"I can't wait to be wounded in ministry!"

I've never met an aspiring ministry leader who uttered these words, or anything like them. Most young leaders I meet have their hopes on the "victories" of ministry: planting a flourishing church that will outlive them; leading a struggling teenager to Christ and witnessing their baptism; seeing God do something incredible in a person's life we never thought possible.

For the record, those are good things. If someone were to tell me, "I can't wait for ministry to go terribly, terribly wrong," that might be a reason for them to consider a path other than vocational ministry.

But no one starts out in ministry leadership thinking about the ways they are going to be wounded. In fact, if you're new to ministry leadership, that last sentence may not have made much sense to you. "Are going to be wounded? Isn't there a way to avoid being wounded at all?"

Nope. If you have embraced ministry leadership as a way of life—whether it's as a job or through a significant amount of volunteer hours—you will be wounded by it.

It may be that when you read the word wounded, it brought to mind some really difficult ministry situations like a church split, a pastor with a significant moral failing, or being intentionally hurt by someone. However, a situation does not need to be dramatic for the wound it leaves to be substantial. When someone decides to step out of ministry leadership because of some sort of wounding, it is often not one incident, but rather the weight of several. Terry Wardle says that "ministry is a series of ungrieved losses." I have heard this phrase several times in my years of ministry, but it is only as I prepare the enter my third decade of vocational ministry that I have begun to realize how true it is.

“Ministry is a series of ungrieved losses.” - Terry Wardle

There are a variety of ways to be wounded in ministry.

Wounds caused by tragedy. When you spend a good part of your time intentionally serving others, you will love them. And when tragedy strikes those you love, you will be wounded. Even as I write this, my mind—and my heart—are brought back to scenes of pain and grief that I experienced not because they happened directly to me, but because I was there and they happened to those I loved. A Christmas Eve playing video games with a child who just lost his father. A police station with a mother who just lost her children in the most unimaginable of ways. A living room with a widow whose husband just took his own life in the next room.

Wounds caused by those you shepherd. There is nothing more disorienting to find that those you have cared for and loved—often while giving of yourself and sometimes even your family—have turned against you. I'm not talking about disagreements; healthy church families can often disagree about theology or the best way forward. I'm talking about being hurt by those you considered an ally in ministry. Perhaps you went one step too far on a political issue and they decided to leave. Or maybe someone you've poured into has just disappeared, as though what you had to give never mattered at all.

Wounds caused by an unhealthy environment. No church is perfect and all have degrees of unhealth, but some have a culture that encourages unhealthy patterns or behavior. It may be an over-dependance on human effort that tacitly proclaims more hours and more effort will make ministry "happen." Or it may be relational issues that never get resolved or even addressed. These wounds can be difficult to notice or diagnose, which can give them greater power over a long period of time.

Wounds caused by...me. My own behavior can be the cause of my greatest wounds. Maybe I am the one that has created or furthered an environment of workaholism that has slowly deteriorated my family. Perhaps it is a sin that I am ashamed about but reluctant to confess out of fear of what others will think of me. Or maybe I have simply failed to stop and grieve, closing off the most tender parts of myself to those closest to me and most importantly, to Jesus.

Such a heavy topic seems to demand some sort of resolution. This for sure is a theme I will come back to, but for today, perhaps your most important next step is to re-read this post and simply grieve the losses you have been ignoring.

It’s a good thing when not everyone on your team is like you.

Most leaders would agree with that statement. After all, we know that great teams include different kinds of people: People with different giftings, who are from different backgrounds, and who have different skills. 

Intuitively, most leaders know how to interact with various kinds of people. However, we don’t always give a lot of thought to the fact that different people need to be led differently. One of the mistakes leaders tend to make is to have a one-size-fits-all approach to leading their teams. When we fail to recognize that each person we lead might need something different from us, we’ll get some negative results, especially in a ministry setting. Here’s why:

People come from different backgrounds.

We often forget that how we lead is at least partly a product of our family, cultural, and religious backgrounds. And the way people respond to leadership is also a product of their family, cultural, and religious backgrounds.

People have different spiritual needs.

It’s easy to forget that in a ministry setting, leaders aren’t just bosses; they are seen as spiritual leaders as well, no matter what their title is. And so when we lead people, we need to take into account that we’re leading them spiritually as well.

People have had different experiences with bosses. 

Whether it’s fair or not, people bring to your team their own history working with people in charge, and at least some of those experiences will have been negative.

People have different character strengths and weaknesses. 

No one you lead is perfect. Everyone will come with their own character issues, just like you do.

And then there are personality styles to consider: Maybe you’re a super confident leader. You probably have an easier time leading other super confident leaders. But how are you at leading a talented team member who isn’t as sure of themselves?

Or perhaps your leadership style is systematic. You value innovation, but you march to a pretty consistent rhythm: projects, timelines, and clear objectives. You’ve got others on your team who love your style, but how does your style affect the more creative members of your team?

Here’s the bottom line: If you can only lead one kind of person, then only one kind of team member will be able to thrive under your leadership. Why? Because eventually you’ll frustrate those who don’t “fit” your one-size-fits-all approach. And those people will either stay but not contribute to your team as much as they could, or they’ll leave. And in most cases, you’ll assume it was all their fault.

But we as leaders do have a responsibility to lead different types of people, and if we can’t, it’s actually our fault. Here are some ways we can do a better job at this:

Choose an assessment that will help you get to know your team better. 

There are many assessments to help your team understand themselves and one another better, and they all have their own bent: the Enneagram, StrenthFinder, Myers Briggs, Color Test, the list goes on and on. You may already have your favorite. But here’s the catch: You can’t just take the assessment, talk about it in one or two meetings, and then move on. For an assessment to be helpful to you as a leader as well as your team, it needs to become a regular part of your interactions as a team.

Ask team members how they like to be led.

Many of your team members have probably already thought about this question. It’s a great starting point for building a relationship with those you lead, and it will give you valuable insight you may not have been able to get otherwise.

Get feedback as a leader.

I mean, real feedback. This can be informal, such as asking your team in a staff meeting one area they see room for improvement in your leadership. But the only way to get true feedback is asking someone outside your organization to gather feedback from your team for you, such as a 360 review.

Assume the best about people.

When someone we lead makes a mistake, we always see the mistake before we see the reasons why the mistake happened. And we usually fill in that gap with negative assumptions. When an employee messes up on a project, we might assume they just didn’t care about the project as much as we do. Or when a kids volunteer is late on a Sunday morning, we assume they don’t value their role or the families they serve very much. But that might not be the case. Of course, sometimes mistakes happen because someone dropped the ball and there’s no good reason. But until you know for sure. be willing to assume the best about people.

Of course, all of these strategies require me as a leader to be self-aware and healthy enough to be willing to change how I lead so I can be a better leader. But isn’t that the kind of leader people are willing to follow?

What are some ways you’ve led different types of people?

Preaching’s a funny thing. It’s like public speaking (primarily because you’re speaking in public), but it’s not. When you prepare a sermon, you are creating content that you plan on delivering well. But preaching’s far more than just developing content and then delivering it well. It’s deeper somehow, and richer. And the reason that is so is this: the love of a shepherd.

When we preach, we shepherd. And because of that, a sermon is a very different form of communication. Since I do not sit in the lead pastor’s chair, I have listened to hundreds of sermons through the years. One thing I’ve noticed is that good preaching is more about shepherding well than delivering a polished product. It’s not that working on the craft of preaching isn’t necessary. It’s just that from where I sit, it seems clear that preachers who love who they are speaking to and want something for those people tend to have a bigger impact than those who might be better preachers—technically speaking—yet who do not seem to have much of a shepherd’s heart.

Here are a few ways to preach like a shepherd:

Labor Well

Shepherding people is hard work. To be sure, it’s rewarding work, but it requires much of yourself, and often times it is slow, plodding, and frustrating. I’ve known more than a few ministry leaders who would rather do less of the difficult shepherding and more of the “fun” work of preparing and delivering sermons. Often they are aspiring pastors, but some lead pastors have made a career of just preaching and leading meetings while avoiding the “messy” parts of relational ministry.

Whether this is really something a faithful pastor can do is an article for another time. I simply want to make the point that preaching should be hard work. It’s a labor of love. This includes the hard work of studying, being widely read, and submitting oneself to the Word of God, but it’s more than that. Good preaching should interact with real life, and that takes lots of prayer, thought, and laboring with and for the people you are preaching to.

Ask: Is it helpful?

Ultimately, a shepherd wants to help his sheep. Some would argue that asking whether a sermon is helpful amounts to pandering to felt needs. I would argue that a sermon that does not help the people who hear it hasn’t been given in love. Now, there are a variety of ways that a shepherd can help his sheep. Sometimes help looks like a sweet tone, coaxing the flock to greener pastures. Sometimes help looks like a warning against danger.

Ask: Is it faithful?

One of the qualities of a good shepherd is that the shepherd is constant and always there. While it’s important for a preacher to find his or her voice, I think we worry too much sometimes about being unique or clever. Yes, preachers should seek to get better, just as a worship leader should strive to be a good singer, and a small group leader should strive to lead better discussions. But I believe it is much more important to be faithful.

I don’t mean that as any sort of cliché, either. A good preacher is one who is faithfully obedient to the Word in his own life, who faithfully studies week in and week out, and who continually prays for the people he is preaching to. Perhaps is just because I’m getting older, but I believe we need faithful preachers who puts their heart into their preaching each and every week more than we need polished ones.

What other ways can we preach like a shepherd?

Over the past couple of decades of ministry, there have been many people who have been a gift. People who jump in, who serve, who give, who encourage; people who bring a smile to my face when I see them.

I've learned that there is one category of people that might be the biggest gift of all in a church, but their gift often goes unrecognized. They aren't always the ones planning the huge events or leading their small group, though sometimes they are. I've found that more often than not, they are content to serve in the background, faithfully just simply being there, year in and year out. That's what makes them a stay-er.

What is a "stay-er"? Good question. A stayer, as you might have guessed, is simply someone who stays. Of course, life brings us here and there, but a stayer is someone who is faithful not just to God, but to friends. And in ministry, there are precious few stayers who you know will remain with you through thick and thin.

Being a stayer isn't just about not leaving. There are people who stick around not to serve others but to serve themselves. What makes a stayer a stayer is that through the storms of life, the storms of ministry, the storms of relational difficulties, they are there to encourage, to serve, and to offer themselves.

A mentor who I met in my first ministry position once told me, "I've outlasted a few senior pastors in this church, and I expect I'll outlast a few more." He meant it as a joke, but the truth behind his comment is that he is a stayer. Over several decades he has been a part of his church, he's served in leadership positions, and he's served by cleaning up water from a broken hot water heater. And I know that he hasn't agreed with every single pastor or staff member, but he's always been there. Setting up tables, leading ministries, raising money, and doing whatever needs to be done, because he loves his church.

When you think about the people in your church that you are grateful for, many types probably come to mind: the junior high leaders, the go-getters who can pull off just about any event, your staff members who truly love what they do, those who are generous. But one that you may not think about all that much are the stayers, especially if you haven't been through too many difficult seasons in ministry. 

I would guess that you've got at least a few stayers who have been with you through thick and thin. Or maybe you're new in your role, and you've met one or two people who have been there for years, and they've already told you that they're happy to help with whatever they need. Take a few minutes this week to send them a note to say "thanks," or better yet, tell them over breakfast or a cup of coffee. They're a much greater gift than you probably realize.

A this-is-not-our-home post seems fitting for the day after an election here in America. I’m putting the finishing touches on it a few days before the election, so it’s not written based on any particular outcome.

Peter addresses his first epistle, "To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia…” (1 Peter 1;1, ESV). An exile is someone who is away from their home, staying in another place with the expectant hope that they will return.

Culturally, exiles are distinct from the culture in which they are sojourning. Whether they know for sure when or if they will return to their homeland, they continue to express that hope by living as best as they can as though they are already home.

So what does it mean to be an elect exile—a follower of Jesus longing for their home?

The first step to answering that question is to articulate just what home is for followers of Jesus. Many assume that since Peter—as well as the author of Hebrews—call Christians exiles, he was speaking geographically. That is, we will leave Earth and reside in heaven. But a straightforward reading of Revelation indicates that our ultimate home will be a marriage of Heaven and Earth. Instead, the best way to think about our home is that home is wherever Jesus is King.

We live in the “already but not yet” time where Jesus has ushered in his kingdom and established himself as the true king, but we await the time when he will establish his kingdom for eternity. And because of that, we live as exiles. We declare allegiance to a different King than most of those around us.

And as pastors and ministry leaders, we shepherd exiles who declare allegiance to a different King than most of us around us. We don’t often think of it in those terms, but that’s an important lens through which to view our ministry. And so how do we engage in this important role of shepherding exiles?

Remind exiles that this is not our home

Our home is not ultimately a geographical location, but rather our home is with Jesus. While there is much to enjoy in life and be grateful for, the longing in our hearts speak to the fact that this is not our home. As Paul expressed in Philippians 1:23 when writing about this tension, "I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”

Commission and encourage ambassadors

Our role as exiles is not to huddle up, stay safe, and get through this time of sojourning until eventually we can go home. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:19-20, "that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (ESV). We implore people to come with us, to surrender to Jesus the King, and be reconciled to God!

Lead exiles in lament

Psalm 137 is a beautiful lament written in exile in Babylon. When we experience the brokenness of this world, we are reminded that it is not our home, and the proper response is to lament that we are not there. When illness, unemployment, abuse, poverty, and other troubles rattle us, we can teach people to lament not just the brokenness, but the fact that we long for our true home.

Teach on eschatology

Many pastors shy away from teaching on eschatology for one of two reasons: 1) it’s overwhelming, and 2) they know that it might raise controversy within their church among those who are very opinionated about it. But learning about eschatology—theology about the culmination of history—isn’t just a theological exercise. It’s a beautiful window into how God is making all things new, and just how we will come to be in our new home.

What other ways can we shepherd exiles?

I almost didn’t write this post.

The main reason is that it feels like most leadership writers have written on the content you’re about to read. If you follow a lot of ministry or leadership blogs, this may not even been the first article you’ve read on the topic this week.

So to be honest—and actually typing this out is for sure a writer no-no—I don’t have anything new to say to you on this topic. But I have to write about it because I believe it’s one of the least-heeded leadership principals, especially in the American church. Yet it might be the most important.

So here it goes: What matters most in leadership is your character, not your talent.

That’s the big idea. And there are many, many ways to write that line so that it sounds more interesting:

Who you are is more important than what you do.

Nobody pays you to work on your character, but character can cost you everything.

Competency can’t compensate for the lack of character.

Who you are when no one’s looking is who you really are.

But no matter which way you cut it, the principle remains simple, boring, and indispensable. So why do leaders spend so little time thinking about and working on their character? And to apply this to the lane I live in, why do pastors and ministry leaders—who should be most interested in the health of their souls—spend so little time thinking about and working on their character?

Most bosses don’t care about your character until it’s too late. When I think back to just about every interview I’ve had for a potential ministry role, I would guess that typically less than 20% of the process focused on getting a handle on my character. I’m not suggesting that churches and organizations shouldn’t also evaluate for competency, chemistry, and calling, but I believe far too many churches care more about what an employee can do for them than who they are.

Evaluating for character is hard work. If I want to know whether you can preach, I just need to watch a few sermons. If I want to know whether you can build teams, I just verify that the leadership experience you’ve put on your resume is all you’ve built it up to be. And if I want to know if you’re theologically astute, I’ll ask you to provide written answers to a few questions. But if I want to know who you really are at home, or how you treat the people who report to you…that’s going to take a bit of work. And it’s likely going to take a few frank conversations we’re not used to having in our culture. Unfortunately, most churches and hiring committees just check a couple of (cherry picked) references and hope for the best.

It’s true: No one will pay you to work on your character. Think about all the deadlines, tasks, and projects you are working on. In most jobs, there are consequences for not getting those done well and on time. But rarely will a supervisor ask an employee to work on their character, at least before an incident brings it up. So you don’t, until it’s too late.

Unfortunately, we just don’t care like we should. Let’s be honest: the American church has confused “results” with fruit. Now don’t get me wrong: we have been commissioned by Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19), which often involves numerical growth. But in my experience, churches in their quest to find someone who can “get the job done” (gather more people, play better music, preach better sermons) all too often are not as interested as they should be in that person’s character.

You love praise, and people usually praise you for what you do, not who you are. This one hits really close to home for me. In my life, it is a continual fight to resist seeking the praise of people. Maybe you have the same fight, and you’ve discovered what I have: people usually praise you for how you perform, not they kind of person you are. If I preach a decent sermon, I might get a few encouraging text messages or emails. But no one’s following me around cheering me on when I resist the temptation to tell a white lie when I’ve dropped the ball on something, or when I am patient with one of my children during a tantrum.

So here’s the question: what can you do to stop ignoring what matters most in your leadership?

I’m a planner. I plan my day, I plan my week, I plan for ministry. I even enjoy doing a monthly budget plan with my wife.

The fact that I’m such a planner is why I’m so convicted by Jesus’ invitation to “count the cost.”

In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus delivers a difficult teaching to the many who had been following him around. He declares that allegiance to him should far exceed our allegiance to what would normally be considered the most important relationships a person can have: parents, spouse, children, siblings…even our allegiance to our own selves. And if we can’t do that, then we have no business being his disciple.

Jesus then gives us a couple of pictures to illustrate why this is so important: 1) When we engage in a construction project, we figure out how much it’s going to cost so that we can finish it. Otherwise, we’ll have to stop construction mid-project, to our own embarrassment. And 2) When a king knows war is on the horizon, he considers his chances based on his resources compared with the enemy’s greater resources. If the chances of victory are slim, he will try to work out a treaty as soon as possible.

These two pictures carry two themes: planning and surrender. But it is not planning how I typically like to plan. Usually when I plan, I try to order the future so that I come out on top. My plans point to me as the victor. However, the context of Jesus’ illustrations about the builder and the king point to a much different, gospel-oriented and cruciform type of planning. Jesus begins this discourse to his followers—many of whom would no doubt walk away from Jesus after this difficult teaching—by telling them they must be willing to forsake their closest familial relationships and even their own selves if they want to follow him. They must even be willing to face an excruciating death if need be.

And it is only against this backdrop that “counting the cost” makes any sense. Just as to say “yes” to a building project—or any major financial endeavor, for that matter—requires one to say “no” to other things, and even to deny oneself. The second illustration goes even further, as the picture of a king facing a possible aggressor with twice as powerful an army as his is more than just about wisely sizing up a crisis and acting prudently. It is about surrender, and making peace with God on his terms.

Taken together, here is what this passage says about my plans, and perhaps it says the same thing about your plans: We must plan to give it all away in surrender to God. Compared with the treasure of knowing Christ, even our most treasured relationships and our very own lives pale in value and can be enjoyed only under the lordship of Jesus. But when I look into my own heart, I find that there are things I often treasure above Christ: my comfort, my own notoriety, my family, my reputation, my schedule, my intelligence, my own plans, my control…really, in other words, my kingdom.

So the question I ask myself—and I dare you to ask it of yourself as well—is this: Do I dare plan and plot and prepareand save and put aside and strategize and deliberate to give it all away for the pleasure of knowing Christ my savior?

I wish there was a scorecard or rubric for being a pastor. You know, something that would let me know whether I was leading well and basically…being a good pastor.

Some days it’s pretty clear. Most of the time, it’s not. But the real issue is that day in and day out, we have no idea how to tell whether we are leading well. But I think there’s a question we can ask that can at least give us an idea.

Are the people you lead flourishing?

When you lead someone, they are under your care. Most of the time, we think of those who lead as bosses—they’re the ones in charge. Of course, that’s true in most situations, but that’s not the only part of being in leadership. Jesus said that those who would seek to be in any kind of authority ought to think first of serving, rather than being in charge:

"But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:43-45, ESV

To serve someone is to act in their best interest. In other words, to work so that they will flourish. So if leading means serving, and serving means working to see someone flourish, then “Are the people you lead flourishing” is a good measure for how you’re leading. But what does that look like?

Spiritual Flourishing

As is true for each of these categories, you are not solely responsible for the spiritual health of those you lead. However, don’t you want to be the kind of leader that fosters an environment where people grow in their relationship with Jesus? Let’s be honest: It’s easy in a ministry staff to focus more on the doing and the results than how those on your team are really doing spiritually. The same is true in an environment where the people you lead are primarily volunteers. They show up, put on a name tag, do their job, and head home week in and week out. But are they flourishing spiritually? Do you have any idea about their relationship with 

Emotional Flourishing

Like spiritual health, it can be difficult to know how the people you lead are doing emotionally. One of the best things we can do as leaders is to acknowledge that emotional health is important. In a day when emotional health has become recognized as an important part of one’s overall health, I’m not sure we in ministry leadership really give emotional health it as much weight as we should. So how are the people you lead doing…really? Again, this isn’t solely your responsibility, but if you love the people you lead, you’ll create a safe place where it really is okay not to be okay.

Relational Flourishing

You know how when your phone rings and you look at the screen, there are certain names that pop up that make you think twice about answering the call? It’s not that you dislike that person, it’s just one of those phone calls you’re not sure you’re up for. Have you ever though about how your team feels when your name or another team member’s name pops up on their screen? No staff is perfect, and your goal shouldn’t be that everyone would always agree with one another. Rather, the goal should be a team where healthy conflict is valued, where team members keep short accounts with one another, and where people are truly for one another. This doesn’t mean that everyone has to be best friends, and depending on the size and makeup of your staff, it probably isn’t all that realistic. But you can have a team where gossip is nonexistent, where people feel free to share their opinions and ideas, where laughter and fun is the norm, and where conflict is resolved quickly in a healthy way.

What are some other signs that the people you lead are flourishing?

One of the most important things you can do as a leader is to say “thank you.” However, pastors and ministry leaders rarely make the time to go out of their way to express their gratitude to those who give freely of their time and resources to help their local church do what God has called it to do.

Be honest: when was the last time you intentionally thanked the following people—with a note, gift, or phone call—for their service to you and your church?

Volunteers: the people who get there early to set up, rehearse, make the coffee, and make sure everything is ready to go in the kids ministry. If we’re honest, we probably spend more time as ministry leaders complaining about volunteers than thanking them (did that sting a little bit?). We should never allow the small minority of flaky volunteers overshadow our gratefulness for the vast majority who just love to show up and serve each week.

Your kids’ children and student ministry leaders: Sure, all volunteers matter. But if you’ve got kids or teenagers, hopefully you’re aware of the fact that really good student and children’s ministry volunteers make a big difference. Make sure you go out of your way to thank the specific teachers, small group leaders, and volunteers that work with your own kids each week.

Coffee/Kitchen Crew: I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret…almost no one really thinks about the coffee at your church unless it’s out (or there aren’t any more cups, or it’s too cold/hot/strong/weak. Most coffee/hospitality volunteers are rarely seen, but they work really hard.

Givers: If you don’t usually go out of your way to thank givers, it’s probably not because you aren’t grateful; you just might not know how. Maybe you feel uncomfortable talking about money with the people who pay your salary. Or perhaps you are of the opinion that you shouldn’t know the giving habits of your congregation, to avoid favoritism. But it’s important to thank people for giving sacrificially of their resources, just as you thank them for giving sacrificially of their time and skills. Even if you don’t want to know how much someone gives or even whether they give at all, you can still write general thank you notes and have your treasurer or finance manager send them to everyone who gave something to your church last year. 

Custodians: This one should go without saying, but it needs to be said: when was the last time you thanked the people who clean up all the messes around your church? Even if your facilities are large enough that you can pay a team of custodians, take a minute to express your gratitude that everything looks great week in and week out.

Who else doesn’t receive thanks nearly often enough that should be added to this list?

This week, I was reminded of a blog post written by a good friend of mine while his family was serving as missionaries in Kenya some years ago. It was the year the “Occupy” movement protests, and my friend Jim was hearing the news, often through a variety of international viewpoints.

Perspective often leads to gratitude, does it not? This is not to say that we should always seek to be comforted by the fact that someone else is enduring a more acute form of suffering than we are. However, when we seek a bit of perspective, we find that what we take for granted is actually something we ought to be extremely thankful for. (For instance, I have thought on an embarrassing number of occasions in recent months that our television is “too small.”)

Here is the part that got me from Jim’s post; you can read it all here.

My parents visited last month and we celebrated an early Christmas with them - ham, cranberry sauce and all. After eating, I took some of the traditional meal to our yard-worker, Edward. He had a great time trying all the foods. He really liked cranberry sauce, enjoyed the ham. His favorite part was the stuffing; he didn't care for the olives. NONE of it was familiar to him. After he'd eaten it and had seconds of the stuffing and that precious cranberry sauce he asked, "You eat like this every Christmas?"

"Yep." I couldn't admit to him that I would have normally eaten twice the amount he'd just had OR that we'd had a meal like that only a month ago when we celebrated Thanksgiving or that we'd probably do it all over again when Easter came around.

"Wow!" Wonder filled his face. That he couldn't really fathom being wealthy enough to eat one meal like that was obvious - and Edward's a guy living on MORE than two dollars per day - better than over 50% of the world population!

I'm rich. I use the internet, own a car, buy health insurance, have running water (hot water, no less) and listen to an ipod. Maybe I'm not the one percent - but I eat until I'm full.

Today, I will choose to have perspective and be grateful.

In 2004, I enrolled at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado (although it was located in Englewood, CO at the time). Four years later in May of 2008, I graduated with a Master of Divinity degree--with an emphasis in youth and family ministry.

The reason I went to seminary was simple: I wanted to be a pastor. In the ministry circles I was a part of, if you wanted to be a pastor, obtaining a graduate-level seminary education was an integral step. I first started discerning if perhaps God had called me to be a pastor when I was in college, three years before I enrolled seminary. In those three years, I sought the advice and input of several people about that calling, and not one person suggested that perhaps I didn't have to attend seminar to be a pastor. The message was clear: If I wanted to seriously pursue a calling as a pastor, I should go to seminary.

Let me be clear: I'm very thankful for the education I received at Denver Seminary. For those who believe they should go to seminary, I encourage you to put Denver Seminary on your list of potential schools. However, I have come to realize that while seminary was a great fit for me, it isn't for everyone. If you're considering attending seminary, here are a few pros and cons of going to seminary to help you think through and discern if seminary is for you:

PRO: Seminary requires you to seriously study the Bible and teaches you to think theologically. Are there other good ways besides a seminary education to learn the Bible? Certainly. But if you are willing to submit to the teaching of solid professors at a seminary where the Bible and solid theological thinking is taken seriously, it will be anything but time wasted.

CON: Seminary costs a lot of money. I will write more about this later this week, but it should be noted that seminary is very, very expensive.

PRO: Seminary can help bridge the gap between theoretical and practical. I don't know if all seminaries are this way, but I learned from not only brilliant professors who were trusted authorities on the Bible, but from pastors and youth workers who knew what ministry "on the ground" was like. I had professors who were church planters, full-time youth pastors, and leaders in their local church. They helped me take what I learned in the classroom and apply it that week in my role as a youth worker.

CON: Education can be an idol. Let me be completely honest: One of the reasons I pursued a seminary education is because I have a brother and sister with impressive letters after their name, and I wanted a few, too. It is very easy to turn a good seminary education into an idol by using it to impress others or becoming someone who follows people with huge brains and lots of books that bear their names instead of following Jesus.

PRO: Learning in a community of other future (and a few veteran) pastors is a great experience. Even in the world of Facebook and Twitter, pastoring can be a lonely endeavor. Even in my ministry context (on a staff of pastors--and friends), I still miss the "laboratory" of seminary where deep conversations about theology, apologetics, and adolescent psychology were daily occurrences.

CON: Seminary can be a bubble. On the other side of the coin, I had very few non-believing friends while I was in seminary. I realize my experience may not be so common since I lived on campus and went to school full-time, but there is the reality that full-time study can take us away from the "real world" for a time. This isn't necessarily and evil thing, but we do need to recognize it's a trade off. I have a friend who is undertaking part-time theological training while serving under a godly church-planter (while also working at Starbucks), and I often wonder if his training isn't closer to the ideal than a full-time seminary education.

QUESTION: What Pros and Cons would you add to the list?

A few years ago when I was leading a youth ministry, we did a series that attempted to address questions teenagers in our youth ministry were asking. Each week, the message centered around a particular question voted on by students. To get the initial questions, we asked students one Sunday to write any question they had about God, faith, or life in general on a 3 x 5 card. I was impressed at how many actually submitted a question, and the things they asked provided a lot of insight for me. For me, the best one was about why we have a coffee shop at our church when Jesus drove out the merchants in the temple. Here's the complete list of questions, mostly as they were written, but occasionally edited for clarification's sake:

What do we do when we have doubts?

How can we become stronger in our faith?

Spiritual worship: like ghosts and stuff…I don’t understand it.

What does the Bible say about ghosts and other “supernatural” stuff?

Can ghosts and evil things get me?

Will we have a second chance to go to heaven?

What is heaven like? Do we get to experience life there like we get to on Earth? 

Will we see it the way we see Earth through our eyes?

How do you know if you are for sure going to heaven, like, if you asked God into your heart but you still aren’t sure you are going to heaven?

If you are not a Christian and believe that God died on the cross to relieve us of our sins, can they still go to heaven?

What is heaven like? What is hell like?

What is an unforgiveable sin?

Are there “unforgiveable” sins?

Is the unforgiveable sin knowing the Holy Spirit and accepting its existence and then opposing it, or is it having Satan in you without you knowing about it and then claiming it’s the Holy Spirit & vice versa?

How do I know I’m saved?

How to talk to your friends about God/religion, or how to talk about your religion with someone of a different religion?

Why are there differences in books, for example Matthew and Mark when they describe the same situation?

I’ve read many stories and testimonies of Christian brothers and sisters, including Jesus, and almost all SKIP a portion in their lives: the teenage years. So, how and what is an effective (way) to show, shine, and represent our faith as hormonally crazy teenagers?

Why does God allow trials, tribulations, and suffering?

Why do Christians question their faith?

How do you know God is real besides “look all around you”?

How he was made! (I assume, “How was God made?”)

In Genesis, Adam and Eve leave the garden and cities are already there and other people. Please explain.

How do we know if the Bible is true?

What is the best way to approach some(one) who isn’t Christian and ask them to church?

How did people know about God before the Bible?

How did people stay alive so long back in the Old Testament?

How do we know God is real?

How did Dinos exist if not in the Bible?

What if you are trying to get things figured out with your faith but the people you are around aren’t supportive?

How did the people before Moses know how they were doing was right or wrong if they didn’t have the 10 Commandments?

It’s hard to show God’s love. How can we show God’s love to our Mormon friends and just friends in general? And not just the service of this I want to go in depth.

What is the meaning of life?

Get to know God more.

What’s the meaning of life?

Why is it ok for the church to sell coffee and other products when Jesus was outraged when merchants were selling things in the temple?

How do you know he (God) is really there?

How are you supposed to know when you’re making a decision if it’s right? Or when it honors God over yourself?

Life in general

Why?

Traditionally, doesn’t Lent only take place Mon-Sat?

Why does school suck?

What is the best way to read the Bible?

Does God know what we will do?

How do we know God is working in us?

How do we know God is speaking to us?

What do we do when we find out a friend wants to commit suicide?

Why is it wrong to be sexually promiscuous?

Why is envy one of the seven deadly sins?

How do we minister if we are already in a Christian school?

How can we make our faith stronger?

Does Jesus love us all equally?

QUESTION: What's the best question you've ever been asked by a teenager?