I did a few posts on Catechism and the importance it’s role has in the church and in the family. I thought I would pass on some of the tips Tim Keller includes in his introduction to his New City Catechism.

MEMORIZATION TIPS

There are a variety of ways to commit texts to memory and some techniques suit certain learning styles better than others. A few examples include:

• Read the question and answer out loud, and repeat, repeat, repeat.
• Read the question and answer out loud, try to repeat them without looking. Repeat.
• Read aloud through all Part 1 questions and answers (then 2, then 3) while moving about. The combination of movement and speech strengthens a person’s ability to recall text.
• Record yourself saying all Part 1 questions and answers (then 2, then 3) and listen to them during everyday activities e.g. work-outs, chores, etc.
• Write the questions and answers on cards and tape them in a conspicuous area. Read them aloud every time you see them.
• Make flashcards with the question on one side and the answer on the other, and test yourself. Children can color these in and draw pictures on them.
• Review the question and answer at night and in the morning. For children spend a few minutes at bedtime helping them remember the answer, then repeat at breakfast the next morning.
• Write out the question and answer. Repeat. The process of writing also helps a person’s ability to recall text.
• Drill the questions and answers with another person as often as possible.

Super helpful and super practical. Hope they help you make catechism a practice and tradition in your family’s home.

Last week I discussed why Catechism is a good idea for kids and parents alike.

I thought I would give you a few options as sort of a launching off point for you to pick what works best with your kids.

1. The Heidelberg Catechism - The Heidelberg Catechism, written in 1563, originated in one of the few pockets of Calvinistic faith in the Lutheran and Catholic territories of Germany. Conceived originally as a teaching instrument to promote religious unity in the Palatinate, the catechism soon became a guide for preaching as well. It is a remarkably warm-hearted and personalized confession of faith, eminently deserving of its popularity among Reformed churches to the present day.

2. The North Star Catechism - Whether or not we sail across troubled seas, Christians are all pilgrims. For thousands of years, travelers have been guided on their journey by focusing on a fixed point in the night sky: the North Star. While other stars seem to shift with the passing of time, the North Star remains anchored in the same position. This celestial gift allowed people to know where they were and where they needed to go. Our prayer is that the North Star Catechism will offer this same kind of clarity.

3. New City Catechism - New City Catechism consists of 52 questions and answers so the easiest way to use it is to memorize one question and answer each week of the year. Because it is intended to be dialogical it is best to learn it in pairs, in families, or as study groups, enabling you to drill one another on the answers not only one at a time but once you have learned 10 of them, then 20 of them, and so on.

- What to look for in a catechism -

• Make sure you can understand the language and vocabulary used.
• Make sure the delivery system works for you – Heidelberg uses website and books – North Star is a PDF at present and New City is primarily through the iPad.
• Make sure it’s something your kids can grow into
• Make sure you have a system to track your kids’ progress.
• Make sure it’s something you can stick to.

One of the things we find difficult to do every year is find a gift to give our mothers on Mother’s Day that is more than a trinket. We live in a culture that spends millions on souvenirs. We used to give fathers key chains and mothers carnations, both are fine but eventually end up in the junk drawer of your home or the city dump. We had this thought a few years back what if leveraged these 2.00 trinkets to make a difference in someone’s life forever. So in the past few years we have made donations to Love146 and smile train.

This year we found a company called FreeSet that helps women who have been freed from sex slavery by giving them a meaningful skill that gives hope to them and their family where they can earn a decent wage in dignity. When you buy bags these women make you are  not just buying a bag you are giving hope. We bought all our mom’s makeup bags. They were a huge hit. So if you are looking a mother’s day gift for next year or a conference tote for this year consider FreeSet.

Here is a video that shows a little of what FreeSet is all about.

I am a big John Piper fan but have only recently gotten around to reading his book Desiring God – Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. In this book Pastor Piper delivers a compelling argument that our lives as Christians are to be lived chasing satisfaction, joy with reckless abandonment so long as the pursuit of those things find their purpose in God and ultimately glorify Him.

The theme throughout this book that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” God gets the glory and we get the joy. Such a powerful thought. That thought alone is worth the price of the book. This truth is so fundamental. As a pastor I see so much dysfunction in people trying to be happy rather than finding their joy in God. I find myself so often allowing my service to Christ and others to be what it was never intended to be. I am created to glorify God not through depriving myself of happiness but in finding my happiness in Christ.

CS Lewis explains this concept so beautifully “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Every chapter had a few points that really rang true. The chapters that challenged me most personally were Money, Missions and Suffering. I plan on adding this book to a short list of books I reread.

Desiring God should be read by every christian at least once in their lives because of the truth Piper pulls from scripture are so precisely accurate and so horribly convicting.

Here are a few quotes that stood out to me.

In the New Testament, God is clearly active, creating a people for Himself by calling them out of darkness and enabling them to believe the gospel and walk in the light. John teaches most clearly that regeneration precedes and enables faith.

The pursuit of joy in God is not optional

Saving faith is the heartfelt conviction not only that Christ is reliable but also that He is desirable.

True worship must include inward feelings that reflect the worth of God’s glory. If this were not so, the word hypocrite would have no meaning.

The great hindrance to worship is not that we are a pleasure-seeking people, but that we are willing to settle for such pitiful pleasures.

Love is the overflow of joy in God that meets the needs of others.

Faith is born and sustained by the Word of God, and out of faith grows the flower of joy.

A failure in our prayer life is generally a failure to know Jesus.

Prayer is the antidote for the disease of self-confidence.

The great danger of riches is that our affections will be carried away from God to His gifts.

Generosity confirms that our hope is in God, not in ourselves or our money.

My assumption is that people without the gospel are without hope, because only the gospel can free them from their sin.

Suffering of sickness and suffering of persecution have this in common: They are both intended by Satan for the destruction of our faith and governed by God for the purifying of our faith.

How many Christians do you know who could say, “The lifestyle I have chosen as a Christian would be utterly foolish and pitiable if there is no resurrection”?

God’s universal purpose for all Christian Suffering: more contentment in God and less satisfaction in self and the world.

Paul’s suffering complex Christ’s afflictions not by adding anything to their worth, but by extending them to the people they were meant to save.

In the pursuit of joy through suffering, we magnify the all-satisfying worth of the Source of our joy. God Himself shines as the brightness at the end of our tunnel of pain. If we do not communicate that He is the goal and the ground of our joy in suffering, then the very meaning of our suffering will be lost. The meaning is this: God is gain. God is gain. God is gain.

*I was provided a free copy of Desiring God by Multnomah press in exchange for my willingness to write an honest and personal review of the book.

Why Catechism?

Catechism in my mind has gotten a bad rap. The reasons I believe that is because people equate catechism with a nun walking around with a ruler. While this may be a bit of a caricature I do think the idea of Catechism in a classroom is less than ideal. As a father and a pastor I believe there is strong biblical support for parents teaching truth to their kids (Deut. 6). Catechism was never meant to be a classroom subject but was meant to be lived out and learned in the context of life. Parents you live catechism before you teach it. I love how Tim Keller describes the Biblical basis for it. I can do no better so I won’t try.

A BIBLICAL PRACTICE

In his letter to the Galatians Paul writes, “Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor” (Galatians 6:6). The Greek word for “anyone who receives instruction” is the word katechoumenos, one who is catechized. In other words, Paul is talking about a body of Christian doctrine (“catechism”) that was taught to them by an instructor (here the word “catechizer”). The words “all good things” probably means financial support as well. In this light, the word koinoneo—which means “to share” or “to have fellowship”—becomes even richer. The salary of a Christian teacher is not to be seen simply as a payment but a “fellowship.” Catechesis is not just one more service to be paid for, but is a rich fellowship and mutual sharing of the gifts of God.

If we re-engage in this biblical practice in our churches, we will find again God’s Word “dwelling in us richly” (Colossians 3:16), because the practice of catechesis takes truth deep into our hearts, so we find ourselves thinking in biblical categories as soon as we can reason.

When my son, Jonathan, was a young child my wife Kathy and I started teaching him a children’s catechism. In the beginning we worked on just the first three questions:
Question 1. Who made you?
Answer. God
Question 2. What else did God make?
Answer. God made all things.
Question 3. Why did God make you and all things?
Answer. For his own glory.

One day Kathy dropped Jonathan off at a babysitter’s. At one point the babysitter discovered Jonathan looking out the window. “What are you thinking about?” she asked him. “God,” he said. Surprised, she responded, “What are you thinking about God?” He looked at her and replied, “How he made all things for his own glory.” She thought she had a spiritual giant on her hands! A little boy looking out the window, contemplating the glory of God in creation!

What had actually happened, obviously, was that her question had triggered the question/answer response in him. He answered with the catechism. He certainly did not have the slightest idea what the “glory of God” meant. But the concept was in his mind and heart, waiting to be connected with new insights, teaching, and experiences.

Such instruction, Princeton theologian Archibald Alexander said, is like firewood in a fireplace. Without the fire—the Spirit of God—firewood will not in itself produce a warming flame. But without fuel there can be no fire either, and that is what catechetical instruction is.

Timothy Keller, October 2012

One of the things I appreciate most about Reggie Joiner is his relentless pursuit of reminding the church that as a parent you have to be intentional. The problem with intentionality is that life happens and is more in your face than the future. In order for you to be intentional you have to look into the future and see what you want your kids to be not be consumed by what is.

This year at the Orange conference Reggie and his team created something very cool that I use and will continue to use because it allows me to see into the future and helps me to be intentional today.

It’s called the Legacy App It is very basic and beautifully done.

You simply put your child’s birthday and their name and it will give you the amount of time you have left with your child before they graduate.

Download your app now. Be intentional! 

I have always found Easter Eggs in video games and movies fun. I stumbled upon an easter egg that had to have been put there by Jim Wideman. Searching google for the answer will do two things 1. You will be trusted by Jim Wideman – He trusts no one who hasn’t Googled at least once today 2. You will find out the answer to a question Jim asks often. “What is the loneliest number?”

The Jim Wideman Google Easter Egg – Google “What’s the loneliest number”

Here are a few others I thought were fun.

Tilt – Type in the world tilt in your google browser and see what happens.

Firefox logo in a wheat field. Type 45° 7’25.87″N 123° 6’48.97″W  in your google browser then switch to satellite view.

Find any actor or actress bacon number - 

Six Degrees Of Bacon is a popular game where people try to guess how actors are connected to Kevin Bacon through movies they’ve been in. Now Google is making it easy with a new “bacon number” search.

To get the “bacon number” of any actor, simply start your search with “bacon number” followed by the actor’s name. For example, “bacon number Jim Carrey”

No Chuck Norris? – Is it possible?

Google “zerg rush” to play a video game with your search results.

Gravity – Google “Gravity” and click on the first link.

Here’s one for Kenny Conley – Walking directions in google maps from “The Shire to Mordor”

Google space. The Google meets Angry Birds.

Google sphere. Pretty straight forward.

Epic Google. Think Google is getting to big for its own good? You may enjoy this one.

One of the things that we are addicted to in our culture is speed. Once we taste LTE speeds on our phones 4G no longer seems speedy. Faster is always  better.

1.  speed of trust -

The first thing every team must have is trust. There are few things that slow down efficiency and create redundancy like a lack of trust. If you team spends the lion share of it’s time covering their own tracks and not watching each others backs you will move slow and ineffectively.

2. speed of decisions - 

You can make faster better decisions when you create a decisive culture and not a bureaucracy of decision making. The more you can allow your team to make poor decisions you enable them to make good ones.

3. speed of focus - 

The more you trust each other and the faster you make decisions what results is more opportunity greater capacity. How fast you focus determines how far you go as a team. If you miss focus you erode trust once trust is eroded your decisions grind to a crawl.

If SPEED determines distance LOVE determines the depth.

At the end of the day the thing that means the most is love. You have to love what you do you have to love the team you are a part of and the team you lead. What helps you do that? Speed. Nope. Sacrifice. The faster you die to yourself the faster your teams will trust, the quicker your decisions will come because of the crispness you focus becomes.

Trust, decisiveness and focus are by products of love. When you understand how much you are loved by Christ you are free to love others with a crisp clarity selfishness lacks.

5 Things every leader has to get right – KeyNote

Intro

I want to bookend my thoughts tonight from Paul’s second letter to Timothy – When we discuss a topic like leadership it’s important that we gain proper footing for that conversation and that we leave with a proper perspective on all that we have discussed.

2 Timothy 1:6-14

6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to[a] a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,[b] 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.[c] 13 Follow the pattern of the sound[d] words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Ministry is difficult If you were to tell me you have never felt like quitting I would respond by congratulating you on your first week in ministry.

I believe there are five areas in our leadership that if we get them wrong we will never last we will never persevere in the calling God has for us.

THE FIRST MISTAKE WE SO OFTEN MAKE IS WE DO MINISTRY ALONE. 

1. Delegation

- There are far to many pastors doing ministry alone. We have bought into this lie that we have big enough shoulders for the entirety of the ministry we lead.

1. We don’t delegate because we don’t trust God with the results. (1 Corth 3) God gives the increase.

2. We don’t delegate because our default mode is to do. If I do this my pastor will be pleased with me. If I do that God will be pleased with me.

3. We don’t delegate because we don’t have a half hearted view of what eternal rewards are. What ultimate beauty is. Lewis address our self focused small minded in his book weight of glory.

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

“We are far too easily pleased.”  C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.

We see the week to week not the eternal significance of what we are doing.

4. We often don’t delegate because we are building our own kingdom – we are far to concerned with who gets the credit rather than who gets the glory.

5. We don’t delegate because we have an improper view of Ultimate authority. 

2. Leading under authority - 

We lead under authority when we understand ultimate authority – When you come on staff at a church you have to submit yourself to the pastor you serve. This can only be done to the degree that you have submitted your life completely to Christ. 

What does submission to authority look like?

- It’s walking and leading in humility
- It’s trusting Jesus more than your circumstance
- It’s not checking your dreams at the door of the church it’s finding your joy in God.
- It’s not blindly following your pastor off a cliff
- Submission to authority starts with you submitting your life to Christ ultimately and as a result of that you walk in humility.  Paul talks about our submission to Christ and uses marriage as an example for us.

EPHESIANS 5:22-25
22Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

The power to submit to the authorities God has placed in our life comes from our ability to fully Trust Christ above all else. -

Think how different our churches would be if we lived our lives surrendered to Christ. Think how different our families would be.

3. Connecting with families 

*WHEN I STARTED IN STUDENT MINISTRY I THOUGHT PARENTS WERE THE DEVIL I KNOW HAVE KIDS AND REALIZE THAT THE DEVIL IS THE DEVIL AND I NEED HELP

- We have to move from atmosphere of co-dependance to an environment of interdependence. -

There has been a huge push for family ministry the past decade and rightly so. Leading into the future we have to value families not as a stated value but as an actual value. The church and families alike need to admit that this co-dependent relationship is broken and doesn’t honor God. We need to move to a model that creates interdependence where families and church are dependent on each other and where they are both fully dependent on Christ alone.

Unfulfilled expectations are the  seed bed of disappointment

When talking about connecting parents sometimes our creative ideas and the connecting themselves become an end in themselves.

We start with the wrong question. We ask how can we connect to parents. We need to ask that but we first need to ask what are we connecting them to? Do the parents we are partnering with value the same things?

We won’t connect with families and we won’t connect our families to Christ until it becomes a priority. 

4. Priorities 

- Our priorities are informed by our loves. We make time for the things we love. Where we spend our times shows what is most valuable to us.

Our priorities are determined by our loves. We spend our time, our money and our energy on the things that matter most.

As a leader you will be pulled on by everyone around you if you don’t put guard rails in your life you will dive off a cliff. – What drives us? Our desire to please everyone. We want to make everyone happy. This is a pipe dream and comes from our desire to have others think well of us rather than God.

Luke 6:26

²⁶ “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

If you manage your time and priorities right, people will be mad at you.

Get used to it.

Lastly and probably one of most deadly is measurement. 

5.  Measurement 

- We measure the wrong things. Measurement is a good thing what measure reveals a lot about us.

The thing that is so dangerous about measurement is it can very quickly become the thing in our life that informs every decision we make.

We can find our identity in something other than Christ. – Our tendency is to move off of the things we can’t see and start to measure ourself by things we can see. We often find our worth in kids ministry by how many kids come, by how big our budget is, by how many staff members we have.

Idol’s are most often good things we have made ultimate things – Tim Keller

A lot of the dissatisfaction we have in ministry comes from us measuring the wrong things.

We spend our time and energy on the things we measure. What you measure you get more of. What scares me is getting more of something that isn’t Jesus.

What is crazy is that we can so easily use Jesus to get what we want.

Conclusion - 

God is enough 

- when we recognize that we do what we do because of the strength He supplies it makes a difference. When He is our foundation he is our source. He is enough.

Our confidence is not in ourselves but in the gospel we preach. 

There is a message that must burn within us that will define us that will enable us to fully proclaim the gospel that in our preaching God will be glorified forever and those who need to hear will be able to listen.

When the primary goal of our ministries is to glorify God we measure the right things, we respond with grace to one another, we give away what we have been given and we love the things He loves.

2Timothy 4:17-18

17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

God is standing by you to strengthen you so that the gospel will be preached the enemy of your soul wants to devour you. But we serve a rescuing God. When our satisfaction is found in Christ HE will be glorified.