Leadership 101
If there ever was an example of being given every chance for success and screwing it up it would be Saul from the Old Testament. He was chosen by God to be the King of Israel, and still couldn’t seem to get his act together.
But from him we can learn a valuable lesson in leadership. In 1 Samuel 14, we see that Saul has placed an oath upon his whole army that no one can eat until he had avenged himself of his enemies. Only problem is that his oath placed his entire army in a grave situation…. starvation.
2 problems with what Saul did. First he made the decision based upon emotion. ”Darn them mean ‘ol Philistines! I’ll show them if it kills my whole army!” Second he made a decision for the benefit of himself.
So if you are in leadership, which nearly everybody is, even if your a parent, these are 2 good things NOT to do. Don’t base your decisions based upon emotion. You’re never in your right mind and they usually aren’t very reliable decisions. And don’t base your decisions on what will be best for you. Need I pull out examples from the banking industry? Do what is best for those you are leading.
God’s Math
You can’t out-give God. Sorry for the cliche, but it’s true.
Before Jennifer and I got married we had ‘the talk’. Not the sex talk the money talk. And things didn’t add up. Too much month at the end of the money. But after much weeping and nashing of teeth we proceeded with the wedding – and with tithing. 10% right off the top. No questions asked.
Now my wife and I made a whopping 45K a year, maybe that. And while in TX we paid off her student loans, a car, bought an old beat up pickup with cash (which I’m still bitter we sold before moving), all of our credit cards, and a partridge in a pear tree. Trust me it was a lot. But we were paying off stuff like mad.
Fast-forward to 2007-2008. Each year we would try to increase our giving by some amount, 1/2%, 1%, something. Then we started having babies. :0) And babies cost money. We thought, ‘well God would want us out of debt first, right?’ So we decreased our giving so we could sock it towards debt. It wasn’t a lot. It just took us back to 10%. Funny thing happened. Money felt tighter. So we re-evaluated. And decided to go back to God’s math. Guess what. Money doesn’t feel as tight as before. Oh trust me. We still budget, and shift, and shuffle, and pinch pennies. But in the end we realized that when God is first in the finances everything else falls into place.
If you’re not giving 10% off the top I challenge you to START there. Sure its a jolt to the system. But when you do it as long as I have it seems normal (and you’ll swear by it to all of the doubters). I promise the math doesn’t make sense. But is it supposed to? Instead, maybe God’s math is supposed to do just that – make you look at God.
Secret Sins
Yesterday I heard the sad news that a Pastor I keep up with lost his position at his church due to a moral failure…an affair. Let’s just say it. Last Sunday I heard of another Pastor that is an acquaintance that lost his position for the same reason. I walked in from church yesterday siked by the day, but saddened by the news I had recieved. My wife asked if their was an affair epedemic going around. Sad that is a legitimate question.
My prayers go out to both of those pastors. Both are good people with great churches. And both, using the systems of authority around them, have resigned from their lead pastor position (both of churches they planted) and are going through a healing process. Pray for the churches. Pray for the families. God’s grace is evident, but sin still has consequences.
Someone quipped yesterday that pastors shouldn’t have women personal assistances. Don’t think that would’ve helped Ted Haggard, who had a homosexual affair. My wife said they should be old ugly grandma’s. Hmmm. Maybe that would work. But honestly I think it is a failure of personal accountability and systems in place to prevent things like that from happening. Which brings me to the point of the whole blog post to begin with.
I’m sure there are some Pastors out there who are having affairs and getting away with it. Not many, but odds are it’s happening. But that isn’t the overwhelming problem in ministry. Let me ask a different question. How many Pastors are out there who, if they put their private life up on a screen, would be asked to resign their Pastorship? Now we’re getting somewhere.
Just throwing out random numbers, but I’d bet for every 1 Pastor who has a public moral failure, there are 2, maybe 3 who are having a private moral failure. Porn? Verbal abuse? Physical abuse? Neglecting their wife? Non-existent prayer life? Neglecting their kids? Lust? Emotional affairs? Filthy language? These issues are killing the church from the inside out and we need to hit them head on.
I think the only way to do this is to hold each other accountable. Have the guts to call out what you see. And if your a Pastor, for God’s sake put someone around you that you can say ANYTHING to without fear – someone who could tell you like it is and get you help before it’s too late. Open yourself up. Have some humility Know you aren’t superhuman.
And don’t think that just because your sin isn’t being shouted from the rooftop your not hurting anybody. If their is sin in the camp it is hurting EVERYBODY. It is hurting your ability to hear from God. It is hurting your ability to cast vision. It is hurting your ability to communicate the Gospel. And it is hurting yours and your church’s ability to reach people who need Christ. So your sin is causing people to end up in hell. Repent. Get some accountability. Be a man. And let’s fight satan’s plan to make the church impotent.
Sunday Night Ramblings
• I’m pooped. Actually going to get to go to be before 9…. If I type fast.
• I feel for my wife. She has been through so much over the last few weeks and still has a great attitude. Always wants to be a good witness to the nurses.
• Oh if you didn’t know she got admitted to the hospital for an infection Friday.
• Good news is she’s on the same floor as Weston!
• Weston is eating like a champ! Took 2 ounces in one feeding and was still hungry afterwards!
• Actually getting mad at my iPhone because of wants to correct Weston into Weaton. That’s not his name!
• Dear volunteers- I still love my iPhone!
• Had a hammer dulcimer on stage today. Steven is amazing on it!
• Never heard our audio sound so good as it did today!
• So grateful for friends like Phil and Willie. They busted their tails working on my backyard. Love those guys dearly.
• Dreading another trip to the DMV to fix a title problem.
• Sold my Hyundai!
• Love my setup and teardown volunteers. They are selfless!
• Angie has been assisting Pastor Daniel on Sunday mornings. She is amazing!
• Love our new(used) van!
• Going to miss the Weiss’s. Can’t believe they leave in two weeks!
• Thankful I have family that is willing to make the trip from TN to help.
• Feels like a hundred people asked how they could help today. I wish I knew! Pray for rest!
• Feels like my family has a big bullseye on it. Need your prayers!
• Still humbled that God is using all of this for his glory!
• My wife started talking to Weston’s nurse today and found out that we have a connection. Amazing lady and hoping God can use us to minister to her.
• Thankful that God answered prayers for my Dad. He’s doing much better.
• Following Los’s twitters about his vacation is causing me to covet.
• I need a vacation!
Self criticism vs. Self condemnation
There are times when I look back at my actions and think, ‘Oh Dear Lord, I actually did that?’ You know the feeling. Your cheeks get all flushed and you are horrified by how you acted. Typically these visions are centered around my adolescent years and college years – those awkward times when I was socially inempt and clueless.
I still have those thoughts for even recent events. Now there are 2 approaches. You can really beat yourself up. I’m really bad about this simply because I’m harder on myself than on others. But what good does that do except to put you in a funk and search out things to numb the feeling – Krispy Kream Donuts and Frappacinos do well. The only problem with this is, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And that is on all levels.
Then there is option 2. Evaluate, learn, and move on. Don’t dwell. Don’t constantly relive a moment – that’s called OCD…or CDO for you really bad cases.
Self improvement is a great quality. Self condemnation is a destructive one.
Baby Drama
We evidently love excitement in our life. Tubal pregnancies, IVF, failed pregnancies that actually ended up being a successful pregnancy. Let’s see…. What else? Oh forgot about the ruptured cyst. Through it all God has protected, provided, and giv en us peace.
Now we get to add one more to the mix – previa. Looks like at 33 weeks Jennifer has booked herself a 3 week stay in the hospital. Just too far along to risk her going into labor and bleeding. We’ll have a c-section in the next few weeks, so she’ll just stay put till then. 1. Pray for Weston’s lungs. 2. Pray that the surgery is uneventful and that they don’t have to remove anything but a baby. 3. And pray for sanity!
Birthday Surprise
I currently am tapping my thumbs against a lit-up piece of glass and watching letters pop up. I’ve been wanting an iphone as long as they’ve been out, but the budget rules and over-budget bathrooms pinch the wallet. But Tuesday night the volunteer leaders surprised me with enough cash to get one for my birthday. Thank you all!
Oh. Please pray for Jennifer. If she hears the word ‘app’ one more time I think she’ll scream!
Unleash
Awesome. Amazing. I think a pivotal point in our church history. Our volunteers are pumped!
Now that I’ve slept and have had a chance to digest everything I took in, I have one big take away: Do we really want to do this without God? Do we ever get on our face and beg God to show up? Of course we want God to be there, but does it translate into prayer? We need systems. Have to have them. But be careful not to allow the systems to overshadow the work of God.
Perry Noble commented on how all of the sudden a lot of people began to show up. He was asked what were they doing. He honestly couldn’t come up with an answer. “Nothing. We were doing nothing special. No flyers, no mailers, no attendance push. They just showed up!”
We say the phrase alot, “Work like it depends on us, pray like it depends on God.” Problem is most tend to do the first part really well. Now let’s pray because it DOES depend on God.
Lifepointer’s, let’s pray that God begins to rock our world! Let’s pray that he just messes us up so much that we have to look at what God is doing and say….had to be God.
