get the picture.  

If you wonder whether you're an empowerer or controller don't ask your team; instead watch their body language, and listen to what they are saying without words.

I don't think anyone who has any amount of Leadership Intelligence is intentionally controlling, maybe it sort of happens while they were sleeping. It was more expeditious to make a controlling decision that usurped the authority of a teammate on Monday rather than trusting them with the responsibility of making the decision themselves. They did it again on Tuesday and then again on Wednesday and suddenly, it became their default mode of leading (or should we, at this point, just call it bossing?)

If we fail to empower others, we will slowly choke the life out of the team and exhaust ourselves in the process--all the while blaming others for our short-comings.

But can you imagine a church that has systematically empowered each person to develop and use their giftedness in ministry? Can you imagine if people had the space to mess up and still be exhorted to keep growing? Sure--progress may be slow at first but it ultimately positions the person and the organization for unprecedented growth.

We want to create a culture where people have a voice, are heard, and are empowered to fulfill the mission of Jesus...to make disciples (without tasers and trapdoors.)

Value #4: Simple not Complicated

Simple doesn't mean easy.  

Keeping things simple demands at least these two things:  

1.  A clear, compelling vision that defines your decisions and direction.

2.  A dogged determination to say "No" to anything that would detour and distract you.

You might think that it would be easier to keep things simple in a smaller church but it isn't. In some respects it may be more difficult because of the sense of urgency to reach people and grow ministry. So, we may be tempted to start ministries before there is a clear purpose or a called leader; we may be tempted to keep a purposeless program because there's someone who has been doing "that thing" for awhile. We may be tempted to try and be someone that we are not intended to be because of the unrealistic expectations we've placed on ourselves or we may try to some new and improved thing because we feel as though are losing the comparison game.

Simple isn't easy, but my hunch and hope is that if we can create a culture of simple, and people taste the fruit of simple, that staying simple will be easier.

Value #3: Authentic not Fake

We crave authenticity because it feels like everything is a show, a stage or a spin. Is that picture for real or PhotoShopped?  Is their life really that exciting or are they masters at building a facade via social media? Is that really what happened in the news event of the day or was that the interpretation of a journalist with an agenda? 

In a world of illusion we long for the real. 

Our souls desire and were created for real relationships with real people who experience real joy, struggle with real challenges, and battle with real courage to fully live in the Way of Jesus with one another.

This isn't some Disney-produced, utopian fantasy that is fun to think about but impossible to experience. It can and should be the culture of a church.

Authentic means that...
I am honest with God about myself.
I pursue being True-Faced and not Two-Faced.
I put on compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility, meekness and patience.
I bear with others and forgive as I have been forgiven.

It obviously means much more but you get the picture.

I want to be a whole man who walks with integrity before the Lord, my family, and the world. 

I want the church to be a place where we, like God, do not look at the outward appearance but look at the heart. It isn't about what we wear to church that matters, it is about how we live our lives.

Value #2: Gospel-Centered not Religious "Right" (or "Left")

When I was in 7th grade life got fuzzy.  I don't meant that I was having a hard time remembering things as if i were walking around in a daze. I mean that literally my vision was fuzzy and blurry. There were no more crisp edges to the world.

The school nurse was conducting eye exams in the cafeteria as she did every year and when it was my turn she motioned for me to sit in the chair and read the wall chart. When I told her that I couldn't see the Big E on the chart she assumed that I was just being an obnoxious, lying 12 year old. I may have been obnoxious but I wasn't lying. She made me go to the end of the line and wait until everyone else had had their turn and then she tried me again, thinking that the waiting would somehow reform me and miraculously heal my eyesight. 

7th Grade--sans BUG MAN glasses

It didn't work.

Soon after I had an ophthalmologist appointment and left that afternoon with my first pair of glasses. (if I had been given a superhero name at that point, I would have been called BUG MAN because I looked like a fly. I was wearing geeky turtle shell glasses before they were hip.) Before walking out that day I remember looking at the trees and remarking: "Those trees have leaves!" Earlier in the day they had just been great big globs of green.  Now I could see!

The world needs to see Jesus clearly.  Too often the image of Jesus is fuzzy to the lost, the least, and the lonely because the church views the life and message of Jesus through the filter of the political/religious "right" or "left." We get sidetracked, distracted and detoured by agendas when we need to be centered in the gospel.

We want  to be a church that is Gospel-centered and clearly, confidently, and unashamedly communicates the gospel of Jesus with our words and our lives. We want to "let our conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt so that we will know how to answer everyone."

We can't afford to let the message get fuzzy. We need to see Jesus clearly!

Value #1: Disciple-making not Crowd-building

I vividly remember sitting on the sofa in my home office prior to setting off on this adventure of re-planting a church.  At the time I didn't even know where we would be planting, and re-planting certainly wasn't on my radar. One morning I was thinking and praying (most times I have a difficult time distinguishing between the two) and asking God-"So, if I do this thing you have in mind--what do I need to do?"  

He clearly said:  "Pray for twelve men. Twelve men in whom you can invest your life. Disciple them in the Way of Jesus."

That sounded familiar to me. I thought or prayed, "I can do that!"

Over the last eleven months we've tackled a number of unexpected projects, we've redesigned some of the critical systems, we've had several challenging conversations, we've conducted months of re:Development sessions, we've planned worship services, we've initiated relationships in the community, we've started Life Groups (and quickly renamed them Rock Bands), and we've accomplished dozens of other forgotten things that have helped us get to where we are--which is exactly where we are supposed to be on God's timeline.

But the most important thing I've done is pray for twelve men. The way God will grow this church is through the power of disciple-making. It isn't showy. It probably will not attract a huge following on the front end. But we aren't about building a crowd, we're about disciples making disciples. 

I once heard , "The way you reach people is the way you'll keep them." For example, if you reach them through programming (which has its place!) then you'll have to keep them through programming. Howeva, (that's southern lawyer speak for "However") if you grow them through disciple-making then you'll keep them through disciple-making. 

Pray for us as we flesh out this value and walk in the way of Jesus.

Values

Back when planting a church was just an idea I would spend hours at the library in Senoia because it was quiet and lonely. (There's something sad about empty libraries and what it says about the communities around them--but that's another blog).  I'd go in the morning with a stack of 17 1/2'' X 11'' sheets of gold paper and my Zebra mechanical pencil on which I tried to capture as many thoughts as possible about what I thought would need to happen and when. I asked myself lots of questions and I even answered a few. I thought about creative ways to communicate vision and strategy. I thought about my philosophy of ministry and leadership; and I tried to sift out the wheat from the tares of my thinking. 

One of the critical questions I asked myself in the library was: 

"What should a church truly value?" 

Values can and should be written down but just because they are formally adopted and/ or displayed in a prominent place for all to see doesn't change reality. If our stated values are not embodied then they are as dead as this tree. Our values are revealed by our behavior. As I wrestled with this question I discovered seven (nice biblical number) values that I wanted our church to embrace.

Framing them as contrasts helped me to clarify what I meant. So, here they are:

Disciple-Making not Crowd-Building

Gospel-Centered not Religious Right (or Left)

Authentic not Fake

Simple not Complicated

Empowering not Controlling

Deep not (just) Broad

Green not Brown

One of the coolest things is that to some degree we are living these out!

In the next several blogs I am going to briefly discuss what I mean by each of these values and how I see them being literally fleshed out in the life of the church. 

Pallet Wood and the Adventurer's Call

Everybody (well, some people) loves the way the reclaimed pallet wood looks as the exterior treatment of the sound booth at The Stone Church, and so do I.  

“I want to do that in my house! It looks great! That looks so easy!”

Greatness however does not come easily. It comes at personal and often unseen sacrifice.

“You’re telling me that that a wall covered with some planks from a stack of pallets required sacrifice?”  

"Yep! That’s what I’m saying."

Somebody had to have a vision for such a project.

Somebody had to make the phone calls to locate the unwanted pallets and seek permission to pick them up.

Somebody had to get a trailer, drive to the warehouse, load and then secure those pallets in the heat of the summer so that they didn’t litter Hwy 101.

Somebody had to zip each plank on the pallets with a circular saw.

Somebody had to extricate each nail that was holding the planks together.

NOT DONE YET!

Then somebody had to chop saw the ends off of each of the planks so that the ends were straight.

Then somebody had to piece the planks together so that they looked good on the wall and secure them with screws—all the while ensuring that they were visibly straight and aligned.

NOT DONE YET!

Somebody had to pick up all of the scrap pieces load them back in the trailer, haul them to a burn pile, and watch the fire so that it didn’t all end in disaster.

Perhaps Mae Nunn, a published author and friend, says it best when she speaks frankly to people who tell her that they want to write a book. Her quick-witted retort: “You don’t want to write a book, you want to have written a book.” 

http://www.maenunn.com

Do you really want to live a life of an adventurer, or do you want to have been on an adventure?

To live as an adventurer is a call to sacrifice more than you ever expected.

To live as an adventurer is a call to work hard in secret and in obscurity.

Maybe I can be an adventurer who one day writes a book about it but in the meantime, I’ll just blog about pallet wood.

By the way: Pallet Wood Project was a team effort that "wood" not be possible without many hands and lots of patience. Adventures are so much more fun with people that you like. You know who you are--you are the obscure, and the ones whom our Father rewards. (Matthew 6)

An Outsider's View

Being an outsider means you're not an insider.  

An insider gets the jokes; an insider gets the trades; an insider is in the know. But there are no outsider jokes--the joke's on them--and they know it. 

I was once an insider, but now I am an outsider.

I did not grow up in Bartow, Cobb, Paulding, or Polk County. Before we started this church re-plant in Cartersville, I had never heard of Euharlee, Taylorsville, Atco or Stilesboro.  I thought Dallas was in Texas and Hiram was something you did when you needed help. Emerson was a 19^th century poet; and the Indian Mounds were found in Cleveland where the Indians play baseball.

But there are some advantages to being an outsider. 

1. An outsider has fewer preconceived ideas about people because they aren't privy to which last names are more important than others and which last names are seen more frequently in the Arrest Log. 

2. An outsider can sometimes see and smell things to which the insider has grown accustomed. 

3. An outsider can get away with saying, "I didn't know!"--and say it with complete integrity:)  

4. An outsider's  perspective can help us see that something is not quite right. An insider will say, "Well, that's just the way it is around here--it's something you'll get used to." Or, "Mr. Smith--he's always been a mean old cuss--you'll learn how to stay out of his way." The outsider can say, "You know, it doesn't have to be that way. There are other viable options."

I don't know how long I'll be an outsider, but I hope that I will be able to maintain the objectivity of an outsider and the courage of an insider. 

If you're an outsider, you're in good company. Jesus was an outsider. Lean into your outsider-ness and see what you can learn.

If you're an insider, you're in good company. Jesus was also an insider who was looking for outsiders so he could invite them in.  As my good friend, mentor, Youth Pastor Emeritus, John Hobbs used to say: "Cliques are OK...as long as everybody has one."

Three Orr's and an Oar

It was just a small, rainy season water hole that sits on the edge of Tracie's parent's property.

It was just a small flat bottom fishing boat that held three Orr's and one oar.

But in the imagination of a nine year-old, oar wielding Orr, it was a massive lake infested with whales, alligators and sea monsters-- not to mention bacteria with names like giardia and e-coli. So with the skill of a seasoned captain, Harrisen navigated the coastline dotted with mysterious ports named Chickamauga and Senoia. All the while he kept his vessel from being capsized by his fearless first mate, Sawyer, who would rather rock the boat instead of rowing the boat;  and he expertly dodged my mud bombs launched from the bank. 

It may not have looked like much to the uninitiated adventurer, but...

Sometimes we fail to see the potential for adventure. The uninitiated adventurer would only have seen a mud hole and an out-of-place boat. But sometimes you have to use your imagination--no, I take that back--you always have to use your imagination when you're on an adventure!

When you don't know how to get un-stuck, you have to engage your imagination.
When you don't know how to talk with that difficult person about that difficult thing, you have to power up your imagination.
When you're bored, frustrated, overwhelmed or ready to quit, you have to ignite your imagination. 

Imagine a new way!

Adventures are not found where the cruise ships dock; adventures are found in places that you can slip a flat bottom boat.