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The Truth is Absurd!

Love this trailer for a sunday morning series called "The Xmas Files" done by LifeHouse Church. Got me pumped for the season. Merry Christmas.

I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. –Napoleon

I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history. --H.G. Wells

As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene....No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. --Albert Einstein

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.--C.S. Lewis

The Truth is Absurd. Isn't that refreshing. Isn't that just like Jesus.

I hope you experience the ABSURD this Christmas.

Let's Get Fired Up!

Winding down before the holidays? Energy low? Need a boost? Well watch this then go do that last round of Christmas shopping or eight Christmas Eve services. You can do it!

Dangerous Growth

 

Seeking healthy ministry is something I can honestly say I have done throughout my ministry career. I have rarely cared about having the biggest youth ministry, I wanted to have the healthiest one. I once worked for a guy who had this mythical number in his head that our high school ministry should have 500 students in it. He didn't care about the health of our group just the number. We were a group of about 200 at the time, and very healthy. We had  built that number up from just over 30 active kids in a little over 3 years, all of this in a church of 3000 people. Needlesss to say I left there because I didn't agree with the vision and years later there has never been more than 150 high school students actively involved at that church at one time. So much for 500! It is dangerous when you make numbers your goal! Below is an article from Church Relevance. 

Three years ago, Jack Trout wrote an article for Forbes that discussed the danger of making growth your mission.

That desire for growth is at the heart of what can go wrong for many companies. Growth is the by-product of doing things right. But in itself, it is not a worthy goal. In fact, growth is the culprit behind impossible goals.

People do damaging things to force unnecessary growth.

This also applies to churches. Great attendance is the by-product of doing things right. Your goal is your God-given mission. When attendance becomes your goal, you risk doing damaging things for growth’s sake.

Remember, God cares about changed lives not accumulated lives. As long as you are focused on your mission and continually getting better at fulfilling it, you should be content with the by-product of doing things right.

And if your church has been thrust into the spotlight because of your attendance, methods, or pastor, be extra careful that you do not swap your God-given mission with the pursuit of growth. Jack Trout continues:

Did you ever wonder why very successful, privately held companies, such as Milliken or Gore-Tex, rarely show up in the press? It’s because no one is staring at their numbers quarter after quarter. All they have to worry about is their business. And if they are happy with it, that’s all that matters.

When people start staring at your ministry to see what you do next, it can be tempting to do things to please them rather than to please God. It can be tempting to make the newspaper, the blog posts, and the “cool” church lists. But if you are being a good steward of your God-given calling, that’s all that matters. Do not be concerned what anyone but God thinks.

Wisdom from The Office

Michael Scott: I, um, thought about getting a tattoo on my back as well at one point. I was thinking about getting Back to the Future. Back, because it's on my back; and future because I'm the kind of guy who likes to look ahead, into the future. I just think a tattoo should mean something, you know? And it's my second favorite movie.

Dwight Schrute: In the wild, there is no health care. In the wild, health care is, 'Ow, I hurt my leg. I can't run. A lion eats me. I'm dead.' Well, I'm not dead. I'm the lion. You're dead.

Michael Scott: I don't understand. We have a day honoring Martin Luther King, but he didn't even work here.

Love-Hate Relationship

My boss Bruce gave me this little devotional book called A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants that is really good, it has all different thoughts on ministry, church and such. Here is one I liked because I have felt this way often:

How baffling you are, oh Church, and yet how I love you!

How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you!

I should like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence.

You have given me so much scandal and yet you have made me understand sanctity.

I have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised, more false and I have touched nothing more pure, more generous, more beautiful.

How often I have wanted to shut the doors of my soul in your face, and how often I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms.

No, I cannot free myself from you, because I am you, although not completely.

And where should I go?

-Carlo Carretto

Beware the Doghouse!

This is hilarious, make sure you watch this all the way through. It is actually an ad for JCPenny, very clever form of advertising. Merry Christmas to those in the doghouse.

Tribal Leader part 2

Seth Godin's new book is just terrific. I am about 2/3 of the way through and have found so many great tidbits and insights on ministry. This book is not a "ministry" book per se but the applications are abundantly clear. Godin in one section of the book tackles what he calls the MYTH of PLURALITY. Loved this part. Basically it is the Myth that everyone has to follow you as a leader, that everyone must by into what you are selling. That bigger is better.

So many churches and organizations operate on the principle of making everyone happy, making sure everyone buys in to what they are doing. Godin argues for the opposite, and I agree with him.

So as a leader is your goal to make your ministry BIGGER or to just set a direction for where you are going and see who follows? I think Jesus did the latter and so should we.

Here are some excerpts from the book:

"In order to lead a tribe all you need to do is motivate people who choose to follow you. The rest of the population is free to ignore you or disagree with you or move on. Starbucks doesn't serve coffee to the majority of people in the United States. You don't need a plurality or a majority. In fact, in nearly every case, trying to lead everyone results in leading no one in particular."

"Tribes are increasingly voluntary. No one is forced to work for your firm or attend your services. People have a choice of which music to listen to and which movies to watch. So great leaders don't try to please everyone. Great leaders don't water down their message in order to make the tribe a bit bigger. Instead they realize that a motivated, connected tribe in the midst of a movement is far more powerful than a larger group could ever be."

YS OneDay Coming Soon

This is my sixth year as part of the Youth Specialties One Day Training Team. The day used to be called The Core but is now known as YS OneDay. We are tackling the Bible as our theme this year, should be a good one. Make sure you make it to one of the 90+ cities we will be in.

Here are a couple of funny promo videos for the day. Hope to see you out on the road.

Startin' to Feel Like Christmas...Thanks U2

They said there'll be snow at Christmas

They said there'll be peace on Earth But instead it just kept on raining A veil of tears for the Virgin's birth I remember one Christmas morning A winters light and a distant choir And the peal of a bell and that Christmas Tree smell And their eyes full of tinsel and fire They sold me a dream of Christmas They sold me a Silent Night And they told me a fairy story 'Till I believed in the Israelite And I believed in Father Christmas And I looked at the sky with excited eyes 'Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn And I saw him and through his disguise I wish you a hopeful Christmas I wish you a brave New Year All anguish pain and sadness Leave your heart and let your road be clear They said there'll be snow at Christmas They said there'll be peace on Earth Hallelujah Noel be it Heaven or Hell The Christmas you get you deserve. La la la la la la la la la la....

Do You Have "Bright Eyes"?

So I was laying in bed with my son tonight, there was very little light in the room, and he was sitting in his bed "reading" a book. The book is called BELLY BUTTON (That's not really important to the story). I was saying goodnight to him and telling him I love him and he turned to me and said, "Daddy read the book", I said "no, it's too dark in here to read".

 He replied, "I'll read it I have BRIGHT eyes."

I had never heard him say that before, in fact I don't think he ever had. It was an unusual phrase but I knew what he meant.

It got me thinking. Do I have "bright eyes"? Eyes that can see in dark places, eyes that can find the truth in a dark world?

Do my eyes shine with the love of God? Do my eyes see things for what they are? Do they see people and what is really going on in their lives?

I have been digging this Brandon Heath song called "Give Me Your Eyes". Here are some of the lyrics and the video.

Give me your eyes for just one second 
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted 
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

Thanks Parker for your words tonight and the reminder to have "BRIGHT EYES".

Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes from Brandon Heath on Vimeo.