Evangelical vs. Evangelistic

Have you ever (prepare yourself for the rhetorical question) found yourself annoyed by a slight nuance of a conversation?

My number one annoyance is, when in the context of prayer, the one offering it repeats the word "JUST" about a million times. God would you just... Just ____ just____... It has become such a mind numbing distraction I actually have started counting while they are prayer. Not good I know but it gets me so that this #1 annoyance has almost hijacked this blog post. "Just" aside my number 2 issues isn't as nearly infuriating as the "Just" one. Here it is...

A handful of times in the past week I've been having a discussion in one form or another. The person I'm talking with tries to describe something where the gospel is preached to those who do not believe. They refer to the purpose of the gathering as evangelical. The word however they were looking for was evangelistic. Let's examine shall we.

• Evangelicalism: This term is increasingly hard to define. In reformation times it had come to mean the confession in "a belief in the truth of the five solas: Sola gratia, Sola fide, Solus Christus, Sola Scriptura, Soli Deo Gloria. In short, they confessed that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in the Person and work of Christ alone as revealed in the Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone." (www.ReformationTheology.com) however in more modern times it's come to mean "the religious movements and denominations which sprung forth from a series of revivals that swept the North Atlantic Anglo-American world in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries." (isae.wheaton.edu) in its simplest terms it's the name given for a tradition within Christianity. 

• Evangelistic: This term simply refers to the proclamation of the gospel as the good news that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, died a sinless death on our behalf, taking on himself the wrath of God due us for our sin, then he rose from the dead triumphing over the sin filled world, our sinful flesh, and our accusing enemy. Offering us not only forgiveness for our sins but separating us from all sin as well as offering us life eternal.

More then mere semantics? I think so.  Evangelical might describe the people holding the gathering. It might refer to the church where it is taking place however the actions there in are evangelistic in nature.

Judges and Leadership Part 4: A Very Bad Camping Trip

Continuing to look at the book of Judges we come to chapter 4.

Principle 9: Ladies and Leadership In this chapter of Judges we see God using Deborah to rescue Israel from their own apostasy. Now I fully believe that God created dudes and ladies to be different. I'd land in a camp that would say that my wife and I are very different but designed that way to complement each other. I think that extends beyond the marriage covenant into all areas of our lives. In this instance in Judges the gifts and talents God gave Deborah were needed to see his purposes come to pass. Those God calls he equips regardless of gender.

Principle 10: Team Makeup   For more on team check principle 2. There's a value in not going the road alone. "Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” (Judges 4:8 ESV) I'd be remiss if somewhere in these posts I didn't talk about teams. Much has been written on the subject. Here's my basic philosophy of team.

• Teams help me see my blind spots: Often I have a great (great to me) idea but without the council of others it might end up hurting me, my family, or the ministry more then it helps.
• Teams should be balanced. I don't want a crew of yes men I want a techie, an extreme extravert, an extreme introvert, a feeler, and a straight thinking logic guy. I need dudes perspectives, and ladies perspectives. The more balanced the better.  Don't need a ton of Daves running around.
• Teams share the load. Many hands make light work. 
• Teams are attractive in nature. A healthy team community is (in the long run) more attractive  then a characteristic leader who when they fall or retire leaves a gaping whole. 

Principle 11: It's His Kingdom Not Yours This has to do with perspective. One of the things that impressed me about the church I serve at now is that our vision statement reads "Our vision is to play our part in the re-evangelization of the world and the transformation of society."  We do our part. The church down the road does theirs. The church on the west coast does theirs. This means we are freed up to focus on the specific things God is calling us to be about and know fully that God in his sovereignty will take care of the rest. Chapter 4 of Judges ends on a strange note. The enemy's army is broken and their general fleeing. He heads to seek rest in a neighbors tent. The result is that the neighbors wife drives a tent stake through his skull. Barak was called to do his part and Sisera was called to do her's. All of it worked together to deliver the people of God and point them to their need for a true and eternal savior.

Resolve For Monday

Every Monday I'm going to post one of Jonathan Edwards resolutions. He
penned these while still a very young man and used them to guide
his life. What am I using to guide me, my family, my ministry??



63. On the supposition, that there never was to be but one individual in the world, at any one time, who was properly a complete Christian, in all respects of a right stamp, having Christianity always shining in its true luster, and appearing excellent and lovely, from whatever part and under whatever character viewed: Resolved, to act just as I would do, if I strove with all my might to be that one, who should live in my time.Jan.14′ and July ’3′ 1723

• How much does your life resemble Jesus, the one true Christian's?
• Edwards supposition is faulty because Christianity is not measured on what we do or what we don't do. (Thank God) It's an all or nothing. You either are found in God's grace through Jesus Christ or are found in Adam and under the law. 
• For me this resolution is not so much about identity as it is about permission. Do we give ourselves permission to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us and make us into the people he desires us to be?

Just a Bean

Guess Where I live

The Weather Channel keeps updating this image.

Resolve For Monday

Every Monday I'm going to post one of Jonathan Edwards resolutions. He
penned these while still a very young man and used them to guide
his life. What am I using to guide me, my family, my ministry??

 62. Resolved, never to do anything but duty; and then according to Eph. 6:6-8, do it willingly and cheerfully as unto the Lord, and not to man; “knowing that whatever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.” June 25 and July 13, 1723

• As a young college student I had a job perfecting the custodial arts at a local health club.  It was a fairly large facility so there was always much to do and always place to wander off to and avoid doing work.  One day while mopping the floor my boss (who also was my mentor and the man God used to lead me to Christ) came around the corner surveyed my work and put a hand on my shoulder. He used that obscure corner of the gym floor that needed mopping to remind me that it's not for a paycheck or for peoples approval that I work but for the Lord. Why do you work? 
• How hard is it for you to keep that in mind? 

Judges and Leadership Part 3: Spill Your Guts

This is part 3 in a series of posts I'm using to pull out leadership principles from the book Judges. Chapter 3 ends up the intro to the book and begins to flush out some of the rather unique people God uses to deliver the nation of Israel from their apostasy.  Israel had chosen not to follow their creator, not to fully inherit the land they were given, and instead worship other Gods. The Father in all his glory would have been perfectly justified in wiping this wayward nation from the face of the Earth, instead he sends leaders to call them back to himself.


Principle 6: Spirit Filled The first leader God raises up is Othniel. Interestingly enough this is the last time we hear about an individual leader from the tribe of Judah which was the largest and originally the tribe set to lead the others into the promise land after Joshua died. That point aside scripture tells us that... "The Spirit of the LORD was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim." (Judges 3:10 ESV) I often wonder if he knew that the "Spirit of the Lord was upon him"? For leaders there are times which we know God is moving and there are other times we might not be so sure. However when we act, plan, cast vision, and lead in accordance with scripture all that we do then is spirit filled. The result of Othniel was that Israel experienced peace for 40 years. 

Principle 7: Be a Finisher The next judge that the Lord raised up was Ehud. In one of the stranger stories in scripture Ehud is chosen to be a leader when Israel was one again in bondage to another country because of their willingness to walk away from their creator.  Now the king who conquered Israel was a large man. Ehud gets an audience with the king, sneaks in a dagger and plunges it into the king. It goes into the kings gut past the blade and over the hilt. "And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. [23] Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them." (Judges 3:22-23 ESV) pretty wild eh? What I gleam from this is that Ehud finished what he set out to do.  Have you ever been around a person in an organization who has a ton of ideas, starts them all well, but never finishes anything? This is a lesson I've had to personally learn. My first few years in ministry were filled with amazing ideas and passion yet when I got half way done with a project I would move onto something else that caught my attention. Never fully thinking through it, never sealing the deal, and ultimately taking hits on my credibility. Now the opposite side of the coin is when we get into an initiative and realize that it either isn't going to work or is leading us in the wrong direction it's our duty as leaders to walk away. That's a different principle however. Ehud finished what he set out to do. He didn't shrink back, or fade away, and when he was done he locked the door behind him. What areas of your life need finished? My friend Greg has a blog by the same title. Props to him for getting me thinking through finishing.

Principle 8: The Unlikely  The final leader in this chapter is Shamgar. Here's all the scripture says about this guy... " After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel." (Judges 3:31 ESV) Interestingly enough from his name we know that he's not an Israelite. The "son of Anath" part probably refers to a Canaanite goddess. In my limited rubric of what a leader should be, the question I have to ask is: where have I gotten tunnel vision? Where have I failed to believe that God can use anyone to accomplish his tasks? One of the qualities of a leader is that they are focused enough to finish strong yet open minded enough to see all the people and ways God might use to see his kingdom come in a situation. 

Year of the Knee

Yesterday, August 16th, is a day to remember in my life. One year ago yesterday I tore the ACL in my right knee while surfing off of 30th Ave. A on the Isle of Palms.  What followed was 4 months of physical therapy to get me ready for surgery. Surgery in December. (click here for my post about that.)  and 6 months of weekly physical therapy to get me back in the water by May.  I'm happy to report my knee is as good as new.

I think the most memorable moment of the whole ordeal was as I was being prepped for surgery my surgeon, Dr. Caldwell, came in and said... "David, I prayed for you this morning. You are in better hands then mine."

Here's a pic of the swelling in my knee after it happened.

Judges and Leadership Part 2: The Role of A Leader

Over the summer I read "Onward" by Howard Schultz and Joanne Gordon. The subtitle of that book explains it well... "How Starbucks fought for its life without loosing its soul." One of the things I took from that book was a sense of how Schultz provided a culture of creativity and inspiration while simultaneously providing leadership, vision, and direction. He walked into a bad situation metaphorically said "There's the hill we're going to take" and then looked for creative ways to take it.

As I turn to scripture I see the book of Judges (and all of scripture) as holding some key leadership lessons too. Israel was given the covenant (the vision) and told how to take that hill. Chapter two is the beginning of the downward spiral where they fail and God sends leaders.  The role of the leaders were not to save Israel but to turn them back to their ultimate savior. We'll get to that later.

Principle 4: Correct well   I was flipping through the channels a few months ago and came across a UFC fight. UFC is basically a mixed martial arts match. There are rules and loads of training to ensure safety and fair competition. Think more of a wrestling or boxing match and less of a street fight. One of the two fighters entered the arena wearing a t-shirt that said "Jesus didn't tap out." Which is really tough and has huge theological implications. He was also wearing a had that simply said Proverbs 12:1 on it. Intrigued I picked up my Bible and looked up the verse. "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
    but he who hates reproof is stupid." Honestly my first reaction to correction is to justify my ways because my pride tells me that there's no way I could have made a mistake! However the calm voice of the spirit tells me love discipline. Israel didn't take correction well. In Judges 2 the Lord sends an angel to speak for him. This messenger tells the nation that they have failed to uphold their end of the covenant. They have walked away from their savior who brought them out of Egypt and sustained them through the wilderness. Israel then seemingly repented with sorrow and tears. However God sees the heart and a few paragraphs later we find one of the most depressing verses one can imagine. "...And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel." (Judges 2:10 ESV)

Principle 5: Jesus is the savior not me. The point of those whom God called to be a judge in Israel was to point a "whoring" people back to their savior (Judges 2:16-17) Any leader has the responsibility to point people to Jesus. Yet so many of us point people to ourselves and our greatness instead of his glory.  One of the most telling ways I've found was to look at a leaders wake. Growing up I spent a lot of time behind a boat. Water skiing, knee boarding, and tubing where all part of my summers. When a boat moves along water it creates a wake behind it. I've found that when I look to where a leader has been it tells much about who he's called people to. Those who called people to Jesus leave healthy ministries, great testimonies, and smooth transitions. Those who call people to themselves often leave chaos. It isn't pretty yet God can and does work in all situations. Be faithful in your leadership.

Resolve For Monday

Every Monday I'm going to post one of Jonathan Edwards resolutions. He
penned these while still a very young man and used them to guide
his life. What am I using to guide me, my family, my ministry??

61. Resolved, that I will not give way to that listlessness which I find unbends and relaxes my mind from being fully and fixedly set on religion, whatever excuse I may have for it-that what my listlessness inclines me to do, is best to be done, etc. 

• I don't know about the last time you were "listless" however I do know that daily I'm faced with the choice to love God and love others or engage in mindless activity that dulls my senses. 
• What are the activities that pull you away from God? 
• Recently I met a young lady who was hyper involved in a sport. It went from being something she did for her enjoyment and physical fitness to traveling days away, spending thousands of dollars, and removing herself from Christian community. This all didn't happen over night but very gradually. What in your life needs to be kept in check so it doesn't creep in between you and your creator? 
  

Just a Little Daddy Daughter Fun

Scrapheap of Discarded Lives

"And if it were not for the gracious pursuit of the Hound of Heaven I would today be on the scrapheap of wasted and discarded lives."

John Stott "Why I'm a Christian"

Basic Impact Youth Ministry Announcement

Here is the transcript of the announcement I made last Sunday morning about some changes coming to the youth ministry at St. Andrews. 

Good morning church. I’m grateful for this opportunity to share with you some of the great things happening in the youth ministry. Before I get to some of the exciting changes I want to take a moment and explain a key driving principle here at St. Andrews. For a student to come into Basic (our middle school youth group) and leave Impact (our high school youth group) they would have had the opportunity to spend 288 days with our ministry. That’s a lot of influence right? Compare that to your home. There, they will be present there almost 3,000 days. Who has more opportunity to encourage, disciple, and shape your child’s faith. You do!! And let’s face it only God loves your child more then you.

We want to do all we can to foster, encourage, and equip parents. This fall, we are going to change some times to better serve families. We found that having our big youth gathering on Sunday nights was not helping families. Sundays are supposed to be times of rest and instead they became running kids back and forth from church after being there all morning. The more we can make your home feel less like a train station the better it will be for your family. So to better serve families we are moving our Impact High School Youth Group to Sunday mornings at 10:45 and Basic Middle School Youth Group to Wednesdays at 6:30. These times changes will allow for more time together as a family while providing their teenagers a great opportunity to connect with others here at St. Andrews in a fun and challenging way. You might ask “If our family worships together what are parents suppose to do then while their teenager is at youth group? Asides from being in one of the services at those times there are some resources we’ll be starting up for parents on Wednesday evenings as well as an amazing opportunity on Sunday mornings to serve the little children of our church by volunteering in the Deep End during the service at 10:45. In fact my friend Katie Kennis is outside the Ministry Center doors and would love to talk to you about that.  Basic Impact will continue to run great small groups, retreats, and outreaches all fueled by almost 25 excited, trained, fun, and amazing leaders who can’t wait for this year to begin and to see Jesus change this city through your teenagers. By the way if you’d like to join us as a leader I’d love to talk with you. If you have any questions or just would like to chat I’ll be next to the information desk following this service.

The Witness of the Body Gathered

I had a neat experience over the weekend. Tropical Storm Emily was 600 miles off the Charleston coast which sent a really nice swell our way. Probably the most consistent set of waves we've seen all summer. Nice long rolling waves with a decent drop and a fun face. I was out Friday morning, Saturday evening, and most of the day Sunday. My arms are shot even after a good nights sleep. Sunday something struck me.

Because these waves were expected and the weather was beautiful and hot the beach was packed. Sunday at the Isle of Palms Pier there must have been at least 40+ surfers in the water. It was packed. The neat thing was that we knew each other. I saw people I haven't seen in a long time and got to cheer them on when they caught good waves while cautiously observing if they wiped out. From there I loaded up my van with kids and boards and drove down the island to 25th Ave. Found the same scene just different people. Tons of surfers most of which we knew!

Here's the neat thing. How we knew so many wasn't because we're neighbors or friends but because we worshiped together that morning. To cheer on our brothers and sisters in Christ was a ton of fun. It really was like a giant family beach outing. So much so that others started to notice. As we were floating between sets of waves a group of guys we didn't know paddled out. The sense of community was so tangible out on the waves that they couldn't help but noticed and actually were drawn into it. One paddled along side of me and made the side comment. "Do you really know everyone out here? I replied "Well not everyone." It was a great opportunity to invite him and his friends to join us on Friday mornings when a bunch of guys from the Mens ministry at St. Andrews paddle out at dawn.


It was such a good reminder that as the body of Christ loves, encourages, and cheers on one another it is really attractive to the outside world. Yesterday afternoon went from competing for waves to allowing others to drop in and cheering them on when the had a good ride. It was so attractive in fact that it caused this group of strangers to ask what was up. I love it when people see the kingdom, ask that question, and we can point them to the king.

Judges and Leadership: Part 1 "Good Ideas and Bad Ideas"

I've been thinking through leadership principles as they show themselves in scripture. There's no better place, book, or teaching to start from on the subject of authentic leadership then in God's word. So after cracking open the book of Judges here's some of what I've pulled out.

Principle 1: Before You Lead Consult the King.

As I talked about in my previous post Judges is God raising up leaders to guide his people back to himself and lead. Chapter one of Judges starts out with Joshua's death still fresh on the new leaders minds. The first leadership decision they make is a great one. " After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the LORD, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”
(Judges 1:1 ESV) A temptation I face as a leader is to charge into things without first inquiring of the LORD if this is in fact the direction we are to go. It's a pride move which often gets leaders into trouble. There is a place for strong directional leadership however if its done before seeking the Lord then trouble is soon to follow. The elders of Israel get an A+ on this leadership decision. Seeking after him will guide them, us, and those we lead into ways that best serve his kingdom.

Principle 2: Team

God's answer to the elders was that Judah was to lead the charge. Here the elders make another great decision. Judah takes the lead and brings others on board with him. He invites Simeon to join him. This might be a hermeneutical stretch but from the context we see Judah leading by assessing the situation and realizing that the best course of action is to take his brother with him.  Remember Andrew in John 1:41 "He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah”  One of the lessons I've learned over the past few years is that for a team to work it needs balance. There have been a ton of material produced on how leadership functions within the context of a team. I know that a team full of people exactly like me will be of the same mind (my mind) but will fail to carry the ability to affect a large scope of people and be limited to take on tasks. I'll take a swiss army knife over a steak knife any day.

Principle 3: "Clarify the Win"

Here's where things go bad for God's people. Despite a great first few leadership decisions the rest of the first chapter in Judges has a constant refrain running through it. The theme is this... They failed to drive out the people. To stop short of accomplishing the vision is either laziness or a failure to understand the objective. Andy Stanley and friends have put together a good book where the first principle they talk about is to understand the "win".  What is the "win" in your and my context? For the Israelites the win was to carryout the covenant God established with their forefathers.  Instead of conquering the land they enslaved the occupants. They stopped short of what the covenant required and began a downward spiral which would lead God to raise up judges to lead his people back to him.

Love These Mornings At St Andrews

Love These Mornings At St Andrews

Judges and Leadership : Intro

Leadership has been a topic on my mind lately and I've been delving into the subject head first. What makes a good leader? What are the themes that continue to play out in leadership? How does leadership change with maturity and season of life? Most importantly what does the creator think about all this?

There's no shortage of books, magazines, podcasts, and blogs out there. Some very helpful (such as Stanley and friends book "7 Practices of Effective Ministry") others not so much. I even recently watched one of those TV shows that goes into a restaurant about to close and gives it a make over. The host (a successful restaurateur) he made a comment that the success or failure of the establishment hinges not on how flashy the place is, or if it has the best food. It hinges on how the manager leads the various teams that make the place work.

While recently listening to a leadership podcasts the speaker made a throwaway comment about the book of Judges in the Old Testament. He made the point that Judges is about how God raised up leaders to point Israel and others back to himself. The setting is that Israel had strong leaders for generations in Moses and Joshua.

The story of leadership in Judges starts earlier in the closing chapters of the book of Joshua. Joshua is old, he's see God do amazing things as Israel crossed into the promise land. Joshua fulfilled what he had set out to do.  So he gets the honor of doing something many leaders don't get to do. He gets to pick the leaders who will fill his shoes. So he calls the elders of Israel to him and passes on leadership to them. "So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance." (Joshua 24:28 ESV) Their job was to finish with God what God had started. Namely to live into their inheritance. Here is where things go wrong and we get some good examples of leadership but more then that we get a strong warning about what happens when leaders fail.

Over the next few weeks, maybe months, my goal is to take the book of Judges divide up by chapter and try to distill out key leadership principles that I can gleam into my own life. I fully realize that scripture is not meant to be a "self help book" and the the meta narrative of this section of God's word is that God's people were to be faithful and up hold their part of the covenant. However God uses imperfect people (leaders) to see his kingdom come and will be done so I believe there are some principles we can pull.

Alex Baker I have An Idea For Your Wedding....

One ring to rule them all...

Tales of a Suburban Girl in Urban Ministry

I want to give a quick shout out to a friend. Meghan and I met back in college while interning at a great church. Since then she's been a blessing to me and my family. She's a frequent visitor despite living several states away. Recently she's started a blog about her adventures in ministry. Meghan's context is very different from my own and it's always a good read to hear of her challenges and how Christ proves himself sufficient in all of them.  You can check out her blog at... http://citylovingadventures.wordpress.com/

Vision

As we head into fall this is the top of my list. I think it has to be for any ministry head. My summer reading list is moving nicely along and has come to three books. "God Sized Vision" by Hansen and Woodbridge, "Courageous Leadership" by Hybels, and "Seven Practices of Effective Ministry" by Stanley.

Each one starts in the same place the second two with the same principle. Vision. If I don't have clear vision of where we are going as a ministry and how that plays into the bigger body of the church then I can't expect my team, interns, volunteers, students, parents, or anyone else to get on board. Here's some snapshots I've learned about this process.

• Repeat it and then repeat it again. I've laid out the fall vision twice today in its entirety. How we're doing what we doing and why we're doing it. It's been said, said, and said again. I'm almost to the point where I can do it on auto pilot. Here's our direction, and here's our needs. Here's how you can be a part of it. I've got a 9 am meeting tomorrow to cast the vision again. 
• Write it down. It's just an idea until it goes on paper. Just like fine wine is aged in barrels vision needs that maturation process. Seeing it on paper allows me to see holes and places of weakness. It also allows me to email it off to trusted friends and prayer partners allow more then just my eyes on it. Many times I've thought I've had a God given vision and direction only to find out it was my pride leading the way and not my faith. 
• Hold the line.  This can be almost hypocritical to the previous statement. Part of leadership is to distinguish between pride and the vision. When you are sure, you owe it to the ministry to hold the line.  A leader who changes course at every sign of adversity doesn't serve the ministry well or lasts long. The trick really is knowing when you stub your toe and not slit your throat! 

Hybels states... "Every church, every team, every organization demands and deserves a “vision embodier,” someone whose life values and commitments personify the vision." In this season of vision casting good luck leaders vision needs to be your breath. 

Resolve For Monday

Every Monday I'm going to post one of Jonathan Edwards resolutions. He
penned these while still a very young man and used them to guide
his life. What am I using to guide me, my family, my ministry??

60. Resolved, whenever my feelings begin to appear in the least out of order, when I am conscious of the least uneasiness within, or the least irregularity without, I will then subject myself to the strictest examination.July 4, and 13, 1723.

• God has given us a great gift in our conscience. C.s. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity calls it the "natural law". When your conscience is stirred, what happens in your life? How what's the next thing you do? Ignore it? Do the opposite? 
• Will God ever ask you to do something that will grieve your conscience? 
• How does the Holy Spirit interact with our feelings?