I hear it all the time. “We went from starting this church with 8 people a few years ago to having over 5,000 people attend our services each week!” There are always comments being made by how many new people came to church, announcements about new campuses, announcements of building expansions or new building construction. Church leaders love to tell people about their churches growth.

Now, before I get hit over the head by people who attend large churches or churches that are growing extremely fast, allow me to put my comments in some context. Church growth is of course, critical to the success of any church. A church that does not grow, withers and dies eventually. In addition, in this post, I am not singling out any one particular church. So, when it comes to church growth?

Motivation is key.

As Christians, we often wonder if what we’re doing is right or wrong. Often, our motivation is going to tell us. For instance, owning a nice large home is not an example of ‘greed’ as some will tell you. If you have worked hard and you have beeen faithful in your giving to God, then using the money you’ve been blessed with to purchase or build a new home is perfectly fine. If your motivation for buying a new home is simply because other people have similar homes and you want to be like them or use it to impress others, then there’s a problem. As a photographer, I am often motivated to purchase cool photography items. But I often have to weigh my motivations. Is that new lens something I really need for my photography business, or is it merely something I want because it’s such a cool item?

So what is the motivation of the church? I would say it boils down to the question being asked. Many churches and their leaders ask:

“What can we do in order to get more people to come to our church?”

Shouldn’t the question really be:

“What can we do in order to bring our church to the people?”

To visualize this second question, let’s take a look at John 1:43-46

Verse 1 says, “The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”  Here was, going out to Galilee where he found his disciple, Philip. Philip follows in the footsteps of Jesus by going to Nathaniel in verse 43 and telling him they found the man the prophets wrote about, Jesus of Nazareth. Nathaniel, in verse 46 asks, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” to which Philip replies, “Come and see.”

Charles Spurgeon wrote:

Huber, the great naturalist, tells us that if a single wasp discovers a deposit of honey or other food, he will return to his nest and impart the good news to his companions, who will sally forth in great numbers to partake of the fare which has been discovered for them.

Shall we who have found honey in the rock Christ Jesus be less considerate of our fellow-men than wasps are of their fellow-insects? Ought we not rather, like the Samaritan woman, hasten to tell the good news? Common humanity should prevent one of us from concealing the great discovery which grace has enabled us to make.

If the goal of a church is merely to get people to go, what does that do for their future? Is it possible for a church to hold 1000 people and yet be spiritually empty? I believe so. It’s easy to put together a campaign designed to bring people in. There is cool music, church staff wearing cool clothes, a cool Pastor, etc. They have wonderful events at their church filled with fun things to do with great food. But at the same time, their people are not being fed spiritually. Again, I am not knocking “cool music” or any of those other items I listed. I play the drums for our worship team and this weekend we’re going to be playing a Lincoln Brewster song that is fast and has an amazing guitar solo.

What churches need to remember is there are so many people out there who are not going to come to church regardless of what is being advertised or based upon what is on a website. Why? Because church is where Christians feel safe. Others feel threatened no matter how nice a church building is. Jesus went out to where the people were. He went to the beaches, to the markets, and to the city streets. He didn’t set up some tent and hand out flyers. He just shared with people and listened to them. He also asked them questions. In addition, his invitation was so simple. “Follow me.” Philip said to Nathaniel, “Come and see.” That’s it.

I believe if we get back to the basics, take our church outside the walls and to the people, churches would experience growth like they have never seen before both in numbers and in spirit. I truly believe our evangelism needs to take place outside the walls of our church. Discipleship is what we strive for, once people are inside the walls. The more we evangelize outside, the more that will come inside. The more that come inside, the more we’ll have to send outside. The cycle will just repeat itself.

Thoughts?

I’ve had better starts to years in the past. This year hasn’t been easy.

On January 24th, after a battle with cancer, my mother passed away. She was 60 years old.

A week later our family dog, Casey died. She was 8 years old and absolutely the best dog in the whole world. Ask friends and family that knew her. She was amazing.

Today, my father passed away at the age of 66. My father has been sick for a long time. He suffered a brain injury 15 years ago that caused brain damage and some paralysis. Because of blood transfusions while he was in a coma during that time, he contracted hepatitis C which caused his liver to fail.

Add to that the fact that we have had some financial issues and it makes for a lousy 4 months so far.

You know what though? As much as it has been to take, people may wonder why I’m not a wreck. There are three reasons:

Family

Friends

Faith

My family (particularly my extended family) has been very supportive.

My friends have been amazing. The best friends I have, I’ve made at the church I attend. I saw the love they showed my wife when her father died in 2007 and the showed the same love when my mother passed away. People may poke fun, but the support of the Twitter community has been great as well. Those who write it off as just this thing where you tell people what you’re doing just do not get it. The encouragement and messages from people expressing their condolences means so much. One of the benefits of being at a church long enough to see it grow is to also have a personal relationship with the Pastor at the church. Greg Peters is not just my Pastor, but he is my friend. Today when I told him my father had passed away the first thing he did was give me a big hug. I’m honored and so blessed to have him as a friend.

My faith in God is what sustains me. Matthew 5:4 says, “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.”

2 Samuel 22:3 says, “My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior.” When you have this, it’s so much easier to deal with the pain and the hurt.

I miss my parents. I loved them very much. My message in all of this to you reading is that don’t be alone if you don’t have to. Surround yourself with people who will comfort you in times of grief and need. It will give you something to lean on while you continue on. One of my favorite movies of all time (and one of the best movies ever made) is ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’ In it, Andy Dufresne (and Red) says at one point. “Get busy living or get busy dying.” My mother and my father would want me and my brother to get on with our lives after their deaths.

To honor them, that is exactly what I plan to do.

Bashing Mark Driscoll has become a rising hobby it seems, particularly by other Christ followers. As I said in a previous post I find it ironic some of the vitriol and anger that is directed at Driscoll comes from the same “grace grace grace” people I mentioned in this post here.

This time it’s a clip on the issue of stay at home Dad’s. I saw it first over at Nicole Wick’s site where she was very critical of what Pastor Driscoll had to say. In fairness to Nicole, let me point out that her criticism focused on what Driscoll had to say and not Driscoll himself. She didn’t get personal. Those in her comments section however and on other blogs weren’t so kind.

Here’s the clip:

I can see how this would elicit a strong reaction. At first glance it appears as though Mark is basically dissing all stay at home Dad’s. That’s not the case. Listen closely to what he is saying. In addition, remember who he is talking to. While this Q&A is online and people all over the world can watch it, Pastor Driscoll is still really addressing his church. His congregation. This doesn’t mean his viewpoint would be different in front of another audience, but it is possible to believe his delivery would be different and might be willing to consider certain situations. It’s wrong to assume what he would believe about every given situation.

Take for example the following video where Pastor Driscoll goes off. You don’t have to watch the whole thing. Just check out the first two minutes:

Mark Driscoll’s church is located in one of the most unchurched cities in America. The bulk of Driscoll’s congregation are young men and women under the age of 30. I know of and personally know some of the men he’s talking about in both of those clips, but I’ll stick to the first one. Don’t you believe there are men in his congregation that do not work and allow their wives to earn the income because of their own folly? I know of a situation like that personally. The woman works and the husband stays at home. Why? Because he wants to make it as a musician and holding down a full time job would get in the way. I guess it would also take time from him playing video games.

Everybody knows of my passion for photography. But what kind of husband would I be if I told my wife to get a full time job so I could quit my job and focus on photography full time? I’d be exactly the kind of man Mark Driscoll was talking about.

I said earlier that it was important to listen closely to what Driscoll is saying. It’s obvious that some people who watched this video allowed their emotions to get the better of them because their responses accused Driscoll of saying things he did not say. For example:

In this comment the guy says Driscoll characterizes stay at home Dad’s as “overgrown boys with Peter Pan complexes” and says such words are “mean, simplistic and–more often than not–inaccurate.” That would be true, except Pastor Mark wasn’t talking about stay at home Dad’s. He was merely talking about the culture we live in. Just prior to the Peter Pan comment he said we live in a culture of “hook-up, shack-up and break-up.” Was he referring to stay at home father’s when he said that? Of course not.

In this blog entry, the author writes:

First, I think it is clear that Driscoll thinks all stay-at-home dads are deadbeats.

Using language like “I think it is clear” is merely justification for making assumptions that will strengthen ones own point of view.

This blog entry is titled, “Mark Driscoll Thinks Stay At Home Dads Are Weak.” It goes on to say the following:

I could understand them if we were talking about lazy or deadbeat dads (which is what he seems to think a stay at home dad is)

Again, note the language. “Which is what he seems to think.” Again. Such language makes it easier to justify your own point of view. We don’t actually know what Pastor Mark thinks, so we’ll just assume he thinks a particular way. Also, Pastor Mark did not say at any time that stay at home dad’s are weak.

These were two relatively calm reactions to Pastor Mark’s comments. I won’t link to others because they were nothing but personal attacks and not worthy of being linked to, but if you go to where I’ve linked already, you can find it.

So why the strong visceral reactions?

A. I think some reactions made good points (Like Nicole and some in her comments section) while again, not getting personal. Driscoll definitely does come off harsh at times and this is one of them and it’s a touchy subject so some of the response do not surprise me.

B. Some of it is projection. It’s a defense mechanism. Some are convicted by what Driscoll has said and it manifests itself in an angry response.

C. For some it is merely an opportunity to get in on some Mark Driscoll bashing.

For me, the issue of a men being stay at home dad’s comes down to motivations. Just like it is with buying a bigger home or a nicer car. There’s nothing wrong with doing it, but there could be an issue with motives. If your reason for being a stay at home dad is because your wife can make more money than you, then I don’t agree with it. Throwing out “we can give more” as a reason for your wife being the provider and not you is extremely lame. Jesus is not impressed by how much you give, but where your heart is with regard to giving. Read Mark 12:41-44 to understand that.

What do you think?

It is when you hijack it for political purposes. I understand that there is a context to the phrase and many people use it innocuously. However, it’s often used as political tool, and worse yet, a political bludgeon as a means of satisfying ones own political agenda, rather than any desire to help those less fortunate than them.

Last week, radio show host and Fox News personality Glenn Beck told people who attend churches that use the term “social justice” to leave said churches because the term is ‘code’ for socialism and communism. Beck’s comments were silly. If you base your decision as to where to attend church on Glenn Beck says (particularly since Beck is a Mormom), then you’ve got issues that need to be addressed. That being said, many reactions to Beck’s comments have been over the top to say the least. (more…)

When discussing the area of church known as “worship”, people often have different ideas about what it means. In the context I am going to discuss, I will be talking specifically about music, drama, art, etc.

It’s easy in today’s culture to turn worship from what it is truly about (worshiping God) into something it isn’t (entertainment or a means of serving the congregation in some way). There is a delicate balance between both the worship leader and the congregation to understand and know what the purpose for worship is. Too often people get caught up with where they should worship, what music should be played and how it looks to others.

As a drummer in various praise teams over the last 5 years, I often fall victim to that kind of thinking. I get concerned more about what sounds good or what is “fun” rather than remembering that such a time is something that is not about me or anybody else, but about God alone. I am not a worship leader, but I have had the privilege if working with excellent worship leaders and their wisdom. Here are some suggestions and reminders for those who prepare worship services.

1. Worship is not about entertainment. The music that is put together it not done so the people in the congregation are entertained as if they were at a concert. Granted, there is a balance that worship leaders have to take into consideration. If you lead worship at Mars Hill Church in Seattle or at Buckhead Church in Atlanta, you’re not going to pass out hymnals and tell people to start singing, “When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” That will only serve to be a distraction. This isn’t to say that hymns cannot be incorporated into the worship service, bu

2. Don’t have the praise team do songs beyond their abilities. Part of the role of those on praise team, whether they are singing or playing an instrument is to play the music and help to lead people into a time of worship where they can place their entire focus on God. Romans 12:1 says, “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship.” What that is saying is that God wants every part of you during that time of worship. Most churches do not have professional musicians or musicians that are professionally trained. Don’t go above their heads because if they have issues pulling it off, that also serves to be a distraction to the congregation. I am thankful to serve alongside a worship leader who will push the praise team to its creative limits, but not past that.

3. Choose songs that aren’t complicated and confusing for the congregation. I visited a church once where the music was great and the band was excellent, but the songs were not very good for corporate worship, despite being presented as such. New Life Worship and Hillsong United are excellent at creating worship songs that sound very intricate, but yet still flow very easily for the congregation.

4. Go easy with the drama. Having some drama scenes whether they are serious or humorous that helps to illustrate what the Pastor is going to be discussing can be invaluable at times to people. However, if it is overdone, it once again becomes a situation where it is used more for entertainment then for true worship. The same can be said of video clips. They can help, but don’t overdo it. We don’t want to get to a point where an entire worship service is an hour long but only includes 10 minutes of biblical based preaching by the Pastor.

It’s important to remember to that some of the responsibility falls on you. While worship leaders should not choose music, select clips, or write up drama scenes for the purposes of entertaining, neither should you as a worshiper be expected to be entertained. The songs played should not do anything for you. I’ve heard people say, “I love that song they did because it made me feel ___________” Unfortunately, such sentiments are selfish.

It is very easy to lose focus of what our time of worship is all about. The enemy seeks to distract and to turn our hearts away from the true purpose of worship. Keep these thoughts in mind whether you help to lead worship or merely take part in it.

What do you think? If you’re a worship leader, do you agree or disagree? What else do you look out for?

My wife and I started our Life Group (small group) again this past week and it was great to be able to do that again after so much time. We’re doing a study on the Old Testament book of Joshua.

Joshua had big shoes to fill. Moses was now dead and the people of Israel had just spent 40 years in the desert moaning and complaining and failing to understand God’s promises to them. Now God was asking Joshua to take over. He was telling Joshua the same thing. “You’re going in there and nobody is going to be able to stop you.” In Joshua 1:5 God says, “I will not leave you or forsake you.” And down in verse 9 He says, “…the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

It’s a promise. There’s no promise that can be stronger than one from God. But how often do we forget this? How many times do we give up on something because we’re convinced we can’t do it? How many times do we not step out in faith because we’re afraid we’re going to fail? The truth is, we can’t do it and we will fail. If we go it alone. But we have God on our side and He does have our back.

Granted, this doesn’t mean we recklessly do things with the mindset that God is on our side. “Honey, I quit my job. I’m going to try out for the NY Yankees! Yes, I know I’m 55, but I’ve got God with me!” It doesn’t work that way.

But if you flip past the book of Joshua and turn to 1 Samuel 17 you can read the story of how David slayed Goliath. If Vegas were around at the time, David would be a 1-10 underdog. Goliath sneered at David (v 42) and mocked him by telling him he would feed his remains to the birds and animals (v 44). David of course, did not back down and then told Goliath he was going to kill him because, “…I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel…” (v45). David then did exactly what he said he would do with no fear. God has his back.

In getting back to Joshua, he too, like David trusted in God’s promise. Unlike Moses who had to be persuaded. Joshua’s response to what God asked him to do was to get right to work. (Joshua 1:10)

Interestingly, I am having my own issues with this right now. There are decisions I want to make, decisions I need to make and decisions coming down the road. At times I feel like David and at times I feel like one of the whiny punks who gave Moses so much grief for 40 years in the desert.

What about you? Are you David or Joshua right now with things you need to do? Or one of the “whoa is me” types that harassed Moses? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

This past weekend, I had a change to spend some time with friends. We all have kids so on Sunday night, all the kids stayed home or went somewhere else and 6 adults went out, enjoyed dinner at Chili’s and then spent some time back at our house talking over coffee.

I first made the title of this entry, “The Value of Friends” but after thinking about it a little, I changed it it to what you see now. Many of us have ‘friends.’ We use the word, but really the people we call ‘friends’ are many times, merely acquaintances. We know them well enough to call them a friend, but there isn’t much of a relationship beyond attending similar functions together or seeing each other at church or at the store. Some people take it to more extremes. My father-in-law, God bless him, used to talk about his “good friends” and often it was some guy he spoke to one day about cars or somebody he bought something from.

A friendship however, is something that goes beyond the occasional gathering or casual conversation at church, store or coffee shop. At the same time, friendships are not built in days. I’ve met people who for whatever reason, have no issue dumping their dirty laundry on me days after we’ve met. Becoming an open book to somebody is not a friendship as well. Friendships are cultivated over time.

There’s no written rules of friendship, but there are some things we can do and say with friends that add true value to that friendship.

A. Friends can hold each other accountable – It’s not about judgement. That’s not what accountability is. But a good friend is one that can say to you at some point, “Hey, what you’re doing is wrong. Let’s see how we can work this out.”

B. Friends are people you can confide in – You have an issue you’re struggling with, feelings about something or you simply want to get something off your chest, then a friend is going to be there for that purpose. It’s not about you dumping all of your troubles at the feet of another person. I described that kind of feeling earlier. A person is not looking to be friends when they suddenly hit another person with all of their baggage. Those people are looking for attention. But true friends can confide in each other and know that something productive will come from it.

C. Friends will share laughter as well as tears - It’s not all fun and games. We all have times when it’s not about happiness. There’s sadness as well. Family deaths, financial struggles, issues with kids, etc. Such things can often raise such emotions and friends will be there to share in that.

D. Friends will defend you – This is not so much in the physical sense, but in other ways. Gossip is a big thing with many people and a true friend won’t allow people to gossip about you in front of them. They’ll speak up. The funny thing is, more often than not, the person gossiping is often the casual ‘friend’ that I talked about earlier. Your friends will always have your back.

Such friendships are important in life. I see too many people who are comfortable with the casual friendships or none at all, content to just be with family members all of the time. In my view, you’re missing out if that is the case. Expand your horizons. There’s nothing like a great friendship.

Proverbs 18:24 says it best: A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

What do you think? Anything else you’d add to the list of what a true friend is about?

I’m not saying it. I’m just repeating a lot of what I saw all over the intertubes, be it Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.

Pat Robertson has a knack for sticking his foot in his mouth. He’s done it plenty of times before and he’ll in all likelihood, do it again. Nobody needs me to go into details other than Robertson claimed the earthquake in Haiti was God’s judgement for….whatever. Mark Driscoll said it best when he merely referenced Romans 11:34 – “Who has ever known the mind of the Lord…” – noting the question is one that doesn’t require an answer. It’s simple: We shouldn’t try to discern God’s will for whatever reason, whether it is good or bad.

With that being said, I find it surprising that people’s knees still jerk to where they find they have to go and announce to anybody willing to read or listen that Pat Robertson doesn’t speak for them. This is completely unnecessary. You may not realize it, but by doing this, you’re allowing yourself to be defined by somebody else. It’s an attempt to seek approval by distancing yourself publicly from another person. You may not realize that’s what you’re doing, but it is.

Essentially what you’re saying is this: “Hey! Anyone! I just wanted you to know I’m not like that guy ok? Really. I’m not like that person. He doesn’t speak for me. Ok? Are we good? Great! Thanks!”

I speak from experience on this because I used to be the same way. I didn’t want people to see me as some of the people who routinely say outrageous things. I understand where the need to do it comes from as well. We try to build up an image of what it means to be a Christ follower only to see it take a hit because a prominent Christian person says something off the way or out of line. But it isn’t about an “image.”

I also find it rather telling than when somebody says something that is divisive or hurtful or out of line, we’re quick to denounce it and distance ourselves and claim, “I’m not like him!” but when leaders fall in the sense that they have, for example, affairs – we’re quick to talk about how we should shower them with grace because that’s what God would want us to do. Ponder that for awhile.

But here is what it all boils down to:

Do what Christ wanted you to do. That’s it. The people with open minds and willing hearts are going to see that and appreciate it despite what Pat Robertson says. There are going to be others who no matter what you say or do, are always going to look at you and see Pat Robertson. What does the Bible say about this? In Matthew 7:6 it says, “Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” It means do what you can, but know that some people will never accept the truth and therefore you need to stop wasting time trying to get them to see it.

Your significance in this world comes from God alone. Don’t allow others to define you.

We all have plans. We make plans and many times those plans change. Often, plans change not because we make the choice, but because something happens that forces us to change. Somebody might plan to buy a new television and suddenly the car needs repair. Somebody else plans on taking a vacation to Bermuda only to have to cancel because of an oncoming hurricane. Sometimes plans change because of a particular circumstance.

This Sunday, awakened early and was out of the house by 6:30. For some time now I’ve been wanting to photograph a stretch of road that has trees on both sides forming what is almost like a tunnel of sorts. It looks kind of like a larger version of ‘Poets Walk’ in New York’s Central Park. I wanted to be up early to take advantage of the morning light and also because it had cooled down around this area and sometimes in the morning there is light fog created by the mixture of cool and humid air. That was my plan.

As I drove along this one main road en route to my destination, I got glimpse of what the sky looked like on the edge of the ocean. It was a glimpse for about a second and then it was obscured again. Sunrises in Florida are hit and miss at best with regard to what they look like. Sometimes it is plain and it looks like any other sunrise. But sometimes there are enough clouds and other elements in the air that give off vivid and dynamic colors. This was one of those times. My plans changed. The image above is one of the images I captured that morning.

I remember when I was leaving, Chris Tomlin’s ‘I Will Rise’ came on the radio and I pulled over on A1A and just listened to that song and enjoyed the view that much longer. I was swept up in that moment and I was happy that my plans were changed. God has plans for us. He says so in Jeremiah 29:11a:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord

God has plans for you. Many times those plans intersect with our own. But you can rest assured that when they do, He’s merely telling us, “I have something better for you.”

God loathes gossiping. It’s as plain as day in the Bible. And this post has nothing at all to do with Tiger Woods.

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

The following verse? 4:30

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God

II Corinthians 12:20 says:

For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall notfind you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults

I could go on. Gossip is a sin that grieves the Holy Spirit people. That is huge. Therefore, seeing Christ followers gossiping on Twitter bothered me. Don’t get me wrong. I am not speaking from a position of lily white cleanliness on this. I’ve engaged in gossip before and will do it again. But it’s still wrong. Yesterday I saw tweets flying back and forth regarding an issue that took place between some blogger and Perry Noble and Newspring Church.

I am not going to link to anything. I am not even going to discuss what it was all about. The problem I have is that I saw people making judgments and reaching decisions and making statements without having all of the facts. A blog entry loaded with accusations and a brief statement issued by the church itself does not contain all the facts so we’ll never know all of what really happened.

Because of that we should definitely refrain from making judgments. We should stop linking to one or the other with proclamations that what one party is saying is 100% true and the other isn’t. We shouldn’t be tweeting links to either the blog entry or the church statement with additional comments about whether we believe one or the other. Why? Because that’s gossip.

And it grieves the Holy Spirit.

So stop.