Sunday Night Slump

Another weekend gone by.  As all good coaches or ministers we reexamine the game plan of the day.  What worked.  What didn't.  What can we use again.  What needs fixed.  Who needs encouragement. Who needs some direction.  Where can we improve.

Somewhere between nine on Sunday evening and ten on Monday morning most pastors are letting these and many other issues weigh us down.  Some of us look at that resignation we keep hidden in the drawer of our desk, to see if we should add any new reason for changing teams.  Others of us may search the want ads, just to see if there is a better job in some other field.

We can be honest, ministry is not all glamor and thanks.  Sometimes it is only one issue that is on the horizon, or one email that just arrived today.  Stress builds up, and we begin to question why we do what we do?

The reality is that we know tomorrow is another day.  In most cases the issues we face would be no different if we were in a different town, or a different ministry.  We know that God remains in control, even when our heart is heavy with concern over our current situation.

I find in these weary times it is best to do a few important things:

1. Pray for strength, and pour out your heart to God.  After all Christ knew the stress of ministering and not getting through, and the pain of rejection and opposition. Be sure to listen in prayer too.  God often can guide us to a better mindset.
2. Along with prayer I find writing in my journal gets the thoughts out of my head, and helps with stress.
3. Never make any decisions, especially those that can wait.  It is likely in a day or two we will have a different mindset and view.
4. Talk to a friend.  Too often as pastors we do not have the adequate support systems we need.  I call a pastor friend every Sunday night.  We share the joys and woes of the day.  We know the other is praying, and that helps to know we are not in this alone.
5. Find positive work to start the week.  (Here pastors differ.  Some prefer rest on Monday, while others like myself feel that it is best to work through the slump.)  I tend to schedule more positive visits when possible, or work on things that can bring joy.  Sometimes we plan worship on Monday, and there is joy in going over worship music.
6. Take a walk.  Sometimes the exercise will help with the stress.  Sometimes the change of scenery will give you a more peaceful feeling.

There are probably other things that could help.  However, the main goal is to remind yourself God is still with you, you are not alone, and know all things shall pass in their time.  We all know the stress can eat away at you, but in peace and strength we can carry on.

-Keep on your journey with Jesus.

Choosing Discipline

I think the word "discipline" brings to mind a sort of drudgery to the mind of many of us.  We think it is hard work, pain, or doing with out in life.  We have too often looked at discipline in the eyes of a punishment we are trying to avoid.  I wonder if we would learn to choose discipline, true discipline how much more blessed life would be.

The athlete who compete goes into training, and training takes great discipline. There is the choice to get up and go through an exercise routine daily, in order to be ready to compete.  A musician or an artists also train and practice for hours, days, and years before becoming good at what they do.  Nothing in life comes to us with out some sort of training.  We should not think that the closer walk with God would be any different.

Much of what I see with discipline is simply how we choose to live each moment and day.  Will we spend time with God in prayer?  Will we choose time in Scripture over watching the T.V.?  Will we choose meditation upon God's Word, over reading the latest novel?  Life is filled with choices: who will I spend time with today?  What will I eat?  Where will I spend my time?  Discipline is practicing and choosing the Godly over the worldly.  It may take time, but the rewards of blessings and guidance in all things await us.

Keep on your journey with Christ today.

Does What we Say Ever Sink In?

I read of Jesus on the boat with the disciples or standing at the foot of the mountain, and wondering if the disciples will ever grow in their own faith and trust in God.  I think for every leader and teacher we hope that others will grasp what it is we are trying to pass on.  Unfortunately the results we are hoping and praying for in others seems to miss the mark time and time again.  We are left wondering how effective we are, and sometimes it becomes discouraging.

We must remember that people may be listening, and growing in ways that we are not seeing right at this moment.  I remember how amazed I was the first time I heard the fact that most trees have a larger root system than the branches we see above the ground.  We can learn from this fact of nature that what is seen is often smaller than what is going on under the surface.  We may see someone go from attending a service or study once in a few months to one day seeing them coming almost each week.  The change going on in the heart has likely been greater than we will ever know.

I knew a man who thought going to church or any Bible study was irrelevant to life.  He was under the impression that all the churches of America wanted was the money of those who attended.  He came to a Bible study,  once or twice with a friend and remained skeptical.  Several weeks later he came again, with questions, and seeking some encouragement of others.  Over three years a transformation took place in his life.  He not only became a regular in the Bible study, but starting to be a regular in church services.  Then he began to see needs and volunteering to help in the church.  There were many who questioned how holy or religious the man really was.  Then the man started to show his insight from personal Bible study and prayer.  He started to trust God and began to share how important trust in God, and in the church really was.

I think we sometimes get wrapped up in results in our churches so much that we miss the slow and steady changes going on right around us.  Not everyone is going to have a lightning changing event, as Paul did on the Damascus road.  We may preach and teach the truth of God for months or years before the first signs of real spiritual growth becomes evident in someone's life.  It isn't always the numbers that should matter, but the changes God is making in the lives of those we are called to care for.  Often our own lives will be transformed along the way as well.

Keep teaching, preaching, and reaching with God's truth.  Then let Him worry about how fast the crop of the heart and soul grows.

Are We Defeating Ourselves?

Are we opening ourselves up to failure or defeat?  I have been reviewing some of my old journals, and it pains me to say I have allowed myself to be defeated at times.  Satan may be fighting us in life.  However, the greatest power we have to overcome is ourselves.  It is easy to get off track.  We have dreams, vision, ideas, and plans.  We work to see these through, and when several of these hopes seemed dashed by our futile attempts we get discouraged.

In speaking with other pastors I find that depression over our ministries seems always near the door.  We can admit that Satan is fighting us, and this is a tool.  Yet, we also must come to the point of realizing God is bigger than the issues at hand.  We also must realize that we alone can do very little.  We must have the anointing of God in us.  We also must be bringing others along into the work and witness for the Lord.

I will admit, especially in the smaller church, it is easier to say 'I'll just do it myself.'  We are to be a community, and we must bring the people within our community with us in the journey.  I am in the process of trying to relearn this in my own life.  It is not easy to trust that things will not be dropped, but I am constantly reminding myself that just because some may fail to follow through, others will shine.

Christ called people to follow Him, and we know the 12 and some others followed closely right to His return to heaven.  It was those few committed people who transformed the world by carrying the message into the world.  May we learn from Christ to keep calling others along the journey of ministry, and transform the communities we live in.

Remember God's Spirit empowers us, but we have to be open and listening to the Spirit's moving in our lives.

Change in the Will of God, or my will?

I have been recently studying through the call for a king in 1 Samuel.  It is very common for us to become unsatisfied with where life is, or how we feel things are.  We demand a change.  What I am coming to question is how much change is really God's will, and how much is the will of our own desire.

A man meets the pastor for a cup of coffee and some advise.  While sharing with the pastor the man says that he feels God is telling him to take a new job across the country.  There is prospect of more money, a bigger house, and other benefits of such an opportunity.  It is only a few years latter that we hear from the family and the man is working 60 hours a week, and rarely sees his family.  They have stopped going to church, because of job demands. We are left to wonder if that man really was in God's will or seeking his own glory or blessing.

The same thing happens in churches sometimes.  Ideas are presented by an eager minister or church leader.  He or she may say that it is God's desire to build a new building, or start a new mission work.  They present the ideas to a church hungry to be a part of God's will, and to do something for the Lord.  Soon the church finds itself racked in debt, or setting themselves down a road that causes difficulty.  Only in looking back may the church leader or local church think that a little more prayer and openness to the spirit may have been needed.

I think many of us in ministry face the challenge of keeping balance in our leadership.  There are times we are satisfied to work the plan God has placed us in, and there are other times that we feel change is needed.  The issue is not  that change is bad.   We must take more time to be sure we are following God's leading and not our own natural tendency toward self-promotion, personal power, and or selfish gain.

Let us not like Israel demand ourselves a king, if God is our true King.  Let us remember who's kingdom we are representing.

Saying Your Sorry

It is one of the hardest things for anyone to do, to say "I'm sorry".  Yet, in saying we are sorry we release the power of healing into relationships.  There are times in churches when the church should stop and say they are sorry.  Kenneth Quick has a couple of great books, "Healing the Heart of Your Church", and "Body Aches" that deal with this subject.

For biblical understanding of saying we are sorry for past mistakes or weakness in a church we can look at the way people like Daniel.  When Daniel was challenged in reading Jeremiah (Daniel 9), and realizing the 70 years of exile was soon to come to an end, he didn't rejoice.  Instead Daniel remembered why the people of Israel had been exiled to begin with.  He prayed for forgiveness of the past of his people. 

We can only release God's power to move upon us, as His people, if we have sat at His feet and examined ourselves in His love, His Word, and His Will.  I encourage you to take time to look at your own life.  Look at the ministry history of your church.  Give it all to Christ, and let Him free you to be the potential He has in mind for you.

Keep on the Journey with Christ today,

Beyond the Corporate Church to Peoples Hearts

We live in a time of great change in our world. Many of us grew up in a society that promoted gaining wealth and power above all. It promoted the idea that bigger is better. Unfortunately this infiltrated into the realm of church and religion. The church is often a decade or more behind the society that we are trying to reach for Christ, and I worry that we are setting ourselves up for a tough road, with this regard. I am not saying we need smaller churches necessarily, but I think we need to reevaluate why and how we do ministry.

I have seen a great push in the past twenty years of ministry to local churches and denominations to be run as corporation. The business end of things often weighs against the spiritual and the care of people. Many meetings surround the care of buildings, properties, paychecks, and other business. We can all admit that there is a need of good business sense, but our priority in ministry is and must be The Gospel, and care of people. Peter, when being reinstated by Christ was not called to be a CEO, he was called to feed Christ's sheep.

While many in churches across America promote the "business model" of ministry, society in America is becoming fed up with Big Business. While many may want to simply set aside the people who spent much of last year protesting against corporate America, I think we in the church need to wake up and listen. People are not interested in being a number on our rolls. They are not desiring another place that wants their money. They are not seeking to be an unknown part of a huge conglomeration. They don't need more pressure to grow the corporation.

What people desire is to be heard, to be listened to in their greatest times of need. They desire someone to love them no matter what their past has been. They want to be a part of something that has sincere life changing meaning. The want and need a Savior who can help them through when the going get tough. They want honesty, truth, and hope.

We will always have business to care for in the church, but our priority must be Christ Crucified and Risen, and Loving People. We are not called to become "big business", but "broken hearted" for Christ. May we as leaders learn to follow Christ into the mission before us.