Right now there are people in my church at 3 stages of spiritual growth:

• Those that need to mature and are not maturing.
• Those that need to mature and have stalled.
• Those that need to mature and are maturing.

I suggest the same is true of your church. We rejoice in the last one, but if we are not careful we can allow the first two to discourage us and make us believe we are not doing what God has called us to do as a church.

It is helpful to me to put things in a strategic format, so here are 5 principles of spiritual growth or discipleship that apply to each of these three groups.

1. People are responsible for their spiritual growth. I am responsible to shepherd them, care for them, encourage them, instruct and teach them, but ultimately the believer holds the responsibility of their own growth.
2. Change is possible. Every believer has an opportunity and potential to experience spiritual growth. God wants to mature all believers. No one is left out of that plan.
3. Growth occurs best in community. The best spiritual growth in my life and in the life of others I have observed occurs when people are in committed, healthy and intentional relationships with other believers wanting to mature. Iron does sharpen iron. (At the same time, I have been in groups where some are growing and some are not, but that goes back to principle number one.)
4. Developing a person’s desire for spiritual growth is key. When a person gets excited about his or her personal walk with Christ and getting to know Christ better they are more likely to assume ownership of their growth.
5. The goal of the teacher/leader of spiritual growth should be to enable people to achieve spiritual growth. We should introduce them to Christ and God’s Spirit, teach them the basics of their faith, and then release them to serve, mature and grow in their spiritual life.

Please understand this is not a formula. Principles are not foolproof, but I believe these principles can help us see the process of discipleship in a more orderly fashion.

Do you agree with these principles? What would you add?

I have a few questions about the economy based on some recent news articles…

• Did you know there are economists who claim the government needs to pump even more money into the economy?
• Which number stimulus package would this be?  Who will pay for this one…China maybe?
• Seriously, aren’t countries about tired of loaning us money so we can place it back in the economy?
• Have we given the last two stimulus packages time to work?
• Do we expect immediate rebound, considering the spending frenzy of Americans went on for numerous years that got us into this mess.

Just questions I am pondering….

Read this Business Week Story HERE.

What questions do you have?

Watch this video.  Thanks to Nike/Live Strong you can get your message seen at the Tour de France.  Amazing.  Honestly, this doesn’t appeal to me, but I love imagination and ingenuity.  Is there something the church can learn from this?  What does someone’s desire to do this say about their desire for connection with others or their desire to be heard?

Just curious.

Here is Nate’s post on Creating Systems for Worship Teams:

For any organization to maximize its potential, GREAT systems have to be in place. You can have poor systems and still reach your potential, but your potential will just not be very potent.

One of the most important areas of church world is the worship team. If a church wants to maximize the potential of their worship environment, then it obviously makes sense that a GREAT system would have to be in place. The problem is this: the system builder types are typically not on the worship team. Usually the worship team consists of extremely abstract/creative people and people that simply want to help setup and tear down stuff. Both are vital to the team, but neither is especially gifted at building systems.

The temptation is to just let the worship environment take care of itself, because after all, creative ideas are probably flourishing already. However, creative ideas are not a system. If your goal is to maximize potential, you need a great system; which means you need a system builder. You need someone who can sit down and figure out how to get every part of the worship team on the same page; someone who can build a framework in which the creative ideas can be executed. Every second of the worship time needs to have been thought through with an ultimate purpose in mind.

The reality is that most worship leader positions are filled based on musicianship and vocal ability, not on LEADING ability. There are multiple types of leading that must be done in order to truly LEAD worship, and I would argue that the majority of it takes place behind the scenes on Monday and Tuesday, not on stage Sunday. So, if you are going to really take your church somewhere in terms of worship, you need a system in place. What that ultimately means is that you need a leader in your worship area… in addition to an artist.

Systems can be hard to build for a group of abstract/unstructured people, but ultimately there needs to be a great one to maximize your potential. You need structure to succeed, which also means you need a structured person on the team.

How does your church systematize its worship environment?

• The Lithuanians are still very much working under the impact of years of Soviet occupation.  You hear it continually in their conversations.
• We need to be leery as a nation of trying to make everyone alike.  That is a basic goal of communism and it did not work for the Lithuanians.
• If you remove a person’s ability to dream or succeed you run the risk of crushing their spirit.
• There are fewer smiles in Lithuania, especially among older people, but the people are very warm and friendly once you get to know them.
• Most stores and restaurants offer no customer service.  Under communism there was no such thing and it has not yet caught on in the country.
• There are many fewer older men than older women.  The average age of a Lithuanian man is much lower than for Americans.
• McDonald’s fries are good in Lithuania too!
• One visit to the KGB museum will make anyone better appreciate freedom.  Read my post on that HERE.
• There are few fences for cows.  Instead they chain cows to an assigned area.  Without the freedom to roam most of the cattle I saw were laying down, not eating as much and smaller than American cows.  (Does freedom impact a cow also?)
• It is very easy to distinguish a Soviet building from a Lithuanian building.
• Under Soviet occupation there were two styles of bicycles….one for boys and one for girls.
• Lots of American companies are finding new markets for their products in Lithuania.
• The whole world needs Jesus!

Those are just a few.  I will share more later.

Here are 10 tips for more effective handling of conflict in your life:

1. Understand the battle.  What is the real source of the conflict? Make sure you are addressing with the real issue.
2. Find the right time and place to confront the conflict. When emotions are high is not good timing for dealing with conflict. Personal conflict should not be handled in public.
3. Examine yourself first. Sometimes the issue is personal to you and you are only blaming others for your problem.
4. Consider the other side of the conflict. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and consider their viewpoint in the conflict.
5. Do not overreact to the issue or overload on emotion.  Stick to the issue at hand.
6. Do not dance around or sugarcoat the issue or disguise it in false kindness.  Sometimes we fail to address the conflict because we are afraid of how the other person may respond or we are afraid of hurting feelings.  The avoidance usually will cause more conflict eventually.
7. Do not allow the small disagreements to become big disagreements without confronting them along the way.  Minor conflict is always easier to handle than major conflict.
8. Be firm but gentle.  Learn the balance between the two.
9. Work towards a solution.  Never waste conflict, but use it to make the organization and relationships better.  The best-case scenario is a win-win situation, but ultimately the conflict needs to be resolved with the right solution.
10. Grant forgiveness easily and do not hold a grudge or seek revenge.  Healthy teams handle conflict and allow it to make the organization stronger.

Those are my suggestions.  How do you handle conflict?

The news has been full of Jackson’s untimely death and memorial services.  I heard a projection that it will be the largest memorial service of all time.  The economy of California, which has been struggling more than most of the country, is expected to see a surge of spending from the travel to Jackson’s memorial services.  Would you have predicted this kind of attention?

I love Michael Jackson’s music.  I will never forget the Jackson 5 or the Thriller or the Michael Jackson dance.  It was part of my generation, so I guess I thought it only appealed to my crowd, but I guess his music and impact was more timeless and universal than I would have expected.

(He actually said this in reference to marriage, but I understand he wanted to learn to listen and hear better from God.)

Here was my reply of how to better hear from God. It may not be the answer he needed, but perhaps it is the one you need.

1. Recognize who God is and who you are. (Ecclesiastes 5:2) We should ultimately listen more than we talk.
2. Give yourself time to listen. (Psalm 46:10)  It is hard to really listen to someone when you are rushing through the conversation.
3. Learn His voice over time.  (John 10:14)  I do not need Cheryl (my wife) to introduce herself when she calls.  I know her voice well.
4. Practice, practice, practice. (Exodus 16)  I like the principle of the daily manna God gave to the Israelites.  This should be our principle of meeting with God.  We should do interact with Him on a daily basis.

Are you trying to hear from God these days?  How do you know His voice?

We had the opportunity our last night in Lithuania to attend an opening weekend of celebrations for Lithuania’s 1000th anniversary. Thousands of people crowded the streets of Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, to hear presentations, sing songs of pride, watch period dances and have a good time. Lithuanians love to celebrate.

I cannot imagine history in terms of the thousands, but it is standard in this part of the world. One thing that spoke highly to me is the pride that was displayed in the people that night. For one thousand years the country has suffered periods of wars, domination and corruption, but one thousand years later they still have pride in their nation. I love the perseverance in that fact.

As someone who studies organizations and leadership I think there are lessons to be learned from us in this. For 1,000 year the Lithuanian people have:

• Continued with a common vision of pride in country
• Rallied together during stressful times to promote their continuance as a nation
• Made the best of the situation when bad circumstances faced the country
• Worked to consistently improve their circumstances
• Celebrated the good times

Could your organization take lessons from the Lithuanian people?

Happy Anniversary Lithuania!

I love to invest in other pastors and churches and this provides a wonderful opportunity to learn from each other.  They currently are meeting in a T-shaped attic of an old hotel the church has purchased and is renovating, so the picture of me speaking here actually shows one smaller portion of the crowd.  They average about 150 people each week, which in relative terms makes the church a thriving Protestant church in a country fairly new to freedom of religion.

Last Sunday I was blessed to stand where Saulius stands each week before his people.  By the way, I love the cheer of applauds the speaker receives before he or she delivers the message in Lithuania.  (Their custom also has them applaud a safe landing of an airplane.  I thankfully got to experience that custom also.)

If you have never experienced a translated message before, here is an example of one.  Click HERE to hear last week’s message from City Church Lithuania.  This was a simple message of hope, something the Lithuanians (and all of us) need a lot more of, but God somehow used it last Sunday in some people’s lives, according to the feedback from Saulius.

I am praying for the years of partnership between our churches to strengthen each of us and help further the Kingdom of God.  This week I will continue to share highlights of our trip.