Lately, I’ve been feeling God nudging me to slow down. And that’s when I stumbled on a beautiful and short documentary called Godspeed. This documentary follows Matt Canlis–a young pastor who wanted to achieve great things for the Kindom of God. But as he was preparing to graduate seminary, his mentor, Eugene Peterson, gave him some wise words that put him on a different path in life and in ministry.

Eugene Peterson told him, “Go somewhere where God might do something, but you won’t get any credit for it.”

So, he and his wife moved to Scotland and began to slow down. They began moving at God’s speed.

The documentary is 30 minutes, and while that might sound like a big chunk of time from your day, if you’re in ministry, it’ll be worth it.

The post Slowing Down appeared first on Jonathan Andersen.

Here are 30 of them, which aren’t in any particular order:

The post 30 Life Moments I’m Thankful for at 30 appeared first on Jonathan Andersen.

And if Tim Keller is right when he says, “the only way you’re going to be a better preacher is if you preach often,” then we associate pastors are doomed to some pretty bad sermons for years to come.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Most associate pastors passively wait for preaching invitations to come their way. But if you truly want to grow as a preacher, you can easily preach more often by actively searching for new opportunities to share God’s Word with others.

Here are five places to begin:

1. Your current church

Start by letting your senior pastor know that you wish you had more opportunities to preach. He might tell you that one day you’ll get that chance at your own church where you can control the pulpit each week. She might begin rotating you in more often due to your eagerness and desire to grow as a preacher, or he might welcome the feedback and keep everything as it has been. No matter the response, this helps pave the way for future conversations when you request to preach elsewhere.

2. Your friend’s church

You likely know other pastors who are preaching weekly, and while this opportunity may seem glorious in your mind, many of them would greatly appreciate a week out of the pulpit to get ahead on sermon preparation, focus on other priorities, or take a vacation. Send a quick email to your friends letting them know that you’d love to relieve them one week and jump into the current series they’re doing or do a stand alone sermon. If they’re agreeable, make sure you clear it with your senior pastor first.

3. Your childhood church

While many prophets aren’t welcome in their hometown, my childhood church loves having me as a guest preacher. Congregations enjoy seeing someone in the pulpit that they had a role in shaping for ministry. It gives them a sense of pride and fruitfulness as they witness what God has done throughout the years in their church and through their church. The easiest way to make this happen is by intentionally cultivating a relationship with each new pastor of your childhood church and letting them know that you’re available.

4. Your local prison

It’s very likely that your local prison has weekly worship services. They might even be at times other than Sunday morning when you’d easily be available. Reach out to the chaplain or other people connected with ministries in your local prison and offer yourself as a resource.

Last time I preached at the local prison a man came up to me after my sermon and asked if he could have my sermon notes. He was training to be a preacher and wanted to see how other people prepared!

5. Your local nursing home

While I’ve yet to preach in a nursing home, one of my friends recently gave me this suggestion. He reminded me that we preachers, like John Wesley, must not simply wait for people and preaching opportunities to come to us. Instead, we must go to them and meet people in the places right where they are—particularly the most vulnerable.

What other ways or places have you found to develop your gift of preaching?

The post The World Is Your Parish: 5 Places for Associate Pastors to Preach appeared first on Jonathan Andersen.

“If you can learn to do this one thing, I guarantee you’ll get more responses from your sermons.”

When one of my mentors said this to me over coffee about a year ago, I listened intently. It sounded like he was about to tell me a closely guarded secret that people, including my seminary professors, had been keeping from me.

“Learn to preach without notes. It won’t necessarily lead to you preaching better content, but it will lead to a deeper connection.”

I thought about his words, admitted my fears, and committed to making it happen. After a year of preaching without notes, I’ve discovered he was right.

My sermons now connect with my congregation in a way they never did when I had my rehearsed manuscript. I receive more positive feedback than ever before. People often tell me what they’ve been thinking about the sermon weeks after I’ve preached it. And stories about people being “doers of the Word” are becoming more and more frequent.

My mentor didn’t give me a handy ten steps to learn how to preach without notes, but over the last year I’ve learned from many others who’ve made the journey before me. Here are the five most helpful things I’ve put into practice: 

1. Let connection take priority over precision

Most preachers are trained in seminary settings that prize precise language, perfect grammar, and phrases that read beautifully. But if you’re going to preach without notes, you have to be willing to sacrifice some precision of language for the sake of connection—unless you can memorize long form content verbatim on a weekly basis.

This doesn’t mean that you don’t do careful exegesis or commit certain phrases and transitions to memory. It does mean that you let eye contact and being fully present with the congregation take precedence over those sentences that took you hours to painstakingly craft in your study.

As Will Willimon recently wrote, “Even when we know our manuscript well, we tend to look at the manuscript rather than look at our listeners. We miss clues that our listeners are sending us when they don’t understand, or when they are losing interest.

2. Understand your sermon

Don’t try to memorize your sermon. It will be extremely difficult and probably leave you frustrated. Instead, simply understand your sermon. It’ll make preaching it without notes much easier.

Carey Nieuwhof puts it this way: “When you understand the structure of your talk, you understand your talk.” And when you understand your talk, you can stand in front of people without worrying that you’ll forget everything.

To help understand and remember the structure of my sermons, I often use structures popularized by others such as Andy Stanley’s Me, We, God, You, We or Paul Scott Wilson’s Four Pages of the Sermon. Other times, I create a structure unique to the text I’m preaching.

In all cases, I make an outline of the talk’s structure with as much detail as I feel I need for every point. When I started, I converted manuscripts to detailed outlines, and then converted those to simple outlines. Now, I start with a detailed outline to save time.

Before I step in front of the congregation, I make sure I can write down the structure of my sermon on a sheet of paper with no hesitancy. Then, even if I forget specific points or phrases, I know I can still convey the big picture.

3. Practice out loud on location

Most performers wouldn’t step on stage without having rehearsed what they’re going to say and do. Most preachers will.

If you want your sermons to stand out, the most effective thing you can do after understanding your sermon in your head is to hear it in your ears. Yes, I know it’s awkward. But it’s less awkward to discover that your sermon is too dense, has too many stories, or is it just plain bad while you’re alone than when you’re surrounded by a crowd of people.

Schedule practice time into your sermon preparation and try to rehearse in the room where you’ll be preaching. This will help you get a feel for the room, platform, lighting, and other elements.

Like Tim Ferriss does when he’s rehearsing public speaking, I’ll write down one-liners and phrases that I like so that I can remember them for later. And I continue going through my message until I nail it once.

You can read the last two points here.

The post Preaching Without Notes: A New Habit to Transform Your Sermons appeared first on Jonathan Andersen.

I’ve also seen short-term mission trips work in amazing ways to encourage, equip, and empower current disciples of Jesus and help create new ones.

The Kingdom of God needs more of the latter.

So after going on more than fifteen short-term mission trips and hosting short-term missionaries in both domestic and foreign settings, here are my seven tips for short-term missionaries:

1. God is a lot bigger than this week long trip.

We must remember as we go that God has been working where we’re headed long before we arrived. And God will continue to do amazing work there long after we leave as well.

Our American sense of urgency can cause us to think God’s work around the world is entirely dependent upon our short-term mission projects and us. He’s graciously allowed us to be part of how he extends his reign around the world, but he’s using countless others as well. When we’re discouraged, may we be reminded that God has had thousands of years of turning our most feeble attempts at living out his mission into beautiful reflections of his glory. When we’re tempted to overstate our role, may we be reminded that only God can turn a heart of stone into a heart of flesh.
– David A. Livermore, Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence

2. We are missionaries who are to love God and those we encounter with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength.

Your presence on this trip isn’t an accident. God wants to work in you and through you this week. God’s plan to grow someone else might be through you. And God’s plan to grow you might be through someone else.

As we seek to love, we must seek to do so in the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus is self-sacrificing love. The way of Jesus is servant leadership. The way of Jesus is humility.

Self-sacrificing love. Servant leadership. Humility.

These three things are crucial to success as a team. Success isn’t getting a project done or coming home with some cool Instagram photos. Success is faithfully serving the people we encounter with love and humility.

3. We are guests in a different culture.

We aren’t tourists who came for an amazing spring break getaway. We are missionaries who are seeking to humble ourselves and serve the Kingdom of God in the way that our hosts recommend.

We’re entering into a different culture. As Americans, we often believe that how we think and live is best. But on this trip we want to be open to learning from cultures and people that we encounter who are different.

I once heard a story about a short-term mission team who discovered that the shared bathroom they were to use during the week smelled nasty and was full of flies. The trip leader discovered that the smell and flies were coming from the trashcan where some people had been putting used toilet paper. Appalled, he emptied the trashcan, took it out of the bathroom, and put it in a common area.

A few hours later, there was soiled toilet paper all over the floor of the bathroom. The leader sat down his team to scold them for their middle-schoolesque hygiene practices. No one admitted to throwing the toilet paper on the ground, but he suspected some of the immature guys were just trying to be funny.

The next day, the trip leader found the trashcan back in the bathroom, full of soiled toilet paper. He was outraged at his group, scolded them again, and hid the trashcan.

When the trip leader found the trashcan back in the bathroom and full of soiled toilet paper again the next day, he finally spoke with the owner of the facility. He hoped that she could talk some sense into his group and explain that housekeepers were having to clean up the toilet paper that some people kept throwing on the floor because they thought it was funny.

The owner laughed and responded to the trip leader, “In our country we don’t flush toilet paper. The sewage systems here clog when we flush it because they weren’t built for it. We throw the paper in the trash, the housekeepers empty it each evening, and then replace the trash can for the next day.”

The trip leader was shocked and embarrassed.

We’ll be learning a lot more about cultural differences as we serve. The key here is to ask lots of questions rather than engage in a lot of assumptions.

4. Be flexible.

Do you love control as much as I do? Probably.

Instead, go with the flow.

We love controlling our schedules, our lives, our safety, our futures, and so much more. But while on this trip, let’s rest from this tendency.

There’s likely a general itinerary. Know that it is very likely to change on a regular basis.

We will deal with broken down busses, late deliveries, different understandings of time, and many other things. Amazingly, it’s often in these moments when we encounter God in unique ways.

5. “Being” and “receiving” is more important than “doing.”

When we’re working, we’re going to work extremely hard with everything we have.

But laying concrete blocks, seeing a freshly painted building, or coming away with tangible results isn’t the most important thing. The most important thing is that we’ve sought to be people of love who are also open to being loved.

The first time I left the country my life changed forever. It wasn’t because we successfully renovated housing for global missionaries. It was because I was open to receiving God’s grace from those we were serving.

6. Watch out for God.

Expect “divine appointments.” God is already at work and we’re joining in His work, so why wouldn’t we expect to encounter Him?

As you eat, work, rest, and meet others, be on the lookout for God at work. This may come through the smile of a child, a special connection you make with someone, a passage of scripture that connects with your day, an answered prayer, or more.

When you experience God in such a way, don’t hide it away in your heart. Share it with others on the team! And if you want some good pillow talk, ask one another where you saw God at work that day.

7. Be hopeful.

As Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20-21, God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us! Believe this truth as you are sent out to be proclaimers and demonstrators of the good news of Jesus Christ.

—

Read more about global and short-term missions here:

My first experience with the global church

Why the American church needs the global church

My time working with the Evangelical Methodist Church in El Salvador

What If Beauty Isn’t What We Expect? Lessons from Worshipping in Guatemala

The post Seven tips for short-term mission trips appeared first on Jonathan Andersen.

Below is the list of books I read last year.  In the comments, I’d love to hear your recommendations for this year.

The top five in no particular order:

Real Sex – Lauren Winner

Recently some middle school boys were at my house and they started giggling when they found this book. I don’t know what they thought it contained, but I assured them that it was one of the best Christian books on sex that’s out there. However, they didn’t seem too interested since there were no pictures. Most people aren’t interested in reading Christian reflections on sex and chastity, but if I could give one book on sex to young adult singles, youth pastors, and pastors in my denomination, it would be this one.

I experience the church’s teaching about sex as difficult. I chafe against it. Sometimes it feels outmoded, irrelevant, burdensome. But to rely on my experience here would be to rely on something frankly broken and distorted. Sometimes it is scary or inconvenient to trust the church. But it is more often a relief to know that I don’t have to rely solely on my intuition or experience to make decisions about ethical behavior. The church is here to teach me how to handle sex, money, time, relationships, & myriad other issues.

The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail – Oscar Martinez

You won’t think of immigrants from south of the border the same after reading this book. It’ll challenge you, scare you, and open your eyes to the dangerous journey many make and why they would risk so much to make it.

This book provides some great practical processes and questions for any church staff hire. It helped my church hire a great new youth pastor last year.

A Blueprint for Discipleship – Kevin Watson

Looking for a simple way to teach others about basic discipleship? Try this book that uses Wesley’s General Rules as a framework.

On the Threshold of Grace – Donald Haynes

I attempted to use this book as the primary text in my Methodism 101. While the chapter structure works well for a discussion of Methodism, the content was poorly edited, confusing for the class, and we scrapped it before it was all over.

Being United Methodist: What It Means, Why It Matters – Ellsworth J. Kalas

A very accessible introduction to the history and practice of Methodism that works well to hand to laity.

Dialogues: Amongst the People Called United Methodists – William Abraham

This is for Methodist insiders. And as David Watson states in his review, this book pulls no punches in its discussion of the state of the UMC today.

For the Sake of the Bride: Restoring the Church to Her Intended Beauty – Steve Harper

Harper’s plea for Christian unity is sincere and needed. However, Harper’s “modest proposal” to redefine Christian marriage in just a few pages with little reflection on scripture and tradition left this book lacking.

Reclaiming the Lost Soul of Youth Ministry – Jeremy Steele

Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry – Paul David Tripp

While this book could’ve been fifty pages shorter, it does an excellent job living up to its title. If you’re married and in ministry, I’d highly recommend you read it with your spouse.

Forgiveness: Finding Peace Through Letting Go – Adam Hamilton

A simple book on a complex topic that’s great for small groups or a sermon series.

Forgiving As We’ve Been Forgiven: Community Practices for Making Peace – Greg Jones & Célestin Musekura

A more complex book on a complex topic that helped me while preaching on forgiveness.

In the Name of Jesus – Henri Nouwen

This was the first Nouwen book I had ever read and it made me want to read more. He paints a beautiful picture of cruciform leadership that any Christian leader should aspire to.

Jesus Is Better than You Imagined – Jonathan Merritt

You can read my review here.

Not Yet Christmas: It’s Time for Advent – J.D. Walt

I love reading J.D.’s daily devotionals and this little book provided some needed preparation time for Christmas.

Too Busy Not to Pray – Bill Hybels

A good basic introduction to prayer full of practical advice for individuals.

The post Books I’ve been reading lately appeared first on Jonathan Andersen.

Last year I featured 8 images that I found particularly powerful. I hope these additional illustrations will help you contemplate Christmas, complete a sermon, or come close to the feet of Jesus in worship again this year.

1. His Weakness as Our Virtue

He was a baby and a child, so that you may be a perfect human. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, so that you may be freed from the snares of death. He was in a manger, so that you may be in the altar. He was on earth that you may be in the stars. He had no other place in the inn, so that you may have many mansions in the heavens. ‘He, being rich, became poor for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich.’ Therefore his poverty is our inheritance, and the Lord’s weakness is our virtue. He chose to lack for himself, that he may abound for all. The sobs of that appalling infancy cleanse me, those tears wash away my sins. – Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 2.41-42.

2. Salvation Happens in the Body

Bodies are central to the Christian story. Creation inaugurates bodies that are good, but the consequences of the fall are written on our bodies–our bodies will sweat as we labor in the fields, our bodies will hurt as we bear children, and, most centrally, our bodies will die. If the fall is written on the body, salvation happens in the body too. The kingdom of God is transmitted through Jesus’s body and is sustained in Christ’s Body, the church. Through the bodily suffering of Christ on the cross and the bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead, we are saved. Bodies are not just mirrors in which we see the consequence of the fall; they are also, in one theologian’s phrase, “where God has chosen to find us in our fallenness.” – Lauren Winner, Real Sex

3. The True Image of God

When we begin with a vague notion of what God is like we tend to project our own experiences, for better or worse, in formulating this image. … The secret to understanding who God is and consequently who we really are is to start with Jesus. The problem is that there are a lot of versions of Jesus out there. The only trustworthy way to understand Jesus is to study His Word with others in the power of the Holy Spirit. – Carolyn Moore, Encounter Jesus

You can find the rest of the illustrations in my guest post at Seedbed:
14 Christmas Sermon Illustrations

The post 14 Christmas Sermon Illustrations appeared first on Jonathan Andersen.

Embrace it and let their kids do whatever they want?

Smash their kids’ smartphones?

Or something else?

Recently I presented on this topic at a Parent University event we had at Hamilton Mill UMC. I took the notes and presentation from the live event and turned them into the video below. I hope that it’ll help you think about social media in a new way and provide some guidance as you try and navigate the world we now find ourselves living in!

Show notes:

Prezi – prezi.com/jejnztxykw5o/parent-university-social-media/
Device to stop distracted driving that I recently began using – cellcontrol.com/driveid/
Phone Contract Download – parentssmashingphones.com/free-downloads
Filtering / Monitoring software – covenanteyes.com & x3watch.com
Free router filtering – opendns.com/home-solutions/parental-controls/

First featured youtube video – youtube.com/watch?v=OINa46HeWg8
VW Texting & Driving video – youtube.com/watch?v=JHixeIr_6BM

As you watched, what were your thoughts and reactions?

The post Social Media: What’s a parent to do? appeared first on Jonathan Andersen.

I discovered that it’s a simple question that’s difficult to answer.

The group gave lots of good answers, and throughout my class–Methodism 101–I tried to help develop a solid answer myself. In six short weeks we made some progress in answering the question, but I still wasn’t satisfied.

I wasn’t satisfied with my formulations and all the books out there trying to answer the question until I recently heard Dr. Joe Dongell of Asbury Seminary give his answer.

Speaking at the New Room Conference (the best conference for people in ministry I’ve ever attended), Dr. Dongell informed the crowd that he had read through all 14 volumes of John Wesley’s Works (Thomas Jackson edition) in the last five years.

Twice.

That’s 14,000 pages.

From this adventure, he had come up with a list of 12 distinctives that identified “the people called Methodists” when they were a movement and distinctives that should continue to identify Christians in the Methodist / Wesleyan tradition today.

According to Dr. Dongell, a Methodist / Wesleyan is:

1. A person of “one book” (homo unius libri). The scriptures are highly valued and form the foundation for all theology and doctrine.

2. One who values reason, tradition, and experience as lenses through which they seek to understand and apply scripture to their lives and the church.

3. Arminian in their theology. They believe that God created us in his image, frees our sinful wills through prevenient grace, and desires us to cooperate with his work of grace in our lives.

4. One who has an optimistic view of salvation. They believe God’s grace draws us to himself, justifies us, sanctifies us, and will one day glorify us in eternity.

5. One who believes in Christian Perfection—that Christians can live holy lives free from willful disobedience to God on this side of eternity by the power of God’s grace.

6. Convicted that all progress in the Christian life comes through the means of grace—especially Holy communion.

7. Convicted that all progress in the Christian life must also come through the company of other believers.

8. One who believes that God desires all to be saved. They know God’s prevenient grace is calling all people to himself and therefore Christians must proclaim the message to all people as well.

9. One who attends to the poor and marginalized so that their suffering in body and soul can be relieved.

10. One who believes that God’s desire is to assure believers of their salvation through the inward witness of the Holy Spirit.

11. One who believes that God seeks to renew our intellect, wills, and affections. They have a holistic view of salvation.

12. One who cultivates relationships and seeks to be one with Christians of all stripes.

Pretty comprehensive.

And this was an aside in his amazing talk. His keynote was about a common theme that he found throughout all of Wesley’s works—the operational center of all of Wesley’s thought: Love.

Perhaps that’s number thirteen: One who has the love of God in their hearts, loves God with everything, and shares that love with all those around them. After all, that’s how John Wesley typically summarized a Methodist.

What would you add or take away?

The post What is a Methodist? – Part 2 appeared first on Jonathan Andersen.

I still remember when I entered 6th grade. During those first few months, I spent 30 minutes+ every day gelling my hair in the mirror and making sure I picked out an outfit that the other kids would think was cool. I wore the coolest shoes that I could find (and that my parents would pay for). I walked the halls with my new backpack while trying to avoid the 8th graders. And I was always afraid that one of my fellow 6th graders might discover who I was deep down–scared, super self-conscious, and unsure of myself.

I don’t remember when I stopped having those feelings.

After all, they still creep into my life today.

But I do remember one person who helped me begin to move from fear to love, self-consciousness to Christ-centeredness, uncertainty about who I was to confidence in who God created me to be.

That man was Don–my first small group leader at my youth group.

Don was an average joe. He spent his early years in the military and later went back to college as a second-career student. He was divorced. He drove an old Jeep Wrangler.

What made Don far above average for me was that he showed up each week to help me learn about who God was and how much Jesus loved me. I asked him every question I could think of, and while he didn’t always have the answer, he welcomed the conversation. I used to do annoying middle school things like pulling chairs out from under people, and yet he still came back every week. I used to tell him stuff I’d never tell my parents, and he’d simply remind me that God loves us no matter what and always wants to forgive us.

I think having a time and space where 6th graders can be themselves, learn about who God is and who God wants them to be, ask questions, and have encouragement along the way is something that every 6th grader needs. It was transformative for me, and it’s one of the main reasons I’m excited to be a part of the 2014-2015 Decision for Christ class.

If you’re not familiar with Decision for Christ, it is our year long class at Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church to prepare students for Confirmation–the time when they make a public profession of their personal faith in Jesus.

Each week, 6th grade students are invited to a large group teaching session on a topic followed by a week of small group discussion on the topic. They’ll learn about God, Jesus, the Church, living out their faith, and more.

Countless parents have seen their student’s life transformed before their eyes, and I want the same experience for you.

Fortunately, it all kicks off this Sunday and it’s not too late to register your student and for them to join.

Also, we’d love to have you partner with us and consider being a small group leader for Decision for Christ for the school year.

We have a number of leaders already confirmed, but we want to have each small group be the perfect size for discussion and fun and so we’re hoping and praying for a few more volunteers. You’d be responsible for asking discussion questions we give you each week and for helping to reinforce the lesson taught the week before.

You may think your student wouldn’t want you to be in the same room with them on Sundays (since they tell you that alot already), but I know of no more powerful witness of your faith to your student than by serving in the church in an area like this.

Plus, you could be the next “Don” in some student’s life. You could be someone who helps a student move from fear to love, self-consciousness to Christ-centeredness, uncertainty about who they are to confidence in who God created them to be.

If you’re interested in serving, or have questions about registering for the class, please simply reply to this email or give me a call.

Thanks,
Jonathan

p.s. Don and I are still friends. I continue to make it a point to seek out his wisdom regarding the important things in life.

The post The letter I sent to parents of new 6th graders considering Confirmation appeared first on Jonathan Andersen.