Josh Patterson is one of the pastors at The Village Church in Dallas, TX, and writes for their blog.  I love what he has said concerning the passing of Michael Jackson.  His response reflects a Biblical worldview.  I thought I’d share it with you.

I have tried to “moonwalk” a thousand times. I used to think the “Thriller” video was the coolest thing ever…and a little scary. I might have owned a red leather jacket with a bunch of zippers. In the third grade, I performed a moving rendition of “Beat it” for the school talent show and brought the house down. “Billie Jean” still has the most memorable beat to start a song and the sure fast way to get a party started. I really did think Michael Jackson was “Bad” and a “Smooth Criminal.” You know you cried the first time you realized it really did start with the “Man in the Mirror” and “We are the World.” If ever we saw an icon fall from grace, it was Michael Jackson.

He was a man who was never comfortable in his skin. He always wanted to be something other than he was. Money afforded him the opportunity to chase a thousand fantasies from morphing his image (literally) to building Neverland. It the end, he was a sad commentary on the truths found in the book of Ecclesiastes. Vanity of vanity…life is all vanity. The pursuit of wisdom, riches, fame, fortune, safety, security, simplicity, chastity, fidelity, friendship or solitude is all a vain pursuit. Death is the great equalizer. Christ is the great hope.

I had the opportunity to preach at a Korean church yesterday.  It was definitely a different kind of an experience.  I’m not sure if your experience at the church where you attend is anything like mine, but typically the American church experience goes something like this:

1. Arrive 5 minutes late.

2. Sit in the back.

3. Say hey to a couple of friends on your way to lunch.

My experience yesterday flew in the face of this, in a good way.  The music started 20 minutes before the service started, to get people in the mood to worship.  We sang hymns (first in Korean, then in English for the few English-speaking spouses…and me and my family), read Scripture (again, first in Korean, then in English), heard announcements (I don’t think I have to say it again, but I will anyway…first in Korean, then in English), then I preached…first in English, then in…just kidding.  I preached, then the English-speaking people were dismissed while the Korean pastor preached.  We discussed the implications of my sermon, very much like what we do in small groups at Grace Community Church.  After that, everybody stayed around to eat lunch and fellowship.

Here’s what struck me: when the congregation was worshipping in Korean, I had no idea what they were saying.  I don’t speak or read Korean.  However, I knew what they were doing.  I could tell that they were worshipping, and were going at it with all of their hearts.  I so wish I could have joined in their songs and prayers.  But I had to wait until they spoke my language.

In your church, are you “speaking another language”?  You may be communicating in English, but are you using words that outsiders don’t know?  Do people who attend your church have to have a theological degree, or at least have been going to church for their whole lives, in order to follow you as you preach, pray, and sing?  Is the theological vocabulary you are armed with alienating “outsiders?”  If I remember correctly, Jesus could communicate the life-transforming power of the Gospel to the Pharisees AND the people who had no clue about Scripture.

This is not a call to “dumb down” your worship services.  This is a call to make them accessible to a wide audience.  Not by muddling the truth and preaching a false Gospel.  Preach the Truth!  But preach it in a way that lost people are left with a choice to respond to the Gospel…not merely wondering what “atonement,” “depravity,” “Gospel,” “redeemed,” and the vast array of other insider language that we use.

May those we minister to be left amazed by the love of our Savior and not the complexity of our language.

I received an email today from a store that I shopped at just a couple of weeks ago.  For the record, I never logged in and told them what I purchased.  This email was sent unsolicited 2 weeks after the purchase.  Here’s the email:

I’ve got two thoughts from this:

1. Nothing is private. Not that we can hide anything from God anyway (see Psalm 139:7-13 for further proof of that), but anytime you use your credit card, that information can be tracked.  Any time you post a picture on Facebook, it’s there permanently.  Any blog post I write is public information, and is representative of me.  I can continue to feel weird about this, or I can wisely use social media and blogging to my advantage.  I choose the latter.

So, be careful what you place online.  It is “tracked” by those you lead and by those you are doing life with.  It is a representative of you, whether you like it or not, and will continue to represent you in the future.  It’s public and permanent.  Make sure that, when you post something online, you ask yourself the question, “Will I be proud of this in 5 years?”

2. Polling those you lead is important. At some level, I feel valued by this organization (represented in the email above).  I feel like I have a voice with them.  They give me the freedom, in my response, to say that I hated what I bought…or that I loved it.  I strangely feel empowered, and that my voice counts for something.  If I say that I hated it, they really may rethink putting that item on the shelf again (or I could be fooling myself, but for argument’s sake, please let me feel important right now).

If you’re a leader, make yourself vulnerable.  Ask, “Is this working?” and be ready and willing to change things if they’re not functioning like they should (i.e., accomplishing the “end” goal).  Asking for opinions shows that you care what others think, but if you open the door, be ready to walk through it.  Making changes based on feedback shows that you value others’ thoughts and the effectiveness of the organization as a whole.  Asking for feedback and making no changes is a slap to the face of those who shared their thoughts.

As a Christian, and a leader, both of these points resonate with me.  I need to be careful with the way that I live my life, and ready and willing to change our system (see my post about that here) when it’s not making disciples of Christ.

How do they resonate with you?

I ended up buying a card for my dad for Father’s Day, but felt lame doing it.  I think that most of that canned stuff is lame…I didn’t write it, but I’ll sign my name to it as if I did!  Anybody else feel like that?  Basically, in getting a card, I feel like I’m saying, “How can I be heartfelt and lazy at the same time?”  Can those two even go together?

I’ve been ruminating a lot about my relationship with my dad and my new relationship with my son (he’s 8 months old this week!).  In honor of him, and of his day yesterday, here’s what I’ve got going through my head.

If you don’t know my dad, I wish you did.

Dad,

Thanks for taking time to show me

how to swing a club and sink a putt,

kick, shoot, throw, and catch a ball,

run, jump, and practice,

drive a stick shift and start a mower,

dig a hole and cut the grass.

You’ve modeled for me

how to be a good dad to my son

and a good husband to my wife,

how to read my Bible

and memorize a verse

and live out my faith.

You’ve shown me

that it’s important to work hard at everything

and strive for excellence in all I do

but that work is never more important than being with family.

I’ve seen you laugh, cry, teach, coach, love, serve, grow, succeed,

invest in church, community, your work, and your family.

You’ve gone out of your way to show me how to be a man.

A Christ-follower.

A leader.

A servant.

A friend.

A husband.

A father.

You’ll probably never see the full fruits of your investment.

But it’s worth all of your effort.

Thanks for 27 years of being a great dad.

When life falls apart, we tend to lose hope.  Whether that’s getting a flat tire (I just had one!), getting a headache, hearing tragic news, or losing your job, our response is often to recoil and lose hope.

When life falls apart, do you run to God or from Him?  Those are the only two options.  The biblical ideal is this: “we rejoice in our sufferings.” (Romans 5:3)  What?!?  Rejoice in our sufferings?  Isn’t that counter-intuitive?  How could somebody ever be joyful in the midst of pain?  Emotions aren’t something you can control, right?  They’re just a reaction, aren’t they?

Being joyful in the face of difficulties is a work that God must do in you.  It’s a process, and doesn’t happen overnight.

“Suffering produces endurance.” (Romans 5:3)  “Produce” implies that there is time between suffering and endurance.  No runner will tell you that they built up endurance in one week, or even in one year.  It takes a lot of time.  The same holds true for:

“Endurance produces character.” (Romans 5:4)  Former Princeton basketball coach, Pete Carril said, “Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it.”  Hardships have a way of revealing the worst in us, but endurance in the face of them produces character.  This passage in Romans finishes with:

“Character produces hope.” (Romans 5:4)  What is that hope in?  That our sufferings are not in vain, but that they bring glory to God (Romans 5:2).  We rejoice because we are being made into the image of Christ, the One who died for us.  We don’t rejoice because we enjoy suffering.  We don’t hope because we think that life on earth will some day be rosy and easy.  We have hope because Christ died the death we deserve, and is shaping us into his image so that, when this life is over, we will be ready for an eternity with God.

In your suffering may you “not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

The next time that life falls apart, turn to God, and let Him do a work in you.  May your suffering ultimately produce hope in Christ.

Laura and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary together this weekend.  Wow, how time flies!  Here are some things we’ve done that I would consider significant, in random order:

1. Moved five times.

2. Finished graduate school.

3. Bought a car and a truck.

4. Bought a house.

5. Bought a dog.

6. Had a child.

7. Led a small group

8. Learned how to love each other.

9. Laughed together.

10. Cried together.

11. Dreamed about ministry together.

12. Went on a lot of dates.

13. Invested in other couples.

14. Found couples that would invest in us.

15. Cleaned house together.

16. Worked hard to find the best, most unique gifts for each other, instead of only doing that for others.

17. Fell asleep on the couch together

18. Worshiped together.

19. Read Scripture together. (which leads back to #18)

20. Grow a garden together.

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What have you done in five years?

-VS-

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In your ministry and leadership, do you merely copy others?

Recently, there has been a bit of competition raised right outside of our office building.  Little Caeser’s Pizza has just moved in, and they’re offering “$5 Hot-N-Ready” pizza.   They even offer a drive-thru window!  Simply drive up, tell them what kind of pizza(s) you want, and they give them to you, ready-to-go, on the spot.  Two doors down from Little Caeser’s there is a Domino’s Pizza.  It’s been there for a number of years, and seems to have experienced a reasonabe level of succes (at least based on the frequency that their delivery cars are coming and going).  They do what they’re good at: making their pizzas and delivering them.  Little Caeser’s is doing what they’re good at: making pizzas that you pick up instantly.  Is one right and the other wrong?

Soon after Little Caeser’s opened, Domino’s began offering a “$4.99 Ready To Go” pizza.  Sounds like a rip-off to me.

Some churches look at other churches throughout the country, notice a reasonable amount of success, and try to duplicate that.  Sorry, but it doesn’t quite work that way.  You are called to minister the Gospel to your people in your community.  Just because Saddleback does small group this certain way and it works in southern California doesn’t mean that you need to do it the exact same way and expect the same results in rural Idaho.  Just because Louie Giglio preaches a certain way and has success doing it doesn’t mean that you need to copy him.  John Piper has been wildly successful, but duplicating what he does (style, mannerisms, inflections, verbage, etc.) is unwise and ensures no level of success.  Going through the same small group curriculum that the Smiths used and loved doesn’t mean that that’s what you should do.  Maybe you should use the same material…or maybe you should look for a curriculum that helps to shepherd your group where they are at spiritually at this point in time.

Be creative.  Think differently.  Lead in the way that God has gifted you.  Don’t just copy what others are doing.

When I worked as a manager for Starbucks, I was always thinking about the next manager on duty.  I wanted to make sure I was “setting them up for success.”  That meant making sure the bar was clean, the dishes were put away, the café was tidy, the milk was stocked, the espresso was ready to go, appropriate breaks were given, and, as much as I could help it, morale was high.  I wanted the next manager to have greatest chance of succeeding on their upcoming shift.  If I did not prepare for this, and work hard to “set them up for success,” I considered my job a failure for that day.  Beyond the day-to-day work, I was also striving to train future leaders to do what I did at the company, thus “setting them up for success” in their future with the company.
This is important in leadership.  I see this played out in the relationship that Moses had with Joshua.  He trained Joshua to be a leader once he was gone.  He knew that one day Joshua would be given the lead role, because God had promised Moses he would not enter the promised land.  Therefore, Moses worked hard to train Joshua and “set him up for success.”  Often, the thought is that the successor of a highly successful leader is a fall-guy.  I have seen that happen in churches, where the pastor after the long-term pastor is doomed for failure, and has trouble even getting off of the ground.  If the rule of the fall-guy always held true, shouldn’t it have held true for Moses?  After all, Moses was considered the greatest prophet of his day! (Deuteronomy 34:10)  But Moses had his eyes on the bigger picture.  “And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, FOR Moses had laid his hands on him.” (Deuteronomy 34:9)  You see, Moses was not content investing only in his own leadership.  He invested in the next generation as well.  The people responded to Joshua, as soon as he had been given leadership, like this: “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.  Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so will we obey you.”  Joshua was set up for success (though it quickly became his responsibility to carry through with the task of leadership: “Only may the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses!”) because Moses intentionally took steps to develop him.

How are you setting up others for success in your absence, both in the short-term and in the long-term?  Are you controlling the mission, vision, and operation of your organization so tightly that you choke out others?

How are you preparing your children to be a success?  What about your co-workers?  Your band members?  Those in your small group?  Are you preparing them to lead?  Are you getting them ready for the task that God has called them to do? Or are you so task-oriented that you forget about the bigger picture, and forget that one day you will be gone?

So, I just wasted 3 minutes, 41 seconds of my life, and thought I’d share with you how I did that.  This video’s really cool, and if I was still in college, this is something that I would have been a part of.  Only watch this video right now if you’ve got lots of other, important work to do.

I’m afraid that the guys who shot this video wasted much more than 3 minutes, 41 seconds.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLByTnNwico&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

Do you read your local paper?  Mine is the Leaf Chronicle (I receive the Leaf Chronicle electronically, via e-mail, every day).  Is it the most well-done paper?  Probably not.  Is it the most widely circulated paper?  You answer that.  You likely have never heard of it.  It doesn’t have the best articles, the most extensive coverage, the widest reader base, or even have a version that’s released on the Kindle .  But it’s my local paper.

I live here.  I work here.  I’m raising my family here.  I consider myself a leader here.  Therefore, I need to know what’s going at the local level.  Sure, I can read blogs, talk with people, and go to city meetings, but I can’t be everywhere.  Neither can you.  The newspaper reports what is going on here in Clarksville.  And that’s important to me.

I had an unplanned, emergency meeting with somebody today.  Had I not read our local paper this morning, I would have been steps behind in the conversation.  I was greatly helped because I was knew many of the details before the meeting, as reported in the Leaf Chronicle.

Clarksville is my community.  If you consider yourself a leader in one way or another, you need to be involved in your local community.  The local newspaper is a great place to start.  Go ahead, try it.  Your community will thank you.  So will those you lead.