A Reminder This Morning

Sharing with you a letter I wrote to a dear friend.  I think it is a good reminder to me and maybe for you too. 

I am speaking to us both when I say, lets keep trying to seek God first every day.  What I tend to do is get with God, then He speaks, then I start running.  I get so excited.  It is like Sydney (my 5 year old) at the beach.  She needs sun screen, then a floatie, then a lecture (about safety, rip tides, safe swim) in that order.  I know what she needs.  When we get out of the car she wants to run straight to the ocean.  If I let her, she would be scorched from sunburn that night and really, really regret it.  Then she would swallow a boat load of salt cause she cant swim.  I would rescue her but it would be miserable.  Then she would have a miserable time when it was all designed to be good. 

So the key is wait for Father to speak to us and then when He takes our hand to the water, we can go because He is ready.  When He is ready, we are good to go.  Even today I have too much to sit around and pray.  It goes against my logic to sit and pray about it. I  have some disappointing news that will demand my redirecting in ministry.  I have some personal problems that require more of my energy and thought, I have family stuff that I need to “do”.  But if I go today without time with God, I will miss peace and centering that only God can give me.   I will be up at 4 am staring at the ceiling overwhelmed because of my running ahead.  Plus, I may be pained by running ahead without Him (sunburn).  The key value this season is abiding. 

Lets continue to abide and trust that God will give us what we need in this season.  The overflow will be the power to endure and realize ENORMOUS things that come from SIMPLE times with God.

Stu

Our vision is all about making disciples at 180-degrees.  Of course you cannot make what you are not.  So that is the process....becoming and developing.  It is a call for the whole church to embrace.  The church that doesn't embrace it, becomes weak in the area that the whole body is not doing its part. 

Last week i was discussing Andy Stanley's thoughts on "Making Vision Stick".  This concept is a great one.  He gives us three things to remember when dealing with communicating vision:

Vision identifies a problem
Vision offers a solution
Vision compels others to act now

This Sunday at 180 we dealt with the vision and specifically the first of our 5 E's (equipping, edification, empowering leaders, evangelism, every member ministry).  Regarding the 180 vision and specifically one "E", equipping we shared with the church:

• The problem:  Spiritual Immaturity in Church
• The solution:  Effective Church Equipping
• Compelling Reason to Act Now:  The Church is sleeping the world is dying, Jesus is coming

The next hour was just explaining "how" we do this (move the church from spiritual maturity to maturity through the equipping process), and the vision itself is very simple.  I have been encouraged by Stanley to keep the vision simple so that others can understand it.  If they can't understand it, then they won't be doing it.  And oh, how the church needs to "grow up into Christ the head" Ephesians 4


Nice.




Stuart

Deep Concern For The Churches

One of the greatest words from the church planting apostle, Paul, concerning the people that he was reaching out to in the name of Jesus.  Laboring to convince them of the need to come to Christ fully, and surrender all of their lives to His Lordship,
"what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches."  2 Corinthians 11:28.

This awesome thought comes to me when I am struggling with decisions, leading the local church, speaking into the lives of people who are walking on slippery slopes, and maybe not paying attention to the spiritual details that will eventually come back to deal with them in a harsh way.  My motivation is deep concern.  Paul didn't just start ministry so that he could set up a denomination that would support his retirement.  Matter of fact, his goal was to exit stage left...saying that he longed to be gone on with Jesus, but it was not time.  So his labor continued to be for the churches.  I know of God's desire to make His church fully functional, whole, and filled with the spirit of  overcoming victorious souls.  We have so much to do in the church, but it is not aimless or without great and deep concern.  The minute we lose this, we lose everything.  God keep our concerns for one another deeply rooted.  Help our communities of faith grow in deep concern for one another in Jesus' name-  Stuart

Equipping

Equipping the saints is the work of the church.  We see it plain in scripture all over but here are two places:

"He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine."  Ephesians 4:11

and again in Matthew,

18    "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

I wanted to share with you a recent testimony of a dear sister in our church who has benefited from connecting with 180 through our equipping process, which includes topical Bible study, one on one committed relationship and accountability to a small group of believers in Christ.

"i was saved when  i was 9....and at about 14 i began to crave direction...in the church i was going to there wasn't teen groups or discipleship books. I had no real teaching on how to follow jesus or how to b a christian. I just knew what was right and wrong. I ended up lost and living life with no purpose and getting into a lot of trouble. I was so far away from God only to realize how close he was to me 2 years ago. I came to 180 2 years ago and was introduced to "becoming and making disciples of jesus christ". I got a discipleship partner and started going to womens group. It so impacted my life just the motto of becoming and making disciples...never thought of christianity as being christ's disciple.  i am naturally a runner and a quitter so i was challenged with going thru a workbook and meeting with an accountability partner. I think it was amazing from day one. I was pointed to the word of God...to truth. I felt God speaking to me thru the books and though difficult at times God always showed up in my accountability time. I realized i was being equipped and trained how to walk this out with the Lord and with the church the way He intended it to be. Learning to hear god's voice and spend time with him daily...how to fight off the devil's atacks, being trained how to recieve correction and how to serve, how to be humble but make a stand for the things of God, how to walk in unity with the body. Through obedience God has restored my family and even given me a new family. My whole thought process has changed. I used to be always thinking about myself...now i have a heart for reaching out to others who r hurting and need jesus. "

Be Equipped-  Stuart 

Consumer or Producer?

A tough word that might stir up a hornets nest.  It is part of our 12 week training in community life.  Les Brickman, Strategic Cell Ministries International, handed this devotional down to me... ouch.

“Eddie Didn’t Leave No Vacancy!”

Henry G. Bosch tells the interesting story of what happened when a customer in a small store discovered that the slow-moving clerk was not around one morning:

                                    “Where’s Eddie?  Is he sick?”

                                    “Nope,” came the reply.  “He ain’t workin’ here no more.”

                                    “Do you have anyone in mind for the vacancy?” inquired the customer.

                                    “Nope!  Eddie didn’t leave no vacancy!”

There are quite a few “Eddies” in most churches today.  They leave, no one even notices.  Why?  First, because there is no real sense of the Body of Christ in which members are involved in a functioning manner.  Second, many, by their own decision, have chosen to sit on the church bench on the sidelines of the action." (What’s Gone Wrong With the Harvest, pl56f, H. G. Bosch, “He Left No Vacancy,” Our Daily Bread (May, 1974), the devotional for May 6, 1974.)

“Eddies” are not effectively involved in what it means to be the Body of Christ.  They don’t leave any vacancy because they are not doing anything to effectively add to the life and ministry of the church.  They are parasites rather than producers.  Their contract with the church is to be pampered, ministered to, entertained for the exchange of which they will be counted in the numbers and will give from time to time to support the system.  They are part of the 85% of the members who are supported by and ministered to by the other 15%.  If they leave they leave “no vacancy” in the ministry or work of the church.  They just leave an empty spot on a pew on Sunday morning and a little less change in the offering plate.

Who is at fault?  Not Eddie!  He is a victim of a system that forces him to be a consumer rather than a producer.  There is no context in the traditional church through which Eddie can be trained to produce instead of to consume.  It is the small group context as designed by Christ through which Eddie is trained and given the opportunity to be productive.  That context no longer exists in most churches.  Most Christians will find little productive they can do on Sunday in a large group setting.  Therefore, Eddie becomes what the church system says he should be:  a statistic, a spectator, a pew packer, a contributor to a system, a minor spectator in a game played by the professionals.

We see few Eddies in the New Testament; Jesus’ system was designed to turn out producers not consumers or parasites.  In the New Testament small groups Eddie couldn’t hide.  The group might be meeting in his home.  He had to contribute and be productive.  It is the context that has made the Eddies that fill our church pews, and it is church leaders who are satisfied with that system that doom Eddie to a non-productive and parasitic spiritual existence.          

Vision: DoThey Really Know It?

Continuing on my focus on the term, "vision".  There is so much on this topic out there.  Books on mission, vision, values, goals, directional leadership etc.  To be honest I spent so much time on this in the beginning of planting the 180 church that I never wanted to read another book on vision and values.  However, through a series of conversations recently with some in the church and dealing with some straight out questions, "what is the vision of this church."  In other words, what are we trying to accomplish?  I have found myself at times frustrated with people in the church...not doing the simple things, not following the "obvious" protocol for basic/fundamental success.  Then I came across the quote from Andy Stanley's little book on vision, Making Vision Stick.  "when a leader blames the follower for not following, the leader has ceased to lead.  If the followers don't get it, we probably haven't delivered the vision in a way that makes it get-able.  We are responsible for keeping the vision of our organization at the forefront."  Simple.  Hey, I get that many leaders/pastors and churches have simply no direction at all.  And they even seem "successful".  Ask them where they are going, they really can't tell you.  Their church is filled with programs, activity, boards and all types of committees and such.  My struggle recently has been so much frustration that has come out of being very very very focused and simplistic in what we do for 7 years.  Never veering from the goal, staying steady and straight on the vision, not getting sidetracked with outreaches, and all kinds of ministry opportunities, yet in many ways still feeling the church disengaged from that vision!  Even this week I was offered an opportunity to have our church sell Christmas tree as a fundraiser.  I wanted to!  We need money!  But it is absolutely ludicrous to think that selling trees would help us accomplish vision in the church.  So my pain recently has come with how the church vision to me is so simple yet I feel that the integration/carry out of the vision has been slow to take.  Very difficult to see happen.  At times deflating for sure.  Then I read the above quote from Stanly and I begin to see things in a different light.  I am leading.  Do the people really understand?  They are coming and really trying to work at things, but they are not totally "getting it".  Stanley charges us....me as a leader to examine my CLARITY of vision.  So my challenge now with vision is-  clearly explaining what we are doing and in a compelling way invite people to join.  I know we must continue to share the vision over and over and over and over....because life makes vision slip.  We lose our focus parenting, get lazy and then our kids are gone.  We lose focus in our jobs, and soon our passion wanes and we stay in the back office "holding down the fort."  We lose our focus in marriage and wake up years gone by realizing we have not invested in the person we live with.... church is no different. 

What I am learning is that it is so important for people to UNDERSTAND WHAT WE ARE DOING!  The grief that I have been feeling is the reality that people are not fully engaged in the vision.  So now what?  Clarity, communication and integration.  I am having a revival of sorts now finding ways to communicate more simply, more effectively and more regularly than ever before.  The results I pray, will mean engagement from the body of Christ.  Effective ministry.  That brings God glory.


Stuart

God's Truth Is The Same In Kenya!

^{A good word from Pastor Caleb Oswago, Nairobi, Kenya:}

1. Ask God to absolutely set you on fire…to ignite you with passion that consumes you so that you are not merely working in a job but fulfilling His vision for your life.  People who work a job make a living…but people who are fulfilling their passion/calling make a difference!  (See Jeremiah 20:9)

2. Make the decision that you are going to lead out of CONVICTION of the Holy Spirit rather than the CONVENIENCE of doing what is easy rather than what is right.

3. Beg God to allow you to see people the way He sees people.  I think one of the fundamental problems in the body of Christ is that our eyes no longer see as His eyes see!  However, if we take off our “church colored glasses” and begin to see the world the way HE sees it…it changes EVERYTHING!  (See II Corinthians 5:16)

4. Make the decision that you don’t have to have all of the answers before you obey the voice of the Lord.  I once heard Francis Chan say, “When I read the Bible, it makes perfect sense not to know what is going to happen next!”  THAT might be one of the most freeing statements I’ve ever heard!  Hebrews 11:1 and Hebrews 11:6 have been HUGE for me personally in this regard.  YOUR church can do EXACTLY what God has told you to do…GO FOR IT!

5. Understand that everyone is NOT going to understand you…and that you can’t make it your goal to make sure that everyone understands and approves.  (See Galatians 1:10 and Proverbs 29:25)

6. Quit running to the online audience that will never darken the doors of your church to seek their approval.  Enough said!

7. PRAY BOLD PRAYERS for your church!  The early church prayed for boldness…we pray for safety.  The early church prayed for people to come to Christ…we pray for Sister So-and-so’s hangnail!  The early church prayed for the church to expand and the Gospel to advance…we pray that we can keep our churches small and safe.  Let’s BEG God for things to happen in our churches that are UNEXPLAINABLE and UNDENIABLE so that HE can receive ALL the glory!

8. STOP trying to be everyone else and be who God called you to be…your church should be a result of responding to the REVELATION of God and not the IMITATION of others!

180-Vision

Just an update.  Lots of things have caused us to continue to refine and re-clarify the vision of the church.  If the church doesn't have a vision, please don't attend it :)  The church better be about something of eternal significance and if one hour of worship is what the church is doing significant, you better run from that too.  Here is what we are seeking to go after as a church:

180 Degrees is committed to becoming and making disciples of Jesus Christ in community through equipping, edification, every member ministry, evangelism and empowering leaders.

Letter To An Interested Seeker

Last night at 180 we began a new focus and were kicking around the idea that we need to refocus on the vision of our local church.  We all need to focus in as a team and "do what we do well".  With that in mind we focused on getting everyone on the same page with the mission statement and how we go about accomplishing that.  We are beginning to break it down and our first focus is on equipping.  A second time visitor came up after church and mentioned their difficulty understanding what to do with all the choices in life.  Which direction to go and how to know.  It took me back to the benefits of being a believer in the Lord.  God has a way of simply directing us of our steps.  I thought the letter might be a help to someone else because I think so many people struggle with what this person struggles with.  Even Christians wrestle constantly with, "what does God want me to do?"  I am posting my response to our conversation...hope it helps somebody:

 I appreciate your sharing last night.  Thanks again for coming and I am glad that the Lord is speaking to your heart and as you shared, I was jumping up inside my heart for you to walk in the peace and clarity that God would have for you.

The way things go, as I have learned are fairly simple (yet complex).  When surrendering my life to the Lordship of Jesus at 19 I was so glad to know that my sins were forgiven and that I was in right relationship with God.  First of all that my need for grace and forgiveness was applied to my heart and conscience and secondly that my eternal situation was resolved.  I could not imagine an eternal hell that was reserved for me because of my sins and distance from God.  When I was saved of course I didn’t know jack.  My journey became to know this saving God. 

Years have passed now, but I have learned some simple truths that address life right where you seem to be right now.  What is my purpose?  What am I supposed to be doing on this ball?  What do I do?  There are so many options etc….

I have found that one of the greatest things to do before we start moving on and on and on from thing to thing, is to submit our life to the creator and the one who knows the plans that He has for us.

Jeremiah 29:11 was the scripture I wanted you to read that speaks to this:

¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.¹² Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.¹³ And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

This means to me that I can do it my way and try and fit fulfillment, success and pleasure in my own decision.  I am captain of my ship, my journey and my life.  Jesus often is viewed as this cosmic annoyance, interfering with people and making their life miserable by His holy ordinances and such.  I have found though that the byproducts of living in submission (that is a deep subject) to God, admitting that HE is the great planner and that He truly can handle my future, I begin to experience peace, joy and purpose.  That is more than an education, wife or job can ever give me.  SO the key is GETTING TO KNOW HIM!

That takes me to Romans 12.

1     I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I preach a 2 hour sermon on this one :)….but simply God is saying, “give it up….give me your life, trust me….stop living like the world and start to give Me your life (body, plans, attitudes, etc…) and keep being renewed in your mind (by the study of God’s word…and allowing the thoughts of God’s word to take root in your head….making your thoughts stay on the things eternal and good and true, instead of fleshly, worldly and evil).  When this happens, God gives a promise in His word.  Do you see it?  THAT YOU MAY PROVE WHAT IS THAT GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE AND PERFECT WILL OF GOD.  That is what I am talking about.  Not aimless wandering, confusion, fear, uncertainty. 

Now don’t get me wrong, there is intense seeking, praying, asking, meditating in the presence of God…but it does come (remember Jeremiah 29…).  The Holy Spirit in every believer comforts and leads us into ALL TRUTH.  SO as a believer in Christ we can FULLY trust God to lead us into our calling, purpose, destiny and with that is FULFILLMENT! 

That is a .20 cent sermon, but if you can catch it, it will save you from countless hours and months and years of frustration.

Matthew 6:33 states: 

“³¹   "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

We are learning that to seek God and His kingdom, His ways, His presence….we can trust that God will protect, provide and be our total carrier through life.

The essentiality of the Word of God is so key to understanding this truth.  I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak this to you.  I think it will greatly help our sermon next week on Equipping.  This is the process of growing in the knowing….that will give us what we need to be “equipped” to run this race.

Hope it makes sense and hope Sunday is another piece to bring you peace….

Excited to watch God move in your life.

Stuart

Put Your Helmet On!

  A good song from a rapper:  Lecrae:  We Are Children Of The Light.  If you are struggling with motivation, download it and listen to it 141 times in your prayer closet and let me know how that works for you.  The lyrics are below:


We are children of the light
Royal rulers of the day
Saints, no prisoners of the night
Trust and love will lead the way
We are free

Yeah, I notice when people notice me
My exterior is the only way they know it's me
I'm full of holes and scars, my skin's marked up
But qualified to light up a world of darkness
A day walker, I love walkin' in the sunlight
I look dirty but I've been cleaned on the inside
It's revolutionary, he's coming now for fellas and they can look at us strange
But ain't nothing that they can tell us, cause

We are children of the light
Royal rulers of the day
Saints, no prisoners of the night
Trust and love will lead the way
We are free

Yeah, I'm free to rock this mic to walk right in a dark night lighted by the sun (we are free)
I'm so free that I can fly while ya'll can't even crawl into a ball of freedom
In my life I count the cost I take lost accused of treason
And I could die for this cause and you might just be the reason
And in order to if I must die it's denial of self
And if you claim to be the way that means there ain't no one else
I trust it, done, there ain't no room for discussion
So if you just don't get it then let the just come with it
I know that much more is required of all that I've been given
But if ya'll claim to be alive then you gotta start livin
You know why

We are children of the light
Royal rulers of the day
Saints, no prisoners of the night
Trust and love will lead the way
We are free

And him the only one to take me out of Babylon
And him create me right and wrong
And him create me script and song
And that's why we stand firm upon the rock on which salvation, man
And so we love the prospect and hope to put our helmet on
And that is why we build upon for each and every chosen one
Respectful to the elder-men who give guidance and correction
So don't you quench the spirit man
The Word is truth, the Word is one
The Messiah give you Shalom

Spectacles In This World

Wow....a tough two week period in the life of a church.  Been plowing through 7 years of planting 180-degrees.  It has been so rewarding and blessed.  And hard.  After having to step in and discipline some unruly church members, I set some things in order in the ministry.

In doing so, I can say it has been with quite a bit of resistance.  When people do not understand where you are leading it can be very grieving.  Heather and I have for sure felt wounded in our hearts by people very close to us.  In ministry you can't be careful.  You have to love.  You have to get involved with the deepest parts of peoples lives.  You have to confront and challenge, sometimes you have to rebuke.  Through this process, we have been challenged both by people and even to the core of why we are doing what we are doing.

Along with that, we are modeling a ministry vision that is complete with high commitment level, personal commitment to discipleship, personal commitment to a group of people, and reaching out to people outside of the kingdom of God.  What that is, is a lot.  Yet that is what God has put in our hearts as leaders.  We have had to disagree with many people we love while looking like hee-haws in the process.

Our calling is to call the church to righteousness and preparation for the return of Christ.  That is not fun for many.  In the mix of it all, some misunderstandings have to do with our "systems" or church culture, some of it has to do with people's sins, some of it has to do with people just being spiritually lazy and uncommitted, some of it has to do with people not understanding the vision clearly; some of it values differences, some of it just not interested.  With all of that, that is all in one bag, shaken up.  It is a difficult thing to get a team to play together.  We are a rugged people as Obama spoke last night in his address to the people.  Rugged can be good, unless we need to work at unity.  Individualism is not forfeited when it is dressed in humility and one accord.  Unity is not uniformity and the key for us as Christians is to understand what it means to live in a community where we understand what the goal is.  To love, reach, teach and live for Christ.

Through much painful misunderstandings this week we are seeing people begin to pick up and move on and we are feeling more and more misunderstood.  Not to have a pity party, we knew we would (challenge many with the culture of 180).  I drew courage in the midst of it all this morning when my eldest sister left me a text.  "strange dream about you and kids....all dressed as clown-like....we were on vacation....least I can see you in my dreams."  I responded "crazy"....and she responded, "I thought so, but you all acted like yourself....just dressed weird."  Immediately the Spirit spoke to me about the apostle Paul and these scriptures came to mind....

"For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men." 1 Cor. 4:9

"We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!  To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.   And we labor, working with our own hands.  Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted we endure; being defamed, we entreat.  We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now." 1 Cor. 4:10

So the clown text, I get it.  Spectacle.  Fools.  Misunderstood.  Jesus constantly pressed people to come in His kingdom His way....small gate, narrow way, die to self, stop living like the world.  His demands are upon us in this generation.  Foolish living will always be a mark for clown-looking believers.  Heck, go get some lipstick and a red wig and oversized shoes in the spirit.  You can't hide a clown when you see one.

Stuart