This certainly isn’t all bad. Healthy leaders are always examining their lives and all God has entrusted to them to them lead. We want to be good stewards, maximizing what has been given to us. 

The problem comes when all we’re doing is looking for flaws. When all we see are the gaps, we miss the many signs of God’s grace around us. 

Even more problematic, is our tendency to fashion God in our own image. Because we’re only looking for the flaws, we function as though He’s only looking for them too. We make God out to be a cosmic referee. Even when we sit down with our Bibles open, we read waiting for Him to blow His whistle and point out yet another area we’re not performing as He’s prescribed. 

Again, that’s not to say we don’t look for God’s correction. Correction is a way God cares for us. Correction is protection. 

AND…

Correction is certainly not the sum total of the way God wants to relate with us. 

Psalm 86:17 says, “…you, LORD, have helped and comforted me.”

Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.” 

In addition to correction…

God wants to comfort us.

God wants to encourage us.

God wants to strengthen us.

God wants to direct us.

God wants to help us.

So let’s continue to respond to God’s caring correction. But let’s also look and listen for everything God want to show us and say to us. 

When scandals erupt and leaders fall, many of the online conversations center around how to better structure organizations so these things can’t happen again. While I believe deeply in the importance of operating our churches according to Biblical guidelines, I just don’t know if I believe that failed structure is the biggest problem.

We should certainly agonize over our understanding of how God’s Word calls us to structure local churches, but…

Do we really believe a particular leadership model, no matter how Biblical, will safeguard our churches from these issues that continue to poison us?

I’m absolutely open to the possibility that I’m wrong, but I just find this so hard to believe.

It seems to me that character is the crux of the issue.

A church can have the perfect leadership structure, but if the leaders who fill it lack Biblical character, the church is doomed. A plurality of pastor/elders isn’t very helpful if they don’t embody the baseline Biblical maturity outlined in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.

Furthermore, I keep thinking that the character issues that continue to capsize ministries don’t appear overnight. They are typically the result of cracks in a leader’s character that have been ignored, justified, or downplayed over an extended period of time.

The cracks turn into crevices.

The crevices turn into canyons that swallow a life, a marriage, a family, and a ministry.

This means if we’re to have any hope of making it in ministry for the long haul, if we’re going to follow Jesus faithfully for the entirety of our lives, we have to seal the cracks in our character. Paul was nothing if not direct in Romans 8:13 when he said, “…if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Putting sin to death seals these character cracks that continue to plague the Church.

Here are a few ways I think we can work to do just that:

1. Use God’s Word to examine your heart and life daily.

One of the most critical questions we can and should ask ourselves when we read the Bible is, “What sin in my heart does this passage reveal?” It’s a basic question preachers push people to ask themselves, but then often fail to ask in their own lives. One of the many gifts of God’s Word is that it reveals the indwelling sin bent on destroying us. So we use it like a microscope in search of even the tiniest expression of sin in our hearts.

2. Live a life marked by constant repentance.

To be aware of sin is important, but repenting of it is paramount. Repentance is a change of mind, heart, and behavior. First, we choose to think the way God thinks about our sin. We don’t justify or ignore it. We call it what it is — rebellion against God. Second, we ask to feel the way God feels about our sin. As God transforms the way we see our sin, we beg His Holy Spirit to help us feel differently about it. We ask Him to break our hearts for the sin the way it breaks His. Finally, we choose a new direction. Rather than continue to go our own way, we choose to go God’s way. If you’re a pastor, or Christian leader in some capacity, my guess is none of that is new information. If that’s the case, the question is less about us understanding repentance and more about us practicing it.

3. Build genuine friendships.

To paraphrase Jesus’ model for challenging conventional understanding, “You have heard it said that leadership is lonely, but I say to you, you should really have some friends.”

Leadership can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be all the time. Maybe if we borrowed less from political and business leadership models marked by lone ranger-ism and instead bent our knees to the shared leadership described in Scripture, we wouldn’t be so lonely all the time. You, Pastor, need genuine, Biblical friendships in your life. That means making yourself vulnerable. That means being truly transparent. That means inviting a few people into all parts of your life. Genuine friends don’t just see the parts of life you choose to reveal. Genuine friends will be close enough to see the good, the bad, and the ugly of your life. That may be unnerving, but it’s necessary and here’s why . . .

4. Invite trusted friends to speak to the cracks in your character.

When was the last time you sat with someone you trusted — a person you knew loved you not because of your role, but because of a real relationship with you — and asked them, “What cracks do you see in my character?” If you’re like me, the very idea of that is uncomfortable. No one wants to invite another person to point out sin in their life. But when you follow the narrative of many who fall in ministry, you find a lack of relationship with trusted others who could have spoken truth without fear of retribution. Build some genuine friendships with people who are encouraged to speak truth to you. Don’t make excuses and don’t get defensive. Just listen, thank them, and repent where you need to.

5. Get help when and where it’s necessary.

Some of us may have deep emotional wounds. Some of us may get angry in ways that are out of control. Some of us may be dependent on a substance or habit to survive the day. Some of us may lack the tools to deal with what we’ve been through or what we’re feeling. That’s called being human. Sometimes pastors need help, too. Not just from blogs, books, and podcasts, but from someone skilled in helping us untangle the knots in our hearts and minds. If you think there is even a possibility you need this in your own life, have the courage and humility to ask for some help. You’re not Jesus and you’re no one’s messiah. Your church doesn’t need you to be perfect, they need you to be humble and healthy.

I don’t know about you, but when I read the stories of Christian leaders losing their ministries due to sin, it sobers me. That could be me. I’m always just a few bad decisions away from the same fate, and so are you. Yes, we need to carefully structure our churches in a way that reflects the Biblical description of local church leadership, but that’s not enough.

No leadership model can make up for a lack of character. Let’s link arms and have the courage to seal up the cracks in our character. Let’s kill our sin, before it kills us.

It’s intellectually taxing, as it demands regular study, reasoning, and communication. It’s emotionally taxing, as pastors have a front row seat to the suffering and sin of those they pastor. It’s relationally taxing, as pastoral ministry involves confronting real sin and navigating real conflict. It’s spiritually taxing, as we have a very real enemy who seeks to sabotage the work of Jesus and those who serve Him.

Sadly, because of the taxing nature of vocational ministry, some pastors quit. But there are even more who slog on, though they find pastoring to be more burden than blessing at times. I’ve heard some pastors talk about ministry in a way that almost sounds like they believe it should be miserable or we’re not “suffering for Jesus” or “bearing our cross” faithfully.

I respectfully disagree.

Yes, ministry is taxing and I’ve certainly had some miserable weeks — even months — in the past 14 years of pastoring.

But…

If we’re not finding joy, even a generous measure of happiness, in the work God’s called us to, something may be wrong. I’m not talking about the unforeseen tragedies we have to navigate, the occasional attacks we have to endure, or the seasons of testing God allows. These are certainly part of the equation. What I am saying is that it is possible to be happy and be a pastor.

When I reflect on the seasons in which I have struggled the most (apart from the ones I just mentioned), I find they are the times I was neglecting one of these five things:

I wasn’t pursuing my own relationship with Jesus.

In John 15:5 Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.” I find that when I’ve struggled with a lack of enjoyment the most, it’s been when I was pursuing Jesus the least. We preach the importance of consistent time in God’s Word and prayer, but sometimes we fail to practice these things in our own lives. If you’re struggling with an extended season of discontentment, discouragement, or maybe you're simply sick of being a pastor, you may need to rediscover the joy of your own relationship with Jesus.

I wasn’t practicing consistent gratitude.

Paul calls us to “give thanks in everything”. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) If you’re like me, complaining comes easily and there are no shortage of issues in your ministry to be frustrated with. The problem is not your awareness of all the problems that need attention. The problem is often a lack of intentionality to both recognize and record all that we have to be grateful for right now. If Paul can be thankful for the Corinthians, a church marked by spiritual pride, division, and sexual immorality, surely you and I have more than a few things to be thankful for in our own ministries. Writing down even three things you are thankful for each day will go a long way toward lifting your eyes off what is wrong and focusing them on what is right.

I wasn’t learning to love the grind.

Full disclosure, I don’t enjoy every aspect of my job. In fact, I reject the romantic notion that if you find your “dream job” you will “never work a day in your life”. That sounds more Disney-princess than real life. There are parts of every job that don't come easily, pastoral ministry included. That doesn’t mean we can’t learn to love them.

One of the things that helps us learn to love the grind of ministry is choosing to recognize the value in each task. For instance, I write “thanks for visiting" cards to our first time guests each week. I’m not going to lie, it’s not my favorite task of the week. It's labor-intensive and repetitive, and there's not a lot of room for creativity. What is helping me learn to love this task is remembering how much it means to people to receive a card. When so much of life is digital these days, the “humanness” of a hand-written card conveys a different level of care. While I don’t love writing cards, I do love people and if it’s meaningful to them, I can learn to love the grind of it all.

I didn’t have a life outside of "ministry.”

I find those pastors who have no hobbies and no interests outside of theology and building their churches to be very one dimensional. They also tend to be wound pretty tight and aren’t very enjoyable to be around. I know, because I’ve gone through seasons where I’ve been that guy.

One of the challenges of being a pastor is that it’s easy for us to baptize so much of what we do in the waters of “ministry.” If you have someone in your church who eats, drinks, and sleeps their job, you call them a “workaholic” and seek to shepherd them toward a more holistically healthy life. Sadly, we don’t always apply the same counsel to our own lives because we’re doing “ministry.” That’s just a lousy theology of vocation.

Get a hobby. Read fiction. Go for a hike. Find some friends who aren’t pastors. See a movie. Live a full life. If we do that, we will be happier, our preaching will be more interesting, and our lives will be more accessible to others.

I wasn’t building the church I wanted to be a member of.

Pastor Larry Osbourne has a great line I’ve heard him say over and over. It goes something like this: "Each of our local churches is just a Sunday school elective in Jesus’ Church.” His point is, all our churches are different. We have different cultures, different philosophies of ministry, different things we emphasize, even different convictions on secondary theological issues. That’s a GOOD thing.

There are certain pursuits that should mark every local church, or it’s simply not a Biblical expression of the local church — things like worship, community, and mission. However, we have far more freedom in how we express those things than some lead us to believe.

God has wired you a certain way for a reason. There are people that God wants to use you to reach that He won’t use me to reach. Lean into that. It doesn’t make you a “consumer” to build the church you’d want to be a member of. It makes you self-aware and cognizant of the fact that there are other people like you that will connect with Jesus through the church He’s called you to build.

Being a pastor is hard. There may even be seasons that seem almost unbearable. But it doesn’t have to be miserable all the time. If it is, take an honest look at these five things that I, too, have neglected and see if there’s something you can adjust.

Your family will thank you, your ministry will be more fruitful, and God will be honored.

I looked with longing at Christian ministry moguls of our day, hoping that I could build something similar to what I saw. Part of it was birthed by the desire to expand God’s glory. Sadly, not all of my motivation was quite so noble. The other half of me desired these achievements because I mistakenly believed it would produce a deeper sense of significance in my soul.

As a result, I perceived preaching, podcasting, publishing, and church planting all as potential pieces of this future empire I longed for.

The result was envy, covetousness, disappointment, and idolatry.

Don’t get me wrong. God has always been faithful to work in spite of the mixed motivations that live in my heart. By His grace, I’ve planted two faithful churches that have been a blessing to many. He led me to write a book I’m proud of. I was privileged to host a podcast that had success and opened the door to some new relationships from which I learned immensely. I even got to pastor a large church for a season.

God was faithful and my ministry has been fruitful.

My Hypocrisy.

The problem is, through it all I was guilty of what Jesus refers to as “hypocrisy” in the Sermon on the Mount. The English word we translate as “hypocrisy” comes from the Greek word “hypokrites” and originally referred to a theatrical actor.

When you and I think about someone being a hypocrite, we tend to understand it as a conflict between what someone says and what someone does.

I think of pastors who rail against sin and preach about holiness, but are then unfaithful to their spouses; leaders caught stealing money, or hiding some sort of immorality in their lives. We think of Christians that talk about the importance of love and grace, but then turn and treat people like trash.

That’s what we tend to think about when we hear the term “hypocrite.” While those are obvious expressions of hypocrisy, they are not the form that Jesus consistently warns against in Matthew’s Gospel.

Jesus talks about something equally dangerous, perhaps even more so, because of its subtle nature. When Jesus refers to someone as a “hypocrite", He refers to a conflict between one’s outer action and inward motivation - doing the right things for the wrong reasons.

That’s what I’ve been guilty of.

Preaching, planting churches, podcasting and writing a book for pastors - these are all good works. The problem wasn’t the work. The problem was my underlying motive - building my little empire.

It wasn’t my sole motive by any means. I love people. I deeply love Jesus. One of my favorite things to do is teach the Bible and help people understand Him more. But this mixed motive of loving God while wanting to build my own mini-empire is what has made this so difficult to identify in my heart.

A Painful Lesson.

What it took was pain.

God used the pain of watching Him expose shortcomings in some of those I admired, looked up to and had patterned my ministry aspirations after.

God also used pain in my own life and ministry to expose this fallen motive.

He used the disillusionment of having people I thought I could count on to be co-laborers in what was supposed to be our vision for ministry turn out instead to be impediments. God used the discouragement of discovering that some I believed shared my values ended up squarely opposed to our ministry efforts at what felt like every turn. God graciously used the disappointment Tami and I felt when He gave us so many things we longed for, just to discover they weren’t all we desired them to be.

It was excruciating at times, but it was good.

I would never presume to say that I no longer have any mixed motives in anything I do. What I would say is that God has done a profound reshaping of my heart, largely destroyed my taste for empire-building, and given me a renewed passion to build one kingdom.

His Kingdom.

The Only Kingdom That Matters.

Three or four years ago, reading an article like this would have made me defensive and sent me seeking to justify the motivation driving my ambition. If you’re where I was, you may not be able to hear this and that’s okay. God is super effective at getting our attention and teaching us what we need to learn.

But my hope is, if any of this is in you, maybe God could use my pain to help you start to see similar motives in your own heart. Don’t wait for Him to help you see what’s in you by applying His loving hand to your heart in the form of personal pain.

The healthiest truth we could embrace in this is:

Our names don’t matter.

Our empires, regardless of size and influence, don’t matter.

Our platforms don’t matter.

What matters is God’s kingdom. We aren’t little emperors, we’re just normal people in service of an extraordinary King.

We may write books. We may plant churches. We may preach to thousands. We may even become well known inside of our little tribes.

We may raise great families. We may build innovative and influential companies. We may create things that change the world.

None of that is bad. Wanting it for the sake of our own empires is.

I’m fighting to be done with that and want to invite you to do the same.

I’m finding it a far better way to live.

It’s painful watching professing Christians in positions of influence fall morally. It doesn’t matter if it’s a pastor, professor or a politician - it hurts to watch a leader lose the influence and ministry God has entrusted to them, due to cracks in their character. The ways in which it hurts are many, but here are the three most prominent in my mind:

1. It discourages those of us who follow their lead.

Many of us are certainly guilty of putting our leaders on a pedestal. This is an obvious pitfall to avoid for reasons we won’t get into here, but the truth is, it’s good for us to find human examples to emulate. This is why Paul told his readers to imitate His example (1 Cor 4:16). God gives us leaders to point us to Him, but also to serve as an example of how to follow Him. When our leaders fall, it leaves us disappointed and discouraged in them and in ourselves for looking to them.

2. It distracts from the attention we’re trying to draw to Jesus.

It doesn’t matter what theological, or methodological tribe they come from, it hurts the entire body of Christ when any Christian leader falls. Our goal as Christ-followers is to point a hurting world to a healing Savior. When our leaders fall, it draws the attention away from Christ and onto that person’s sin. It’s not hard to see how this hinders our mission.

3. It detracts from our credibility as followers of Jesus.

“Christians are all about power.”

“The only thing Christians care about is your money.”

“Christians preach principles they don’t keep themselves.”

You’ve probably heard someone say something like this. If you haven’t, you may not know any non-Christians. These are just a few of the obstacles I encounter regularly with people who don’t follow Jesus. The problem is, these obstacles have been put in their way by the actual failure of leaders who profess to follow Jesus. No Christian is perfect, but when you lead, you live with a larger responsibility. You hurt the credibility of all Christians when your character eventually crumbles under the weight of unrepentant sin.

So, what to do with all this?

First, if you’re currently struggling through the discouragement that comes from watching a leader fall, remember that Jesus never has and never will. Earthly leaders are a shadow of Jesus at best. He is our only perfect leader. Set your hope in Him and on Him and no one else.

Second, if you’re a Christian and aspire to leadership of some kind, work on the preparation of your heart twice as hard as you do your theology and leadership competency. Leaders don’t tend to fall for lack of ability to do their job. They fall because their hearts were not properly prepared.

Third, if you’re already a Christian leader of some kind, for your sake, for our sake and for Jesus’ sake, please partner with the Holy Spirit to seal up the cracks in your character because...

When a leader falls, it hurts us all.

While I’m amazed by and grateful for all God did, if I’m honest, I didn’t enjoy very much of it. Here’s why:

I was so consumed by surviving the current phase and getting on to the next, I never did a good job of slowing down and soaking in how special it all was.

Rather than intentionally enjoy the amazing relationships, the health, and all the ways in which God moved, my eyes were far too often fixed down the road on the horizon.

This is a mistake I’m bent I’m never repeating.

Now it’s ten years later and we’ve started another church in a new city. It’s hard, terrifying, stressful and still not boring. But I’m enjoying life and ministry so much more than I did the first time around because I’m prayerfully fighting to live in the present. I’ve even gone so far as to write this into what we call The Ridgeline Cultural Canon (I’ll write more on that later). One of the foundational parts of our culture is this:

We enjoy the journey

We have a vision for the future, but we find joy in the present.

Do we have specific goals that we want to attain? Yes.

Do we have a vision for Ridgeline beyond the survival phase? Absolutely.

Do we want to see more people meet and mature in Jesus? Obviously.

The difference is, we refuse to buy into the lie that it is only after we attain those things that we will be happy.

God is good right now!

There is much in life that is great at this very moment!

Fruitful ministry is happening every day!

Here’s the truth: There is nothing in the future that will make God any more good than He is right now. This means I can be fully satisfied with life and ministry right now...and so can you.

This isn’t just an issue for pastors, planters and ministry leaders. You may be a parent who is missing the beauty of your current life stage longing for the next. You may be planning a wedding, missing all the great things God is doing now, because you’re so distracted with “the big day.” You may be climbing some corporate ladder believing the next promotion will make all your dreams come true. You may be a student fixated on graduation to the neglect of all God wants to teach you right now.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not easy. It’s a daily battle to enjoy where we are, rather than obsess about where we want to be, so here are a few diagnostic questions to help.

3 Questions To Help You Enjoy The Journey

Am I trusting that God is at work?

If I’m filled with anxiety, fear or dread, the obvious answer is “no.” It’s so easy to be consumed by everything that needs to happen, or could happen and forget that God is at work and going to get me where He wants me. When I start to freak out about where the people, facilities or money are going to come from, I have to stop and remind myself that God is at work and going to accomplish what He wants. My job is to faithfully ride His wave. Which leads to the second question...

Am I putting forth my full effort?

We should never baptize laziness, or apathy in the misguided belief that God is at work so we don’t need to do anything. One reason we get anxious about the future is that we’re not doing the things that are necessary now to get us where God is leading us. I shouldn’t expect to have a healthy church if I’m not leading faithfully, praying with and for people regularly and teaching Biblically. But when I trust that God is at work and put forth my full effort, I can enjoy the day, pace myself and sleep great at night.

Am I living present in today?

This boils down to a mental discipline for me. It’s easy to be so consumed with the future that I don’t focus on today. I can forget that doing the right things today is what actually gets me where I need to be tomorrow. Remembering all this frees me to enjoy today. When we first moved to Salt Lake I would have weeks filled with fruitful meetings and networking. Other weeks I would have nothing. So on those weeks I fought hard to simply enjoy the new city God had put us in. It didn’t produce more connections for me to freak about not having any in that moment, so what was the point?

Spend some time today with these questions. What’s keeping you from enjoying where you are? Things may not be perfect. You may have major obstacles to overcome. You may have an immense amount of work you need to accomplish, or things that are simply outside your control. Even still, don’t make the mistake I have in the past and miss the beauty of all God’s doing right where you are at this very moment.

Don’t start 2019 pining for what you hope will be different in 2020.

Right now…

Right where you…

In the midst of the good, the bad and the ugly…

CHOOSE to enjoy the journey you’re on.

What are the biggest factors that keep you from enjoying God right where you are? I’d love to hear from you!

I have to say, that’s a great goal. Jesus wants people worshipping Him on Sunday morning for sure. But Sunday attendance isn’t our sole objective. We’re called to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). All the emphasis on getting people to our worship service is good and necessary, but we tend to be less intentional about connecting them to the life of the church once they're there. We tend to drastically underestimate how much work it is not just to attract people, but to actually keep them. This means we have to put a disproportionate amount of work into our connection ministries.  

You can’t disciple people you don’t connect, so here are two suggestions to get you started: 

1. Make it relational. 

It takes more work, but don’t put all your eggs in the basket of automation. No one likes to be followed up by a robot. People are automated to death in our culture so the best way to stand out is to make your follow up personal and relational. Send a handwritten card, make a personal phone call, type an individualized email. There is no shortage of ways to do it, but put in the work to make it relational.  

2. Make it repeatable. 

Consistency is critical to connection. Whatever method and means you use to connect people demands working the process again and again each week. This means sooner, rather than later, you’ll want to think about building a team of people with the passion and competency to help connect others to the church.  

Again, one of our most deeply help convictions (both Ridgeline and at myXP) is you can’t disciple people you don’t connect. Don’t forget about or "phone in" your connection ministry. Make it relational and repeatable. 

 If we can help you think through and implement your connection process, we’d be honored to help. Simply click HERE to schedule a time to connect. 

While there can be great clarity surrounding WHAT we're trying to do, there can be confusion regarding HOW to best play our individual part. I've been asked by members of our own team, "What exactly is my specific role as a part of the launch team?" 

That's a great question. Everyone has jobs. Everyone has families. Everyone wants to help, but doesn't always understand how. I've thought about this question a lot. Here are three roles I'm asking members of our launch team to embody:

This is our primary identity as teams planting churches. Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus. That means we don't just start new churches to provide new homes for existing Christians, but that we are helping those who don't know Jesus come to know and follow Him by faith. We have to learn the people, love the people and live among the people God has called us to. We follow the leading of God's Spirit and seek every opportunity He would provide to share the good news of Jesus with people who don't know Him. We are missionaries. 

Cultures are comprised of people. What we believe, the way we speak and how we do things will inevitably set the tone and define the culture that will develop as the church grows. Healthy cultures don't just happen, they have to be intentionally built. That's not the job of the pastor alone, but every person who chooses to join the team. This is why we have to clearly communicate what we want our culture to be comprised of and then carefully live it out. We are culture carriers.  

Starting a new church can be very discouraging. For some it means leaving friends, families and jobs they know, love and have worked hard to establish. On difficult days you find yourself asking if it was worth it, if it will work and if you made a big mistake. We all feel those emotions and we tend to feel them at different times and on different days. When one of us has a difficult day, it's critical that others of us are there to encourage through it. We remind one another of God's goodness, His power and His faithfulness. We remind one another of why we got into this in the first place and of the bright future we believe God has for our new work. We are encouragers. 

While these three roles are necessary in the lives of all Christians, they are especially necessary if you're going to join a team starting a new church. Embody them well and a new church can thrive. Ignore them and failure is probably only a matter of time. Thankfully we serve a good God who can empower us for everything He calls us to.

At least that's what our coffee mugs and bumper stickers tell us, right? The problem is, the Bible doesn't actually say this. My guess is, this sentiment is the result of paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 10:13 where Paul writes, 

 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

Paraphrasing can be helpful when it actually RE-phrases what the author is saying. The danger of paraphrasing is when we actually alter the meaning of the text. That's what happens when we say God will never give us more than we can handle. 

First of all, Paul is specifically talking about temptation. Secondly, even the "ability" Paul references is from God. Notice, it's God who "will also provide the way of escape." 

The big problem with saying "God will never give you more than you can handle" is that it focuses our attention on our own strength rather than God's. Doing so confuses a Biblical understanding of strength. 

In Joshua 1 God tells Joshua to "be strong" four different times. This was a common command in Hebrew appearing some 300x throughout the Old Testament. The command makes great sense in the context of Joshua 1 because God had commissioned Joshua to conquer the promised land. That was going to require an immense amount of strength. It wouldn't happen easily.

But here again, we have to be careful not to confuse the source of the strength God calls for. Remember this command flows from the promise of God’s presence. God had told Joshua and He's told us, that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. The implication is that Joshua find his strength in the promise that God just made to him.

We’re seeing a description here of what Jesus says to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9. Remember, Paul had what he called “a thorn” in his flesh. No one knows exactly what it was, but it was a humbling and a heavy burden in his life to say the least. Three times he begged God to take it away and instead Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you, FOR my power is made perfect in your weakness.” This tells us so much about what strength looks like in the Christian life.

Fundamental to a Biblical understanding of Godly strength is the belief that it’s borrowed. 

I was at the gym one time and a guy asked me to spot him on the benchpress. This always makes me a little self-conscious because I sweat like crazy at the gym and I'm always afraid I’m going to drip sweat in someone’s face...anyways... This guy told me his goal was five reps. He sat down, got situated and did two reps no problem, but then I had to do the last three for him because he was tapped. Now, how silly would it have been had he jumped up and celebrated that he was so strong he just knocked out five reps? He didn't do that on his own. He did it on borrowed strength. I think that's a humbling picture of the Christian life.

Fundamental to a Biblical understanding of Godly strength is the belief that it’s borrowed. Human weakness is a stage from which God desires to display His infinite power. Christians aren’t called to look down into their own hearts and find the strength to go forward. We're called to look up to God who is infinite in power and promises us His presence.

So the truth is, God will often give His kids more than they can handle. The good news is, God will never give us more than HE can handle. He is with us. He empowers us. He holds us up. He strengthens us. The question is, will you look to Him today?

I like to get things done. When I have a task hanging over my head, it tends to weigh heavily on my mind and steals my ability to focus on other things. This can be a problem when it comes to relationships with those I lead. I have to work hard not to bypass relationship in the name of completing the task. If you're more relationally bent, you may be offended at the very idea of this, it's my blog and I'm trying to be honest:)  

My tendency toward this has made a  new book I'm reading especially helpful. "Radical Candor" is a project by Kim Scott, CEO of Candor, INC. It's all about how to be a great boss, manager and leader. It's filled with tremendous insight for everyone who leads anyone - parents, coaches, employers, and ministry leaders.

In an early chapter Scott tells the story of a particularly demanding day of being pulled in multiple directions emotionally as she managed the many relationships she was responsible for. She writes of calling her coach and asking, "Is my job to build a great company, or am I really just some sort of emotional babysitter?" Her coach, an ex-Microsoft executive responded with an emphatic, "This is not babysitting. It's called management, and it is your job!"

I don't know about you, but at times I'm prone to feel like genuine relationship with those I'm responsible for gets in the way of actually leading them. I wonder, "Do I really need to invest personally? Can't we just all do our part and get our work done? Do I truly need to care about more than the task we're trying to accomplish?" The obvious answer is, "YES!" 

Relationship IS the work of leadership and leadership without relationship is dictatorship.

The next time you're prone to want to bypass relationship in favor of the task, remember that relationship is the most significant part of the task for every leader. This week I'm asking myself if I genuinely love and care for those I lead. I'm also reflecting on how to better invest time and effort in caring for them and if you're anything like me, I'd invite you to do the same. 

As an aside, I have a distinct memory of my mom being pregnant with my sister at the time and vomiting prior to every game. As a result, I was late almost every week. Thankfully I still got my orange slice and Capri Sun after the game, or my coach and I would have had some serious conflict (My coach was also my dad so…).

I loved virtually everything about t-ball, but there was always one thing that bothered me. 

In t-ball, every kid rotated through every position. There would be times when I would catch, stand on the pitcher’s mound (it was t-ball, remember?), play short stop, and jog out to position in centerfield —  all in one game. What bugged me about this was that I wasn’t good at every position and neither was anyone else.

Sadly, many churches have adopted this “t-ball philosophy.” 

But, we aren’t playing t-ball, we’re participating in the building of Jesus’ Church. Many of us believe that simply because we have a passion for a particular ministry we deserve the privilege of serving in that capacity. But, the Scriptures certainly don’t prescribe this. 

• Throughout the building of the tabernacle, God called for skill in the construction of it (Exodus 36:1).
• In Psalm 33:3 David says, “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.” 
• Proverbs 22:29 says, “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”
• Daniel 6:3 says Daniel “...became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him” (Daniel 6:3). 

Fast forward to the New Testament and we see a similar pattern. Every Christian has been endowed by the Spirit with at least one spiritual gift meant to build up the church (1 Corinthians 14:12). It’s only when we serve within the scope of our God-given giftedness that TOGETHER we make up a healthy church body.

This all means that the Scriptures stress the importance of carefully considering how we construct our teams. We should strive to put our most skilled people in the most strategic positions. 

Mugsy Bogues was an amazing point guard, but he would have been beaten like a piñata if he played power-forward. His skills simply didn’t shine in that position; he was too short and lacked the strength necessary for it. Imagine him posted up in the paint with Shaq or Olajuwon; he wouldn’t stand a chance.

In the same way, the teams we build and tasks we delegate throughout our churches cannot be distributed haphazardly like a t-ball team; we must be more intentional and more faithful to the Scriptures than that.

We’re not playing t-ball, so let’s labor to insure that our most skilled people serve in the most strategic positions. 

(Adapted by Dan Rozga)

"The clock is every pastor’s nemesis. Between meetings, administration, counseling, and other duties, it’s hard to find enough time for sermon prep. 

Unless you change the process. 8 Hours Or Less will show preachers how to write the same sermons they’ve been writing, but in half the time. Author Ryan Huguley reveals:

• The biggest time-wasters in sermon prep
• The five marks of a faithful sermon
• A day-by-day plan for writing sermons
• Tips for preparing your mind, heart, and notes for preaching 
• Common pitfalls in ending a sermon
• And more

Huguley is a pastor and the host of a podcast featuring leaders like Matt Chandler, James MacDonald, Doug Wilson, and Nancy Ortberg. What he shares in 8 Hrs or Less is a process he’s been refining for six years, and it has radically improved both his preaching and experience in ministry.  

Why work harder when you can work smarter? 8 Hours or Less brings relief to the time crunch and helps pastors be healthier, more balanced, and more effective—all without making their sermons suffer for it."

I'd love to hear your thoughts after you've read the book! Pick up your copy on Amazon. I hope and pray it's helpful!

One of the biggest misconceptions I have to combat in my own heart is that being the leader means having all the answers. The truth is, leaders need not be the smartest people in the room. They should, however, be the best learners. 

The problem is, we often spend so much time talking and trying to push our own opinions we can't actually learn anything. Proverbs 18:15 says, "the ear of the wise seeks understanding." Notice the connection between the ear and understanding.

You can't learn if you don't listen.

Good leaders speak less than they listen. I want to be a good leader. I want to be a good learner. Today that means I need to tune my ears to do more than merely "hear." I need to listen so I can learn.

Pastors and ministry leaders in particular, experience a unique let down on this “day after THE day." We pour blood, sweat, and prayers into our Sunday worship services and wake up Monday with little in the tank. It’s so bad, in fact, that Barna reports 15% of pastors contemplate leaving ministry every Monday morning.  

I’m certainly not impervious to it. I’ve woken up wanting a different job on more than a few Mondays.

But...

I think two of the reasons we hate Mondays so much are that we know we’re supposed to (pastors love to commiserate about how hard Mondays are) and because we’re not intentional about how we spend this critical first day of the week. Personally, I’m tired of hating Monday, so I’m currently experimenting with better rhythms that are having a huge impact on how I start the week. Here are four practices that are helping me learn to love Monday:

Soak in God's Word.

We all know we should be in the Word daily - not just for the next sermon, but for the good of our own souls. Yet, even with this conviction, I still miss days, don’t you? Regardless, I’m working hard to NEVER miss Monday. I need to be refreshed by God’s Word, renewed by God’s Spirit, and re-energized by God’s Son and the reality of all He is and has done for me. I take my time. I read slowly. I reflect deeply. Don’t start Monday without soaking in God’s Word.

Sweat in the sun.

Most Monday mornings I feel like drinking coffee and eating scones on the couch until nap time. What I rarely feel like is exercise (unless you count the reps of bringing my coffee and scones to my face). As is often the case, what I feel like and what is good for me are two very different things. A good workout that gets my heart rate up has a way of washing away the post-weekend funk. Furthermore, I try to ensure I get outside in the sun for this. The combination of exercise and fresh air resets my body and refocuses my mind. So, take a walk, go for a run, find a nice place to hike - just get in the sun and work up a sweat. 

Schedule carefully.

We all have parts of our ministry responsibilities that fill our tanks and parts that drain them. On Mondays I schedule the things that fill my tank. For me that means I don’t take many (if any meetings). I’m an outgoing introvert (which means I’m introverted but I’m not shy). I love spending time with people, but I also find that it takes more out of me than it puts in. You may be the opposite. My advice, schedule what fills your tank and avoid what doesn’t. 

Start on next Sunday.

One of the mistakes people make with fitness is avoiding exercise when they're sore. Unfortunately, it’s exercise that makes your blood pump and your muscles loosen up. Ministry is the same. Many of us start Monday spiritually, emotionally, and mentally sore. One thing that helps me is jumping right back in and getting back to work. For me, that means starting my next sermon. Inevitably I’m impacted by the text and by the end of the day, I’m excited about another opportunity to tell people about Jesus yet again.

Sometimes Monday sucks. Sometimes just getting through it is success. Even though that’s going to happen, it doesn’t have to be normative. Let’s bring more intentionally to this important day, find what fills our tanks and learn to love Mondays together.
 

It involves me stepping up to the pulpit, looking down at my notes and having NOTHING prepared. As every eye looks on, I start to mumble and make up a sermon out of thin air. I’d love to report that the dream ends with me preaching an earth-rattling, hell-shattering sermon resulting in revival, but more often than not I wake up just before falling off the stage I never should have set foot on.  

Thankfully this dream has never been a reality, but it does remind me that I need to know a few things  prior to preaching. And if you’re a preacher, so do you.

1. Know Your Text

I don’t just mean have one picked out. Holy cow, I hope we at very least have that. I mean we need to know the text the way a chef knows food, or a nerd knows comics - we need to know EVERYTHING we can. We need to know our text inside and out. 

Write it out, jot down your observations, study it in multiple translations, understand the original languages, and read a couple of good commentaries. Our creativity, charisma, and carefully crafted sentences are pathetic substitutes for truly preaching the very Word of God. 

Prior to preaching make sure you know your text.

2. Know Yourself

No two preachers are exactly the same. Are there any two people more different than Tim Keller and Steven Furtick? Keller’s all turtle necks and Tolkien, Furtick is fohawks and v-necks. Keller was a professor, Furtick fronted a punk band. Completely. Different. People. 

Few things are more frightening than listening to a preacher try to be someone they’re not. Like David in Saul’s armor, it’s awkward, uncomfortable and incongruent with who God’s made them to be. 

God gave you the personality He gave you and intends that you preach from it, so make sure you know yourself.

3. Know Your Audience

I just finished preaching a retreat for 6th-12th graders. It had been a long time since I’d preached to anyone other than adults and let’s just say my “re-entry” was rocky. Five minutes in, I felt like I’d never preached before. I was sweaty, self-conscious, and couldn’t wait for it to be over. I didn’t know my audience.   

WHAT we preach does not change based on the audience, but HOW we preach should. Children, students, and adults all demand different strategies. What works in an urban area, may crash and burn in a rural community. 

The more we know our audience, the more we know how to apply God’s Word skillfully. 

You may still have the Saturday nightmare like I do, but if you know your text, yourself, and your audience, the nightmare won’t be a reality. 

As a parent of three young kids I’m amazed how frequently I have to tell them the same things over and over. I mean honestly, should I really have to tell my four year old son more than once that he can’t push his two-year-old brother off the couch? I even find myself saying, “Guys, I’ve told you this a hundred times.” Maybe a slight overstatement, but they do need to hear the same messages over and over (and over and over and over…) 

In truth, you and I are no different. Over these past five years I find myself and my church in need of hearing these seven themes over and over again. 

1. God's grace is greater than our sin.

I heard a great story of Martin Luther being approached by a member of his church who asked when he would preach something OTHER than the gospel to them. Luther responded, “When you show up looking like a people who believe the gospel, I’ll preach something else to you.” We’re all prone to believe we can out-sin God’s grace. That means the message that must saturate every sermon is the one true gospel of Jesus’ perfect life, substitutionary death and victorious resurrection. 

2. What we feel doesn't dictate what's real.

Emotions have a way of determining our perceived reality. If I FEEL God has allowed something unjust, God is unjust. If I FEEL God has abandoned me, God must have abandoned me. If I FEEL God is not in control, I must be on my own. The problem is, our emotions frequently conflict with God’s Word. Each time this happens, we have a choice to make: Will Scripture, or my subjective feelings, determine what’s true? I have a friend who says, “Emotions make a great caboose, but a lousy engine.” Each day we have to let the Bible beat our feelings into submission. 

3. If it's in the text we have to do something with it.

We tend to treat the Bible like a buffet - we pick what we like and skip what we don’t. Pastors are guilty of this, too. We all have parts of Scripture we’re comfortable preaching and parts we’re not. The task in front of every Bible preacher is preaching the full counsel of God’s Word, regardless of our comfort with what it says. No skipping, no ignoring, no passing over. If God says it, we have to face it. 

4. God's always working for our good and His glory.

If you follow Christ for more than a few seconds, something will happen that will make you wonder what God is doing. It may be a trial you face, a loved one who dies, or a situation you never expected. As a result, the most common questions we ask are, “Where is God and what is He doing?” The answer: He is with you and He is working. God is always accomplishing His objective: His glory and your good in all things. 

5. Jesus is coming!

Even a cognitive trust that God is pushing His plan forward doesn’t diminish the temporary suffering we all experience. Suffering has a way of obscuring our ability to see God’s hand in our hurts. That means we need our hearts constantly recalibrated to the reality of Christ’s return. Things won’t always be the way they are. Suffering will cease. Pain will pass. Death will disappear. Even the most difficult day will be eclipsed against the backdrop of eternity with Jesus. 

6. Christians don't coddle sin, they kill it.

In Romans 8:13, Paul tells us to put to death the deeds of the body. We’re not called to manage sin or minimize it. We’re called to kill it. Over and over we needed to be reminded that sin is not a game. You may not see the immediate consequences of it, but make no mistake, if you’re not killing your sin, it is in fact killing you. The death may be slow, but in the end, death is still definitive. 

7. Faith isn’t a feeling, it’s a choice.

As a pastor, I hear people say, “I want to have faith and trust God, but I just don’t FEEL it.” We have to get rid of the notion that faith is a feeling. It’s not. Faith is a decision to believe that God is who He says He is and capable of all He says He is capable of. When we choose faith, our feelings will follow. 

So if you’re a preacher, don’t tire of telling people the same things over and over. They need it and so do you. If you’re not a preacher, never tire of returning to God’s Word over and over again for the daily bread that the truth of His Word is for your soul. 

Which of these themes do you need to be reminded of today? 

Here are five suggestions:

1. Proclaim the authority of God’s Word and nothing else.

In Isaiah 55:10-11, God Himself promises us that His Word never returns void. Think about that! If you’ve preached God’s Word faithfully, you can rest knowing it has accomplished exactly what God wants. That promise doesn’t extend to our creativity, clever thoughts, or compelling illustrations. I’m NOT saying don’t incorporate those things into your sermon. I AM saying far too much of what we call “preaching” is light on the one thing we know contains power: the Word of God. 

2.  Prepare your guts out and don’t wing it.

The fact that God’s Word won’t return void shouldn’t make us prepare less, but more. We need to be sure we get it right. We need to explain, illustrate, and apply God’s Word with surgical precision. Our culture kills itself to prepare its sermons; should we prepare any less? We have the truth. We labor for eternity. The One we preach is worthy of our best. So, no winging it. Pray yourself hot, press deep into the text, and prepare the best sermon you can every time you’re blessed to preach.

3. Present the problem and preach the solution.

Every sermon should be the solution to a specific problem. I’ll give you a hint: the problem is always some manifestation of sin. It may be an issue of disbelief, an ungodly attitude, or a behavior that is contrary to God’s revealed will. Regardless, we focus the truth we proclaim when we identify the problem we’re addressing. Ears perk up when people realize God’s Word holds out hope for something that is causing them pain. 

4. Push on real issues and don’t stick to what’s safe.

The message of the Bible is beautiful, but it’s not pretty. One of the great things about God’s Word is the authentic way in which it speaks about life. It confronts our sin and calls us to repent. Sexuality, relationships, speech, money, politics…there is no subject God is afraid to force us to face. If we’re going to be faithful to the text, we have to say what it says. We can’t pull any punch or ignore any issue. If God has something to say about it, so must we. 

5. Preach to your actual audience and use their language.

Too much preaching is done in language that is either over the heads or beneath the intelligence of its listeners. Some sermons have so many Greek words or Christian cliches, the message is lost on the average listener. Other times we preach like our congregations are stupid and can’t handle the full weight of what the text says. No preacher would step into another country and ignore the language of that country. You’d either learn it or have it interpreted so the audience can understand. But are we doing this work in the context God has placed us in? Know the audience and talk to them.

Our message is too important for it to get lost in the noise. Let’s give our all to insure we’re preaching the right thing the right way.